The Bishop of Beverley - Sermon for the Ordination of Stephen Edmonds

Sermon for the Ordination of Stephen Edmonds to the Priesthood

29th June 2009

Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations

Mark 28 v19

Those who know me will testify to the fact that I am not always very practically minded. I remember the early days of having a motor car that broke down on the homeward journey. I waited over an hour for the AA man who soon solved the problem by putting some petrol in the tank! As life becomes more and more sophisticated how easy it is to lose sight of first principles.

Today, Stephen comes here, surrounded by so many of God’s faithful people, as we invite God by His spirit to make him a priest in the Church which is Christ’s body. What better day could there be for going back to basics and reflecting on the essential ingredients of the ministry to which you and we believe you to be called.

Jesus tells his first apostles:

Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations.

Those disciples to whom Jesus speaks have been alongside their Lord, sometimes puzzled, sometimes doubting and even cowardly. They have seen Jesus die and with that even the most self-giving out of love that the world has ever known. Then they have encountered that same Jesus, risen from the dead. Now they know that that love of God shown in Jesus is for ever and not to be quenched by anything, however evil, not even by death itself. The first task of those whom Jesus commissions to act is His name is to proclaim that truth throughout the world.

A friend of mine told me of someone who went to listen to the Pope in S Peter’s Square on Easter Day. Afterwards the visitor was asked what the Pope had said. “Nothing exciting,” came the reply. “The Pope just said that Jesus is risen from the dead.” Your very first task, Stephen, is to proclaim to everyone the fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is the good news, the exciting news, the old, old story, ever to be told. People must ever be invited to respond to it. You are, Stephen, someone who is to proclaim!

When I was seven I was taken by my mother to hear the Proclamation read in the centre of Bristol. The Proclamation was the news that the king, King George V, had died and that now we had a new sovereign, Elizabeth II. The whole ceremony was a reminder of those days, before newspapers and television, when people needed to be told who their sovereign was and of their duty to be loyal to him or her. That, Stephen, is to be the core of your ministry, making sure that everyone has the fullest opportunity to access the meaning of life, to become the person God wants him or her to be, to know that at the heart of this world is God’s love and to respond in turn to Him with loving obedience.

Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations.

That means, of course, Stephen, that you must be confident in telling people about Jesus and how they might better relate to Him. You are not only to be a fine preacher but also a good teacher. You, yourself, are to know God and ever to keep close to Jesus. Otherwise you will have no meaningful experience to share with other people. You are to be faithful in continuous reading of your Bible and in exploring the meaning of the Christian Faith, as much as you possibly can. The priests in the early days of the Church were often called presbyters, or elders. It was not that they were always literally old men. Even someone as relatively young as you, Stephen, can be a presbyter. It is a term conveying depth and wisdom, knowing the traditions of the Christian community as they have always been faithfully kept and taught, and then able to use those insights for the wellbeing of others.

Mercifully, though, taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world is not about talking people to death. All of us speak of Jesus at least as much by what we are and do than by what we say. Saint Francis of Assisi issues that famous dictum to his friars that they are to proclaim the Gospel using words only if they must. A priest is called by God to be a sacramental sign, that is something people can really see, of Jesus’ caring presence among them. That, perhaps, is why this ordination service, in the questions I will soon be putting to Stephen, places an emphasis on the kind of person he is going to be. The Sermon on the Mount is probably one of the most famous and greatly-loved parts of the Bible. I wonder if it would be half as attractive had it come from the mouth of a tyrant or of a charlatan. What makes that great Sermon so attractive is the fact that Jesus who speaks it is the one who embodies in himself the way in which he calls the rest of us to live and to die. No priest is perfect and Stephen, like me and like all the rest of us in church tonight who have been ordained, will not completely live up to the ideal. What will make that bearable, Stephen, is that you know that, and are truly penitent for your failings, ever-seeking by God’s strength to make a new start. It is the self-righteous that we all rightly find unbearable, not those seeking to model Christian discipleship in the constant awareness that they are sinners.

Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations.

But, in this Church of Saint Ignatius, with its long Catholic tradition, I can sense that people are perhaps becoming just a little on edge. When is the bishop going to mention the Sacraments? But they too, rightly understood, there are ways in which we carry the message of God’s work in Jesus to all the nations. The Old Testament prophets would often carry out dramatic signs to show God’s purpose for Israel. Jeremiah, for instance, was told to make a fine clay pot and then to smash it as a sign of how God would treat the wonderful nation He had made and which had then defied His will. Stephen will be relieved, no doubt, that he is not being asked by his bishop to take up pottery classes! For priests of the New Covenant, Jesus Himself gives us the sign to understand God’s purpose for the world. Jesus gives us the Mass.

Years ago, when I was helping to advise bishops on the selection of ordination candidates, I was asked to interview a prominent lay evangelist with a worldwide ministry. I asked him the obvious question: why should someone given by God such a major ministry as a worldwide evangelist, a ministry that had clearly been hugely blessed, need to be a priest? Surely that was a complementary ministry to his, that could be exercised by other people? The evangelist’s answer was clear and well thought out: “I want every weapon in my armoury for proclaiming Jesus that I can possibly have”, he said. And he continued: “I have been increasingly struck by Saint Paul’s words that as often as you break this bread and share this cup you will show the Lord’s death until He come again.” In other words, it is when we celebrate the Mass that we show the world Jesus’ own sign of His life offered for the world and a foretaste of the coming of His Kingdom.

Stephen, your task from tonight is to keep celebrating that great sign of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and promise of His coming again in glory. Never undervalue the power of our great Christian Liturgy. Across the years many Christian missionaries have sought to tell people about Jesus for years before they thought they were ready to understand the meaning of Holy Communion. Not so for we Catholics. The first thing that Catholic missionaries do, whether it be overseas or in a neglected and run-down part of our inner cities, is to celebrate the Mass. We let people have a glimpse of God’s great sign which, in its wonder, will first draw many to Him when words can never be enough.

Dear Stephen, tonight, then, you are ordained to preach the word of God, to teach and care for his people. You are ever to seek to embody Jesus within yourself and so that, meeting you, others may ever experience something more of the Lord. You are to proclaim the good news of Jesus as, tomorrow and then day by day, you show the mystery of the Lord in offering the Sacrifice of the Mass.

What a huge task and great responsibility. Thank God, then, that the emphasis of this ordination service is ultimately not on you alone but on God’s grace which is given you; given to you so that you may faithfully perform these crucial tasks that link together earth and heaven.