In a speech in South Africa in
1966, Robert Kennedy said that there is an ancient Chinese curse, “May you live
in interesting times.” Textual evidence
has thus far failed to find a Chinese source for this curse, but there is
something right about it, regardless of its origin.
We live in interesting times. The church is living in interesting
times. Mainline or old-line
denominations have lost their social position.
Some argue that this is like New Testament times, but I think that
analogy breaks down quickly. There may
be fewer people in our pews and we may have lost some of our social location,
but Christianity, in some form, is embedded in powerful places in our
culture. Hobby Lobby, which recently
opened a store in Duluth, is suing the federal government arguing that
providing contraceptive health coverage for female employees violates the
Christian values of the store and its owner.
Those same Christian values greeted a Jewish shopper, who, when asking
about why Hobby Lobby would not stock any Chanukah items was told: "Because
Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he's a Christian, and those are his
values." We live in interesting
times as a church.
It is also an interesting time to
be an elder in The United Methodist Church.
When I was ordained an elder in 1986, two years after I was ordained a
deacon, and I still proudly display both ordination certificates, the language
of our Discipline discussed ordination as “the specialized ministry of
Word, Sacrament, and Order.” Ordination
was “fulfilled in the ministry of Word, Sacrament, and Order.”
The 2012 Book of Discipline
has expanded the language of ordination.
Ordination is fulfilled in
leadership of the people of God through ministries of Service, Word, Sacrament,
Order, Compassion, and Justice (303).
Deacons are no longer “ministers who have progressed sufficiently in
their preparation for the ministry to be received by an Annual Conference as
either probationary members or associate members.” Deacons are now “ordained by a bishop to a
lifetime ministry of Word, Service, Compassion, and Justice” (328). Elders “are ordained to a lifetime ministry
of Word, Sacrament, Order, and Service” (332).
In distinction from Deacons, then,
the unique ministry of the Elder could be located in Sacraments and Order. What makes things even more interesting is
that there are persons licensed to perform the same duties in local church
settings as do those ordained Elders who are also appointed as pastors. Licensed persons are licensed “to perform all
the duties of a pastor” (313). What is
left of the unique ministry of the Elder?
Posing this question in this way
carries with it some baggage. As The
United Methodist Church has added the order of Deacons, as the prevalence and
power of licensed local pastors has increased, Elders have often been seen as
trying to hold on to some of their power and privilege – guaranteed
appointment, voting rights, sacramental authority. How do we talk about the unique ministry of
the Elder while avoiding maintenance of the status quo which has, at times,
privileged Elders? Can we get at
uniqueness without arguing for privileges which seem unfair and unwarranted?
I am currently serving on the
denominational Study of Ministry Commission. In the Study of Ministry
Commission of the previous quadrennium the group concluded: The commission observes a lack of
consistency in how the orders and roles in ministry are understood and
supported across the church. They
suggested the following understanding as a way forward:
·
The elder connects the church and the
denomination, chiefly through Order.
·
The deacon connects the church and the world,
chiefly through Service.
·
The local pastor connects the church and the
individual, chiefly through Proclamation.
As an Elder, I am not necessarily jazzed up by this
understanding of the unique ministries of each order, particularly in a
post-denominational age. I get more
excited about Word, Sacrament, Service, Compassion, and Justice. I spend a lot of time trying to connect
church with persons. Yet the language
that is unique to Elders is that we are “to order the life of the Church for
service in mission and ministry” (332).
There is something potentially important there in these confusing, interesting,
and dare I say, disordered times.
Perhaps the
unique ministry of the Elder in our time is by the Spirit and power and grace
of God, to try and make our current disorder the creative chaos out of which a
new order might be born. There is
something in that for all of us – lay persons, Deacons, licensed pastors –
there is enough disorder to go around. Perhaps
Elders, though, need to muster the courage to enter our current disorder and
make it the creative chaos out of which a new order might be born, and do this
systemically. Perhaps we are uniquely
positioned to try and name the challenges, adaptive and technical, that face
us, and to do so marshaling our best theological and other intellectual
resources. Perhaps we are uniquely
called to flow from the balcony to the dance floor and back again. Perhaps we are uniquely invited to monitor
the temperature as change takes place.
If we take these as our unique tasks,
we do so knowing that many find in us a great deal of disorder. The Call To Action Operational Assessment
tells us “a large portion of the Church’s clergy has performance effectiveness
issues” (25), and we are a large portion of the Church’s clergy. Recently, a United Methodist economist, in a
presentation to the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry arguing for
the vital need for younger clergy, quoted an unnamed retired United Methodist
bishop who told him, “We have not been recruiting the brightest and the
best.” I have been around long enough to
hope that this bishop was referring to a time after 1986. We live in interesting times.
Perhaps the
unique ministry of the Elder is to feel some of the pain of our disorder and
yet, with courage granted by the Spirit, to lead us all, making the full use of
all the gifts of all God’s people, so that disorder may become the creative
chaos out of which new order can be born.
With Faith and With Feathers,
David
With Faith and With Feathers,
David
1 comment:
"contraceptive health coverage" = abortion and abortifacients. You, David have a gift of communication, it's too bad it's wasted on politics and social engineering instead of preaching the Good News of the Gospel and the saving power of faith in Jesus. Most Methodist churches are stuck in this mire of tickling ears and pleasing their congregations instead of preaching the Truth. Teachers, as you know have a special mission. Thank goodness for the newcomers to the Methodist Church. May they rescue her from extinction.
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