What’s a Preacher?
Yesterday at our Afterschool Program, I was talking to a small group of young children (grades K-2) about Moses. We were specifically talking about the story of the burning bush and how God asked Moses to do something that Moses didn’t think he could do. But God basically told Moses to do it anyway. God would be with him and give him the power to do it. I asked the group what they want to be when they grow up. One girl wants to be a doctor. I told her that if God wants her to be a doctor, then God will be with her and she will be a doctor. One boy said (I thought) that he wants to be a priest. I was surprised by this for several reasons. First, the child’s family attends our church and we don’t use the word priest. Second, he doesn’t always seem all that interested in church or God or faith. For instance, when we started our group session yesterday all he wanted to know was if I was going to give them candy. So I said, “You want to be a priest.” He looked at me with a quizzical look and said, “No. Police.” I said, “Oh. You want to be a police officer. OK.” And I was ready to go on with our discussion. But another child asked me what a priest is. So I told them that in the Catholic church they call their preachers priests. And I was ready to go on with our discussion. The same child asked again what that is. “A preacher?” I asked. Yes, she wanted to know what a preacher is. Again, this is a child whose family attends our church. This family has attended Wright’s Chapel since before the child was born. She sometimes comes to Sunday school, but often this child attends worship with her parents. It surprised me that she did not know what a preacher is. So I explained to the group that Charles is our preacher. He stands up on Sunday mornings and preaches during worship (the part where he talks for a long time is called preaching). A preacher is sort of in charge of the church. Finally, I think we were all ready to go on with our discussion.
As I think back about that, though, I am kind of glad our kids don’t know what a preacher is. And I’m glad that I didn’t have to describe Charles to them or talk about Reverend Tillapaugh or take them to his office to meet him. They all (even those whose families don’t attend here) knew who I was talking about when I said Charles. They all know him. They are comfortable around him. One of the kids was surprised to learn that he is the “boss” at the church. There are plenty of churches in which this would not be the case. There would be plenty of churches in which this would not be expected or appreciated. Some people think the pastor should be kept out of reach of the children or somehow treated differently than other people. As a preacher’s kid, I hated this attitude when I was growing up, usually because those people also extended this expectation to the pastor’s family as well. I am so glad that the children at Wright’s Chapel know Charles, know him by name, feel comfortable talking to him and being themselves around him. I think that is how it should be. Our children and our youth are comfortable with Charles. They are comfortable joking around with him. I hope that means that when they have problems or questions, they will be comfortable talking to him then too. I think it does. At Wright’s Chapel, the pastor is not just someone in a robe behind a pulpit. He’s a real person, just like everyone else.