Years ago, as I was just starting out in ministry, I read an
article in which a veteran pastor suggested that one of the best practices to keep one’s
sense of calling fresh was to attend the ordinations and installations of
others. I think I was in the New Jersey Synod at the time, so that was an easy
suggestion to follow – ordinations usually happened en masse at the Synod
Assembly.
It’s still a good suggestion, but one that is harder to
follow in this Midwestern church climate, where everything is much more congregational
and, since Lutherans are so dense, one could spend an awful lot of weekends
attending such services. I tend to go only to the services for people I know
really well, and even then the demands of parenting often take precedence over
an extra church obligation on a Saturday or Sunday.
Today was a reminder, though, of how true that pastor’s
advice was. I suited up for an “extraordinary” ordination, meaning one that the ELCA
roster will not recognize because the person in question is in a same-sex
partnership. She is extraordinary in many other ways as well, particularly her
commitment to mission and her grace under pressure. Unlike most Minnesota
ordinations, which can feel very much like small family affairs, this one had
pew after pew of clergy from many states attending, all of us decked out in
albs and red stoles, including many people who are not connected to the daily
life of this particular pastor or congregation. But we were there, because a
sister’s ministry is being recognized by her congregation for what it is – Word
and Sacrament for the sake of the world.
Since the first “extraordinary” ordination I attended about
ten years ago, these services have become less unusual, which is, on the whole,
a very good thing for the church. On the other hand, I think it is voices from
‘outside’ the sanctioned roads to ministry that are reminding those of us who
are called how precious this calling is, and what joy it is to share in it. I hope that, one
day, it will be “no big deal,” if a GLBT person is ordained to ministry; and yet I
hope it will still be a very big deal because God has called, and they have
answered, "send me."
Comments