March 16, 2021
Sharing from our congregation: David Petty
Moses’s father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out...You should. represent the people before God and bring their cases before God; teach them the statutes and instructions, and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. You should also look for able men...Let them sit as judges for the people at all times” — Exodus 18:17-18,19-21,22
...like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood...
—First Peter 2:5
In 1215 a group of British nobles met with King John in a meadow west of London and signed the “Great Charter.” The Magna Carta did not immediately establish democracy in England; that took several centuries, some of them quite bloody. Similarly, the U.S. constitution, ratified 1787-1790, only established “democracy” for the upper class. It has taken over two centuries for democracy to be extended to non-landowners, women, and minorities, and we’re still working on it. Political change, like God, operates on a different time scale than the ours.
Moses usually took his instructions directly from God, but on one occasion he heeded the advice of his father-in-law.
By giving up some of his personal power to a group of others, Moses initiated the slow process of “opening up” the church to all, just as American and English democracy was slowly opened up. Peter, who became the most powerful person in the church, proclaimed that all Christians are priests.
It’s unclear who first used the term “priesthood of all believers,” although Martin Luther surely implied it. John Wesley advanced the idea. “Give me one hundred preachers,” he wrote, “who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or laymen...” The later emphasis of the Methodist church on well-educated clergy might seem to contradict this, but only in the sense of suggesting specific roles for specific people; all are called to participate in the work of the kingdom.
So despite a few stumbles, there seems to have been a general movement in the church for participation by all. Yet there is a force in the opposite direction. Just as the idea of physical exercise has deteriorated to paid athletes being watched by people who main exertion is moving their fingers across the remote, there are folks for whom church has become a spectator sport. It’s a performance by the pastor, some musicians, and a few others, observed in the sanctuary or via electronic devices. Church is something to view, not something to do.
I know I’m exaggerating here. In a smaller church like St. Mark, especially, most of us feel compelled to participate, sometimes in multiple ways. But I find that I have to fight the temptation to say that since others can do a better job, let them. As in so many cases, we need the support of each other and the power of prayer. Armchair Christianity, like armchair athletics, spares us a lot of the pain of the struggle. It also deprives us of a lot of the exhilaration of the game and enjoyment of the victory.
Gracefully submitted,
David Petty