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Title: Living on the Border of the Holy: Renewing the Priesthood of All by Louis William Countryman ISBN: 0-8192-1773-5 Publisher: Morehouse Publishing Pub. Date: February, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The priesthood of all...
Comment: I thought long and hard as to what should be my first book to read after my ordination to the priesthood. What would be a suitable task for the newly-minted Father Kurt? I found it in this book.
Bill Countryman's book, 'Living on the Border of the Holy' carries the subtitle 'Renewing the Priesthood of All'. There has been movement afoot in many religions and denominations to 'spread the wealth' as it were, to make clergy-types somewhat less of a hierarch and recognise that all are children of God and thus much more equal than they are ever meant to be set apart.
As a priest I concur -- I will fail in my duties if I do not at all times and in all places strive to give the greatest access to all aspects of worship to all people. To this end, the more I reserve things to myself (only a priest can do that!) the more I disturb the purpose of worship, the more I set myself above my fellow children of God, and the more I slip away from the divine.
Bill Countryman, whom I have met on several occasions, is himself an Episcopal priest, and in this book is committed to the idea that churches everywhere need to reclaim as much more than the latest evangelistic slogan or church-growth tactic the priesthood of all believers. We are all in this together! We all come from the same source, and ultimately have the same hopes. And, if Jesus himself didn't set himself above, why should we, as his servants, and thus the servants of the servant, and servants thus of all.
'In his ministry, Jesus stood not above, but alongside those who came to him. In him, they found a person who was truly one of them, even though far more at home in the border country. He introduced them to the Holy as to Health, to Hope, to Good News, to Love. All this was as disturbing to his original listeners as it is still to us. To be in the presence of the One Who Is, the power that created all things, and the Love that can never be driven away is both exhilarating, because it means we are in the presence of the ultimate Good, and terrifying, because it seems to threaten our rather puny control over our own lives.'
My friend Ann was ordained a priest last year; I sent this book to her. I recommend this book to any who sense a calling. I recommend this book to any who have lost that sense. I recommend it to those who are sure of what they are doing, and those who are unsure.
Countryman talks about the need for all people to remember that ministry is not a gift intended to create or perpetuate a power imbalance of strong versus weak. It is supposed to be a relationship of equals. We all have weaknesses, and this unites us more than our power differentials define us as separate. 'We understand that we cannot stand above anyone else in the presence of God, only alongside.'
This mutuality is what I must constantly strive to recall. I have charged my presenters, my friends, with a specific task -- to slap me hard whenever I fail to recognise that I am one of the crowd, and that if I must lead, it must be from within the community, and not to let pride of place carry me to the edge of the community against them and our creation-inborn mutuality.
'Ordination (or its equivalent in the form of licensing or religious vows or acceptance by a congregation of a charismatic figure) makes a particular person a sacrament. What does that mean? That the person ordained is henceforth a perfect person? HARDLY.'
In my own notation, I've added the emphasis on my own; I must carry this every day, ever present before me.
Rating: 3
Summary: one riot, all rangers
Comment: "But I am baptized!" Luther cried, and all these years later churchgoers can see why. Over-specialization, professionalization, scandalization: all these woes attack clergy now. Bill Countryman zeroes in on the father-knows-best tendency to leave ministry to the professionals, and consider ourselves "the laity" the disenfranchised people of God. Too often the man with the collar turned round rides into town like a Ranger of the Lone Star, determined to clean the place up while remaining aloof from hoi polloi. This won't do: Bill Countryman solves the problem by deputising the entire populace. Priesthood we are told is to live life at the fullest - and vice versa. If you can get your mind round this unusual use of commonplace words, the author has quite a number of good things to say about how to go about being a church and a people, and indeed how to go about raising up the leaders we want and need. Plus there are frequent lashings of the cream of "Reshaping Ministry" an essential volume on total ministry edited by Josephine Borgeson and Lynne Wilson (Jethro Publications, Arvada, Colorado, 1990). Stimulating reading this will be, whether one approves of the clericalization of the laity or not.
Rating: 5
Summary: Valuable and important discussion of ministry
Comment: In "Living on the Border of the Holy", Episcopal priest Louis William Countryman invites his readers into an important and thought-provoking discussion on the nature of priesthood, ministry, the sacraments and the church. In engaging such issues as the role of the laity, the function of the ordained ministry and its role in the church, Dr. Countryman reminds us that all Christians - indeed, all humans - are not only sacred, but function as priests and ministers in their own right, and each has his or her own calling.
This book strips away many preconceptions regarding ordained ministry and invites its readers into a dialogue concerning the nature of priesthood, vocation and calling. It would make (and has made) a wonderful basis for a study group, and should be required reading for anyone even nibbling away on the idea of ordained ministry. A deeply thought-provoking, valuable, and insightful spiritual resource.
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Title: Forgiven and Forgiving by Louis William Countryman, L. Wm Countryman ISBN: 0819217344 Publisher: Morehouse Publishing Pub. Date: March, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus J. Borg ISBN: 0060526769 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Practicing Resurrection : A Memoir of Work, Doubt, Discernment, and Moments of Grace by Nora Gallagher ISBN: 0375405941 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 18 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Living With History (The New Church's Teaching Series, V. 5) by Fredrica Harris Thompsett ISBN: 1561011606 Publisher: Cowley Publications Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Pastoral and Occasional Liturgies: A Ceremonial Guide by Leonel L. Mitchell ISBN: 1561011584 Publisher: Cowley Publications Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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