LAKELAND — Florida Conference Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker asked
the 2003 class of ordinands to play the role God called them to play,
but not to lose themselves in the spotlight.
“Every one of us has a vocation in life if we can find it,”
Whitaker said in his sermon at the evening Service of Licensing,
Commissioning, Consecrating and Ordaining May 29, the third day of the
2003 Florida Annual Conference Event here.
“Our vocation is the role we are called to play. We play our
roles on the stage of life, with the whole world as the theater,” he
said.
Stepping onto the world theater stage were 14 elders in full
connection, one associate member deacon and 17 probationary members.
Whitaker asked the ordinands to regard themselves as actors in a
play. He said God chooses the role we are to play in life; it is our
task to perform it well.
“Tonight the church is confirming your vocation as a minister,”
Whitaker said. “The church didn’t call you into this vocation, the
living God called you into the vocation of minister.”
Whitaker mused that many in the class had been imaging themselves
mounting the pulpit to proclaim the word of God or standing behind the
table to give thanks for the Lord’s supper.
“You envision conversations in your office, visits to homes,
hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and coffee shops where you may be
able to help someone recognize the presence of God in their life,”
Whitaker said.
“You can see yourself around a conference table with the other
leaders of the church as you pray and plan together about how you can
reach the people who are outside your church and minister to the needs
within your community. What a thrill it is to enter the vocation of
minister…”
The thrill can quickly be swallowed by terror as ministers grapple
with the idea of losing their voice, Whitaker said. He said a person
could become stifled by the role they play.
The role must not consume the actors, and there must be a balance
between the voice and the vocation, Whitaker advised. He asked the
ordinands to preserve their personal life and not allow it to be eaten
up by their role as minister.
“I think it’s very important that you not lose your own voice.
We have all known ministers who have lost their own voice in their
vocation. They always speak in stained-glass tones,” Whitaker said.
“You have to keep your own voice because God calls you into the
ministry. You’re in the ministry because God knows the church needs
someone just like you. So don’t try to be like someone else. Accept
your role and play it to the best of your ability.”
Whitaker tells ordinands, “God
calls you as you are.”