Ordination

My theology professor recently shared a poem on ordination. I found it quite profound on many levels and would like to share it with you.

Ordination
James A. Autry

Brother Jim Thompson came,
The oldest,
With overalls and a white shirt buttoned at the collar.
With a walking cane and a Bible
That had stood fifty years of pounding,
And with that old fire burning through his cataracts.

Didn’t need no seminary
Always preached the Bible
and the Lord Jesus Christ
Crucified and buried and
raised from the dead.


Brother Hamer came
And Brother Ewart
And the three Walker boys,
Preachers all.
They came through rain,
Wrestling the wheels of their out-of-county cars,
Sliding in ruts so deep the tail pipes dragged.
They parked under the trees
And along the road,
Picking their way along the high spots
Like children jumping puddles.
Into the church of their fathers,
The place they had all felt the call.

The old home church
Where thousands of hands had pressed
On the bowed heads of new preacher boys,
Of sun-reddened young men called by the Lord,
called from the cotton fields to preach the word.

They had felt the hands,
These old preachers,
Felt those blunt-fingered, work-hardened hands,
Felt them like a blessing,
Like an offering,
Like a burden.

Felt them at weddings and baptizings,
Felt them in the heat of a summer revival sermon,
In the agony of a baby’s funeral,
In the desperate prayer against some killer disease,
In the frustrating visit with a mind gone senile.

And now the old preachers came to lay their hands
On the head of a new kind of preacher,
A preacher from the seminary,
A preacher who studied the Bible in Greek and Hebrew,
Who knew about religions they never heard of,
Who knew about computers
And memory banks full of sermons
And many other modern things.
A new kind of preacher.
And yet,
A preacher who would still feel on her head
the hands
Like a commandment
From all the preachers and deacons who ever were.

From Life After Mississippi
Yoknapatawpha Press, Oxford, MS, 1989

The Truth of Grace

It is hard to believe that Doug, Devon, Ashley, and I have nearly finished our second year at Columbia Theological Seminary. We moved onto the CTS campus June 2008 as I began summer Greek School. As I begin preparing to take the ordination exams in August 2010, I wonder where the time has gone! Make sure you mark your calendars for graduation day on May 14, 2011!

My second year of seminary began with going before my Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM) and the Charlotte Presbytery to apply for candidacy status in the process of seeking a vocation in Ordained Ministry. I was grateful to receive such gracious support and affirmation from the Sardis Session, my CPM, and the Presbytery. It was a milestone for me in recognizing how far God has brought me along in this journey and how much more I trust to learn for ministry.

The second year of seminary has been filled with many challenges. My studies this year in Theology, Biblical Languages, Pastoral Care, Worship, and Polity continue to challenge, stretch, and develop my critical thinking and theological foundation. My part time ministry in Outreach, Small Groups, and Fellowship at Rehoboth Presbyterian (Decatur, GA), where I served as Pastoral Intern in 2009, has been meaningful and continues to help me learn about my pastoral identity.

The most significant aspect of this second year is that I am truly beginning to learn the truth of grace in my life. I am learning more about the art of balancing self care, marriage, family, school, and ministry. Although the balancing certainly is not easy, I continue to trust the many ways God is leading me to fully live life. God is also reminding me of the truth of grace...that grace binds us to Christ, meeting us exactly where we are in life's journey. Grace creates a new and discernible path out of life’s chaos, allows us to live in right relationship, strengthens us in our vulnerabilities, gives us rest when we are weary, and helps us to find humor in the midst of difficulty.

I continue to pray that in this season of Lent God will reveal more about the truth of grace to each of us. It is the grace revealed in the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. As we approach the cross during these 40 days may we be led to the radical hope of resurrection...not just for our eternal rest but in order that we may know the radical transformation of Christ today.