I understand that you have been well-programmed to know which secular ideologies to promote to your congregations from the pulpit and the lectern. You have obviously discovered the benefits of the obsequious charm to be employed before your bishops, archdeacons, canons, cardinal rectors, and even a stray adjunct professor. You have knowledge of canon law, of the correct contemporary interpretation of scripture, and of the various rubrics that guide our liturgical life, as long as those rubrics are neither too fussy nor too "old".
According to the leaders of your churches and denominations, you have everything you need to spend the remainder of your lives [given that your average age is around forty-seven, I appreciate that life-long service isn't what it was] furthering the Kingdom through able and involved leadership. Yep, that's the ideal, isn't it?
I have just one suggestion, or series of small suggestions, to offer: Throw out everything you know.
Don't preach secular ideologies as they are transient and trying to fit them into the Christian life will, from time to time, make you a hypocrite. You speak for eternal values that can be contradictory when placed against the mean needs of worldly expectations. Any preacher who has attempted to be both pro-choice and against the death penalty, or vice versa, has discovered this conundrum. Besides, people can get secular ideology from their politicians. From you, they want something deeper and more resonant with the eternal.
During your career you will serve liberals, conservatives, gun-owners, vegans, laborers, educators, and a portion of every other demographic in our society. To identify with just one group, and potentially alienate the others, would end your effectiveness as a preacher and pastor. It would also display that you believe little of what Jesus taught. There is nothing worse than listening to an ordained person speak warmly about how we must "respect the dignity of every person" and then turn around and confess how much they deeply and personally loathe the intellect, education, and wardrobe of a former Alaskan governor. All healthy congregations want is a man or woman of God who is ready to listen and respond to them. Unhealthy congregations may want a secular ideologue, but unhealthy congregations die and you don't want to be in on that.
As far as obsequity goes, while it may seem to have its usefulness, it does nothing but remind the authorities of your church of your subservience. That's important for them; rather soul-crushing for you. There may be some superficial career advantages in repeatedly reminding senior clergy of your status as a beta male or female, but it does not serve the Gospel.
While you may find yourself spending a career in what others might regard as minor ministries, you will be true to your call if you are honest and forthright in all associations. Yes, I know you don't see a lot of that on display among senior clergy these days, but that just indicates how much more it is needed. After all, it's not as if those who hold the reins of power in mainstream Christianity have done such a bang-up job of witness and evangelism, is it?
It is appropriate to know current Biblical interpretation; it is more important to allow your own experience to serve as the prism through which that holy light may shine. You can quote from the great scholars throughout a Sunday sermon, but your parish called you to that pulpit; they want to know how these verses work for you and have you use that platform to explain scripture's relevance in their lives. Sometimes that means that you have to be bold enough to be original in your thinking. I know that's something else you haven't seen much of, either.
But you should also know some things that aren't anticipated in your formal education. First, know how to use a hammer, drill, paintbrush, mop, and broom. You will have to do a lot of maintenance on your aging church buildings, and the work that you don't do yourself you will have to supervise. You will come to know the term "deferred maintenance" and regard it as synonymous with "radioactive". Deferred maintenance has destroyed more congregations throughout history than have notorious and unrepentant sins.
Additionally, in the 21st century, you will have to be a fund-raiser. If only to pay the utility bills for the parish, never mind costs related to staff, liturgical supplies, your insurance, pension, and salary, you will have to be raising money and encouraging donations every single day. It is harsh, yet honest, to observe that every ministry and every activity will have to be judged as to its affordability and economic sustenance. It may not seem so at this point in your education, but this is actually a sublime exercise in pastoral care. Ministries that give the parishioners a warm feeling about themselves, but wreck the budget and discourage future giving, are superficial and ultimately worthless. Ministries that can be maintained for subsequent generations not only enrich the lives of those involved, but enable the parish to have an identity and role to which people are attracted.
The greater church produces more geniuses than a conclave of Nobel Prize-winners, at least if you listen to other clergy. Every few years you will be introduced to "new" ideas in congregational development, parish organization, and who to place on top of the official list of the "socially aggrieved". Each new bishop will eliminate the familiar and replace it with the products of his or her own vision, only to have those replaced with the next change in administration, a change that often occurs in the same decade.
Remember in the heart of all of this din you will see small, quiet pockets of ministerial service. Do what you wish with the whims of the geniuses, but remember that it is in these pockets that your call may be realized and your obligation to the Holy Spirit fulfilled. Remember, too, that it is in those moments that you will feel God's pleasure, knowing that you have added to the Kingdom.
If you are able to find these moments, then you will understand the glory that is ministry, and that will always sustain you and grant you what you need to be a clergy-person of substance and Godly service.