2003 Fall - Higher Things Magazine (with Bible Studies)

By Rev. Peter Hoft

“So, you’re a preacher’s kid?”

“Yeah, story of my life. I’m a P.K.”

It’s the stigma I’ve had to live with my whole life. I’m the kid who gets the gold star every year for perfect Sunday School attendance. I’m the kid who gets mentioned as a sermon illustration. When I was a kid, no one told "colorful" jokes around me.

Don’t get me wrong! I love my dad and I know he’s doing the work of the Lord, but sometimes I wish his vocation was not so public. Does he really have to wear his collar in the restaurant? It’s embarrassing when all eyes are drawn to the pastor’s family. Sometimes I wish my dad had a different job that is more behind the scenes--like being an accountant, or a postal worker, or even a plumber. No one ever says, “So, you’re a plumber’s kid?” Why must my identity be so much attached to my father’s profession?

These were some of the feelings I had growing up as the firstborn son of a parish pastor. It’s not that I didn’t respect what my dad was called to do, but sometimes I wished I could have been more like everyone else. For some odd reason, people thought I was supposed to be more holy than all the other kids. When friends were around me they would be careful what to say. I guess they thought I couldn’t relate to the issues in their lives. “We wouldn’t want to offend the ears of the church boy,” is what I sensed loud and clear. I sometimes felt somewhat of an oddball in the group, the “goody-two-shoes.” You could say I was sort of ‘out of the loop’ when it came to details of my friends lives.

Yet, being a “PK” has not been an entirely bad experience. In fact, as I look back, it was good for me. It has taught me more than anything else in my life what it means to bear my cross as a Christian. Even though at times I felt I had the word “dork” written on my forehead, I learned that being somewhat different from the world around me is not such a bad thing. In fact, it’s a calling that all Christians must endure.

When you are made fun of for preferring to spend Sunday morning in church instead of in the bathroom hung-over from the night before, this is what it means to bear your cross. When your girlfriend or boyfriend dumps you because you want to save sex for marriage, this is what it means to bear your cross. When you are ostracized by your Christian friends who disagree with your Lutheran beliefs, this is what it means to bear your cross. These crosses can be painful because we naturally all want to be liked, loved, and accepted. So, when we are rejected by our peers, it especially hurts. We certainly do not choose our own crosses. Trials and tribulations go against our will. They are never easy to bear.

Jesus even told us that. Jesus once told his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Bearing my cross even now as an adult can be rough. But nothing I’ve faced can even compare to the cross our Lord carried. From the moment of His baptism to His final cry at Calvary, Jesus carried the burden of the entire world’s sin. If there is anyone who knows what it feels like to be ridiculed and rejected, it is Him. When my crosses in life seem heavy, I find comfort in the cross of Christ. There I find His forgiveness, hope, love, and strength. I take heart that Jesus overcame the world for me.

Today, I am thankful for being a preacher’s kid. I don’t see it so much as a stigma anymore. Rather, I see it as a station that God has called me into. And I’m glad He did, because it was the Word of God preached and sacraments administered through my dad’s calling that prepared and inspired me to be the preacher I am today.

Rev. Peter Hoft is associate pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois. He is a husband and father of one son, and is the son of the Rev. Thees C. Hoft.