Sunday, April 02, 2006

Intimidation

On any given Sunday - there are 4 or 5 and sometimes more, ordained or licensed clergy sitting in the pews of my congregation. Talk about intimidation! Today, a friend of mine and also a student at LTS joined the congregation and just pushed the intimidation factor up even more. This morning there were five ordained and one licensed ministers sitting in the congregation - not to mention Bill, our senior pastor. Sometimes I have trouble doing the simplest of things like writing prayers. What does this sentence in my prayer say about my theology, does it go against other parts of my theology, and most importantly are all these other ministers going to catch that then think about me and my inconsistencies for the rest of the day? I mean I know that for most ministers being judgmental is not part of their character - but it still sucks. On top of this all, my preaching professor at LTS is a member of my congregation - so not only do I have to preach in front of him before I even take his class, I have to preach multiply times in front of him, both in and out of class, and after I've (hopefully) already passed his class. I guess I just need to keep telling myself that if it doesn't kill you, in only makes you stronger and hopefully I'll be a pretty good preacher when all is said and done. :)

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