Afraid To Wear Their Collars Or Fly Their Colours
Yet the masses are still looking for moral guidance and
assurance. Indeed, people on the whole, are looking to the churches to
give a moral lead in a depraved secular state. And how are the
churches responding? They are offering stones instead of bread, as did
the scribes ands pharisees of Jesus earthly life.. Most clergy have
little more to offer society than – at best – assurance of a niche in
the hereafter - provided the enquirers reciprocate by financial and
bodily backing for the respective church offering its own brand of ‘pie
in the sky when you die’!
Yes, indeed, I find that to hold Doreen’s hand and enter a respectable
pub, or mix with others of the ‘common touch’, offering them an
occasional joke, can really ‘make their day’. Indeed, just to smile at
other folk on passing – provided I’m donned in a ‘dog collar’ - lifts
their spirits. But then, Doreen and I are quite different to the ‘run of
the mill’ church breed. In an age when the only folk keen to exhibit
their faith via attire are the Muslims and Sikhs, Doreen and I are
pleased to mix with the masses and to, unashamedly, show to the populace
who we are and what we joyfully stand for..
Very regrettably, the old type of clerics whose lives were so often
devoted to their flocks - and just about went to bed in their collars! -
has been superseded by a variety of part-time clerics who’ve done a
minimum of training via correspondence and occasional summer schools.
Yes, a poor substitute, indeed, for a lengthy disciplined course of
training, via residence in a theological college attached to a reputable
university. How the queen of the academic professions has so
rapidly fallen from its perch! But then, who’s going to do five to
seven years in a seminary today if the end award is little more than
being ‘a puppet on the string’ for manipulation by some ‘jumped up’
board of parochial church council members; many of whom are proprietors
of intensive factory farms, and whose other interests may well be blood
sports. In all humility, I write this from past personal
experience in such matters!
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