My first post on this topic created quite a discussion and can be found here.
This evening as part of my ongoing training with the Methodist Church I attended a Worship Consultation Group meeting, the purpose of this meeting is to help me to reflect upon the worship services I lead, and with the help and insight of others to learn and to grow through the process. I count it as an enormous privilege to have such support, the chance to reflect both constructively and critically upon worship services I have led and prepared is very helpful.
Last Sunday I was let off quite lightly, my only participation in the two services I attended was to make promises and to read the Epistle. This week it will be different, I will lead and preach at two Communion services with quite a short gap between them. The first will be at a smaller Chapel, the second at the largest Chapel that has been trusted to me.
On my notice board is pinned a small cream card, signed by both the President and Sectary of Conference, it gives me Authorisation to preside at the Lords Supper, it is not my right to do so as I am not yet Ordained.
I was asked about Authorisation this evening, how I felt about it, and how I would have felt as one who is called to be a Minister had it been denied. I was also asked about how I felt about this coming weekend. These then are my thoughts;
Had authorisation been denied I would have been disappointed, I have been on a journey towards Ordained Ministry for a number of years now, and there is a sense in which this makes sense as the next step along that journey. It feels right, that is not to say that I am taking the responsibility lightly, and I do see it as a responsibility.
To help folk to enter into a space where they are able to receive the sacraments should never be taken lightly, the words (liturgy) and the setting are important, through them we enter into the eternal story. The story that is old and yet ever new as it renews us, challenges us and transforms us.
To celebrate the he Lords Supper is to enter into an act of vibrant and living remembrance, we and we do this through an enactment ( a drama if you like) of the Last Supper itself. We receive bread because Jesus broke bread, we receive wine because Jesus shared wine and we remember with the privilege of looking back with some understanding through the lens of the cross, and yet we also acknowledge that this is a place of mystery, a place that we cannot hope to understand and in doing so we open ourselves to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
To be the one who recites the words of institution is an awesome task, and it is perhaps at this point as a Minister that enormity of the call I have responded to will hit me with full force....
I was also asked about what I would wear; I suspect my Super caught sight of the Cassock Alb hanging in the corner of my office the other day. I will not be wearing it, I will wear a suit (jacket and skirt) and a clerical blouse. I do not feel the need to robe, the robes I have were given to me and will be used if and when the occasion demands it, but Sunday by Sunday I will be myself, my clothes if any will be the invisible to all but the discerning robes of righteousness that Christ has prepared for me, and should they be soiled or spoiled from time to time then I will trust in his mercy and forgiveness to restore them. Does that sound super-spiritual? I do not mean it to....
I finish as I often do with a poem maybe I do my best thinking here....
The table is laid
and as the
invitation is re-issued
it joins the
eternal
echo
of love
freely given.
Responding
to loves call
people
come,
and come again
to share
in this most
mysterious of feasts,
sharing bread,
sharing wine,
and remembering.
Yet no one voice issues the
invitation,
but myriads of voices
through the ages
speak as one
and through the one
who gave all
for all,
that all might
receive
and live.
As we celebrate
we connect
once again…
once again…
Come let us enter,
let us celebrate
loves feast…
There is more to say of course, and there will probably be more from me later, but I'd be interested in any thoughts folk have to add.
