“Ordained and Gifted”

Pastor David Hansen

9th Sunday after Pentecost

August 6, 2006

Note: This sermon was preached the day after my ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament.

What a beautiful and touching service yesterday, when I was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament.  It was a beautiful service, and I was very touched by everyone’s presence and participation.  But how easy would it be for me to believe that, because of that service, I am somehow more special – more gifted and holy – than the rest of you?

In the church, we have a tendency to think there is a big difference between the clergy and the laity.  Pastors are often set on a pedestal, and told that they are “different” or “special.”  Many people talked about how “gifted” pastors are, or they talk about the special “calling” to be a pastor.

Its sort of like the three young boys who were arguing about who’s Dad was the best.  The first says, “My is a psychologist and he gets paid $100 an hour.”  To which the second boy says, “So, my Dad is a lawyer and he gets paid $300 an hour.”  The third boy, laughing, says, “Big deal.  My Dad is a pastor – he talks for only twenty minutes and then it takes four guys to collect all the money.”

We find this over and over again.  How many meals do we have in our church that cannot begin until the pastor – the professional prayer – opens the service?  How often to we react with surprise when we hear in the news about the sins of a member of the clergy?

And as much as people like to place pastors on a pedestal, pastors unfortunately often like it even more.  We too often talk as if we are the only ones who understand God, the only ones who know how to pray, the only ones gifted by God with a calling to a holy vocation.

And it isn’t only in the church that we do this.  It reminds me of sitting in elementary school in Burlington, Iowa, and twice a week watching a few students leave the room for half the day.  I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  Why did these particular students, and nobody else, get a break from watching the clock in the classroom with the rest of us?

I wondered and I wondered about this, until one day I was called out of class to join this group.  I was told that I was “gifted.”  Isn’t that great?  The group taken out of class twice a week was the group of “gifted” students.

That is how the world works: one group is “special,” the rest are not; one group is “gifted,” the rest are not; one group is “talented,” the rest are not.

Perhaps the division is money – only the really gifted and special people make a lot of money.  Or maybe we draw the line at influence – only politicians and influential people are gifted and special.

What a mess we get ourselves into!

The Apostle Paul faced similar thinking among the Christians in Ephesus.  They, too, thought that there were two types of Christians: “special Christians” and “normal Christians.”  Paul would not have any of this.  He said to the Ephesians: “each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.”

Each of us is gifted! 

Each of us has a special job to do. 

Each of us is ordained to a certain purpose.

It is a very different way of looking at the world.  It says there are no special Christians and normal Christians.  There are Christians, gifted and called and ordained to a variety of purposes.  There is not one Christian job – pastors.  No, there are as many Christian jobs are there are Christians working them.

You know, it is interesting to reflect, this day after my ordination, that I already know what the saddest moment of my ministry has been. 

During a break on a retreat weekend, I was talking to a fellow participant.  This man was president of his congregation.  He worked in construction, and volunteered his time maintaining the church building and working for Habitat for humanity.

As we were talking, he said to me, “You know, I envy you and your calling.  I’ve worked the same job for thirty years, and I wish I had a calling like yours.”

This man, who was a devoted Christian, went through his entire life thinking he did not have a calling, that he was not special and gifted by God.

I talked to him about this letter from Paul, and I told him the following story about another devoted Christian I knew.

Like him, this woman was a devoted Christian and volunteered her time at her church.  But, she also knew that God does not distinguish between gifted Christians and normal Christians.  At her job, this woman was in charge of hiring for her company.  Over the years, she wound up being on a first name basis with the local parole officers.  You see, in her position, she hired countless parolees that no one else would hire, because she felt it was her Christian calling – in her “normal” job – to give people a second chance.

The question for this woman, as it was for Paul, was not what job do you do.  The question was, how do you do your job, whatever it is.

That’s why I love this letter to the Ephesians, especially this fourth chapter.  We often through it in when we are talking about pastors, but that’s mainly because so few passages in the bible actually use the word “pastor” that we have to jump on it when we find one.  But the fact is, this is as much about the life of every Christian as it is about pastors.

“Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” says Paul.  Notice, it is not a question of whether or not you have been called.  Paul assumes that you – every Christian – have been called. 

The life worthy of your calling, whatever your job is, whatever your place in life is, is lived “with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love, and making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Martin Luther said it this way:  Whatever you “job,” it becomes a Christian vocation – a holy calling – when done to the best of your ability and to the glory of God.    Like Paul, Luther made it clear that there is no division between special, gifted Christians and “normal” Christians.  No, Luther said, the jobs of the housewife, the farmer, the day laborer, and anyone else are as holy as the job of the pastor, if done to the glory of God. 

Or, to use Paul’s words, It is a Christian calling if done with humility, patience, gentleness, and if every effort is made to build up the body of Christ.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to think I am special, that I am gifted. 

And I’m not wrong.

But you are also gifted, each one of you.

Every Christian is a special, gifted Christian.

As my mom taught me, it’s not what job you have, it’s how you do your job – ultimately how you live your life.

The question isn’t, am I gifted, it is, am I using my gifts.

You are gifted.

Let that sink in.  In fact, say this for me: God has gifted me.

Now, the challenging part – and the exciting part – is to go out into the world and use those gifts from God.

Never doubt that you are gifted, that you are special.  Always ask if you are using your gifts.