| Sermon preached by at the Ordination of Josh Walters
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“Speaking the truth in love, grow up in every way into him who is the head, Bishop Waynick, Fr. Prevost, members of Christ Church, family and friends from Bloomington and southern Indiana and faraway, this morning it is my humble privilege to attempt to speak on your behalf as we prepare for God’s Church to make Josh a priest forever. Josh, after all the interviews, Commission on Ministry meetings, Vestry endorsements, years in seminary, parish internship, CPE, ordination exams, and bishop’s guidance, it may seem to you that it has taken you forever to arrive at this moment. And, in truth, it has been forever, as Isaiah says, “The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me” (Isaiah 49.1). This is the day that the Lord has made for you, and your family and friends – and God’s Church – are here to rejoice and be glad with you. I remember the first time I ever spoke with Josh. He had visited Grace Church one Sunday morning and, let’s just say, he stood out in the crowd – the only young man decked out in a crisp suit and a bright bow-tie. Now, there are plenty of suits and bow-ties at Grace Church, it’s just that most of those men are also carrying canes. After worship we briefly chatted at the door. I recall he mentioned he was a seminarian from Indiana and that was that. Later in the week he called the church but I was not there to take his call. Believe it or not, just three days ago, in full fervor of my new year’s resolve to clean out my office files, I came across this slightly yellowed telephone message. It is the very memo, written by my parish administrator, the day Josh first called. It says, “Josh Walter (sic). 212.620.0352. General seminarian. Wants to talk.” And, then, sometime later, in pencil, I added two notations to the memo: the word “Indiana” and then, up in the top, right hand corner, I drew a little bow-tie. Crisply bow-tied, Josh came to Grace Church as seminarian assistant with eager zeal and infectious joy. He quickly sought out other exiled Midwesterners in the congregation and ministered faithfully to them with coffee hour talk of tractors, basketball and 4-H clubs. They were overjoyed and, I believe, all of them increased their pledge that year. He worked tirelessly in developing our youth group, inspiring the next generation of Christians with his expert knowledge of the O.C. During his years at Grace, he shared liturgical leadership, preached the gospel, and shared our life and ministry. And, as so often happens in the Church – this “wonderful and sacred mystery” – we found our lives increasingly folded in on one another, not unlike a bow-tie; we found ourselves increasingly bound together in love’s adornment. The day we first spoke I had no way of knowing that I would be speaking here today. The note simply said, “General seminarian. Wants to talk.” Josh wanted to talk and now we have come together to set him apart to talk of God forever. As priest he will proclaim by word and deed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus came among us as God’s living Word, the priest is to make that Word alive, and to live in such a way that the world may see and know the love of God made manifest. All baptized Christians are called and set apart to reveal the love of God in the world, but it is the priest’s particular vocation to keep the faithful attentive to God and by “speaking the truth in love” strengthen the Church to “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…” (Ephesians 4.15). The priest is called to sacred speech; challenged to use human words to convey God’s Word; expected to utter the unutterable mysteries of God. If this daunting task frightens the priests here today, and those about to become priests, take comfort that we stand in good company. Isaiah admits he is a man of unclean lips. Sarah laughs, instead of praying, when she is told she will be the mother of the faithful. Jonah refuses to speak God’s word to Nineveh and, instead, hops the first ship for Tarshish, headed in the opposite direction. Paul, before his conversion, doesn’t allow a little speech impediment to keep him from hurling threats against the Church of God. To speak for God requires grace, humility, perseverance, and conversion. Josh, be wise and admit your limitations like Isaiah. Be bold and laugh with angels like Sarah. Be careful, for there will always be a ship waiting to take you to Tarshish when God is calling you to Nineveh. Be courageous, for the God you serve calls even persecutors to be apostles, murderers to be messengers of grace. As one entrusted with sacred speech, do not forget that pulpits have been used to promote spiritual violence and self-righteous judgment. And pulpits have been disturbingly silent in the face of war, racism, the marginalization of women, the plight of the poor, and the exclusion of those who differ. Silence, in the face of injustice, is a betrayal of the Church’s gospel. God’s priests cannot mute their voices while wars escalate, hate festers, children suffer, and churches divide. In season and out of season, you must proclaim the Word of God. So speak – but speak the truth. Your priesthood means that you will be called to proclaim God’s truth to a world that has come to suspect every claim to truth. In our time, ideologies of communism, fascism, militarism, and consumerism have claimed exclusive truth and demanded whole-hearted devotion.* Our world has grown understandably suspicious of arrogant and destructive claims to truth. But in this world that so freely utters Pilate’s words, “What is truth?” you are called to stand for God’s truth, a truth that will not be found in isolated Bible verses, or dogmatic formulas, or curial certitudes – but a truth that is discovered daily in our relationship with a living Lord. St Augustine said, “God is always more.” The wise priest is called to lead the Church to what is more – to ever extend the margins of grace, to assure the world of the wideness of God’s mercy, and to offer hope for what shall yet be. “Speaking the truth” to the Church will be your responsibility but you must speak the truth in love, for God’s truth and love have been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Truth, divorced from love, is an oppressive imposition but truth, grounded in love, is a liberating grace. You are being called to “speak the truth in love” at a time when our own church family is defaced by division and has come to reflect the wounded, fearful world around us. Now, more than ever, the priest must be a minister of reconciliation, a messenger of mercy, and a sign of hope. In the end, love is the only measure by which any of us shall be judged. This morning you stand between your past and your future, between what has been and what shall yet be. But the Church itself is always standing in this same place, between the past and the future. The Church is always standing in the present moment where God calls each of us to put our own lives on the line for God’s love. We demean out past and we defile our future whenever we forget that the present moment is always the place of grace, the time for decision, and the moment to answer Christ’s call to serve. Too much of the Church’s history has been a looking backward to a safe, sheltered, and secure past, to a church unchallenged by the demands of the present world. But the Risen Christ calls each of us to proclaim good news to the world he came to save - today. Josh, the past has prepared you for this moment. Now, you are called to reveal God’s love as you lay down your life for others. Your vocation will be to love God’s people as Christ loved them, to keep them attentive to God, to lead them to love and care for one another and for the world Christ came to save – and to speak this truth with love. (Josh, will you please stand). Josh, the nickname I gave you during your time at Grace Church was “4”, as in 4-H. It was a playful tribute to your Indiana heritage. Always remember the rock from which you were hewn, the soil from which you sprung, the people who made you who you are, the family that daily reveals God’s love to you. You must never forget that Emily, and the child about to be born to you, are love’s true adornment for you. Now that you are about to offer your life for God and for the service of others, I charge you to cling to the truth that everything God is, everything God has done, every gift we have been given, is for us. God, in love, is ever for us. And now, you, as God’s priest, will live for God, speak God’s truth, and reveal God’s love. You have been brought to this day for a purpose: to be a priest for God, for God’s people, so that all might live for God. Amen. * I owe the insight on proclaiming truth to a suspicious world, as well as several reflections on priestly vocation, to Fr Timothy Radcliffe, OP, former Master of the Dominican Order. See his book, “I Have Called You Friends” (Continuum, 2004).
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