The tasks of the laity

 

              There’s a joke. Two Pastors get together and start describing the congregations they serve. At the end of the description the one pastor says to the other, “It’s a great church, if it wasn’t for the people.”

              And if you’ve been reading my recent blog posts about the church you might think I’m saying the same thing. After all, you might notice I’ve defined church and have taken a few stabs at the Pastoral task, but not the task of the ordinary Christian.

              In my pastoral reflection I did intimate that I see a difference between my ordained vocation and my baptismal vocation. Particularly I named prayer and intentional sacred reading as actions I take as a lay person, not as part of my “job” as Pastor. Well, let’s fill that out a little bit.

 

              Perhaps we start with our baptismal promises, we are to: “...live among God’s faithful people; hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper; proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed; serve all people following the example of Jesus; and strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” That’s a pretty good list: Community, Word and Sacrament, Witness, Service, and Justice Work.

Here is another attempt at it, using the Seven Central Things as a starting point. The work of layfolk is to live what they practice in worship: Gathering, Baptism, Confession and Forgiveness, Word, Thanksgiving, Meal, and Sending. It is in those actions that we are aware of God’s work in the world. We are practicing seeing God, like Moses being aware enough that he can turn and see and be transformed.

 

To put those two lists together, a suitable description of the lay Christian life might be as follows:

Gather in community around Word and Sacraments.

Cultivate hearts of forgiveness, thanksgiving, and generosity.

Go out in Christ’s name to witness, do justice, and serve your neighbor.