"But like Aaron, the first priest, we priests have been building golden calves and golden temples ever since. With priests and ministers, the assumption is that if it is good for religion, it is good for God. 'False!' said Jesus."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p. 170)
While not every clergy person will get to literally build a house of worship, we do spend an enormous amount of time and energy worrying about the maintenance of our buildings. We also spend a lot of energy worrying about the sacred cows we inherit and sometimes create.
We sometimes mistake beautiful buildings and beautiful worship and dogmatic statements with being what God is all about. All of these while means to knowing and relating to God, are rarely what God is wanting us to do.
The greatest challenge I find as a priest is to balance the need for religion with the challenge of working on the relationship. It is of course sometimes easier to get folks to do the heart work when they're not as focused on buildings, worship and dogmas. But mess with those three and you can poison just about anything.
Blessings,
Ed
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