I have prompted by a friend, Dr. James Goodloe, in an article to think about the Priesthood of the believer. This is a grand truth rediscovered by Luther in the time of the Reformation. However, it has come to mean many different things to many different people and has come to mean much of nothing.

This is one of the phrases our PC USA church likes to use quite often. But, what does it mean?

Every Christian is a cleric, Luther proclaimed in one of his earliest treatises, The Freedom of a Christian , and those who “are now boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords” are in reality “ministers, servants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the word””servants of the servants of God.

So, does this quote from Luther mean there is no legitimate calling to ministry – no gifting for the office of Minister of Word and Sacrament? Such is not the case!

Peter Leithart writes – “Unfortunately, the priesthood of the faithful in both its Protestant and Catholic forms has been corroded by fusion with modern individualism. While no denomination sanctions this fusion, strains in popular Protestantism, especially American Protestantism, have taken “priesthood of believers” to mean that every believer has an absolute right of private judgment about morals and doctrine, the liberty to interpret the Bible with complete autonomy.

“Priesthood of believers” means that believers can do very well without attachment to any church, thank you very much. Each believer is a church unto himself. Renouncing Rome’s one Pope, Protestantism has created thousands.

This was not Luther’s view.”

Instead, to be a priest is to be a priest for someone. We are all priests to and for someone else – caring for them, praying for them, bearing them up before God. This is an important and weighty responsibility. Are we faithful servants and priests of our Lord?

:Leithart writes again – “In the old order, priestly service was housekeeping. In the new order, all are priests, called to the ministry of bodybuilding.

In the hands of some Protestants, “priesthood of believers” became an anti-ecclesial slogan, a “get out of church free” card. Understood in its original biblical and Reformation sense, the priesthood of believers is quite the opposite. It is not a solvent of ecclesial Christianity but an affirmation of churchly piety and the foundation of a thoroughly catholic church practice. Five hundred years after the event, this Reformation slogan may be even more relevant than it was when Luther first shouted it out from Wittenberg.”

While recognizing our mutual priesthood and its responsibilities, we must also recognize the gifts that God has given to his church and our responsibility to function in the use of our gifts for the glory of God and the welfare of His church.

In my 37 years of ministry I have made it a steadfast point to never endorse, or oppose a candidate from the pulpit. The churches I have served have always had a widely divergent political make up. I have been thankful for that. This political cycle has sorely tested my resolve in this area.

I do not resist the temptation to either endorse or oppose due to the IRS regulations (though that should always be kept in mind and heeded). I do so because of my love of the gospel and my desire to not cut off the ears of some in the pews.

However, this does not mean I do not address issues and confront the social injustice of our day. There is plenty of fodder to deal with when it comes to living out the Kingdom of God in our communities. To me, that is part of the preaching of the good news.

For me it is simple – I want to preach Christ and lift Him up. I do not want to put the stumbling block of my political views on candidates in the way of anybody.

Agree or disagree – but please understand my heart.

I believe that as humans we are made for relationship with God. We, unique among all creation, are made in His image. Until that relationship with God is sought and found, there will always be an emptiness at the core of our being.

Augustine wrote: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” He went on to write, “You called, you cried, you shattered my deafness. You sparkled, you blazed, and drove away my blindness. You shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath, and I pant for you. I tasted and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and now I burn with longing for your peace.”

This journey of faith we are on is not about a list of dos and donts. This is a journey in which I seek pleasure in God alone. Often, my problem is that I am far too easily satisfied in this quest for pleasure. I am guilty of seeking pleasure in cheap imitations and in things that are temporary and pass away. All the while I hear Christ reminding me that there are eternal pleasures found in Him. It was for the JOY that was set before him that Moses chose the reproach of Christ and deemed it worth far more than all the treasures Egypt could offer.

May we be renewed and refreshed, as we sit at the Lord’s Table and as we commune with Him and with each other, to seek pleasure in God alone. Let us taste, and in tasting hunger and thirst for that which only God can give.

Reformed and always being reformed – that is one of the great cries of our Reformed Theology. Yet, we forget the rest of that phrase – according to the Word of God.

I made a post on facebook yesterday regarding my upcoming service as a commissioner to our General Assembly. My comment was regarding the fact that I had received a voters guide or two, telling me how I should vote on various issues. I take exception to that, regardless of the source of the guide. The conversation on Facebook went a very different direction and I grew uncomfortable with some of what was expressed. So, today I choose to elaborate on this forum instead.

We believe in the priesthood of the believer. We believe that every child of God has the gift of the Holy Spirit who will lead us into the truth of God. Our own book of Order speaks to this in the Foundations section where it says; “United with Christ in the power of the Spirit, the Church seeks not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may discern what is the the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Our reform must not be due to an agenda or a voter’s guide, but must be thoroughly grounded in the Word of God and the witness of the Holy Spirit. “The Church is to be a community of witness, pointing beyond itself through word and work to the good news of God’s transforming grace in Christ Jesus its Lord.”

I am thrilled to be going to GA – I have enjoyed the reading and listening to the various voices. But this must not be a political gathering where we cull for votes that fit our agenda. For me, this must be about listening to the Holy Spirit speak through the Word of God.

Reformed and always being reformed – according to the Word of God!

While in Israel one of the spots I enjoyed was the Garden of Gethsemane. It sits at the bottom of the Mount of Olives, a short distance to the Temple Mount. I could easily picture Jesus spending so much time there in that quiet spot surrounded by the Olive Trees. Jesus would be able to easily see the Temple Mount with the Most Holy Place – his Father’s house.

He did not spend a lot of time in Jerusalem because he was not welcome there. So, to spend time in the garden praying and communing with His Father – all the while looking at the temple – is a picture that resonates with me.

In his busy world in which we live, I am more and more impressed with the need for quiet reflection in my own life. I need to create Sabbathing moments so I can once again find God in the ordinary.

Revelation 21 is a beautiful picture of the new heaven and the new earth that await us in the fullness of time. I wonder what you think heaven will be like?

In Rev. 21 I hear so many echoes back to Genesis and the creation story. Paradise was created – paradise was lost – and paradise is recovered in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Heaven and earth – thin places – places where the two seem so very close. John pictures heaven as coming down to us in this new earth. A thin place.

Where are the thin places for you? Maybe it is a place like the beach or the mountains. Maybe it is a spiritual retreat like Dwight Mission or some other place. But, I think the point is that thin places can be anywhere and everywhere if we are cognizant of the presence of the Eternal in the ordinary.

May this day be a thin place for you – a day of practice for the fullness of the presence of God in a day yet to come!

Today is Wednesday of Holy Week. On this day Jesus is in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper. That is somewhat amazing in itself. Jesus eating in the home of a leper! We may conclude that this man had been healed by Jesus at an earlier time and thus the invitation for dinner.

At dinner a woman comes up and pours  expensive ointment on the head of Jesus as he reclines at table. The disciples react to this extravagance and declare that the ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor.We often hear such things if we build beautiful places to worship or seek to take care of those places we already have.

Extravagance is usually something that we are told to avoid and refrain from so the reaction of the disciples makes some sense. But I think there are time when we are to be extravagant. As a church we should be extravagant in our generosity, in our love, in our forgiveness, in our joy, in our worship of the living God.

I love this picture that is painted in the gospels. It should propel us to ask how we might be more extravagant in our generosity.

Holy week is here! As a minister this is an incredibly busy week and I fear that in the “stuff” of this week I may lose the sense of wonder and awe this week should contain.

So, I pause to write this morning. I left Men’s Bible study where we looked at John 13 – the foot washing that took place in the upper room on Thursday of Holy Week. We call it Maundy Thursday – Maundy comes from a Latin word meaning commandment. The commandment was to love one another as Jesus has loved us.

This commandment was demonstrated in the foot washing, in Jesus’ treatment of Judas, and in the words and actions that followed this evening.

I left having had my feet washed by my brothers (not literally, but spiritually). I left challenged to look for opportunities to wash the feet of others.

Then I read the account in Mark 13:32-37. Jesus has left the temple where he had confounded many. They discussed many things there, including which commandment was the first and greatest.

As they leave the temple Jesus talks about it being destroyed. The question on the minds of the disciples was “when will this happen?”  The answer from Jesus is to be awake and alert for you do not know what the future holds.

I read these words from Brian Coulter in a devotional called “Be Holy.” He writes: “…Jesus asks us to keep alert in the midst of this uncertainty. He tells us to keep this kind  of holy focus…Often, though, we are pulled into the anxieties and distractions of our world. We stop trying to be holy because we are busy…or we’re scared.”

As he concludes “we do not know with certainty what the future will bring, we do know with certainty that our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” So, let’s keep awake and alert and wash some feet while we have opportunity!

After recent conversations with colleagues in ministry I have been reminded of the great gift God has given to His church over the centuries. The early Church Fathers have much to say to us and we are wise to listen to their collective witness.

I fear that we think that our modern world is so very different that there is not much they could say to us – but the problems of our world are not new – they are not that different. We still wrestle with the problem of our fallen humanness and God still speaks to those issues.

I love reading the ancient church fathers and realizing that there is nothing new under the sun. I give thanks for their faithful witness and their lives of great sacrifice.

Ambrose once wrote: “You must not be greatly troubled about many things, but you should care for the main thing — preparing yourself for death.” that is fantastic and as relevant today as when it was written.

I know of few things that generate heat and passion like this topic. In Oklahoma we recently had to remove the statue of the 10 commandments from the Capitol. This has created angst for many.

Here is a different take on current attempts to change the state constitution on this matter.

I know I may be in the minority, but I do not need a statue of the 10 commandments erected anywhere to make my faith more complete. We have adopted a mindset that if we just have this, or many other choices, then life will be better – God will smile on us – and we can return to life in the 1950’s.

What we need is for Christians to live the 10 commandments. We need to live out the reality that they are written on our hearts. I do not need a statue somewhere, I need to honor covenant marriage. I need to see the image of God in everyone. I need to value my time and relationship with God. I need to be content with what God has given to me rather than lusting in greed for more and more. I need to love my neighbor and my God with my whole heart.

As we make our way through Lent I am reminded of the call of the prophet Joel to return to God with our whole hearts. Far too often I piece out my heart to many things. A piece here, a piece there. All given to things that may be worthwhile in and of themselves (some not so worthwhile).

But the call of God is to return to Him with our whole hearts. Hearts that live out His claim on our lives. Hearts that delight in Him.

This is what I need to be about. How about you?