Exodus 19:1-14
When I train volunteer leaders for church service, they are often shocked to learn that elders and deacons answer eight of the nine ordination questions posed to ministers of Word and Sacrament at their installation. Church officers often believe that the pastoral office is completely different than the work of elders and deacons. They, therefore, assume they will be asked a different set of questions. But the callings are related, and thus all candidates for ordination, be it deacons, elders or ministers, are asked eight of the same questions.
In Exodus 19:1-14, the Israelites, rescued from slavery by Yahweh, are led out into the wilderness by Moses. They make their camp at the base of Sinai, and Moses goes up the mountain to speak to God. God tells Moses to remind the people of all God has done for them: how God heard their groaning in Egypt and saved them, how God rescued them from slavery. And then God says this, “Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites (vv.5-7).”
A priestly kingdom and a holy nation. Not one priest, but all shall be priests. Not one holy person, but all shall be holy persons. When Moses shares the news with the people, they respond that they will do this, they will live into this calling.
Moses further instructs them, as God has commanded, to prepare themselves to be consecrated to God. They are to wash their clothes and prepare themselves to see God. Like a bride preparing herself with her special dress, the people are called to ready themselves for this holy consecration.
This is why the ordination questions for church officers and ministers are the same — because we are all called to be set apart for the service for God. We are all called to be holy. Just as we have all been rescued from the consequences of our sins, we are called into this covenant with God. In fact, it begins in our baptisms. It is our baptisms that mark us as Christ’s own. Just like the Israelites in the desert, we are consecrated in our baptisms.
So what does it mean for us to be priests? First and foremost, it means that worship is at the heart of who we are. Just as priests’ lives in the Old Testament revolved around the worship of God and the worshiping community, so too should ours. To worship is to declare the sovereignty of God to all the world.
For those of us on this side of the New Testament, to live as priests also means that we are to remember our baptisms and the mark they have made on our lives. In an ordination service, we begin by answering the same vows that were taken at our baptisms. Those vows, to turn from evil and its power in the world, to turn to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and to try to live faithfully as Christ’s disciples, those vows remind us that we are to move differently in the world. Our lives are no longer are own, but they have been dedicated and consecrated to God.
The early church reformers believed that even the everyday act of washing ourselves should remind us of our baptismal promises. We should wash our hands and say, “I am God’s beloved child” or “I belong to Christ.” We should take the ordinary act of cleaning ourselves to remind us of the promises we have made.
Friends, just as the ancient Israelites were declared God’s treasured possessions, so too in Christ have you been declared the same. The relationship we have with God in Christ has responsibilities. Let us spend the whole of our lives living into our identity as the priesthood of all believers.
Questions for reflection on Exodus 19:1-14
- How do you expect ministers to act in the world? Do you expect the same of yourself?
- What does it mean to you to be holy?
- Does your worship of God flow into your everyday life? How? How could it?
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