Ordination Testimony
Eric Paul
April 8, 2015
I received a call to
ministry at a young age. My grandparents were Missionaries on a Navajo
Reservation in New Mexico. Grandpa was a giant in the community, not only
standing taller than most, but respected as one who had, for years, given
himself away wholeheartedly to the people and community who desperately needed
life and hope. It's amazing the kind of work that can be done when you step out
of the way for the sake of another. He died when I was ten years old. A month
later, my call to be a missionary was confirmed and I was baptized.
While the direction
of my life was known, I had no clue how this story would be told; where I would
serve or even in what role. Pastor? Missionary? Teacher? Something altogether
different? While in school I became convinced that God's call is always a call
to discipleship first. Like Peter at the water's edge, Jesus calls and because
it is Jesus and no one else, I follow. All of life is directed toward this
person and is formed by that life. The life of a disciple is a life on the way
to discovering the Kingdom of God all around us. To walk and pray Heaven on
earth. And Jesus' path seemed to always point toward the edge of society, to
the fringes, to the poor and powerless, to those abused, left-out, and
forgotten. Jesus' life tells us that the Kingdom of God is found there and with
those people. And so, I understood a part of my call would be a constant
seeking of the Kingdom of God on the margins.
Phineas Bresee
understood this downward movement of the disciple when he said, "Our
church is a missionary church. It knows no difference between home and foreign
fields- for all fields are near." And when I read these words from our
founder Bresee, I knew that there still might be a place for me within the
Nazarene Church: "The Gospel comes to a multitude without money and
without price, and the poorest of the poor are entitled to a front seat at the
Church of the Nazarene."
Christ's love meets us all uniquely. I struggled
with the church for many years, even as a Pastoral Ministry major at Olivet. In a way, all pastors should. There's a marked difference between what God desires for us to be and do and the modern state of the church. I
walked through church doors, looked around, and didn't see Jesus. When I saw
the church, I couldn't tell the difference between Christians and the rest of
the world. It seemed self serving, existing for its own sake rather than for
God's mission in world. We were just as violent, power hungry, and greedy; only
we hid under an umbrella of grace while not allowing that grace to teach us a
different way.
And yet, Christ's
love would meet me. It would meet me in the steadfast commitment of my wife,
who ironically was on staff at a church. And soon after, Christ's love would
meet in the face of the poor of Nashville, who I witnessed struggle for life
and yet taught me so much about faith and dependence. Christ's nonviolent love
met me in the streets of Palestine, where I saw Palestinian Christians opposing
racism and violence in midst of state oppression. And in all these places, there was a steadfast commitment
to the church. It seems to me that God created the church to be different, to be holy, to
show the world a different way to live altogether. And then I realized that
Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God doesn't make sense without a people
who gather around that message. And it's these people, the gathered we call the
church, who are participating to bring about something entirely and utterly new
to our communities. And I want to be a part of that newness.
Ordination is my
commitment to the pursuit of the Kingdom of God through the Church of the
Nazarene. It is the answering to a call, and it is not everyone's call. But it
is mine. So, I'm thrilled that my story has brought me to this moment, and
under the recognition and affirmation of my calling and gifts in and for the community. So, I
ask for your continued prayers and support as we all learn to give ourselves
away to those around us.
