Ordination

Greeting

written by Jo Schonewolf, based on past CWACM ordination services

Speaker 1: Ordination is an affirmation and an authorization, a sign to all that this person is set aside for a sacred task. It is an affirmation that recognizes that, just as God calls the faithful to other ministries, God calls some persons to the ministry of the ordained.

All Christians have a baptismal call to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves. The work of leading, planning, and connecting that the ordained undertake can be done by a community engaged in non-hierarchical, decolonial, and anti-capitalist work. But it doesn’t hurt to have a little help from someone with training and wisdom, who has dedicated their life to this work.

With that in mind, we say that ordination recognizes that lifelong, sacred dedication and authorizes those persons to ministries of Word, Order, Sacrament, Service and Witness. Such recognition and authorization is given, not to create hierarchy or special privilege, but as a sacred trust to enable community.

Speaker 2: The Church Within A Church Movement, having prayerfully examined this candidate and found them qualified for ordained ministry, is delighted to present Candidate for ordination into Christian ministry.

Candidate, we invite you to come forward as a sign of your consent to receive ordination.

Those authorized by The Church Within A Church Movement have found them to be of sound learning, deep character and possessing the faith and the necessary gifts to serve God as an ordained minister.

Do you as the gathered community declare your support and assent for this ordination?
People: We do!

Will you do all in your power to uphold them in their ministry?
People: We will!

Examination

Written by Jo Schonewolf, based on past CWACM ordination services

Speaker 3: Candidate, you have heard that your community supports both your ordination and your ministry. Now, I ask you:

Do you believe that there is an abundant, persistent, undying love at the heart of the universe, a love that will neither subjugate creation nor abandon it, and do you call this love God?

Candidate: I do.

Speaker 3: Do you believe that this love was made flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who, together with the wisdom of his tradition and fire of the prophets who came before him, commands his followers to love God and love their neighbors as themselves, and who, through his life, death, and resurrection, refused to abandon us to the finality of death and freed us to live now as people who are liberated and can liberate others?

Candidate: I do.

Susan: Do you believe in the liberating, life-giving, healing, and revolutionary strength of this love, the Holy Spirit who accompanies us in all things, urging us to see love, beauty, compassion, and wonder everywhere we are and in every situation?

Candidate: I do.

Speaker 3: Then will you live out these beliefs as an ordained minister, strengthened to do the good work of the Gospel, to return always to grace and restoration, to cry “justice” when justice is demanded, and to act at the moving of the Spirit?

Candidate: I will.

Speaker 3: Will you in your ministry administer the sacraments and celebrate the ceremonies of the Christian life to those who have been rejected; will you teach and preach the Good News to the lost and the lonely; and will you bind up the brokenhearted in community, solidarity, and care?

Candidate: By God’s grace and the challenge and support of the community of faith, I will.

Acclamation and Laying on of Hands

written by Jo Schonewolf, inspired by previous CWACM services

Acclamation

Gathered friends, you have heard the promises that the Candidate has made. What is your will?

People: Let us ordain them.

Laying on of Hands

The laying on of hands is a traditional and symbolic act which invites the gathered community to recognize the ordinand and invoke the Spirit to fill these persons and their ministries with abundant life. I invite you to come forward and lay a hand on the Candidate or lay a hand on someone laying a hand on the Candidate, as we create a web connection and community.

Would you pray with me?

Holy God, Love Abundant and Never-ending,
You speak to us in places known and unknown,
Even the depths of our hearts.
We give you thanks that you have spoken to Jo
And that you have guided them and us to this moment.

Lover of all things,
You know all that is glorious in this world.
We delight in it along with you.
The dance of the stars in the night sky,
The beauty of the flower,
The rushing water,
The power of sacred words and sacred music,
The goodness of people gathered together.

And yet, Beloved-Made-Flesh,
You know the pain that lives alongside the delight.
You know the cry of the oppressed,
Because you yourself have cried it.
You know depths of despair,
Because you yourself have plumbed them.
You know the pain of exclusion, of discrimination,
Of criminalization, and of dehumanization.
You call the pain of the world into our sight.

God of all things, we hold these two together,
The beauty and tragedy of life,
As we lay hands on the Candidate.

We ordain them to a ministry of beauty:
May they share it and may they make it,
Always pointing back to you.
We ordain them to a ministry of justice:
May they find the places of despair in the world
And proclaim the year of your favor.
We ordain them to a ministry of healing:
May they carry your Word, your Sacraments,
And your unfailing love to those who long for it
Outside of the doors of your church.

May they never forget that their authority comes from you, Love,
That their call is rooted in community,
and that their ordination is not a lonely thing,
but a joining in the great dance of your redeeming work in the world.

May we all say together, Amen!

Consecration to ministries

written by Jo Schonewolf, inspired by previous CWACM services
led by Rev. Susan Morrison

Susan: Jo, to which ministries will you be consecrated this day?

Jo: To connect communities, especially the queer community, to Saratoga Springs UMC; to preach at Ballston Spa UMC; and to all opportunities for teaching, care, and justice in my communities near and far.

Susan places the stole on Jo as she says:

Susan: Addie Jo Schonewolf, take thou authority to preach the life-giving Word of God, to administer the Holy, restorative Sacraments, and to order the life of Christ’s Church and all justice-seeking communities in your care; in the name of the who we know as Lover, Beloved, and Love, God the Parent, Child, and Spirit.

Friends, I present to you The Reverend Addie Jo Schonewolf, ordained this day by this gathered community as clergy in the Church Within A Church Movement.

And now, let us come to the table.