People have a lot of titles at their disposal when they are addressing a letter to a member of the clergy, or when they are trying get their minister’s attention on a crowded New York street!
The two most frequent designations people use around me are “Reverend” and “Pastor.” In hospitals, I am sometimes called “Father” by doctors and nurses. I have a colleague in the cloth who loves to shout, “Brother Scott!” when he sees me at the Union Square Farmer’s Market.
Some parishioners favor a more formal and academic title, and will present me as “Dr. Black Johnston.” Once — about 15 years ago — I was introduced to the congregation of an African-American Baptist Church as “Bishop.” It went straight to my head.
I have always been fascinated by Episcopalian titles. Anglicans have developed the most sumptuous labels: Vicar, Rector, Canon. They also have escalating add-ons. For example, the dean of a cathedral is “The Very Reverend Smith.” If, however, Smith were to become a real bishop — not a fraudulent one like me — his title would become “The Right Reverend Smith.” Nice, eh? If Smith ascends even farther up the ladder to be named archbishop, then his official moniker would be “The Most Reverend Smith.”
A friend of mine once confessed a desire to style himself as “The Very Most Right Reverend.” Now that’s a title!
In Atlanta, my friend Mary Kelly always called me “Preacher.” The first time it happened it took me by surprise. I was in the supermarket, pushing a shopping cart topped with a package of diapers and a couple of bottles of red wine. Mary Kelly spied me, and with her beautiful Kentucky accent exclaimed, “Hey, Preacher!”
Maybe it was the sheer friendliness and grace of that first greeting, but I have come to favor “Preacher.” If someone is going to call me something other than Scott — my “Christian name” — I figure they could do a lot worse than that.
This Sunday, Barbara Brown Taylor is going to be with us at both worship services. She will be our preacher. Honestly, Barbara’s been “Preacher” to me for a long time. I trust her voice and her perspective. I find solace and challenge in her sermons.
I first met Barbara at an Academy of Homiletics meeting 22 years ago. My mentor,Tom Long, introduced us. He said, “Scott, I want you to meet someone with a heart for proclamation and an incredible gift with words.”
Two years later Barbara published a book about the minister’s craft entitled “The Preaching Life.” In this lovely volume, she talks about what it means to be “a detective of divinity” — to always and ever expect God to show up in this world, and to have the crazy courage to stand in a pulpit and point out these holy moments. As a professor, I required that every fledgling seminary student read it.
We are honored to have this celebrated writer, this accomplished speaker, this “Preacher” with us at FAPC this Sunday.
See you in worship,
SBJ
Scott, I would like to be a Canon Precentor at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, or if this not available, then my one real wish would be in Roman Catholicism to have been the Master of Ceremonies at the funeral of a Pope. I do swing a mean thurible, and am very skilled at not only Around the Worlds but also Queen Annes’s, which alternate the swing of the thurible over the left shoulder with the regular swing. As for titles, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the Most Rev. and the Right Honourable…. and the Bishop of London is the Rt. Rev. and the Right Honourable, given their role with the House of Lords. Not all Most Revs. are archbishops, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is a Most Rev. but is a “Primate” (pronounced “pri-met” since, as one Primate told me, “at least you are one journalist who knows that ‘pri-mets’ are clerics and primates are gorillas.” Nough said. And of course the ABC (Archbishop of Canterbury) is Primus inter pares, first among equals. See you in the AM at the welcome breakfast. Richard Jordan (my role at the UN is as a closet abbot, taking care of needs of 193 Member State monks, so to speak, and everyone else as well).
Preacher!
I was truly impressed by Sunday’s service. I mean that literally – it made a mark. To steal a phrase from my conservative upbringing, I was “convicted”. There is nowhere where God isn’t! What a sobering thought by the wise Ms Taylor. And the music was outrageously stirring. Thank you so much for all you do.
All my best.
We sure do miss you, Preacher, and MK, too. I remember her calling you Preacher.
Great sermon by BBT, too.