Devotion - Wednesday, March 14

Our Tuesday evening Bible Study has consisted of an introduction to the entire content of the Bible. The pace has been a bit too fast for my liking, but this survey type of course has helped me (as campus pastor/teacher) to see the places where students are knowledgeable about the content and places where more instruction would be helpful. As you are aware, my Wednesday morning prayer and e-devotion often return to the previous evening's discoveries.

We made one last night.

In I Peter 2:9 we read words very important to our understanding of the role and relationship of every member of the Church. I found that not all of us are familiar with the concept of "The Priesthood of all Believers." This is the affirmation that "pastors" are only there to guide us in our efforts, not do it for us. We are all the "priests" of the Church, we are all charged with proclaiming the Good News. The efforts of the pastor, on Sunday morning or Wednesday night, is to equip us for the work which we do every other day of the week and in so many different places.

Here is that verse from I Peter: "You are a chose race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who call you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

When you hear folks speak of a "Lutheran understanding of vocation," this is what it refers to. It refers to our strongly held conviction that all the baptized share the same vocation - we are the priests who proclaim (in word and in deed) the mighty acts of God. Among us are some whose function is to organize that proclamation and our efforts. Those persons function as pastors. They are pastors not because of some change in their character or standing in God's eyes but because the Church has asked them to accept this function, on our behalf.

I shared a Cranach painting of the sacraments at UniLu on Sunday. In the baptism scene, it is a lay person who baptizes. The initial Reformers where insistent that we make one of our core convictions The Priesthood of all Believers. And it should be.