Pastor Owen is being ordained to the Priesthood on Sunday evening, May 5, 2024. This is your doing! Yes, he has studied, prepared, soul-searched, and done additional coursework to his original seminary degree, as well as counseling and discernment teams. But this is as much your doing as his, because a priest is forged in the life of the local church. This is why a priest is never discerned or ordained outside the context of a local church. (Maybe you will be on someone’s “discernment committee” in the future!)
Appropriately, Sunday evening at 5pm at Clyde Christian Fellowship (our church home), we will gather to participate in a unique liturgy as our Bishop Terrell Glenn ordains Owen. This is good and right, because a “liturgy” — literally “work of the people” in Greek — is something we the local church do together. There’s an old joke in the church world, that “the ministers minister, and the congregation congregates.”
But not in this church. Not at The Vine. We will do the people-working together on Sunday, because we have recognized the priestly gifts on display in Owen’s faithful ministry together. So join in to participate in the rich symbolism that supports this unique moment, some of which will feel a bit different (robes!), some of which will feel familiar (Communion, “Is He Worthy?”, and Frog Level Brewery afterwards).
But did you know there is ANOTHER ORDINATION of sorts taking place this Sunday? During our morning service, some members of The Vine family will be Confirmed in the Anglican Way of following Jesus. Just like Owen’s evening ordination, the Bishop will lay hands on them, and pray for the Spirit to fill them as they commit their lives afresh to the Lord. The Bishop will pray for each confirmand:
“Almighty and everliving God, we beseech you to strengthen these your servants for witness and ministry through the power of your Holy Spirit. Daily increase in them your manifold virtues of grace: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and the spirit of holy fear, now and for ever. Amen.”
(Book of Common Prayer 178)
That prayer feels like it might belong in Owen’s service. But this Anglican tradition believes in the Reformation and Biblical principle of the “priesthood of all believers.” We are all called to pray, comfort, exhort, and support one another, offering ourselves first to Christ, then to serve one another. See you Sunday morning to support your friends’ ordination (Confirmation) this Sunday morning!
Lastly, if you need another reason to come to Owen’s ordination on Sunday, come to be reminded of the calling that is on each of us. Everything an ordained priest does is something we are each called to in part or in whole. We are all washed white as snow (symbolized in the white robes), and given the “light” burden of the yoke of Christ (symbolized in the stole around the neck). We are all called to speak God’s word into the world, and to serve the church and the world humbly. Remember this, fellow people — we have a joyful work to do together on Sunday.
God’s peace on your home,
Michael+