Our Hip-Hop Pageant rehearsal went well, and now I've got a little downtime before I make a pastoral visit this afternoon.
Something that a colleague said to me at a diocesan event weeks ago is on my mind: "They don't pay us for what we do; they pay us for who we are." This in an interesting way to look at clerical leadership--the notion that it is the particular character and role of the priest that is their chief value to the community. Simplistically, this could be taken to mean that we are supposed to lead exemplary spiritual and moral lives--and that is true. But at a deeper level it means that our first vocational task is to pay attention to ourselves and our relationships MORE than we pay attention to program and strategic growth and all that good stuff. I know, this is obvious to everyone, but I find that this simple principle is ignored more than I would like.
An important corollary to this idea is that when priests become either over- or under-preforming, or become egomaniacs or alcoholics, it's usually related to their loss of self in the face of the task of ministry. People want so much out of their clergy that it's easy to become stressed out and anxious about those expectations, and it's easy to become unhealthy by either "working" too much or to disengage with alcohol or some other drug.
It's a tough job--but I think we need to look at self-care as more than just insurance against burnout. Self-care is about the ongoing process of sanctification that is a work of Grace and the Holy Spirit. We should never have to apologize for going on retreat or closing the office door to pray and read or anything else like that. Of course our congregations understand all that, so why do continue to feel guilty? It's something internal in the mindset of clergy that we pass along to future generations.
It's a tough job--but it's a deeply satisfying job. Rarely have I felt so alive with the shear possibilities of the moment. So much to do; so much to learn. Where to start? In this moment, I suppose. But I'm waiting for the roofer. Should I close my office door and not worry about the roofer (who was supposed to arrives hours ago and hasn't called)? Ah, the quintessential challenge of ministry: maintaining self while caring for other.
-t
3 comments:
I've been keeping up with your blog and have one question (not related to your entry today). Why do you call yourself "Ninja Priest"? And why do you want us to fear your ministry?
--Bean
The Rev. Joy Carroll Wallis ("the Real Vicar of Dibley") says that secular employees receive a salary for their work, while clergy receive a stipend to free them from having to work.
Beaner--I'm kidding!
Geoff--Yes, this is the traditional idea, but it is beginning to be challenged by economic realities. One is that seminary, for many of us, is a very expensive investment that leaves us heavily in debt, therefore young clergy, especially, are anxious to make enough to pay off their education debt. (Yes, I know that doesn't apply to everyone, but it does to some.) The second reality is that raising kids and sending them to University is difficult to do on a typical clergy stipend.
Therefore if you read the Diocese of Toronto's clergy compensation guidelines, for example, they suggest balancing the traditional notion of a clergy "living" with a more modern understanding that compensation is designed to attract and reward people.
One of the most helpful things I ever read on clergy compensation stated plainly that financial compensation was the chief way that congregations care for their clergy. In that sense, compensation is really an expression of love and generosity that ought to be honored for the gift it is. Understandings that downplay the significance of compensation tend to dismiss, then, the value of the people's sacrificial giving. IMHO
-t
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