Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
On this day, 509 years ago, Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany sparking the Protestant Reformation. One of the cornerstone teachings of Martin Luther is known as the Priesthood of all Believers.
What is a priest? A priest is one who is ordained to do God’s work. A priest takes vows. A priest wakes up each day knowing that holy work awaits them, and they are the hands and feet of Jesus in the world; called and chosen for holy work.
In Luther’s day the Church’s teaching was quite clear; the priests did God’s work in the world, the rest to the people did what they had to do to survive, to put food on the table, and to support the priests and nuns who did God’s holy work.
The mundane, unclean, and unappreciated work of the lay people was a necessary evil. The sweat of the brow and strenuous labor was the punishment inherited from our first parents who misbehaved in the garden of Eden. From that original sin humans were destined to labor and toil, doing secular work until the day they die.
Luther turned Christianity upside down—by teaching that the priests and nuns were NO MORE important in God’s eyes than the blacksmith, the farmer, the mother, and teacher.
Luther’s teaching on the priesthood of all believers tells us that in Baptism we are ordained. Ordained by God to do the holy and sacred work of God.
Every morning I arise and come to work as your pastor and someone needs me—I am needed to make coffee, to turn on the lights, to open the doors of the church, to move tables and chairs and occasionally to plunge the toilet. My work is no different from those at schools or office buildings across the island.
Each day people come to me needing prayer or a shoulder to cry on. Each day people come to you needing someone to listen, someone to care, someone to remind them that they are not alone. Every day I seek to do my work to the glory of God, it is God’s work through my hands.
Every day you go places where I cannot go—your children and grandchildren need your love; your co-workers and neighbors need to hear words of hope. This is holy work.
We need you to build the planes that take us safely to far off lands, this is holy work done to God’s glory. We need teachers who care, we need politicians who work for the common good, we need bakers and tellers and ferry workers.
You are the hands and feet of Christ—you were ordained in baptism to faithfully serve in your vocation. Whatever that vocation is, it is important to your neighbor, to the functioning of society, and to the abundant life of those whom you serve.
Your vocation is YOUR ministry, and in that place, you are a priest. When parenting has you at wits end—remember, that you were called and chosen for moments like this.
When your clients, co-workers or customers are wearing you down and trying your patience; touch the water, make the sign of the cross on your forehead and remember that you were ordained as a priest.
One beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
rvlindus@whidbey.com
