A Person's a Person No Matter How Small (even if they are a pastor!)

Horton the elephant knew this. . . he knew that people had worth and ought to be treated with respect no matter who they are, how big or small they are, how fuzzy, pink, purple, or gray they happen to be.  The Mayor of Whoville, who was inside the speck on the clover, had a great defender in big gray elephant, Horton.  You know, this Dr. Seuss story has much in common with the good news of Christ.  The Gospel proclaims that all people have worth and are cherished and loved by God.  Treat others as you would have them treat you.  Love your neighbor as yourself etcetera and so on and so forth.  .  . but does that apply to pastors in the church?  Are pastors persons who deserve common respect and friendship?

At first glance at that question you may say to yourself, "Why of course they do, silly.  Why wouldn't they?"  But in all practicality, is it a truth that is lived out in our churches?  Why do I ask this, you might wonder?  So glad you are interested. . . 


I have been in the ministry for just over nine years now.  Maybe that's not very long, but it is long enough to have seen myriad cases of the bullying and harassing of pastoral leaders.  I have seen congregation members treat their pastors in ways that they wouldn't treat their most despised enemy (well maybe they would).  Now you might want to get angry with me for saying this, but I'm going to say it. . . the truth needs to be told.  Pastors are people too!  Pastors have feelings (I know it's shocking), they have families that love them and care about their health (and don't like to see them get beat up over chancel furniture, worship times, flags in the sanctuary, the positioning of Christmas trees, hymnals, candles, organ preludes, coffee hour logistics, preschool curricula- well, you get the idea).  Pastors have spouses and families who have made the journey with them through eight years of higher education (and sometimes even more!) because they supported the call from God.   And yet, so many times pastors are criticized for making too much money!  (Yeah, right, a Master's Degree in hand and making less than the guy who works at Ford Motor Company, no offense Mr. Factory worker, what you do is important to be sure.)  Oftentimes spouses of pastors have put their lives on hold and their dreams on the back shelf in order to be obedient to God's holy will.  Pastor's families have moved and moved again, pulled their kids out of schools and transplanted them into foreign territories.  They have left friends behind and have had difficulty finding new ones. 


Pastors, surprisingly, work more than one day a week (and three hours at a time), we rarely get two days off in a row because we are expected to be available 24/7; we don't get the 9 paid holidays that everyone else gets because they either fall on our day off (if we take Monday as a sabbath) or there is worship on that day because it's a high holy day in the church.  Now, listen carefully, we are not complaining about that.  We love what we do.  What really gets annoying though is that people don't often see how much time, energy and commitment we put into the church and into them as individuals.  A lot of what we do is behind the scenes.  We take work home.  We study.  We read books to keep up to date.  We answer phone calls at our houses during dinner and when we are tucking our children into bed.  


We are people too.  And as such, it would be nice if people would refrain from saying to us (as my best friend was told recently) to "stop shaking her a#$ to the organ music."  Apparently dancing to an Advent hymn is sacrilegious.  Don't call me skinny or too tall (I got that in High School and now I'm 43 and on my way to having a Doctorate), don't tell her to "get a thicker skin and shut your mouth," don't tell him "too bad" he was sick and is overworked but then ask "how are we going to fill our seats on Sunday and pay our bills?"   Don't be absent from important discussions and then insist upon your own way.  Take responsibility for yourselves and we will take responsibility for ourselves.  But mostly, don't treat us like we don't matter just because you put offering in the plate which pays our salary.  We put money there too, 10% of our income or more. 


 Whatever you do to the least of these, you do also to me.  Jesus said that.  


So am I mad?  You bet.  I'm tired of seeing my friends and colleagues in ministry get beat up.  I've been nice about it, and so have my colleagues, too nice in fact.  All I ask is that you treat us as people who deserve the smallest bit of kindness and courtesy.  We are not your ecclesiastical punching bags.  We happen to love you and want to serve you in the name of Christ, but we don't understand why you take out your frustrations on us.  


So now I will make my confession and ask for your forgiveness for this rant:

Almighty God, heavenly Father:

I have sinned against you,
through my own fault,
in thought, and word, and deed,
and in what I have left undone.
For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me all my offenses;

and grant that I may serve you in newness of life,
to the glory of your Name. Amen. 

Image credit: telegraph.co.uk