There are some pastors who embarrass the bejesus out of me. They say and do things that make me want to rescind my ordination as a Christian pastor, to rip off my clerical collar (if I wore one).
Really, the embarrassment I have endured the past few years has become increasingly unbearable to say the least.
When a famous TV pastor claims that 9/11 is to be blamed on homosexuals, abortion activists, and civil rights activists I ask myself: “How does he know this?”
When I hear a pastor say that anyone who refuses to vote for a certain Presidential candidate that person will be cursed with poverty or with Gay children I want to hide my face in embarrassment.
When a well-known TV pastor calls for a preemptive air strike against Iran in order to protect Israel I wonder if he has ever heard Jesus say: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
When a pastor and president of a Christian University carries a concealed weapon into a convocation ceremony at his university, brags about it, and then encourages students to do the same in order to protect themselves from Muslims I wonder why I even entered Christian ministry.
When a Fundamentalist pastor calls on his congregation to pray for President Obama’s death and calls the President’s mother a whore I wonder what in the hell I was thinking when I became a pastor?
Are these guys for real?
It’s all quite embarrassing. It’s all quite disgusting. It’s all downright unchristian.
But . . .
There are so many other men and women today serving their congregations quietly and faithfully beyond the notice of public awareness. These men and women do the quiet work of healing and reconciliation, often without widespread public notice.
These are the pastors who make me proud to be a pastor.
There are also those pastors who are exposed to the media’s attention yet retain their pastoral credibility and integrity.
Pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church in Franklin, TN is a wonderful example of a pastor who actually makes me proud to be a pastor.
Pastor Mitchell took a very unpopular stand in defense of the LGBT community while ensuring them full inclusion into his congregation. Many within his congregation left because of his courageous stand.
Pastor Gregory Boyd preached a series of sermons on the “Myth of a Christian Nation” that later became a book of the same title. Boyd lost thousands of members who were angered over his conclusions:
That America was not a Christian nation.
Greg Boyd makes me proud of my ordination.
Pastor Brian Zahnd experienced a huge shift in his thinking and theology regarding war and courageously preached a series of sermons and wrote a book entitled, A Farewell to Mars, a book denouncing war and violence.
His theological shift took place in the aftermath of 9/11, which made it very difficult for many in his congregation to accept.
I respect his raw courage and he makes me proud to be a pastor.
Pastor Brian McLaren began his ministry as the pastor of a conservative Evangelical Church in Maryland but later left the church to pursue a career as a full time author on topics relating to Christian theology.
In the process Brian experienced a huge shift in his own theology and became the champion of a more progressive (Emergent) view of Christianity. I share in that Journey with Brian and am proud to be a part of that continuing conversation.
I should also mention pastor Melissa Greene, who was reared in an Evangelical Fundamentalist tradition that would have disallowed her to serve in her current capacity as an ordained Associate Pastor. Pastor Greene was courageous enough to reexamine her inherited belief system and challenge some of her presuppositions regarding her Fundamentalist faith.
She makes me proud to be a pastor.
Okay, I’m not going to rescind my ordination. For every pastor who embarrasses the hell out of me there is one who absolutely makes me proud of my vocation; proud to have answered the call to serve Jesus Christ.
Yes there are some pastors who embarrass me, but I don’t have to listen to them and neither do you.
(Picture is of Burt Lancaster playing the role of the firebrand preacher Elmer Gantry).
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