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Sermon preached by Sunday 26th June 2011
The Ordination of the Rev'd Rosemary Morton
to the Priesthood At the Ordination at Great Dunmow this morning, the
Bishop will make the following declaration, and by reading it to you now
it will help us identify with Rosemary’s ordination and reflect on the
work of a Christian priest. Priests are called to be servants and shepherds
among the people to whom they are sent. With their Bishop and fellow
ministers, they are to proclaim the word of the Lord and to watch for
the signs of God's new creation. They are to be messengers, watchmen and
stewards of the Lord; they are to teach and to admonish, to feed and
provide for his family, to search for his children in the wilderness of
this world's temptations, and to guide them through its confusions, that
they may be saved through Christ for ever. Formed by the word, they are
to call their hearers to repentance and to declare in Christ's name the
absolution and forgiveness of their sins.
With all God's people, they are to tell the story
of God's love. They are to baptize new disciples in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and to walk with them in
the way of Christ, nurturing them in the faith. They are to unfold the
Scriptures, to preach the word in season and out of season, and to
declare the mighty acts of God. They are to preside at the Lord's table
and lead his people in worship, offering with them a spiritual sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving. They are to bless the people in God's name.
They are to resist evil, support the weak, defend the poor, and
intercede for all in need. They are to minister to the sick and prepare
the dying for their death. Guided by the Spirit, they are to discern and
foster the gifts of all God's people, that the whole Church may be built
up in unity and faith. Wow! This declaration – or charge – to those to be
ordained priest reveals the Church of England to be both catholic and
reformed. In the centuries following the Reformation in What are these Holy Orders? They are three:
Bishops
Priests
and Deacons They are the traditional three orders in Roman
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and at the Reformation the
Church of England retained them, and does so to this day. Since 1988 in
the case of deacons, and since 1992 in the case of priests, the General
Synod of the Church of England has extended these two orders to women,
and our Church continues to be enriched by this inclusion. The order of
bishops remains confined to men, but in some parts of the Anglican
Communion there are women bishops: and all Anglican Churches continue to
wrestle with this development. These three orders mark the setting apart of a person
by God for service in the Church. The orders do not describe roles –
they are orders of Ministry and require Ordination by a Bishop. Other Churches of the Reformation describe the orders
differently, as
Minister
or Pastor
or Presbyter It can be most confusing when the Orders of Ministry
are mixed up with roles within the Church, as in :
Rector
Chaplain to a hospital
Curate
to a prison
Vicar
to the
armed services Archdeacon
to a university Area Bishop Rural Dean It is time to search the Biblical material – to help
clarify where there might be confusion. It is clear that Jesus called 12
disciples to be with him , and to continue his mission after he had
ascended. In today’s collect Peter and Paul are called apostles – to
whom Jesus gave authority. John 20 v.19 'As the Father has sent me, so I send you . When
he had said this he breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins
of any, they are forgiven them: if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained'. Deacons are limited with regard to the full range of
ministerial duties: they are not permitted to bless, give absolution or
– the most visible restriction – preside at the Eucharist. The diaconate gives plenty of scope for pastoral
care, preaching, teaching, study and learning. The deacon normally serves for one year before being
ordained Priest (it is not automatic and some deacons never become
priests). This deacon’s year can be thought of as
apprenticeship, a time of learning from an experienced priest, known
these days as a Training Incumbent. This is a key relationship, but of
equal importance for the formation of a priest is the role of the
congregation and the wider Parish. The Bishop, whose ministry includes identifying good
training parishes, and carrying out the ordination by the laying on of
hands, keeps a list of suitable training parishes. Once ordained priest,
the former deacon normally stays on in the training parish for a further
2 or 3 years (gaining experience and being given further responsibility)
before moving on. These early years as a priest are critical for future
ministry, having a role model in the training incumbent and an
appreciation of the ministry and discipleship of lay people. In recent decades there has been a growing
understanding that lay people are indeed the People of God - the Body of
Christ – and that talk of ordinands “going into the Church” is seriously
misleading. A book published some years ago carried the title ‘God’s
Frozen People’. It was critical of how people could be treated as mere
recipients of the clergy’s ministry, rather than fellow workers with the
clergy. A disparaging description of a parish as
‘Priest-ridden’ is no compliment , and is a label more usually applied
to Roman Catholic congregations – though there are slow changes in that
Church also. Both within the Church and outside there is
widespread expectation that the priest should be Christlike. Not only in
terms of personal behaviour, but especially when he/she stands at – or
behind – the altar at the Eucharist. The priest is representing Christ
and given the privilege of celebrating the Eucharist and administering
the Sacrament.
In the 1980s when lively debate addressed the
possibility of the ordination of women to the priesthood, those who felt
it not to be right expressed the view that for a woman to represent
Christ in this way – at the altar – seemed all wrong. The decision that it should be lawful for women to be
ordained priest was taken in November 1992 by the General Synod , and
the first ordination (of women) followed in 1994. Since then, our Church has been greatly enriched by
women priests, and hundreds of women have tested their vocation to the
priesthood, and many Church Councils meeting to discuss the Parish’s
needs regarding a future incumbent say “gender is irrelevant; we want
the best priest available”. I have no idea what advice Rosemary has been offered
in retreat this week as she has prepared for her Ordination. Possibly
the retreat conductor has stressed that being a Priest in the Church of
God is more about being rather than doing. And being a Christlike leader
in a Christian community means staying faithful to God’s call, being
receptive to God’s people, promoting Christ rather than oneself. It is a wonderful calling – demanding yet rewarding,
being prepared to suffer hurt rather than cause hurt. Two further points arising from this morning’s Gospel
Reading: a)
St Peter has a special place in the Christian story and
particularly here in Coggeshall as our Patron Saint. He was clearly
erratic in his discipleship, but Jesus identified him as the leader of
the disciples. “You are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my
church”.
From this promise flows the Papal tradition
of Primacy. It causes discomfort to the Anglican Church who from the
Reformation onwards has claimed that it was Peter’s confession of faith
in Jesus as Messiah, the Son of the Living God, which is the Rock. Roman
Catholics do not recognise Anglican orders as being valid. In their eyes
our bishops, priests and deacons are not the real deal. We are not a
true church, they say. That rejection will be far from the minds of
those taking part in Rosemary’s Ordination this morning. Thank God for
that! b)
Jesus’ words continue: “I will give you the keys of the This
is not the only place in the Gospels where we hear Jesus’ strong words
on the subject of the giving or the withholding of absolution. In the Resurrection appearance on the evening of the
first Easter Day, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you . When
he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them:
receive the Hoy Spirit: If you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins
of any they are retained.” In some of our churches the declaration of absolution
– the pronouncement of the forgiveness of sins by the priest is a fading
feature of corporate worship. In some churches some priests are even
reluctant to take authority and pronounce:
Almighty God,
have mercy on you
pardon and deliver you from all your sins
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness
and keep you in life eternal
through Jesus Christ our Lord. They prefer to identify with their people and say
“have mercy on us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins”. This direction of Jesus is an awesome one for the
priest to obey, yet it is life-giving to the penitent. In the Anglican tradition it is a corporate
confession and a corporate absolution. However it is all too easy to
treat the confession lightly and to forget to prepare by reflecting on
our failures. Each one of us here will have experienced the
ministry of a priest (or, more likely, of several priests). People
compare, don’t they? “The last Vicar……” Maybe
there is a particular priest who helped to bring you to faith in Jesus
Christ – or who had a big influence on your journey of faith. This
Sunday gives a good opportunity to give thanks for such a priest, and
for this congregation to consider whom God might be calling from among
you to be a Priest. © The Ven Malcom Lesiter, 2011 ____________________________________________ |
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