An Exercise in Humility
So I had an interesting experience today, I attended an afternoon St. John's day service with my fellow Masonic Brothers. A little background, a St. John's day service is a church program open to the public, where Masons, O.E.S. and Heroines of Jericho gather to celebrate St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.
This was my first time attending one as a Local Licensed Pastor, in the United Methodist Church so I wore one of my clerical shirts instead of the usual suit, shirt, and tie. One of my Lodge brothers, who is also a Reverend (Baptist), asked me if I wanted to meet the Pastor of the church, I said yes so we went into the Pastor's office. I experienced something I don't get to see often in other Pastors....humility. The pastor of the church we were visiting let us into his office, sat and spoke with us, insisted we sit in the pulpit with him during the program, prayed with us before he went out, and asked both of us to come back sometime so we could preach at his church!!
I had never seen this before because I am used to pastors who "don't want their anointing disturbed" so they have as little contact with other lowly human beings before preaching. I definitely rarely see pastors offer another pastor they just met an hour ago an opportunity to preach! My experience with other pastors is they are protective of "their" pulpits, even regarding their own Associate Pastors. It was refreshing to meet another colleague who was not too proud to have others sit in the pulpit with him and even if it was a courtesy to offer an opportunity to preach, it was a courtesy I had not experienced before. I look forward to meeting more pastors like the one I met today at Hiram Clarke Missionary Baptist Church in Houston TX.
