Ordination IV

Another of the questions asked of me was:

Will you so live the gospel that you challenge us with the demands of love?

Sure, I thought. What's the problem with this one - just live the Christian life. No difference here between me and anyone else who trusts in Jesus.

Now that's true, of course, but I've come to realise that in a small town, 'the vicar' (although I'm not!) is always on view. At the shops, as people walk past our front yard and see me playing with the kids, and especially on the golf course, I'm on view. I'm a walking billboard for our Saviour and for the church here in Methven. And therefore what I do and say, even on my day off, even when I'm having a bad day (or a bad round) is seen as a representation of the gospel. And while that is, to be honest, pretty scary, it is also incrediblypowerful. I have an opportunity to declare grace, love, compassion, honesty to a town who will immediately associate what I do with what Christianity is - with what the gospel does in people's lives.

Will I do it?

I will. God give me strength and humility

Ordination III

Part of my ordination required me to agree to a number of statements. Some of my more ‘independently’ orientated friends had me on about these afterwards! One point of contention was me agreeing to this statement:

Do you hold to the doctrines of the faith as this Church understands them?

The suggestion was that I was agreeing to believe the doctrines of the church solely because they were the doctrines of the church. If this were the case then it might be problematic. Exegesis, of course, comes to our rescue.

First, exegesis of the liturgy. The statement quoted above was the second I agreed to. The first was this:

Do you believe that the Bible contains all that is essential for our salvation, and reveals God’s living word in Jesus Christ?

The doctrines of the Church are grounded in the Bible. The ‘the faith’ of the second statement refers to that which is found in the Scriptures upheld in the first statement. ‘The faith’ could be epexegetically translated as ‘the faith revealed in the Scriptures’.

Second, exegesis of the Scriptures themselves. In 2 Timothy Paul urges Timothy to identify and equip men to carry on the work of gospel proclamation. In 2 Timothy 2:2 Timothy is urged to entrust ‘the things you have heard me say’ to reliable men. There is meant to be a progression of teaching throughout time in the church (for part of what these 'reliable men' is to do is pass on to other reliable men that which was passed on to them). And this teaching is described a few verses earlier as conforming to the pattern of u`giaino,ntwn lo,gwn – sound words, or correct, or well grounded words. u`giai,nw is used 8 times in the pastorals and every time it refers to sound teaching, sound faith, or sound words – that is, sound doctrine. Sound doctrine, grounded in scripture, is to be held, believed, and passed on by the church (those reliable men). I think that the 39 Articles are a good articulation of u`giaino,ntwn lo,gwn – maybe not as good as the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, but then, on this side of glory, we live in an imperfect world!

Ordination II

One of the first things to happen in my ordination service was that I was ‘presented’ to the bishop and the church by a minister and a lay-person. I was fortunate enough to have Wally Behan, my minister from St John’s Latimer Square and a very fine expository preacher present me, and also Cam Gracey, a friend of mine who runs Christianity Explored at the same church. However, as a preface to this, the bishop said these words:

People of God, we have come to ordain a deacon in Christ’s holy church. Christ is the head of the church; he alone is the source of all Christian ministry.

He alone is the source of all Christian ministry. What the Bishop says goes on to allude to Ephesians 4 and Christ giving gifts to his church. But it was vital to remember at the very beginning of both the service and my ministry here at Methven that Christ is the source (and therefore the content) of all ministry. This church is his church, the people are his people, he ministers to us by his Spirit and Word, and builds us up into his likeness. He alone is the source of all Christian ministry, and may our ministry be spent proclaiming him alone.

Being ordained

On Sunday I was ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. There were a number of aspects of the service which people raised with me afterwards (having heard what I said), thinking that they might have been problematic for me to agree with. There were also a number of fantastic things which I promised and which were said. Over the next few days I’m going to raise a number of those things, outline my thinking, and hopefully explain why evangelicals should not be afraid of committing themselves to work within traditional denominations (although my co-blogger might disagree).