Office & office

Yesterday I picked up Sittler's little book, The Ecology of Faith, and was re-reading it. I came across this section in the chapter colorfully titled, "The Maceration of the Minister" on the self-image of the minister. I am a lucky pastor in many ways, because the things Sittler describes in this chapter are not necessarily true of my situation, but the self-image thing is so true. The modern self-image of the pastor is confused, and is probably more to blame for clergy burn-out than anything else.

So, to quote Sittler (this written in 1961- a pastor and friend who preached on this at my ordination gave me my first copy of Sittler's book for my "Office", and a ream of paper for my "office"- I have made the language gender-inclusive):

A minister has been ordained to an Office; he or she too often ends up running an office. They were solemnly ordained to the ministry in Christ's church. Most of the pastors I know really want to be what they intended and prepared for. Instead they have ended up in a kind of dizzy occupational oscillation. They are aware of the truth of what Karl Barth said in one of his earliest addresses, "Our people expect us to take them more seriously than they take themselves, and they will not thank us if we do not do so." Most ministers are aware that it is tough and delicate labor to insert the lives power of the Word of God into the rushing occupations and silent monologues of people. They reall with a sense of joy the occasions when honest work and unhurried reflection gave a strange victory to their efforts. But these occasions are infrequent, set amid great stretches of guilt-begetting busyness.

And Sittler doesn't let us off the hook. We are responsible for our self-image. So:

It is, I think, simply not true that the parish demands of its minister that he or she become simply an executive officer of multiple activities. It is likely to accept, support, and be deepeningly molded by the understanding of Office and calling which is projected by its minister's actual behavior. It will come to assess as central what he or she, in their actual performance of their ministery and use of time, makes central.

I would love to post the whole chapter, but for that, I encourage any and all to pick up Sittler's little book. In the meantime, I will dwell with these words.

Baptism, Eucharist, and Hospitality

Dwight in a recent comment has raised a good point. Upholding baptism as the entrance rite of the church does not appear, at first glance, to be welcoming. And this because the concept of a welcoming church has changed over the years. I can't say I have loads of anthropological insights to back this up, but it seems the Christian understanding of welcoming included the transition from one community to another. This being the case, the baptismal rite as the entrance rite and transition from one community to another constituted a rather lengthy process of initiation culminating in full entrance into the church, communion, etc.

A crass analogy: When you went into Mr. Roger's house with him on his show, you weren't just there. You first had to take off your shoes, change your sweater, sing a song, and only then were you finally there. What is more, to enter into the little imaginary world where the train went, you had to first do all this and then imagine your way in along with Mr. Rogers.

Today, we track all our dirt on our shoes inside the house, leave our coats on while we're in, never imagine anything of much together, leave without a trace, and fail to offer a glass of water to the visitor while they're there.

So we've got issues of hospitality abounding in this discussion, but like false understandings of hospitality. Not hospitality as peace tolerant co-habitation, but in the view of the church, hospitality as that radical gospel act that changes both the host and the guest.

This is why, among other things, to maintain the unique hospitality practice of the Christian community, the Eucharist cannot be a meal for just anyone. We have plenty of meals that can be like that. Every time I eat at Culver's I have a meal like that, or invite my neighbors over for coffee. The Eucharist is a special meal of mutual recognition where those who are already baptized, who have the shoes and the new sweater and even a new mind, sit down at the meal of their Lord, who says, come, all is ready.

Ornery Baptismal Theology

Well, it seems the new "thang" for mainline Protestants is to encourage an open communion table with no condition that baptism precede communion. This includes Lutherans. Our new book on evangelism encourages it explicity. The Evangelizing Church, ed. by Richard H. Bliese and Craig Van Gelder.

What is to be said or done? It seems like this is one of those changes in practice and theology that is slowly creeping up on us and will simply happen. I don't like to be a grump, and prefer not to post grumpy, but I will post the following, a brief comment I made to a Lutheran pastor who also shares my worry about this proposed change in communion practice:

"Baptism is entrance into the church, and the church's sacrament of community and recognition is the supper. By lifting baptism out of this context and making it a free-floating "means of grace", you empty it of its particular meaning. Baptism becomes just like all the other means of grace, all of them mixed together in a melting pot that comes out as a warm goo that supposedly represents and symbolizes God's love for us.

The whole metaphor about an open table for all sinners is a false application of Jesus' practice of table fellowship to the more particular kind of meal that the supper is (and was). It flies in the face not only of Reformation practice, but also in the face of the most evangelical period in church history, when the catechumenate was utilized and very clearly made baptism a condition for entrance to full table fellowship. Evangelism my foot. This is just false doctrine and anti-sacramentarian."

On a more chipper note, I finished the run in 3 hours 8 minutes, and raised at least $1200, so thanks to all of you who pledged to LIRS!

Syttende Mai Run

You can now pledge on-line for my 20 miles for LIRS fund-raising run from Madison to downtown Stoughton. The staff at LIRS have been wonderful in getting behind this run and the fund-raising effort. Thanks to them and all others who work with, serve, and advocate for refugees and immigrants!