18th March 2008

At our baptism we were made part of God’s priestly people and we were called by the Son to serve his God and Father in the power of the Spirit.
Trusting in his mercy, we confess our sins to the Lord.
You are the Rock who saves us.
Lord, have mercy.
Your truth and your love are always with us.
Christ, have mercy.
Your hand will always be with us.
Lord, have mercy.

Sermon

You will be named priests of the Lord, they will call you ministers of our God…All who see them will admit that they are race whom the Lord has blessed. (Isaiah 61.6,9)

Christ has made us a line of Kings, priests to serve his God and Father. (Revelations 1.6)

The most important event in my life happened a long time ago. It has formed me, directed me, inspired me, convicted and encouraged me. It has influenced every moment since and been part of every action. It has touched in a profound way everything about me. I am talking about the day I was baptised and became a child of God, when I entered into a new and wonderful relationship with the Father, through the Son by the power and friendship of the Holy Spirit. The second most important moment of my life was when all this began to dawn on me, when it began to sink in what my baptismal calling really meant. Sadly the two events in my particular case were separated by a good many years. I am a very slow learner. For it was not until well into my priesthood that I began to realise how important my baptism was and the gifts that were given to me on that day.
Like many people in their mid-life I was looking for new purpose, and especially new strength and energy. I needed new ways, new angles, new gimmicks, anything to keep me going, to keep me on the road. I was becoming desperate because I realised I needed new strength to bolster my weakness, fresh impetus to overcome my apathy, more knowledge to cure my ignorance. It was at this point, through the goodness of the Lord and the generosity of the companions with which he had surrounded me that I began to reflect on my baptism and what it should mean and the fruit it should produce in my life.
If you have been exposed to any of the services I have led during this Lent, you will know I have been preaching on the memory that is etched into the very being of each of us, the memory of our baptism. Not the physical memory, but the deep and permanent spiritual memory which at times can be obscured by all sorts of other memories and voices in our lives. It demands effort to recall and reclaim this memory. It is, as I have said so often this Lent, the memory of the Father looking at us at our baptism and seeing the image of his Son in us. He gazes on us and says to each of us, you are my beloved son, my beloved daughter and I delight in you.
Those of you who have heard me say this may be thinking that I only have one sermon. Perhaps that’s true, we will see. However, I do not apologise for repeating this same message over and over again. This is where our true identity begins. This is where we find our real security; this is where our firm foundation is – in the Father, through his Son and by the power of the Spirit.
Everything we do, everything we are flows from this relationship with the Trinity and the call to enter more deeply into the life of the Trinity. If this is not central to any of our schemes, plans, activities, then we are wasting our time and energy. The Trinity is at the heart of our faith, at the heart of our spiritual life and at the heart of everything.
Our Baptism is the means by which we enter into this process. The gifts given at baptism are what we need to grow as individuals and as a people, as a Church. We were given the gift of the Spirit at baptism who enables us to enter into the community of God’s holy and royal people. We are anointed by the same Spirit so that we can become prophets in a Prophetic People, priests in a Priestly Nation. Would that we all would take that call to holiness, to prophetic and priestly ministry seriously! How, then, we would witness to the power and action of Christ in our lives and in our Church! What a message would go out from us today!
So, we are indeed all called to be priests, offering our lives in sacrifice to the praise and glory of God, seeking to consecrate and make holy the world in which we live by lives of holiness. That is our universal calling, our universal vocation.
Now I turn to you, my brothers, gathered here who form the ministerial priesthood of the Church in this diocese. Within that universal baptismal calling, we have been commissioned to be part of the ministerial priesthood through which we share in a special way the sacred ministry of Christ himself. The ministerial priesthood is given to the Church to be at the service of the priesthood of all the faithful. As the preface of this mass says: Christ appoints men by the laying on of hands to renew the sacrifice of our redemption; to set before your family his paschal meal…..to lead your holy people in love, nourish them by your word, strengthen them through the sacraments. They are to give their lives in your service and for the salvation of your people as they strive to grow in the likeness of Christ and honour you by their courageous witness of faith and love. (Preface of Priesthood[Mass of Chrism]).
Brothers, this is a very inspiring description of our ministry. If I am to be truthful, it is an awesome description of our ministry. I have to say that I would be the first one to admit that I have not always been able to live up to it. There have been times when I have felt incapable of fulfilling this ministry adequately. However, those times have generally been when I have been trying to operate on my own, out of my own power and strength instead of going back to the gifts, power and strength that the Lord has provided through Baptism and the Sacrament of Order.
If I may presume to offer advice – even after having admitted my inadequacy – reflect on your own baptism; begin to live your baptism to the full. Hear once again the call to enter into the life of the Trinity. Hear the Father calling you son in the Son; hear him saying how much he delights in you. Allow the anointing of the Spirit you received in baptism to come to fruition in your priesthood. Remember you are part of God’s priestly people, but you are also part of his prophetic people. Preach the Word in season and out of season. Don’t be afraid. It is not your word it is God’s Word. Your people are hungry and want to hear it. Yes, consecrate the world to God by the holiness of your life, but also remember that in the Eucharist it is the holiness of Christ’s life you minister. Have confidence, trust, stand firm. Hands have been laid on you and you have been sent with authority, an authority of service and a service which is greatly needed and awaited by our world.
Through our service Jesus once again proclaims today:

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives,
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen.
(Luke 4.18,19)

Together, let us believe, hope and trust the Lord’s word, the Lord’s promise to us today.
And so we pray:

Father, by the power of the holy Spirit, you have anointed your only Son Messiah and Lord of creation; you have given us a share in his consecration to priestly service in his Church. Help us to be faithful witnesses in the world to the salvation Christ has won for us all. (Collect of the Mass of Chrism)