aside as heretics without giving them a hearing is extremely dis concerting and unfair. 2. The umpire’s motives are al ways suspect. “ How much are they payin’ ya?” is a common question. It would be generally agreed that umpires as a profession are dedicated to the purpose of “ calling them as they see them.” Human weakness may keep them from attaining this com pletely, but it is their goal. The sincere pastor often finds his motives misinterpreted. "He’s in it for the money” ; “ He loves the praise of men” ; “ He’s always push ing his family.” These are some of the expressions which are used to accuse him of impure motives. He also is prevented by human weak ness from serving totally for the honor of Jesus Christ, but this is his goal. 3. The umpire is physically and mentally incompetent. The fan may be seated in the third tier, row forty-nine, in the left field section but still declare, "any one could tell that was a strike.” “ When did you get your glasses checked?” is the cry to the umpire. The sincere pastor may carefully analyze a problem, and seek God’s wisdom for a solution, and yet be flippantly accused of poor discern ment by a casual observer. This kind of criticism comes from a proud heart which always says, “ I could do better.” Umpires and pastors both make mistakes but hu mility would say, “ He has a better viewpoint than I. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.” Millions of Christians will attend baseball games this summer from Big League to Little League. Some will hurt their Christian testimonies by the harsh and unfair criticism of the umpire. But the church will suf fer irreparable harm to its testi mony because of failure to treat its leadership with a gracious spirit. To judge with objective fairness ought to be the goal of every child of God, whether it be of the umpire or of the pastor. Dr. Glenn O’Neal is Prof, of Practical Theology at Talbot Theological Semi nary.
b y G lenn O’N ea l
Kill the Umpire!
| h e crowd cried “ Kill the Um pire!” when a close decision went against the home team. It was so easy to be caught up in sympathy with this expression of hate. After all, the umpire obviously was favor ing the other team! Or was he? In so many of our relationships we are guilty of seeing what we want to see. At times we even see what we want to see without even looking! As I observed the continu al berating of this umpire, I couldn't help but think of how often all of us in the church are guilty of un just criticism of one another. Like the umpire, the person in any posi tion where decisions must be made which affect people, is in danger of being misjudged. The pastor is especially vulnerable because he
often must make decisions on the basis of information that is con fidential. It is interesting to note three comparisons between the umpire and the pastor. These are present ed with the hope that not only will we be more patient with umpires but also with the leaders of the flock of God. 1. The fan always knows the rules better than the umpire. Most umpires have c a re fu lly studied the rule book as well as the ground rules. Yet someone who may never have seen a rule book will accuse him of knowing nothing about the game. Pastors have a guide Book, too, and most of them have spent years of devoted study to it. For a novice to cast them
SEPTEMBER, 1970
15
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker