Pastoral Theology: Ordination

For the last several months I have been seeking greater intensity in my relationship with God. I have been trying to "up the ante" if you will and be "all in." It is a call that I have been feeling for some time, a desire to go even deeper into the love of God.  Whatever the Apostle James may say, it has felt as though the more I pursue God the stronger the devil, instead of fleeing, tries to get in the way. But all in all it has been a good journey and yesterday I have a wonderful experience. I won't go into the details but God really spoke to my heart, and for that I'm grateful. It was significant enough that I thought, "I should remember this day" so I looked at the date.

07/20/2012

I stared at that date for a minute, lost in thought. I knew that date was already significant in my life, but why? Then it hit me: 07/20/2011 is the date I was ordained by the Classis of Lake Erie into the Reformed Church in America. It appears this date might be repeatedly significant for me.

Thus the topic I want to talk about today: ordination. When a minister is ordained, it is the final confirmation by a body of believers regarding the call God has placed on that persons life to proclaim the gospel and administer the sacraments. There are songs; there are hymns, there is Scripture, there are prayers offered and there are liturgical formulas read and followed. It is awe-inspiring; it is uplifting; it is a moment saturated with God's grace. It is of the utmost importance for religious bodies to continue this tradition.

Two things I have learned since being ordained. Being ordained does not change your human nature.  We know what we are called to do; we know what God desires of all who call on his name and by the grace of God we will usually succeed in doing those things. But as Paul put it so well in Romans, though we inwardly delight in God's law, we are simultaneously aware of our rebellious nature. Nevertheless, we go forward and proclaim the good news that the wretched man can be saved through God in his great mercy. Thanks be to Jesus Christ!

Another thing I have learned, is ordination is two fold. The first is in the liturgy, the holy convocation, the prayers and the Scripture that takes place during the official ceremony. The second takes place when we start to do the work of God in the place where we are called. In addition to the great moment I had with God yesterday, I also started reading John Buchan's Witch Wood. The book thus far revolves around the work of a Presbyterian minister in Scotland named David.  It is his first ordained call to a small, rural kirk. The first winter a terrible storm hits. Buchan wrote, "Yet it was the storm which was David's true ordination to his duties, for it brought him close to his people, not in high sacramental things like death, but in their daily wrestling for life. He might visit their houses and catechize their families, but these were formal occasions, with all on their best behaviour, whereas in the intimate business of charity he saw them as they were" (p54).

I experienced this in my first call. Several weeks after I started the church does its biggest outreach and fundraiser as it runs the cafeteria at the Hookstown Fair. Each morning I would go into the office and then head over to the fairgrounds. I prepped food, I served food, I mashed potatoes but more than anything, I washed dishes. I washed and I washed and I washed. And I got to know lots of members of the church I now serve. I got to know them in a more familiar way, brushing shoulders with them side by side as we did every day work together. I struggled that week with the work and yet in the process I felt like I forged an identity and understood a completely different, but just as important, realm for the pastor to be a pastor.

So one year into being an ordained minster I would offer two points of advice to my brethren considering a call. When you mess up, don't be surprised--it is just your human nature. The ordination doesn't wash that away. And when you get to your call, jump into the every day life of your parishioners in anyway you can and experience the other side of ordination.