Tuesday - Calling by God to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament

Prayer:   Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning,  is now and ever shall be,  world without end.  Amen.

Read  St. Luke  12: 22 – 26

Do not worry about your life.  Do not worry about what you will eat.  Do not worry about your body.  Do not worry about what you will wear.  Life is more than food and the body more than clothes.  

Jesus tells his disciples to meditate upon the ravens.    They are free and unfettered.  They do not have a job description and they live in the love of God.   You,  Jesus says to the disciples,  count for much more than the ravens.

This is exactly the understanding of the Call of Ministers.   During Financial Meetings,  we put a price tag on the Minister – the stipend.  But in actual fact, the gift of being a Minister is not a job nor a career but a Calling by God.

William Willamon in his book, “Pastor:  The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry” Abingdon Press,  2002  states:   “…… ministry is not a profession.  It is a vocation.  One could not pay Pastors for what is routinely expected of them. One must be Called in order to do it.  Although Pastors may struggle with exactly what it means to be called by God to lead a church, they must have some sense that they are in ministry because God wants them to be. Time and again, amidst the challenges of the pastoral ministry, this divine, more – than- subjective authorization is a  major means of pastoral perseverance.   To know that our ministry is first and finally validated not by our feelings, or even by the judgements of the bishop, but by God;  this is great grace.   To assert that, in our ministry, we are representatives of something more significant than the denomination, that we are accountable to God;  this is empowerment.  To believe that we are in ministry as God’s idea, rather than our own sense of occupational advancement;  this is the submission, the yoking that is the source of true freedom.”

 Ministry is a Calling by God.  Ministry also means putting one’s life in God’s hands and not worrying about one’s life… not worrying about what one will eat… not worrying about one’s body… not worrying about what one will wear.  Life in God is more than food.  Life in God is true freedom and delight.         

Prayer:  Now may the God of peace and of all understanding keep us from falling and ever keep us in the palm of His hand.  Amen.