This month’s letter to the parish is from Rev Helen, and in light of her recent ordination, she reflects on what it means to be a priest.
I have spent a lot of time in the last couple of weeks thinking about what it means to be a priest. For inspiration I turned to the bible and thought about a couple of verses I have heard at 40th and 60th anniversaries of ordination. The first is from Isaiah 6 when the voice of the Lord says ‘who shall I send?’ and there is the immediate response, ‘Here I am, send me!’. The second is from Hebrews 7 when speaking of the order of the High Priest Melchizedek and the phrase ‘You are a priest forever’. Now while these verses say something of the call to being a priest, I still don’t feel that they really show the deep mystery not only of being a priest but what is at the centre of our faith which is that story of Jesus and his life, but really it’s even deeper than that.
While I was preparing for my first celebration of Holy Communion I thought about what I might dedicate it to. I thought about a lot of things however I always kept coming back to came back to Jesus Resurrection. The great miracle at the centre of my faith that I don’t really understand or can comprehend, there is so much mystery around it. We don’t know how Jesus was raised from the dead or even what happened in the tomb that night however it is right there in the centre of that we do and believe. It gives me the shivers every time I think about what happened that Sunday morning, the women going to the tomb and finding it empty. The first witnesses to that miraculous event and being given the message that Jesus is alive, in Matthew and John’s versions seeing the risen Jesus alive and in front of them. Then going to tell the disciples that Jesus was alive before Jesus going to them and giving them that commission to go and tell what he did and how he is alive in the world today.
When I decided to dedicate my first celebration of Holy Communion to the resurrection, still thinking about it what I meant to me to be a priest when our preacher Fr Charlie Annis CR suggested this in his sermon, priests are not expected to be the resident authority on the faith or liturgy or prayer but to be shaken and dazzled by the mystery of the empty tomb and Jesus resurrection and how it is there in the sacrament at the alter. When I heard these words it really made me see what it means to be a priest. It is sharing the mystery of the resurrection through the bread and the wine, feeling Jesus presence with us as he is still so present in the world. Being a priest allows me to administer this sacrament and it is a privilege to do so.
What does it mean to me to be a priest? I feel that I am answering the call God made on my life over 20 years ago to be a priest, when God called and I nervously answered here I am. Being part of a community of priests who all lay their hands on you at the point of ordination and remembering you are a priest forever. Most importantly it is being able to share the mystery of the empty tomb and Jesus resurrection with you in the bread and the wine and I look forward to doing this with you all many more times in the future.
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 