The Rev. John H. Heschlē, Rector
St. Paul’s Church by-the-Lake, Chicago, IL

I. To distinguish our doctrine of the Sacred Order of Priests from the protestant view of the “priesthood of all believers,” we Anglo-Catholics have used several explanations. From the Eastern Church we speak of the Priest as the ‘Icon’ of the Incarnate Jesus.  Or we have borrowed from another Communion the concept of ‘Persona Christi’. And occasionally we use our own Anglican friend C.S. Lewis. He described the Priest at an east-facing altar being ‘Alter Christus’ when he turns toward the people to say “The Lord be with you.” There he represents Christ to His people. I am old enough to remember when a lay reader in Morning Prayer had to substitute the words “O Lord hear our prayer” for “The Lord be with you” (which only priests could say).

Today I want to take our idea of the Sacerdotal Priesthood one step even more radical. Let us think of what it means to say Holy Orders is a Sacrament. For like Holy Baptism, Holy Orders has a distinct & indelible character. The protestant notion that has become very popular among Episcopalians says that Ordination is just a “re-focusing of your Baptism.” This implies no new grace is bestowed beyond the grace of Holy Baptism. It thus denies Holy Orders as a distinct sacrament with a particular grace. It further contradicts prayer book rubrics that only a priest or bishop may absolve, bless and consecrate (what I like to call the ABCs of the priesthood).

II. The priest, in a more radical view of Christian Sacraments, is more than an appointed representative of /or for the Community of Faith.  Jonathan, I suggest to you that we see the priesthood in the deeper and fuller terms of the great mystery of the Eucharist. As in the Mass we participate in something far deeper than just this world (we believe it is God’s World, His eternal kingdom).  So too in the sacrament of Holy Orders the priest is of God’s eternal kingdom, ‘Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek’ (Hebrews 5:6). For in this Sacred Order Jesus is both priest & victim, the one who offers and is offered. This character we receive is indelible; it cannot be taken away, not even by presiding bishops!  Like the sacrament of Holy Matrimony – the outward & visible sign is not as simple as a ring on a finger, but how a man and a woman treat each other. So in the Priesthood it is not the collar around your neck that is the outward and visible sign of this sacrament, rather how you will live out the Priesthood. Jesus lives it out as the Good Shepherd laying down his life in sacrifice for His flock, which is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Also like marriage, you will need the sacrificial love of Jesus that we see on the Cross, to let God work through you.

III. Think of St.Paul’s teaching on the Sacrifice of the Mass: “Is the bread we break not a participation in the Body of Christ, is the cup we bless not a participation in the Body of Christ?’ (I Corinthians 10:16) He is speaking of the Blessed Sacrament in terms of having an outward appearance (Aquinas called this the ‘accidents’) and an elemental being (‘substance’) that which it has in common with all other things that it looks like. The Thomist understanding tells us that while the accidents remain the same, the substance changes, i.e. It has nothing left in common with any of the other things of this world that look like bread or wine. It is now the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus.

So it is with Jesus’ Priesthood as a sacrament. Jonathan, your body (what we might call the accidents!) will still look like you, you’ll still laugh like you do, sin like you do. You’ll even continue to smell like you’ve always smelled (poor Elizabeth!).  But your being, dear Jonathan, the elemental state & substance of your baptized humanity will be changed- completely transformed into the living Priesthood of Jesus. HAVE I SCARED YOU YET? I hope so!

So, Jonathan, take a good look at your hands right now, they are one part of your being, and how you use them will be that outward & visible sign of Christ’s Priesthood. This is the last time they will be exclusively yours – for your whole being becomes God’s today. Now they are God’s hands for us, His Bride, the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

IV. Well, is this radical enough or what? Not quite the ‘modern TEC’ definition of ministry as re-focusing our Baptismal Covenant, is it? Nor is this some sweet little “nice priest-person” that Commission on Ministries like to approve. You know the types. I heard it often during my six years on Chicago’s Commission on Ministry: “He’s such a nice person, he should be a priest.” Please, somebody get a spoon and gag me! You see, that view of priesthood is a load of sentimental rubbish that has led us to a very sick concept of the priesthood, a concept devoid of the gift, meaning and mystery of being created male and female for God’s purposes. What we see, in reading the news of our national church, is a concept of priest that is lured by power, not sacrifice. It is not based on good shepherding. It is not the catholic priesthood of Jesus or His Apostles that they believe in, but a creation of their own comfort: that ‘we are the nicest church around.’ Where’s that spoon?

Watch out for anything based on power that sells itself as ministry and being ‘nice’… it will burn you. Rather look for and trust in that humble spirit of sacrifice that we see in Jesus on the Cross at every Mass. That will keep you a faithful priest with hands and even more, your whole body a sacrament of Jesus the high priest.

Finally, what does all this highfalutin talk mean practically for you? Exactly the same as it means for me, for your bishop, and for every priest here present.  It means we have a gift, an INDELIBLE CHARACTER of Jesus the High Priest, and that what we do must reflect HIS ACTIONS, especially His sacrificial action. You will do that by joining with us in the ABC’s of the priesthood. You will absolve sin, bless people and objects, and consecrate the Sacraments of the new covenant, especially the Body and Blood of Jesus.

But you will not just absolve the sins of the faithful. Rather by the character of Jesus’ death and resurrection you will make forgiveness flow into the penitent’s hearts. And you will not just bless, as if dedicating, people and objects.  Rather you will impart the living grace of Jesus from the font of every blessing: from His Sacred Heart. And you will not just mechanically consecrate Sacraments as memorial symbols- but instead direct a living participation into the very soul and divinity of Jesus. This you can only do if your very being is sacramentally transformed today through the laying on of Apostolic hands. Then you become a living sacrament of Jesus’ priesthood: caring & shepherding the lives of all His flock, all who are baptized into His death and resurrection.

Jonathan, can you do this? Hell no, at least not alone, for the accidents remain the same, you are still like all of us. You will still feel hurt, jealousy, pain, and you will still sin. That is exactly why you need the grace, care and fellowship of God the Father through your Bishop and fellow college of priests. Is that not the reason the old prayer book addressed the bishop as “Father in God’?

Well, none of this is easy, nice or sweet. It is a labor; it is hard work and sacrifice if done right.  Such is being a good shepherd. But in it is also the JOY, the PEACE and the deeper PRESENCE of Jesus.

At times you will look at your hands, and they will amaze you, what God allows you to do by His grace. Especially in the years to come when people you never suspected you had an effect on, come back and tell you how much you helped them, and even changed their lives. But remember, it is not you; it was and will be Jesus the Good Shepherd, the priest who is the priest of your transubstantiated being. Today you become and outward & visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace of Christ’s Priesthood, ordained by Christ whereby we receive a sure and certain means of that grace. For this ”the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (vs. 11).

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Very Rev. Ryan Reed, Dean
St. Vincent’s Cathedral Church, Bedford, TX

It is an honor to be here tonight and to be one of many witnesses as the Holy Spirit works through the hands of his servant, Bishop Iker, to make you, Deacon Nusbaum, a priest in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. It is also a bit nerve-racking to be here preaching in the place where Fr. Hightower has preached for so many years. I'm hoping something rubs off on me while I'm up here.

In the vein of Fr. Hightower, I wish I could think of a joke about margaritas, or baseball, or my wife. Or maybe one joke that includes all three. Actually, a baseball story does occur to me. I was at a game once with Fr. Hightower, and we were watching Gary Matthews Jr. play. Fr. Hightower said that his father also had played baseball. I asked, “Really? What was his name?”

So Chad, what God will do to you through our Bishop tonight will probably have no effect on your intelligence. But what happens tonight will change you forever. Most of tonight will probably be a blur for you. I doubt you'll remember much of this sermon – which may not be a bad thing. But every day for the rest of your life, you will be impacted by what God is about to do to you this evening. Through the Grace that comes from the sacrament of ordination, you will become a priest, an icon of Christ, to this broken and hurting world.

That ought to scare you. But the good news is that you will not be serving in this vocation alone, because this priesthood really has nothing to do with you. It is derived from the priesthood of Jesus. And your ministry really has nothing to do with you; it is derived from His Grace, our Bishop. You are merely an extension of his ministry in whatever place God has called you. And by virtue of being an extension of the Bishop's ministry, you are nothing less than extension of the priestly ministry of Christ. So the work that you do from here on out is no longer you work, but Christ's, as you continue His ministry in this world. As we heard on Saturday morning at Fr. Duncan's ordination, your hands are no longer just yours but His.

Are you ready for that? Too many in our church today confer some kind of rights on priestly ordination as if it is something that everyone should have access to, as if it is my right to be ordained. It is viewed by some as a career path, and for others just a paycheck. The most benevolent of the misguided see the priest merely as some kind of religious therapist, as if your primary vocation is to make people feel good about themselves.

The sense of “sacred ministry” and “holy orders” is missing from that mindset. The idea that this is a sacrament and that grace will be conferred upon you by the power of the Holy Spirit is missing in those circles. Well, I can tell you it is not about rights, and it is not about making people feel good. It is about bringing the presence of Jesus into the midst of His people. It is about boldly proclaiming the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. It is about offering people the forgiveness of sins through absolution. It is about making Jesus present the Holy Sacrifice of the altar. Those things may not make us feel good, but it is exactly what we need. And this is what you have been called by God to do.

As we heard from Jesus in the Gospel reading, the priesthood is not about rights, it is not about power, it is not about fame, and it is certainly not about fortune.

It is about sacrifice. And it will be sacrificial. On this point you should have no doubt. For you, for Chris, for your children. But I can also tell you, in the midst of that sacrifice will come incredible rewards. You will have a front-row seat to the transforming power of the Gospel. You will see lives changed through the sacramental ministry of the Church and through the outpouring of spiritual gifts on the people of God.

Even in times of sorrow, grief, and disappointment, you will experience joy and wonder as the hand of God rests on his people. And at times God will use you as an instrument for change in the lives of His people. Your role as a priest in the body of Christ will allow you to see the blessing of God in the lives of his people in a personal way and that will give you joy. But remember, you are merely an ambassador of the one who can change lives.

In tonight's Epistle reading, St. Peter is speaking to those who are set apart – consecrated – for priestly ministry in the Church of Christ when he says, “tend the flock of Christ.” His call to the ordained is to follow the example of Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd. And the model we have is a shepherd who willingly lays down his life for his sheep. Chad, I suspect you know this and you are committed to this, or you wouldn't be sitting where you are right now.

Back to the Epistle reading. If we had read one verse further, to me, it would have completed St. Peter's thought. So let me give it to you. “And all of you must clothe yourselves in humility in your dealings with one another.”

Taking that line of thought with what we read tonight, if we strip away all the additional wording in St. Peter’s call to the elders and get down to just the descriptive words, we are told by him that elders are to tend the flock of God willingly and eagerly, they are to tend the flock as an example, and they are to tend the flock with humility. Those three descriptions are what make up the meat of this passage. And they are sound advice as you begin to exercise your new vocation in the priestly ministry of Christ.

The fact that you have answered God's call and that you are here tonight addresses the ‘willingly’ part of this passage, so, let's start with ‘eagerly.’

When the phone rings at 1 a.m., you eagerly respond to the pastoral emergency. When Fr. Hightower calls you at 10 o’clock Saturday night and says, “I've decided I want you to preach tomorrow,” you eagerly begin praying over the Sunday lessons. When Fr. Hightower says, “You are being ordained on tonight, and I'm leaving town on vacation tomorrow,” you eagerly prepare yourself to serve the parish in every way you can. When the angelus rings for a weekday Mass, you are there, ready to serve in whatever capacity you can. People will sense when you are serving as a priest joyfully, willingly and eagerly. And this will motivate them to be ministers of the Gospel to a broken and hurting world. So tend the flock eagerly.

St. Peter also calls the ordained to tend the flock as an example. The vows that you make tonight before God, the Bishop, and the Church can serve as the backdrop for how you are to be an example. Commitment to prayer and attendance at the Mass; regular study of the Scriptures and faithful teaching and preaching of the Word of God; making your own regular confession; – these are all critical examples you can provide for the flock.

But the characteristic I would single out is holiness – demonstrating by your words and deeds a deep desire to be like Christ: to strive for holiness, fidelity to Christ, to your wife, and your family. Truly holy living may be the best example you can provide the people in the culture in which we live.

I have not been around too many sheep, but if Jesus is right and the sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd, then my guess is that where the shepherd goes, the sheep go. So tend the flock as an example.

Finally, tend the flock in humility. Chris, I can promise you that after tonight, Chad is still going to wake up in the morning with bad breath, especially after an Italian dinner. And if you have a pool, I can promise you, you won't see him out there at night walking back and forth across the water.

But after tonight, Chad, your hands will touch holy things, your ears will hear holy things, your eyes will see holy things, and the words you use must be holy words. Without humility, it will be tempting to forget just Who is in charge, just who the Master is, and who the servant is. It is not about rights, or power, or fame or fortune. It is not about you. It is about Jesus. So tend the flock in humility, and point people to Jesus Christ.

I hope you are approaching the next few minutes with a sense of awe, even dread. Because in the next few minutes God is going to do something special to you. And you will be different. Not better, just different. And God will use you in exciting and new ways. Just remember, as you tend to the flock: Do so with eagerness, do so as an example, and do so in humility so that through you, Jesus may be known, worshipped and obeyed. Amen.