More thoughts on Ordination

We did something a bit different today. As a group, we discussed ordination with two ministers at once. The strange thing is every time we do this, people seem to think its some type of test. Is there really one right answer for this question? There is an interplay of activities, but in hearing two people with very different views of ordination there was still remarkable agreement.

One of the ministers had a view of ordination very much in line with prior discussions, with views of ordination in terms of a change in relationship with the church and admittance to a community where the minister submits to the discipline of God and the church in concrete ways.

The second minister had a different view of ordination, very much based on the service. To this minister ordination is a commitment to the Father, through the call of the Son and the equipping of the Holy Spirit. As such, ordination is a celebration of the historical, current, and ongoing work of God in the world. For this person, the vows were less important than the response, "With God's help I will." So, the focus is turned from the work of the person to the work of God in ordination.

This then has to live in dialogue with the sad fact that people do fail in ministry. Does this mean that our theology of ministry has to neglect the activity of God? If we understand God as being effective and infallible, the great temptation is either to place God under obligation to act in certain ceremonies or to deny God's activity in ceremonies when things don't work out as we would expect or wish. Do we really wish to make God so small are target that God just falls into the background?

Of course, to me, the history of a covenant people shows an appreciation of God working through brokenness. All of humanity share in this brokenness, and both our discernment and responses to God are subject to our nature. Maybe at this stage, the journey of ministry may be analogised to the parable of the sower. Humanity's responses to grace are notoriously variable.

Finally, we spoke on the fact that ordination is entry into an order, a vocation rather than a profession. It is to a position of difference within a community. Partially, it reminds me of what it is like to be an effective boarding master: a boarding master needs to be open enough (and enough of a member of the community) to be approachable, but also separate in order to exercise the particular authority given by a school.

Then we spoke on the signs of ordination: the alb, the stole, the cross, the collar. What does it mean to be ordained and to choose not to adopt any symbols? Is the use of symbols for a time and place, for a purpose? So, what do I choose to wear and when? I must admit I'm pretty minimalist, but I am starting to consider this in addition to the other uses of symbols of authority.