offended

i am a huge fan of breaking down the myth that seminarians (and pastors, for that matter), have to be perfect, to abstain from all realms of life and existence outside of the church. i fully support the idea that a seminarian or pastor can have a beer or a glass of wine, can go to mainstream movies, can date (and can kiss!), can laugh at things other than contrived church jokes....i don't want people to look at clergy as being apart from the world.

however, i still believe that part of the call to ministry

as i mentioned in the first paragraph, i have decided for myself that it doesn't detract from my portrayal of God if I drink a glass of wine with friends over dinner, or if i spend time with a group of friends at a bar, chatting after a play or a concert. but i am always conscious of what i'm doing, and who is watching me. maybe it's paranoia. maybe it's just the nature of the fishbowl that is seminary. but i have always held the view that a Christian life needs to entail some standards of moderation.

as i sat down in the cafeteria this morning after my 8am class, there was a table of unfamiliar people directly next to me, within earshot (and they were being loud anyway). i grew more and more uncomfortable as they told stories of the pain of going out to a bar with friends and not having any money to buy a drink, because it was no fun to watch their friends get wasted and not be able to join in the fun. i listened to one of the guys talk about how he tried to give up smoking and drinking for lent, but failed within the first week, and to him it was mere humor. i listened to them ridicule a professor who had quoted "the music man" instead of something more contemporary, like "the simpsons." i listened to them single out the crudest jokes in particular simpsons episodes and lauging about them as if there were nothing else funnier in the entire world. they were being sarcastic about everything. there was lots of swearing. i started to feel very uncomfortable, and i certainly didn't feel like i was sitting in a seminary cafeteria.

i don't have a problem with seminarians who go to bars, but i don't know that i feel okay about watching seminarians get totally trashed, either off campus or (especially) during on-campus parties. i am still blanket offended by swearing, but have more grace when it is limited in conversation. every class and every professor have their quirks, and there is a lot of humor there, but i really do want to make every effort to respect my professors. i've already spent time on this blog questioning the right time and place for sarcasm....

i'm still sorting out my thoughts on what seminarians/pastors should and shouldn't do - not from the viewpoint that pastors should be perfect and holy, but with the idea that everything we do is seen and interpreted. maybe this sounds like a double standard.

i know that there are strains of Christianity that frown upon any drinking, any smoking, any physicality in dating, any swearing, that restrict what sorts of tv and movies they watch...and while i don't agree with all of that, i still feel that these strains of Christianity have much to say about the issue of our public witness (applying to both clergy and all members of the body of Christ). what sort of God do we serve? what sorts of responsibilities do we have to the things to which our faith calls us? i don't know where to draw the line, but when i think about sanctification, i have to think that there is some sort of line - some sort of standard toward which to strive.