POOF-- You're a pastor!

So, I know this isn't a real surprise... I mean I have been working towards this the last 4 years... but actually becoming a pastor has been a real trip!

In all of the preparations I felt like I was planning a wedding. I hadn't really thought about it before this summer, but it takes a lot to make an ordination service happen. I had to get the bishop on board to preach and preside, had to work with the church (pastor, secretary, music director, etc) to get the liturgy, logistics, and any special music planned, and get in touch with local pastors to participate in the service. I had to invite all my friends and family and plan a dinner/ activities for people who were staying in town that night.

And when I wasn't doing all of that, I was trying to figure out just what it meant to be a pastor. No, what it meant to BECOME a pastor...

I thought a lot about this, especially since as my ordination day approached it became apparent that too many family members and friends didn't realize how important a day it was for me. My own brother didn't take off work to come. And other friends and family had dinner plans or other engagements that kept them from being there. Now, I understand that people are busy and that they have responsibilities, and I know that I am not the center of the universe, but I was a little hurt that so many didn't know how much my ordination meant to me.

I wonder if the disconnect was because those same people didn't really understand what an ordination really was. It isn't like it's an every-day occurance. What IS the difference between graduating with your Master of Divinity from seminary, and getting ordained? Why does an ordination make you a pastor?

During the week of my ordination, I began explaining that an ordination service is kind of like a wedding ceremony. Before a wedding, two people spend lots of time getting to know each other, planning, and preparing not only for the wedding, but most importantly for the marriage. By the time the wedding comes, they are fully in love. Note-- they've already made the committment to be together. However, during the wedding, they make that committment public. They gather with all of their friends and family and declare their love and intentions. Their relationship is blessed. And then the community gathered says, "Yes, we see your love and affirm it. And we promise to support you in your lives together." At the end of the day, after the wedding, they are no more in love and no more committed than when they woke up that morning... but during that ceremony they somehow became married.

I think that's kind of how an ordination is. I have been on this path of faith towards ministry for a long time. And I'd been planning and preparing not only for the ordination, but for a life of pastoral ministry for years. At the time of my ordination, I was fully committed to this call and felt truly gifted and skilled for that work. During the ordination service, I declared my faith and made promises about my ministry. Then my calling was blessed by the bishop and other pastors. And then the gathered community affirmed that call and promised to support me. And then I was a pastor... Was it the magic of the bishops hands on my head or some special words that did it? No. But it was the public declaration, affirmation, and community accountability that made me a pastor.

And that is incredible!