Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.2008, Page 41

Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.2008, Page 41
the altar and keep watch that the church has open doors for going out as well as for coming in, then is everything in Christian order and then is the Lutheran Reformation complete.10 Perhaps, in our times, we would be a little less sure about “Christian order” or about anything being “complete.” But there are those priests and that bishop, with the cup and the baptism of James and John; rulers that are not rulers. And there are those learned ones — who, in the present time, include our educated and skilled pastors and priests — caring for the book full of the very content of the altar and the door opened for gathering and sending, not for excluding; scribes who are not scribes. And there with them is that congregation. May this reform go on. In the first days afier I ivas ordained, I came to the small toion of my fiirst parish. On my first Sunday in that town, I learned that a man of the congregation — call him Charlie — had sujfered a heart attack and was in intensive care in a large hospital in a city some fifiy miles distant, with his wife ofmore than fifty years — call her Helen — anxiously by his side. Afier church, I took my Bible and my portable communion set, with the holy food of this Sundays celebration, and drove those fifty miles. It was my first hospital call as a pastor and I was more than a little nervous. But I will never forget this: as I came into the room, Helen looked up and, seeing my collar, said, “O Pastor, you’ve come. Thank Godl I am so grateful.” Of course, Helen did not know me. But she was welcoming me, without any further ceremony or introduction, into the very heart ofher life, the very center ofher grief. It was astonishing to me. It was as ifmy call and ordination were being once again enacted in small. She trusted that with me came the church I served and of which she was part and the gospel I was to represent, the living word and the astonishing bread and cup she and Charlie needed. It was an amazing trust, one I have seen enacted again and again, in many situations ofneed. Ofcourse, it was a trust that could be and has been powerfully misused. But they were not looking for my opinion or my power, not even for my skill. They needed 10 ibid., 115-116. Translation from Gordon W. Lathrop and Timothy J. Wengert, Christian Assembly (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004), 50. 39
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
Page 95
Page 96
Page 97
Page 98
Page 99
Page 100
Page 101
Page 102
Page 103
Page 104
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
Page 110
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
Page 117
Page 118
Page 119
Page 120
Page 121
Page 122
Page 123
Page 124
Page 125
Page 126
Page 127
Page 128
Page 129
Page 130
Page 131
Page 132
Page 133
Page 134
Page 135
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 139
Page 140
Page 141
Page 142
Page 143
Page 144
Page 145
Page 146
Page 147
Page 148
Page 149
Page 150
Page 151
Page 152
Page 153
Page 154
Page 155
Page 156
Page 157
Page 158
Page 159
Page 160
Page 161
Page 162
Page 163
Page 164

x

Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar

Direct Links

If you want to link to this newspaper/magazine, please use these links:

Link to this newspaper/magazine: Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar
https://timarit.is/publication/1152

Link to this issue:

Link to this page:

Link to this article:

Please do not link directly to images or PDFs on Timarit.is as such URLs may change without warning. Please use the URLs provided above for linking to the website.