Eve of St. Peter and
St. Paul, 2009
Feed and follow
Ordinations at the Cathedral of St. Philip
The Rev. Robert B. Wood, Rector, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church
I’ve heard it said, tongue in
cheek, that many of our modern church practices have their roots on
Scripture: Feeding of the 5,000—the first parish picnic; Mary, Martha,
Salome going to the tomb—the first Easter vigil with the dedicated
altar guild there the earliest…of course!; and this interview with
Jesus and Peter. I believe this actually may be the first Commission
on Ministry meeting—because it would seem to the candidate, Peter,
that he’s being asked the same question again and again and again.
That question: Do you love me? And this thrice-offered question and
answer with Peter basically ends the Gospel of John.
The meet and right way to end the gospel, if you ask me. Not a note of
doctrine, nor promises of the eschaton. But on the notes of
reconciliation and discipleship, and of course, love of Christ.
Reconciliation—because just days before, Peter had denied Jesus three
times, the cock crowed, as Jesus said it would, and Peter’s heart
sank. Not a moment that the COM would applaud, nor that would create a
feast day on the church’s calendar in one’s honor. But here we are on
such a day…the eve of the Feast of Peter and Paul. Something must have
reversed Peter’s betrayal.
Actually, many see this one question from Jesus asked three times, ‘do
you love me,’ as reversing the betrayal as only Jesus could…as
overturning, one-by-one, the three denials that Peter had made before
the crucifixion. The overturning is what we call forgiveness, grace,
and love. Yes, love. That overturning is based, first and foremost,
not on some human achievement, but in Jesus’ love for Peter.
As you know, you soon-to-be-priests, it is a love made available to
all, to all, and not just Episcopalians or folks on your church rolls,
not just for budding church leaders who have survived the COM,
seminary, and CPE. This is a divine love that you will vow to make
known to young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor. We also
discover from this interview that Jesus’ love for us is not intended
to be one-sided. By coming back to enlist Peter, the rock of his
church and his betrayer, Jesus is basically saying, “I have risen, I
come back not to condemn, but that you and the world might be saved
through me. (John 3:17; there is lots of hoopla about John 3:16. But
don’t forget John 3:17. )
“Now, Peter, do you love me?” It’s just that one simple question from
Jesus: do you love me? Jesus is not asking for a creedal statement.
Nor has he pulled a covenant document out of his back pocket for Peter
to sign. Nor is he asking for Peter’s General Ordination Exam scores.
He asks a single question. A simple question. Do you love me?
This is the one and only question for believers or repentant
betrayers, ordinands and confirmands. We are all commissioned for
ministry—but ‘ministry’ can get clouded by the daily grind, budget
troubles, mundane emails. Ministry can also happen from loveless
vantage point. One can fight for social justice without loving Jesus.
One can plan a youth trip or parish retreat without loving Jesus. One
can hammer nails on a habitat build without loving Jesus.
The starting place for you ordinands and for all of us is right here
with Peter’s answer…loving Jesus. Your ministry, our ministry is far
from loveless, but it can get off track if we don’t remember Jesus
basic hope of us: Do you love me?
You are here to be ordained because you said ‘Yes, Lord, you know I
love you.’ We are here to support you because we’ve given the same
YES. In the day-to-day of your ordained ministry, of your lay
ministry…remember that love…given to you…given in return. Friends, in
the chaos of institutional church work, with your ordination preceding
General Convention by 9 days, in the midst of economic uncertainty…
whatever the distraction of the day, stay focused on that love.
William Sloan Coffin preached two things about Christ’s love. For one,
he said, “God’s love is not a truth we can master, it is only one to
which we can surrender.” Surrender. Yes. Surrender. Peter surrendered
that day by the sea of Galilee. Paul surrendered on the road to
Damascus. Your ordination is a form of that surrender…as is each time
anyone’s hands extend for the sacrament of body and blood.
Second, Coffin preached that “God’s love does not seek value, it
creates value. It is not because we have value that we are loved, but
because we are loved that we have value. Our value is a gift, not an
achievement.”
I would add: “The world loves achievements; Jesus loves people.” And
Jesus’ love for Peter created value in him…reconciling,
faith-building, church-building, sheep feeding value in him…as it does
in each of you here. Yes, our focus may be on these seven ordinands
today, but the gift-laden love of God directs us who love Jesus back
to feed the sheep.
In your ordination, in our ministry, the love of God is the only gift
needed. Now, you ordinands may have your minds on other gifts. Albs,
chasubles, and the like. Maybe you thought you’d get the gift of
mind-reading today, so you would just know when a parishioner was sick
or grieving. No gift of mind-reading today. Nor do you get the gift
that let’s you please people at all times. Jesus himself did not get
that gift—because it doesn’t exist.
But maybe you can come closer to loving people at all times (love your
neighbor as yourself I’ve read somewhere) because you know that God
loves people at all times—knowing that “nothing separates any of us,
ever, from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There is, however, a gift, a piece of
wisdom that I’d like to share with you…for your ministry…from an
interesting source: Bono and the musicians of U2. In a song off their
latest record, they encourage us to stand up, to stand up for faith,
hope, and love, and to stop walking God across the road like a little
old lady.
No offense to boy scouts or ladies or men that might need help across
the road. But our job as Christians, your vocation as priests is not
to think, even for a minute, that God needs charity or chivalry, that
God is somehow incapable. Instead, our work, your ministry, is the
same as Peter was given that day. “Do you love me?,” he’s asked. “Yes,
Lord.” “Then feed my sheep….Feed my lambs.” In other words, I’m fine;
take care of them. Stand up for faith, hope, and love…and feed them.
It’s a hungry world, hungry for love, for grace, for connection, for
reconciliation. Your are ordained to feed sheep, as you preach love,
grace, and redemption from the heart, people will be fed. As you teach
classes on the Bible, Church History or Prayer, sheep will be fed. As
you sit with people, listen to their lives during times of adversity
and prosperity, the sheep will be fed. Even as you plan meetings,
retreats, lock-ins and liturgies, just remember that the intended
result is good food for the ones Jesus loves.
Finally, as Peter hears his commission to ministry, he is given these
simple words: follow me. Did Jesus say those words in the same way
that he had back that first day, when Peter dropped his nets and
followed? Who knows? But I’d guess that beginning and this new
beginning were connected in his mind and that his ministry was guided
by words as simple as that.
Simple. Yes, simple. Love, surrender, feed, and follow. Ordained
ministry is really that simple.
©
Fr. Robert B. Wood. All Rights
reserved.
