Bucer #2 - Character and Care

First up, my apologies for the lateness of this entry. The last week has been full of ordination-relating busyness which has distracted from the main task of ministry. Back in the harness now...

In his consideration of those who should be selected for the task of being elders and pastors of the congregations of Christ it is no surprise that Bucer draws heavily from the New Testament examples and the instructions in the pastoral letters. For me it sounded all too familiar. Over the last three years I have had my own personal character and godliness carefully observed by many people. Interviews have been conducted and forms have been submitted in a long process culminating in yesterday when I stood in front of several bishops who laid hands on me and gave me a Bible to be used in a lifetime of Christian service. For the church in Bucer's time and in ours similar concerns for the right example of the pastor for the flock are paramount. What is interesting in Bucer's work on this point is not content but style.

As Bucer constructs his pastoral framework it is remarkable how the personal life of the pastor flows naturally out of the active headship of Jesus that he established earlier and then into the task of caring for the sheep that he will expound next. He writes in such a way that it is almost impossible to see the seam in his stitching. The effect is in the end an encouragement not to compartmentalise too strongly the character and care of the pastor as resulting from the rule of Christ. Both the preparation of the pastor in their godliness of life and the tasks which have been set out are an expression of divine preservation and predestination. Sometimes I am tempted to categorise what I have before me in terms of My Job and Jesus' Job. It's true that we can't collapse them, but neither should they lead to competition or confusion. Bucer definitely takes the personal life of the pastor as integrated into the bigger picture of Christs' rule over His own flock, not an activity that occurs outside of His headship.