People will often come in speaking of 'authority', a word that will cause many to immediately harbour doubts about the reason for the calling that is being claimed, when what they mean is perhaps more correctly labelled as 'testing, submission and of having been approved'.
On my journey, one of the important things in ordination was the fact that those who are ordained are:
- Recognised as having a 'calling' to something within their own fellowship,
- Are approved by that fellowship and sent to the DDO (Diocesan Director of Ordinands) or vocations adviser,
- Are examined and, perhaps after additional elements (readings groups, etc.), are sent to a selection conference (BAP),
- At the BAP the person is engaged to help clarify the nature of the calling and the best way it can be developed,
- Having been selected, training tales place and once this is completed the person is offered to the wider church (sending diocese having first choice if there is a suitable 'title post') and ordained.
i. Have been tried, tested and approved
- The selection process
- The training experience
- The Title post
ii. Are in submission to those above.
- It is here that, taking the model of Nehemiah, that we can see that those ordained have authority because they submit to authority.
- Just as an officer in the forces is saluted because they hold a commission, it is the queen (whose commission they hold) who is being saluted, not the person - this is devolved power through submission to the monarch.
- Are 'primus inter pares' (first among equals). This doesn't make them the 'Daddy' but makes them someone who is collaborative and supportive of others - true authority.
On the first day at that place one of the staff asked us who the greatest leader was. Being in the big concrete sleeping bag that bears the name of a certain great leader theirs was the first name out of the bag, quickly followed by many others until, exasperated the Colour Sargeant asked where the padres were and who was it they worked for?
yes, the answer was 'Jesus'! Someone regarded by as a great leader because He came to serve. This is the true nature of authority - submission and service.
I hope this helps clarify some of the thinking around vocations
Pax
*Those who were not selected (this is not 'rejected'*) will be offered help in discerning their vocation and may return to a BAP at a later date or find their calling fulfilled in a different area of ministry. This is not the end of 'calling' (of which our baptismal calling is the greatest calling we have).
1 comment:
Vic, this is helpful. I think that I went into the process without the thought of authority. I felt called to serve my own local community. This was recognised there so I went forward.
On meeting the DDO, it quickly became clear that you are Ordained into the Church of Christ, not your local church. Therefore, to serve needed to be in obedience to the Bishop and to be deployed where the church discerned your gifts, such as they are, may be best employed.
I have to admit, that it was an unexpected hurdle, but one that I understood and saw the sense off.
Obedience came into it. For God's will to be discerned, I needed to put aside worldly longings and seek the wider picture that the church has discerned. I'm grateful for the patience shown by the DDO, while I worked through that.
What I did find, that being a former Officer, I had been used to authority, so was careful to avoid behaving in that way and suppressed it. The Bishop disabused me of that. He made it clear to me that my Army background was an essential component of my overall makeup. It had provided skills and gifts that the church could use, particularly as my proven style of leadership had been collaborative.
As I go forward to BAP, I still ponder on his words, - Go, be yourself, relax and enjoy it. So far, that has been how I've approached it, and it has been a huge release. I'm not worried in the least about it, just concerned that while there, the call is discerned in a way that will be best used by the Church.
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