On July 10th, 2017 I was a little panicked. I knew I was supposed to submit my credentials but for the life of me I could not find or even remember seeing my ordination certificate.
It's ironic that I was worried that I wasn't completely disqualified from ministry. I knew I needed to not be an ordained Wesleyan but surely there would be negative consequences for not turning it in. Of course when I thought about it more I couldn't come up with much.
I wound up writing a hand written note acknowledging my credential surrender and explaining that the certificate was lost.
I tore the basement and attic up looking for the thing. I opened boxes of binders and picture frames and found nothing. I found some of my wife's diplomas and certificates. To be truthful I was beginning to begrudge how she seemed to preserve her stuff but didn't care about mine. As if my stuff was her responsibility. I guess when I get frustrated it's nice to have someone else to blame.
Days later I was looking for my diploma from Asbury seminary (mistakenly thinking it was proof of receiving a degree for a job application) and I found a box clearly marked certificates and diplomas. It was a box my wife had organized and packed and inside were our diplomas and Ordination certificates. I gave myself a good lecture as I stood sweating in the attic.
It was the first time I had seen my ordination certificate probably since 2006. Yay I found it! Now I can mail it in. Yeah, it didn't seem so exciting all of the sudden. But send it in I did and I paid extra to have it certified (sorry DS if that caused you a hassle). I was again afraid of the imaginary consequences of not surrendering the certificate.
I'm doing okay. Reality hit home a bit when one application asked, "have you ever had a certificate surrendered?" Yep. I hated checking the "yes" box and wondered how much I would need to explain and feared it might impact my job. To date it has not presented any real issue.
While hard, there is another part of me that easily deconstructs the significance of a piece of paper. Rob Bell and Pete Holmes talked about Bell losing his "piece of paper," on a podcast and it gave me comfort. It provided some security and identity for sure but I think I will survive without it. After all, I made it the other two-thirds of my life without it.
It's ironic that I was worried that I wasn't completely disqualified from ministry. I knew I needed to not be an ordained Wesleyan but surely there would be negative consequences for not turning it in. Of course when I thought about it more I couldn't come up with much.
I wound up writing a hand written note acknowledging my credential surrender and explaining that the certificate was lost.
I tore the basement and attic up looking for the thing. I opened boxes of binders and picture frames and found nothing. I found some of my wife's diplomas and certificates. To be truthful I was beginning to begrudge how she seemed to preserve her stuff but didn't care about mine. As if my stuff was her responsibility. I guess when I get frustrated it's nice to have someone else to blame.
Days later I was looking for my diploma from Asbury seminary (mistakenly thinking it was proof of receiving a degree for a job application) and I found a box clearly marked certificates and diplomas. It was a box my wife had organized and packed and inside were our diplomas and Ordination certificates. I gave myself a good lecture as I stood sweating in the attic.
It was the first time I had seen my ordination certificate probably since 2006. Yay I found it! Now I can mail it in. Yeah, it didn't seem so exciting all of the sudden. But send it in I did and I paid extra to have it certified (sorry DS if that caused you a hassle). I was again afraid of the imaginary consequences of not surrendering the certificate.
I'm doing okay. Reality hit home a bit when one application asked, "have you ever had a certificate surrendered?" Yep. I hated checking the "yes" box and wondered how much I would need to explain and feared it might impact my job. To date it has not presented any real issue.
While hard, there is another part of me that easily deconstructs the significance of a piece of paper. Rob Bell and Pete Holmes talked about Bell losing his "piece of paper," on a podcast and it gave me comfort. It provided some security and identity for sure but I think I will survive without it. After all, I made it the other two-thirds of my life without it.
Comments
Post a Comment