THE RECTOR'S REFLECTIONS

On Ordination

This issue of “The Beacon” will arrive in your mailboxes near the Christmas holidays. This is a blessed season. It is also a busy season. And it is busy no less within the walls of St. Bede's as well as without. Just before we welcome the Christ Child we will welcome a new Priest. Ray Raney will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 3pm . This will be a grand celebration. We are blessed; the wider Church is blessed with the celebration of new Priest in our midst.

Ray's call to ordained ministry is a celebration for all of St. Bede's. No one is called to ordained ministry in a vacuum. It is not something isolated, heard apart from the community. The call comes from within the midst of a community grounded in its faith and holiness. A vocation to service at the altar for and to the Holy People of God must rise in the midst of a community grounded in word and sacrament. When Ray has hands laid upon his head and the Bishop says, “Therefore, Father, through Jesus Christ your Son, give your Holy Spirit to Raymond; fill him with grace and power, and make him a priest in your Church.” (Prayerbook page 533), it happens because of Ray's faith and your faith.

A week before we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ we as a parish community have aided in bringing new life into the Church in the form of a new priest. You are a living model of the spirit of Christmas.

As members of St. Bede's you should congratulate yourselves for the life giving force that you are. You make St. Bede's to be the exceptional parish it is because of your holiness, your faith.

Since I arrived here in 1997 six men and women have gone onto or are about to go onto ordained ministry in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church . Madelynn Kirkpatrick-Johnston, Priest and Associate Rector; Kyra Kerr, Deacon; Chan Osborn de Anaya, Priest (Rector, Christ Church, Vicksburg, MS) Ray Raney, about to be Priest; Randy Lutz, Transitional Deacon; and Paul McClain. Paul is a senior at Berkley Divinity School at Yale University . He was originally sponsored by St. Bede's. In 2008 Paul will be ordained a Transitional Deacon for the Diocese of Kansas. Following graduation this coming May, Paul will be a lay hospital chaplain in Kansas .

Owen Kunkle, ordained a Deacon over 20 years ago, graces St. Bede's and beyond with his ministry and serves as a model for those new to ordained ministry.

Each of these individuals brings new life into the Church because you brought new life into their souls and created the place for each of them to hear the call. We set the example and allowed the Spirit to work in them. We helped open the doors of their hearts to be ready for the voice of Jesus bidding them to “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people”. (Matthew 4:19). We are truly a Christmas parish. We are truly a Christmas people.

On December 17, Bishop Steenson will ask all those gathered in our sanctuary, “Will you uphold him (Raymond) in this ministry?” and we will answer as a community of life-giving faith, “We will”. (Prayerbook 527)

Ray will be the vehicle, the instrument of Christ's ministry and blessings to people near and far who are touched by his ministry. He will bring Christ's healing and sacraments, word and comfort, challenge and encouragement, hope and reconciliation, to a lot of people during the course of his priestly life. Ray will be Jesus' messenger and disciple. He will be called to listen and love deeply, in the words of Desmond Tutu, as God's viceroy.

Ray will do all this and more because of his gifts and because we as a parish created the space and ground, through our faith, for the call to take root. He will do this because St. Bede's helped bring new life to the God's Holy Church .

May the blessings, hopes and joys of the Christ Child be with you all this Holy Season and throughout the coming year.

In Peace
Fr. Richard

[Back to Top]

© 2006 St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico