Thirty years ago today, I was ordained to be a minister. The ceremony was set within a worship service at church I was serving in the little town of Crofton, Maryland. My father delivered the ordination sermon and the congregation blessed me by a laying on of hands. My ordination was a symbolic action and I have spent the past thirty years essentially unpacking the meaning and the implications of it. During my career I have served four churches, first as an associate or staff minister and then, for the past eight years, as the Senior Pastor of Crossroads Church in Kansas City.

Ordination is a great honor. The ordaining church acknowledges evidence of the candidate's calling to ministry and affirms that he or she possesses appropriate pastoral gifts. The congregation in Maryland that ordained me blessed me by their affirmation. They also committed themselves to a measure of responsibility for my ministry over the years. I believe they would be pleased with the results and impact of my ministry, though I suspect some would not agree with all of my theological perspectives today!

Ministers are bound to the churches in many ways including financial compensation and social networking. Seminaries tend to prepare people to lead congregations, teach the faith tradition, and in effect defend that tradition. My experience is that there is not much support for critiquing the Church or for being a prophetic voice to church or society. And there is little incentive for questioning how faithful the church is being to the vision of Christ in today's world.

Whenever the church gathers, its worship is a symbolic action we unpack throughout the week. When we celebrate Christmas, it is a symbolic action, one that we spend the rest of the year unpacking. The meaning of Christmas is certainly found in the joy and good will that abounds during this season. It is also found in what we might call "the cutting edge of Christmas" - the radical vision reflected in Mary's Magnificat of the great leveling of rich and poor, the great incoming of all people into God's Kingdom, and the great homecoming from our many dispersions and exiles into the blessedness of God's love.

The meaning I'm seeing now in my thirty years of ministry is really in two parts. First, I realize now that whatever lasting word I have for the church and her people will be a prophetic one:  a word of criticism for letting our fears determine our actions and a word of challenge to be radically inclusive, accepting, and loving. Second, I feel a profound gratitude for the lives and journeys I've had the privilege of sharing. Being a pastor is being a professional friend and I am thankful for the many friendships.

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.
  
Jack Price

Return to the Enotes index