Lies of Compassion

I am a pastor. I have a phone by my bed. I also have caller id.

Sometimes people call me before I'm really awake. But I wake up easy, and depending on what's going on, I will usually check the caller id. In certain (though not most) situations, I will answer the phone. Because of the delay of checking the caller id, however, I don't really have time to test out my voice. So usually, the person can tell that I haven't been talking much yet that morning.

What do you say when someone says they hope they're not calling too early, or more directly, that they hope they didn't wake you?

I lied this morning, more or less. But here's the thing, what I would just say, if it weren't too complicated is this: If you called early and I picked up the phone, it's because I wanted to talk to you, because I'm your pastor and you're calling for a good reason. It's really okay.

Perhaps that is what my obvious lie communicates? It's clear I haven't been up for hours, declaiming. And I did pick up the phone. So if I act like it's fine, the compassion of the lie hopefully expresses that I knew your call would be important.

I give thanks that I wake up fast. If someone who was a slow waker-upper was thinking about going into congregational ministry, I might discourage them, but I'm sure there are some of them out there. I'm just glad I'm not one of them.