I just got SO p’owned.
One of our most talented and promising newly-fellowshipped ministers wrote on my PeaceBang Facebook page that she was really excited about her October 28th “zombie-themed” ordination. Clergy participants were going to dress up as zombie versions of historical figures from our tradition.
I should know better but I honest to God thought she was serious. I became totally ill and determined that if she was, I was going to have to call my flying monkeys.
It turns out that she was punking me, thank the LAWD! But you know what? What does it say about the ridiculous things I’ve been seeing out there that I thought she might be for real?
You know, I get that everyone wants to be well-loved and fun and have a good time. But I must warn some of you “Ministry of Buffoonery” fans out there: when it comes time to actually take a stand and attempt to lead or guide your congregation in weighty matters, you may find that your people have a bit of trouble taking you seriously. All that whimsy and spectacle seem great and energizing and awesome at the time and you may pat yourself on the back for being such a popular and groovy pastor, but you may be shooting yourself in the proverbial foot.
This seems to be an especially apt caution for junior staff members — associate or assistant ministers or rabbis who want to appeal to the “younger generation” (presuming, I guess, that young people have no spiritual need for a world with a bit of dignity, mystery or formality in it) and who make it a point to be the FUN GUY IN THE DUNK TANK. Hey, Rev. Fun Guy or Gal: think you might want to be a senior pastor at some point? Or even to be willing to claim some level of authority and responsibility instead of constantly working on your “so much fun” quotient? Put away the clown shoes and cultivate some gravitas. If people see you in goofy or super relaxed scenarios too often they’re going to have a very hard time taking you seriously when it comes down to big decisions.
Am I using the word “seriously” enough? seriously? I seriously mean it.
We can have fun and a sense of joy and celebration in ministry without using a “party guy/gal” persona as an avoidance tactic. You’re not there to be voted Life of the Party or Most Popular. And your ordination is not about what a hip Christian you are, it’s an ancient rite by which you are set apart and given a title of “Reverend.” It calls for formality and decorum. Cutesy ordinations with lots of big laffs turn me into a raving reincarnation of Richard Mather. Pity the friends who choose to dine with me and listen to my bitter rantings after such an occasion.
Anyway, our soon-to-be ordinand had this to say,
For the record: I take a high view of the religious significance of ordination.* I do not consider it to be a celebration of me, nor a coming-out party. I hold commitments very seriously and this is Big and Scary. Joyful, yes. But serious.
*Even if, during this last week, I have joked with a friend that God and I decided to elope to Las Vegas to be ordained by an Elvis impersonator in Little Chapel O’Love. Ah, Congregational Polity, ye are a fickle mistress.
Atta girl.
FUN GUY IN THE DUNK TANK – just about every year, I am asked why I don’t get in the dunk tank. Which I never do. I simply say that I’m a rabbi and rabbis don’t belong in dunk tanks.
There is a rabbinic quote that sounds better in Hebrew but essentially it says, “A Rabbi who gives away her honor, her honor is taken away.”
The previous (male) pastor did the dunk tank thing. I was very clear early on that I don’t do dunk tanks…ever.
I know of an ordination that had a theme that was WAAYYY over the top. Because we are a small denomination where everyone knows everyone, I won’t give any details, but I was stunned when I saw the photos on FB. We have a hard enough time getting the world to take Unitarian Universalism seriously; this gave me an understanding of why. [Yea. I saw that. Total horror and dismay. There’s no justification for such indulgence. Everything is public in ministry: and as always, ‘it ain’t about you.’ – PB]