Year A - Advent 3 - December 18, 2022
A Call to Serve Christ
In the name of the Gracious Trinity: God, Son, and Spirit.
We did a thing on Friday night. It was a big deal, with lots of clergy, special food, extra music, several pews of Lisa’s family and presenters. We had a big ol’ party, as Bishop Barker said in his sermon. Trinity, we provoked the Holy Spirit’s grace to pour over Lisa Kay Petersen Aguilar and receive her as a priest. Wow! As we prepared for that occasion and simultaneously completed the work for today’s worship, I was struck at the dynamic relationship between the Ordination and today’s Collect for Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent.
From the Ordination:
After the Examination, the Bishop says to the ordinand,
“May the Lord who has given you the will to do these things give you the grace and power to perform them.”
Then, as the sacrament of ordination is conferred, the bishop prays, “Therefore, Father, through Jesus Christ your Son, give your Holy Spirit to Lisa; fill her with grace and power, and make her a priest in your Church.”
That will always take my breath away.
Now listen to today’s Collect:
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us;
With that prayer, Trinity Cathedral, we the Body of Christ call God to stir up Lisa, and Ellen, and Kate, and our Altar party, and you, and one another for Christ’s mission.
We clergy are like everything at the altar: we are only holy when you make us holy; we can only bring you the sacraments when you desire the sacraments. Lisa can only be a priest, if you choose her to be. Ordination, baptism, eucharist, even absolution, only become real when you gather your spiritual power in common prayer and invoke the Holy Spirit. Combined worship as the Body of Christ makes tangible what are intangible truths.
So, it is not Bishop Scott’s personal spiritual power or Mother Lisa’s that makes motions or utterances in this space sacred. Any grace or holiness poured out from your clergy is given to us by your baptismal commitment. Your presence, your prayers, your gospel work, and your faith confers the Holy Spirit. It is why we love you, why the Church is so careful in selecting individuals for ministry.
Trinity, in this Advent, while we expect Christ’s glory to be complete in the consummation of Isaiah’s vision, we must be active in our patience. Just as Mother Lisa had to wait on the discernment and direction of the Holy People of God, we need formation. Every Christian has a vocation to serve the Commonwealth of God and I know each of you has a call to serve Christ here.
In the moments leading up to the ordaining laying on of hands, the Bishop prays:
God and Father of all, we praise you for your infinite love in calling us to be a holy people …We thank you that by [Jesus’] ...has poured his gifts abundantly upon your people, making some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry and the building up of his body.
Only one of those vocations of the Spirit requires ordination in our denomination. The Spirit equips you for the work of ministry, and this parish certainly needs your gifts. If you feel a yearning to serve here, talk with one of us. We are a Cathedral nurturing your discipleship through worship and study. With our monastery in residence, The Benedictine Way we have a training ground for discernment and deep ministry.
I am your Dean and we need every gift here.
Open your souls my friends and use today's Collect as an invocation of guidance. Give some quietness to God in your heart and mind before and after you say the words – just a deep breath. God’s reply will be subtle, must be discerned, may be scary, but is always gracious. God’s power is only present when we are together in love and worship, we need you: Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us. Amen.
Dean Vanessa Clark+