Get Caught Doing This During Lent

published on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 by admin

In the spirit of the Olympic Games, my Lenten discipline is 10 minutes of exercise every day.  I went looking for some exercises you can do at your desk, and, lo and behold - WebMD has two pages of them!  Warn the church secretary and the nosy volunteers if you're going to go all-out, or, better yet, invite them to join you.

I also noticed this week that the days are getting longer, so walking after work is even possible.  Thanks to the blogosphere, I also learned that Google Maps will give you point-to-point walking directions.  Just click the "Get Directions" feature, and open the drop-down menu next to "By car".  Don't forget to carry some form of identification with you when you take to the road, and have a bottle of water waiting at the end if you're not carrying one with you.

Finally, for those of you who aspire to, or have achieved, the endurance of a Marine recruit, there's the jump rope, or as our link proclaims, you can "Jump like a girl and burn fat like a mother."  If you're feeling really daring, have the MYF lead the whole congregation in a parking lot jump rope-athon. Just practice a few times beforehand so you look like a natural.

Forty days is a great kick-off to a new habit.   Wish us all luck!

Yours in health, goin' for the gold -

Robin Swift
Health Programs Director
Clergy Health Initiative

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Marching to a Different Drummer

published on Friday, February 19, 2010 by admin

In his book The Last Week, Marcus Borg suggests that Jesus carefully scripted what we call the Triumphal Entry, arriving Jerusalem from the East at the same time Pontius Pilate’s entourage entered from the West, attended by all the pomp and flourish of the Roman Empire.

Jesus knew Pilate would be coming from Caesarea Maritima just before Passover to make a show of force that would discourage dissidents from fomenting rebellion while the city was filled with pilgrims. Jesus, says Borg, was offering a counter-parade to Pilate’s, and asking the folk in Jerusalem to make a stark choice.  On the one hand, the elegant trappings of power supported by brute force, on the other, the countercultural peace, simplicity and self-denial espoused by an itinerant preacher from Galilee.

Pastors who have been in ministry for some time may begin to wonder what became of the parade they thought they joined. They signed on to be preachers of peace and justice, teachers of the Word, feeders of the hungry . . . but that’s no longer the parade in which they’re marching. Now they’ve fallen lockstep into some denominational road show with its attendant clichés, politics, DVD’s and church growth formulas. And as the health of local church ministry degrades, so does the pastor’s. Wrong parade, going the wrong way.  What went awry?

In times of spiritual disquiet, it can be powerful to remember that those angels back in Bethlehem were singing about the incarnation: the Word taking up residence in our faith and in our doubt, in our moments of clarity as well as those of spiritual confusion. Our sense of marching in the wrong parade is a Word from the Incarnate One, calling us back to the graceful procession we entered at our baptism. He does not will our unhappiness or our spiritual desiccation.

Where, in all the busyness of life and ministry, is that place where the Word made flesh stands in stark relief against all the other parades that ask us to fall in line? Where, for you, is the intersection in which the shouts of “Hosanna!” drown out Pilate’s brass section?

Name that place and visit it fervently and without fail. Healing is there.

Ed Moore
Executive Director
Leadership Education at Duke Divinity

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When the Congregation Abuses its Pastor

published on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 by admin

Recently I heard the fifth story in as many months about a pastor being physically threatened, and his family verbally abused, by members of his congregation.

Flickr/Jared Kelly

While we would like to think that these are isolated occurrences, the Clergy Health Initiative’s research suggests otherwise. The focus groups we conducted in 2008 surfaced this problem repeatedly, drawing out eloquent and heart-breaking stories from pastors. One pastor reflected, "In my old job, I could fire people who were obnoxious or insubordinate. Here in church, we never fire anyone for bad behavior." 

This practice takes a serious toll. Data from the survey we conducted in 2008, which measured the status of pastors’ mental health, suggests a link between critical parishioners and clergy depression.

How do you cope with this abuse? What toll does it take on your spouse and children? Does it manifest differently for female pastors? Does it impact your spiritual life?  How many of your seminary classmates have left ministry because they felt hounded out?  And do you get support from your denominational leaders when you face these issues?

Please comment.  Those of us not on the front lines of ministry have a lot to learn.

Yours in health,
Robin

Robin Swift, MPH
Health Programs Director
Clergy Health Initiative

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