Come Sunday, my brothers, local Lutheran holy men will gather here on the hill. The well-polished woodwork will glisten in the evening light while they gather around my kneeling head with hands extended in turn to touch, and speaking a Word and a prayer, call God to witness and to commit and to bless what transpires before His altar. I will repeat, renew the vows I've spoken twice before, with words adapted to this time and place -- and God will bless.
So will I rise, and turn to the people whose spiritual well-being is then entrusted to my care, as undershepherd of the Good Shepherd, and as their Pastor will I speak my first words in office to them: a benediction.
The decision took time and much prayer, but is resting quite well in my spirit. The Call came to serve in this dual-ministry situation, to continue my mission work on the Omaha Reservation and to serve Zion Lutheran Church, Bancroft as their pastor.
I was, however, presented with an alternate task -- given a choice in the matter, by God and His people. Also the saints at St. John, Wakefield Called and urged me to serve in their midst. When I declined, on Palm Sunday, there was barely a dry eye in the house even among the men. Those, too, were very sweet and kind people.
It was nice to believe, to know I couldn't go wrong. Either way, something wonderful was about to re-enter my life.
So Sunday draws near, and with it begins something new even as something old is renewed. It's been over five years since I served a people in a parish.
It's different than the missionary task. I've tasted both before. There's an almost palpable weight that descends on one's shoulders and back, once the holy Office of oversight (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2) is committed to you.
Believing those words means believing also these and these and much more.
Americans generally hate the notion that one person can be held accountable for others, especially in spiritual matters where the test of true spirituality often popularly applied is how it measures up to the standard of personal choice. Most American styled anti-clericalism comes from an outright rejection of the notion that God actually entrusts some peoples' spiritual welfare to others' care. The secularists consider it either a power-play deception by the preachers or a rejection of personal responsibility for being one's own Lord and Master on the part of common, uneducated people. Humanists style the pastor-people arrangement one of efficiency and good order at best.
Christians, on the other hand, are willing to take the Word for what it is and says. And believing that myself, Sunday is going to be a great day, a happy day, a heavy day, a holy day for me.
