CREEDE HINSHAW: Awaiting the movement of the Spirit

“I decided to be still.”

With these words, a member of my congregation began to explain to a small group of church members how she was now seeking approval for ordination.

This column is not written in defense of women’s ordination, although I could easily do so. It is to marvel over and delight over the way God calls and equips persons to ministry.

In the United Methodist Church, the first step toward ordination begins in the local congregation. Local churches do not ordain persons like Baptists and other independent churches. Bishops are the only ones authorized to ordain clergypersons in our denomination, and the steps to ordination involve multiple examinations over a number of years.

Nevertheless, candidates for ordination must first be approved and endorsed by the local church where they have been an active member for at least a year. Ordination is understood as God’s call upon the life of an individual and the local church’s recognition and acknowledgement of that call. If the local church cannot discern or recognize the fruits of an authentic call, the aspiring candidate can go no further.

Thus, I was part of a very holy conversation last week, a half-dozen church members listening to, questioning and finally voting on whether to approve this highly qualified candidate. The meeting was unlike most church meetings. It was intensely personal. Voices were soft. Prayers broke out in the middle of the meeting. Three of the persons present wept or stifled tears during the session. I was one of them.

To explore one’s call, and to discuss that call with others, is to explain a mystery. As I listened to this energetic, gifted layperson tell her story, I was taken back to my own call more than a half-century ago, a call that seemed to happen in a very specific moment, was mysteriously powerful and still authentic.

Those called of God to ordination can often trace the movement of the Spirit over the course of days, weeks, months and even years, with one seminal event perhaps finally crystallizing what had been building. That, I think, is what happened to me and how things seemed to unfold for my friend, too.

Out of her stillness, a stillness that resulted from the death of a significant person in her life, this dedicated layperson sought more ways to serve God. She began connecting with larger narratives in her family history. She began to receive continuing affirmation from friends and other church members as she testified and witnessed to God’s love from the pulpit. She strove — through the denomination — to get training to serve more faithfully. She took a deep breath and applied for seminary. Each step was prayerful. At times the initiative seemed hers; at other times God was clearly the initiator.

Last week, two doors opened for this eager candidate. She was accepted to seminary, and her church committee voted unanimously and enthusiastically to recommend her for ordination. Her journey continues; God is mysteriously calling her — and many — to serve church and world.