Ordination

On Sunday, May 18th, I was ordained by my congregation, Germantown Mennonite Church. These are the words I shared with the congregation in response to the blessings they gave me:

The summer of 2007, right before I started seminary, I read Barbara Brown Taylor’s memoir, Leaving Church. That was not a good idea.

As Taylor was writing about needing to step out of the role of pastor, and the difficulties of that life, I was beginning the journey towards that role.

She wrote about the weightiness of the laying on of hands at her ordination and the burden she felt there. It was a heavy moment  for her, and her reflections terrified me. So, I stopped reading it.  I decided for my own spiritual health, I didn’t need to know how her story ended.

Eight years ago, when my kids were 2 and 5, I began in earnest to wrestle with my call. I blame many of you in this room for that wrestling. Many of you fertilized the seeds of the call that were in me from the beginning. You’d say to me, “Why aren’t you in seminary?” or “You know you’re called, right?”ped reading it. I decided for my own spiritual health, I didn’t need to know how her story ended.

Eight years after I wrestled with God (and lost), I stand before you, a follower of Jesus, sent–kicking and screaming–into seminary, a pastoral candidate you called from within to serve this congregation, and now an ordained minister you have affirmed for the ministry of this church.

Like everything at Germantown Mennonite Church, my call has not been typical. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The hands laid on me in ordination feel like a blessing and not a burden. They are a blessing because I know that I’m not doing this work alone. You have blessed me to journey with you as people of God. You’ve blessed me to shepherd and attend. And that is a joy for me.

This work is hard sometimes, but it’s not a burden. It’s truly a joy for me to serve the congregation that ministered

to my spirit in my tumultuous 20s, that blessed my gifts and gave me countless opportunities to serve, that cheered for me and held me and my family up as I entered seminary, and that believed in me enough to call me to serve here and now.

Thank you Germantown Mennonite for blessing the work we do together. And thanks to all those who came out to support this ordination, and to bless the work of this congregation. All of you gathered here give me hope for the church, and give me a glimpse of the reign of God.