Newsletter November 2010

“It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments without a regular call.”
Augsburg Confession article 14

ELCA missionary pastor David Simonson died in Africa at age 80 on August 16. Simonson was a legendary figure both in Africa and America for his work with the Maasi people of Tanzania and for developing “Operation Bootstrap” to help those people adjust to the modern world. In Jim Klobuchar’s biography of Simonson, “The Cross Under the Acacia Tree,” it says that early in his life Simonson struggled with the call to ministry because he was a vigorous and brash bear of a man. He said, “I couldn’t see spending my life having coffee with old ladies in church basements.” Eventually he found his place in the ministry of the church when he went to Africa where his work with the Maasi really took off after he single handedly killed a lion, which was an important rite of passage for any Maasi man who wanted to be a leader.

Lutherans believe that the heart and soul of the ministry is the Word and the sacraments. There are many places of ministry and many different kinds of ministers, but there is still one office of ministry which has been instituted by God to create and sustain faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. Discerning whether one is called to that ministry can sometimes be difficult, especially if the focus shifts from the Word and sacraments to other things. There are three steps to discerning the call of God to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments.

The first is the inner call. All those who are ordained into the ministry are asked if they feel that God has spoken to their hearts and called them to this ministry. The inner call does not necessarily come first, but it must be there. After prayer and meditation, a man or woman should feel that God wants him or her in the public ministry of the church.

The second is the call of a congregation. In the Lutheran church on this continent it has generally be regarded as necessary that a congregation of believers calls a person to come and preach to them and administer the sacraments among them before there can be an ordination. The call of the congregation is vital to the office of ministry.

And third, there must certification by the whole church (denomination) that this person has the talents, gifts, and temperament to be an ordained minister of the gospel. Decades ago when I was ordained, this was done by the seminary faculty that had come to know the candidate through three years of study and worship. Today this is done by a “candidacy committee” from the home synod of the candidate who gets to know the candidate for ordination through a series of meetings throughout his or her seminary career. Only upon their recommendation can a candidate be ordained and placed on the clergy roster of the church.

On my computer desk there sits an ebony carving of the head of an African, probably a Maasi. It was brought back to my home congregation by a young David Simonson, who was home on furlough, and it was used as a prize for the youth group member who could identify the most Bible verses. The winner of the contest was me. It sits on my desk today to remind me of the many different people who make up the church of Jesus Christ and the many different ministers God calls to his work. I have spent my entire ministry in small rural congregations, all of which had church basements, and I have yet to set foot on African soil. But I share the same ministry as Simonson and all the others who have been called and ordained to this work of preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments.

Sometimes there are issues over who should be ordained to the ministry and who should be called “pastor” among us. But in the Lutheran understanding, the three key questions are 1) does he or she feel called by God to the ministry? 2) has a congregation called him or her to preach, baptize, and commune among them? and 3) has the whole church (denomination) judged him or her to be qualified? When the three are put together there is a regular call.