Ordination

Yesterday afternoon, I was ordained. It was a brisk winter afternoon. The winds were high and there were wildfires across the state of North Carolina. There was one fire close to Neill's Creek Church and for parts of the day the roads around the church were closed. Some people had a hard time getting to the church.
The service began at 5p.m. on the dot. I didn't want the service to begin until all of my family and friends were present. Some of them were late due to the fires. My mother counted that at least 25 people traveled from Virginia to be at the service in support of me. I was surprised by the children's choir being present to sing two selections for me. They prepared this as a surprise and a gift. It touched my heart. The service continued on with prayer and singing. Two of my friends read scripture and one friend sang and played the piano. Dr. Brock delivered the charge to me. He used Romans 12 as his text. I felt as if he were speaking directly to me when he spoke. It touched my heart.
Dr. De Brand followed with the charge to the church. He said he wasn't sure what to charge them so he would start out with $99.95. There was a congregation full of laughter.
One of the most touching parts of the service for me was the laying of the hands. This is what Joey ( as well as others) refers to as empty hands on empty heads. As I have thought about this statement and talked with him about it it has made me think about what I am. Without God, I am nothing. With God, I can be everything he has called me and wants me to be. During the laying of the hands, I kept my head bowed and my eyes closed. I listened as folks came by and offered words of prayer and blessing. My dad went first; he cried and I cried. Following him was the rest of my family, then all ordained ministers and deacons, and then anyone in the church that wanted to come forward.
My friend Brandon was present for the service. He is 23 years old and is mentally handicapped. He is autistic, mentally retarded, and epileptic. I was unsure if he would even be able to make it because of his seizures. When his aunt and her husband came forward as ordained ministers, he ran down the aisle. They asked Brandon if he had anything to say to me. He started off with, "I hope you get better." I had a tear in my eye and looked up at him. He continued, "because you have a new bed." While that moment probably didn't make any sense to anyone else in the room, it touched my heart. Not so much the words that he spoke but his presence there and his will to try to say something to me.
After the service I was presented with my certificate of ordination and the Bible that everyone who laid hands signed. The chairman of the deacons presented these to me and said that they were honored to ordain me when I asked them to. I kind of cringed at that statement. The truth is that I did not ask. There were people in the church who affirmed my call and saw it in me. They approached the pastor at the time and he talked with me. After discussion with him, I went through the processes that the church had in place to be ordained. It was a big deal because I was the first female minister for them to ordain.

Ordination in fact was a big deal for me. I attended the ordination service of my former youth minister when I was 16 years old. When I participated in that service I knew that one day, I would be ordained. It was not something that I decided on my own, it was a sense that the Holy Spirit laid upon my heart. This was not a service in which I was made to be anything more than just me, the person God has called me to be. It was not a coronation or an inauguration. However, it was a service that recognized my calling and my abilities to serve. I have agreed to serve alongside fellow believers and be committed to all that God has called me to do, where ever God calls me to go.