As a rookie priest,
I was in a support group
I was in a support group
with veteran clergy.
Way back when one of those veterans
was a rookie his support group
included a retired old guy
who never said a word.
was a rookie his support group
included a retired old guy
who never said a word.
He just whittled – whittled away in silence
week after week, year after year.
Then one day, without looking up
from his whittling, he said,
from his whittling, he said,
“Ya know, it would have been
a pretty good life
a pretty good life
if they’d let me kill just one a year.”
There are warm, wonderful moments in ministry
that feed our souls,
but there is also frustration built into it.
What to do about the frustration?
In the 70s, clergy quit and became therapists.
Now we go to conferences
where they tell us to follow our bliss,
but then we go back to work
and it’s the same job,
and it’s the same job,
the same people, and the same headaches.
They won’t let you kill even one a year.
So, the best thing I know to tell you, Phil, is
to take up whittling.
to take up whittling.
The frustration won’t go away,
but if we dig into it,
we might learn something to help us
serve God with a bit more wisdom
and compassion.
and compassion.
Half the frustration lies in the distance
between what we expect the Church to be
and what it actually is.
These are Christians, right?
We expect better behavior in the Church
than in the World;
than in the World;
but that doesn’t happen.
People do and say things in Church
they could never get away with
at work or at home.
at work or at home.
The other half lies in the difference
between who we expect ourselves to be
and who we really are.
This one is tricky because we get distracted
by our reflection in people’s eyes
and they see us in most peculiar ways.
Many will think you are considerably better
than you are.
than you are.
Others will think you are considerably worse.
That’s ok because it keeps us from thinking
this is a popularity contest.
The problem is it hooks our own confusion
about who we are.
about who we are.
Sometimes we pretend to holiness
and even fool ourselves.
and even fool ourselves.
Other times, we feel like imposters
calling ourselves clergy
calling ourselves clergy
when we know ourselves to be
at least as sinful as the rest.
at least as sinful as the rest.
As we think about the Church which
– God help us –
– God help us –
we are called to serve, and the Church which
– God help it – includes us,
our best guide is blessed Augustine.
– God help it – includes us,
our best guide is blessed Augustine.
He defended the Church from attack
by secessionists who,
like today’s secessionists,
by secessionists who,
like today’s secessionists,
would only deign to belong to a Church
as pure, as holy, and as spiritual
as they were.
as pure, as holy, and as spiritual
as they were.
The real Church was not good enough for them.
Augustine replied with Jesus’ parable
about the field
about the field
in which the wheat weeds were growing.
The workers wanted to go pull the weeds.
But the owner said,
“No, if you do that, you’ll pull up wheat too.
“No, if you do that, you’ll pull up wheat too.
Wait until the harvest.
We’ll sort it out then.”
We’ll sort it out then.”
The Church, Augustine says, i
s a mixed field of wheat and weeds.
s a mixed field of wheat and weeds.
Or as the Augustinian theologian
Abigail Van Buren said
in her Dear Abby column,
Abigail Van Buren said
in her Dear Abby column,
The Church isn’t a museum for saints.
It’s a hospital for sinners.
Jesus said,
Those who are well have no need
of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I did not come to call the righteous
but the sinners to repentance.
but the sinners to repentance.
So, a congregation isn’t the beloved community
– not yet.
– not yet.
It’s a motley crew of the good, the bad,
and the ugly.
and the ugly.
But, it’s really even messier than that
because each member of the congregation
is actually a mixed field of wheat and weeds
unto himself or herself.
is actually a mixed field of wheat and weeds
unto himself or herself.
The Carmelite abbot and theologian,
William McNamara, was once pressed
into teaching religion to second graders.
William McNamara, was once pressed
into teaching religion to second graders.
He asked the class,
If all the good people were red
and the bad people were blue,
what color would you be?
One little girl shot up her hand and answered,
I’d be stripy.
That kid had read her Augustine.
A congregation is a mixed bag.
Each member is a mixed bag.
And you, Reverend Sir, are a mixed bag too.
You may not like that.
You’re not supposed to like it.
But you have to recognize it
and work with it because that’s how it is.
Your job is to mediate God's love to these folks
in their moral and spiritual complexity
and to accept God's love for yourself
as the same moral mongrel they are.
as the same moral mongrel they are.
Such unconditional love of the congregation
and of yourself may not be easy
but it’s simple.
but it’s simple.
The job, however, has a disconcerting part 2
that complicates things.
that complicates things.
You are in the congregation to share God’s love,
and, as the saying goes,
God loves us the way we are
– but because God loves us,
– but because God loves us,
God doesn’t leave us that way.
When Jesus was criticized
for hanging out with sinners,
for hanging out with sinners,
he said,
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to
–wait for it – repentance.
Repentance. He wasn’t condoning their sin.
He was connecting with them,
so he could call them to repentance.
Quote: Preaching that makes sinners feel good
. . . betrays the gospel.
That wasn’t Franklin Graham talking.
It was Blessed Oscar Romero.
If we aren’t in the repentance business,
we might as well go home.
Repentancedoesn’t mean groveling in guilt.
It means change. Turning the will around.
Doing a new thing.
Doing a new thing.
A clergy person is a change agent.
That, my friend, is tricky business.
To start with, it makes you a target,
so don’t be reckless.
so don’t be reckless.
General rules: Take your time and use your head.
But here are the two specific points
about being a change agent.
about being a change agent.
First, don’t be trivial.
This isn’t about changing it
from the way they like it
from the way they like it
to the way you like it
or what was cool in seminary.
or what was cool in seminary.
It’s about coaxing them into the Kingdom Mission
of good news to the poor,
release to the captive,
release to the captive,
and letting the oppressed go free.
We coax them into the Kingdom Mission
because that’s where they come
face to face with Jesus
face to face with Jesus
so his grace can blow apart the prisons
of their personal agendas
and lead them out into the amazing adventure
called real life.
Don’t move the furniture.
Move their hearts.
Second, you can be the change agent,
the catalyst,
the catalyst,
only if you are open to be changed
along with them.
along with them.
You know some things they don’t
but knowing things is only a piece of it.
This isn’t about what we know.
It’s about who we are.
The process of becoming a new creation
is a group project.
We change each other.
Ideas don’t change people.
Programs don’t change people.
People change people.
You cannot be a change agent
unless you are willing
to be changed yourself.
to be changed yourself.
So I leave you with this blessing from the late John O’Donohue:
May the Spirit of God lead you
onto the wilderness road.
onto the wilderness road.
May she send you chasing after chariots
beyond all reason and propriety.
May she bring you to dark-skinned eunuchs
and Samaritan women
and Samaritan women
and young ones who dream wild dreams.
May they receive you into their homes . . .,
so that you may teach and convert
one another.
one another.
May you enter the waters of baptism together
to die and rise in Christ together.
In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
