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| CLERGY ARE REAL HUMAN PEOPLE |
Having grown up in the church and living in New
England for a good part of my life, my ideas regarding the clergy of the church
were based on only having been taught that which I was subjected to.
As a child, I believed, like many children believe,
that the clergy actually lived in the church itself-- like they never, ever
left the church or lived in a parish house or private home offsite. I believed
the same thing of my elementary teachers, too, that they never left the school
and had individual lives of their own outside of school. Anyway, I was just a
child and a bit naive about many things.
As an adolescent and adult, having been brought up in
what still can be a Puritan type of regard for the church, I was taught and
believed the clergy to be more than human. To be the most Holy of human beings
and the highest human connection to God. I believed them to be more pious, more
righteous, and most certainly more pure and free of sin. I never thought of
them as everyday people living everyday lives.
I was also shown, as per the above, that other than
joy and sometimes anger, that clergy really didn't show any other type of
emotion. They were more stoic than anything else. And I was taught that you
NEVER looked upon the clergy as a personal friend. Sure, they were there to
guide and provide spiritual counsel for certain concerns or issues-- marriage,
death, etc,--but that was all. You only saw the clergy by appointment in the
church office and NEVER in their own home.
So, those beliefs are what I have carried with me most
of my life, and took with me in this new chapter of my life in the west coast
world.
Having been a congregant of now two beloved churches
in Northern California , my eyes have been
opened to a completely new perspective.
Firstly, clergy are most certainly just as
"human" as anyone else with a whole myriad of emotions and life
histories. They can be just as broken and beautiful as you and I, and just as
capable of sin as you and I.
I also learned, through the warmth and compassion of
certain clergy that you CAN be friends with a priest, pastor, minister, etc.
These friendships have shaped that human element and human perspective for me.
I have laughed with, cried with, and celebrated with friends, who, oh by the
way, just happen to also be clergy.
Secondly, I never, in my life, ever thought that I
would hold a weeping member of the clergy in my arms and console them, but
that's where I stood today--in a very raw, vulnerable, and tender moment; Me,
an ordinary human being, consoling a member of the clergy.
Lastly, I have been invited into the personal homes of
these clergy, and guess what? They live every day live just as you and I.
I would like to thank these clergy persons who have
opened their lives, homes, and hearts to me, and shown me that you are not only
leaders of a greater flock in the service and purpose to God, but that you are
just as human --with human faults and weaknesses and strengths--as anyone else.
God's peace and God bless.
