Preached at St Mark’s Cathedral on Sunday 28 June 2026.
Scripture Readings:
Jeremiah 1:4-9
(Psalm 100)
Ephesians 4:1-16
Mark 3:7-15
May I speak in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bishop Edwin, Dean Lyndon, clergy and people of the Diocese of George, all who are with us here today:
I want to start by thanking you for the warm welcome our community of the Order of the Holy Cross at St Benedict’s Monastery in Harkerville have received, for your blessing of our new foundation, Bishop, and all who were present on that occasion, and for being asked to host the retreat for the ordinands at our monastery during this past week. It has been a privilege for us to share in the final days of the journey towards ordination of Rev Jayed, Rev Melanie, Eshanul-Lee and Shaun.
During the retreat, we have spent time with Paul’s Letter to the Church in Ephesus. We have considered Paul’s marvellous vision of God’s great desire to bless all people through God’s love for all God has made. God’s purpose in the fullness of time is to gather all together in the risen Christ, ultimately overcoming all that would separate us from one another and from our home in God.
We have considered the Church as the Body of Christ on earth, the wonderfully diverse manifestation of God’s love walking amongst all people. The members of this mystical body are those who have recognized and received and responded to God’s love in Christ Jesus and who want to share in bringing God’s purpose to fulfilment, in the midst of a sin-sick world where so many are oppressed by insecurity and the fear that leads to increasing division and alienation from one another, to hostility towards any other who can be blamed for our distress.
We have considered ordained ministers as Christ’s gift to his Church, those called by God to prepare and enable the Body of Christ on earth to be a presence of loving service to all, to make God’s inclusive purpose known and accessible by all. Those called to be ordained are those who will remind the members of the Body of who they most truly are in the love of Christ Jesus, those who will help the members to identify their own callings and joyfully live into their individual vocations for the strengthening of the life and ministry and witness of the whole Body in the world.
Mark’s Gospel tells us how Jesus called those he wanted, those through whom he would build his Church, and appointed them – perhaps we dare say ordained them – to be with him, and to be sent out to preach, and to have authority to cast out demons. He appointed them for three things, and I believe the order of these things to be significant.
First, they are to be with Jesus, to know his love for themselves and to learn from him how to share that love. If they have not been with Jesus, if they do not remain with him, the other two things cannot be done meaningfully or effectively by them.
Second, being sent by Jesus, they are to preach. They are to tell of God’s love for all, to all who will hear them, and help those who hear to respond to that love. They are to share God’s purpose and to help God’s people understand and live their own lives fully in the light of that purpose.
Third, they are given authority by Jesus to cast out demons. We remember how Jesus himself, anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Those appointed by Jesus are likewise in the power of the Spirit to work against all that oppresses people and prevents them from entering freely into the loving embrace of God, there to discover and respond to God’s purpose for their lives as they take their places in the Body of Christ on earth.
Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians that our enemies are not flesh and blood. Our enemies are the spiritual forces so hideously at work in the present darkness shrouding this world, at work to separate us from one another and from ourselves, opposing all the blessing that God intends as he works to gather us all together in Christ Jesus.
Rev Jayed, Rev Melanie, Eshanul-Lee and Shaun, these to be ordained as Christ’s gifts to his Church, will need all the help they can get if they are to participate in the great work of preparing and enabling Christ’s Body to be a light in the darkness. They will need the encouraging support of those who have been doing the work before them, and the prayerful support of all God’s people gathered here to acknowledge and affirm the call of God in their lives and ministries. May they receive all the support they will need, and may Christ Jesus build and bless his Church abundantly through them. Amen.
Amen