I
saw a colleague from my cohort of postulants the other day and visited with him
for a few minutes about our internship. We asked each other in turn how things
were going and agreed that we are basically observing and participating as “members”.
He made a comment that the priest at his host community told him that he didn’t
want him starting anything that he would have to continue after he was gone.
Clearly this makes a lot of sense. I spent some time thinking about this on my
way home from my host community. I am more or less a visiting member. I am
trying to be a committed and active member while I’m with St. Paul’s and am
enjoying the fellowship and worship. I am learning but only by observation and
the occasional question that I might ask. There is no formal program at St.
Paul’s for interning a candidate. To be fair, I wasn’t a postulant when I was
introduced to St. Paul’s and being a postulant doesn’t guarantee that I will be
ordained. I do appreciate the casual approach of the priest and deacon at St.
Paul’s. They have many years of experience and want to make sure that I have
the space to discern where my gifts and ministry move me. However, I think it
would be good for an intern to do some things that a Deacon would do. Read the
Gospel, set the Table for Holy Eucharist, and dismiss the people. Maybe shadow
the deacon during an outreach ministry in the community.
This
mornings first lesson:
David
and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from
there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who is
enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and
brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,
the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio
went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before
the LORD with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines
and castanets and cymbals.
So
David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the
city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the LORD had
gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the LORD
with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the
house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the
sound of the trumpet.
The
priest began his homily by speaking about David’s dance before the ark, how the
lesson left out a bit of the story where Uzzah reached out to steady the ark
which was being carried on a cart and was killed by the “glory” of the Lord.
Later David learned how the ark should be carried and gathered the people of
Israel to transport the ark. He danced wildly before the ark, stopping every
six paces to offer sacrifices. David danced so before the Lord to save himself
and his people from being destroyed. He danced to save his life! After this
short reference the priest mentioned the General Convention of the Episcopal
Church and read a Wall Street journal article that blasted the Convention, The
Presiding Bishop, and the Episcopal Church. He also read a couple of responses
to this article from an Episcopal Bishop and a layperson that detailed the
errors of the WSJ article. He came right to the point and made a statement that
was really profound. We like David are “dancing” before the Lord to save our
selves. We are engaging in the “questions” of the day and pushing forward
despite what others do or say. We must.
No comments:
Post a Comment