\u201cFather Steve\u201d was a fixture of my childhood. He was the longtime minister of the local Episcopalian church my parents attended. I remember him being kind and funny. I remember the strange robes he would wear on Sunday. I remember he had a daughter named Cathy who was a few years older than me. I had my first-ever crush on her, but that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of firsts, Father Steve was the first person I ever heard use the words \u201cclergy\u201d and \u201claity.\u201d It\u2019s strange that I would remember this, as I was less than 10 years old, but I do. I remember being confused by those words. (To be fair, I was confused by many of the words I heard at Saint Paul\u2019s on Sunday mornings.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Father Steve was part of the \u201cclergy.\u201d My parents, and the others who sat on the long wooden benches, were part of the \u201claity.\u201d I knew there was a difference. I knew who was who. But what did those words actually mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it turns out, they mean basically nothing. Nothing good anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLaity\u201d comes from the Greek word laikos<\/em>, <\/em>meaning \u201cof the people.\u201d It can also mean the \u201ccommon\u201d people or the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This clergy-laity distinction is foreign to the New Testament.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This is distinct from \u201cclergy\u201d which comes from the Latin word clericatus<\/em>, from which we get the words like \u201ccleric\u201d and \u201cclerk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clergy are the \u201cprofessional\u201d religious class, while the laity are the non-professional, non-authorized, non-sanctioned \u201ccommon\u201d masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This clergy-laity distinction is foreign to the New Testament. The Great Commission is all <\/em>hands on deck, not just \u201cprofessional,\u201d \u201ceducated,\u201d or \u201cauthorized\u201d hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it is true that God has called those in His church to varied ministries and offices (Ephesians 4:11-12), it is also equally true that all are called to something! <\/em>What is that \u201csomething\u201d? The Great Commission spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, \u201cAll authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t miss all the \u201calls\u201d: all authority, all nations, all things, always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there is another \u201call\u201d that Jesus didn\u2019t expressly say, but which is still very much there: all<\/em> the church. \u201cAnd Jesus came and spoke to them<\/em>\u201d (v. 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are \u201cthem,\u201d all of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cFather Steve\u201d was a fixture of my childhood. He was the longtime minister of the local Episcopalian church my parents attended. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/We_Are_Them.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAh8r-3BV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13883"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15468,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13883\/revisions\/15468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}