Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: CONS.ELF@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE (Ake Eldberg) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Sexism in the church?? Message-ID: Date: 25 Apr 91 03:13:51 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 48 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Hello from Ake Eldberg! If I understand correctly, the text I'm commenting on is part of a chat about female ministers and their calling. Tom Blake writes: "Feeling that you are called, and being able to preach a good sermon are not enough to get you ordained in the UMC". Well spoken. The calling is often referred to by people who want to become ministers or else do something special in a church -- but how can we know if a calling is true? Even a person who feels called may be making a mistake. I believe that the most common error about callings is to assume that they are more specific than they really are. The Lord summons someone to serve him, but the calling does not usually have a "high precision" as to the exact function this person should have. I'm saying that I don't believe the Lord tells people to "go and become the rector of the New Mesolithic Church in Hoopletown, MI" or anything as specific as that. Rather, the Lord calls us to serve him, and we each try to interpret this and find the right place to do it in. This is where each Church has part of the calling. A calling is not a personal appointment for the sanctification of the person who is called. It is always done in relation to the Church -- and so it would be nonsense for someone to come to the church and say "I have been called by the Lord to be a priest/deacon/bishop in this church, so don't you dare deny my right to be so!" The Church must recognize the calling, and provide a position where it can be used according to what the Christian community needs. This is why a woman saying "I am called to be a priest" weighs little with me. I will reply, "It is possible that you are *called*, but the function in which you will serve the Lord will be subject to what the Church needs". The Lord has promised that his Church shall be led by the Holy Spirit, too. It is not a privilege for the called ones as individuals. In Sweden, the secular government forced female ministers on a church that did not want them. That was in 1957. The split is still an open bleeding wound in the body of Christ, and will remain so, I'm afraid, until the Church has a chance to take a decision without interference from secular powers. Ake Eldberg