I once saw a sign outside of a church that read: “The church is full of hypocrites; You too are welcome.” It was an amusing response to a common excuse among many who choose not to go to church. While I have enjoyed sharing that wisdom over the years, I assumed that it was referring to the members of the church. Lately I’ve realized that it is a helpful saying for pastors as well. Maybe we could amend it slightly to say, “The church is full of hypocrites and pastors know that it takes one to know one.” In fact I think that one of the healthy qualities that a pastor needs to develop is how to accept his or her own hypocrisy.
If doctors can be guided by a Hippocratic oath, maybe pastors can be guided by a hypocritic oath. The oath would entail coming to terms with the fact that just because we are hypocrites at times, we cannot stop proclaiming a truth that transcends all of us. Week after week, a pastor is asked to rise and proclaim a word from God and at times s/he is preaching to the self as well as to the congregation.
There are moments when we are filled with anger, but we are asked to proclaim peace. There are times when we anxious about our finances or greedy in our behavior, but we are asked to proclaim generosity. There are times when we feel paranoid and see enemies under every pew but we are asked to proclaim forgiveness and love of neighbor. We proclaim that the body is the temple of God, but we continue to abuse it by over eating, too little sleep, and at times some form of alcohol or drugs.
The point is that most humans feel a distance between their ideals and their behavior but a pastor can’t call time out while s/he wrestles with such beliefs, but must continue to be the spiritual leader of the congregation. How do we respond? Next blog.
