Almighty
and everlasting God,
by
whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is
governed and sanctified:
hear
our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that
in their vocation and ministry
they
may serve you in holiness and truth
to
the glory of your name;
through
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
Clare
prayed these words earlier, on behalf of each one of us...
They
come from the Collect - that prayer that gathers all our different
needs, longings and joys into a sort of basket of prayer which the
President then offers to God as we begin to change our way of being,
from the disparate individuals that arrived in church into a
congregation, gathered with the common purpose of worship.
And
today Clare prays the Collect for the 1st time – for, as
a priest, she carries the Church's authority to preside at the
Eucharist, to take the jumbled mess, the tangled threads of our lives
and to offer them to God in this service that is both a celebration
meal and a process of transformation.
We
are all so full of joy and excitement at her priesting.
That
wonderful service in our Cathedral yesterday, in which 8 men and
women were ordained by God's Church to preside, to reconcile and to
bless will surely leave all of us on a high for some time to come...
And
here, in the church which is her spiritual home for now we are, quite
simply, delighted for Clare. Not just A new priest but OUR
new priest, someone whom we love, called to live out her ministry of
prayer and preaching, of presiding, reconciliation and blessing HERE
in THIS place.
That
is a huge and wonderful gift to us – for which, I hope, we are
properly thankful.
But
– it would be a real shame if, in this weekend when we celebrate
the ordination of new priests and deacons, we went home with the idea
that vocation and ministry are just for the holy few.
“Vocation”,
of course, means “Calling”......and it does not matter who you
are, what your unique blend of gifts, strengths and weaknesses might
be...It doesn't matter whether you have a firm sense of the presence
of God, or are completely bemused by watching otherwise intelligent
people sign their lives away to something that seems to you an
extraordinary fable....you are nonetheless called to something.
Vocation,
said someone far wiser than I, is the place where your gifts and the
worlds needs meet.
And,
of course, the world has many many needs.
Yes
– it needs priests and deacons....but it needs teachers, doctors,
and nurses too.
It
needs musicians and painters, architects and actors, writers and
sculptors.
And
for the most part we've been good at recognising that sort of
calling.
But,
you know, your vocation may not actually be realised in your daily
work.
It's
an added bonus when it is – but it may be that there is something
quite different which lies at the heart of what makes you
YOU...something that brings you to life in a deeper way...and
that nobody has ever turned into a job at all.
It
may be two things – carer and writer – teacher and musician...or
even three – priest, wife, mother
Those
are all equal vocations – I wonder when we got hold of the idea
that for something to be truly valuable to God, or to God's world, it
needed to be a full-time occupation – ideally with a salary?
If
you pause to think, you'll realise that it's far FAR wider.
There
are those with a vocation to listen...those with a vocation to make
houses into homes...those with a vocation to turn a patch of scrubby
ground into a productive, even a beautiful garden.
There
are those with a vocation to parent or grand-parent...and, if you're
old enough to remember seeing “Chariots of Fire” in the 80s you
might remember the runner Eric Liddell saying “God made me FAST and
when I run I feel his pleasure”
Vocation
may be public and obvious, or hidden, behind the scenes.
You
may always have known what it is – or you may not yet be certain.
Vocation
is, I would say, what you are left with when you take away all the
“oughts” and “shoulds”...
It's
the thing you keep coming back to, that will never quite leave you
alone.
It
won't always feel “good” - but it will always feel
true...something that you just HAVE to do in order to be truly
yourself, something that helps you to be fully alive
It
has, in fact, a kind of inevitability to it. It is what you are FOR.
Nobody
else can sing your song in the world if you remain silent.
For
Jesus – his vocation was who he was...God's love lived out in a
human life...
But
it didn't always feel good for him either
“He
set his face towards Jerusalem” - says Luke, writing in today's
gospel
There's
surely something there of the struggle to screw yourself up to do
something that you know will be hard but that only you can do...a
sense of resolution, of determined focus on the needful task, no
matter what the cost.
And
for Jesus, as for those ordained this weekend, vocation – who he is
– and ministry – how he shows it – are close to being the same
thing.
Every
minute of his journey towards Jerusalem, each conversation along the
way, reveals more of the truth of his identity and his calling.
And
at the heart of it, as for all Christian people, is the call to
loving service.
That
is what ministry is...just another word for “service”....the
placing of your gifts, the essence of your vocation, at the disposal
of others.
Sometimes,
as for Clare today, those others will welcome and celebrate your
gifting.
Sometimes
being true to your vocation will force you to stand outside the walls
– to speak uncomfortable truths that few want to hear or simply to
move on.
Even
Jesus had to do this. He didn't hang around trying to persuade the
Samaritan villagers to change their minds, nor did he compromise his
message and ministry to make it easier for them.
He
could not both please everyone and stay true to his calling (and,
though sometimes it seems that clergy are expected to stand as
universal nice-guys, that situation remains true today)
If
there was a choice to be made, he kept on keeping on.
He
had set his face towards Jerusalem and was not to be distracted from
his journey.
And
he has laid that on us, his would-be disciples, too.
We
are to be tireless, single-minded in following -whether we're called
to live out our vocation as priests or painters, flower-arrangers or
treasurers
I
know very little about ploughing – but I'm told that if you look
back over your shoulder when you are trying to plough, you will
inevitably end up making a mess of the task, and leave the field with
wiggly furrows.
The
trick is to keep looking forward...focussing on the goal.
If
you want to do the job properly, you simply can't look back – no
matter how attractive the landscape behind you.
But
we do have a choice in this journey of vocation.
We
are all called, but we are never constrained.
The
hymns that Clare has chosen for us to sing today reflect this...
First
we heard God's invitation “I heard the voice of Jesus say Come unto
me.....”
Then
came our response “I choose to be holy, - set apart for you Lord”
Later
we will affirm that each of us comes “Just as I am” - a jumble of
hopes and dreams, fears and failures, doubts and certainties
We
come as we are – because that's what it's all about.
God
calls us as we are – to use the gifts that He has given us.
He
calls us into relationship with Him
He
calls us to make his love known
God
will never force us – but as you ponder your own vocation today,
remember that all our individual vocations contribute to the
over-arching purpose God has for God's Church and God's world, which
Paul wrote of to the Galatians
“ use
your freedom to serve one another in love”
This
is what each of us, ordained or lay, believer or sceptic, is invited
to today.
Use
your freedom to serve one another in love
May
God bless us as we try to live that calling – for his sake, and the
sake of his world.
Wonderful and profound, as ever :-) Thank you!
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