Monday is my official day off, but I don't seem to have had one for quite some time. Today is also the Clergy Fraternal, where the local Pisckie clergy lunch and share gossip and pain, and lots of laughter too. Is this work? The RW and I mused on this yesterday evening!
In lots of ways I guess it is, but then again, I'm not paid a salary with a set amount of hours each week. I'm given a stipend, a living allowance, which allows me the freedom to live out my priesthood. So, everything is "work" really, but then again it's not! I actually enjoy greatly, and am deeply blessed to be able to, live out priesthood, although at times I'm not very good at it! It's a way of living. I get really uncomfortable with clergy who count up the hours they have "worked" in a week!
It gives me time to blog, to read, to keep up with current news and current theological thinking, and it gives me time to myself, and time for prayer and reflection. (As well as all the other stuff like pastoral care and supporting Partick Thistle Nil)
It means, sometimes, that if I have my sermon written, I can sit down and watch Saturday evening TV. It's at times like these that I am glad that I subscribe to Sky +. The choice between the X-Factor and Strictly fills me with dread, and I'm glad to catch up with NCIS or something like it rather than watch the nonsense on offer.
I caught a glimpse of two brothers on Saturday who were really terrible on this X-Factor thingy. They looked like adverts for Harmony hair spray, and as a fellow blogger wrote, seemed to have been sent out by mum with Ghost Buster suits on. I was glad to catch up with a Star Trek episode instead.
Meanwhile, I'll enjoy my lunch with fellow clergy today. Work or not, it's part of the brilliant things I'm allowed to do, having been given the means to do it!
PS Half-stipend is an abomination. You get full-time priests for half the money. Ministry on the cheap! How can you be a part-time priest?
2 comments:
Meeting with fellow professionals for an important business discussion (how to minister to those who are hooked on X Factor, perhaps?) must surely be classed as work. Even if it is over lunch.
Add some appropriate business-speak phrases like networking, brain storming, actioning etc and you might even be able to claim expenses for it :-)
We do ALL of these things!
Post a Comment