It would be my observation that we tend to forget about really sacred moments in our lives. It is almost as if they are somehow too precious to hold in conscious thought, and get relegated to unconscious thought. Then, something may trigger a memory.
This morning I was reading about Bible Life and Times and ran across a section on anointing. I was most struck by the last sentence: "No longer did God's people need to look to others for spiritual leadership, for all believers have been anointed by the Holy Spirit."
Although I have not thought about it in years, I remembered the exact moment when I felt that happen to me, or specifically, being anointed for spiritual leadership. I was attending local pastor's licensing school in 1990. A group of us were at a retreat center for approximately ten days, focusing on practical preparation for ministry. It involved a lot of spiritual sharing, preaching and being evaluated, mock baptisms and weddings, etc. Being cloistered like that produces a certain kind of bond, and the perfect environment for significant spiritual experience.
At the end of our time together, the leaders of the school, or the faculty held a mock ordination service, including the laying on of hands. They cut up strips of red fabric to put around our necks to symbolize the resonsibility and authority we were undertaking. It was during that experience that I felt the overwhelming anointing of the Holy Spirit.
The memory that I had lost, which came flooding back to me was overwhelming. The faculty member who placed the red strip of cloth around my neck, (anointed me) was The Rev. Samuel Davis. Many years later, I became the pastor of the church in which he was living out his last days, (brain tumor) and I was his pastor, presiding at his funeral.
In biblical times, anointing was the way in which one was dedicated to God's service. Perhaps it was all part of God's plan that I should be the one serving in that church, to lead the celebration of Sam's life. One always wonders why they are sent to a particular place at a particular time. One does assume that God is involved somehow.
Perhaps it was that simple. Coming full circle.
This morning I was reading about Bible Life and Times and ran across a section on anointing. I was most struck by the last sentence: "No longer did God's people need to look to others for spiritual leadership, for all believers have been anointed by the Holy Spirit."
Although I have not thought about it in years, I remembered the exact moment when I felt that happen to me, or specifically, being anointed for spiritual leadership. I was attending local pastor's licensing school in 1990. A group of us were at a retreat center for approximately ten days, focusing on practical preparation for ministry. It involved a lot of spiritual sharing, preaching and being evaluated, mock baptisms and weddings, etc. Being cloistered like that produces a certain kind of bond, and the perfect environment for significant spiritual experience.
At the end of our time together, the leaders of the school, or the faculty held a mock ordination service, including the laying on of hands. They cut up strips of red fabric to put around our necks to symbolize the resonsibility and authority we were undertaking. It was during that experience that I felt the overwhelming anointing of the Holy Spirit.
The memory that I had lost, which came flooding back to me was overwhelming. The faculty member who placed the red strip of cloth around my neck, (anointed me) was The Rev. Samuel Davis. Many years later, I became the pastor of the church in which he was living out his last days, (brain tumor) and I was his pastor, presiding at his funeral.
In biblical times, anointing was the way in which one was dedicated to God's service. Perhaps it was all part of God's plan that I should be the one serving in that church, to lead the celebration of Sam's life. One always wonders why they are sent to a particular place at a particular time. One does assume that God is involved somehow.
Perhaps it was that simple. Coming full circle.
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