I'm Getting Ordained!
Mark you calendar for Sunday, Nov. 22nd, 3pm at Immanuel for the ordination of Rev. Dr. Kimberly Purl into the UCC.
Everything became official after I completed with approval, all requirements, theology papers, and a final ordination interview. At the ordination interview I was accompanied by Kelvin Lashley, Church Council Chair, and Rainey Hoffman, Church Council Pastoral Liaison. Sitting on each side of me they advocated and gave witness to my ministry as pastor at Immanuel.
My part in the ordination interview was having a sacred dialogue with the Committee on Ministry about my ordination paper. You see, I’ve previously served 25 years as an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, a Wesleyan-Holiness Christian tradition. The committee wanted to hear how the theology that is ingrained in me can equip me to be faithful to serve in the United Church of Christ.
The answer is a Theology of Love. John Wesley’s Methodism lends practical methods to practice love in discipling and studying scriptures. In holiness, I give my life for God’s purposes to love; to love God, and to love my neighbors as I love myself, known as the Great Command. A guiding question in my life is inspired by Rev. Dr. Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, “Who can I not love? And Why?” Then asking the Holy Spirit to lead me to love in a way that heals others and myself to love beyond what I am capable of. I don’t always get it right, but I don’t give up. This is the way the Lord is leading me to walk in.
The United Church of Christ is also committed to a Theology of Love, and they call this connection to love God, neighbor, and self, a Covenantal relationship. We are connected to one another in love. A divine love that will not let us go compels us to love our neighbor and world in the same sacred way that we have been loved.
I pointed out that my Nazarene education was deep and rich as I was heavily resourced in my Old Testament studies with the works of Dr. Walter Brueggemann and Dr. Clint McCann, both UCC theologians from the German Evangelical stream. My ethics studies explored the works of Drs. Richard and Reinhold Neibuhr, who both were born in Wright City during their father’s pastorate in the mid 1890s, also of the German Evangelical stream in the UCC. And finally, my Doctorate work at Eden Seminary made room for research in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition with each tradition and theology informing the other and finding common ground in piety, or practices of devotion in God’s love.
Overall my interview was memorable and whole hearted as we shared around the table. This space was not unfamiliar to me. I had interviewed ministerial candidates for ordination for 20years in the Church of the Nazarene. It was a joy to sit in the seat of a student again.
And yes, I was ordained to the preaching ministry of Elder for 25 years in the Church of the Nazarene. I turned in my credentialing papers in the Spring of 2023 and within a few weeks began pulpit supply at Immanuel which had led me into this space of official ordination again. To be honest, I never felt “un-ordained” when I turned in my Nazarene ordination papers. The power of ordination is in the prayers of blessing and hands laid on by the church, accompanied by the in-filling of the Holy Spirit.
Why get ordained again? Because the church wishes to pray blessing and lay hands on the one set apart among them for pastoral ministry. An Immanuel friend said recently, “Pastor, we weren’t there when you got ordained the first time, so this is our chance to celebrate.”
So, I say, gather the people, ordain the called out one, and celebrate with joy again on November 22nd, 3pm at Immanuel!
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