Pastor -- Heal Thyself!

There was a time when ministry was an honored profession. Oh, clergy have never made much money -- unless you write a big book (which as of yet I've not done -- mine are small sorts of things). But the clergy profession has become marginal, even irrelevant. Unless you're a big time TV preacher or mega-church pastor, the world pays little attention to you. That's fine, life changes, but the expectations that people place on clergy and clergy place on themselves has not changed. With emails and cell phones we're even more accessible than in days of yore.

With that as my lead in, I wanted to point attention to an article today's NY Times that deals with clergy health. Samuel Freedman's article is entitled: "When Serving the Lord, Ministers Are Often Found to Neglect Themselves." The article focuses on another study of clergy and their situation in life. This one comes out of Duke University, and the results of this study will be coming out over the next couple of years. This study and others points out the problems. The author writes:

While medical studies in various denominations indicate that clergy members live longer than comparable civilians, an emerging body of evidence over the last two decades has shown that ministers are more vulnerable to diabetes, depression, hypertension, gastrointestinal distress and heart problems.

Put another way, these are the sort of ailments that can arise from the combination of a hectic schedule and too many fellowship suppers, especially here in the land of barbecue and fried chicken. Methodist ministers in North Carolina earn about $42,000 annually, including their housing allowance, and the denomination’s doctrine of itinerancy means that every year about a quarter of the state’s pastors change congregations.

I know a lot of clergy that don't take a day off, don't take their vacations. I'll admit that I'm more likely than not to spend my day off writing -- and doing the same during vacations. It's my addiction, I guess, but it is a major issue to be faced.