On the Clergy: Deserving of protection or an outmoded relic?
...clergy have seen their job descriptions rewritten. They’re no longer expected to offer moral counsel in pastoral care sessions or to deliver sermons that make the comfortable uneasy. Church leaders who continue such ministerial traditions pay dearly. A few years ago, thousands of parishioners quit Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., and Community Church of Joy in Glendale, Ariz., when their respective preachers refused to bless the congregations’ preferred political agendas and consumerist lifestyles.I have faced similar pressures myself. In the early 2000s, the advisory committee of my small congregation in Massachusetts told me to keep my sermons to 10 minutes, tell funny stories and leave people feeling great about themselves. The unspoken message in such instructions is clear: give us the comforting, amusing fare we want or we’ll get our spiritual leadership from someone else.
Alex notes this article in the NYT citing burnout as an issue among Christian clergy. It's hard to be pastor. The clergy today are something of an endangered species deserving of protection, the book at the top appears to be touting. Of course, Baha'u'llah made it clear what the clergy should do in this day. -gw~Alex ~~~~~ Notes From An Alien -- My Current Project
- “O LEADERS of religion! Weigh not the Book of…”
- “O CONCOURSE of divines! When My verses were sent…”
- “HOW long will ye, O concourse of divines, level the…”
- “O CONCOURSE of divines! Can any one of you race with…”
- “WHEN We observed carefully, We discovered that Our…”
- “O YE the dawning-places of knowledge! Beware that ye…”
- “THOSE divines … who are truly adorned with the ornament…”
- “THE divine whose conduct is upright, and the sage who…”
- “THE divine who hath seized and quaffed the most holy…”
- “GREAT is the blessedness of that divine that hath not…”
- “O CONCOURSE of divines! Ye shall not henceforth behold…”
- POPE PIUS IX
- “At one time We address the people of the Torah and summon…”
- “CALL out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the…”
- “THE Most Great Law is come, and the Ancient Beauty…”
- “THE Breath hath been wafted, and the Breeze hath…”
- “LEND an ear unto the song of David. He saith: ‘Who will…”
- “O CONCOURSE of Christians! We have, on a previous…”
- “WE, verily, have come for your sakes, and have borne…”
- “O CONCOURSE of patriarchs! He Whom ye were promised…”
- “O CONCOURSE of archbishops! He Who is the Lord of…”
- “O CONCOURSE of bishops! Trembling hath seized all the…”
- “O CONCOURSE of bishops! Ye are the stars of the heaven…”
- “O CONCOURSE of priests! Leave the bells, and come…”
- “O CONCOURSE of priests! The Day of Reckoning hath…”
- “O CONCOURSE of monks! Seclude not yourselves in…”
- “O CONCOURSE of monks! If ye choose to follow Me, I…”
- “CONSIDER, likewise, how numerous at this time are the…”
- “READ ye the Evangel and yet refuse to acknowledge the…”
- “PERUSED ye not the Qur’án? Read it, that haply ye may…”
- “BY Him Who is the Great Announcement! The All-Merciful…”
- “O CONCOURSE of Persian divines! In My name ye have…”
- “O YE divines of the City! We came to you with the…”
- “BECAUSE of you the Apostle (Muhammad) lamented,…”
- “OF all the peoples of the world, they that have suffered…”
- “IN this day the world is redolent with the fragrances of the…”
- “O CONCOURSE of divines!… Lay aside that which ye…”
- “O HIGH priests! Ears have been given you that they may…”
- “WHATSOEVER hath been announced in the Books hath…”
- “THIS is not the day whereon the high priests can command…”
- “O HIGH priests! The Hand of Omnipotence is stretched…”
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