How can I write about white clergy who center themselves (and their mostly-white congregations) in their work supporting #Black Lives Matter? Should it be on this blog on on PeaceBang.com, since I see it is a deeper issue than clergy image? But more people read this blog?
Should I call it “It’s Not About You??”
Facebook: I haven’t written much at all about how Facebook is one of the main places that ministers are performing clergy image. Note to self: Get on that.
Why did I see a young minister at a protest last week with rolled jean cuffs and a stole sloppily slapped over his messy outfit?
Why must my own beloved Unitarian Universalists constantly center ourselves and try to promote our “brand” everywhere we go? Why can’t we just quietly and supportively be part of an interfaith presence?
Is that the cat barfing?
I gotta say, the phrase “competitively earnest Facebooking” from your last post elicited an “Amen!” when I read it. There is such a fine line between people sharing exciting ministry moments/experiences just like anyone else shares exciting moments from their work, and coming off as if they’re saying “look at how spiritual I am!” The rush to publicly post a long, solemn prayer after every tragedy using the kind of pretty language you literally NEVER use anyplace but in public prayer. Or, conversely, those who seem to work really hard to present the “I’m not-like-the-other-pastors pastor!” image. We get it, you enjoy beer and you swear sometimes.
So yeah, definitely get on that. 🙂
[WILL DO! – PB]
I’m curious about those who think we can *not* use Facebook for work? After a Lenten discipline last year, I stopped work use, eliminated all my work acquaintances, and kept only those people who I knew in real life who I’d be happy to sit down and have coffee with. Now I only use it for friends, my bike group, and for watching funny cat videos. I don’t have any parishioners, and no one who is a work only friend on it.
I’ve considered starting a second profile for that purpose- I found an app that lets one manage multiple profiles. But I just got burned out on Facebook. Too many people (over 700 at one point), and it felt like too much pressure to my fans.
It’s tricky, I think. I get what you’re saying about self-aggrandizement. It also means a great deal to our folks to see us there. In Black Lives Matter, visibly pledging my support as a UU minister to something many people still criticize is important. It has also de-personalized how I see wearing a stole for public witness. People scan the pictures to see if someone is representing their faith, and they could care less that it’s me. I no longer wear my personal, special-private-meaning-to-me stole, and wear the instantly recognizable screaming yellow one. (Makes me wonder why we do this, in the first place? Aren’t we supposed to wear shared symbols?) Of course, if the organizers don’t want us to wear stoles at all, that’s gospel. And then there’s posterity: like the black and white photo I saw from Selma that showed a woman holding a sign that said “Unitarian Universalists”. I wept when I first saw it – my people were there.