I ordered this book fully prepared not to like it, but I felt I should read it anyway because it may be important.  It is.  This little book Priesthood, Pastors, Bishops; Public Ministry for the Reformation and Today by Dr. Timothy Wengert, has stirred my thinking like few books before have done.

Being an Evangelical Catholic, from the Missouri Synod mind you, I was not prepared to be challenged as I have been by this book and I have been surprised by the ecclesiology put forth by Wengert. He begins with a fact of which I was not aware: the term “priesthood of all believers” was never used by Luther in any of his works.  Cool, so far, so good! Next he goes on to the editing of the Tappert Edition of The Book of Concord where the editor added that troublesome little footnote on Article 5 of the Augsburg Confession where he wrote that this article “ was not to be understood clerically, implying that one should read it as a reference to the priesthood of all believers” (p. 3). This was corrected in the later Kolb/Wengert Edition of the Book of Concord, but has done possibly irreparable harm in restoring the Office of the Public Ministry as the subject of AC5.

So, while correcting the myth of the priesthood of all believers being equal to “everyone can be a pastor”, Wengert also makes clear from Luther’s writings that every office of ministry in the Christian Church is an office of service, not power.  I sense that we in the Church are just about over our infatuation with the priesthood of all believers, while there is still work to be done on the Office of the Holy Ministry as one of servanthood rather than authority.

In a time like ours, I am noticing Lutherans falling into the trap of the evangelicals in that everyone has a “ministry”, and that service is described as service to the Church or to the Word.  Luther would likely object to such a characterization stating instead that our “secular” job ought to be our vocation, our “ministry” if you must, rather than what we necessarily do at church.  While service in the local parish is vital and of the highest importance, the vocation of the laity is rightly described as what they do in the “real world”, such as accountant, mom, stock broker, carpenter, etc.  I am trying, singlehandedly at times it seems, to restore the dignity of the vocation of the laity.  I am convinced that if that vocation resumes or assumes its rightful place, there will be less heartburn about the occupants of the Office of the Holy Ministry, the Ordained.

Later, Wengert addresses the issue of “lay presidency” at the Eucharist and comes down on the side of ordaining the person selected (Called?) by the community to exercise the Office of the Holy Ministry.  I concur.  As one who took a circuitous route to the Office of the Holy Ministry, and one who plans to bring others to the Office through what can best be described as an apprenticeship, it seems like more of a “seminary protection plan” than anything else to require the Master of Divinity as the entry requirement for Ordination.

Wengert delves into AC 14 at some length and rightly situates the Call with the Pastor. One innovative argument Wengert puts forth is the idea that the Call be something held by the Bishop and (ELCA) Synod Council so that in places where a resident Pastor is not possible, laity are set aside to proclaim and serve at the altar much like a Paramedic (one of my former professions) relating to an Emergency Department Physician.  While I suppose that sort of thing can be entertained, to me it seems so much simpler to simply elect and Ordain the layperson to the Office of the Holy Ministry.  All of the concerns about the mobility and general roster status of such an individual are moot since they are, by definition, local folks presumably not interested in a “career” as a Pastor.

All in all, this is a powerful little book, and one that deserves a wide readership.  I am often puzzled why our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters never seem to discuss Holy Orders the way we Lutherans do.  Our lack of magisterium, the variety of ethnic expressions of Lutheranism, and the mixing of Lutheranism with general Protestantism rather than Rome has led us to the place we are now.

When all is said and done, is this Lutheran thing something that is sustainable, or will it, over time, be assimilated into the United Protestant Church (ELCA) and the Community Church Coalition (LCMS)? I believe that one way to avoid that would be for us to finally get our act together on the Office of the Holy Ministry!