Re Letter, Let’s Have Agape (March)
The tuition I underwent in sacramental theology matched that of Joe McLelland, with comparable outcome.
I have long felt that our tradition has not adequately extended the ministry of Word and Sacraments to express what is entailed by the term “priesthood of all believers” so strongly affirmed by our reforming fathers.
We make broad provision for study and teaching or proclamation of the message of the scriptures by both the ordained and unaordained. The ministry of interpreting and communicating the Word however is vastly more complex and demanding than the task of rightly administering the sacraments. Most of our elders are fully capable of reading a service that will engage a worshipful response. A happy memory of my own father remains the sight of his dignified presence among elders serving at the Table.
During experience of ministry in the Guyana Presbyterian Church in the 50s I spent many Sundays in strenuous travel as an itinerant celebrant. On my return there in the nineties I was involved in the selection and designation of several ‘presiding elders,’ the design being that each of the small, scattered churches would have access to the sacraments in familiar relationships. The pragmatic occasion for this practice, which is shared with the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad, is complemented by the worthy theological intent of ensuring a monthly communion service in each and every church of the multiple pariishes.
