There is no greater joy for me than to hold a child up, head still dripping from the baptismal font, and hearing the community of saints who have gathered proclaim in unison, “Through baptism you are incorporated by the Holy Spirit into God’s new creation and made to share in Christ’s royal priesthood. We are all one in Christ Jesus. With joy and thanksgiving we welcome you as a member of the family of Christ.” As I hold this child in my hands I wonder, How will God use you for the building up of Christ’s Church? I further wonder, Will you be faithful to whatever that call may be? And, Will we as a church be faithful to nurture and encourage whatever gifts God gives you? As the church gives her resounding “Amen!” I am encouraged, for this is, MB2-631 from start to finish, God’s good and gracious gift. Out of the ranks of the baptized, where we are all called to be disciples of Jesus Christ, God has seen fit through the ages to call some to be pastors. God, determined from the beginning to get a family, a “kingdom of priests,” goes about this creative work by bestowing upon particular men and women gifts essential for leading, nurturing, building up and teaching the baptized. 640-801 For the sake of the good of the church, the pastor, according to Luther, witnesses to the church gathered on Sunday so that all the baptized may witness, teach, heal and proclaim during the rest of the week (16). Like with any family, leadership is required to ensure the vocation of the family is staying on course. The pastoral ministry, Willimon writes, “is always a function of what needs to happen in the church in order for the church to be faithful to its vocation” (17). God will get God’s family. But it is not just any family – it shall be a royal priesthood. Such a vocation requires divine guidance. As such, ministry in any form is first and foremost an act of God. It does not originate with ourselves. Self-initiated pastoral professions within the church are recipes for disaster, burn-out, and leave a bad taste in the mouths of the baptized and non-baptized alike as to what the pastoral vocation really is. The pastoral vocation originates with God. Willimon chides those who think the call of God is for privilege or prestige and holds up the call of Saul as paradigmatic for all pastors. Saul is called for suffering that was previously unknown to him, suffering in the name of the crucified Christ (14). Because our calling is from God, our tap-root is found in something eternal, infinite, and more grand than our own illusory visions of grandeur or self-fulfillment. Our vision can never out cast God’s vision for God’s Church. 70-272 Willimon states that in our vocations, “To know that our ministry is first and finally validated not by our feelings, or even by the judgments of the bishop, but by God; this is great grace. To assert that…we are representatives of something more significant than the denomination, that we are accountable to some criterion of judgment higher than our personal opinion; this is empowerment. To believe that we are in ministry as God’s idea, rather than our own sense of occupational advancement; this is submission” (15). What makes pastoral vocation particularly Christian in nature? The conviction that “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29).