Who gets the glory?

While my husband has offered this same wisdom to me for years, it took some wisdom from a stranger for me to truly acknowledge that I do put people on pedestals.  We all see celebrities and royalty as people who are set apart from the rest, but should they be held in such high esteem?  I have my celebrity crushes as much as the next person, but I have never seen that “crush” as placing that celebrity in God’s place. 

In the book Wild and Free, the author states that, “as we’re thinking about glory and trying to understand the concept, we don’t have to look too far into our own world.  Let’s take a moment to look at people in our culture who get glory.  Politicians, celebrities, Christian pastors and leaders, and reality TV stars.  We ascribe some sort of reverence to them, varying with how well-known they are and how potentially successful they are.  We like to see into their daily lives through social media or pictures, but for the most part we realize that they are incredibly set apart.”  “Essentially when we set aside our human celebrities and leaders, we consecrate them, but this is for God – He is the only one truly worthy of being set aside and honored and put on a pedestal to worship.”

The part that convicted me is twofold.  The first place where I felt guilt was in the recognition of “Christian pastors and leaders” as a category of people we exalt.  The second part was the reality that only God should be set aside and honored in this way.  We live in a society that tells us this type of exaltation of others is acceptable.  We have always accepted the eccentric desire of some celebrities to be exalted, but what about the clergy?  I was struck with two thoughts here:

I have exalted clergymen in the past myself.  I have placed them on a pedestal and worshiped them in a way that was meant only for God.  I will admit that it happened more frequently when I was a youth and as one who lost her father at 12, I was always searching for a male to fill that role, even if only from afar.  I have a tendency to still let myself go in this direction at times, but it usually revolves around holding up one as a standard bearer in viewing another.  Again that whole last sentence has to do with judgment so it isn’t much better, but let’s just say that Frank Cox is my ideal Pastor and Keith McBroom will always be my ideal Music Minister.  At least I recognize that I still have work to do in this area. 

We have several clergy who put themselves in this exalted position and this is far scarier to me.  While a Pastor has to choose carefully who they have deep associations with, they are called as we all are to love and minister to even the least of these.  There is an attitude that has started to pervade the modern church movement where the Pastor is seen as untouchable and in fact is completely unapproachable.  The Pastor sees himself as set apart and eventually starts living the self- fulfilling prophecy of local celebrity.  Essentially...they believe the hype that others put out there about them. Without naming names, just try to get an appointment for counseling with the Pastor of certain churches and even as a member of the church you may well be turned down.  This saddens me as do many other changes that I see in the men who are shepherding the flock these days. 

My final thought is one of thanksgiving for my current Pastor.  He shepherds the flock well and I am thankful for the way he serves the Lord.  He loves the people of his congregation and he makes that known in actions and in words.  I know that Pastors have huge demands placed on their time and they have to protect their family life and sanity time, but a Pastor that has no accountability of time, that refuses to counsel parishioners, that doesn’t see the need to minister to his entire flock should give us pause.  Of course this is just my spin on things.