Health Care

   We all know clergy health coverage is ridiculously expensive - both for the clergy and the church. I am in the midst of a reconfiguration of churches, two of which have not been served by full time clergy for some time. One of the gentleman from the charge remarked how shocked he was about the sticker price of our health insurance, and was even more shocked when I noted that didn't even include my portion to pay. Tag teaming with another clergy we then explained some of the reasons the numbers are so high, older clergy, a sedentary job that is high stress, etc. But we left a big one out - poor habits.
 
    This past week at annual conference as I looked around the room that is what I noticed the most - poor habits. Unhealthy eating. Not taking time to exercise or even get up and really walk around any more than was necessary. Shame on us.

   I won't pretend to be the healthiest person in the world - but I do try to take care of myself. For the past month I have been intentionally exercising every day. For the past three weeks, I've been watching what I eat and just trying to make good choices. It doesn't mean that you exercise every day of the week - that isn't good for you either. And it doesn't mean you can't have days when you enjoy a good dessert - but it means being informed about what you are putting into your body and how you are using your body.

   I want to be able to look at my churches and say, yes, I know that the price of health insurance for clergy is very high, but I'm doing everything in my power to take care of myself so I don't knowingly contribute to higher costs in the future. There are some diseases that are beyond our control - I was knocked out of commission for a good period of time in 2014-2015 because of one such disease, but there is also a lot that we can control when we are intentional. Let's do our best to do right by the folks contributing to our health insurance, including ourselves.