ARE MINISTERS UNIQUE?
I’ve been catching up on some reading. This is from D. G. Hart’s book Recovering Mother Kirk: the Case for Liturgy in the Reformed Tradition (Baker Books, 2003). What do you think?

In this scheme, preaching functions almost as a ritual, obviously without a set form, but still carries the liturgical weight of other elements because the sermon itself is the time when God speaks through his under servant to his people. Preaching is not simply a common act of speech through which the minister tries to get across a particular moral or doctrinal truth. It is a holy activity that God has ordained to reveal himself in worship.

A high view of the Word (preached) and sacraments, in turn, leads to a different picture of the minister than the one that commonly prevails in contemporary Presbyterian churches. Indeed, the subject of special office and ordination is where low-church Presbyterianism comes full circle and reduces the work of the pastor to one of the many ministries that God’s people conduct in all stations and walks of life. Here the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and the Great Commission have been perverted to mean that ministers render service that are no different from what other believers so, except that pastors do it full-time, while the laity does it as an avocation. Yet if preaching really is the Word of God and if the sacraments really communicate the benefits of redemption, then the people who perform such acts are clearly different from other believers and should be set apart (ordained) to perform such holy tasks. What is more, Christ’s call in Matthew 28:18-20 to go into all the world and make disciples is not a legitimate basis for every Christian to think that he or she is called to minister the Word. Christ’s instructions make clear that the means of discipling the nations are Word (teaching) and sacrament (baptism). If evangelicals or low-church Presbyterians are going to cite the Great Commission as proper warrant for challenging the uniqueness of special office, then they will need to make sure that in addition to their Bibles they also carry some water for baptizing converts won through all manner of witnessing. (pp. 29-30)