Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Mark 6: 7-13 Marks of the Teaching Elder
Ordination of Grace Howard
June 19, 2011
Good afternoon. On behalf of the session and congregation of Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church I welcome New Castle Presbytery to our church home for this important event. We are honored to host this ordination for one of our members, Grace Howard. And we invite all of you to a reception following this service of worship in our social hall.
Recently the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. adopted a New Form of Government. In it more flexibility is given to presbyteries and sessions so that they may become more missional. Today I will be looking at this New Form of Government and scripture to discern how God may be calling us to change how we think of ordained ministry. According to our New Form of Government Grace's ministry, Crossroads International Fellowship, is to be understood as a gift from Jesus Christ to the whole Church (G-2.0101). So today we are celebrating this gift by worshiping the God who provided it. Please pray with me.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
The New Form of Government defines the Teaching Elder or Minister of the Word and Sacrament. It says, in part, “Teaching Elders shall in all things be committed to teaching the faith and equipping the saints for the work of ministry.” (G-2.0501) This section goes on to say that Teaching Elders do this by preaching, administering the sacraments, pastoring the people, and participating in the responsibilities of governance.
This all sound similar to the Reformation Marks of the Church. Remember that Calvin said that a true church is one where the Word of God is proclaimed for the salvation of humankind, the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are properly administered, and ecclesiastical discipline is enforced. The church ordains Teaching Elders, Ministers of the Word and Sacrament, to make sure that each church is a true church in the Reformed sense.
And this leads us to a question. Would Jesus have been ordained by New Castle Presbytery as a Teaching Elder? He was a pretty good Bible scholar and was able to handle the Hebrew and Greek texts with ease. Jesus wrote the liturgy for communion and baptism, and he administered communion for 5000 people. And he taught us how to live our lives in a disciplined way that would be pleasing to God. I think Jesus would make a really good Minister of the Word and Sacrament.
The New Form of Government also teaches us that “Christ's ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry.” (G-2.0101) We should pattern our ministries on Christ's own ministry. And the leads to another question. Was Christ's ministry limited to preaching the gospel, administering sacraments and enforcing discipline? To answer this question let's turn to the 6th chapter of the Gospel of Mark.
Mark 6:7-13 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
According the Jesus, the marks of a disciple's ministry are to proclaim the good news of repentance to new life, cast out demons and cure the sick. Teaching Elders in the Presbyterian Church are trained and ordained to do the first one really well. We know how to preach. But don't we train and ordain elders to cast out demons and cure diseases? And what would our churches be like if we did?
Shortly after I received my first call as a Teaching Elder, Grace and I met with one of my Ruling Elders for lunch. It was a pleasant lunch and I looked forward to working with her. I talked with Grace after lunch and she warned me that this elder had an evil spirit. At that moment I didn't really believe in evil spirits. And I certainly did not want to begin my ministry with the thought in my head that one of my elders had a evil spirit. So I ignored Grace to my own detriment. Eventually I came to realize that this elder was determined to oppose my ministry any way she could. As the ministry grew she actively tried to stop it and eventually she was the key to my removal from the church. I am happy to report that ultimately she was not successful in stopping the growth of the ministry I started. It continues to grow and she has lost much of her power in the church. Had I listened to Grace I would have spent much more time in prayer asking Christ to cast out this spirit from the church. And I have come to realize that evil spirits do exist and that they are actively working to stop the growth and vitality of ministries.
We know from scripture that certain people have the gift of discerning spirits. What if we identified these people in our churches and nurtured their gifts? What if we ordained Elders with the ability to identify evil spirits in our churches and whose prayers could cast them out? What if each church had one of these elders who could identify the spirits holding back the growth of vitality of their congregation and whose prayers would help them to regain these things? In Grace we now have a Teaching Elder with these gifts.
Just after arriving here in Pocomoke one of my Ruling Elders had a stroke. As soon as I heard about it I went to the hospital to pray with her. I prayed for healing. Several days later she was in a nursing home for rehabilitation and Grace and I visited her. Again I prayed for healing. Grace prayed by touching this elder and praying in tongues. If you ask this elder today when she was healed of her stroke she would point to that moment in the nursing home. The longer I am with Grace the more I am convinced that prayer, especially her prayers, does have the power to heal.
We know from scripture that certain people have the gift of healing. What if we identified people in our churches with this gift and nurtured it? What if we ordained elders with the gift of healing? What if each church had one of these elders who could through their touch and prayers heal someone? In Grace we now have a teaching elder with the gift of healing.
The New Form of Government says, “the presbytery shall determine whether a particular work may be helpful to the church in mission.” (G-2.0502) Therefore New Castle Presbytery has the power to ordain elders with the gifts of spiritual discernment and healing to validated ministries if we so choose. And I urge the presbytery to consider nurturing and ordaining elders with these gifts. Were we to do this we would revitalize our churches because everyone would know that we were doing the full ministry of Jesus Christ. Healing and casting out evil spirits should be added as options with preaching, administering sacraments and enforcing discipline as marks of a Teaching Elder. Amen.
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