a strange ceremony

On Sunday morning, MDPC “installed” a new pastor.  Almost everything about the ceremony struck me as strange.  It was watching a process perfectly designed for the church of 1955 try to make sense in the church of 2005.  Some examples:

The pastor was being installed as a pastor at MDPC, even though he was not hired to serve as a pastor here.  Instead, he’ll be serving as the founding pastor of an inner-city church that MDPC is sponsoring.  During the installation service, the congregation was asked a series of questions, including “Do you promise to listen to the word he preaches?  Respect his authority?”  Well, we might, except that he is not serving this church.  We were making promises that we could not keep. 

The make up of the installation commission also interesting.  The pastor being installed is in his early thirties.  Every one of the installation commission members was at least 25 years older. 

The installation process itself seemed badly out-of-place.  I would guess that 80% of the people in the congregation don’t know what a presbytery is, and at least 90% have no idea why a presbytery would be called in to install a pastor.  Unfortunately, nothing in the installation service helped educate them. 

Finally, we conducted the installation in all three worship services yesterday morning.  I suppose this was an attempt to make members of the congregation feel “included”.  Instead, it just reinforced the idea that this was a show.  If something were really happening, then once would do it, right? 

The moderator of presbytery, RT, participated in the installation.  He is a member of MDPC and I have served with him on various committees.  He is smart, thoughtful, and completely committed to the work of Christ in the world and through the church.  I felt sad to see him, and all the others on the chancel, caught up a drama which no longer seems to make much sense. 

Comments

[RPS]

How do you spell ANACRONISTIC? Reminds me of the large church where I served where we "welcomed" new members during BOTH worship services (after they had "officially" been welcomed by the session during its meeting.)

Or what's always killed me: When we baptize infants who are the children of children -- who live in other cities and either have no church or are "doing it" at mom and dad's church, and we have to ask the congregation, "Will you support these children and take responsibility for their spiritual nurturance, looking to the day when they claim this faith as their own?" A part of me always wants to say, "People, the only HONEST answer here is NO! They aren't going to be here for you to look after them! You can't fulfill the vow you're being asked to make!" You chose a good word, I'm sad to say: Does sometimes feel like a "show" doesn't it?

Resonates with a comment I made last night at our Bible Journey group: "I think we still have a bunch of deconstruction ahead of us."

Would be curious to see or know RT's take on both the installation, and your post of it. Maybe invite him to guest blog a response? That might be illuminating.

Grace,

RPS

[Quotidian Grace]

I agree with your observation that repeating a ceremony in each service makes it seem more like a PR-type show than a meaningful occasion. At my church there are too many "commissionings" (for example, of Steven Ministers or ChristCare leaders) like this. I think the pastor wants to repeat them just to remind the congregation that we have the program.