Today I learned a hard lesson in a new way about my (maybe) chosen profession--being a pastor. We all know that you have to risk looking like an idiot to be successful, and I am beginning to wonder if we have to risk hurting people to do any real good in the world.
Do we?
In the pursuit of ending violence against women, in the production of a local V-Day campaign, painful things will be discussed, dramatized and potentially ripped open. But do we not talk about violence against women as a result?
The church ordains lots of people... and by "the church," I mean all the ordaining bodies of the many churches. Some of those people do minor harm--some do major. Jim Jones was ordained by the Disciples of Christ, and an ordained Presbyterian pastor in the Bay Area spent over two decades sexually abusing children... the list could go on and on. But, do I not get ordained, do I choose a "safer" profession than this--one where the most harm I would do is mess up a spreadsheet or something--rather than take that risk?
I know living is a risk. Everyday I can do damage. I know many, many other professions risk hurting people. Doctors can make mistakes, and lives are at stake. Architects can make mistakes and building fall and people die. But, if I make a mistake, cause pain, trauma in the name of the church (PCUSA, if I do indeed make it through this journey known as ordination). Some folks would accuse pastors who cause pain of doing so in the name of God... even worse.
Can I take this on?
I certainly can't let fear paralyze me....
...
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1 comment:
Well, Abby, if there's anything I've learned from years of being a feminist, Christian, anti-racist; it's that we all do the violence.
There is not a simple line we can draw between perpetrator and victim/survivor. While we are not all certainly equally to blame, we often are all participants in varying degrees to a culture of violence.
The problem with culture is that it isn't easy to destroy. It is a lot like a box. You can be outside the box or inside the box, but can you destroy or weaken the box's walls? That's the real challenge.
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