Who Are You?

Who Are You?

I recently met a brother and was puzzled by his introduction of himself.
I said; "Hi, I'm Frank Coleman, pleased to meet you."
He responded; "Hi, I'm Pastor  [blankety blank]; pleased to meet you."

I didn't negate his name for his privacy, I negated his name because I don't remember it.

His introduction and strong inflection as "pastor" so outweighed his introduction as  [blankety blank]  that any further conversation with him would be "filtered" through his title.

What is it with people that place their title above their person-hood?

This "pastor" and I were engaged in an activity that was eons away from "church," [fishing] but he felt it necessary to inform me of how important he thought he was because of his title.

Now don't get me wrong; I know God has allowed people to operate in spiritual gifts, but, it seems to me that we have decided, for ourselves, that activity in one of these giftings means we are to "park" in an "office" of that gift.

I'm not going to go into a "deep" analysis of the word "office" and the proper use thereof at this time, but suffice it to say; there is no such "office" as pastor. You can reference an earlier blog post "The Word Office" if you wish.
http://pathoflife.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/the-word-office/

We have forgotten the roots of our faith.
The "work of the Lord" has become more important than the "Lord of the work."