What if God expects us to take this verse literally? What if we really are supposed to be priests wherever we are? What would it look like? Does it mean that we're all supposed to go into vocational church work? What if someone knows that God has made them to be a banker, or a lawyer, or a police officer, or a stay at home mom?
I think a simple answer can be found by looking at the things that priests do. Before scandal and abuse rocked the Catholic church and screwed up the image that comes to mind when we think of the word 'priest', there was a much better and more biblical picture of what being a priest looked like.
A good Catholic priest was someone that really knew how to listen. Listening is a lost art in our day and, more than ever, people are so desperate for someone to just listen to them. What if being a priest is simply becoming the guy or gal in the office that does a lot more listening than talking?
A priest was someone that you knew that you could confess your deepest darkest sins to and it would be kept in strictest confidence. What if being a priest wherever you are is just simply being the person that people feel safe sharing their secrets with? What if, by not being a gossip, your neighbors or the people you work with began to see you as someone that they can talk with about things that they are really ashamed of, knowing that you will love them without judgement.
A priest was known for being gracious and unexplainably forgiving. I love the picture painted in Les Miserables of the priest, who after the police clearly prove that Jean Valjean has stolen the priest's silver candle stick holders (after having taken Jean Valjean into his home), tells the police that they were a gift but that he forgot the rest of the gift. He then gives Jean Valjean the rest of the very expensive silver dining set. We would show God well to the world if we were know for such crazy acts of grace and compassion.
A priest was known for always being there. It's very hard to find people who are faithfully there for you these days. Whether it be a funeral, the birth of a child, or a loved one's illness, priests were known for always being there. Though at times, they were there to officiate such events as a representative of the church, more often than not, they were just there to be there. What if we were the guy or gal who showed up to sit with a co-worker while there spouse was in surgery? What if we were known for showing up at funeral not because we knew the deceased but because a co-worker or neighbor had lost a loved on and you were just there to support them.
A priest was known for knowing God. A good priest was not only known for knowing about God and knowing the Bible. A good priest was known for knowing God. There is a Catholic radio station where I live and, though I am a Protestant evangelical (whatever that means), I will occasionally tune in to listen. There is an older priest that will be on the air from time to time and when I listen to the smile in His voice and the joyfully familiar way that He talks with and about God, I KNOW that He knows Jesus well and spends time in His presence daily. His love and joy allow him to effectively communicate even the harder and confrontational truths of God's word. Again, we would represent God well if, even in our hard and confrontational conversations, love and joy radiated through our words and actions.
Father, help us to become the wise, trustworthy, loving priesthood that you have called us to be everywhere that you have called us to go.
Father, help us to become the wise, trustworthy, loving priesthood that you have called us to be everywhere that you have called us to go.
Amen...
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