Ordination and Disaster

Ordination and Disaster
LEVITICUS : 8- 1: 10: 20

There’s a joke that describes the pastor as six days invisible and one day incomprehensible. My first sermon after I was ordained had five points all beginning with the letter p. They were long or tricky words too—the only one I can remember is paradox. The five points got three or four minutes each (twenty minutes may be short for a Baptist, but it’s quite long in the Church of England), and they left the congregation exhausted if not bemused. From Monday to Saturday I was expected generally to spend the mornings studying and preparing (those were the days!), so I was invisible then. In the afternoons I would generally visit people in their homes or in places such as a hospital, so I was visible to one or two people. In the evenings I would be at youth meetings or Bible studies or committee meetings, so I would be visible to larger groups of people. (I did have Tuesday off.)...