I Haven't Missed My Calling

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Recently our pastor asked me to preach in her absence as she recovered from an illness. After two worship services, during which I delivered a passionate sermon about loving our enemies, several of my fellow members asked me why I wasn't "a real pastor."  A few observed that I had "missed my calling."

I'm glad and grateful that these friends found my leadership worth their valuable time. It's true that I've always been a good speaker, and church has most often been the place where I've been called upon to speak. But while I'm touched by their compliments, my friends' praise of my preaching also has caused me to contemplate deeply how far we United Methodists have come from the idea that all baptized Christians are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To dispel any doubts, I don't think I've missed my calling at all. In fact, I think I'm fulfilling my vocation to be the best possible disciple of Christ I can be. And if I've understood discipleship correctly, anyone who wishes to do so can be the same kind of ambassador for Christ that others have told me I am.

Think about it. What privileges of ordained ministry are not available to laypeople? Here they are:

  • Presiding at Holy Communion and baptism (and even a baptized Christian can baptize another person in extreme circumstances);
  • Being responsible for maintaining the doctrine and policies of The United Methodist Church.

That's it. That's what ordained ministry confers. There's a related privilege in the United Methodist context: Being a member of an annual conference instead of a local congregation, with the authority to decide who else gets to be members of the annual conference. However, annual conference membership is a totally different thing from ordained ministry.

In contrast, think about all the things that we laypeople can do without need for thousands of dollars of higher education and an ordination process that now takes 10 years. We can help others in need; that's service. We can tell others about Jesus Christ; that's witness. We can study our Bibles and other faith-related texts and share our experience of God with others; that's theology. We can pray for one another and the needs of the world, and then act upon our prayers; that's intercession.

We can teach people, from the youngest to the eldest, about the ideas and practices that help us follow Jesus Christ every day. We can visit with those who are sick or shut-in, and with those who are imprisoned. We can feed and clothe and shelter those who are hungry, exposed, homeless or in danger.

Most of all, we can love God with all our hearts, our minds and our strength, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves. To do these most important tasks, we must take time from the busyness of our days to focus on others rather than on ourselves, including spending time alone focused on God. The more we focus on God and on others, the more likely we are to recognize opportunities for ministry every day, and to act upon those opportunities. Moreover, if anyone asks why we're doing what we're doing, we'll be better able to say, "Because this is what Jesus taught his followers to do, and I am a follower of Jesus." That's mission; that's sharing the good news taught by Jesus, the Christ.

So yes, it's true that I'm skilled and experienced as a preacher and a teacher. It's true that I participate in service as much as I can. It's true that I love to study and debate theology, and that I've learned how to provide pastoral care and spiritual direction with appropriate methods and boundaries. It's true that I belong to a monastic association that focuses on creating meaningful worship, and that I pray a series of prayers every day. It's true that sometimes I wear a religious habit of an alb (robe) and a scapular (an apron-like garment). But those special clothes are simply traditional symbols designating a lay Christian who has committed himself or herself to an especially rigorous faith discipline. Wearing them isn't restricted to clergy. Any baptized Christian can wear the alb, and sometimes I wish laypeople would don an alb to lead worship, because it means that in such leadership, you represent the people before God and not yourself.

None of these characteristics I've cited is restricted to ordained ministers. The fact that these practices have become associated solely with clergy reflects the Church's failure to nurture the full meaning of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. It isn't enough to sprinkle people with water in baptism and tell them they're now Christians. The congregation's responsibility -- not merely that of the ordained clergy -- is to show people how to be a follower of Jesus; to teach them his ways; and to pick them up when they fail and encourage them to try again.

Early in my career at the United Methodist Reporter, I was sent to cover a conference on laity that featured Dr. Verna Dozier, a noted Episcopal scholar and author of a seminal text, The Dream of God. Dr. Dozier was a walking, talking, preaching, teaching, serving model of what we call "the ministry of the laity." She told the gathering at a Boston-area seminary that a priest once complimented her lecture by saying, "I'll be glad to help you get ordained as soon as possible." Dr. Dozier said she replied, "No, thank you! I'm doing God's work now. I have no need to be ordained. It's too restricting."

That freedom to do God's work where and when it's needed – even without an official piece of paper from the church – is the greatest ability we laypeople have. When we don't use it well, as we haven't for decades, we fail both one another and God.

Once again, I thank all those who praised my preaching, and I know their compliments are genuine and heartfelt. But I'm confident that I'm doing what God wants me to do. I don't need to be ordained to do God's work. In fact, it's better that I'm not, because I'm not prevented by the restrictions of a religious system from ministering to people in the ways that they most need.

If all of us disciples of Jesus Christ understood both our freedom and power in this regard, we truly could transform the world for God.

A veteran religion journalist, Cynthia B. Astle serves as project coordinator for United Methodist Insight. She is a certified spiritual director and a member of St. Stephen United Methodist Church, Mesquite, TX, where she currently serves as Worship chair and coordinator for the Small Church Initiative.