Clergy ethics are probably among the hardest to explain to those outside the profession. We are all pretty clear about why doctors and lawyers have clear rules.  But the rules for clergy beyond the obvious two -- don't steal from the church and don't take sexual advantage of anyone over whom one has power or influence -- anything beyond those can seem picky and trite.  Clergy ethics for retiring ministers can seem especially picky and trite, until one begins to understand the real reason for them, which is this: essentially, a retiring pastor is to do nothing to get in the way of the new pastor bonding with the congregation.   That sounds simple, doesn't it?  Except, well, it isn't simple, particularly since we are not simply in a professional relationship like you and I have with our doctors or our lawyer.  Yes, I am your pastor. But we're also family. We're friends. We care about each other way beyond what is "professional" and that is exactly why ethical boundaries for clergy who are retiring are so very hard and so hard to explain.  After all, you might really, really like your surgeon, be really grateful for the work she did to save your life, but after her retirement, when you'd been seeing a new surgeon, you would never think to ask your retiring surgeon to come out of retirement and do your next surgery because you were friends. 

I am grateful, therefore, to have had the chance to think clearly about these things with smart colleagues in two different settings -- with Regional Minister Sandy Messick and retiring clergy in the Northern Lights Region last October and then also with United Church of Christ clergy leadership (as I am moving to a place where there are few Disciples but many, many U.C.C. siblings).  Here is some of what I learned that I need you to know.