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This is a section from one of St. Cyprian's letters that gave me pause. He is writing about the tradition of how people are claimed for ministry. Instead of a person saying, "I think I have a call to ministry" and going to their pastor about it, perhaps the congregation should say to a person, "We think you have a call to ministry." Looking for comments. It does seem logical that people who are truly called to ministry and would be effective clergy would be limited to those who are called out by the people, and not those who present themselves on their own. Thoughts?
From Cyprian, letter 67, to the clergy and people living in Spain:
Which very thing, too, we observe to come from divine authority, that the priest should be chosen in the presence of the people under the eyes of all, and should be approved worthy and suitable by public judgment and testimony; as in the book of Numbers the Lord commanded Moses, saying, "Take Aaron thy brother, and Eleazar his son; and let Aaron die there, and be added to his people." (Num. 20:25,26) God commands a priest to be appointed in the presence of all the assembly; that is, He instructs and shows that the ordination of priests ought not to be solemnized except with the knowledge of the people standing near, that in the presence of the people either the crimes of the wicked may be disclosed, or the merits of the good may be declared, and the ordination, which shall have been examined by the suffrage and judgment of all, may be just and legitimate. And this is subsequently observed, according to divine instruction, in the Acts of the Apostles, when Peter speaks to the people of ordaining an apostle in the place of Judas. "Peter," it says, "stood up in the midst of the disciples, and the multitude were in one place." (Acts 1:15) Neither do we observe that this was regarded by the apostles only in the ordinations of bishops and priests, but also in those of deacons, of which matter itself also it is written in their Acts: "And they twelve called together," it says, "the whole congregation of the disciples, and said to them;" (Acts 4:2) which was done so diligently and carefully, with the calling together of the whole of the people, surely for this reason, that no unworthy person might creep into the ministry of the altar, or to the office of a priest. (italics mine) For that unworthy persons are sometimes ordained, not according to the will of God, but according to human presumption, (italics mine) and that those things which do not come of a legitimate and righteous ordination are displeasing to God, God Himself manifests by Hosea the prophet, saying, "They have set up for themselves a king, but not by me." (Hos. 8:4)
I remember the place, time, and person who first said "I see you as a sister in ministry." She will lay hands on my when I am ordained on June 9. And I remember the place, time, and person who said to the recently appointed pastor at my home church/sending congregation, "You know, she has been our pastor through the transition this summer." Moments later the 3 of us walked into an Ad Council meeting where I announced that I would be starting seminary that fall. There is no doubt in my mind that I was called out.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't always happen that way. What if the called person has never had the opportunity to exercise the gifts given them by the Holy Spirit? What if their gifts for ministry are squelched by persons, intentintionally or not, who, for whatever reason, see them as unsuitable for ministry or want to push them in some other direction? Certainly, there are times when others recognize a person's calling and thus, call them out. There are, however, also many called by God who have had to step up to the plate. If they are, in fact, called by God, it will be evident, and not necessarily by jumping through a series of human designed hoops.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. I'm not sure of all those hoops are necessary if we can trust that people whom God calls to be ministers can be identified and approved by the congregation out of which the person comes, who know them better than the BOM ever will. However, this does imply that congregations actively do this, and this has not been a general reality, but ought to be.
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