Explore Your Call to Ministry — Lay or Ordained
Last Friday afternoon, at the “Celebrating the Call to Lay Witness” Conference, I had the opportunity to hear the Rev. Vance Ross, Deputy General Secretary of the General Board of Discipleship speak. In fact, I had the unfortunate task of speaking after Rev. Ross. I say unfortunate because he was just amazing! The topic of his speech was Ministry By, For and Of the People. His portion of the program was called a “presentation,” but in my heart and mind, I knew that it was a sermon. And not just any sermon, it was a barn burner. Before he was finished, the whole group, clergy and lay people alike, had a pretty good understanding that lay people are not only called to minister, if we all let them (us), they are really good at it.
The only good part of following Rev. Ross was that my participation in the conference was during worship. So my words were bookended by the beautiful organ music and gifted singing at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. The two hymns that we sang are not only some of my favorites, they are uniquely appropriate for equipping and empowering laity to serve in ministry. We opened with “What Gift Can We Bring,” and we closed with “Lord, You Give the Great Commission.”
My message was centered on laity in ministry being evangelists. For those of you who know me, you know that for me this is one of my most deeply held beliefs. I believe that when a lay person is equipped and empowered to serve in an area where their heart is engaged, they will become passionate! And when someone becomes passionate, they tend to feel filled to overflowing. When the Spirit overflows, you just can’t help talking about it. I do believe that you can be an effective evangelist in some situations by living the gospel. But I also believe that as lay people we need to learn to talk about our faith. We need to know the words to tell those who do not yet know Christ in their lives, how Christ works in our lives. We need to know how to speak our faith in words of love and inclusion.
Sunday at St. Peter’s, Rev. Dan Miller preached an incredible sermon about God’s call to ordained ministry. He spoke eloquently about his call and how it made him feel. And he shared his enthusiasm for discerning that call and with the hope that others in our congregation might feel that call now. Dan shared with us in January his plans to retire at Annual Conference this year. Listening to his sermon on Sunday, I felt like God was reaching through Dan to our congregation, letting us know that even as Dan moves to a different part of his ministry, God is calling others into the ministry of being set apart, ordained ministry.
At the end of our worship service on Sunday, we sang “Here I Am, Lord.” At my house, we call this the “crying song.” Something about the words to this hymn touches me every time we sing it. I used to be embarrassed but then, a number of years ago, I looked around me and saw several others who were similarly impacted. Sunday, as we sang, I saw tears in many eyes around me.
For me this was a wonderful weekend. Hearing a powerful speaker like Rev. Ross confirm for me the reality and rightness of my “call” to lay ministry and then hearing Dan speak about the power felt by those who are called to ordained ministry just felt right. I am clear that I am not called to ordination. I am clear that God’s call on my life is serious and special; it fills me and compels me to serve. And, I’m clear that the many clergy whom I know and have the opportunity to serve with have experienced a different call on their lives. Mostly, I am proud to be part of a church that embraces the reality that we, clergy or laity, are all called to help God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Showers of blessings!
Leah Taylor