Clergy and Laity

In reading from Maria Harris’ Fashion Me a People, I was struck by her insistence that divisions between laity and clergy must dissolve.  So much of what I have read in seminary seems to take for granted how different the roles between laity and clergy are.  This assertion related to the tensions she articulated, in particular (for me), vocation.  

Harris’ consideration of the tension between individual and larger concerns speaks to the difficulty that people of faith often have (in my experience) in discerning whether, in a given moment, to give of or to themselves.  Where are the lines of self care and selfishness, and how does justice fit in?    I feel that the division between clergy and laity can lead to a congregation that perceives laity as “just” laity. When the division is perceived to be great, a community may feel that living God’s call is the work of clergy, who serves, while it is the role of laity to receive.  It is often hard for me to communicate to friends outside of my religious contexts that I don’t see my future role as minister to be “authoritative.”  For many, to be clergy is to be authority.

This notion is undoubtedly mistaken and is manifested in older frameworks in which indoctrination is used to lead participants in “know[ing] the lore and obey[ing] the laws” (2).  As Harris rightly suggests, the role of clergy can no longer be to use authority to continue in this method.  I must perceive my role as a member of a community whose work cannot be done alone or by instructing children (or adults as if they were children).  Work must be taken up as a community and participated in by the whole community.  The ways that I educate in my ministry must put this reality in the forefront.

In considering these truths, and dissolving the divisions that are so often taken for granted in the work I have done in seminary, I had to ask myself, How is my role different?  At this point, I see the difference to be my areas of expertise.  I am/will be trained in ways of interpreting the Bible that can bring meaning and inspiration; in creating corporate and individual reflection upon our scripture, traditions, and actions; in care and counseling that can help guide people through transitions and intense experiences; and in spiritual practices and worship experiences that can build up and reflect upon the work that we do and the experiences we share.  I hope these can be my strengths as a minister in a community.  While these skills will be important, they are not the only skills needed in justice and community– they are simply what I (hope to) bring. They are hugely deficient in the array of skills needed to create Kingdom.  This is why the future of the Church will be so important.  Kingdom requires all of our gifts.  

(1) Maria Harris, Fashion Me a People: Curriculum in the Church (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989), 28-29.

(2) Ibid, 45-46.

Bibliography

Harris, Maria. Fashion Me a People: Curriculum in the Church. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989.