CHAPTER 1

FIRST MOVEMENT

Baptism and Ministry

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism.In it we are buried with Christ in his death.By it we share in his resurrection.Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son,we bring into his fellowshipthose who come to him in faith,baptizing them in the Name of the Father,and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

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HOLY HABITS

Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship,in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

The children in our midst look around and ask (asthose children always will): "What are we to do if weare followers of Jesus? What habits do we practice?"Another way of phrasing the question might be: "Whatdefines these followers in the first place?"

One source of answers is the prayer book catechism.Here we read that the ministers in the eucharistic communityare those who are to carry out its mission of reconciliationand restoration, of reuniting the fractured peoplesof the earth with each other and with God. Theseministers are the church's laity, bishops, priests, and deacons,and to each is given a particular charge. So we beginwith a presupposition: that each of the four orders of ministershas different functions to perform for the church, thebody of Christ, and each is dependent upon the others tomake up the whole. To say it another way, each order is asymbol for the others of what they are and what they areto be. A body is not in vigorous health when essentialparts are missing.

In considering the ministry of the baptized within theeucharistic community, it is useful to think of a roundtable with four chairs drawn up for a meal or a serious talk.If any seat is missing or empty, the company is diminished,incomplete. Certain acts will not happen; certain wordswill not be said; certain points of view will not be maintainedor defended—at least as they could have been. Weneed to ask: "How is a particular actor distinct from theothers? What will he or she do or say that the others willnot?" These are very different questions from: "Which oneis more important than the others?"

We are not talking about a blurring of the boundariesamong the various designations of minister within thechurch. Rather, we are calling for clarity and crispness.While from one perspective some say that the bishop,priest, and deacon forever remain in the lay order (and thebishop remains a priest and deacon and the priest, a deacon),I think this assertion is confusing to a clear understandingof ministry. I am convinced that it is more usefulto separate the four orders according to their differences.The paradox is that as we work to define specifically theministry of one, the ministries of the other three becomemore apparent in their own right. As those in eachorder—layperson, bishop, priest, and deacon—take uptheir roles within the community with clarity, authority,confidence, and enthusiasm, the others are better able tounderstand and assume their own.

In the catechism the description of each of these rolesbegins by saying that each of us is to "represent Christ andhis Church." This is what we have in common, and thesewords have ramifications for us all—lay and ordained—asbaptized Christians. A minister is one who follows Jesus,who learns from the example of Jesus, and who takes seriouslythe implications of the baptismal vows to say and todo on Jesus' behalf, to speak and behave as Jesus would.

At baptism we are given both the means and the mandate:we are incorporated into Christ's body, infused withthe character of Christ, and given power to representChrist and his body, the church. We hear the words:

John ... Frances ... Sarah ... David, you are sealed bythe Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's ownfor ever.

Sealed and marked—washed in waters of new life, searedwith fire of the spirit, drowned and burned so that we canemerge fresh and new to be about the work God hasintended since the beginning of time.

Then the people of the community give the welcomeand the charge:

We receive you into the household of God. Confess thefaith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, andshare with us in his eternal priesthood. You are one of usnow. You are to go forth with the liberating word of theOne who came among us to show us how it is to be. Youare now among his own, those ordained as his servantsto the world.

So we become members of the company of Christ. Wecan be with them forever. We can share their tea and cake.We can be shaped by their holy habits. We can hear theirlively stories that help us form our own. This company willcall us to take up various roles on their behalf—to sit invarious chairs on the porch. Then, putting these rolesaside until we return, we are to go forth to other companiesand other porches, carrying with us as God's baptizedpeople the good news of God in Christ.

Much has been written and said in recent years aboutministry, particularly the ministry of all the baptized. Thesubject is an urgent one, and yet we continue to skirtaround it. I suspect one reason we do is that it is so urgent.If we took it seriously we would have to change muchabout how we set priorities and how we live our lives—asa people and as individuals. There is that cross in the way.

I think our other primary difficulty is that of definition.The children in our midst have asked: "What are we to doif we are followers of Jesus? What habits do we practice?"But what if this is a subsequent question and not the initialone? The children in our midst are only following ourlead.

Many of us in the church—volunteer and stipendiary—wouldsay we see our work as ministry. And sadly, westill tend to consider the church as the locus of real ministry—despiteour many words to the contrary.Nevertheless, we could go on to describe other ministries:of the teacher, of the doctor and the nurse, of the parent.But suppose ministry did not have as much to do with roleand function as with who we are and how we are disposedto behave—our "am-ness" as a young woman said to merecently. Suppose the children's question were to become,"Who are we to be if we are followers of Jesus? Who are weto become?"

John the baptizer urges us to prepare for this becoming.The derivation of the word "prepare" is illuminating. Notonly does it point us to the expected Latin parare, to bringorder, to get ready, it also...