Priest on Purpose

Today marks the 31^st anniversary of my ordination as an Episcopal priest.  I am grateful to God that I am wiser for the journey.  Happy to say, I am just as excited about this ministry as the day when Bishop Montgomery of Chicago laid his hands on my head, joined by priests of the diocese.

That’s how the Holy Spirit works together with the great Anglican tradition of Scripture, tradition and reason.  Experience, reflected upon, adds so much to my understanding of the purpose of ordained ministry.  During this time of search for the place and people to and with whom I am called to be on the next stage of this journey, I have come to a much better understanding of who I am as a priest and a leader in the life of a parish and in the wider Church.

Rather than being set apart for ministry as a priest, I have been set within.  And what am I to be and to do?  I am to be a model and mentor and guide to help God’s people discover the mighty ministries to which they have been called as the people of God.

In the last few says, I have returned to an insightful song by the Christian musician and songwriter Twila Paris.  In her project called Sanctuary, she penned a song about her journey in ministry, and titled it “Keeper of the Door.”  She wrote that it did not matter that her name was in lights or that her music was there for all to hear.  What really mattered was that, in her ministry, she could be a “keeper of the door” to help people enter God’s sanctuary.

Her refrain sums up my understanding of who I am and what I do as one ordained by God as a priest. “Oh, let me be a servant, a keeper of the door My heart is only longing to see forever more The glory of Your presence the dwelling of the Lord Oh, let me be a servant, a keeper of the door.”

       What a privilege it is to serve God in this way.  Deo gratias.