Loading...At the end of April, St Paul’s will host an uncommon event in the life of the Church – the service that marks the beginning of a new ordained ministry. John Shirley will be presented to Bishop Scanlan to be made a deacon. (In the older versions of the Book of Common Prayer, deacons were made, priests were ordained, and bishops were consecrated, but more on that in a minute.)
As much as this will be a big day for John, it will also be a big day for Saint Paul’s. Many people in our community have invested time, treasure, prayer, and love in John as he has made his way – through many twists and turns – toward this day. It should be an occasion for us, his extended family in the faith, to celebrate with him, and to express an appropriate, holy satisfaction that we have raised up someone who will lead the Church well into the future.
And to make sure that everyone understands what is happening, I should offer you a few crib-notes on the service, what it means, and where John will go next.
I mentioned earlier that we used to use different names for the events that “created” deacons, priests, and bishops. In modern times, we say that all are ordained. There is a sequence – to be a priest, one must first be a deacon, and to be a bishop, one must first be a priest – but we are careful to emphasize that each order of ministry is complete within itself and calls those in it to a specific kind of service.
Fifty Words on…Patience
By a bishop
One tries to gain perspective. Waiting need not be wasting. There can be attentiveness to a greater awareness of self and the world about while seeing and breathing and listening and praying. An attentive patience and greater awareness of what is significant and what is worth waiting for can form.
Given that, it might seem odd that John, who has been studying and preparing to be a priest, will be ordained as a deacon. The explanation for this is that this will be only the first of two ordinations. When Saturday, April 29th comes, John will be a deacon. And after six to twelve (usually closer to six) months, he will ordained a second time. That second service probably will take place at the church where he is serving at the time, so this is about the last step in his formation as a clergyman that we will see “live and in person.”
And while we are deconstructing all this, what does ordination mean? Those who are ordained seem to be the same people after that they were before, so what happens in between? The simple answer is that the Church gives those being ordained a task and calls on the Holy Spirit to give them the tools and the energy to accomplish it. We believe that since the power comes from God, it is not in the Church’s power to take it away again, except under extreme circumstances. The gift of the Holy Spirit is God’s alone to give or remove.
Seen this way, an ordained person is someone different – not because he or she has gotten “extra credit” from God, but because the Holy Spirit, once called down, “remodels” their souls and lives to conform to God’s purposes.
Blessings
Howie+
