A Sermon preached at the Ordination of Father Ben Brown

St. Peter’s Pro-Cathedral – 25 July 2009

It was a perfect Friday evening in July, the kind of evening you see in all the Hollywood movies, deliciously warm in temperature with a perpetually lingering brilliant orange twilight. I was eighteen years old and according to my parents pursuing a career in the superfluity of naughtiness. Much to my dad’s chagrin, my list of farm chores had been completed earlier than expected so I was heading off into town to spend some time with my friends. As I was sauntering across the yard to our car (like all eighteen year olds), my parents came out onto our front porch. They looked a little like Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic, and gave me a charge that forever seared my mind, like the branding iron of an old cowboy. They said, “We trust you.” Those simple three words, two pronouns and a verb, altered not only my evening plans, but the plans all my future evenings. My parents trusted me, I knew I did not earn their trust, but they still trusted me and that meant that I could not do as I wanted to do, I had to act in such a way as to live up to this simple charge.

One of the definitions of the word “charge” in the Oxford American Dictionary is “To give as a task or duty, to entrust.” I do not know what my parents intended that beautiful Friday evening, but they fully satisfied this definition of a charge. I too, following the example of my parents, would like to use this definition of a charge this morning.

My good and dear friend, Deacon Ben Brown, we are gathered here at St. Peter’s because we trust you. In a few short moments, Bishop Provence will publicly affirm our trust in you by laying his hands on you to ordain you as a Priest. We trust you. However, you must know something, something very important, we do not trust you because of anything you possess, or because of any intrinsic quality you have.

You are intelligent; you have proven your intelligence by passing both the written and oral tests given you by the Board of Examining Chaplains. However, we do not trust you because you are intelligent, for intelligent men do not always make good Priests as the author of Ecclesiastes said, “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.” Or consider the words of St. Paul in I Corinthians, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” Deacon Brown, you are intelligent, but we do not trust you because you are intelligent.

Deacon Brown, you are a good man, you have proven your goodness personally to my family and I and universally to all those gathered here today. However, we do not trust you because you are good, for good men do not always make good Priests. The Pharisees were good men and outstanding citizens, yet our Lord said in Matthew 5:20, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Moreover, as the Prophet Isaiah said, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Deacon Brown, you are a good man, but we do not trust you because you are good.

You are a good leader; you have proven your leadership capabilities in your diaconal leadership of St. Francis Anglican Church. However, we do not trust you because you are a good leader; good leaders do not necessarily make good Priests. King Herod the Great had many great leadership capabilities.

Deacon Ben (soon to be Father Ben) you are an intelligent, good and capable man. We trust you, but not because of these qualities that you possess, but because of who possesses you! You have been bought with a price, you are no longer your own, you belong to Jesus Christ who has purchased you with his own blood. His blood covers you, just as the blood of the slain lamb covered the doorways of the Jewish houses during the Passover. We trust you, not because of who you are, but because of who Jesus is. We trust Him and because He has chosen you to be His child, because he has covered you with his blood, because you belong to him, we trust you.

Here is the good news, because we trust you, not on the basis of any quality you have, but on the basis of Jesus Christ, you are free to be a Priest. If we trusted you because of your intelligence, what would happen if you said something irrational and wrong? If we trusted you because you were good, what would happen if you screwed up? If we trusted you because you were a good leader, what would happen if you made a poor decision? If we trusted you because of your abilities and qualities we would inadvertently make you a slave to our opinion, but since we trust you because of Jesus Christ, you are free- free to be an intelligent, good and capable Priest.

Therefore, since you have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and since it is His blood that covers you and since we trust Him, we trust you. Therefore, here is my charge to you: we trust you…on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ. For this reason, heed the words of St. Paul when he said to the Corinthians, “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Your life and identity as a Priest is wrapped around Jesus Christ, therefore know him, preach him, pray him, taste him, savor him, love him and trust him!