Ordination

This last Friday evening, I was ordained.  It was the final formal milestone on a journey that started in 1998 when I finally figured out that I had a call to pastor and preach and teach the Bible. 14 years of lapsed time.  It was a wonderful, significant evening.

What was it like?  What does it meant to me?

My wife Linda, along with 5 other ordinands and their spouses (well, one was a single guy) listened to a steady stream of ordained elders read to us various charges and commitments that would be expected of us. Some of these were straight from Scripture, some of them based on Scripture but codified in the 'rule book' for my particular church - The Manual of The Church of the Nazarene.  When our moment came, we stood and ascended the 5 steps to platform in front of a few hundred onlookers.  We both knelt at a short altar rail that had been positioned on the platform for this purpose. I placed on the altar rail a beautiful new Bible that my mother had bought me for the occasion, held my wife's hand and placed our hands on the Bible.  Rev. Dr. Eugenio Duarte, one of the six General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene (our equivalent of an Arch Bishop) stood on the other side of the rail and laid his hands on my head.  Our local District Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Ken Stanford (our equivalent of a Bishop) laid his hands on my wife and I.  Approximately 100 ordained elders of the church then gathered around them, laying their hands on us, if they were in reach, or laying their lands on the shoulders of those around us.  The visual effect is that of a huge scrum with Linda and I kneeling at the center.

The  Manual describes what ordination is thus: "While affirming the scriptural  tenet  of  the  universal  priesthood  and  ministry  of  all believers,  ordination  reflects  the  biblical  belief  that  God calls  out  and  gifts  certain  men  and  women  for  ministerial leadership in His Church. Ordination is the authenticating,
authorizing  act  of  the  Church,  which  recognizes  and  confirms  God’s  call  to  ministerial  leadership  as  stewards  and proclaimers  of  both  the  gospel  and  the  Church  of  Jesus Christ.  Consequently,  ordination  bears  witness  to  the Church universal and the world at large that this candidate evidences an exemplary life of holiness, possesses gifts and graces for public ministry, has a thirst for knowledge, specially for the Word of God, and has the capacity to communicate clearly sound doctrine."

Dr. Duarte then spoke the words of ordination over us: "Edward D J Frost, I charge thee before God and our Lord Jesus Christ, preach the Word, ...in all things, endure afflictions  do the work an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry, take ... authority to administer the sacraments, take charge of the Church of God.  Now by the authority invested in me as a General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, I ordain you and Elder in the Church of God, in the Name of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, Amen."

My friend Rev. Geoff DeFranca then prayed over us both, we stood up hugged and shaked hands with a few people, were handed a certificate and then stood aside to watch others be ordained after us.  We scanned the congregation, making eye contact with relatives and friends.

So I am now 'authenticated and authorized'!

When I was kneeling I simply prayed to God 'thank You, thank You, thank You..'  Only God understands the depth and the origin of that payer.  Of all the words said over me, the words that struck deep into my mind, my heart were 'take charge over the Church of God'.  Those are weighty words to have said over you.  They will form me in the time to come.

Each of us who have given ourselves to Christ and trust on Him, and in Him - we are all ordained to ministry.  My ordination is specifically that of an elder.  It is a weighty thing to be ordained by God.  On Friday this inward ordination was enacted in the outward ordination ritual of the Church - the congregation of those who call God Father, in Christ.

N.T. Wright on the OT and NT continuity of God

Andrew Wilson, blogger at Think Theology and one of the pastor-elders of King’s Church Eastbourne in England, interviewed Tom Wright at the Think Conference - 23rd May 2013.  Wilson asks NT (Tom) Wright a series of popular theological questions.

You can download the full interview here.

I particularly appreciated Wright's answer on the 'new Marcionism', and generally his erudite, charitable, witty answers.  Marcionism is a third century Christian heresy that says that the Old Testament portrays a different 'god' than the New Testament does.  Wright highlights that this thinking pops up from age to age, and is alive and well today.  He combats it by splitting the issue into two questions: Is there continuity or discontinuity in the revelation of God in the OT and NT?  Is it possible to align a kind forgiving loving merciful God with the judgmentalness of God and various atrocities - mainly in the OT?

It's a great listen to a great Christian thinker. Enjoy!

When I finish my studying..

When I finally, eventually finish studying, here are some of the things that I have planned:

- watch all the Men in Black movies in a marathon
- mow my lawn with my ride-on lawn mower more or less continually.
- learn how to play 'Little Wing' by Jimmy Hendrix on electric guitar
- read a whole stack of books that I want to read.  The stack has been growing larger for a couple of years now.
- buy a kayak and use it to travel the length of the Merrimack River
- go on vacation to Spain for 2 glorious weeks, visiting with my brother and Mum.  The vacations is booked.
- rotovate, reseed , water an then mow my lawn
- learn how to use the digital looper and delay pedal I bought over a year ago with my nice tube amp and Fender Strat.
- rebuild the bed and sides of my garden trailer - the one built on an axle from a Ford Model A
- buy a pair of crocs to wear all summer long
- start to learn Spanish and find a a person to practice with
- mow my lawn some more.
- start to work towards my membership in the 4000' club.  This is a goal for my 50's.
- mow my lawn some more.

July 9th 013 update.

• Linda and I watched all three men in Black movies.  1 is great, 2 is so-so and 3 is very good!
• My lawn is thoroughly mowed, even limed and will soon be overseeded.  Happy days!
• I'm taken ages to slowly digest one great book
• 12 days until UK/Spain - yippee!
• I have indeed been goofing with my delay pedal - also great fun
• I have been wearing my crocs more or less continually
• Hablo un poco de español ahora.  I even bought the Spanish for Dummies book.

Family Resemblance

Just got back from New York City, where I met up with my cousin Jeannie from New Zealand who was passing through town.  We hadn't met up for 15 years, and we spent a happy day walking around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, indulging our shared love of art.  As we walked and talked there was one moment when it suddenly occurred to me that I was looking at my late father's eyes and eyebrows.  There he was.  Jeannie probably shares 12 to 25% of my father's DNA with me, and it shows.

Jeannie flanked by her daughter Sarah and Linda

1 Colossians 15a reads "He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God". There is a family resemblance between Jesus Christ and The Father.  Really this statement doesn't do it justice - as the context makes clear. The word 'image' (in Greek eikon) here can also be translated 'picture'.  He is the picture of His Father.   Jesus is the Father, revealed - a revelation.
Jeannie is her own person - and a wonderful one too.  She is not my Dad.  Jesus Christ is also His own person.  The difference is, Jesus IS The Father, and The Spirit.  As we encounter one we encounter the whole of God.
At the end of our day together, Jeannie and I hugged and kissed and said our goodbyes. "Who knows where or which decade we'll meet again?" I said.   I drove back to New Hampshire, and she is on her way to LA and then Auckland.  Jeannie and he family are Christians like Linda and me.  We share different parents, but the same Savior.  The family resemblance is growing beautifully.

Question, Answers, Jesus

It's been a horrific week in the USA.  The Boston Marathon Bombings, the massive explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, and most bizarrely, an Elvis impersonator has sent ricin-pointed letters to the President and a senator.  As I write this, Boston is on lock down as thousands of police are hunting the surviving bomber, and two more policemen have died.  The maimed will be living with their devastating wounds for the rest of their lives.
Christian leaders have responded.  One friend was typical in his response.  He posted on Facebook "There are no easy answers. Count your blessings. Walk in love".  I thought 'two out of three ain't bad'.  Count our blessings - always great advice.  Walk in love - yes, and I can't do that for any length of time unless God is walking in me, through me. No easy answers?  Hmm.
It's fine to ask questions both of ourselves, of our society, of our government and of God.  We should ask questions.   We might not find answers to all of those questions and it's wise to distrust answers that are too easy.  My reservation is that Christians must ask questions, seek truth, and search for God in every situation.  Didn't Jesus Christ promise "I will never leave you or forsake you"?  So how does that play out exactly on the sidewalks of Boylston Street and in the ER at Mass General?

Suffering is at the heart of the Christian Way.  Our symbol is the cross.  On that cross God born as a man was hung like meat in a butcher's window, stripped naked, exposed, the flesh whipped from his back, blood blinding his eyes, tendons and cartilage severed by iron spike, slowly suffocating to death as the blood drained from his body.  God experiences all the pain and suffering in the whole world, all the time.  CS Lewis wrote that human suffering is one person deep and as wide as all humanity.  We get to experience one life's worth - some more than others. God enjoins us in all our joy, and in all our pain.

So there is one question we can answer.  Where is God at times like this?  Right with us, is the clear and unequivocal answer. What is He doing about it?  Leaving us room to love and room to hate - on each other, and on Him.

Christians affirm that there are two deaths.  One bodily, that moves us from this 'world' into the next.  There is a second death coming.  We call it Judgment Day, when God blows the final whistle on the human timeline.  Those alive will be joined by all those who have died, to be judged.  Christ opened His arms to all of humanity and took within Himself all of the evil, hatred, disdain, disinterest and ignorance that humanity will ever produce.  For those who put their deep trust in Christ, He has absorbed the second death for us.  So go ahead and be mad at God this week, if you want to.  He has already taken the punishment for all the evil in the world, and responds with giving us new life and His spirit.   This week, from Greater Boston, my hope is that Christians will point to the crucified God as the only intellectually satisfying, morally sound, life affirming answer to the agony we are sharing in during weeks like this.

Evil at the Boston Marathon.

Today, a senseless act of violence was committed in Boston, Massachusetts.  terrorism is nothing new, of course.  The best way that Christians can respond is to pray from the victims and the perpetrators. Then we ought to go about our business as usual. Christians know that justice is one aspect of salvation - are we are being saved.  Justice is not complete.  Vengeance is a dangerous response - and belongs only to God. Love your neighbor.

I am moved to re-post a poem by my late father.  God met evil on the cross - absorbing all it's pain and fury into Himself. 

AFTER SEPTEMBER 11^TH

The World is soiled now,

like sweat stained clothes

crumpled and cast aside,

trampled by boots heavy with filth,

all redolent of evil done.

Nothing now is certain,

Directions once safe now point to

quicksands and dark jungles.

Questions turn into riddles

that have no easy answers.

Poisoned clouds swirl round the globe.

Despairing faces cry for food

but desert dust falls through their fingers.

The tortured corpses lay in stinking piles.

Disease will putrefy the living.

Death stands ready for his harvest,

and God is angered.

Max Frost

1 Oct 2001

The Day After God Died

What was it like, the day after God died?  Easter Saturday is, for me, one of the most interesting days of the year, theologically, pastorally, devotionally: for me, for us, for us and God.

The four gospels – and the beginning chapters of the Book of Acts in the Holy Bible tell us relatively little about it.  Their concern is more with the crushing drama of Good Friday and the world-changing events of Easter Sunday.  In between there is an eerie silence – Saturday.  This Saturday is quiet like the grave, dull as an overcast November, breathless, still, silent, like mourners beside a coffin .

God has come to us – Emmanuel – the Christmas joy of all things filled with light.

Then death, loss, unexpected horror, leaving us numb.  Perhaps that is the word I am reaching for to describe this day – numb.  We are still alive – but we just don’t feel it.  We go about our daily lives but there is death’s coldness growing like ivy around the stone walls of our hearts.  We have pulled the curtains in the middle of the day, closed the doors to become private in our emptiness.

Of course, we know how the story ends.  The grinding of the stone rolling away from the tomb as the fresh Sunday morning air is stirred by the Risen Christ stepping out of His tomb, clothed not in blood and torture, but in wholeness, radiance and love-filled life.  But that is tomorrow.  Today, there is … numbness of life.

One day a year we get to pause and become quiet.  To feel the Spring sun on our faces and watch our children play on the pale grass revealed by the melted snow.  There are no flowers …yet.  But they are coming.  Today I feel the deep emptiness of my life without God.  Once, I had felt Him brush by me, caught the aroma of His warm skin,  I remember the timbre of His voice, the warmth of His gaze and smile.  Today He seems far away – a fading memory, and I am empty because of it.

Tonight I will go to bed and pray to a distant God.  Perhaps in the morning He will wake me with a touch of His hand and call my name.