Dear _______:
I was so glad to get your email. Seeing your faith develop has been a highlight of these last two years. It has been a great privilege, actually.
And now you tell me that you are feeling called to the ministry, or wondering if you are. You ask whether I think this could possibly be.
Since you asked me for my thoughts, I’m happy to share them. It is too bad that you now live at such a distance, since it would be much easier to just chat over coffee.
My first answer is two answers: “Yes” and “Maybe.”
Yes, You Are Called to Ministry
First the “Yes.” You can be completely sure that you are called to ministry.
How can I be so sure? For this I take my cue from Martin Luther.
Luther taught that when each of us is baptized, we are baptized into Christ, joined to him personally as part of his Body.
You’ve probably heard the Church referred to as “the Body of Christ.” For Luther this is not just shorthand for the human organization. Rather it makes us take the people of faith far more seriously than a mere human organization: we are invisibly and permanently woven into a living organism, and that organism is the way Christ himself is present and does his will on the earth.
So, for Luther, if you are actually united to Christ himself, then whatever he is about, you must be about.
Christ is about ministry. You need to be about ministry.
Luther explains this in terms of Christ as our High Priest, as the author of Hebrews says he is. Joined to him, we share his priestly ministry; as Peter wrote, we are “a royal priesthood,” each and every one of us.
Christ’s work is about priesthood, bringing God’s word to the people, and bringing the people’s needs to God. And no matter how much a lot of Protestants dislike it, your ministry and my ministry is therefore also priestly.
So yes, you are a Christian now, joined to Christ your one High Priest, and you are called to ministry. Just like all the rest of us.
Maybe You Are, Maybe You Aren’t
Now the “Maybe”: When you talk about being called to the ministry it all hinges on the little word “THE.” By this you mean ordained service in the Church, probably as pastor of a particular congregation. The thing is, pastoral work is not “THE” ministry. Pastoral work is “A” ministry.
There are many, many kinds of ministry. Each of us is called to some work that embodies Christ’s character and will in the world.
Sometimes it is easy to see our daily work as ministry in this sense. Sometimes not. In Luther’s sense of things, in our interconnected society, everything you do that is needed by others, whether you are a bricklayer, a teacher, a homemaker, a lawyer, or whatever, is a legitimate part of your priestly work — so long as it is something ethically upright.
Sometimes we find other forms of service more directly express Christ’s love and seek to build his peace and justice. Those may feel more like ministry.
The mistake is thinking that only pastoral work is ministry.
So are you called to the particular form of ministry that people are ordained to in the Church? Maybe so, maybe not.
I’ve gone on a bit long already, so I’ll share some other thoughts on how to discern that later. I hope you’ll write back so we can keep up the conversation!
Blessings,
Gary
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Gary,
I LOVE this format. I am leading a summer bible study series at my church on Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. I am going to read this letter aloud to my 60 attendees to help them understand what it means to be co-equal, co-responsible, co-operating “IN Christ” (as Paul is fond of saying).
Can’t wait for the next letter.
Thanks TONS Leann! Your affirmation really means a lot to me.
If you would do me a favor when you read the letter and make sure they know that they can follow the series here on my blog (with a free book for signing up, no less) it would be a great favor.
Look for the next installment next Thursday…
I’ve noticed that some people think that ordained clergy have some kind of special relationship with God.
So I like this post as a corrective. I, too, am thinking of ways to share this with my fellow congregation members. Not that they don’t do ministry — but I think they would feel affirmed. I will certainly alert them to this blog.
Thank you Gary! That is terrific.
I look forward to more in this series.
I am a bit surprised that you would cite the authority of Luther and not St. Paul (who referred to the church as the Body of Christ in Ephesians, and elsewhere). I’m not sure that St. Paul meant for the Body of Christ to be invisible. After all, only after St. Paul talks about taking communing worthily and TOGETHER (I Cor. 11:20-26) does he then go one to talk about the Church as being one Body, presumably around the “one” Eucharist (I Cor. 12:12-13). Ironically, the work of Luther created a division in the Body of Christ, as there now exists churches that no longer gather together around the Eucharist as One Body.
Nonetheless, my purpose was to compliment your post with information on the priesthood.
The “royal priesthood” passage comes originally from St. Peter, “Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood [ἱεράτευμα ἅγιον], to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” [1Pe 2:4-5 RSV]
The Greek word used here for priest is ἱερεύς, which is the word used in the LXX (the 3rd century B.C. Greek translation of the Old Testament, which was used by St. Paul) for the temple priests. It is, at this point, that our English language fails us. The Greek word for Christian clergy priest is πρεσβύτερος (literally, elder)(Presbyterian readers will obviously have caught on at this point 🙂 ). Thus, in the original Greek, there’s a difference between the royal priesthood (ἱερεύς) and the clergy priesthood (πρεσβύτερος). Though English may confuse these two words, by only saying “priest,” we should not. All baptized Christians are called to be a ἱερεύς, but not all are called to be a πρεσβύτερος. This distinction is still recognized in the Orthodox Church – as both πρεσβύτερος (male priests) and πρεσβυτερα (female “priestesses”).
Gary, I think you’re making this distinction between “Yes, You Are Called to Ministry” and “Maybe You Are, Maybe You Aren’t.”
Thanks Fr. Dustin.
I cited Luther because he is the most famous proponent of the concept of the “priesthood of all believers.” Yes, when he talks about the Body of Christ he is drawing the idea from Paul.
There is surely an invisible connection that unites the Church as well as the visible unity of the gathered community at the Eucharist. And even the Eucharist, which is received as a gathered body points us to this, since the members leave the sanctuary and return to their lives in separate homes and places of work, while truly remaining one Body.
Blessings,
Gary
Great blog series idea, Gary. I’ve run across a number of books w/ a similar theme and always enjoy the wisdom provided. Luther’s “Letters of Spiritual Council”, Neihbur’s “Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic,” and “Letters to a Niece” by Frederick von Hugel. Another more modern favorite is very short. It’s at the end of Eugene Peterson’s book The Pastor where he talks about how messy the pastorate is. He borrows an analogy from Faulkner (I believe) where he says that being a pastor (or in any kind of ministry) is like putting together a chicken coop in a windstorm. In any event, blessings on the series and I look forward to it!
Thanks so much, Dave. I’ve enjoyed the epistolary form in that section of Peterson’s book and in C.S. Lewis’ “Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer” as well as the journal entry form in the Niebuhr book. I should check out the others you mention!
Always good to hear from you. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these posts as they come out.
Blessings,
Gary
Had to backup to get the entire series. I always enjoy your blog, sometimes, I just go “silent”. I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now. Catching up with lost reading.
Wecome back, Susan! I have indeed discerned the pattern.
My new website is not yet able to allow subscriptions to comments on individual posts, but I’ll be reading what you said and chiming in soon.
It is a part of my disability and due in part to a chosen discipline to go internet/interactive fasting from time to time. I find it renews my spirit and helps me deal in prayer with the difficulties experienced in hidden illnesses.
I’m glad to be back too. I’ve also missed you, your comments, and blog. Each helps me grow in a different way than the silent periods. Both are necessary for me.
Glad you have the wisdom to practice a media fast of whatever kind!
Hi Gary, I would like to affirm what you said. I have ‘felt’ the calling but never being able to cement what that calling looks like. Should I go to bible school or not…but what I have done in the mean time is what is in my hand and I had time and things I enjoyed doing in the church circle. So as a result I have got involved in certain ministries, not because God told me but it worked for me. in 25 years I have gone from not knowing what to do to just doing what I can and I have found my ‘place’. It has been frustrating and difficult but in the end it is about trusting God and being proactive.
Thanks Vivian!
Sounds like you have chosen an excellent approach.
I don’t know if you have visited my blog before, but if not, welcome. These “Letters to a Young Pastor” are a regular feature, usually on Thursdays. They are not just for pastors and are not just for the young!
Blessings,
Gary