THE LAST WORD

by Terry Newland, Synod Executive

I need your help sorting out some thoughts I’ve been struggling with for a while now. When I was ordained and installed in my first call I took “ordination vows” and reaffirmed them when I was installed in my second call. When I was installed in my third call they were no longer ordination vows, but rather “constitutional questions”. When did my ordination vows cease to be vows and become constitutional questions? More importantly, why did they change from vows to questions?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against change. I seem to deal with change as well as anyone. Sure, I get a little anxious when I’m asked to do something different from the way we have always done what ever it is. I may even resist in some situations but, all in all, I’m able to deal with change pretty well. Yet, this change from vows to questions in regards to ordination really has me tied up.

Terry Newland

The notion of ordination vows has such a deeper meaning for me than constitutional questions. Vows bind me to someone or some group with a strong sense of mutual commitment. When I said “I do” and “I will” at my ordination I was saying them to God and the members of the presbytery. I felt like I was making a commitment to the men and women I was standing before and that they were making a commitment to me. It was very much like getting married. Actually, it was scarier than getting married for me. They do still call them wedding vows don’t they?

Before I got married I went through pre-marital counseling. I was told that there would be good times and bad times. I was warned that there would be times of disagreement, passionate disagreement. I was encouraged to constantly work on strengthening our relationship. I was urged to consider the gravity of the vows I would take.

When I was in preparation for ordination my pre-ordination counseling was far more in depth than my pre-marital counseling. It took years and covered Biblical, theological, spiritual, historical, liturgical, pastoral, psychological, physical, financial, and constitutional training. People invested a lot of time and energy, not to mention money, in preparing me for ordination. Then it all came down to the vows and when I was standing there speaking my ordination vows I was shaking more than on my wedding day.

I knew that I didn’t agree completely with everyone in that presbytery, but I knew that I was making a life long commitment to them. I knew that God was joining us together in a community of faith and service that we should not ever “put asunder”. I knew that we would have to constantly work on strengthening our relationship. I felt obligated to love and cherish everyone in the presbytery and to honor and respect individual views while being true to my own. I knew that I was taking an ordination vow.

Are constitutional questions the same thing? They sound more like commitments to a thing than a vow to one another and God. There’s a lot about violating the constitution these days and even more about interpretation of the constitution. We seem fond of the constitution when it’s advantageous and less so when it’s in the way. Is that the attitude now about the questions we affirm at ordination? Can we take or leave them depending on how we feel?

I still like the old way. Ordination vows seem to require so much more of us than constitutional questions. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I yearn for the way we used to be committed for life to each other. The Peace of Christ be with you.