The purpose of this paper was to discern the specific meaning of and intention for the word ordination by the author of Acts. The addition of examining the MOM’s interpretation of meaning and intention for ordination was an afterthought inspired by my own journey and my recent attendance of a New Church Leadership Institute in Atlanta. I realize that the UCC has a great distance to go to marry up their vision of being a church for welcoming folks “wherever they are on life’s journey”, with UCC polity on ordination. Perhaps God’s call to me is to simply illuminate that distance. Ordination is how the Holy Spirit calls someone to contextualize the meaning of a living God in their own specific setting. If we as a denomination limit who may be called to ordained service by virtue of the exclusions mentioned and the many that have not been, we exclude the next generation of Paul/Paula from spreading the good news in a language and context that brings God alive for them. We will have kept God in a box for ourselves and lost site of the Great Commission.
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Actually, our polity has been loosened considerably just recently, so I'm not sure how you reach this particular conclusion. As you know, the current loosening makes me wonder why I even bothered to go to seminary. So I must be missing something you see in the ordination process that I do not.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I think it's important to remember, we're all called to ministry, not necessarily to ordained ministry. Of course, we could throw that out, too, and make all ministry lay ministry. I have a feeling that's the way we're headed, and maybe that's what God is asking for, but there is a huge danger of regressing to ignorant literalism when we lose an educated clergy.
I think there has been a lot of talk about loosening polity and the need to have multiple paths, but we haven't seen many alternatives open up...although they are starting to.
ReplyDeleteI am worried less about the regression as I was thinking about who is drawn to churches. Fundamentalists go to church in droves. Independent minded folks dont feel so drawn to church. We pride ourselves as an intellectual church...so in theory we should be attracting the independent thinkers....right??
As I'm looking at the bylaw changes, the educational requirements have been removed. They now "May" be required at the discretion of an Association. It also looks like they have lifted the limit for Licensing to be only within an Association. Not that I am a bylaw genius...
ReplyDeleteSo are you saying since we would attract more educated or independent thinkers, it obviates the need for an educated clergy?
In reality, I suspect most independent thinkers view church as irrelevant, anyway.