FROM LAW TO MINISTRY -- A BIG STEP? By Alice Davis

At the farewell party my office gave for me when I left my job as a tax lawyer to attend seminary full-time, one of my co-workers suggested that the change in careers wasn’t all that great. He said that in ministry I was going to be spending my time the same way I did as a tax lawyer?trying to get people to do what they didn’t want to do. I thought what he said was funny but didn’t take it seriously. My new role would involve inspiring others to become closer to God, not making them do what they didn’t want to do.

I enjoyed the way I was practicing law. My job as the Director of the National Nexus Program at the Multistate Tax Commission was to get large companies involved in multi-state commerce to pay appropriate taxes to state and local governments. I found a level of righteousness in this kind of work that made me comfortable with being a tax lawyer. I wasn’t out to steal from the public treasury for my clients or to make myself rich at the expense of the people. It was good work, and it paid well.

I was in fact out to get people to do the right thing, as my co-worker intimated. But I still rejected the idea that there was some connection between the two careers. Practicing law involved statutes and regulations both written and disregarded by people. Law involved monetary and criminal penalties, with a trial system that provided lawyers like me the support needed to get people to do what they didn’t want to do. How can you compare tax law to ministry? In my mind I was making a drastic change, like the conversion of Matthew the hated tax collector or Zacchaeus’ coming down from the tree.

Now, ten years later, it’s clear to me that there was more truth in my co-worker’s remark than I realized. Much of ministry involves “inspiring” people to do things they really don’t seem to want to do: encouraging them to attend church more regularly and to get involved; trying to get them to move from the pews out into the community; encouraging them to study their Bibles, to pray, and to meditate regularly; and, yes, getting people to tithe. Both these careers are about trying to get people to obey the law, whether it’s the tax laws of the various states or God’s law.
At least as a tax lawyer I had the backing of the legal system, along with its civil and criminal penalties. It’s easy to inspire a company CEO to pay local taxes when the law is on your side. In ministry, the penalties seem somewhat unreal. To some folks the impending doom of hell pales in comparison to the impending doom of civil penalties. Besides, isn’t God always full of grace and forgiving?

So maybe the move from tax law to ministry wasn’t such a big step after all. Take for instance the source of the laws for each profession. One of our discussion sessions in law school had to do with the source of our Constitution and other laws. I posed that there is a source greater than our own collective wisdom that imbeds in us our generally common sense of fairness. When the class discussion became religious, the leader quickly moved us on to another topic, but it was clear that the sense of justice that is the basis of our governance is the basic concept of justice and righteousness that derives from the Biblical laws expounded on by the prophets.

My schedule was hectic as a lawyer, and that didn’t change when I moved to ministry. Successful attorneys are often seen as high-powered and driven, with little time for rest and relaxation. Ministers don’t have a lot of time for rest and relaxation, either, but they are more often seen as simply overworked rather than high-powered. I’m not sure there’s much of a difference. Overwork is overwork, regardless of the profession, and too many ministers still have this problem. When have I ever really had enough time to write a sermon?

Even preaching resembles the practice of law. I remember in moot court that my closing argument was really like a sermon, and the professor told me that was the best part of my trial practice. What is a good closing argument in a trial but a summation of what’s right and fair and a way to persuade the jury to do the right thing? And any smart lawyer knows that a good Baptist preaching rhythm in a closing argument helps the jury believe that the lawyer speaks the truth of God.

But aren’t ministers held to a loftier ideal when it comes to ethics? Unfortunately, our society seems to have accepted as truth that no one should trust lawyers. Even more unfortunately, the difference is not so great with ministers. Jokes about crooked lawyers are increasingly matched by jokes about greedy and lascivious preachers. I recently saw a survey on which professions people respect most, and while preachers came in above lawyers, they were well below the most respected professions, which included doctors and teachers.

Since the two professions have so many similarities, you might think I’d be inclined to return to the one that pays the most. But I’ve never seriously entertained that thought. Ministry is a calling, and that makes it something more than a career. The ultimate difference for me relates to the one for whom I work. A lawyer is a mouthpiece for whoever is paying. A minister is a mouthpiece only for God. I became a licensed practitioner of the law by completing school successfully and passing a bar exam. In spite of all of my education and training, and in spite of my commitment and dedication, there was nothing I could have done to get the right to represent God. But God called me to do just that, and for that I am humbled and grateful. Speaking for God is a tremendous honor and an even more tremendous responsibility. I know that I dare not open my mouth to preach, speak, or counsel people without having prayed that God will lead me.

And believe it or not, ministry pays me more than tax law ever did. To me, the rewards are not only monetary. Every time I can see that someone has been encouraged to be stronger in their walk with God because of something I’ve said or done, I’m rewarded in more ways than money can buy. Every time a couple in premarital counseling understands that their sharing of God with each other is the foundation for a strong marriage, I’m rewarded. Every time I see the light in a child’s eye that lets me know he or she understands it’s okay to be good, I’m rewarded. Every time someone tells me they have more peace because I’ve reminded them that God will help them through their difficulties, I’m rewarded. Every time someone commits to participate in Bible study because they accept that they need to understand the Bible more deeply than an uninformed literal reading can provide, I’m rewarded tremendously.The two highest commandments for life are those that Jesus gave us, to love God and to love each other. These laws are higher than our Constitution. They provide the prism through which all interpretations of both our religious and secular laws ought to be viewed. As ministers, we’re called to encourage—to inspire—compliance with the highest laws, which puts us on the front line in the ultimate struggle of life. I’d rather be a champion for Jesus than to have all the riches in this world.

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The Reverend Alice Burnette Davis serves as Interim Pastor of Irving Park Baptist Church in Chicago, IL, after serving as Executive Minister of the Shiloh Baptist Church of Washington, DC. She serves as a Senator-at-Large in the Ministers Council.