Slippers and Wishing

I'm back. Or, more accurately, I'm moved. While I'm at it, I've lost another roommate to marriage. I think that means that over the last five years, I've lost every roommate to marriage. Of course, that's only 2 roommates, but five years sounds more impressive.

I'm not quite settled in yet - it's hard to find spots for all the junk I never use but desperately want to keep. But I'm trying to do better at actually using it and not replacing it rather than simply hoarding it.

And for the first time ever, I'm contemplating the joys of slippers. I've never really thought of myself as a slipper person, but I like to sleep barefoot, and the way the heating in my new place works, it tends to be a bit chilly when I wake up. Slippers seem to be an excellent solution. It's weird - slippers have always seemed a bit pointless to me, so it's weird to find myself contemplating them. I guess that's my weekly dose of walking in other people's shoes.

Protestant Priests

I read an fascinating book (maybe Biblical Eldership by Alexander StrauchZ) which commented that Protestants often function as though their pastors are Protestant priests.

It's both an interesting and thought-provoking comment. As I understand Catholicism, the priests are different than the members: Only the priests are able to perform the sacraments - marriage, Eucharist, last rites, baptism, etc. In some rituals, there's the idea of the priest acting as the person of Christ.

In the Old Testament, the priests were the mediators between the people and God. If one had sins to atone for, one brought an appropriate sacrifice to the priests - which was how the priests were fed. Since priests were God's mediators for Israel, they had special rules for being holy.

I'm not entirely sure what the book meant about Protestant priests (I need to find the comment and re-read the section), but here's some things I've been thinking about:

- Do I believe there is certain ceremonies (Lord's supper, baptism or marriage) that only pastors should perform? If so, why?

- Do I believe pastors are more holy than other church members?

- What ministry do I believe only pastors should perform? Why?

- What do I actually think is different about someone once they've been appointed a pastor?

Confession: Marriage is actually the one that tripped me up here. I'm used to something like "By the authority committed to me as a minister of the Church of Jesus Christ, I declare that ________ and ________ are now husband and wife" or " I, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the state and the church, declare you to be husband and wife". (Here's a whole list of wedding pronouncements.")

I tend to think of "minister" and "pastor" an interchangeable, although I'd accept that those needn't be identical words. A quick Google search for "define: minister" suggests my first impression is reasonable. So what exactly is the authority committed to a pastor to declare a couple man and wife? Is it merely the state law requiring a pastor* for marriage? (* - Yes, the actual legalize is a bit more complicated. Judges can marry, some churches offer anyone a "minister" status, and there's actually a difference between the state requirements for officiant and pastoring - I've known churches that have been willing to let non-pastors receive "minister" status so that they can perform marriages. Nuance aside, pastors are the primary officiants at the weddings I know of.)

If the authority is merely state law, what do statements like "...and by the church" mean? Does the pastor have a special authority from the church regarding marriages? Or can I claim that authority? If this authority is special to pastors, where do they derive it from? And how is this different from having a special "holy" class of people - priests?