Okay, so it’s been almost 2 months since my last update - but for one of those months I was in the USA traveling much of the time with my family, so I have an excuse, right? No? Sorry. Too bad for you.
Here’s what’s happened since my last post. Last month (May) while I was away, the elders continued meeting and held a business meeting during which one of the points was the “ordination” of men to do the Lord’s Supper.
Now, the word “ordination” is in quotes because it is not what Americans would typically think in hearing the word. The word really means (according to Webster’s) “the action of ordaining or conferring holy orders on someone” or ”a ceremony in which someone is ordained.“ To ordain someone is to ”make someone a priest or minister.“ The word comes from the Middle English (also from Latin) and means to ”put in order.”
So, if we take that meaning of the word and apply it into this context of our church, then it makes total sense to “ordain” men for leading the Lord’s Supper.
However, upon further discussion with the elders, I discovered that there was a small ceremony planned in order to ordain these men (I being one of them I found out later) to lead the Lord’s Supper.
The final point came on this last Sunday when another pastor who also has responsibilities with our denomination came to our church to preach and was asked to “ordain” the 3 men for leading the Lord’s Supper. After a brief discussion with him, I came to the realization that the struggle that has ensued in our church for the past almost year over the issue of the Lord’s Supper is NOT a denominational issue, but rather one man’s view/application of the denomination’s constitution and by-laws.
The representative from the denomination asked why I was being “ordained” again and stated that it was not necessary and that it was also a shame that only 3 men were being “set aside” to lead the Lord’s Supper and not 30. It was truly a revelation and relief to my heart when I discovered that he and I held very similar views regarding the serving and leading of the Lord’s Supper.
Live and learn...
Here’s what’s happened since my last post. Last month (May) while I was away, the elders continued meeting and held a business meeting during which one of the points was the “ordination” of men to do the Lord’s Supper.
Now, the word “ordination” is in quotes because it is not what Americans would typically think in hearing the word. The word really means (according to Webster’s) “the action of ordaining or conferring holy orders on someone” or ”a ceremony in which someone is ordained.“ To ordain someone is to ”make someone a priest or minister.“ The word comes from the Middle English (also from Latin) and means to ”put in order.”
So, if we take that meaning of the word and apply it into this context of our church, then it makes total sense to “ordain” men for leading the Lord’s Supper.
However, upon further discussion with the elders, I discovered that there was a small ceremony planned in order to ordain these men (I being one of them I found out later) to lead the Lord’s Supper.
The final point came on this last Sunday when another pastor who also has responsibilities with our denomination came to our church to preach and was asked to “ordain” the 3 men for leading the Lord’s Supper. After a brief discussion with him, I came to the realization that the struggle that has ensued in our church for the past almost year over the issue of the Lord’s Supper is NOT a denominational issue, but rather one man’s view/application of the denomination’s constitution and by-laws.
The representative from the denomination asked why I was being “ordained” again and stated that it was not necessary and that it was also a shame that only 3 men were being “set aside” to lead the Lord’s Supper and not 30. It was truly a revelation and relief to my heart when I discovered that he and I held very similar views regarding the serving and leading of the Lord’s Supper.
Live and learn...
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