The Nearness of God

Julia Gatta

Description

What distinguishes Christian ministry from other helping professions? While many books tell clergy how to run a capital campaign, handle conflict, and lead a vestry, this book helps pastors, chaplains, and lay professionals appreciate the spiritual depth of their calling and reminds them that Christian ministry is Christs ministry working through them.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian Church
• Administration

Informations

• Publié par: Church Publishing Incorporated
• Date de parution: 01 février 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780819226921
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE NEARNESS OF GOD
PARISH MINISTRY AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Julia Gatta
Copyright © 2010 by Julia Gatta
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Morehouse Publishing, 4775 Linglestown Road, Harrisburg, PA 17112 Morehouse Publishing, 445 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.
Cover photo by David Skidmore, Canon for Communication for the
Episcopal Diocese of Chicago
Cover design by Laurie Klein Westhafer
Interior design by Vicki K. Black
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gatta, Julia, 1948–
The nearness of God : parish ministry as spiritual practice / Julia Gatta.
      p.   cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8192-2318-0 (pbk.)
1. Pastoral theology. 2. Pastoral theology—Episcopal Church. 3. Church work. 4. Church work—Episcopal Church. I. Title.
BV4011.3.G38 2010
253—dc22
2009042009
Printed in the United States of America
 
10  11  12  13  14  15      10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2
For my friends, Joy and Ted Coolidge
This is the life of the priest: to dwell completely in the explicit nearness of God.
— KARL RAHNER
CONTENTS
Preface
1. Called Together: Vocation in Community
2. The Supper of the Lamb: Celebrating the Holy Eucharist
3. Serving the Word: Prayer for Preaching
4. Shepherding the Flock: Pastoral Care in the Congregation
5. Defying and Defining Limits: Temptation in Ministry
PREFACE
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will do the works that I do.” (John 14:12)
THIS BOOK REALLY began in February 1991, when I was asked to lead a clergy retreat for the Diocese of Chicago, along with my colleague and friend, Ted Coolidge. As we prepared our addresses for these other clergy, most of whom were engaged in parish ministry, we found ourselves drawn to inquire what the ministry of Jesus in us is like, more from the inside than from the outside. We tried to reflect on how we were being formed in Christ as we engage in characteristic priestly ministries—preaching, eucharistic celebration, or the ministry of healing, for example. Since then, I have attempted to develop and refine this way of thinking about parish ministry in clergy retreats in other dioceses and settings. I wish to register my gratitude to the many priests and deacons who encouraged me to expand and eventually publish those addresses, which form the core of this book.
I have also drawn on several other sources: the wise counsel of my own mentors, including those who guide us across the centuries through their writings; the clergy for whom I have been privileged to serve as a spiritual director; my own experience as an Episcopal priest engaged in parish ministry for twenty-five years; and more recently, my experience as a teacher of pastoral theology.
This book, then, is addressed to clergy. Another volume might deal with the theme of Christ's work in us in terms of lay ministry, although lay people could find many of the topics covered here—community, liturgy, or living within limits, for example—pertinent to their own experience in the church. They might also pick up some clues in these pages for locating signs of grace in their own lives. Still, my topic has a particular focus and is trying to address a particular need of clergy. For some time now, the pastoral vocation has seemed adrift: a calling in search of a job description. Since the middle of the twentieth century, pastoral studies have dealt almost exclusively with methods of pastoral care. Consequently, clergy have bounced from thinking of themselves as counselors to seeing themselves primarily as managers, and more recently, as leaders of their congregations and communities. In the midst of all these changes in perception and practice, a fundamental question arises: What distinguishes Christian ministry from other “helping professions”?
In response to this crisis in pastoral identity, Urban T. Holmes III, dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee until his early death in 1981, was one of the first to call the priesthood of the church back to its theological and spiritual roots. In The Future Shape of Ministry , one of his earliest works, Holmes challenged clergy to reclaim their vocation to mediate the transcendent mystery of God. His last book, Spirituality for Ministry , set forth some of the ascetical disciplines necessary for effective priestly ministry. Holmes helped priests appreciate the spiritual depth of their calling, and his influence at Sewanee, the seminary where I now teach, is still felt. Since his time, there have been encouraging signs in other quarters that pastoral theology is again taking the theological side of its vocation more seriously. We are starting to recover and articulate the Christological foundations of ministry. 1 Briefly put, Christian ministry is Christ's ministry, working through us. This book is an attempt to show what living into the ministry of Christ might look and feel like in the sort of day-to-day situations in which clergy typically find themselves.
The New Testament does not hesitate to use the bold language of “participation” ( koinonia ) to express the transformed relationship the Christian has with God (2 Pet. 1:4). At baptism, the new Christian is immersed into Jesus' death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–11) and is charged to “put on” Christ (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27). The sacramental mystery of the eucharist continually deepens the life of Christ in the body of the church and in each believer (1 Cor. 10:16). Transformation into Christ is both the gift of God and the goal of discipleship: “I have been crucified with Christ,” claims Paul, “and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:19b–20).
For too long, as Andrew Purves has recently pointed out, the church has subscribed to an essentially ethical understanding of imitatio Christi to define the goal of Christian life and ministry. In this approach, the Jesus of the gospels becomes a time-bound moral exemplar, external to the church. It is not a large step from this sort of moralistic Christianity, whether practiced in its socially conservative or liberal forms, to an ethical theism in which the distinctively Christian theological content has evaporated, along with the distinctively Christian contours of discipleship and prayer. The eschatological horizon is eclipsed, and ministry becomes either a nostalgic exercise in “doing what Jesus did” or a Utopian scheme to usher in the future kingdom of God on earth. By contrast, a more mystagogical understanding of both the Risen Lord and his church leads us to encounter the living Christ now through liturgy, sacraments, Scripture, and prayer. Indeed, since the ascended Lord “fills all things” (Eph. 4:10), he may be found everywhere by those who apprehend his presence by faith.
Thus Christian ministry is rooted in Christian mysticism: Christ's life in us and our life in Christ. In the Farewell Discourse in St. John's gospel, Jesus speaks and prays at length about intertwining relationships: to his Father and to the Spirit and to his disciples. He addresses their bonds with him and the disciples' connection with one another. In the charged atmosphere of the Last Supper, Jesus invites his disciples to abide in him as he already abides in them, and this sense of mutual indwelling extends to their relation to his Father and the Spirit: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). We are further assured that from such interpenetration our ministries will “bear much fruit” (John 15:5). Our work does matter, although its effectiveness depends entirely on our prior relationship to God. We are not condemned to spinning our wheels, to going through meaningless motions. Our work is invested with a high dignity—higher, in fact, than may feel comfortable, for Jesus in the same passage goes on to promise that we will accomplish even “greater works” than his own (John 14:12).
All Christian ministry, both lay and ordained, participates in the ministry of Christ. We have all been “made to drink of the one Spirit” who distributes various charismatic gifts in the church (1 Cor. 12:4–13). It is that Spirit who prays in us and indeed forms Christ in us (Rom. 8:15–17). This book seeks to identify some of the ways the ministry of Christ might operate in those called to serve as “pastor, priest, and teacher” in the church, as the Ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer describes the work of the presbyter. 2 I will be looking at characteristic priestly ministries to see just how grace might show up, to notice how Christ might be at work in us and through us. Along the way, I want to consider some practices and habits we might cultivate to open us to this grace and respond faithfully to it.
Because I am an Episcopal priest, I will naturally be drawing on specifically Anglican sources, contexts, and nomenclature for my delineation of the pastoral vocation. Yet I hope this book will also be useful for clergy of other parts of Christ's church, from whom I have learned much. What I will be attempting to trace are the patterns of grace that tend to come to light as clergy are engaged in their ordinary round of duties.
I wish to thank Christopher Bryan, the editor of the Sewanee Theological Review , for permission to include material from two of my articles: “The Marriage of the Bride and the Lamb: The Celebrant's Prayer in the Euchari