This past week-end, my Lutheran synod, the Florida-Bahamas Synod, installed our new Bishop. My pastor was the official photographer, and he's posted beautiful pictures: a beautiful cathedral, bishops and higher ups from across the country who came, and beautiful shots that also capture the light that streamed in.
This morning, one of my Facebook friends posted pictures of a different type of installation. I'm not Presbyterian, so I don't know exactly what she means when she says she was commissioned as a local pastor. It sounds like an ordination, but I'm unsure. She's wearing a beautiful handmade stole.
I love all the pomp and circumstance of these occasions--one reason why I also like graduations. But they also leave me with a yearning that I suspect is never far away. I yearn to be making this kind of progress and to be acknowledged in a setting where people have gathered to pray with me and for me.
Let me just sit with these feelings for now. Just because I feel a yearning doesn't mean I need to act on it. Still they are yearnings that never go away. Let me also remember that.
but bestows favor on the humble
1 year ago
1 comment:
Here is my attempt to describe the Presbyterian polity specifics: https://bookgirl71.wordpress.com/2018/01/23/ruling-elder-commissioned-to-particular-pastoral-service/
I think it is similar to a licensed minister in the UCC and a local pastor in the UMC. I'm not sure what the Lutheran equivalent might be.
Do I still wonder about full ordination to Ministry of Word and Sacrament? Of course. But for now, this is enough.
--Wendy
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