The right hand of fellowship
This afternoon, after worship is over, I’ll head to the airport and fly to Providence. From there, a car to suburban Boston, to the First Parish Church in Weston where my friend Peter Boullata will be ordained to the Christian ministry. I’ll offer him the right hand of fellowship.
I’ve seen people try to get clever with the right hand of fellowship, and it never seems to work. The reference is to Galatians 2:9. Here it is, with the verse following:
And when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do. (NRSV)
Certain themes are clear: commission, affirmation, unity. These are appropriate for someone entering ordained life, of course. The act reminds us of the different labors that ordained ministers might find in their vocations. It also reminds us that none of us is commissioned to save the world, but that we can and must share the task.
But recall, too, that it is — or at least, is ours by right — our practice to welcome new members, the overwhelming number of whom are not ordained, by the right hand of fellowship. And with it, more than a handshake, they too receive a commission, affirmation, and a sign of unity. And a share of the mission.
20 May 2006 at 11:47 am
Who wrote this? I found it through a keyword search as I was preapring to offer the right hand of fellowship to a colleague.
20 May 2006 at 1:18 pm
Well, St. Paul wrote the bit in the blockquote, and I wrote the rest.
20 May 2006 at 1:21 pm
Dorothy,
By stripping back the header to http://www.universalistchuch.net/boyinthebands you will find it is authored by The Rev. Scott Wells. (also a nice picture of him)
David