by Bishop Bill Gohl
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. – I Corinthians 4.1-2
Seventeen years ago, on November 11, I received the church’s gift of ordination. I was 26, recently graduated from our seminary in Gettysburg. I had interviewed for my first call in two synods and had been received by the people of Peace, Glen Burnie (their ninth candidate, no less!). On November 11, like clockwork, I received two cards from special friends and flowers from my parents. A small remembrance of a moment that defined my life in quite unexpected ways.
,,With our vows of faithfulness to God, the scripture and confessions, and the people of God whom we are privileged to serve; we place our lives in God’s hands, hands that guide us in responding to the needs of the world we serve. Such a life is going to be full of events we never imagined or planned, but God surprises – again and again – in faithfulness. Looking over the experiences of serving in our synod for 17 years (20, if you include field education), I see that our lives fit into God’s providence in ways we never fully anticipated or can completely understand. And that is a source of our joy: it’s not our church – it’s God’s church.
Have confidence in the goodness of God. Because of God’s still-amazing grace and many, many faithful pastor and deacon colleagues, the gospel is proclaimed; the sacraments are celebrated; we people are gathered into communities where we can learn and experience God’s love and be safe in such a divine embrace even as we are sent out to serve. Because of God’s still-amazing grace, there is much hope in the church for the sake of a weary world.
In this first year of a no-longer-new call as bishop serving our Delaware-Maryland Synod, I have been privileged to exercise the ministry of Ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament for three of our colleagues, Consecration to the Ministry of Word and Service for two of our colleagues, and Setting Apart for three members of the Order of St. Stephen, Deacon. Each of those liturgies is deeply moving as it connects us to two thousand years of tradition and to a future full of unbounded hope. In these liturgies, the remembrance of my own ordination resonates that we are “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” Paul then adds the admonition: “It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”
But it’s not just an admonition. It’s a gift to rejoice in, and be faithful to, with a trust born in Christ whose call we – all of us who have been called for ministry in baptism – respond to in faith, hope, and love.
My dad was a bit taken aback when I told him that I was going to go to seminary. I think he was relieved that I was no longer pursuing a dream to be a music teacher (a dream complicated by a complete lack of innate rhythm, but that’s another story for another time!). While I think he had other hopes for how I would spend my intellect and energies, he encouraged me, and reminded me that no matter what, I was his and I was loved. He said, “If this is what you’re going to do, be a good pastor.”
I have tried to be a good servant of Christ and the Church. No one is more mindful than I am of my foibles and failings, and no one is more grateful for the grace that I have been given to share – and shown in my own despair.
I thank God for our baptismal vocation and this journey of faith we share in all of the iterations of that vocation – for me, as a spouse, father, friend, neighbor, pastor, bishop – with those God has given us to love in Christ’s name. I thank you and I thank God for this ministry we share. I am grateful for all of you, co-workers, lay and rostered, with whom I serve alongside, day by day, in this corner of the kingdom called the Delaware-Maryland Synod - a ministry shared that reaches into many, many places of the world with the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. I’m glad we are on the way together.
I remember my ordination anniversary each year with real gratitude for what has been, and an irrepressible hope for all that is still to come.
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy…I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. – I Corinthians 4.1-2, 14-17
Have confidence in the goodness of God. Because of God’s still-amazing grace and many, many faithful pastor and deacon colleagues, the gospel is proclaimed; the sacraments are celebrated; we people are gathered into communities where we can learn and experience God’s love and be safe in such a divine embrace even as we are sent out to serve. Because of God’s still-amazing grace, there is much hope in the church for the sake of a weary world.
In this first year of a no-longer-new call as bishop serving our Delaware-Maryland Synod, I have been privileged to exercise the ministry of Ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament for three of our colleagues, Consecration to the Ministry of Word and Service for two of our colleagues, and Setting Apart for three members of the Order of St. Stephen, Deacon. Each of those liturgies is deeply moving as it connects us to two thousand years of tradition and to a future full of unbounded hope. In these liturgies, the remembrance of my own ordination resonates that we are “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” Paul then adds the admonition: “It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”
But it’s not just an admonition. It’s a gift to rejoice in, and be faithful to, with a trust born in Christ whose call we – all of us who have been called for ministry in baptism – respond to in faith, hope, and love.
My dad was a bit taken aback when I told him that I was going to go to seminary. I think he was relieved that I was no longer pursuing a dream to be a music teacher (a dream complicated by a complete lack of innate rhythm, but that’s another story for another time!). While I think he had other hopes for how I would spend my intellect and energies, he encouraged me, and reminded me that no matter what, I was his and I was loved. He said, “If this is what you’re going to do, be a good pastor.”
I have tried to be a good servant of Christ and the Church. No one is more mindful than I am of my foibles and failings, and no one is more grateful for the grace that I have been given to share – and shown in my own despair.
I thank God for our baptismal vocation and this journey of faith we share in all of the iterations of that vocation – for me, as a spouse, father, friend, neighbor, pastor, bishop – with those God has given us to love in Christ’s name. I thank you and I thank God for this ministry we share. I am grateful for all of you, co-workers, lay and rostered, with whom I serve alongside, day by day, in this corner of the kingdom called the Delaware-Maryland Synod - a ministry shared that reaches into many, many places of the world with the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. I’m glad we are on the way together.
I remember my ordination anniversary each year with real gratitude for what has been, and an irrepressible hope for all that is still to come.
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy…I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. – I Corinthians 4.1-2, 14-17