and made us priests to...
Illustration
"... and made us priests to his God ... (RSV)." Someone once asked, "What is there in your life and behavior, which when observed by another, would lead that person to identify you as a Christian?" Since Martin Luther articulated the concept of the "priesthood of all believers" (possibly after reading, among other things, Revelation 1:6) a similar question might be asked with regard to our priestly work.
A Protestant minister, who had never owned or worn a clerical collar, was invited to deliver a prayer of invocation at a banquet. Just hours before the event he realized that the dress at the head table was "formal." Renting a tux was out of the question. Instead he purchased a clerical shirt and collar. At the banquet there was no question as to who he was or what was his role. Subsequently he wore the "uniform" to visit a patient in a large city hospital. People were most gracious, spoke to him, held doors, made unchallenged parking arrangements. Even doctors went out of their way to include him in discussion of the patient's condition and needs.
None of these things had ever been true when he did not wear his religion around his neck. "It's interesting," he says, "how considerate people can be when one visibly holds a special station in life! Too bad," he observes, "that people are not so considerate of everyone, all the time. Christ is!"
--Bond
A Protestant minister, who had never owned or worn a clerical collar, was invited to deliver a prayer of invocation at a banquet. Just hours before the event he realized that the dress at the head table was "formal." Renting a tux was out of the question. Instead he purchased a clerical shirt and collar. At the banquet there was no question as to who he was or what was his role. Subsequently he wore the "uniform" to visit a patient in a large city hospital. People were most gracious, spoke to him, held doors, made unchallenged parking arrangements. Even doctors went out of their way to include him in discussion of the patient's condition and needs.
None of these things had ever been true when he did not wear his religion around his neck. "It's interesting," he says, "how considerate people can be when one visibly holds a special station in life! Too bad," he observes, "that people are not so considerate of everyone, all the time. Christ is!"
--Bond
