Yesterday I made my first hospital call at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital since moving back to Virginia. When I served a congregation in Virginia Beach, in the 1980s, I visited in that hospital a lot. Yesterday I experienced again the ego boost that I remember from those years!

The hospital is a naval installation, and so it is a world where people are used to uniforms and treating each other according to the rank that is indicated on the uniforms. Yesterday, wearing my clerical collar meant that I was wearing my uniform -- and my rank was high! Nearly everyone, enlisted and officer, met my eye and said, "How do you do, sir?" and "How are you, sir?"

I'll tell you one thing: Too much of this would erode my sense of humble servanthood!