I found
this quote over at Lesley’s Blog:
So if we
ask whether this or that form of ordained ministry models a humanity that looks
full or joyful or renewed, maybe that is the crucial question. And frequently
the answer is no, for men and for women.
When
looking at challenges such as employment practice, work patterns, couples in
ministry, and a whole range of issues, we might ask whether this human ministry
looks as though it stands for an attractive, a transforming and transformed,
new humanity. Because if it doesn’t, we are actually not doing what we are
supposed to do, and we are treating ordained ministry as if it were something
other than the life of the Body of Christ. So it is all right for a
congregation to flourish and a priest to be crushed? I don’t think it is all
right.
They are
the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and they refer to
what is the ‘ordained ministry’ in the Church of England, or what many within
the church refer to as ‘the priesthood’.
But isn’t
that the problem with this quote? It talks of the struggles of the priesthood
because it has the wrong view of priesthood. Modelling the new humanity to the
creation isn’t the role of specially called, trained, and ordained people – but
the role of the whole church. If Rowan could find his theology shifting towards
the idea of a priesthood of all believers then maybe some of his problems would
be solved.
What do
you think?
