Before United Methodist clergy persons are ordained, they are asked certain important questions in front of hundreds of people during the Annual Conference session. Several of those questions are very personal and a tad disconcerting. For example, "Are you in debt so as to embarrass you in your work?" Lots of debt-laden seminary graduates have mumbled a reply with fingers crossed. Two other questions are very difficult to answer with a straight face. The questions inherited from our Methodist founder, John Wesley, are these: "Are you going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?" When we clergy answer "yes," we hope that no one in the audience who knows us real well will laugh out loud.

Most of us are so well aware of our own frailties that we recoil from …