Today
is the 25th anniversary of my ordination into Word and Sacrament
Ministry. I am therefore, writing this reflection as a letter to my 26 year-old
self for my ordination day.
Dear
Charlene,
Today,
you will be ordained into the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. Today, you will
be surrounded by family and friends. Today, hands of those who love you and who
have gone before you will be laid upon you. Today, prayers will be prayed for
you and over you. Today, you will be filled with hope. That is as it should be.
You have answered the call of the Holy Spirit through the church to preach and
teach, to administer the sacraments, to care for God’s people in word and deed,
and to speak for justice and mercy in the world.
Today,
you will hear words of grace, and you will speak words of covenantal
commitment. Today, you will take a yoke upon you. Today, you join a long line
of God’s apostles called to be ministers of grace. Today, you will join the
growing numbers of women who have heard and answered this call.
There
is much joy that you will know in this life to which you have been called. It
is a profound and holy calling to walk with people through birth and death. It
is a profound and holy calling to be trusted with people’s most sacred stories.
It is a profound and holy calling to speak truth to power. It is a profound and
holy calling to speak words of forgiveness, wash people in God’s life-giving
stream, and feed God’s people at the table that stretches all the way to heaven
and back.
You
will make a difference in people’s lives. Others will know Jesus’ love because
of you. You will lead worship that draws people into experiences of the
presence of God. You will preach with power, and through your words, you will
reach into the tombs where people have buried their lives, and God will raise
people to new life.
The
Incarnation in John 1, the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24, and the Woman at the Well
in John 4 will all become defining stories for you.
You
will fall in love with campus ministry. You will teach people to preach.
Catherine of Sienna will become a spiritual guide. You will become passionate
about vocation. You will be humbled by the immense trust that people will place
in you. You will rejoice that so many you have accompanied will answer the call
to a life of public ministry. You will be filled with the joy of accompaniment
amid spiritual discernment. You will be a holy presence of care and a voice for
women. You will be surprised by the places you will get to serve.
But
you will also be refined by fire. This is a hard and holy calling. You will
experience the body of Christ in all of its frail brokenness. There will be
those who will be unkind – outright mean at times, even vile. There will be
those who do not want to hear words of grace from you. There will be those who
will treat you as less than human because you are a woman. There will be those
who reject you because of their understandings of what the Bible says. You will
experience things that you will have a hard time believing capable from the
people of God. You will be hurt. You will experience the unimaginable. Your
heart will break.
But
you are called to Word and Sacrament Ministry.
For
this you were created.
Through
that great cloud of witnesses that surrounds you, you will never be alone. The
Holy Spirit will be a mantle around your shoulders. The Gospel will be a seal
upon your heart. God will bring good out of the evil intentions of others. That
is not a platitude: it is a promise. There will be many times when you will
have had enough and want to quit. Others have felt the same for centuries, but
God is bigger than all of it. Remember that. God will sustain you. Return to
your baptism daily. Feast often upon God’s holy food. Trust the companions God
will give you for your journey. Do not lose heart, and do not be afraid.
I
wish I could tell you that there will come a time in your lifetime when the
church will no longer be a place of sexism and bigotry, and become a place
where words – and deeds – are no longer used to inflict violence. But you’re
smarter than that. You know that where there are people, there will be pain.
Where there are people, there will be abuses of power. Words will often wound
you, and the wounds will always hurt. I wish that wounding words worked like
immunizations, but they do not. They will hurt as much 25 years from now as
they do today, but you will be a different person then. You will be smarter
than you are today. Trust that.
You
will come to know the importance of the exits. Know where the doors are in
every place you serve, every place you learn, every place you are. You do not
have to be a punching bag. You do not have to simply take the arrows that will
come your way. You do not have to stand there and take it. You do not have to
be “Minnesota nice” when the words are hurled like weapons to silence you.
You
can speak truth to power by walking out the door. You can say “no” when others
abuse you by witnessing with your feet. You can empower someone else to leave
the playground when there is a bully afoot by leaving yourself. Don’t be afraid
to do it. You will embody the Gospel for yourself and for others when you claim
that the church is a place of safety by using the door when you have to. So
know where the exits are.
But
today, on this your ordination day, it’s not about exits: it’s about a door
opened to you, inviting you in, calling to you, and sending you out. Today, the
door opens to your life of ministry. Walk through it. Know that you have been
crucified with Christ, and “it is no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives
in you.”
“Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and God’s
courts with praise.” And then go, feed God’s sheep. Tend God’s lambs.
“Set
your face toward Zion’s Hill, the city of your God. Look not to the left or
right, but where your Master trod.”
“Take
the yoke of Jesus upon you, learn from him, for his yoke is easy, and his
burden is light.”
God
bless your journey. I’ll see you in 25 years.
Charlene
