faith! - Chris Clements

When Chris Clements began his life as a priest more than 50 years ago, the times were not unlike those we are living through now. He was a young chaplain at East Tennessee State University during the era of the Vietnam War. There was no pandemic, but students were struggling with what the war was about; whether they believed they should go. Protests were occurring across the country.

“That was really painful for a lot of people,” Chris said.

As a chaplain, he was also affiliated with a parish near the university, a parish he ultimately served as rector for 10 years.

“Some people in the parish thought these were just draft-dodgers. They didn’t understand that people could be conscientious objectors.”

Chris also counseled young women who found themselves pregnant. Those were the early years of legalized abortion.

Neither line of counsel – working through conscientious objection or pregnancy alternatives -- was looked upon as the work of the Church. But Chris believed he was supposed to do both, and always, he said, engaging with people in an honest way helped create understanding.

“When the parish objected to me working with students who wanted to avoid the draft, I went to a men’s club meeting and spoke. I think we went away with an honest effort at understanding one another; that we weren’t trying to subvert the Church,” Chris said.

Not one to play the role of “God’s messenger,” Chris said he won’t tell another person what God wants or is asking of us, but “when you’re engaging with people, you have to be honest about what you believe.”

And, if as a Christian, you believe you are called to respond in a specific way, “I think you have to say, ‘This is what drives me. This is why I do this.’”

And then, perhaps, ask the question: “How do you see the covenant calling you? If you have a different view, then explain that to me.”

Keep in mind, however, that some people have a harder time articulating what they believe, Chris said.

That is why relationship and community can make a difference. He saw it with the men he knew in that men’s club, and he has seen it in a Bible study he took part in when he was serving at St. Mary’s in Irmo before retiring. Not everyone interpreted the Scriptures the same way, but through honest conversation, understanding was built.

“They would engage and sometimes say, ‘Well, that’s hard. Jesus said that and that’s hard for me to understand and accept.’”

Those opportunities to build understanding are more difficult right now because we cannot gather in the same room. We are having conversations via texts and emails, which can only foster so much relationship in Chris’s eyes. Online church leaves him feeling a similar void.

“I don’t find virtual church very satisfying. I think that church is – at least part of it – is getting to see people and getting to be with people,” he said, adding that despite his dissatisfaction, he still makes the effort each week to attend St. Martin’s online service.

Attending online worship, reading for pleasure and to stay informed, exercising with his trainer and communicating by telephone with friends are the ways Chris is managing life amidst COVID-19. He says he has no deep wisdom or spiritual routine to offer, but one can’t help but wonder if that is really true.

There is a sparkle and a gentleness to Chris that breaks through the technological void.

Asked about today’s protestors, he recalls that earlier era in his life when the streets were filled with young voices shouting about a war they did not believe in. Today’s struggles are just as valid.

At 80, and sometimes unsteady on his feet, he no longer feels able to take part in protests, but he did when he was a young man, and he respects those who are there now. He also finds their response an understandable form of action.

“Millennials don’t have a lot of faith in government,” he said. “Marches are something you can do, not just something you can talk about.”

Our discomfort at their action reminds Chris of how Jesus’s responses so often made people uncomfortable.

“Or, as a friend of mine used to say, ‘I wish Jesus hadn’t said that.’”

The Rev. Chris Clements is a retired Episcopal priest who occasionally assists with services at St. Martin's. He found his way to the parish after a sabbatical of sorts upon his retirement. The parish's warmth and open arms made him feel welcome in a way he found he had missed.