{"id":15832,"date":"2019-02-22T12:13:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T17:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/?p=15832"},"modified":"2022-07-06T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T19:33:06","slug":"sermon-at-25th-anniversary-eucharist-women-in-ordained-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/sermon-at-25th-anniversary-eucharist-women-in-ordained-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon at 25th Anniversary Eucharist Women in Ordained Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Preacher: Sister Norma Thompson, Church Army Evangelist – The Cathedral, February 17, 2019<\/strong>

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMPOWERED BY GOD TO SERVE<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let us pray: <\/strong>Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach\nout and touch Him, and say that we love Him. Open our ears Lord, and help us to\nlisten. Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mine is the honour to have\nbeen asked to share in this service this afternoon to worship with our sisters\nwho are celebrating 25 years since women were admitted into the ordained\nministry of our diocese. But the greater honour must go, not to me or our\nsisters, but to God Almighty who opened the way, who calls, who enables, who\nempowers by His Holy Spirit, and who guides and sustains all of us \u2013 lay and\nordained \u2013 as we endeavor to see Him, hear Him, walk with, serve Him. We are\nenabled to do this as we encounter Him in the person of His Son Jesus Christ,\nwho was born of a woman, believed women, empowered women, honored women\npublicly, released the voice of women, confided in women, was funded by women,\nlearned from women, respected women, and spoke of women as examples to follow.\nBut my sermon this afternoon, isn’t about bigging up women! It is about bigging\nup Jesus, who is God incarnate, and who continues to call men and women, boys\nand girls, to serve Him. He not only calls, but He lovingly and patiently\ncontinues to teach us how to serve Him. Let us learn from Him. Let us learn\nfrom the readings that formed a part of our worship this afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Verses 1 \u2013 8 \nof Psalm 63 have these words in them, \n\u201cI have looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and\nglory……….and my mouth praises you with joyful lips.\u201d The Psalmist was\ntalking about how he felt when he went into the temple to worship God. He\nbeheld his power and glory \u2013 even if he did not behold this literally he felt\nwithin himself, the awesomeness of God, the overarching power of God and he\ncould not help but express his feeling in praise and joy. Do you feel like that\nwhen you come to worship? How do you express your feelings about the power and\nthe glory of the Almighty? Power and Glory! Two little words that are often\nabused and misused by those in authority today \u2013 two little words that get\npeople into trouble in all walks of life all over the world. Two little words\nthat some times go to our heads and make us behave like brute beasts. The\nPsalmist reminds us that power and glory belong to God. Power and glory wielded\nby those who are not God inspired, God anointed, God conscious are dangerous\ncommodities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I come to worship and\nlook into the sanctuary and see clergy beautifully bedecked and carrying out\ntheir functions I am reminded by the Psalmist that power and glory are not\ntheirs to  wield. Power and glory belongs\nto God alone, and our priests and bishops are servants of God, and servants of\nthe people of God. Ordination means called to serve,  empowered by God’s Holy Spirit to learn from\nJesus how to serve. So the Psalmist looks up to the sanctuary, God’s holy\nplace, and is cognizant of His power and glory and praises God with joyful\nlips. Today we come with joy into the house of God to praise God for opening\nthe way for our sisters to humbly serve him in the ordained ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Old Testament reading\nwe have the familiar story of the call of the boy Samuel. It took a little\nwhile for the priest Eli to perceive that the Lord was calling the boy.\nSometimes we are like Eli \u2013 a little slow in discerning the voice of God.\nSometimes we are not in tune with Him, we would rather follow our own agenda.\nSometimes fear paralyses us, we don’t want to move out of our comfort zones to\naccommodate something new and different, something that might be challenging.\nSometimes we think we know it all and not even God can shake and move us. But\nHe can and will in His own time, because all power belongs to God.  Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the\nboy, and was able to direct him on how to respond to God. We need a few more\npeople like Eli in our congregations, people with God-given, God-directed\nperceptions who will guide and direct God’s people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-five years ago this\nDiocese (with a little coaxing here and there) perceived that the Lord was\ncalling women to ordained ministry, to share in ministry in the sanctuary, the\nmost sacred part of the church, to behold and receive God’s power, to glorify\nHim and to respond to Him in God-ordained service. Today we celebrate with\ngratitude the triumph of God over the traditions of man and we do it in love,\nin unity, in joy. We lift up our hands in the sanctuary and praise God with\njoyful lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our epistle, Ephesians 4:\n11 -16, Paul names some of the gifts with which God who is father of all, who\nis above all, through all and in all (that covers all of us) has blessed us,\nand I want to believe blessed those especially of the household of faith. Yes,\nyou have to be connected, a branch connected to the Vine in order to\nappropriate the blessing. Are you really and truly connected? Is that vital,\nlife giving sap flowing into you and through you? Paul said that some would be\napostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, and if he\nhad lived in our time he would have added more: some would be pharmacists,\nsocial workers, financiers, banker managers, professional athletes, helpers,\nnurses, lawyers, shopkeepers. Can you imagine what a difference it would make\nif all Christian people, if all of us, saw our work as gifts from God, avenues\nthrough which we can intentionally serve, honour, glorify God with joyful lips.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What rejoicing there would be\non earth and in heaven!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let me get back on script.\nThere is  no doubt that some people are\ngifted, called, empowered, equipped for specific work in the church \u2013 some to\nlay ministry, some to ordained ministry. But whether lay or ordained it is\nnever a call to wield power, to look for big positions, nor to sit on any high\nseat, but to serve \u2013 to discern the Spirit of God, to speak the truth in love,\nto encourage growth and maturity, to promote growth in the One Body in which\nmen and women, called, consecrated, empowered work together for the building up\nof the Church. And we pray as Paul did that all our ordained ministers (and our\nlay ministers as well) will continue to grow up into Christ. It is a continuing\nprocess. Some people believe that their growth, their spiritual growth, their\ngrowth in Christ ceases once they have been ordained or commissioned. That’s\none of the lies the devil likes to feed to God’s servants. We have to beat down\nthat lie by never losing our focus, by having our hearts and lives stayed on\nJesus, by letting the Holy Spirit take full control over our lives and work, by\nnot conforming to this world and what it has to offer but by being transformed\nby the renewing of our minds. Paul reminds us that we are to work together. We\nare not to ‘pap dung’ one another, but we are to build up the church, the Body\nof Christ, the people of God in love. By ourselves we can’t accomplish this,\nbut when we draw on the power and strength of God in Christ miracles begin to\nhappen, obstacles are removed, and growth and transformation take place. Let us\ntrust God. He is able to do abundantly more than all that we ask or think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Matthew 9: 35 \u2013 38, our Gospel reading \u2013 just\nfour verses, but what lessons about ministry all of us can learn from them as\nwe see Jesus at work. We read that he went about all the cities and villages\u201d.\nHe was not sitting in a cathedral, or in an office, or in a well furnished\nrectory. He was on the move, going where the people were, not just waiting for\nthem to put on their holy clothes and holy speech and come to seek him out once\na week. He was on the move and I don’t mean moving from one cure to a better\ncure, or from one country to a more prosperous or advantageous one. He, as it\nwere, bloomed where He was planted. He mixed with ordinary people in the\ngutter, in the market place, in the streets, in the prison. Let us learn from\nJesus how to do ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He \u201ctaught in their\nsynagogues\u201d. Jesus did not go to UTC or whatever C they might have had in his\nday. He was not as highly educated as some of us are today, but He knew His\nscriptures. He knew how to read and interpret those sacred stories so that they\nspoke a word to the people of His day. He knew and practised those rituals and\nrites of meaning that in their poetry addressed men and women at the level\nwhere change operates. Let us learn from Jesus how to do ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made the ‘good news’ of the\nkingdom relevant to the crowds. He spoke their language. He was cognizant of\ntheir needs and addressed them. He had compassion. He fostered in community\nthrough His love and compassion, through the power of His word and His\npresence, that encounter with truth that set men and women free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us learn from Jesus how to\ndo ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He read and interpreted the\nsigns of the times. He saw that  the\ncrowds were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. He became\ntheir shepherd. He laid down His life for the sheep. What about our crowds today?\nWhat about the sheep we are called to serve? Is Jesus looking at our\nAnglican  church today and wondering why\nin some areas there is such a scarcity, a lack, an absence of ministry? What is\nour response? What do we say to Him who called us out of darkness into His\nwonderful light. He brought light and hope and peace to people. Let us learn\nfrom Him how to do ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus says that the harvest is\nplenteous but the labourers are few. He observed this thousands of years ago\nbut what he said then is still true today. The harvest is indeed plenteous, but\nthe labourers \u2013 yes the Anglican labourers are few and getting fewer and fewer.\nThe term labourers does not refer to clergy persons only! It refers to you and\nme, every baptized person listening to me right now \u2013 every one of us who are\nserious about the vows that were made for us and which we subsequently\nconfirmed for ourselves, every one of us who really and sincerely open up our\nhearts and lives to Jesus and who, like the women with whom we celebrate today are\nwilling to trust God to remove obstacles and equip us for the tasks he has for\nus. Jesus is saying to every lay person today, \u201cThe harvest is plenteous, the\nlabourers are few, what are you doing about the situation .\u201d There is a\nministry out there with your name on it. Recognise it. Claim it. Surrender to\nthe call of God in Christ so that His Holy Spirit can equip and empower you for\nservice. Jesus still calls. He calls us to the Church, in the church, and\nsometimes even out of the church to minister for Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-five years ago these\nwomen, whose worth and work we celebrate and thank God for today, enriched the\nchurch’s ministry when they were ordained and continue to do so in every area\nof their work. They were empowered by God to serve. That same God given power\nis available to every woman or man who responds positively, intentionally and\nsacrificially to it. Claim it, and help your church to proclaim Jesus Christ as\nLord and Saviour.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let<\/strong> us pray:<\/strong> Now to Him, who by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all that we can ask or imagine, be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preacher: Sister Norma Thompson, Church Army Evangelist – The Cathedral, February 17, 2019 EMPOWERED BY GOD TO SERVE Let us pray: Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch Him, and say that we love Him. Open our ears Lord, and help us to listen. Open our eyes, Lord,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":15833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27075,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15832\/revisions\/27075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}