Imitating the Mystery
Reflections on the first Eucharist celebrated by
our curate, the Rev Malcolm Cowan.
There are moments which you never forget, not least in worship. Twenty-one years ago I and my
companions were ordained priest and presided at the Eucharist for the first
time. It was natural that we should want to be at each other’s first Eucharists - we had trained together, and had made strong
bonds of Christian friendship. We wanted
to share these special moments in a new priest’s ministry.
The celebrations were varied in
style (we had been very much a “broad” rather than a “party” college with one
churchmanship), and part of one of them moved me very deeply. Before the service began Eucharist my
friend’s Parish Priest handed him a Chalice and Paten with the words, “Endeavour to imitate the mystery which you
celebrate”.
The Eucharist that was celebrated was not a mere service to be done for
people, nor even something to be done
with careful preparation, rather, what was focused in that celebration, the
sacrifice, the self-giving of Christ, was to be imitated in the minister’s
life. Powerful words
which have stayed with me, and which come to mind as Malcolm Cowan prepares for
his ordination to the priesthood and his first Eucharist.
There is much spoken these days
about ministerial skills and competencies, and about training for leadership,
all of which is right, but behind that
there must still be an older tradition that speaks of “spiritual formation”, and of the consecration of life, so that it
will mirror and imitate Christ and his self-giving. All priests, however long
ago their ordination, would say that they are still working at that, and that
they are still seeking and responding to the grace of transformation that makes
priestly ministry not so much what you do as what you are. What is true is that Christ will be imaged
more in a ministry of self-giving. serving and loving,
than in the competencies of someone who is simply an ordained manager.
So my first point
is a request, that we pray for our priests, for Malcolm, for David and myself and the others who assist us here. Your priests need
those prayers that we learn to imitate the mystery we celebrate at the Lord’s
Table, and be effective priests for the people of God here. Help and encourage us also to find and make
and keep the space for prayer, for quiet days and retreats, and for times of
spiritual direction, reflection and supervision, so that we may continue to grow in Christ.
But what is said about the
ministerial priesthood is to be said also about the priestly people, the whole
Malcolm and David and I are priests
so that the whole people of God, the community of faith at St Bridget’s and
Caldy can be priestly, bringing the love if God in Christ to the world, and the
world to him. To “imitate the mystery which we celebrate” is not only for the
ordained but for the whole community. As a new priest begins his ministry
amongst us, and as we encourage him with our love and prayers as he stands at the Altar, it is time
to commit ourselves afresh to the ministry of imaging and bearing Christ in
this place. It is given to all of us, and in all of us the Saviour must be
seen.
Roger Clarke
June
2005