Paid Religious Professional

Some days, I wear the collar

Because I need the reminder --

"You're under orders!"

(As in "ordained").

Other days, I don acetate,

Because I will function in

A "sacramental role"...

Black shirt and white collar required!

And then there are other days...

When I show up with a

different role -- that of

the paid religious professional.

My job on these days?

Two-fold:

Act priestly enough to add a dash

Of gravitas to the proceedings, but

Not so religious as to make anyone

Uncomfortable...

The day unfolds.

Lots of conversations and dialogue,

Discussing and deciding.

No overt religious talk, though after the invocation.

Prayer, like strong medicine, need only

Occupy the tiniest and most unobtrusive of spaces.

Prayer like a hair care product of the 1950's

Must be dispensed in "dabs"...

That'll do ya!

So how important is this ministry?

My ministry as an inoffensive anachronism?

I wonder. And I'm aware at

How easily I provide what is expected,

A brief prayer for guidance...

And then the meeting unfolds,

Unimpeded and unfazed by any Gospel challenge

To the way things

Have been done;

Or are done;

Or will be done.

With so many plans,

Who needs prayer?

Midway through the day,

I become aware of my own complicity in

Perpetuating the role of

The paid religious professional,

Whose primary role in such meetings is

Ornamental.

Kyrie eleison.