Blessings and Hope - the Ordination Retreat is Over.
February 14, 2008 – 6:37 amMany candidates have endured the rigors of the Board of Ordination Elders Retreat on Monday and Tuesday; and those who are serving on the Board, Wednesday as well. It is a challenging time for everyone, but especially the candidates for ordination. Many have been in the ordination process for 10 years or more. (It seems it takes that long. Let’s see if I can do this accurately from memory - first a talk with your pastor, read a couple of things, lots of prayer, some dialog, - then the official stuff… affirmation from the pprc, church, district board, 3 years of seminary to get MDiv., retreat #1, two years of full time ministry, retreat #2 - ordination. That seems about right and I think if you do it flawlessly, as fast as you can and the stars are all aligned correctly, you can do it in 7 years.) In the end, some journey the road and become ordained as Elders in the church and some get to the end only to find God leading them down a different path. Either way the journey is rigorous; the blessings are to be found and can to be anxiety producing, yet great; and to find God moving in one’s life through this process is incredibly powerful!
Over the last couple of days I have been contemplating the process and all those involved. The following Psalm sums up my praise to God for the journey of life and hopes for those journeying the path of ordination.
Psalm 95 (NRSV, with some edits from me in italics).
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, when you don’t get what you want, when life might be tough! You know God’s faithfulness and have seen His work, so don’t put God to the test. For forty years God loathed that generation and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.” Therefore in my anger I swore, “They shall not enter my rest.”
Congratulations to all those who endured the Ordination Retreat. Affirmed or not - God’s blessing is in it! Stay focused and give glory to God!
Tags: Conference, Events, Theology
2 Responses to “Blessings and Hope - the Ordination Retreat is Over.”
You are right. It was an ordeal and even with all the stars lined up it took awhile. Through it all, what I kept focuses upon was the “fact” that God had called me, of that I was certain. The questions at times was this what I was called to.
In the end, we move on from this experience better then when we started no matter what the outcome. In the end we have experienced grace in new ways and hope in new ways. I am ready for the next chapter in this journey that God has laid out for me and I can’t wait to see what is behind the next door!
Amen
By Larry on Feb 14, 2008
thank you for the kind words. as one of the candidates, i can tell you that it was an emotionally exhausting couple of days. i would add, though, that while it is a human process which means its fraught with all kinds of problems, i found it to be a collegial, prayerful and spirit-led process. i commend the board on how they handled themselves those two days in the midst of high tension and exhaustion.
greg.
By greg on Feb 16, 2008