This is the story of a friend who became an Episcopalian priest due to a medical condition he did not know he had. I have written it as he told it to me while we were sitting at the Jackson Hole Diner in Englewood, New Jersey. I never thought my Greek studies in seminary would prepare me to understand the illness that my doctor recently diagnosed--agoraphobia. The Greek word agora means “marketplace.” The Greek word phobos means “fear.” Put them together and you end up with "fear of the marketplace," or crowds. It wasn't a problem early in my ministry because I pastored small churches of 20 or 30 people. I dealt with the Saturday anxiety leading up to a Sunday as best I could, figuring it was just normal, especially because I never had my sermons done by Saturday and the thought of stepping into the pulpit unprepared made me nervous. But then I started finishing my sermons earlier in the week and I realized my anxiety was still there, so it must be something else. ...
by Chris Rainey. This is a blog of my journaling, essays, opinion pieces, religious satire, and creative writing.