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"Ordination to the Priesthood of
Catherine Wright"
The Rev. George D. Smith
June 4, 2008
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Isaiah 6: 1-8
Philippians 4: 4-9
Matthew 9: 35-38
The harvest may change from sod to oil, from oil to corn, Arizona,
Texas and Illinois. The people remain the same. “Ask the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
A well known and frequently referenced tale in rabbinic literature
tells of a prospective convert to Judaism who approaches two
of the great rabbis of the 1st century B.C.E., Shammia and Hillel.
He asks these learned and respected men to sum up Judaism and
Jewish teaching while standing on one foot. The first rabbi,
Shammia, who was reputed to be dour, quick-temperted and impatient,
lived up to this and in his irritation struck the man with a
rod that he happened to be carrying and walked away in disgust.
All good rabbinic tales involve at least some sort of thrashing.
The other rabbi, Hillel, who was more gentle in nature, looked
at the man, lifted his foot, looked at the man and said: “What
is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man.” Still
balancing on one foot, he then added, “all the rest is
merely commentary but go and study it anyway.”
“What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man.”
I like it. I don’t think we can argue with its useful
and comprehensive content, which contains edgy and vast wisdom.
Another rabbi by the name of Ed Friedman, one from our own
generation whose death in 1996 was premature was surely fond
of rabbi Hillel and his wit and brevity. In his masterful last
work titled “A Failure of Nerve,” Friedman describes
our society as one that is obsessed with and addicted to the
accumulation of information. It is always the next book, the
next study, the next research report that contains the answer,
the assurance that we need. The more we read and the more data
we absorb, the more we crave and devour. He says this, “As
long as leaders – parents, healers, managers – base
their confidence on how much data they have acquired, they are
doomed to feeling inadequate forever.” It is not information
or technology per se that’s the problem according to Friedman,
but a desire for certainty and an unrelenting search for ‘the
truth.” Our generation, our society has lost a sense of
curiosity and adventure. Fearful of uncertainty, fearful of
the gray, we channel our energies into finding the answers in
black and white. When the vastness of Torah is summed up in
a pithy and open-ended one-liner from antiquity, we need to
pay attention and learn from it.
Katie – on this occasion of your ordination, and St.
Mark’s – on this occasion of gaining a new priest,
this is a time to ponder some basic questions, such as what
is a priest, what is the church and what is the Bible. We could
feed and act on our cultural obsession with data, and track
down dozens of books and commentaries on each subject in the
search of certainty about their meaning. Or we can ponder simple
reflections that encourage and nurture curiosity and adventure.
I think that the pressing question at the moment is “What
is a priest?” According to Lutheran theologian Gordon
Lathrop, a priest is nothing more than a symbol, a symbol among
others symbols such as water, bread and the cross that take
us to places and realities that we do not expect. All of them
lead us away from a false sense of control and ownership to
relationship with God. Called out of the imperfect assembly,
the imperfect priest is not just a symbol, but a broken symbol.
If not understood as broken, the priest becomes in the eyes
of the people a shaman or sha-woman, someone who is able to
talk to God for the people, to unlock the secret knowledge of
the spirits and to bring the people to safety and escape from
a difficult and dangerous world. The priest who is a broken
symbol is not a shaman at all, but helps the community gather
around a life-giving cross, where against all expectations,
we find mercy and life. Aidan Kavanagh gives us this metaphor:
the minister should be as “uninteresting as glass of cold,
clear, nourishing water.” A broken symbol. A glass of
water. I like it. Are we still standing on that one foot?
If we know that the priest is a broken symbol, what is the
church? This is a question that our Archbishop of Canterbury
has been thinking quite a lot about, as there are stresses in
the Anglican communion and as over 800 bishops around the world,
including Jeffrey, prepare for the upcoming Lambeth conference
in July. Of the church, Williams says, it is simply “those
who have been immersed in, soaked in the life of Jesus, and
who have been invited to eat with him and pray to the Father
with him.” Soaking is a powerful image, calling to mind
slops of oil being made into the sign of cross on a forehead,
or a wedge of bread being dipped in an earthen chalice, or hair
flattened and dripping with the water of baptism. Then think
of the entire church and all of its members soaked in Jesus.
In our soaking, we see through the water that drips from our
eyelashes into the dignity in every person, a vision that gives
us delight and desire to seeks the gift that is in each person,
for the other. The church: Soaked in Jesus. I like it.
What is the Bible? It is not surprising that most people think
of the Bible as a single book between two covers. Such a book
has been presented to Katie this evening. But until relatively
recently, say five hundred years ago, the Bible was a collection
of many books read by communities in the context of prayer and
conversation. What we see happening today is that the Bible
is placed in a context not of prayer but of dispute. It is split
into tiny segment texts that are used to prove points rather
than reveal the history and message of God’s work. It
is again our Archbishop who sees through this and tells the
church that what we need to know is that the Bible simply tells
us what God wants us to know. And in this way, it is a text
that tests, renews and converts the church as it meets and reflects
together. The Bible – what God wants us to know. I like
it. And on one foot.
The occasion of an ordination of a priest makes us mindful
of who and what we are, and that’s why we must think about
the priest, the church and the Bible, and how each sacrament,
each person, is an opening to something often unexpected, wonderful
and new.
Katie, you have said that when you were twelve years old,
your mother said that you would someday be a minister. And I
know that you are ready to be ordained a priest this night.
But that day that you and your mother thought you would become
a minister is not today. Let’s see. In 1988 you spent
several months in Tel Aviv where you studied Judaism, Hebrew
and politics. Recall the relationships, meals and experiences,
a time that changed your life. Was that not ministry, if not
formation for it? In 1991 you were a trainee at Neiman Marcus
with a specialty in fashion accessories. Was that not ministry?
Later in the 1990s you led Bible studies, taught senior high
and worked in a church nursery. Was that not ministry? At Church
of the Transfiguration in Dallas you coordinated a mothers sharing
ministry, served communion at the altar rail and were responsible
for the children’s ministries program. Was that not ministry?
At Church of the Ascension in Dallas, you worked with youth
ages 6th grade through seniors in high school. You led a mission
trip and taught confirmation. Was this not ministry? And along
the way, you married Jimmy and are mother to Luke and Rachel.
Has that not been a ministry? Your ministry has been your life,
and it will continue regardless of whether you wear a collar
or whether the church calls you a deacon, priest, or bishop
some day. Katie, I am sure that during your discernment process
someone gave you this warning: “Don’t become a priest
unless you can’t possibly do anything else!” It
seems harsh and negative. But it is true and can be applied
to everyone and every vocation. Don’t do what you are
doing unless you can’t possibly do something else. If
you follow this advice, eventually you end up doing what you
love to do, what reflects and releases the gift you have to
give to others. How can you possibly do anything else?
As a minister and a priest, you will be doing what you love.
But I need to remind you and everyone here there are many traps
and troubles that await you as an ordained person. Look around
at some of the clergy, in all denominations, and you will see
burnout, acting out, depression and probably worse of all, apathy.
Remember that from long before now and into the future, you
are a broken symbol, and only in that brokenness can you remain
open to the unexpected gift of others. The brokenness allows
space and points for relationships to form between you and those
in and around this church. Perhaps there is nothing better than
you can do than to periodically reflect on who you are getting
to know, and how those relationships are forming and changing
over time. Then you can ask yourself how these relationships
are making their lives and yours better. And then, as a priest
and minister, you can see how by your work, others are being
empowered and strengthened in their lives and in their ministries.
Katie, you have been called to St. Mark’s to be a minister
and now a priest among us and in this community. The work before
you is important and urgent. The hurts and wounds of this particular
parish are healing from debates about church, the Bible and
the priesthood that led to deep betrayal and separation. The
healing is now far enough along that many who come here on a
Sunday for the first time have a hard time seeing any wounds.
Yet we know that there is a significant financial burden that
will affect us for many years to come. Whereas other parishes
may have the luxury of coasting from one program year to the
next with ample resources and momentum, St. Mark’s cannot
do this. And I think this is fortunate for us. We can never
say to ourselves about anything, “we do it this way because
this is the way we’ve always done it.” Your skills
and experience are needed for strengthening formation for our
children, so that we can do the best we can to show them God’s
light and love. In a time when youth are entertained and over-stimulated
with materialism, violence and have ever-increasing expectations
for entertainment – and if you’ve seen the commercial
– a perpetual six flags world,, you are called to help
us create a place where there is listening, relationship and
healthy formation, a place that is not exclusively segmented
by age but is a truly a multi-generational community, of multi-generational
relationships.
Katie, are you ready? Are we all ready? The harvest is ripe!
Today, we pray to the Lord to send laborers into that harvest,
where we may hop on one foot with all that we need to know.
And when that one foot wears a high heal, may you reach and
hold on to the Spirit for balance and endurance.
Amen.
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