Ordination Sermon Ronald Myers Ordination Sermon
December 2, 2007, Nevada, Iowa
Norma Cook Everist
Isaiah 42:5-9
Eph 4:4-16
John 13:12-17, 20
Psalm 91 “On Eagles Wings”
What is the Key to the Isaiah passage for this day? Isaiah: God created the heavens and stretched them out
God fashioned the earth and all that lives there
God gave life and breath to all its people (First article of the Creed)
I the Lord have called you and give you power to see that justice is done on earth.
…..(through you) make a covenant with all people
bring light (to the nations)
You will open the eyes of the blind
And set free those who sit in dark prisons
I alone am God….
Let no idols share my praise, what I predicted will come true, I’ll tell you new things before they begin to happen.
What is the key to the John 13 reading for this day?
The day before Passover…the hour had come for the cross
AFTER JESUS HAD WASHED THEIR FEET he came back to the table
Do you understand what I have just done to you?
You have called me Teacher and Lord…that’s right…that’s what I am
I your Lord and Teacher have just washed your feet
You, then should wash one another’s feet.
If you know these things, blessed, happy, you will be if you do them.
I am telling you the truth…whoever receives anyone I send receives me also, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
We…Ronald….are not Jesus…not God, cannot be, and that is good news.
When you go as pastor, as a serving, foot-washing teacher, they will be receiving Jesus through you. And, yes, anyone who receives Jesus wants to have Jesus among them, have the living God among them… the one who sent Jesus among them.
Does that imply that those who receive and want to receive Jesus, will be receiving you, and me and all of us? The whole community, the whole global community of Christians…the whole body of Christ that’s what we will be tempted to forget. And it would be not a good idea to say, “You wanted Jesus? Well, here I am.” But, on the other extreme, it is not good to look over your shoulder, saying “Who me? It must be someone else you are looking to as leader”. In receiving us, receiving each other, we are receiving Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ there, believing that means we treat each other differently, in awe, and respect, and in foot-washing. In servanthood ministry.
Ephesians: 4:1. I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have beencalled.
EVOKE
Ronald, you have been called away from, well from what, other things? Probably? Other work? From the farm? (The harvest is already in.) From family? Well, it’s not far to Minnesota. No, called away from other gods. You, we, have been called from seeking other things on which to depend, fear, love, trust. We are called to not need ourselves to be god. Called by the foot-washing God, Jesus Christ, called to be a pastor, yes. Most important, a servant of Christ. If you know these things, do them. Now, lead a life that is worthy not of proving yourself special or perfect but worthy of the calling to servant, worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
Jesus washed their feet to set them free…..
Ephesians 4:2- 3 with all humility and gentleness and patience bearing with one another in love….making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This word is for all of us who live together, worship and learn in communities of faith. Making every effort…. and having done so, it is not enough. There will be jealousy, stress, conflict, all that and more. In the midst of this, sometimes pretty messing, in the midst of these realities, we are to bear with one another…in love, using humility and gentleness and patience, strong leadership with gentleness. And not just to bear with the people, nor for them to put up with the pastor, but to really bear with one another, This is a call to mutual accountability. Because we are one in the Spirit, we are called to maintain what God has already made among us. God is at work growing us we forgive and learn from each other. Christ has already bound us together in peace that passes our human effort and understanding.
Jesus washed their feet to set them free ….
Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope of your calling.
One Lord, One faith one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and I all.
So you are going to Deer Creek Valley and Bethlehem in Myrtle and Glennville, MN. I understand it was a little hard to find these congregations when you first drove around But now you and Andrea have moved in. I can hardly say settled in yet. Minnesota is just one state away, a longer way from the East coast where Andrea is from. But thre will be differences even between people living a few miles apart. Differences between and among you. Different gifts and ways of doing things between congregations. We won’t be unified, all alike. One of challenges of this ELCA is to know that it is the Spirit who makes us one. One body, one hope, essentially one call to servanthood ministry. And ecumenically, globally, how do we deal with difference? We are called to give thanks for the diversity and rest in the One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
Jesus washed their feet to set them free…….
Ephesians 4: 7- 8 (also a little 9-10) Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
OK, I’m simply not going to look just at Ronald here. Each of us given grace.
The key to these verses is that each of us is called to Christian vocation, to all kinds of ministries in daily life, all day long. Vocatio of rooted in the forgiveness of sins, in the cross and resurrection. Christ descended into death, the death of the death and ascended on high. Christ’s death and resurrection is the heart of our calling. As we close one church year and begin another, each day, each year, our endings and beginnings are rooted in this reality, in God’s amazing grace, mercy and forgiveness. And what does this have to do with each one of you here? Everything. For Martin Luther our callings are rooted in the forgiveness of sins. Are you a teacher? Then know your failings to plan to love to teach well are forgiven each day and in Christ’s resurrection we are called, empowered, sent to love to teach powerfully well. You’re a good teacher? Well, even our very best needs to be forgiven, our pride, our self-satisfaction, our thinking we taught well. Each day all that we do, our callings to live our out ministries in daily life, are rooted in Christ’s cross and resurrection.
Are you a farmer? Are you a sales clerk? Are you a student? Are you a volunteer? Are you a banker? Are you a caregiver? Are you…? Well, what in the world are you? Probably many roles all at the same time. Each of us was/ is given grace not according to our own measure…how smart, rich, ….whatever…but according to the measure of Christ. Wherever we are called to be and to serve on a Tuesday afternoon, a Thursday night, a Saturday morning, Christ has freed us from whatever would hold us captive. Captivity itself is made captive. Christ has free us all to serve.
Jesus washed their feet to set them free…..
Ephesians 4:11-13 The gifts Christ gave were…..apostles, prophets, evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. Unity of faith, knowledge, maturity!
EQUIP GROW
I know this verse is the reason this passage a suggested text for ordination day. But you know, when we get this far, it’s as if this verse …well it just becomes a part of the whole message. Yes, we do have evangelists, and pastors and teachers, and we need prophetic voices. But if you noticed carefully, the lists…and there are similar lists in 1 Cor. 12 and Romans 12, are not closed, and not ranked. Hierarchy is not the goal. Role clarity, yes. Ronald, you are the called to be the pastor of Deer Creek Valley and Bethlehem congregations. Don’t forget that…nor let others forget that. But the crucial part of the passage is “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” And that’s what we’ve already been talking about. To equip all of the people in those communities for their many calls to ministry in their homes, at their work places, in the congregations, in participatory democracy, all their roles and relationships.
Now the people at Deer Creek Valley and Bethlehem are already doing all kinds of ministry in all these places and more. It’s presumptuous to think that as pastors we do all the equipping. No, it’s a matter that the ministry we do needs to be equipping ministry and not something else. Christ Calls us all to mission and ministry and in our being in mission Christ builds the church. In the process of are participating in Christ’s mission Christ builds us.
Jesus washed their feet to set them free……
Ephesians 4: 14- 15 We must no longer be children tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.
Oh, that the text might just have ended before. Tossed around…people’s trickery, craftiness, deceitful scheming. Ah, not in the church…. Well, we know the church is part of the world, and we are all quite capable of misleading, misguiding, well, being deceitful. But compound that with all of the beliefs systems of daily life. Win at any cost. In debt we trust. Supersize it….while thousands in the world go hungry. My country right or wrong. We deceive ourselves. We control and contrive and are blown around by every wind of doctrine… There are plenty of belief systems out there. And in here.
DIFFICULTIES
But speaking the truth in love we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into
The apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, who have their own complex problems, and to us, that we are called to maturity in Christ, to be centered in his servanthood alone. We dare not let ourselves be enslaved to new schemes new idols.
Jesus washed their feet to set them free….
Ephesians 4:16 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into the head of the body, Christ, from who the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
We ordain this man today, on behalf of the church, as part of the body of Christ, that together in our congregations, as a church body, as the global, historical, ecumenical church we might be the body of Christ.
Joined, knit together, and in being so we together are growing…all of us, not just one finger, or the elbow…all of us. This is a service of call to servanthood, to growth as the body of Christ. You are the body of Christ. Do you believe that? Be what you are! Be the people whose feet have been washed! Be the free people in Christ you were created to be!
This is what we do this day.
Jesus washed their feet to set them free……..
Luther: A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.