BLOG ENTRY FOR 2/1/13
The Waitress and the Pastor
I’m sure by now that most of us subjected to Yahoo have heard about the recent snafu between a pastor who didn’t tip and commented on the tab and the waitress who posted it up online and got fired. It’s a sad situation indeed with evidence of lack of forethought on both sides.
This blog isn’t exactly about that matter, though it has something to do with that. We as ministers sometimes forget that we are, first and foremost, representatives of a Higher Power; we are supposed to be a beacon of light of the world. We are not perfect; we fall from grace just like everybody else, we get up and we dust ourselves off, and we go out into the world to try again. The problem is that we are also authority figures and as such are held to a higher standard by the general public. When we fall, we FALL – and the darkness of the world sees it and leaps on it like jackals on a carcass.
If we are a beacon of hope as we swore we’d be when we received our pastoral callings then we need to think things through before we say and do them, regardless of where we are and what we are doing. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard by forgiving others, forgiving ourselves and by asking forgiveness when there is a failure to show love by the words and actions that we and others do. We are servant leaders; and good servant leaders take responsibility for themselves and for their actions. We need to think before flipping somebody off in traffic when they cut us off, before we write a snarky note on a restaurant tab, before we make a nasty comment about somebody, before we comment on the flaws of a celebrity or public figure – the list goes on. The Almighty will help us in this task if we ask. (If only we asked our Higher Power for help more often! We’d be so much better off than we are now!)
Once a pastor or minister falls from grace it puts a permanent blotch on our reputation. God may forgive, but the world isn’t as forgiving. There are many examples of falls from grace out there, some more severe than others; and when one is stained, it backlashes on the rest of us. So I beg of all of us to please ask yourself before you make an action: Would the Almighty do this? Or is this something that the Darkness of the World would do?
Peace be with you all,
And let us all strive together to be the Light of the World to all on this Earth.
Rev. Kerena Hyler DD OCC
