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"Who’s in Charge Here? "
“Whaaaat were you thinkin?!” That question made famous by Dr. Phil can actually trace its roots back 3200 years to Exodus 18. It’s early in the wilderness days of the people of Israel. At God’s command Moses had led the people out of slavery in Egypt and now they were wandering around the wilderness seeking the Promised Land, a journey that would end up taking forty years. Do you know why it took forty years for Moses to get to the promised land? Because even then men refused to ask for directions. An old joke. The other wilderness joke was a favorite of Golda Meir’s, when she was prime minister of Israel. She used to say, “Forty years Moses and the children of Israel wandered through the Middle East and finally stopped at the one place without oil!” Anyhow, Moses and the Israelites are camped near the mountain of God. Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, comes to visit and they have a nice dinner. The next morning Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, which he did on a regular basis. You get in a dispute with the guy in the next tent and you go to see Moses who would decide between you. And this day Jethro observed him. Now there in the desert there was no small claims court, no criminal court, no Judge Judy, no judiciary at all. Moses was it, the only arbiter for thousands upon thousands of people. So the people are lined up like it’s 5 AM outside Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving. And Moses hears their cases. Moses’ father-in-law Jethro watches this all day and then asks, “Whaaaaat are you thinkin? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.” Jethro answered, “There are too many people. They will wear you out and they will wear themselves out standing in line all day. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to God. Teach the people the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves….If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Being wise, Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. And the office of elder was born. How about the office of deacon? What is its origin? Anyone, other than those who were just taught this in officer training? Generally, the origin of the office of deacon is traced to a very significant incident in Acts, chapter 6, though at that time the word “deacon” wasn’t used. Here’s the situation: the early church was growing explosively, especially among the Hellenic Jews, those who spoke Greek. (The very first followers of Jesus were Hebraic Jews, speaking Aramaic, a version of Hebrew.) Soon those new converts to the Way from among the Grecian Jews started complaining “that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, (speaking to the Hellenic Jews)choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’ This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.” Acts 6:1-6) And so deacons were born. Their original purpose? To make sure all the widows were getting enough food. So there is the origin of these two vital offices in the ministry of the Church—elders and deacons. In brief, elders make leadership decisions and deacons, from the Greek word “to serve”, care for the needs of the community. So Presbyterians have two lay categories of church officers, deacons and elders. In fact, the very name of our denomination comes from our form of government. “Presbyter” is the Greek word for elder. Though you no longer need to be old to be an ecclesiastical elder. Nor, in the Presbyterian Church at least, do you any longer need to be male to be an elder or deacon (or pastor). It is widely acknowledged that the form of government in the United States was borrowed from the Presbyterian Church. Many of the key leaders in the newly-forming country back in the 1770s and 1780s were Presbyterians and we see basic Presbyterian concepts in the American representative form of government. The people elect representatives who make decisions on our behalf. Now, the will of God is often revealed through one of the ordinary members of the Church. I’m not saying elders shouldn’t listen to people, but the ultimate goal of the session is to discern and do the will of God, not the people.That makes all the difference in the world. Listening to and being filled with the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the world for ALL followers of Jesus, not just the officers, to know that we aren’t doing this under our own power. Thank God. Because it is a daunting role to be an ordained officer of the church. Listen to the questions that we ask our elders and deacons. And other than the last one, they are the same questions asked of ministers of the word and sacrament in ordination and installation. I’ll just pull out a few: Thankfully we are fulfilling these roles in the power of the Holy Spirit. And lead me to fall on my knees. A story. In 1986 I was called to be the pastor of People’s Congregational Church in Bayport, Minnesota, just south of Stillwater on the St. Croix River. There were and are three churches in town, the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the other church, us. I soon began hearing story after story of Father Miller, who had served St. Charles Catholic Church many years ago and who had died ten or fifteen years earlier. Father Miller was beloved by the community, not only the Catholics, for his gentle spirit, deep compassion and faithful service to all. Some years later I learned the secret of his wonderful legacy. In violation of every form of government regulation regarding privacy, one of the members of my congregation who was a retired nurse now in her 80s told me of a time that Father Miller was hospitalized. I don’t recall what his malady was, but Millie told me that while he was in the hospital it was discovered that he had calluses one inch thick on his knees. From praying. The doctor said to him, “Father, why don’t we cut those calluses off while you are in here?” “Don’t you think that’s a waste of energy?” asked Father Miller. “They’ll just grow back.” His profound ministry was powered by prayer. But that sort of prayer is not just for priests and pastors, elders and deacons. Another story. My seminary friend, Mark Merrill, was called to be associate pastor of a medium-sized church near Indianapolis. One Saturday morning on his day off Mark went into the church to stain his desk. He was wearing his hole-y jeans and grubby T-shirt. Mid-morning he heard some folks entering the building. He didn’t know of anything scheduled to be going on so he went out to investigate. Turns out it was a couple there to be married by the senior pastor. It was to be a small wedding, just a few witnesses. Also, the organist was there. Just one problem: Mark knew that the senior pastor was at his son’s college choir concert three hours away. The couple to be married was aghast. What to do? Mark said, “Well, if you’d like I could go throw on a robe and perform the ceremony.” The couple looked at each other doubtfully, but finally shrugged their shoulders and said, “Well, that is kind of you. Okay.” So off Mark went to put on his robe and get his worship book. After he left the room, the groom turned to the organist and asked. “Is it really okay for the janitor to marry us?” I said that it was daunting to fulfill the questions asked of officers, but really, every one of us who is attempting to follow Jesus is asked to take up his or her cross! So may each of us not wander in the wilderness too proud to ask for directions. Let us get on our knees seeking direction and power. We each need that power of the Holy Spirit, which filled Jesus at his baptism and which infills us at our baptisms and which fills us anew as we seek it and as we are obedient to what is already being revealed to us. I recently asked Penny Nesbitt, our communications czar, to place on the prayer list a request for the congregation to pray for the elders as we come to our retreat on Jan 22 and 23. She said, “How exactly do you want me to phrase that?” I pondered a bit and then replied, “Simply that we be filled with the Holy Spirit.” That covers it all. It means that we will put personal agendas aside. We pray that the Spirit will literally bathe our brains with supernatural creativity and courage. That we will be submissive and obedient to God’s leading. And enthusiastic and inspired. The word “enthusiastic” comes from en theos, literally in God and inspired, in spiritus. Let us pray that we will be filled with all the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. I ask you, sisters and brothers, please pray diligently for the session, the deacons, the staff and the entire congregation, that we will be on fire for God! To God be the honor and the glory and the power, now and forever! Amen. |
