Installation service

Although I've been serving here at Grace since the beginning of June, I was not technically her pastor until last Friday evening, when the service of installation took place. According to the rules of our denomination, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the minister is officially declared to be the pastor of a local congregation at this service. I made a series of vows to serve the congregation as a faithful pastor, and the congregation vowed in turn to be a faithful flock under the care of the pastor. It is a solemn occasion.

I asked two ministers in our presbytery, the Presbytery of the Northwest, to take part in the service. Rev. Richard Venema of Helena, Montana, preached a powerful sermon on the glory of the gospel message proclaimed by ministers of the new covenant. His text was Hebrews 12:25, in which the the proclamation of the law at Mt. Sinai is compared with God's voice now speaking "from heaven". It was humbling to be reminded that God himself speaks through the minister of the gospel when he faithfully proclaims Christ from the Scriptures.

I thought of a seminary professor who used this same passage to say that our worship in the age of the church is far more glorious than the worship at Mt. Sinai under the old covenant. Although they approached the mountain of God, with a "blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them" (Heb. 12:18, 19), in Christ we come to "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering" (v.22). The latter is far more wonderful and glorious than the worship of Israel at Mt. Sinai. In the same way, the message of the gospel is the voice of God himself from heaven, not just his speaking from earth.

The other minister who came for the service was Rev. Mark Sumpter of Grants Pass, Oregon. He preached a great message from Acts 9, encouraging the congregation to serve with the pastor in the ministry of Christ. I was thankful for the reminder that we ought to serve expectantly, believing that Christ is able - and will - overcome the barriers of unbelief and agnosticism that seem, humanly speaking, like insurmountable obstacles to the advance of the Kingdom.

On Monday afternoon, Mark visited our house and we had a great time of fellowship together. His coming to Alaska was certainly providential, as he helped me greatly in thinking through some matters that have been on my own mind here.

Both of these pastors once served at Grace, so they also knew many in the congregation.

As I reflect on the call of a pastor to shepherd God's people, I am acutely aware of my shortcomings and weaknesses. I take comfort from the words Christ spoke to the apostle Paul as he struggled with his thorn in the flesh, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).