What does the word "amateur" mean to you? I think when I was growing up, I first came to hear the word used with respect to athletics. I swam competitively in two different leagues—the YMCA league and at meets organized by the AAU—or Amateur Athletic Union. The "amateur" meets were significantly more competitive. And, as a young person with some interest in sports, I was aware of the issue of amateur athletics and the Olympics. At least in my youth (which was during the cold war), there was the perception that the US respected the amateur status of the Olympics and sent only true amateur athletes. And that left most of us Americans with mixed feelings of both self-righteousness and frustration. It was somehow nobler to be an amateur, yet it was also a competitive disadvantage. And in the Olympics medal count, a competitive disadvantage is not a good thing.

So what does the word "amateur" mean to you? First, what would you say is the actual definition of the word? And then, what connotations does the word carry for you? Most people would probably say that an amateur is, by definition, not a professional, and a professional is someone who is paid for what he or she does. So an amateur is someone who is not paid. And the word often has the added implication that an amateur is often someone who is not fully trained or qualified or sanctioned. Or at least not as fully trained or skilled as a professional. Remember those US amateur athletes who had a hard time competing against the state-sponsored professionals from Eastern Europe. Or the many, many churches where building repair or painting has been done by amateurs…  well-meaning, faithful, charitable amateurs… but everyone can see that the job wasn’t "professionally" done. An amateur is someone who’s not professionally trained, not professionally qualified, not professionally remunerated. To call something "amateurish" is not a compliment.

And yet on the other hand there is that image of nobility, of spirit, that we often attribute to the amateur. And that is a clue to us of the true meaning of the word. The true meaning of "amateur" is someone who does whatever he or she does for the love of doing it. That meaning is right there as the number one definition in the dictionary. It doesn’t have anything to do with getting paid or having some level of skill or official certification. It has to do with love. Amore, amare… to love. Amator is Latin for lover. An amateur is a lover.

All this discussion about amateurs and professionals is relevant to today’s readings and to our perspective on ministry. One way to look at this morning’s reading from Numbers and at the passage from Mark’s gospel is as an illustration of the contrast between amateurs and professionals in ministry. Whether or not "real" ministers are financially compensated is not the issue in these readings. But the contrast is between those who were specially selected, set apart, identified as the "official" ministers and those who were ministering because their hearts were moved. Who has authority to prophesy in the Lord’s name, Joshua asks? Or John asks Jesus, who is qualified to cast out demons in your name? Only the professionals?

Let’s review the story from Numbers; I’ve always liked it. Moses has had enough. If the main role of ministry is mediating God’s presence to others, Moses has been the one and only minister to the rabble in the wilderness. Moses has led and fed the people; he has brought them God’s word and assured them of God’s presence. That’s what ministers do. The people have not always been as grateful or responsive as Moses would have liked. Ministers often encounter that frustration; I can sympathize with Moses. And Moses is burned out. So God arranges to ordain 70 others to assist Moses in his ministry to the people, to the rabble. They are officially chosen and in a special ceremony, the spirit of God is given to them, and they prophesy. They speak God’s word; they take on one of the roles of ministry. But then there’s Eldad and Medad. They missed the meeting. They missed the official ordination ceremony. And I can sympathize with that, too. Maybe they had just been to too many meetings already that week. But their hearts were filled with the flame of the Spirit. Prophetic words came from their lips. They spoke God’s word in the camp, among the people. Amateurs, sharing their passion with those around them. And when the professionals complain, Moses says, "Would that all of the Lord’s people were prophets!" Would that the love of God would motivate everyone to prophesy, to share the word of God. Whenever. Wherever. Would that, for the sheer love of God, everyone might be a minister to others around them!

Amateur ministers are people who minister because they love to share God’s love with others. I can’t imagine any better sort of minister. Skill or training or ordination does not make anyone a "better" minister. In fact, there is no such thing as a "professional" minister. Some of us are paid to fulfill a specialized role or function within the institutional church, but ministry… bringing God to others… all ministry is amateur ministry. You know the spiritual, "I love to tell the story..."  Note that it doesn't say, "I love the story," or "I love to hear the story."  Presumably those are true, but the song says, "I love to tell the story; to tell the old, old story, of Jesus and his love." I tell the story because I love to tell it. Amateur ministry.  Sharing God's story just for the love of doing it.  Ministry is bringing the word of God, the presence of God, the love of God to other people. We may bring God’s presence to other people, into the world, through music, through prayer, through proclamation, through pastoral comfort or through prophetic witness. All of that is ministry. And ministry at its best is amateur ministry, done simply and fully because we love to do it.

I spoke slightingly of St. Paul last week because he writes so dismissively of childhood. So this week I want to give equal time to a positive quotation from Paul’s writing. Interestingly, this passage comes from the very same part of First Corinthians that I quoted last week. It’s the famous passage about love, so often read at weddings. But when you hear it now, think about ministry. Think about love as the fuel for ministry, love as the motivation for amateur ministers.

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge… but do not have love, I am nothing (so much for a seminary education… it's the love of ministry that matters)  And if I have all faith, so to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful…  (The "professional" ministers in Moses’ camp would do well to remember that ministry motivated by love is not boastful.) "Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful… It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

Love never ends. Ministry built upon love never ends.

Think about someone you know who is an amateur at some pursuit—an amateur fisherman, an amateur musician, an amateur astronomer. Think of the sparkle in their eyes, the joy in their hearts, their tirelessness, their yearning to be doing the activity they love. Think about the "sacrifices" of time and resources they are eager to make for their passion which for them are not "sacrifices" at all. Think about the personal satisfaction and the sense of renewal they—and we—gain from doing those things we do as amateurs, things we do just because we love to do them.

On the whole, in the ministry department, "amateur" ministry is the only way to go—ministry undertaken because we love to tell, to share, the story of God's love. To paraphrase Moses, would that all the Lord’s ministers were amateurs!

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