Who Are the Ministers of the Church?
A Sermon by Paddy Cavanaugh, Seminarian, on the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C, February 6, 2022.
Question: What is the mission of the Church?
Answer: The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.
Question: Who are the ministers of the Church?
Answer: The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.
Question (Now stay with me here, this is the one to pay close attention to): What is the ministry of the laity?
Answer: The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
End questions.
If you’re asking yourself why we didn’t pick a more exciting seminarian than one who reads the catechism to you out of the pulpit, then I apologize! Thank you for humoring me and please let me explain to you why chose to subject you to this. It took me nearly thirty years as an Episcopalian to find out what, exactly, is the mission of the Church, who is tasked with carrying it out, and how; and so I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t take the opportunity to remind you, and myself really, why we are here on this day and on every day. I know that now more than ever there are so many other places and things that are competing for your time and attention – soccer games, brunch with friends, unfinished homework, that report you have to give at work this week, and perhaps one of the most splendid temptations of all: staying in bed at the Church of the Holy Comforter. So I want to acknowledge what a remarkable feat of faith it is that you are even here, in an increasingly secular world, instead of doing any number of the other important things on your to-do lists.
So because you have chosen to be here at church this morning, I think that at the very least you deserve to know what it is that we are doing, and this the catechism makes very clear: today you, St. George’s, are restoring all people to unity with God and each other in Christ Jesus. If you’re asking yourself how this can be, if you’re feeling ill-equipped and aren’t sure if you’re ready for this job, or thinking that it’s some mistake that you are the one tasked with carrying out the very mission of God, then let me tell you, you’re in very good company.
Today’s readings are about this same challenge of discovering and coming to terms with our vocation, which I like to think of as the synchronizing of our God-given gifts with God’s plan of redemption in the world.
In the Old Testament, Isaiah, one of the most highly regarded and prolific prophets in Hebrew Scripture, responds with the same feelings of disbelief and incredulity at the prospect that he might be called to be an instrument of God’s divine plan. When confronted with a terrifying and awesome vision of God’s holy throne room, replete with angelic creatures singing thunderous hymns of God’s almighty glory, his first and right reaction is to cry out “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” In Hebrew Scripture to physically lay eyes on the glory of God meant certain death. Maybe some of you have seen Indiana Jones and know what I’m talking about. This is the type of fear for his life Isaiah was experiencing at having beheld God, and yet instead of the outcome he expects for his unworthiness, he is much surprised to find that God sends an angel to purify him, to make him worthy for the very thing he feels existentially unequipped for, and then he hears the voice of the Lord crying out “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Who will go for us. Isaiah knows at this moment it must be him, and so he is sent. God immediately sends Isaiah to proclaim God’s will to the people.
Isaiah was called. Isaiah hears God’s calling, responds with disbelief, and was then made worthy of the calling through divine action before finally rising up to accept the call. This same pattern of calling, disbelief, divine assurance, and then acceptance of the call plays out in the Gospel when Jesus calls out to Simon Peter, a lowly Jewish fisherman, to lower his nets after a tiring night of fruitless fishing. Simon Peter cannot hide his disbelief until Jesus performs a miracle and fills the nets with so many fish that he needs to call on his friends to help draw up the catch. As soon as he catches his breath Simon Peter falls to his knees before the Christ and echoes Isaiah’s words, saying “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Jesus’ response is of course “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” And so Simon Peter and the others abandon their nets and follow Jesus.
Calling, disbelief, divine assurance, and acceptance of call. There are many other patterns of call narratives throughout scripture yet this one is so enduring because it speaks to so many of our very human concerns about our personal inadequacy. You may have heard the term “imposter syndrome” used in pop psychology to describe the internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. Sometimes this inner voice can be so strong as to even dissuade us from pursuing things that our hearts seem to be compelling us towards, whether it’s a job, a person, community, or something else. It’s the all too familiar inner monologue that asks “Why should I even apply for this position or this school when there are so many other more qualified candidates?” or “No one would accept me if they knew who I truly am,” or “God cannot accept me because God knows who I truly am.” And here’s the terrifyingly beautiful part. God does know who you truly are. And God loves you yet.
God loves you so much as to trust you, as to desire you, as to call out to you to become instruments of the missio Dei, the mission of God, which is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. And God has not only made you worthy of this work, but God has also given each of you distinct gifts to accomplish it.
So who again are the ministers of the Church? The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons. Now I choose to believe that it is no accident that the catechism lists the laity as the first order of ministry. Contrary to popular belief, in the Church, being a lay person is not simply what you are by default if you don’t wear a collar. Being a lay person is a calling, just as true and just as vitally important to the Church’s mission as any other calling. By your baptism you have been commissioned, by the sacraments you are strengthened, and in this community and in the world you are called to be faithful ministers of Christ’s reconciling love, each according to the gifts given to you. The Church quite literally could not exist without you because you are the Church. I know it’s cliché but it’s worth being reminded of.
It’s a sin that the Church hasn’t always done as good a job at helping lay people to discern and claim their vocation as ministers of Christ as it has for people like me. And so I want to remind you today, that like Isaiah and like Peter before you, each of you has a vocational call from God to be a minister in the Church or in the world or both, whether you are ordained or not. In fact the laity is the largest order of ministers in the Church and so God depends on you do be the hands and feet of Christ on earth to accomplish the extraordinary, mind-blowing, tiresome, and wholly worthwhile mission of sharing and proclaiming God’s unfailing love.
I exhort you, St. George’s, to listen to how God is calling you to serve. Take the time in prayer and in community to discover and cultivate the gifts God has given you to lay claim to your vocation, whatever it may be. No matter how worthy you may feel, no matter whether you’ve served ten terms on vestry or whether you just walked through the door, no matter your age or physical ability, or how much or how little you pray, or any number of other things than might keep you from believing that you are called to take a vital part in the plan of God, which is the plan of love. I need you to know that you have a vocation, a calling, and God whose love for you is unshakeable, is beckoning you to come follow, for whom shall I send? Whom shall I send?
And if you do feel called to ordained life as a deacon, priest, or bishop, then God help you, and come talk to Shearon or Crystal after Mass.
Amen.