On Sunday, September 28th, our curate, the Revd Anne Holmes, will be priested in Dorchester Abbey, along with a number of others who were made deacon with her a year ago, and have been 'serving their titles' in churches in the Oxford area.
Being made a deacon one year, and priest a year later, seems to suggest that there is a two-stage process of ordination, with people moving on automatically from one to the next. In fact, however, this enshrines the notion that there are different varieties of ministry in the Church, to which men and women may be ordained. The word 'deacon' is from the Greek word for servant, and means that this role is one of serving the people of God. As well as assisting the priest in the leading of worship, preaching, teaching and administering the sacraments, the deacon's special role used to be seeking out the sick, the poor and the needy so as to give them practical help. The deacon was the Church's social service arm. From time to time there is talk of restoring a 'permanent diaconate', so that people who are especially gifted as deacons may be able to continue in this role, without automatically having to take on the office of priest.
So what's the point of priesthood, then? The ancient notion of the priest as the one who offered animal or other sacrifices on behalf of the people, is no longer a part of our religious belief. Furthermore, at the time of the Reformation, one of the great rediscoveries made by the Reformers was the doctrine of 'the priesthood of all believers'. This reminded people that, because Jesus is our great high priest, the one who is both Priest and Sacrifice, through his death on the cross, all who believe have direct access to God in their own right; they do not need the mediation of anyone else. At the same time, they all can and may do everything that the priests of old used to do, by entering God's presence on behalf of others. Nobody needs a special religious functionary, an 'expert', to move God on their behalf. By the grace of God, everyone can do it for themselves, and for others, just as well.
This insight is the reason why many churches do not recognise the office of priest, and their church leaders are called ministers, pastors, elders and so forth.
The Church of England chose to keep the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, partly because it had been the traditional practice of most of the Church from the very earliest times, but also because we believe that by setting some things apart as holy, we affirm the holiness of everything. When we say some places are holy (churches, places of pilgrimage) we are really saying that all places are holy: that is, places we can meet God. When we keep some days as holy (Sundays, festivals and saints' days) we are saying that every day is holy - a day we can meet God. When we designate some people as priests, it is also a reminder that all believers are priests in the sense I have described.
In a similar way, there are things a priest in the Church of England is authorised to do, which are functions of the whole body of the Church, but it is appropriate and seemly for one person to do, in the context of worship, on behalf of all. In addition to all that Anne has already been doing as a deacon, she will also be able to celebrate the Holy Communion (or 'preside', in the more recent term which emphasises this 'doing it in the name of everyone'.) She will be able to give the absolution, which is the assurance that God really does forgive anyone who confesses their sins to God. She will be able to pronounce the blessing. These may sound like fairly small extras, but they are an enormous privilege for anyone called to this office.
The Ordinal sums up something of the way all these priestly tasks focus what the whole Christian Church is to be about, when it says that priests are "to be messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the Lord; to teach and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family; to seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever."
Please give thanks to God for Anne's ministry here, and pray for her and the other men and women who will be ordained priest this Michaelmastide, as they take up these new responsibilities.
Published in the MarstonTimes, September 2003