Partners
A New York Times Magazine article today dicsusses the phenomenon of people marrying their educational, professional, and earning-potential equals.
And, of course, we all know there are more and moer clergy couples. I’m not one of them, but this got me thinking: for those of us clergy who are not following the trend and marrying someone in the same calling/career, what does our partner’s vocation say about us, and our view of ministry?
I’ve noticed there are a number of clergy women like me with academic husbands. My guess (if I’m honest) is that I think of my calling as pretty academic in nature. I love the writing, the teaching, the reading, and the thinking that go along with ministry. Sounds like the things my husband loves about being a literature scholar.
So then, what about clergy who are partnered with: lawyers; piano tuners; counselors; nurses; teachers; engineers; musicians; administrators; plumbers; artisans . . . ?
Well,my spouse was an engineer for fifteen years before I considered a call to ordained ministy, so I’m afraid I would skew the data on this question.
Happy RGBP Delurking Week. Thanks for blogging.
20 November 2006 at 10:34 am
Attorney, the good ones, are scholars who write briefs, pleadings, etc. I’m married to an attorney and we find our pace as those who believe the word:(“Word” for me in my calling; the “Constitution” in his. It works well.
1 December 2006 at 11:48 am
I met Simon while I was living abroad. At the time he was an IT help desk worker at a local company. One of the things I loved about him was that his perspective on the world was completely different from my own. When we got married he couldn’t work for 6 months while our charming government processed his paperwork (and I completed Divinity School). By the time the paperwork arrived he had decided to make good use of my benefits as a College Chaplain and get a B.A. Through random chance we discovered that he is a very, very talented artist and all of a sudden the computer guy I married is thinking about getting an M.F.A. and becoming a college professor in Fine Arts. I guess what I am saying, is things change and you never know what you might get. (Life is like a box of chocolates?) I think our schedules will be a lot more compatable if he decides to completely leave the IT business and go into the professor business, but who knows what life will bring.
Thanks for blogging! I’m really enjoying reading your comments at YCW and your blog is great. :)
5 December 2006 at 9:45 am