ordination

There is a moment in the liturgy for ordination to the priesthood, after the community has sung "Veni Sancti Spiritus," or "Come Holy Spirit" when, in silence, the Bishop lays hands on the ordinand's head, and the clergy present also gather around and lay their hands on the ordinand. I remember feeling the pressure of all those hands, and the literal connection to that community of people who had ordered their lives to serve in this role in the church. It is the moment, if there is a precise moment, when one becomes a priest. The Bishop says a prayer, and the ordinand stands, ordained.

The ordination service itself is a sacramental experience: an outward and visible sign of something that is happening on a spiritual and inward level. My ordination was on the Feast of Epiphany, so the readings were taken for that day. I invited friends to do a bluegrass version of "We Three Kings." I also asked our music director to take the melody from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and set the psalm refrain to it. She did, and it actually worked. One of my professors from seminary preached, he was also my spiritual director, so he knew me well, and knew the questions I had through seminary. Bishop Wimberly ordained me, and then Canon Andy Doyle was his Chaplain. Andy had been my spiritual director before seminary. Added to the list of clergy there to support me, and make a new priest for the church were my childhood priest, my dean from the Cathedral, my rector at St. Mary's where I was ordained, my longtime friend and current rector from St. Mark's, and a handful of others, including Murray Powell, which brings us back to that most holy moment when we were all gathered before the Bishop for the consecration of my ordination.

As the last holy words of that prayer were said, just before I stood up, I felt that slimy, surpassing sensation in my ear some people call a wet willy. It was Murray's gift to me, that in the midst of that solemn moment, humor intruded to land me safely on my feet. I take my ordination and calling to the priesthood seriously, but not too seriously, thanks to good friends like Murray.

Today is my five-year anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, and I continue to learn how to be a priest, how to serve God in this community, and how to be open to the Spirit's playful leading.

Sometimes Epiphanies are profound as the constellations in the dark night sky. Sometimes they are as playful as a friend poking his finger in your ear. And both kinds, and all the sorts of little epiphanies that happen in between are important. Five years of ordination, and I am still learning that God is closer than official hands on your head, God is in your ear, God is between each breath, God is in the music floating from a fireside jam, God is in a late-night conversation, God is.

That's what I try to live out in my ministry as a priest: to live it in my life, to preach it, to realize it as we break bread at the altar, and at the restaurant. God is present in these little ways, if we are open enough to accept the mundane as Holy, God is present in everything.