The Minister's Ego

My first semester at OBU (that's Oklahoma Baptist University, not the other OBU) I attempted to major in psychology. My original goal in college was to leave with a BA in Psychology, attain a Masters, and eventually a PhD, all in the areas of psychology. I had no plans to be a counselor, a shrink; instead I wanted to be a negotiator for the FBI or US Marshals (not really sure the US Marshals have a negotiator position). However, after three test scores of 54 out of 100, I decided my skills were not meant in the psychological department. Turns out I didn't know how to study, etc. Plus the questions were rather odd. I remember one question, "Mary caught Alice with her husband John. Mary shoots Alice and John. Which part of the brain caused her to do so?" My response was, "Whatever part caused her to pull the trigger. The "I'm pissed" part?" Turns out its most likely the amygdala in the limbic system or the basal ganglia. Google it but erase your history because you don't want people thinking you're trying to kill someone. And by erase your history, I mean your internet history not your actually history.

Freud wrote, "The ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world ... The ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions ... in its relation to the id it is like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse; with this difference, that the rider tries to do so with his own strength, while the ego uses borrowed forces." The ego seeks to please the id, the id being our pleasure seeker. The id houses our basic drives: food, sex, happiness, fear, etc. A minister's id creates a basic need to be liked, wanted, and needed. Therefore, the minister's ego creates a ministry based solely in fulfilling that need or desire. An example of this could be found in the way multi-site mega churches function. Many multi-site churches have one lead pastor who is the face of the church. Most of the time, that lead pastor is the founder/planter of the church. The lead pastor becomes the sole face of the church by preaching at every main service offered at one of the multi-sites. For years, they would video themselves into a service. The sermon coming in the form of the preacher videotaped or streamed live. As technology improves, multi-site church pastors are now projecting hologram versions of themselves to these off campus sites.

Ed Young Jr., is one lead pastor of a multi-site church who has begun using hologram technology to project himself to the services of Fellowship Church's off campus sites. The argument for the hologram technology is the spreading of the Gospel. Young believes, along with several lead pastors, that the use of hologram technology and video technology spreads the Gospel message. “Paul wrote letters and wasn't always present”, Young says. I bring this up because the minister's id creates a basic desire to be liked, needed, and wanted by a congregation. Therefore, the minister's ego seeks to satisfy the id in realistic ways; technology to preach at several different sites for example, satisfies the id in a realistic way. At the deep unconscious of a minister exists a greater personal desire to be needed and we will do whatever it takes to satisfy that need.

The minister's id seeks to benefit the minister. It's our basic needs and desires. Though we may mask in the form of doing God's will, ultimately we are seeking to be benefit ourselves. It's human nature and there is no way around it. My id creates a desire within me to be noticed, accepted, understood, loved, and financially rewarded. My ego seeks to satisfy my id by creating realistic ways to achieve the desires. For example, I make visits to those in the hospital because I like hearing people say how good I am or how nice it was for me to come by. Their words approve my basic desire of wanting to be liked. Does that mean it's wrong? No, it's my basic human nature. The id is only creating desires that are natural and inherent to us all.

Walter Bruggemann writes, "On all counts, the act of preaching is: foolish because in the congregation some know more and because every congregation there are those ideologically committed in ways that preclude serious listening. As a result the preacher's utterance is already determined to be disputations even before it is heard. Dangerous if it is faithful, because the powers of retrenchment are everywhere among us, a passion to keep things as they were before the utterance. Exposing…for good preaching must speak truth to which the preacher’s own life does not always attest." He argues that preaching is foolish, dangerous, and exposing, because what must be said in proclamation constitutes a daring alternative to the ideological passions that may be present in the congregation, to the powers that conduct surveillance, either inside or outside the congregation, and to the preacher’s own sense of self. Bruggemann’s point is that minister’s vocation creates an alternative to what is already established. Our vocation is dangerous because it upsets the created order of things in life, especially in church. The minister does not fully live into this vocation because our id dictates what is good for us, and what is good for us is security. If Freud is correct, then our ego creates realistic ways for our vocation to remain safe.