Ordination

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Ordination Sermon: 19 November 2011 1 Cor 2:1-5; John 20:1-18

1. Introduction In 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor, a prophet, a spy and eventually a martyr grappled with the evil into which Germany had fallen by buying into the Nazi worldview. He was particularly troubled by how easily the Lutheran church had bought into this worldview.

He explored the different alternatives that were available to good people in dealing with this situation. He asked himself the question: would each of these alternatives be enough? Would the one whose final standard was... Would reason be enough? No Would having strong principles be enough? No. Would conscience be enough? No Would virtue be enough? No.

He dismissed all these standard responses as being insufficient, as falling short and he wrote these words to define the only person who could withstand the evil was: "the one who has an exclusive allegiance and obedience to God; who tries to make their life an answer to the question and call of God”.

This is an answer that is not just appropriate for Bonheoffer’s context at the time but for every context. Often it is in the very difficult contexts that we see more clearly what is really important.

Each of you who are to be ordained today are responding to the call of God to serve him in a unique and special way as ordained people. As each of you responds to this call you need to make your life an answer to the question and call of God. It is a call to an exclusive allegiance to God who reveals himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

2. How does one do this? After all there are so many expectations of what one is to do and be in ministry. There is the expectation of week by week leading the people of God in well prepared worship. There is the expectation that your sermons will meet people's needs and feed them with the Word of God. There is the expectation that you will respond well to the pastoral crises that occur and will throw your week out of kilter. There is the expectation that you will efficiently deal with the administrative tasks of your calling ……. particularly in responding to those emails from the diocesan office. And i could go on and on this list of expectations...

They will not go away, nor ought they to!

So how does one do it? How does one not get lost in all these religious activities? How do you focus your life so that it remains an answer to the question and call of God?

Paul gives us an answer from our NT reading

2.1 Paul drew attention to Jesus whom he knew intimately.

But who was this Jesus? There seem to be so many representations of Jesus today. Almost as if Jesus is a name devoid of content until we construct our own Jesus. So many of these projections of Jesus’ seem to reflect little more than ourselves and our cultures sensibilities.

Jesus does not come to us emptied of content. Paul says: “And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling”. His focus was on Jesus, a crucified Jesus, a risen Jesus. When you looked at Paul’s ministry he drew your attention to Jesus. He makes quite clear on his own there was not much to look at or even listen to.

When people look at you they need to see your focus is on Jesus. That in all these demands and activities we steadfastly point to Jesus as revealed to us in Scripture. After all Jesus is perfect theology!

Today much of the attention is on you who are to be ordained. From tomorrow your call is to turn that focus from yourself back onto Jesus. In the midst of all that you are called to be, and do, and respond to never forget who you are: you are someone who could well do to emulate Paul, by responding to the question and call of God on your life by focusing your attention on Jesus.

2.2 Paul’s ministry was marked by the power of the Holy Spirit Paul went on to add something else. “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power”. There is much that we can do and get by on in our own strength and through our natural abilities but in the end people yearn to see the ”more of God” through your ministry. To see in you the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life and ministry.

In early days of ministry after a long, hot day doing pastoral visiting in a rural context I arrived at about 5pm, ready for a cold beer, at the home where I had left Janet and the kids for the day. Before I even got out of the car, R…. rushed out and said that she had been speaking to Y….. on the phone and felt really worried about her, would I leave immediately and go and see her. I must admit I felt very grumpy at this point because it was the last thing I wanted to do (tired hot etc). I set out. On the way I felt the Lord pointing out to me that I wasn’t really in the right space for this visit. I felt led to pray in tongues, which I did and then had this surreal experience in my head of arriving at the farmhouse, of knocking on the door and of Y…. opening the door and asking me why I was there. As I drove I debate in my head as to what answer I should give. Should I say that I was just passing, and thus not let on that R… had voiced her concern to me, or do I tell the truth? I resolved to tell the truth.

When I arrived I knocked on the door, Y… opened it and asked the exact words that had been in that experience in the car (and I knew that God was at work in the situation): “Why are you here”? I told her that I was there because R… had sent me. She said: “If you had lied I would have known and would have closed the door in your face.” It transpired that she was about to commit suicide. John Hughes, on my own, was not sufficient for that pastoral need. The “more of God” at work made the difference.

Paul modelled his practise of ministry on that of Jesus: He taught about Jesus crucified and risen and his ministry was marked with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.

Keep shining a light on Jesus, in the midst of everything you will be called on to be and do. Never forget this is your primary calling. Remember in doing this the questions about the reality of God and the questions about the reality of this world are answered at the same time.

Ministry is no narrow pious calling. When we keep our eyes on Jesus we will find that he is not spending his days hanging out on our pews but out engaged in his world, and keeping our eyes on him will lead us out of the cloisters. We have seen this demonstrated by the clergy on the West Coast during the Pike River disaster.

So do the will of God radically, courageously and joyfully. Focus on Jesus crucified and risen. Allow the Holy Spirit to mark your ministry with the more of God. In this way you will have allowed your whole life to be an answer to the question and call of God.

Amy, who is to be ordained today said that she feels she is at her best when she is hidden in the wounds of Jesus. May this be true of us.

John Hughes: Vicar of Karori