Clergy Sexual Misconduct. John Thoburn Thoburn

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      The story doesn’t start off well. Moses is raised as an adopted son of Pharaoh in the lap of self-absorption. The royal family of Egypt fancied themselves to be gods. Moses was characterized by the people who knew him as self-centered, uncaring of others, and impulsive, but of the most dangerous kind—at one point he killed a man in a fit of righteous indignation.

      However, Moses had several things going for him. First, he did not become a leader overnight. His character was forged and formed in the crucible of his exile in the desert where he spent much of his adult life. The character foundation he brought with him to the desert was fundamentally a healthy one. He was likely securely attached because he had been deeply loved by two mothers while growing up. He neither needed nor sought a leadership role to build his sense of self. He had a core spirit of humility about his strengths and weaknesses. Most important, when he was called by God, he never actually saw himself as a leader, but as a follower of the leading Spirit of God.

      When the burden of leading became too much, he didn’t compartmentalize or burn out. He turned for spiritual direction to his father-in-law, Jethro, who helped him think through how to share the burden of leadership, thereby managing the needs of the people. He took the spiritual direction of Jethro with him his whole life and was not above asking for and embracing support from others. During the battle of Rephidim, the Israelites were successful against the Amalekites as long as Moses held his staff forth. When he became too tired to keep the staff aloft, Aaron and Hur held up Moses’s arms in support, enabling Israel to prevail (Exodus 17). Every leader needs to cultivate healthy character and spiritual formation, gain spiritual direction, and develop a healthy spiritual support system. For Moses, the greatest insurance against corruption were these character and spiritual factors. (See chapter 3 for more prevention-related issues.)

      Health is reflected in a continuous process and the ability of a living system to respond to a wide assortment of challenges to its integrity (Steinke, 2006). The life of Israel ultimately could not respond in a healthy way to the challenge to its integrity by David’s actions. Consequences were set in motion, from the death of Bathsheba’s firstborn to the tragic trajectory of Absalom’s life and death that would haunt Israel for generations. The sins of the fathers do, in fact, fall to the children, even to the third and fourth

generations (Exodus 20:5). But that story doesn’t have to be the typical story. Health, reconciliation, and recovery are possible when the interconnectedness of entities in churches (pastor, family, congregation, and Church conference) are recognized and when each relates to and responds meaningfully and appropriately in the context of life in the Body of Christ. Wholeness is not to be misconstrued as only oneness. It involves the integration through the Holy Spirit of the differentiated gifts, roles, attributes, and contributions of each member of the Church (I Corinthians 12). In physics, quanta come into being in relation to others; light is ray or particle based on whether or not it is being observed. Even potatoes in the field and the moon interact in a dance of gravity and growth (Steinke, 2006, p. 7). In much the same way, ministers, their families, and the congregations they serve may all work together to be healthy. Healthy congregations are:

      1.Purposeful. A congregation’s purpose is to increase love for God and neighbors (Niebuhr, 1956, p. 39).

      2.Directive. They have a clear vision that gives direction to their actions.

      3.Resourceful. They manage conflict and healing through mutual influence.

      4.Confident. They have a corporate sense of coherence that gives people a sense of meaning to manage life, putting communal resources to work for the sake of the greater good.

      5.Known for their intimacy. They have a willingness to be both known and accountable to others. They know the difference between “me” and “we.”

      6.Adaptive to environmental stressors, rather than reactionary.

      Every member serves the whole body, either to its health or its destruction (Bonhoeffer, 1954, p.89). Health is not the absence of disease. Pathology is one component of organisms seeking health. Many symptoms of disease are indicators of the body’s healing resources at work, and “some organic processes promote growth through decay, shedding and breakdown” (Steinke, 2006). Those congregations who recognize that sin is ubiquitous will also see that new life arises from death. The primary mitigating factor against clergy sexual misconduct is not the construction of artificial firewalls between the pastor and his Church family. Rather, it is the healthy integrated balance of spiritual formation and spiritual direction where a pastoral family and Church family allow Christ to live out His life through the life of every person in the congregation, individually and corporately. Incarnation flows out of a Church body experiencing the work of atonement day by day. Love is, quite simply, the sacrament for the brother (de Caussade quoting St. John Chrysostom, 1989). Incarnation leads to balance, focus, differentiation, and healing when and where it is needed.

      References

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      Garland, СКАЧАТЬ