A minister. I want to be a minister.
Yes I am a millennial and yes I am a Liberal and yes once again I still want to be a minister.
I’m hoping that this piece can clarify what this means for my peers and for the peers of others who have heard the call to the ministry.
Every day we get the question from those we meet or those whom we aren’t necessarily one hundred percent familiar with quite yet. It starts off with “Are you in school?”,then continues with “What are you studying?”, then finally ends with something like “Oh” or “Interesting” and the conversation immediately makes an awkward switch to something else or ends abruptly.
This happens every single day.
Then there are those who don't necessarily understand what becoming a minister actually means. The question starts off with the usual “ What are you studying?” Then continues with “You want to be a what?!” then continues on with “Oh you want to be a priest”
I’ll go ahead and say this now….I wish to become a protestant minister, not a Catholic Priest.
Nothing against the priesthood, it’s just not for me.
Then there are the most entertaining of them all, I call them the ‘speakers’. These people are usually people comfortable with me and people I have gotten to know sort of well but they aren’t my closest friends, more like the people you just went to school with and found yourself around more than others. They speak and ask exactly what’s on their minds. The conversation usually goes like this.
Speaker : “What are you studying?”
Me: “Theology, I want to be a minister.”
Speaker: “You know you can’t have sex right?”
Me: “Yes I can, yes I will.”
At this point it will turn into an uncomfortable and awkward conversation about something completely different because whomever the speaker happened to be no longer feels comfortable talking about anything with me.
Fun fact: Clergy and those studying to become clergy are human beings. They have a sense of humor, they watch the same movies and T.V., they love to joke around, and as a matter of fact, they live and do everything the exact same way that any other profession would. The only difference is that they get up and preach on Sunday Mornings.
My biggest fear upon hearing my call was that people would begin to treat me differently or act differently around me in fear of judgement. I am the exact same person I was before I heard my call, I just see things more clearly now.
I still like to have fun, I still swear if I accidentally drop something, I still joke around, I still enjoy horror flicks, I still love to hang out and act moronically with my best friends, and I can assure you for those that are still curious, I’m still allowed to have sex, a marriage, and children, just as anyone else would be able to.
So if you too have heard the call to the ministry feel free to share this post with your peers and hopefully you will stop hearing the daily questions from all of the speakers out there.
If you have not heard the call but know someone that has, continue to treat them just the same as you have before. They are still the exact same person.
Please don’t assume that clergy are standing on some kind of a pedestal and please don’t feel like those studying to become clergy like myself think that we are better people than anyone else.
We are the exact same kind of person that you are, just with a different career plan.
