The Charge
For the ordination
service of Ron Sidney at Kirkland Adventist Church
Sabbath, August 29,
2015
When our Master
moved from the obscurity of his faithful service in the carpenter
shop toward public ministry, God sent him first to the Baptizer.
There at the Jordan River, Jesus the Sinless One dramatically
declared his union with the people of God. By accepting baptism at
the hands of John the Baptist, Jesus joined with his sinful people
with reservation or qualification. He declared himself to be one of
us.
Among Adventist
clergy, ordination makes a similar statement. We who are ordained ask
you to join the likes of us—men with checkered histories, men who
are a mishmash of greatness and pedestrian weaknesses. We invite you
to become one of “the brethren.”
(Side note to the
congregation: And I pray and am working toward the day when this
clergy fellowship includes sisters as well as brothers.)
When you accept
ordination, like Jesus at his baptism, you, too, are making a public
declaration of your place in this people of God. You are joining
people like us—people whose intentions are greater than our
accomplishments, people who sometimes descend into smallness, people
who sometimes confuse our desires with the will of God. You are
joining us in all that makes up our identity. You are especially
joining us in our hope and mission.
As an ordained
minister, you will carry within you and on you the people of God. And
just as God announced at Jordan, “You are my beloved son.” So God
says to you today in recognition of your willingness to join with us
in service, “You are my beloved son. With you I am very pleased.”
My first charge to
you this afternoon is this: Keep these words with you. Your Father
in heaven is very pleased with you. He is pleased you have yielded to
his call. He is pleased you are his servant. God has great plans for
you, but first, before plans and achievements and success is this
word from the Father's heart: You are my beloved son. I am very
pleased with you.
Keep these words
always in your heart, so that they may keep you.
Jesus went straight
from his baptism to the sternest imaginable graduate school—the
desert of temptation. After graduating from there, he headed into
Galilee and began his public ministry. Everywhere Jesus went people
were dazzled and charmed. Here's Matthew's prose description of these
early days of Jesus' ministry:
Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the
synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he
healed every kind of disease and illness. 24 News about him spread as
far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were
sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon
possessed or epileptic or paralyzed--he healed them all. Matthew
4:23-25.
Matthew invoked the
poetic words of the ancient prophet:
In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali,
the land beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River,
in Galilee home of the Gentiles,
in that place live,
the people sitting darkness saw a great light.
On those huddled in the land of death's dark shadow,
the light has dawned.
Matthew 4:15-17
This was the
ministry of Jesus. It is our ministry, your ministry. May your words,
your work, your life always be light for the people God commits into
your care.
Which brings me to
my second charge: Cultivate the light. Spend time every day gazing at
the glorious face of God. Become radiant through basking in God's
radiance.
You will encounter
darkness. It is the nature of life in this world.
There will be
mornings when the night before included getting home from a late
meeting at 11:00, then caring for your sick wife until midnight, then
being roused from bed at 3 a.m. to clean the vomit up from the shag
carpet in the hall way outside your bathroom because your
five-year-old wasn't able to make it to the bathroom before the
explosion happened. There will be mornings when you don't take time
for prayer and contemplation of the divine loveliness.
It may happen that
heaviness in your own soul will be so great that you go for days or
weeks or maybe even months without communion with God. You will carry
the weight of your people. The trouble of the world will haunt you,
sometimes even threaten to crush you.
My charge to you is
this: go back to the light. Every morning seek God's face. And when
you realize it has been awhile, don't waste time scolding yourself,
just return. Go back. Sit in God's presence and bask in his smile,
rehearse his promise: “You are my beloved son. With you I am well
pleased.”
Spend time in the
smile of God. Hear his reassurance, you are his beloved son. Saturate
your soul in the light of heaven, then return to your calling to an
agent of light. Shine the light on those who sit darkness.
In Matthew 13, said
to his inner circle, the twelve disciples:
Every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is
like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new
treasures as well as old.” Matthew 13:52
In your study and
contemplation, be sure to mine the rich heritage of Christian
theology stretching back across two thousand years. Devote attention
to the distinctive treasures of theology and spiritual practice God
has brought to light here among Seventh-day Adventists.
Teach your people
the glorious vision of the character of God. Teach them, show them,
that divine love is the very first word of creation theology and that
when God has finished his work and evil and pain have vanished, the
same word of divine love will be the last word, the greatest word.
Let nothing obscure this most important—and even most distinctive
treasure of Adventist theology.
Paint a vivid
picture of God's law as the essential, natural principles of life
throughout the universe. Give your people confidence that God
requires nothing of humans that is not already integral to the divine
character and expressed in divine action. Help them understand the
necessity and sweetness of ordering their lives after the divine
pattern.
Teach your people to
keep Sabbath and enjoy it. Lead them in tasting divine grace and
favor in the Lord's Supper. Teach them to pray and study and serve.
Be a good scribe.
Work with the ancient treasures and make them understandable and
attractive. Discover new gifts, new truths, and new ways of voicing
our faith.
Preach hope. Jesus
is coming again—Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Redeemer, Jesus the One
who would rather die than live without us. Assure your people we have
not been abandoned. Jesus will return. Goodness and love will
triumph. And we with them.
One final picture I
would leave with you.
When it was time for
Jesus to finish his work, when he wished to make a grand, final,
emphatic declaration to the people of God in Jerusalem, he sent his
disciples to go and find a donkey. Jesus mounted the donkey and rode
into the Holy City surrounded by hosannas and hallelujahs.
It was Jesus the
crowds sang. It was the donkey who carried him.
It is still the
same. The disciples today—needed another donkey to join us in
carrying the Christ in triumphant procession toward the Holy City. We
looked around and found you. Today, in this ordination service we are
consecrating you, a mere donkey, to the weighty and glorious task of
bearing Christ.
Our people accord us
great honor. They trust us to hear their stories and teach their
children. They invite us to pray with them in their darkest places
and to rejoice with them in the happiest times. The respect and
confidence of our people is one of the most precious experiences in
ministry.
When things go well
and you are surrounded by the appreciation and affirmation of your
people, when your heart is full of your awareness of the divine call,
remember the parade is about the rider and not the donkey.
And if dark times
come and you question whether there is any value, any importance, in
your calling, remember that Jesus cannot ride without a donkey. He
needs you. There is some piece of God's work that only you can do.
March on.
Be faithful to the
one who has called you.
Carry the Christ and
his message.
Always.