Pour Out Your Holy Spirit
Rev. Andrew Lay being commissioned by Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor
On Wednesday, June 12, 2019, I was commissioned as a provisional member in Holston Annual Conference at Stuart Auditorium at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. It has been a long journey to get to this point, and I still have a long way to go. The process began when I entered the candidacy program in the summer of 2010. A few years later, I received my pastoral license on October 1, 2014. Then, last week started a three-year period as I continue the process of becoming an ordained elder in full connection of the Annual Conference.
Some of you may be wondering, “What does it mean to be commissioned as a provisional member?”
That is a good question…
As The Book of Discipline states,
“Commissioning is the act of the church that publicly acknowledges God’s call and the response, talents, gifts, and training of the candidate. The church invokes the Holy Spirit as the candidate is commissioned to be a faithful servant leader among the people, to lead the church in service, to proclaim the Word of God and to equip others for ministry.”
(BOD ¶ 325).
I love this description. I especially love that it speaks about how the church invokes the Holy Spirit.
Just a few days before my commissioning, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday which was when the disciples experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on their lives. The Scripture passage below recounts this special moment.
“2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” Acts 2:1-4 (NRSV).
As I knelt down during the commissioning service, Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor placed her hands over me and said, “Pour out your Holy Spirit on Andrew Curtis Lay. Send him now to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, to announce the reign of God, and to equip the church for ministry, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
I know you might think I’m crazy, but at that moment I felt a sense that there were tongues of fire hovering above my head. Now granted, I was wearing a black robe and under some pretty warm stage lights. But still, I felt the sense that God truly was pouring out God’s Spirit on my life. This was a special moment that will be with me for the rest of my life.
My hope is that we all feel the Holy Spirit working in our lives. May we wake up every morning and say, “Pour out your Holy Spirit.” Amen.
