Priests in the World

Numbers 8:14-22New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

[The Lord said:] "Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the other Israelites, and the Levites shall be mine. Thereafter the Levites may go in to do service at the tent of meeting, once you have cleansed them and presented them as an elevation offering. For they are unreservedly given to me from among the Israelites; I have taken them for myself, in place of all that open the womb, the firstborn of all the Israelites. For all the firstborn among the Israelites are mine, both human and animal. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, but I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the Israelites. Moreover, I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the service for the Israelites at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, in order that there may be no plague among the Israelites for coming too close to the sanctuary.

Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the Israelites did with the Levites accordingly; the Israelites did with the Levites just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning them. The Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented them as an elevation offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. Thereafter the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting in attendance on Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did with them.

Do we still separate our "priests" from the rest of the congregation?

Maybe. Sometimes, despite the fact that this is not a tenet of our Christian faith as it was for the Jews and the Levites.

In our Christian life, we are all made "priests" through our baptism. Ministers, pastors are called to a special way of service, but it is not one that is separate. It is one that is placed in the heart of the congregation.

Yet all of us are priests - baptized and sent out to beyond the doors of our congregation.

To the world.

These days, as we read about more and more distrust of the institution of the church, and see more folks who claim to be "spiritual but not religious" or call themselves "Nones," having no religious affiliation, we might do well to wonder if we ourselves our separating ourselves as priests from the world.

Maybe our congregation IS the world.

We are not Levites, sent to do service in a tent of meeting.

We are the people of God, sent to serve the world. A world that is hungry to see the love we are equipped to share.

God send us out to do your work of love and service to the world. Amen.