Odd Book?

On Super Bowl Sunday, I read This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Private and Public Lives of Two Ministers, by Martin Copenhaver and Lillian Daniel. Portions of this book I had read in magazines in the months preceding, but reading the book in nearly one sitting (during a Colts loss--congratulations New Orleans!) was something of a treat.

All in all, I found this book insightful and confessional, though something tells me that, while most non-clergy people might find this book "odd and wondrous", the average pastor would not discover anything new in it, other than learning about how two pastors, one male (older) and one female (younger) have personally coped with the insanity called pastoral ministry. Still, I enjoyed the book and the insights that Martin and Lillian provided. The book was revealing--but was predominantly confined to issues of call and parish.

I would have loved, however, to learn more about their "private" lives, especially as they each balanced work and home. Family issues (particularly as to how they each balance their parenting roles and work) were clearly lacking. But maybe that's my issue.

In short, I did find the book wondrous (actually, at times, it was indelibly inspiring) but I didn't find much in the book that was "odd", most likely because I live inside the "odd" every day. Martin and Lillian, in the introduction, point out that they wrote the book in the hope that it would provide insights for non-clergy folk who have ever wondered: What do pastors do? How does a pastor work and live? How does a pastor serving in a large church find balance?

These are good questions, but pastors who have stayed the course in pastoral work (surely for as long as Copenhaver's thirty+ years) have already answered those questions for themselves. The real question is: Do other folks understand the pastoral life and calling, or do they simply operate with stereotypes? My experience, as Martin and Lillian point out, is that the vast majority in the church and in society still have copious amounts of stereotypes in place, and don't really understand the pastoral work and life at all. Women clergy, in particular, would find Lillian's essays far more enlightening (I think) than Martin's (since, as a man, he doesn't have as many barriers to break through).

And that's where the book can be helpful. And that's why I'd recommend it for non-clergy, or those on the path toward ordination. In that light, it's an odd book.