I dreamed about "priesthood" last night... probably a hangover from a conversation with the Pioneer Ministry students yesterday (and a FB chat with a friend who shall remain nameless - unless he chooses to name himself in the comments)... however it was a really interesting dream - very cinematic - about a Priest who became homeless and by default became a Priest (because that was who he was) amongst the homeless, despite being a drinker (as a result of trauma) and having all the pain of lost family and friends, and the hopelessness of being caught in the trap of street living... it raised a couple of thoughts for me as I lay in bed taking it all in... 1) do we really understand the seriousness of the incarnation, that it was/is no game (a la Pulp's song "common people"), a pastiche of the life of those served with an easy escape? I guess incarnation is dangerous, a giving up of other options... 2) is it possible to choose were one's nature/calling as a Priest is enacted? Or is it simply about being where life places us, amongst the everyday people as an everyday person... in the words of Sly and the Family Stone...
I am no better and neither are you
We're all the same whatever we do
You love me you hate me
You know me and then
You can't figure out the bag I'm in
I am everyday people
...to be a Priest is to be Priestly in the midst of life, of everyday people, surely it's not taking someone out of that life and training them to be/do something other but naming their living for others with others? Priesthood is incarnational, sacramental and sacrificial precisely because it doesn't remove people from context... because it recognises and names them in place... because it is real living, not an aspiration or career path... because it demands a giving up of wanting to escape or move up the mythical ladder!
I go for being a priest where you are.
Posted by: Richard Hovey | 30/03/2011 at 13:36
"probably a hangover"
You're probably right ;-)
Posted by: Laurence Keith | 30/03/2011 at 15:51
No offense, but if there's a facebook like button, it'll be much easier for me to share.
Posted by: Elliptical reviews | 30/11/2011 at 03:34