Shameless Self Promotion- Prop Edition

I have a new article up on Ministry Matters- You're a Prop, and that's OK.

I'm responding to a recent episode of the Homebrewed Christianity podcast in which a former pastor says that one of the downsides of this vocation is that "you are a prop" in many events like weddings and funerals that are supposed to be sacred and worshipful.

My contention is that even if people are requesting the presence of a clergy-person for the "wrong" reasons, it still gives the pastor the opportunity to have significant interaction with people they would not normally get to relate to. A pastor may start off as a prop, but they can make the most of the opportunity with the right attitude.

I wrote the article a few weeks ago. It just posted today, but given a recent video of a priest who went off on a wedding photographer (the editor thankfully did a last minute link to the video in the article), the timing works out great!



Read the article and comment here or on Ministry Matters if you're so inclined. If you like it, please share it with others who might be interested. Thanks for reading!

Regarding the pastor in this video, the time to have such conversations with the photographer and or/ videographer is before the ceremony, but for all we know he may have and they didn't respect his request, or he may not have had the chance to. I've never had this problem, and I like to think I might have handled it a little bit differently, but I applaud him for pushing back and claiming his authority!

How do you do that funeral?

The headlines here in the Nashville area have been dominated in the last week by the death of Steve McNair, the former quarter back of the Tennessee Titans. In the last few days we've learned that he was killed by his mistress, who then killed herself, leaving behind his wife and four children who apparently knew nothing about this woman.

Since he was famous, and since the circumstances of his untimely death were scandalous, questions have been swirling around the mainstream media, blogs, and sports talk radio. What does this do to his legacy? How will we remember him now?

I've heard a slightly different version of this question tossed about by clergy and others in the religion business. They've asked, "how do you do this guy's funeral?" At a funeral we're talk about how good the deceased was, so those who have raised this question are wondering if we're just supposed to ignore the fact that he was cheating on his wife.

I can't help but wonder if raising this question in this way is a sign of the very poor understanding of grace that most of us have. We tend look at someone who was doing something wrong, if we're religious we might even say they were sinning (and make no mistake, cheating on your wife is a sin), and we assume that they didn't just do a bad thing, we assume that they're a bad person.

In other words, we assume that the power of sin is greater than the power of grace. Or at the very least we assume that for God's grace to really be effective we have to have purged our lives of sin, or at least the major ones (however we define what "major" sins are).

The truth is, though, that God's grace can be working powerfully in our lives and we'll still mess up. Grace overcomes the power of Sin, yes, but it's a lifelong process, not an instantaneous cure.

Steve McNair was a loving father, someone devoted to numerous philanthropic causes, and took time time to mentor young men like Vince Young, who grew up without a father in his life. The sin of adultery doesn't negate these good things. He was a good man who did a bad thing. Nothing less, nothing more.

So how does a pastor do this particular funeral? Steve's pastor, Bishop Joseph Walker, a man who clearly believes in "grace greater than our sin", gave a pretty definitive answer. Take a look for yourself:

(This is only part of the sermon. I encourage you to watch the whole thing.)

May we all have the courage to drop our stones of judgment and live like God's grace is greater than any sin.