Returning to Our Roots

Why do we need a priest? In our shared life together, what responsibilities are distinct to the clergy? The novel coronavirus outbreak may be forcing us to redistribute roles, but there is always value in remembering what we really need clergy for and what we can do without them.

Somewhere in my formation, someone told me that the role of a priest is to do the ABCs—absolve, bless, and consecrate. In our ordination as presbyters, we are set apart by the Christian community (and some would argue uniquely empowered by the Holy Spirit) to pronounce the absolution of sins, to bless the people in God's name, and to consecrate the bread and wine so that God might make them the body and blood of Christ. You can already tell that the one doing the real work in all three of those circumstances is God. God is the one who forgives, blesses, and makes Christ present in the elements of Holy Communion. Priests are just the individuals who have been designated by the church to represent the faithful people of God in those moments.

Actually, clergy play other distinct roles, too, but they have less to do with ordination and more to do with formation and collective identity. Although not unique to the clergy, before being ordained in our tradition, seminarians typically spend three years studying holy scripture, including biblical languages, doctrine, history, ethics, and liturgy. We are trained as homileticians and pastoral care givers. None of those subject areas belongs exclusively to the clergy, but it is unusual for someone to be trained in all of them without being ordained. Because of that peculiar breadth of training, clergy come to a congregation as those who have been prepared to engage the world, interpret events, and speak to and for the church theologically.

Of course, just as a three-year graduate degree is no guarantee than someone will be able to do that well, there are also plenty of skilled theologians among us who have never taken a seminary class. Who are the people in your life that help you discern God's presence in a crisis? Who has taught you what unconditional love is all about? Who cares for your broken spirit when you need it most? Who points you toward truth when the voices of power are obscuring it? Who preaches hope to you in a time of despair? Who joins you in the nuanced pursuit of right and wrong when goods and values are in conflict? Who conveys to you the power of forgiveness and blessing and spiritual intimacy with God and one another? I hope that you can say that your clergy fill those roles in one way or another, but I also hope that you can name others who do all of those things even more fully than the clergy.

In this time of physical distancing because of COVID-19, the clergy will continue to lead worship and preach and care for those in need, but the nature of that work has changed, and we cannot be the only ones who carry it out. We never have. Normally, we make daily visits to our local hospital, but that has had to stop because access to hospitals has become highly restricted and because we recognize that there is a chance that we could unknowingly expose a vulnerable person to the virus. If you go to the hospital or are in any kind of need, we want to pray with you and for you, but we may have to do that over the phone, trusting that your closest care-givers will be the ones to minister to you in person. If you or someone you love is in critical condition and we are still allowed to visit in person, we will do so, but our clergy are beginning to recognize that even those most important moments of priestly contact may soon be off-limits. Missing out on those opportunities to care for people on behalf of the church is heart-breaking for the clergy, but we are comforted by the fact that others—family members as well as doctors and nurses—are able to offer those ministrations in our place.

After all, the church is not the clergy, nor is it the building in which we gather for worship. The church is the Body of Christ--the people of God, who have been redeemed by God and are united by God's love. The work of caring for one another, representing God's love to one another, and assuring each other of God's promise of hope and new life in Jesus Christ belongs to all of us. It always has, but, in times like these, we need to remember that as much as ever. We are not alone. Even if we are physically cut off from the congregation and the clergy, we are the church—members of Christ's body. All of us have been set apart by God for the ministry of caring for one another in God's name, and all of us are equipped by the Holy Spirit to do just that.

Yours Faithfully,

Evan