“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you.”
Parker Palmer
Most kids of the age of 5 to 6 when gathered together played house or the boys played war. Make no mistake, I took up a well crafted oak stick and shot down some enemies. Yet, what we played make believe more the setting up house or war games, was church. Yes, we played church.
Growing up in the home of Pentecostal parents with a church planting, preaching grandfather, church was my norm. So when my friends and I gathered together, the Holy Ghost was there too. At the tender age of 5, when roles were being divided up, I was first in line for the preacher. It was my first recognition of direction God had already placed on my life.
Years passed and after some teenage tug of war, the Lord pulled me into that calling. More years passed and more life happened and four years ago I became a divorced man with that same calling to preach. Divorce in the church is dicey to say the least. Certain churches take staunch stances on divorce. Others take even harder stances on the idea of remarriage. In the circles of sanctuaries that are my tribe, both are looked at glaringly, especially if you deem yourself a preacher or teacher.
In full disclosure, my wife Rachael and I, both divorced and now remarried, were not sexually unfaithful to our previous spouses. Jesus marks out in Matthew 5:32 the provision for marital unfaithfulness as a provision for divorce. This is not my counselor’s office, so you have no need for the details that created the chasm for me or my wife, Rachael’s previous marriage. What is clear is that through prayer, godly counsel, and what we felt was best for ourselves and our children we chose to walk away from our previous marriages. We view our current blended life as a blessing from God.
The question becomes what happens to that calling in light of a divorce and remarriage? What happens to the sweet spot of life that God implanted in a boy in creaky old Victorian house preaching to his friends? Did it dissolve with the divorce? Does God rip his gifting away with remarriage?
Paul writing the church at Rome said this “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” Understandably, Paul’s context for call is one of salvation not our modern day interpretation for a specific purpose or role in life, but his understanding of gifts are the charisma, the very gifts of God. Which he calls “irrevocable”. So I contend, if nothing can separate me from the love of God, not even a divorce that I stood on biblical grounds to attain, then nothing can strip me of God’s gifting, including my gift to minister. Yet, for many churches Rachael and I in our blended beauty of a family are seen with disdain rather than the beauty of God’s capacity to redeem and restore.
As I sat with a good friend talking about this very topic I made the joke that if I was caught stealing money in the church, I would have just been given a promotion. While said in jest, this friend and I know this to be true. Yet, somehow, walking out of a hellish marriage, fighting for my kids, finding love again, and allowing God to heal my heart and my family is the Scarlett letter that keeps me out of your pulpit. Sounds harsh, I know, but I have been in church long enough to see the truth in this.
We part and parcel what we are willing to tolerate out of a minister. Stories of infidelity are not uncommon, sadly enough, in the confines of ministry. Those that chose to stay married are rewarded with more ministry. Those like my wife and I who faced a no win situation other than to walk away, are excused and pushed to the side.
I am not advocating for your agreement in our choices. You have to reconcile for yourself your biblical stance on divorce and remarriage. Yet, I will quote Joshua in his final address to Israel, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” And for our house that service includes preaching and teaching the very word of God. My prayer is that you will not judge our story before you know it. My hope is that you will take time to get to know our heart.
I have also reached a place where no man or woman defines me, because as Cory Asbury says “that is what my father does”. So my calling to preach nor Rachael’s calling to teach is defined or determined by a willingness or unwillingness to invite either of us into your sanctuaries and spaces. Because even remarried we called to minister.