The first mark on our ministry has to be God. I always associate our first reading with the memory of ordinations. Judah is in a time of transition. King Uzziah was dead after ruling for 52 years. He’d managed the security and politics of his day pretty well but towards the end of his life he desecrated the Temple and was then struck down with leprosy. That magnificent image of the prophet in the midst of the Temple is a reclaiming of the building and a declaration that once again the big vision is the majesty and power of God. Seraphs sing of God’s holiness and What’s offered is a mystical and marvellous experience heavenly voices, swirling incense, a sense – of being brought into the presence of the Most High. Here’s my point: God is the most interesting thing about us. Talking to people about God is what we do. Without God, we’re little more than a voluntary organisation without focus or purpose. It’s because of God that Isaiah knew why he was in the Temple and what he was called to be. Our own moments of such drama or certainty are rare. Our sense that God has asked us to serve His Church - by directing our skills, our passion, our time and lifestyle - is not often this exalted. Perhaps we see in our original desire to be appointed or ordained, some mixed motives. In a long ministry it would be surprising not to have some painful and ambiguous experiences of the systems of the Church being turned down by selection boards or the – institution proving more careless or lacking in compassion than we hoped. Those with whom we share our life may be ambivalent about the demands of our ministry. And for each and every one of us there’s the abiding knowledge of our own inadequacies.
The first mark on our ministry has to be God. I always associate our first reading with the memory of ordinations. Judah is in a time of transition. King Uzziah was dead after ruling for 52 years. He’d managed the security and politics of his day pretty well but towards the end of his life he desecrated the Temple and was then struck down with leprosy. That magnificent image of the prophet in the midst of the Temple is a reclaiming of the building and a declaration that once again the big vision is the majesty and power of God. Seraphs sing of God’s holiness and What’s offered is a mystical and marvellous experience – heavenly voices, swirling incense, a sense of being brought into the presence of the Most High. Here’s my point: God is the most interesting thing about us. Talking to people about God is what we do. Without God, we’re little more than a voluntary organisation without focus or purpose. It’s because of God that Isaiah knew why he was in the Temple and what he was called to be. Our own moments of such drama or certainty are rare. Our sense that God has asked us to serve His Church - by directing our skills, our passion, our time and lifestyle - is not often this exalted. Perhaps we see in our original desire to be appointed or ordained, some mixed motives. In a long ministry it would be surprising not to have some painful and ambiguous experiences of the systems of the Church – being turned down by selection boards or the institution proving more careless or lacking in compassion than we hoped. Those with whom we share our life may be ambivalent about the demands of our ministry. And for each and every one of us there’s the abiding knowledge of our own inadequacies.
Chrism-Mass-290318.docx