All or None

As I lay in bed tears leaking from my eyes about what’s going on at the General Conference session, I like many of my peers, thought about what my response can be.  I thought about how there are administrators that I admire and administrators that I loathe.  There are pastors that I respect and pastors that I dislike.  There are people in my life that I treasure and people I try to stay away from.  Relationships between sinners are difficult like that.

Although the World Church chose to not to allow divisions to make their own decisions about women's ordination in the  SDA church, for me, I believe all Christians are ordained to be ministers to our congregations of family, friends and acquaintances. 

I’ve written about this before, but the pastor of my church has rarely been the person who leads me to Christ, convicts me in times of (what I thought was) righteous anger, or counsels me in times of hardship. 

1 Peter 4:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Martin Luther used the zeal of this message to spark the reformation and the birth of Protestantism. (http://www.nacministers.com/priesthood-of-all-believers)  In the Old Testament, only priests were allowed access to God, through the entering of “the holy place.”  When Jesus died, that veil was torn as a signal that we all have direct access to God.  It’s why we are Protestant.  It is why, although I like what I’ve seen of Pope Francis, I do not think he is the supreme spiritual leader of the church with the power to control church doctrine.  

Only God convicts each and every one of us of our callings and our sins.  The Adventist church holds the priesthood of believers as one our central beliefs.  There are some within the church who even suggest baptism is ordination.  (https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Edwards-Priesthood_of_believers.pd)

Not only does that make sense Biblically, it would solve the argument within our denomination right now.  So what should my response be to the hateful comments I see and hear on social media today?  

My own response has to go back to my own convictions and my own call to ministry as a busy, loving, serving member, a minister, of my church. 

One again, I thank God for the ministers who I see serving daily in the lives of those around me:

-The child who brings an ice pack to the bully to harassed him on the playground.

-The couple that share their home with the blind woman who has nowhere to live.

-The father who lovingly cares of his severely disabled adult son.

-The daughter who rushes to her father’s bedside without holding the grudge of physical and mental abuse she dealt with 30 years ago.

-The woman who drives her friend to the emergency room and the police station, again, because of an argument at home.

-The wife who takes in the illegitimate children of her husband because she committed to loving him now and forever, regardless of his past. 

These, along with whoever is speaking at the pulpit this week, are the people ordained by God. These people may not get paid by the conference or thanks during Pastor’s appreciation month in October, but they are the mothers, fathers, children, sisters and brothers who love, give and sacrifice but rarely complain.

If the Bible is true, we are all ordained or none of us are. 

Acts 4: 10 "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

To the many pastors around me, who are ordained by God.  Thank you for your love. Thank you for your ministry.