This Sunday will feature an installation service for me as the pastor of Central Christian Church. The purpose of this service is to remind one another of the covenants that we have made to one another in Christ’s service. As an ordained minister who has agreed to serve as a pastor, I have made promises to the Central Christian congregation and to the larger community and church. As a congregation who has called a minister to serve as a pastor, you have made promises to me and to each other. These promises are different from an employment contract, and it is important and beneficial for us to share them publicly and to celebrate them.
Several people have traveled to share this weekend with me and with us. Our regional minister, Thad Allen, who himself will be installed in his new position next weekend at the Regional Assembly, will lead the formal installation service. It is a happy thing to have him join us this day. Howard Kennon, the senior pastor of United Christian Church in Country Club Hills, Illinois, will lead the service at the Lord’s Table. Howard, aside from being a friend and mentor, was my pastor and then my colleague before I moved to West Virginia (given that I joined the church and then a few months later was hired to serve as the Youth Minister). Howard’s lovely wife Doris will also be with us.
Rev. John Sowers, who was my fraternity brother and roommate in college, and who is the single largest influence on my having joined the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), will also be with us and lead a portion of the service. He has traveled from his position as the pastor of First Christian Church, Rushville, Illinois, to visit this weekend. I am thrilled to be able to spend time with him and with the others.
The sermon this week, which I think will be appropriate to the occasion, will be a consideration of the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28. We will build from last Sunday, where we talked about the context of the commission, and how it gives all Christians authority to receive and act upon the commission to “make disciples.”
I believe that Sunday’s service will be a great celebration of our ministry together. Certainly I will be the focus of parts of the service, which comes with the job, but as much as this is a celebration of “Josh’s ministry” (whatever that specifically is), it is equally, if not more so, a celebration of Central Christian’s ministry and a celebration of the ministry of the church universal.
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1 comment:
Reading between the lines, Friend Josh, I'm thinking that you'd be opposed to my coming drunk, heckling, and firing off a few celebratory rounds into the ceiling, a la that delightful church scene in the movie, Sergeant York. Drat - I've always been a Gary Cooper kind of guy.
Fortunately, my mom and my wife will be there, too, and I'm also thinking that they would provide immediate negative reinforcement to any of the above activities.
Roger-the-Heretic
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