Contemporize, Man!
I was recently invited to join a group called Revs on Ice. It's a group of local pastors who play hockey together once a week. The skill level was good, and the character of the players was even better. Upon entering, I didn't really see a lot of people I knew, so I introduced myself as the youth pastor from Tavistock Mennonite Church. One guy looked at me and said, "You're a youth pastor? Where's your ponytail?" I responded by saying, "I don't have one. I was hoping that the goatee would contemporize me enough." Another pastor responded by saying, "It is." Banter about visual contemporization of faith isn't what I expect in hockey changeroom dialogue, but I had to remind myself that they were all pastors.

Truthfully, I got the goatee to look and feel older, and the experiment will end soon after Easter. Hopefully, my words (sermons and otherwise) and my actions have by now contemporized my faith (more about the definition of that later) within the context of my job/ministry.

If you like, you can compare and contrast me with a goatee and without one.

   [ posted by William @ 6:38 PM ]