Today we gather to confer the ministry of Lectorate on one of our brothers, Paul Graham, as he takes his first ministerial step to become a Deacon in our diocese and enter into the order of the diaconate. As we witness him taking this step in closer service of the Church, the Lord, in this Sunday’s Scriptures makes clear to us the kind of Church He wants us to be, in the midst of today’s world. It is the kind of Church best understood by the saints and which was summed up well by Saint Theresa of Calcutta when she was asked by a journalist what was the secret of her great success. She replied to him that God never asked her to be successful; only to be faithful.
In his first letter to the Church at Corinth Saint Paul describes how Jesus would have gone about founding His Church if He was after popularity and success in the eyes of the world. He would have sought out the movers and shakers of society, those the world thinks wise and strong and reputable. We could think of the politicians, the media, the celebrities, the billionaires. Just imagine how easy it would be for the Church if all of these people were on our side!
So it is striking how Jesus seems to turn not first to them but instead to the multitude of very ordinary men and women to carry on His message. Those the world thinks weak or foolish or nobodies. Or, rather than saying that He chooses ‘nobodies’ we should say He chooses the kind of people who are more likely to have three essential qualities He really needs.
The first thing Jesus looks for is those who are not all out for worldly glory but who have pinned their hopes upon the values of a higher Kingdom; values of loving and trust in God.
The second thing He looks for is humble hearts; those whose dearest daily desire is just to be kind and gentle, to be merciful over the failings and foibles of others, to live truthfully among their peers, not ‘walking on by’ whenever they see injustice but pained by it and doing their little bit to help until they rejoice to see justice restored. And that is who they are whether they are in their homes or in their churches or in their work or engaged as citizens in the world of politics. In short Jesus looks for those who are not dedicated followers of fashion, whether it be the fashions on the high street or the fashions of secular values handed down by the politically correct, but who strive to find out what God wants for society and who are determined on obedience to God’s values, no matter what price they have to pay for it in the world of today. So the worship they give to God on Sunday is no different from the way they live their lives for Him through the week, in unity of life and integrity of heart.
These people - and we know them well, because they exist all around us, in our parishes and families –live their lives according to the final value Jesus looks for in the kind of followers He will choose to build His Kingdom in the world. They know how to boast about Christ. Their lips are full of the praises of God and testify daily about the marvellous things God has done in their lives and who share God’s goodness with everyone so as to raise every poor soul to praise of God. While the rest of us cannot stop for a minute without offering our opinions on politics, whether it be in Scotland or Britain or Europe or the USA, as though politics is the world’s salvation. While the rest of us are all too ready to blether about football or the TV soaps till the cows come home, as though the next game or the next episode were of some kind of global significance, these simple souls boast about Jesus as the hope of Scotland and the world, about God’s victory as the only one that matters and about the Gospel story as the only truly engaging drama of our times.
It is these simple souls, whom even we – if we are honest – consider at times to be a wee bit foolish or weak-minded, that Jesus chooses as the best example for us to follow in building His Kingdom and helping the salvation of our nation and world.
Dear brother Paul, as you take on the ministry of Lector and learn how to proclaim God’s word in the midst of the Church, you are being called to give your life boasting about Christ. You already believe how God our Father revealed the mystery of the world’s salvation and brought it to fulfilment in Jesus, Who made all things known to us and entrusted His Church with the mission of preaching the Gospel to the world. As a reader and bearer of God's word who will now assist our mission of proclaiming that Word in our community by instructing God’s people in the faith and preparing them for the sacraments, may you make known more clearly to us the God Who is our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, Whom He sent to save our world and bring us eternal life.
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