 |
|||||
Reviewed by Corinne Boruff, pastor, First United Methodist Church, Noblesville, IN Life in the Fish Bowl: Everyday Challenges of Pastors and Their Families by F. Belton Joyner Jr. In the grip of God’s call to an itinerate ministry to a local United Methodist Church, most clergy and families experience living in a church owed home or parsonage for some period of their ministry. Therefore the relevance of this topic is a premium for most clergy and churches across the United States as F. Belton Joyner Jr.’s book, Life in the Fish Bowl, offers the frustrations, expectations, ironies and dark humor of living in such a setting. A primary question for this author becomes, “Who is the audience?” The assumption is that this is a primer for any family moving into a parsonage as chapters on keys and power, house vs. home, family cohesiveness, pets, repairs, intrusions and public opinions give a multitude of descriptive parsonage life scenarios. Illustrations of the transparency of living in a public arena where anything malfunctioning – an appliance, part of the housing structure like the roof, a pet, a child, and, heaven forbid, a clergy and spouse marital issue – becomes not only public knowledge but property of public opinion and direction. The better question for this author may be, “Who is the best audience for this book?” Having grown up in United Methodist parsonages, and continuing with my own clergy experience with housing, I resonate with the subject. Yet, obediently answering a call to an itinerate ministry and being appointed (without choice) to a church that most likely will provide a parsonage for their pastor and family to reside in, I would hesitate to hand that family a gift copy of this book In hind site the anecdotes are entertaining and help us recall many of our own bitter sweet experiences as parsonage dwellers. A new family has no such perspective. As one who has been there and is still there, I would highly recommend this book for all leadership of any church that owns a parsonage and every member of that church’s Board of Trustees. The hope would be that these well-meaning, fish bowl tapping members of the church would become sensitized to the strains of pastoral home-life. A most constructive and helpful chapter in the book was the chapter entitled, “Parsonage Prayers” which could become a grace-filled tool with the potential to reframe a house into a home through the power of a God who is all about new beginnings and transformations.
|
