Although I am a priest, there is a very real sense in which I am also a member of the laity. In fact, in some Christian traditions, there is a category for people like me: lay clergy. What that means is that I am ordained to the priesthood but I am not part of a professed religious order and I live in the world, ministering among ordinary people and in ordinary places. In my case, I am also married and have four children.
One of the advantages of this state of affairs is that I have some understanding of what it is like for ordinary lay folk to try and live a godly life. Now, there are some differences: ostensibly, I have more time than lay folk because I can simply use my work time for prayer and study. But, conversely, many lay folk have more time than me outside of working hours (whatever they may be) because they are either not married or married with fewer children than I have.
So, anyway, I have some understanding of what it is like to try and be a Christian in the ordinary, fussy world. In preparation for a podcast recording, I have been reading a book called Protestant Social Teaching. The chapter on marriage and family is rather wonderful, as it reminds readers that the Reformation really recovered the notion that marriage and family life are a positive good that is given to us by God. The early church, it is sad to say, had been a bit too down on marriage and family life, preferring instead to focus on the benefits of remaining single and making oneself a eunuch for the Kingdom of Heaven. And yet some of the writers of the Reformation were intensely interested in recovering the sense that all of life - whether lay or ordained - should be orientated towards God, should be a glorification of Him and should pertain to thanksgiving and worship.
I like this section that concerns the writings of Martin Luther (for “diapers” here read “nappies”):
…the works necessary to sustain marriage and family life - household chores, changing diapers, and all the rest - are “all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. Looked at with unbelieving eyes, these tasks are menial, unpleasant, undesirable. But when seen with the eyes of faith, these tasks participate in all the grandeur of the creational order; done in faith, they are our contributions to the originary task with which mankind is charged; done in faith, they become our dignity and our glory.
…When a father changes diapers, for example, and “someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool…God, with all his angels and creatures is smiling.” Rather than complaining about their lot, parents should confess to God, “I am not worthy to rock the little babe or was its diapers.” We should be confident, Luther teaches us, that in serving our families, we are doing God’s will, fulfilling our calling as men and women in God’s world.‘Sex, Marriage, and Divorce’ by Onsi Aaron Kamel and Alastair Roberts in Protestant Social Teaching, edited by Onsi Aaron Kamel, Jake Meador and Joseph Minich, pp.111-112
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Good Things to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.