Comments | chronarchy: Thanksgiving and festivals

chronarchy

Thanksgiving and festivals

Nov 22, 2006 14:48

Seminary is the last occasion most students will have to fret about the perils of excessive clergy power.

-"Relocating The Clergy Ego" by Dan Hotchkiss

Why is it that each Thanksgiving recently, the first person to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to me is not an American ( Read more... )

clergy, workshops, quotes, adf, work, hotties

Comments 16

Interesting.... dansarani November 22 2006, 20:22:44 UTC

"Things No One Tells You About Being Clergy"

What kinds of things would you include in this workshop?

Re: Interesting.... chronarchy November 22 2006, 20:49:48 UTC

Well, things are still forming, but some examples:

The constant "on call" status you end up in, like it or not.
The fact that it's more work after ordination than before.
The effects it has on relationships, both friendly and intimate.
The standards people hold you to and that you find yourself holding yourself to.
The way prayer, something clergy is supposed to be good at, has a tendency to slip away if it's not carefully watched and focused on.

Re: Interesting.... dansarani November 22 2006, 21:02:12 UTC

That would make a great workshop. :)

Re: Interesting.... chronarchy November 22 2006, 21:17:25 UTC

I hope so. It's stuff I wish I would have heard before I started on this. Not that it would have deterred me, but it would have been nice to get a heads up, you know?

Thread 5

delphinastar November 22 2006, 20:39:54 UTC

Why do you always mention "pretty girls" Why not an ugly girl with pretty eyes, or even an ordinary girl with a pretty mind?

Or maybe I'm just having one of THOSE days....

chronarchy November 22 2006, 20:45:31 UTC

I never said she was pretty. I said that she lit up the room and was beautiful :)

rfunk November 22 2006, 22:16:30 UTC

Maybe they're all pretty.

chronarchy November 22 2006, 22:29:47 UTC

I certainly can't recall ever meeting a woman that I didn't find some beauty in. . . In fact, I'd go so far as to say I usually see what's beautiful before I see what's not.

Which is probably the central reason I see so many and write about them all the time.

Thread 6

(The comment has been removed)

chronarchy November 22 2006, 21:16:47 UTC

The reverse has a flamingo and a swordfish. And a ship!

Dude, this penny rocks.

singingwren November 23 2006, 04:44:34 UTC

Damnit NIck, why do you have to relate everything aquatic to Cth***?! There are other things in the ocean BESIDES tentacled monsters that are completely unaffiliated. Like dolphins. And sea turtles. Especially sea turtles.

chronarchy November 23 2006, 14:13:12 UTC

Well, yes. Everyone needs minions, so of course there are other things in the sea.

brandondedicant November 23 2006, 01:58:54 UTC

What they don't tell you about being clergy--

On that note...

I had a university professor once who was also a rabbi. He noted how robotic and emotionless his prayer recitations became after becoming clergy, as opposed to the heart-felt prayers before he became clergy. Then he said (paraphrase), "When you answer the call to serve, you may be called to give up the things that made you answer the call in the first place."

chronarchy November 23 2006, 02:47:29 UTC

Actually, that's one of the most common things for clergypersons to say: when they get busy, prayer, the thing that they know they should be doing more when they get busy or stressed, is the first thing to go.

One pastor put it like this:

"I’ve read somewhere that the church will actually reward you for doing anything else but praying . . . You need to be doing stuff . . . But, if you’re not going to get fried as a rector, it has to be there. It’s spiritual work, and it’s the hard part. And, it’s usually what gets squeezed out first."

But the best advice came from another priest:

"if you don’t feel like it, it’s probably even more important"