Although it’s been a couple months since I last wrote a blog post, I’ve been quite busy writing my book about being autistic. I’ve also been busier with planning and officiating wedding ceremonies, as it is that time of year. I don’t usually focus so much on my ministerial work in my writings, but in this blog post I will. In just two hours from now I’ll be officiating a wedding ceremony in this tourist town of Rice Lake, WI. When I woke up this morning, things started clicking in my mind. Becoming an Ordained Minister is something that occurred by happenstance way back in October of 2001. I didn’t really do anything with it until 2004, which is when I officiated my first wedding. Even my attempts at starting my own church fell flat simply because I wasn’t really motivated. But now something is different. Times have changed, and feelings have changed.
For the most part, I felt rather uneasy officiating weddings and performing other ministerial tasks. It wasn’t because I was afraid of being in front of crowds. I am not. Perhaps being autistic had something to do with it. And then this morning, as I lied in bed half-awake, this realization suddenly came to me:
The five points of being an autistic wedding minister:
1. You are a man of the cloth. Your social foibles are forgiven.
2. You are not building relationships, and these people will never see you again.
3. You will feel out of place because you are not part of this family. Don't worry about it.
4. You will be looked up to anyway because of your important role.
5. Regarless of the first 4 points, you are automatically considered trustworthy and may even become somebody's confidant along the way.
During yesterday’s rehearsal for today’s wedding, these points were very palpable. That which made me feel so uncomfortable in the past was suddenly a moot point.
These same points DO NOT apply to being a chiropractor. Since almost all people see chiropractors as either not "real" doctors or an "optional" piece of the puzzle, I am automatically under more scrutiny and am being judged more, a fact that I cannot afford being autistic. It’s not that I want to leave this profession. Those that know what I do say that I am a great healer (their words, not mine), thus I want to continue helping those who trust me enough to experience what I have to offer. It is just that since this part of my life has not panned out the way I wanted it to, perhaps, after eleven years of trying, it’s time to shift my focus.
When I was a very young kid, John, the kid I grew up with that lived next door to me, and I used to pretend that we were Catholic priests. We both went to Parochial schools and were very active in our churches as altar boys. We both became very close friends with our parish pastors. Now John lives in a seminary. While his goal is to become a priest, he of course balks at my having become a minister "for hire". In the end, though, it seems that we followed through, in our own ways, with that which had inspired us in our younger years.
For me, I see it as something different, yet at the same time not. I am still a healer. I’m just not performing in the "doctor" role at the moment. As an Ordained (Interfaith) Minister, I can still use energy medicine (Reiki) to hold healing sessions. I can counsel on a spiritual level. My service to the Heart (the hub in which God dwells) through bringing people together in wedding ceremonies, memorializing people at funerals , welcoming people into this world through baptism, or in other ways, is how I am serving humanity. This is a duty, and this is a most honorable CALLING.
Such food for thought.
