In recent blogs I’ve tried to identify some dimensions of ministry that can cause pastors to feel like hypocrites. Sometimes it is not just behaviors but also moments of doubt or questions about beliefs, even central beliefs. Most Christians have moments of doubt in their lives. There are moments when God doesn’t feel real or your circumstances cause you to be angry with God even if you don’t express it. When you have witnessed or even just read about some of the seemingly unnecessary cruelty, particularly towards the defenseless in the world, you may find yourself questioning the viability of the Gospel message or whether Jesus was ineffective in saving the world. Certainly it is easy for a person to grow frustrated, depressed, and angry with the church and question whether the Body of Christ is anything more than one more failed organization trapped by its own bureaucracy.
The difference between a pastor and a lay person when they have such thoughts, is that weekly you have to rise and proclaim a message to your congregation that hungers for some good news. You may find yourself preaching to yourself as you attempt to communicate a message of hope that even you are not totally sure about. It is at such times that you may feel like a hypocrite. Yet, if you are to be part of shaping that part of the church that does continue to wrestle with the God dimension of life, then you have to continue to work.
The hypocritic oath for pastors would begin something like this:
In the service of the Gospel of God in Christ
I will accept that I am a hypocrite who compromises purity of faith
So that God’s grace might be made perfect in my weakness.
As a spiritual leader, I will make compromises and restrain righteousness
and trust more in the faithfulness of God than in my correct beliefs so that
the bonds of the Body of Christ might be made strong.
That’s my beginning. How would you phrase the hypocritic oath for pastors.
