Representing God

In my experience, in an important sense, a minister does represent God. As an example, a minister may speak to a dying person and at his/her word, panic turns to peace. Or, to add some examples, depression turns to joy, or a sense of condemnation turns to liberty. The power does not of course lie in the minister -- not at all. Perhaps these are examples of what, in theology, one calls "the means of grace" -- God's using a number of means to transfer his grace to people.