BLOG 5/13/13. THE LIABILITY OF BEING CALLED “REVEREND”

BLOG. 5/13/13. THE LIABILITY OF BEING CALLED “REVEREND’

Whenever someone calls me Doctor (which I’m not), or Reverend (which title I disdain), I find that something inevitably happens, there is some kind of an invisible barrier that descends and makes the whole ensuing relationship a bit unreal. You become a “church professional”, a few steps away from reality—maybe one who is to be respected (indulged?) within your own ecclesiastical realm, but the unspoken message is: “You’re not one of us.”

It’s really almost humorous. So long as you enter a group of people as another ordinary human being, the conversation is pretty straightforward, but when someone addresses you as reverend, the whole tenor of the conversation gets a bit more contrived is some weird ways. Hey! I’ve got sixty years of footnotes on this.

The problem is that there are a lot of men and women who love to be called by that title. You can even get it by mail order now. Agencies wanting my contributions will send me sheets of return address labels with the title: Rev. Robert T. Henderson—which, in my case, go straight to the shredder.

There was a time when a colleague and I actually tried to introduce a motion into our presbytery that we overture the Presbyterian Church to cease using that designation, since “to be revered” is contrary to the New Testament calling to be a servant of all. Do you know what happened? That motion didn’t even make it out of committee. Church professionals were jealous of their designation as clergy, as reverends.What is true in the New Testament documents is that there is no such category as clergy, and no one is ever called reverend. O, to be sure, there are elders/presbyters, and overseers/bishops who emerge in the New Testament community. There is a gift of pastor-teacher (or, teaching-shepherd), along with other gifts given by the risen Lord. Such gifts become evident in the more authentic, exemplary, proven, and mature members of a community of believers. Peter teaches that all of Christ’s followers are part of God’s holy nation, and are all part of God’s royal priesthood.

After all (as has been said so often) Jesus didn’t come to make us more religious, but to make us more human. We are called to be those human beings who are a “radiant display of the divine nature,” i.e., who are to demonstrate humanity as God intends it to be. And the first hallmark of such believers is relational—it is the life that is the incarnation of the grace and love of God in all of the “one another” relationships. Such demands that we let others get close and to ask questions, it is not aloof. It is not acquired by an academic theological degree. It is authentic and lived in humility. Such lives become what the New Testament describes as “a sweet savour of Christ” unto God (II Corinthians 2:15 KJV).

True leaders in the Christian community are those who, with utter humility and integrity, can say (as did Paul), “be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1). Those who are the leaders, or presbyters, are to be “examples to the flock” (I Peter 5:3). Not only so, but the dynamic is that all believers should aspire to such beautiful and fruitful influence (I Timothy 3:1). God’s leaders are servants They are not power hungry. They are the incarnation of what true discipleship is all about, and they are disciple-makers. They are contagiously relational.Finally, the whole clergy, priesthood, exalted ecclesiastical titles thing, is a later aberration—even a subversion of what Christ provides for leadership in the community. Even later came the subversion that somehow such came with an academic degree, alas!

Got it? OK. Just don’t call me reverend. Thanks. [Invite your friends to subscribe!]

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge