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Church of the Redeemer
Pittsburgh, PA
May 17, 2014
Celebration of a New Ministry
Sermon delivered by the Rev. Canon Denis M. O’Pray
May the words of my mouth….
Bishop McConnell, clergy colleagues, members and friends of Redeemer, and
dear Michael: Good morning. How grand to be together on this special occasion. We
who do not all know one another have now become a community of celebration as we
gather around Michael this day.
I am Denis O’Pray, and I have been invited by Michael and Bishop McConnell to
share the honors of celebrating the new ministry that is beginning here. I was rector of the
congregation which sent Michael into Holy Orders and have been both friend and mentor
to him for some twenty years. I know him well enough to speak on this occasion, and I
know him too well to tell you everything. What I will tell you is that I believe the Holy
Spirit has led both the people of Redeemer and Michael to a good decision.
I grew up a rectory brat, my Dad having served Episcopal Churches up the road a
piece in Buffalo and Jamestown. What little I know about leadership in the church I
pretty much learned from him, and the lesson a propos this morning is this: a
congregation will only turn some corners if it knows that its leader will be with them on
the adventure, and other corners it can not turn until new leadership is in place. Thus, for
instance, a church would not likely take on a major building project or radically change
the way it worships unless it has some assurance that the leader is prepared to see such
change through to successful completion. On the other hand — and this is no criticism of
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an incumbent — a congregation comes to a point where to take its next step forward it
must have a new leader.
And that is the issue for Redeemer and its new rector, isn’t it? What shall they
make of this new opportunity? What new direction now becomes possible for Redeemer
that was perhaps not possible before? Redeemer has every right — and responsibility —
to make the most of this new ministry. New occasions teach new duties. What new
things are possible for Redeemer now that you have a multi-talented rector, freshly
minted, but steeped in rich life experiences? Michael was for years a school psychologist
working with children and their families in a school setting — there is practically no
family issue he has not dealt with? No child’s pain he has not comforted? No school
problem he has not engaged.
And, here is an intellectually competent priest who gained the highest grades for
knowing something about the theological, Biblical, and ecclesiological landscape. Might
he not lead Redeemer to a greater understanding and appreciation for the liberal heritage
of thought and practice that truly represents the Anglican tradition? (Fights about which
the Diocese of Pittsburgh has some history.) And might not this teaching happen even as
Michael preaches intelligent and compassionate sermons and celebrates the Holy
Mysteries with dignity and power?
And, of course, he is fluent in French. That immediately suggests to me that
Redeemer might want to open a mission congregation in Provence. In Pittsburgh’s
winter, wouldn’t you rather hop a plane and go to church with Michael overlooking the
Mediterranean’s Cote d’Azur?
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I say these things not because Michael wrote my script and not because I want to
brag on him — though I am always happy to brag about my friend — but rather because
you good people have a responsibility now to exploit this priest’s every gift in order to
fulfill your mission as the spirit gives you wisdom to recognize it and the courage to
pursue it.
We will not ask the Bishop to report how often he sees the pairing of priest and
congregation which for some reason fails to fulfill the potential that is in both the
congregation and the priest. That is an all-too-common tragedy in the church these days:
gifted leaders and gifted congregations do not ignite one another. New occasions are not
allowed to teach new duties, and old ways prevail.
And you Michael. . . . this is a two-way street. I’m sure you have only just begun
to realize that this congregation can bring out the best in you if you will only listen, take
some risks, leave your comfort zone, subject your ego to their wisdom, and let them call
you to be all that the Holy Spirit imagines for you. Now, I understand that a lifetime of
being you has prepared you for this season of leadership. You might be forgiven for
wanting so much to give this congregation all that you have, but wisdom says take your
lead from them. Let them draw from you that which they perceive they most need. Take a
cue from Jesus: Be their servant, then be their friend; do not be their master.
And lest this preaching would seem to be the rantings of a soon to be twice-retired
priest who legitimately thinks he has seen most all that mother church can do, let me
note that all I have said is borne out in our readings today. The Bible says. In the passage
from the Hebrew scripture, God encourages Joshua to accept leadership, saying to him:
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Be strong and very courageous, act in accordance with the law, and you will be
successful. It does in fact take courage for a congregation and its rector to accept the
responsibility of mutual leadership and commitment to the mission. Be very courageous.
And the Ephesians are reminded how important it is to recognize the gifts of each
member in the community and then to weave those gifts together in unity, and to speak
the truth in love to one another and not be tossed to and fro but to hold to the mission as
you come to know it. The mission? Oh it has a thousand faces, but it is always the same:
offer the best that you have and the best that you are to the best that you know.
And, then in the gospel we find the bottom line — I guess we should call it the top
line — Jesus says, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. I do not call you servants any longer. . . . but I have called you friends. . . . I
appointed you to go and bear fruit. . . . love one another.
In scripture, a leader is told to be courageous and obedient, a congregation is
reminded that the gifts of each member must be recognized and used to build the unity
that is in Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the connective tissue that holds everything together
in love.
I wonder if you have seen the film, Black Robe, the story of the Jesuit mission to
the Huron people of Ontario in the 1630’s. The movie is done with docudrama power,
and you see immediately the ambiguity of the mission effort, as well as the incredible
suffering of the Jesuits who risked everything to come among the Huron people. The
Hurons are being wiped out by disease, and they are suspicious and even hostile toward
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the missionary. Wanting to be obedient to his calling, he wants to baptize them so they
will die Christians. They want to be baptized only if it will miraculously cure the
epidemic. The suffering has become so intense that neither the priest nor the Huron chief
is certain any longer that baptism can do any thing efficacious at all. It is an incredible
moment for the priest when even he questions the power of sacrament, and, surrounded
by the dead and dying, all the Huron leader can do is to ask, Black Robe, do you love us?
And the priest stares long into the eyes of these suffering people who now appear to him
no longer as work to be done or even souls to be won, but just as fellow sufferers on the
journey, and he says, Yes, I do love you. And the chief says, Then baptize us.
Do you hear the echo? Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Then feed my
sheep. Echo, echo, echo. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one
another. Echo, echo.
And now Michael we come to that moment in an institution sermon when the
preacher asks you to stand to receive your charge. But before I do that let me tell you
about an ancient tradition in the church having to do with burial. Because it was assumed
that at his second coming, Jesus would rise in the East like the morning sun, lay people
were buried with their feet toward the East so that when they rose from the grave they
would read their eternal destiny in the face of Jesus. Priests, in contrast, were buried with
their feet to the West, because when the rose from the dead they would find their destiny
written in the faces of those whom they had been called to serve. So, dear Michael, stand
to receive your charge, but face the people who have called you to be their rector.
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As you look at them, each one of them, let me tell you what Archbishop Michael
Ramsay said to a group of ordinands on the eve of their ordinations: The task of the
priest is to go before God with the people on his/her heart. I call it “walking the rail.”
Every Sunday, week-in and week-out, you will look into these same faces as these
people kneel with outstretched hands to receive the gift of Eucharist. And as you
administer the bread you will see people whom you have come to love, and people who
love you. With a twinge you will see people you meant to call that week, but didn’t, and
others whom you know you have hurt by neglect. You will see faces you do not
recognize and wonder about their journeys. You will see familiar faces and realize with a
start that you still don’t know their names. You will see folks who disagree with you
about the course you are setting for Redeemer, and others whose opinions about the
church you do not know. You will see folks you haven’t learned to love yet, and folks
you hope will give you another chance to love them. You will see people who have
recently received a bad diagnosis, and others whose joy in life overflows. There will be
folks whom you wish would treat their families better, and folks whom you know drink
too much, and some folks whom you wish God would just shake into holiness. Week-in
and week-out, as you walk the rail, you will see these people again and again, and you
will know that you have been sent by God to carry these people on your heart, and you
will know that you have been blessed in this calling.
Michael, do you love us? they ask.
Yes, I love you, he replies.
Then, be our rector.