29.06.2009
Sermon by the Revd Canon Desmond Sinnamon at the Ordination of three Priests in Christ Church Cathedral
It is 10 or 11pm on Saturday night. A particularly tough week has slipped by and tomorrow is Sunday. People will gather from around the community to hear something that will give meaning to their lives – something that will inspire or move or motivate them. I think of Temple Bar and the clubs of the City Centre – teeming with young life at what is for the reveller still early night. My home is right under the flight path of those this weekend heading for the sun drenched sands of Tenerife and Majorca. And I sit, at the keyboard staring at a blank screen … or a blank sheet of paper. The past week has been given to details and meetings, to visits, administration, letters and email – to a whole host of people and tasks that have kept the profound from finding a place to rest in the mind. It is now time to conjure forth these profundities and form them gracefully into a creation known as a sermon! You will excuse any excesses in imagery. But what Priest or Deacon cannot vouch for the reality of finding him or herself in such a situation at some time. How you handle the complexity of busy schedules and still find time for study, for pondering, for your family, for yourself, for God. It is a question I ask not only of clergy but of everyone. In almost every job or profession, there are tensions to be resolved, priorities to be sorted out. There are differences between theory and practice, between what others expect of you and what you can realistically achieve. Part of the answer may lie in how we manage our time, in the choices we make, the priorities we set for ourselves. All these have their root at the centre of where we do our living – in our integrity and in our connectedness.
Ann Marie, Robert and Stephen – the day of your ordination to the Priesthood takes place at the end of a few memorable weeks and at the end of a month during which Bloomsday was marked. Ulysses started out on his epic journey into an unknown but exciting future. Today, each of you reflects on a journey no less exciting and eventful.
You look back on what has brought you to this point … the promptings, the call to vocation, the questioning, striving, the coming to terms with that inner impulse leading you to where you are today. It is only natural that you feel a certain apprehension as to what lies ahead even a sense of unworthiness as to what God calls you to do. You are all too aware of your own limitations, inadequacies for the task. You may be nervous about entering a new sphere of service … even sensitive to the role of your family, how ordination will affect them or how you will be perceived by your friends.
It is with a keen sense of anticipation that you look forward to the future – uncertain within yourself of where you are going but with the assurance that God is with you in all your hopes and fears. Today, you will be ordained Priest to serve Christ, to be shepherd of His Flock, to preach the Gospel, to Administer the Sacrament. Something you have longed for, worked for answered the call of God for is about to begin. It is a defining moment in your life. And we are here to share it with you, your family and friends, those very close to you. Your fellow clergy, people from your parishes and elsewhere. It is a wonderful celebration, a big day!
But let me give you two pieces of counsel which helps earth us all – clergy and all in the Christian community.
First, ‘priesthood’ is about all believers. At the core of ministry is the way to build a committed community. Your ordination makes you no more Christian, or no more faithful than anyone else. Whilst our calling as Priest is pivotal to the life of the Church, what we must avoid is suggesting that Priesthood is the only way for the Christian to exercise a calling. It is one way. We do not diminish the significance of ordination by increasing our understanding of the ways we are all called to lives of ministry and discipleship by the mandate of our common calling in Baptism.
Can we not serve God by being good neighbours, good parents, straight in our business dealings, honourable toward others, caring to other people. Over the years, we have developed a very bad habit of treating the ordained as if they were the committed Christian, the professional Christian - and everyone else as a kind of helper for the clergy. Don’t let yourself get sucked into the idea that by ordaining Ann Marie, Robert & Stephen today – they will somehow be better or holier than others.
We clergy are only too aware of the many people in our congregations who are prayerful, and Christian in their lifestyle. God calls all of us to take our place in his Family, and to use our individual gifts. What we must all do is discern God’s call – and then willingly and gladly answer. Godliness is in our relationships with other people, in how we think of others and in how we deal with others.
Secondly, be yourself – what we bring to others is ourselves. We cannot give what we have not got. Rev James Doherty makes a similar plea to his parish recalling his first homily as priest in Ireland. I quote
“I told them all I have to offer them was myself but that I would be asking them to share their gifts with me.
I asked the older for the gift of faith. They had persevered in the faith for many years and they are often the people who spend some time at prayer.
I asked the married people for the gift of love. They are in the business of living at close range and expressing it by their lifelong commitment.
I asked the youth for the gift of hope. They are the people who can dream and wish for better things from life and they are courageous enough to risk. I needed them to challenge me and broaden my horizons.
I asked the children for the gift of joy and laughter. They have the innocence of being able to smile on a dreary day.
Here are gifts that not only benefit the Priest as Pastor but the community as a whole”.
So, be yourself, connecting with others but be strong enough to admit your mistakes, to say sorry, to reach across the divide, to forgive even before - or whether or not - someone else asks for forgiveness, and to admit that you don’t know it all.
We who have come to know you in your diaconate will already appreciate the gifts you bring to ministry.
Anne Marie, brings a rich background of music, of creativity and of caring. An accomplished harpist and composer, she is a wife and mother, juggling her time and skills between family, non-stipendiary ministry centred in the parishes of Sandford and Milltown and her professional career as a music performer and teacher at second and at third level in DIT. Her spiritual approach to ministry through music will be a source of strength and comfort to all facing difficult times as already amply signified in her interest in healing and reconciliation particularly through Youth Connections for peace fostering understanding between teenagers from Palestine Dublin, Belfast and Israel.
Robert, from a business background, brings to non stipendiary ministry, centred in Celbridge, Straffan and Newcastle Lyons, his wide experience in business management and administration. He also brings his own personal battle with cancer and his subsequent insights into suffering. Working currently with DCU in the School of Biotechnology, he is married and with his wife and two sons, all have been active in the life of their home parish. Robert was for years a Diocesan lay reader and a leader of BB. No mean sportsman, he played Gaelic football at inter-county level. Pastoral ministry, contemporary preaching and making God more real to people will be hallmarks of his ministry.
Stephen brings to ministry his background in rural Ireland, and to the city, his farming roots from Tyrone among the bushes. From a small close-knit village community and Church, he went to Oxford where he read law and met Laura, now his wife of three years. They have three more in their household – a huge dog and two rabbits. After Oxford, he went straight into CITC, and then to the full-time ministry centered in Taney Parish. Although Stephen himself would disarmingly say that he is not sure what qualities he brings to ministry, but I know that his fine mind, his natural gift of scholarship and learning, his sense of humour, and his warmth and sensitivity in pastoral care, will help him strive toward his vision to make known the abundance of God's love and the breadth and ludicrous magnitude of the mercy and grace he offers to all.
But, in the end, it will not be your gifts or abilities, or intelligence, or humour which will mean most to people. It will be your love (and concern) for the folk entrusted to your care that will have mattered most.
Everyday, you will be given an opportunity to care and it is often the small things that make the most difference – the kind word, a phone call, or to pull someone from despair to hope, from isolation back into community
And none of us are spectators here. We are all participants in the making of these Priests of God. When some one is ordained, they are not a finished product. They will be trying to live into, to fulfil the vows they are taking for their whole lives. Part of your job and ministry is to help them to be good Priests. Forgive them when they make mistakes; lift them up when they are dis-spirited; look for the best in them; be an encourager, not a critic; thank them when they do well; pray for them always. Give them space for themselves and their loved ones. Allow them and invoke them to call out the spirituality that lies within you.
Change will occur as a result of this Ordination Service. For the first time, Stephen, Robert and Ann Marie will be able to celebrate the Eucharist. This change is both simple and complex. Simple – because it doesn’t look like much of a change – they will merely stand at the Table of the Lord with a loaf of bread and a cup of wine before them and lead in prayer.
Complex – because what a difference this change makes. The Eucharist is essential to what the Christian family is all about. Jesus, at the cross point took these earthly symbols and told his disciples to always do this. He gave them to believe that when they take the bread and cup to the centre of their times together, he himself will be powerfully present.
As we gather around the Altar with those made Priest at this Ordination Eucharist, may we be conscious of Christ’s presence as together we share in his Body and Blood. Our prayer for you is that you will preside over the gatherings of the Christian family with wisdom, integrity and humility. We pray that your ministry from this solemn moment onward will bring us closer to God and to one another. May we all be re-affirmed in the ministry to which God has called us in our Baptism.
