Ordination

Me and Rev. Brenna!

I hear about ordination a lot. We discuss theologies of ordination and how things are going with our different care committees. We compare different denominations ordination requirements and worry about paperwork. Today I had the great blessing to attend a good friend's ordination worship service. Not only is my my friend Brenna a fantastic liturgy crafter, she has a wonderful aura around her that shines God's love. (She's also really, really tall.) Brenna is my first friend to be ordained, and I'm looking forward to many more. To see the Spirit moving in a friend's life, to see her complete requirements, graduate, get a call to a church job, and get ordained gives me so much joy I can't even explain it. Sometimes seminarians who are on the ordination track get really focused on the details and we may forget occasionally that ordination is not an ending. It's a calling to a type of ministry and the recognition by the community of that calling. More than anything, ordination is a blessing. The PC (USA) is blessed to have Brenna as a minister, and every community she's a part of for the rest of her life will be blessed. Tomorrow Brenna is getting into her car and beginning the relocation process.
I have taken some time off recently to give my brain a break and rest. This service has refocused me. I have a call to ministry. One day I hope my friend Rev. Brenna will be my colleague.

We are Presbyterians

We are Presbyterians

So the awesome Bruce Reyes-Chow has broadcasted on his website that the We are Presbyterians project is calling for videos. 8 minute videos addressing a few questions, and they want as many as possible. I'll be making a video, and I encourage everyone else who's a Presbyterian to consider making one as well.

A Task to be Pursued with Courage

Recently I was called a "Brief Statement of Faith person" by a friend as we were discussing the spiritual needs of older adults. I have to agree. For those not familiar, A Brief Statement of Faith is the youngest document in the PC(USA)'s Book of Confessions. It was written when two denominations merged to create the PC(USA) and became part of the Book of Confessions in 1991. While I do love the Brief Statement of Faith, I have been reflecting on the following quote from Confession of 1967 lately:

"Life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be pursued with courage." (Confession of 1967, 9.17)

For some reason this sentence has stuck with me for a couple months, ever since we studied the Confession of 1967 in my Presbyterian History course. I was really struck by the multiple ideas held together. Life. Gift. Receive. Gratitude. Task. Pursue. Courage. I especially like that the authors did not define these words for us. Words do change in meaning over time and depending on your point of view. Today I'd like to focus on courage. That's a tricky word to define in general, but what is courage to a Christian living in 2011 America? We can point to people we think are courageous. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Harriet Tubman. Mary. Bishop Gene Robinson. I have many friends at seminary who are graduating this Saturday. One is taking a call in the mid-west and will be ordained in June. One has a job at their denominational main office. One couple has been called to the same church. But several do not have that security.  I think all of them are courageous.

Is pursuing a task with courage the same as being courageous? Being courageous suggests a state of being. Some people seem naturally courageous--globe trotters and dare devils. But anyone can pursue a task with courage. You don't have to be a courageous person to pursue a task with courage. People in abusive relationships may not be thought of as courageous people, but it certainly shows a lot of courage to leave an abusive relationship. It takes a lot of courage to dream of a better world for ourselves and future generations. It takes a lot of courage to dream of a life outside of an abusive relationship or a world where members of the LGBTQ community are considered for ordination on their call and preparation for ministry and not on their sexuality. It takes courage to pursue those dreams. It takes organization, support, and prophetic vision to see what needs to be changed in order to pursue the task. It is no easy feat. So much in our culture tells us to be content with the status quo... but there is a lot of injustice in the status quo.

It's easy to look back in history and say "Well, of course someone needed to change that." Of course slavery needed to be ended. Of course the Nazis had to be stopped. But how many of us are willing to stand up today, name injustice in our world, and pursue the task of change with courage? Courage does not mean there will not be fear or trepidation. Even Jesus asked for the cup to be passed from him. But then Jesus pursued his task with courage. Now that's me reading this confession's language back into the passion story, but the Bible is the basis of the confessions.

Taking time to reflect on these things leads me to more questions...

What are the injustices in our world that need to changed?
Are we participating in communities working towards that change?
What gifts/talents/passions do we have that can contribute to that change?
Are we being the change we want to see? (Mahatma Gandhi)

Well, are we?

Replying to the Open Letter to the PCUSA

My seminary is on fire discussing the "Open Letter" document that came out on February 7th. A lot of us see things differently, particularly the young (under 30) Presbyterians who are on the ordination track. We are all committed to the unity of the PC(USA). We made the decision to come to seminary rather than pursue other (probably better paying) careers. To many of us the church is not dying. It's being renewed. The church in the coming century will not look like the church in the 20th Century or the 16th Century or the 2nd Century. The church is constantly hearing the Holy Spirit speaking in different ways. It is not the number of church members that makes a church alive. It is the presence of the Spirit.

I would like to point you to Rev. Margaret Aymer Oget's reply. She puts forth a much better reply about the other issues than I could at this time.

I respectfully decline the invitation to the gathering this August. I will be in Hebrew, preparing for Ordination Exams, and living into my call in the PC(USA).

YAV

Today at lunch I met two people who have participated in the YAV program. The PCUSA offers this Young Adult Volunteer program for people ages 19-30 abroad and in the US for one academic year. The YAV program trains you, so all you need is an open heart and a passport. Before coming to PTS, I wanted to participate in the YAV program; and I still might. If you're looking for a program to serve communities, form your spiritual identities, and go out into the world, please look into the YAV program.

http://www.pcusa.org/yav/

John and Martin

It's the Year of Calvin, and the Presbyterian Church has been posting quotes from Calvin every day. Here's today's:

Daily Meditations with Calvin August 12, 2009
"Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal." (3.7.1.)




For some reason when I read that quote, I thought of this one:

"I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. I don't plan to run for any political office. I don't plan to do anything but remain a preacher" Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool"

I guess the two quotes aren't entirely related, but when I read Calvin's thought "let us therefore live for him and die for him", I thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. who was loyal until death. Now I don't think there is any way John Calvin [1509-1564 CE] could have foreseen the establishment of any independent American nations much less the Christian pastors' involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. However, one of the wonderful things about having two thousand years of Christian leaders' wisdom is that through individual voices a might chorus of the Spirit builds. While we live in a linear world [we live from August 10, 2009 to August 11, 2009 to August 12, 2009], our faith doesn't exist linearly. Faith exists in communities and in the relationships between people both alive and dead. We speak of Christ being present to us through the Spirit, and through that same Spirit we are blessed with voices of wisdom like Calvin. No two people are going to agree whether they're arguing today or arguing across time... But I wonder how well John and Martin would get along if in some twist of the time stream they were to meet. Two brothers in Christ separated by hundreds of years who both believed in giving your life entirely over to God. We could spend all day naming other historical and contemporary figures who believe the same idea, but since it's Calvin's year and for my summer reading I had a book of MLK's sermons, I'm choosing these two.

I think they would have had more in common than in difference.