I'm ordained!

Hi folks,

I was ordained on Sunday, and it was just wonderful. I think I cried through almost the entire service. First, I was fine with singing, until I walked into the sanctuary behind everybody else. Then I started choking up. Then Heather got up and gave this talk that was so moving. I guess everybody got teary then. And it was so tremendous to have my dad read a passage from Isaiah that's about God's bounty and love. (Isaiah 55) My father-in-law read, too, and so did my campus pastor. Pastors from my church here in Maryland, and one of my former co-workers from the Lutheran Volunteer Corps. My seminary professors spoke kindly and encouragingly. I'm getting teary thinking about it now.

I guess the word I feel like speaks to the ordination most directly for me is: overwhelming joy. It was overwhelming to see, right in front of me, the many, many people who have guided me along my path, and who have encouraged and supported me in my sense of call. And the people who were there weren't even the sum total of everybody who has contributed to this honor and affirmation and responsibility. But just seeing all these people from so many parts of my life made me realize how long I've been on this path, how much I've wanted it, and how amazing it is to see how much other people have wanted it for me, too.

The sermon was great. I'm going to ask Mary if I can post it here. She talked about what it's like to be a pastor - how the gift of it is something that feels (and is) totally undeserved. And that's the grace in it. The final prayer at the end was from Ignatius of Loyola, and was so beautiful in its sense of surrender to and trust in God.

If you've never been to an ordination, it's similar to a wedding in the sense that there are vows made and that there are rituals followed for the thing to be done. I was making vows to the church and to God, and establishing a covenant in that way. The ritual that goes with an ordination, though, is not a wedding ring, but is a prayer of ordination and the laying on of hands. Everyone in the sanctuary gathered around me, and I kneeled down. Then, each person either put a hand on my head or shoulders, or put a hand on someone whose hand was on me - "the spoke method," as Elizabeth called it.

I really can't describe the feeling of having so many people around, each blessing me, while Elizabeth prayed the prayer. It's too much for words. But when I stood up again, and looking into peoples' happy faces, I felt like a new baby. It was incredible.