A quote from Dorothy Sayers set Magdalene, from Magdalene's Musings, to musing on the experience of tension in serving as both prophet and pastor. It's well worth a read. Here's the link and a bit of wisdom from a former mentor of hers, "They are treading the thin line between prophet and pastor. They neglect either one at their peril." Read the rest.
In the comments to that post, I found words too good to be hidden away:
MadPriest said...
The pastoral role validates and informs the prophetic role. Unless you are prepared to spend most of your time visiting people in their homes, sitting with the dying etc. and listening to people, your prophetic voice will be nothing but your own voice and will be just yourself moaning about your own concerns. Visiting is not regarded as a primary concern by so many priests nowadays and this may account for the lack of ordinary prophesy at parish level and beyond.
Good words, aren't they? Sometimes the mad among us speak the sanest words.
those are just the words I picked up from Magdalene's blog, Grandmere. Really powerful and true. I'll be thinking of that a lot in the coming weeks...
ReplyDeleteDiane, I'm truly in awe of anyone anyone who takes on the role of a pastor. That's not idle talk or a cheap compliment. It's the truth.
ReplyDeleteI think Mad Priest is absolutely right. A lot of my clergy colleagues have come up with all sorts of convincing reasons why visiting is not important. I've used some of them myself in the past, but the dark secret that they mask is that (a) visiting is hard work, and that (b) therefore I often do not really want to do it. It's not hard to find convincing reasons not to do something we don't want to do in the first place!
ReplyDeleteBut Jesus' prophetic ministry was founded on his incarnation - he came among us and shared our life, and on that basis could speak the word of God to us. As a pastor I need to remember to follow his example.
also, visiting doesn't always feel like "accomplishing" something...
ReplyDeleteTim and Diane, you should know.
ReplyDeleteI happen to think it's a good thing. As Tim said, incarnation is presence.
Tim - you got it right.
ReplyDeleteD.P.
Way to go MP! I have known far to many pastoral candidates and pastors who are gung-ho about being prophets - prepared to preach to "those people" what "they need to hear"; who are also unwilling (unable?) to meet their congregants where they are - theologically and physically.
ReplyDeleteYou know this sort of thing embarrasses MadPriest, but there is nothing so ephemeral as blog comments, and I thought these words should be a little less ephemeral.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I must admit that the posts on this wee blog are pretty ephemeral, too.
Although, I must admit that the posts on this wee blog are pretty ephemeral, too.
ReplyDeleteSez who?