Random Ruminations: Zack
Four things: 1)evidently someone hit a nerve 2)Someone else I was talking to who is ordained, said that he heard the same thing that headquarters told me (about being Rev. once you get your district license) and that supposedly it is true 3)I know, or can at least think of, at least a dozen or so people who would be all for starting a new church/denomination (Reformed Church of the Nazarene?) Non-denoms do it all the time and most of them are uneducated crackpots, so why not us? 4)I accidentally washed my "licensed minister ID card" and it disintegrated into a million pieces, so does this mean a)i am not licensed anymore or b)that was irrelevant anyone and everybody is already a "Rev."
Just some random ruminations,
Zack
posted by Joseph | 10:14 AM
3 Comments:
Four responses:
1. It is obvious a nerve has been hit, but I believe this is a nerve that runs through us all. Quite frankly, I am excited the nerve has been "hit". May it continue to be "hit" until, by the Grace of God, we see our efforts come to fruition in some way, shape, or form.
2. Yes, I believe it is true, but I am not sure of why, or where that is documented. There is no provision in the paragraphs on the licensed minister as to how he/she is to be addressed. It would be interesting to find the documentation, if there is any, that provides for this fact. I can't find it.
3. Now this is something that I am very passionate about. No where in my thoughts on the subject have I ever entertained the idea of starting a new denomination or forming a new church. That would be the worst thing we could do. That is one of the reasons we are having this discussion right now. Wesley was adamant about not starting a new church. Upon his death, look at what happened. The Methodist church began and today they are so far from Wesley that they don't even know who the man is! Leaving the church, or starting a new church would be buying into the problem and adding to it. We have come so far from the Reformation that it is sickening. The very churches that began to form who we are today are shunned and even condemned by many of our own denomination. For example, "The Lutheran's, Episcopal's, and Anglican's are too Catholic, they are not good churches". I have heard this many times among our denomination. If it were not for those churches, we would not be here today as a denomination. Hmmm. If it were not for the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, we would not be here today. Hmmm. If it were not for the Early Christian Church before the Great Schism, we would not be here today. Hmmm. And finally, if it were not for Jesus Christ, we certainly would not be here today! Why can we not see this?
Is it that difficult to claim that those who have gone before were the Church? They were it. They were Christians. We came from them. We were once Anglicans, Catholics, and Orthodox.
So in response to your, I assume, humorous comment about starting a new denomination, I am in absolute opposition to that, based on the fact that what you have suggested is the reason we are in the mess we are in right now.
4. You are no longer a Reverend because, if I recall correctly, the District License does not even say, "Rev." Your card is your only means, by which you may be called Rev. and that privilege is now in a million pieces. Isn't that interesting?
Ecumenically minded and adamantly submitted with the mind of Wesley,
Joseph
yeah, Zack, given your district license ID card calamity, I think we're going to refer to you as "The Very Disintegrated Into a Million Pieces Rev'd"...which could be appropriate. I mean, Rev.'s in the COTN can administer Eucharist (or whatever we call it this week), and the bread has to be broken before it can be given.
Aww, heck...we're a priesthood of all believers, so we're all Rev.'s, aren't we? Or wait, if everybody is, isn't that the same as saying no one is...?
(In any case, I don't think I'd bother getting a replacement card.)
I'm with Joseph: here's to more nerve-hitting. Or, is "hitting" too violent? You can "touch a nerve"...maybe "nudge" has a bit more force behind it.
In other news: I think somebody stole my bicycle...I can't find it anywhere.
oh yeah...and NO NEW DENOMINATIONS! I know it is tempting, but we must steel our resolve and, at worst, if things get really bad, all become Methodists... ;-)
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