Are my farts embarrasing to the United Methodist Church?
So, apparantly my resume is being considered for a church, somewhere (I honestly do not remember where), and they sent me the typical church questionaire… As I was reading through it, everything seemed normal until I got to this question:
Is there anything in your life or life-style, past or present, which, if it were fully known publicly, would embarrass ***** Church, our staff, the United Methodist Church or you?
If so, please explain.
I am not sure how to answer this…
I mean, I am pretty embarrassed about the fact that I just farted in starbucks…
There was the time that my pants split while I was roller skating in 5th grade…
I am fairly embarrassed by my propensity to utter a bad word or five when someone tries to kill me while driving on 695 in the morning…
Do these count?
I mean, I understand the spirit of the question (I think)… I assume they want me to tell them if I have been arrested, or if I have a track record of doing stupid things with kids… but the way the question is worded, I am tempted to answer it.
Let’s face it, there are plenty of things in my past that I am embarrassed of, plenty of things that I would be ashamed of if they were brought to light.
There are probably plenty of people from my past that were they to know that I was a pastor, would find another church quickly…
I guess I am just wondering where the grace is in this question. I mean if Christ has done an amazing redemptive work in the life of someone, and they still have some things in their past that would be an embarrassment, does that disqualify them from employment?
I mentioned earlier that I have been reading through the prophets of late, and I have so enjoyed the restorative, redemtive message that keeps shouting out at me. I see how God looks out at Israel and does not see her past, but sees her present, and her future… I see how God looks at her and is so incredibly willing to allow her past transgressions be her past…
I know that it almost becomes trite the way it is discussed, but how thankful I am that I am treated the same way as Israel…
I see so much of my story tied up in her story…
The wandering beloved of the Lord, constantly going astray, doubting, and disbelieving…
Yet when I recognize my sin, when I recognize my distance He is more than willing to let bygones be bygones… erasing my shame with his grace.
And so I continue to look for a place that exhibits that same spirit… exchanging shame for grace, letting bygones be bygones, and embracing us despite our past and current warts…
So, the question remains… how should I answer this question?
wow dude… that’s a rough question of them to ask.
I mean, do you think that ANYONE alive at the time of Paul/Saul didn’t know who he was and what he had done? Yet that somehow was not some roadblock or embarrassment to “the church.” In fact, it was probably one of his biggest PLUSES in his ministry, “look who I’ve been and what I’ve done, and now look at me and what Jesus has done to me and through me!”
I hate that christians/churches act like sin is taboo. Isn’t sin an (unfortunately) integral part of our life? Isn’t it something that we are constantly living in tension between being fully mired in it, yet at the same time fully freed from it?
anyways, yeah, you should like tell them that you used to be in a death metal band that bit the heads off of bats and chickens and stuff, but that now you sing backup for the Gaither band or for Michael W Smith or something like that…
yeah… you know how tight smitty and I are…
Have you had a fart that split your pants and then out of embarassment said a bad word? Now that would be good reason to not hire you. I’d even question your calling to ministry. In fact, I’d even wonder if you were a Christian!
i tried for like ten minutes to come up with some kind of witty response.
I got nothing.