Ordination of a Priest – The Exhortation

Bishop Eric Menees

Greetings Friends in the Mighty Name of Jesus.   Over the course of the past couple of months, we’ve been examining the Ordinal in the 2019 BCP.  Having completed the Ordination of a Deacon we move to the Ordination of a Priest.   The Opening Acclamation, Collect for Purity, The Presentation, Signing of the Oaths of Canonical Obedience & Conformity, The Litany for Ordinations are all exactly the same as in the ordination of a deacon.   Under the Lessons, there are differences focusing upon the different nature of the ministry of a priest. The sermon follows, as does our confession of faith in the Nicene Creed.   With the Exhortation, the change comes. While the whole of the Exhortation is powerful, it is the first paragraph that lays out the ministry of a priest… namely: “to be a messenger, watchman, and steward of the Lord. You are to teach, to warn, to feed, and to provide for the Lord’s family, and to seek for Christ’s sheep who are in the midst of this fallen world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever.” (BCP pg. 489)   Here the emphasis of a priestly ministry is highlighted… this is a ministry of Word and Sacrament for the salvation of souls. The reality that Christ comes to us in the Word of God is clear. Not simply the gospels or the New Testament but every word of Holy Scripture from the first verse in Genesis to the last verse of the Book of Revelation IS the Word of God and “contains all things necessary for salvation” as the Ordinal Oath proclaims and as first penned in the 39 Articles.    It is the sacred duty of a priest to preach, teach and live under the authority of the Word of God. These are the very words that give meaning and identity to life.   Equally, priests are to be Stewards of the Lord who teach, warn & feed the Lord’s family. It is in the administration of word and sacraments that the sheep are fed. Baptism, Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation, Holy Unction and Holy Matrimony are the very food that nourish the body of Christ, His Church, this mystical body which lives in the midst of a fallen world.   I bid you to read prayerfully this first paragraph of the Exhortation. Next week we will examine the following paragraph.   May you have a blessed day!   Bp. Menees   “You have heard, during the Church’s discernment of your vocation and in the Holy Scriptures themselves, how weighty is this Office to which you are called. I now exhort you, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be a messenger, watchman, and steward of the Lord. You are to teach, to warn, to feed, and to provide for the Lord’s family, and to seek for Christ’s sheep who are in the midst of this fallen world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever.” (BCP pg. 489)