There is a sense of great excitement as we look forward to this coming weekend during which 10 men and women will be ordained deacon and another nine priest in the Cathedral.
For those being ordained this will be a very significant moment for which they have been preparing for many years in discernment and in study. It will be important for their families and friends and the congregations that have nurtured and supported them on their journey and of course for the communities in which they are to minister. It is also, I pray, an encouragement for the whole Church, for while the ministry they begin is located in a specific context of parish or chaplaincy, it is a universal ministry, one in which we all are called to share, one that builds up the whole body and as we rejoice in the constancy and faithfulness of God who equips the Church to proclaim the Gospel afresh in each generation.
Our ordinations this weekend are thus no private matter but rather something in which we are each one of us invited to share recognising that God’s call is for us all. This is not to diminish the calling of our new deacons and priests, their ministry is crucial to the wellbeing and the effectiveness of the Church in mission and ministry. Deacons remind us of the call to serve as Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, to search out the lost, the sick, the lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless and bring to the Church the needs and hopes of all the people. Priests are servants and shepherds who proclaim the word of the Lord, messengers, sentinels who feed and provide for God’s family. They celebrate the sacraments presiding at Communion, and with all God’s people they tell the story of God’s love.
Always ‘with’. This is the nature of the ministry committed to those who will be ordained, always with. As our new deacons and priests are ordained this weekend, we remember they serve with each of us in the ministry of the Church. It is thus right that as we hold them in our prayers we reflect also on, the ways in which God has called us that together we, the whole people of God might better fulfil our calling to tell of God’s love in Jesus Christ and work for the coming of the Kingdom.
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