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| Called Into Ministry: To Be A Good And Faithful Pastor: Reflections Of A Partnered Lesbian | 
 enlarge | Author: Mary Albing
Publisher: Kirk House Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $9.45
You Save: $6.55 (41%)
Buy New/Used from $3.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  (1 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1805188
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 152
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 1886513945
Dewey Decimal Number: 284.1092
EAN: 9781886513945
ASIN: 1886513945
Publication Date: January 31, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The author writes in her introduction, "I have written this book because the homosexuality debate is about me, a partnered lesbian who simply wishes to serve the denomination in which I was born and nurtured, and in which I find the most meaning for my faith and life. I serve in the ways that countless others have served before me. I preach, teach, administer the sacraments, and comfort those who grieve. This is my story of being called into ministry." Mary's account of her ministry reveals a pastor's heart
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| Customer Reviews:
A real gift to the church and the curious March 14, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Mary Albing's book is a calming gift to this church in these days. In personal reflections, framed equally by her self-understanding as a lesbian and her sense of call as a pastor, she illumines the human side of both, and suggests that perhaps it is possible to be both at the same time.
The book is organized around various "callings" we all experience. To be Christian, indeed to be authentically human, is to be called into moments of hearing, compassion, sorrow, love, laughter, seeing, vocation, hope and courage. Albing explores each theme through poignant anecdotes drawn from her experience as pastor - and lesbian. She displays uncanny compassion as a pastor, and she relates without shame but with honest sorrow, the pain that her coming out caused family, friends, and herself. Yet she is equally eloquent in describing the grace of friendship with her ex-husband, the bond with her children, and the joy discovered with her partner. Albing concludes each chapter with a sermon that resonates with each chapter's theme, all preached during the past year while she has been in a covenanted lesbian relationship.
This book is foremost about the challenge of being human - and being Christian; offering each reader an invitation to self-discovery. It is only secondarily - but eloquently so - about the twin challenges of being a faithful pastor and a partnered lesbian. And by leaving this witness rest rather in the background, not as an argument to be made but simply as a truth to be shown, Albing may well turn more than a few hearts along the way.
Called into Ministry is a quick read, but it isn't to be read quickly. It has the potential to pull readers into deep reflection about the course of their lives and their own callings. It would make a fine gift to parents, friends, siblings or anyone else sincerely wondering whether God can do God's work through the lives and loves of gay and lesbians persons. Although Albing never says so out loud herself, by the end of the book most readers will answer for themselves with a resounding, `Yes.'
David R. Weiss directs the Reconciling in Christ Program in the Twin Cities and serves as Director of Resources and Education for Lutherans Concerned/North America.
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