It is common wisdom that one of the biggest barriers to clergy taking care of themselves is the attitude of the clergy themselves. Most of us responded to the call to ministry assuming that there would be a measure of sacrifice to our service. Too much focus on self-care seems contradictory to the nobleness of our call. The majority of clergy are also more comfortable giving than receiving care. It makes us nervous to be on the receiving end of too much personal care.
I would suggest that the issue of balance between work, rest and social relationships is one of the crucial areas of our society. While there are people, including clergy, who are very adept at caring for themselves, many in our society are unsuccessful in achieving a healthy balance.
The introduction of the Sabbath commandment in the Judeo-Christian faith was a radical contribution to the meaning of time and human behavior. You will note that that commandment takes a longer explanation than any of the other commandments. It also receives a different explanation in the Exodus list of commandments than in the list in Deuteronomy. It was as if writers of both books realized that that commandment would be harder to understand than the others so it needed additional explanation.
We can explore this in future blogs, but the management of time in a way that enables us to live a healthy life is a significant issue for our whole society. If clergy, who have a very demanding profession, can also demonstrate how to balance the demands of their profession with the personal and social needs, it is a significant witness to a society that demonstrates their inability to manage time and experience life fully.
