June 17, 2015

“He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. G*d knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of G*d.” Luke 16:10, 13, 15

“At seminaries….I have often been asked by identity-anxious students whether the work appropriate to the ministry will be congruent with their search with identity. My reply is that the contemporary split between identity and commitment is probably a false one. When Gerald Manley Hopkins said, “What I do is me his statement was earthy and true. For identity is a kind of possibility and promise; it will most often open to the substance and shape of a commitment. Ordination to the ministry fixes one’s identity where one’s commitments are. Helping people is important, but a minister is not ordained to help people in general. He or she is there with an understanding that the ultimate help for people is to put them into a relationship with G*d.” Joseph Sittler (1904 – 1987) “For All The Saints”, volume II (p. 97-98)

I have spoken on several occasions about my seminary experience. My initial thoughts about Sittler’s “identity-anxious” students are to agree with what he is saying — there were those students in Seminary who seemed to be trying to find themselves or to be running away from the things of their past. The anxiety came through most palpable in their inabilit  hn y to listen — and the incessant need to talk — to try to work out their lives through proving to others how much they knew. But, in my most humble opinion, the level of anxiety was most prevalent in the need to be right and the fear of failure.

“Ordination to the ministry fixes one’s identity where one’s commitments are. Helping people is important, but a minister is not ordained to help people in general. He or she is there with an understanding that the ultimate help for people is to put them into a relationship with G*d.” So says Joseph Sittler, and to that I say Amen. If the Seminarian or the pastor is too focused on fixing themselves, they will not be able to be the “non-anxious presence” for the people in their charge. We all need to be solid in our relationship with G*d — which will help us in all of our relationships — and help us not to be too fixed on our own anxieties or our own fears.

Pastor Dave