When your pastor does his work in the name of Christ he is also doing it in your name because you are a baptized Christian and a member of the church. Baptism confers all the divine gifts upon those who are brought into the church through it, including the whole ministry. We moderns struggle mightily with the idea that our pastors could represent us in this way. We doubt that representative persons are capable of bearing our collective capacity as the Bride of Christ. We anxiously demand that we must "speak for ourselves." We think that unless we are personally offering petitions in prayer, we are not praying.

However, the church's ideal of representative persons turns us out of ourselves and toward the needs, concerns, and words that belong to others; even the words of the faithful who have gone before us. I particularly love the prayers offered before the readings in divine service of the church. They are called "collects." As a child this name was baffling to me. I didn't know what it meant, especially because it was pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable. Literally, it just means that the church is collecting together the concerns of the people of God in a single, deeply significant petition. When your pastor prays that prayer he is collecting the church's prayers. When he is praying you are praying.

When he speaks holy absolution, he speaks not for himself, but for the church; for all the baptized. These are the gifts that have been given to the church. This is what St. Paul is talking about when he says to the Corinthians "all things are yours" (1Co 3:21). The gifts of the church and her ministry are not the exclusive possessions of the pastors. No, they are servants of Christ and Christ's people. When the pastor opens his mouth, the church is speaking. When he delivers the gospel, the baptized are speaking. Pastors don't give the Word power when they proclaim it. It has power because it is God's speech, not our own property.