Julie Raffety, Author at The Presbyterian Outlook

Time for Advent

December 20, 2018 by Julie Raffety Leave a Comment

With respect to Advent Scripture referencing the Second Coming of Christ, William Barclay says Advent is a space to never become so immersed in time that we forget eternity. It seems impossible to even picture a world without time. I describe myself as someone with the problem of being habitually early to everything. Other people have the opposite tendency, I know. Our culture is so timely that Advent can seem almost impossible to enter. How can we wait for something (and actually someone) that has no timetable, no ETA, no reserved spot in the calendar? And ironically, that's how we try to handle this "time" of Advent. We give it four weeks, a season. We put it on the calendar when that seems to be the opposite of what it is about. Yet, Christ calls out, "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36). It’s because we humans are trapped in time, morality, beginnings and endings, and we can't fathom … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Advent

It’s a great time to be a Presbyterian

November 14, 2018 by Julie Raffety Leave a Comment

It’s easy for me to “remember back” to the PC(USA)’s decisions to ordain gay ministers and allow for the officiating of same-gender marriages (according to the conscience of pastor and session), because the first of these decisions happened during my first pastoral internship, and I moderated the voting on the second. I know there were a lot of mixed emotions around these decisions at the time, but as a “younger person,” I couldn’t help but be excited that these two more socially liberal changes for the church might be an olive branch to younger people who had left or had never been in the church. My generation (of 1980s kids) and those following tend to be socially liberal as a majority, and many resent the church for condemning those they love (or themselves) who didn’t fit inside the church at the time. Now, whatever your theological leaning on these “social issues,” I do think Jesus would have wanted the church to be a safe space for all. And, if our Presbyterian denomination … [Read more...]

Authority?

October 11, 2018 by Julie Raffety Leave a Comment

“Now listen up,” the father said to his son during coffee hour at church. “Your pastor has some wisdom to offer you as you head off to camp.” Truthfully, I had more questions than wisdom to offer, but I did appreciate the integrated perspective that everything we do is somehow spiritual. So, why wouldn’t the pastor offer some spiritual guidance to this young soul on his way to his first overnight camp? Now, contrast that with the child on the airplane who is too old to safely sit in his mother’s lap during takeoff. The flight attendant passes by and kindly reminds the mom that the child needs to be in his own seat. The mother obliges for the moment, only to disregard the flight attendant’s authority as soon as she is out of sight. And years from now, this mother will wonder why her child seems to have a problem with authority. I was just on a trip with girlfriends and all of us went to a restricted area of the resort (with permission) to grab some food. We were told to … [Read more...]

“I’m a pastor.”

September 13, 2018 by Julie Raffety Leave a Comment

This month we asked our bloggers about how they view the role of pastor, how they understand their pastoral identity, or to share what a pastor really does all week. Here's how they responded. There are lots of memes and social media posts going around that joke about how people’s first response, when realizing they are talking to a pastor, is to either stop swearing or apologize for swearing. In my experience, this is assuredly the number one reaction. But, the second is usually to either talk about their church upbringing or their spiritual background, sometimes even confessing why they haven’t attended religious services recently. And, if we are lucky enough to get to this one, the third reaction is usually to ask a spiritual question or talk about a spiritual experience they have had without holding back. With humor, we tend to focus on the first reaction the most because, well, it is first, and often we do not stick with the conversation long enough (for whatever reason) to … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Role of pastor

Making sense of preaching

August 13, 2018 by Julie Raffety Leave a Comment

When I talk about myself out loud, I don’t always make sense. I like tomatoes, sugar and salt, but I hate ketchup … except on fried white fish. I dislike walking because it makes me tired, but I love running marathons. I hate science fiction and fantasy stories because I can never get behind that stuff actually happening, yet the resurrection of Jesus Christ fits into my realistic worldview. And I’m overwhelmingly an auditory learner, but I’ve never been good at sitting still or listening to sermons in my spare time just for funzies. And I’m an introvert who does much better in smaller groups, so the idea of preaching (having all of that attention on me at one time) has never been something that I get excited about. In fact, if I’m honest, I quite often get sick of hearing myself (and others) talk, so I’m doubtful that preaching will ever be my favorite part of ministry. Yet, even in all of these paradoxes, I’m starting to love preaching – not the actual doing part of it (I … [Read more...]

Tagged With: preaching

5 things I’ve learned on my fifth ordination anniversary

August 1, 2018 by Julie Raffety Leave a Comment

Someone in my presbytery recently texted me: “Happy 5th ordination anniversary.” Our presbytery prints ordination anniversaries in the weekly email, but without that this colleague would have probably forgotten to send the text and I might not have realized my ordination anniversary had come and gone. Here are five things I have learned in my first four years of ministry. (Rest assured, I learned way more than five, but these are the five that seem most memorable right now.) I don’t know exactly what anyone is experiencing, even if I have lived through a similar life event. I put this one first because I learned this one during one of my very first months in ministry. I went to visit someone in the hospital and as this person was sharing with me just how frustrated she felt, I casually, unthinkingly said, “I know.” She corrected me, “No, you really don’t.” She wasn’t kind or gentle about it, but she was right. I didn’t know then and it wasn’t because I was a first-year … [Read more...]