The Rev. Leon Mozeliak ~ St. Paul's, Harris Hill

I grew up in a branch of Christianity in which young people were regularly challenged to consider whether God was "calling you to be a priest or a member of a religious order." In that context, "the ministry" refers only to those ordained to preach the gospel or under vows of religion. In our Anglican/Episcopal tradition, "The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons." All of us are ministers.

How do we become ministers?

{Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it," St. Paul writes in I Corinthians 12:27. And in his letter to the Ephesians, regarded as the most sublime of all of Paul's writings, it is clear that at baptism all Christians are  called into ministry: "The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry." (Ephesians 4:11ff) As we were reminded on the Feast of All Saints, the word saints is used in the New Testament to describe all baptized Christians, not just the famous heroes of the Church. So, St. Paul affirms that all Christians, whether lay or ordained, are ministers. . . . Christ himself commissions each of us in our ministries at Holt Baptism, which finds specific definition in his Great Commission. He directs us to "Go . . . make disciples . . . baptizing them . . . and teaching them . . ." (Matthew 28:19-20)

Then to what end is our ministry directed? St. Paul describes the saints' work (our work) of ministry to be "for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery . . . But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:12b-16)

In the diocese in which I am canonically resident, our corporate ministry in the body of Christ is described as "One Body, One Mission: Changing Lives." Living in alignment with St. Paul's description of Christ's church, this is also our reality here in the Diocese of Western New York, and it is true for each and every one of us. As we approach the beginning of the holy season of Lent, a time of penitence and fasting in preparation for the celebration of our Lord's resurrection, let us recommit ourselves to the intentional use of our gifts in ministry "for building up Christ's body: and, by the grace of God, for changing lives—beginning with our own.