read whole article - Episcopal Church Philippines

10
Opinions/Reflections/Sermons
Ordination Passing On
Confession of St. Peter
Sermon delivered during the Ordination of Joe Medina
to the Sacred Order of Priest
January 18, 2013
“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living
God.” How often has been this uttered,...
how often have it remained an utterance?
It is difficult for us to say this at this time-
it is easier said than done, as it must have
been for Peter, the disciple. We know now
that Christ is the Savior. We know now our necessity to
depend on him. We know now Christ is the Messiah.
But, there is always the tension of what we know and
believe and the realities of the present age. At the
moment, we declare God’s Lordship but the immediate
things that we face negate it. Thus, the two questions
raised by Jesus in our Gospel reading today are also.
He asks the disciples “Who do people say that I am?
Then he asks them a more personal question, “But,
who do you say I am?”Not that Jesus was engaged
in an ego-trip. Perhaps, he himself did not mind. But
he did mind that his disciples knew about what others
said about him. This is crucial- for those with pastoral
charge to know personally - pulsohan ang bayan at
huwag makuntento sa mga survey - basahin ang mga
pahayagan na may pagsusuri o yong tinatawag na
read between the lines, makinig sa balita (bagama’t
challenge and pakikinig sa balita ngayon) with a critical
perspective, that is, through the eyes of those affected
by events and decisions.Jesus wants us to constantly
think about who he is to us? And if we like Peter will
say “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God”,
what does it mean? It is easy to make declarations.
Harder it is to live these out. It is far more difficult to
live these out without having to be motivated primarily
by social privilege, economic comfort, political and
social prestige or influence. The reason is because
living these out means standing in solidarity with those
deprived of power and opportunity.My dear Joe, this is
the first time in my 27 years as an ordained minister
that someone insists I preach at both his ordinations to
Ordination...continued on p11
The Philippine EPISCOPALIAN
“It’s all about Frances and God”
We continue to celebrate Christmas for
whatever happened last week, Christmas
was surely to come. Like in Holy Week,
whatever happened from Palm Sunday
to Good Friday, it did not end there but Easter was
surely to come. And at Easter, Jesus won over death
and proved that there is indeed life after death. In
other words, it is in dying that new life is born. We
just witnessed last Christmas day - where was Jesus
born yet one faithful Christian died. And at the end of
this year is a funeral service before the a new year
unfolds. This is telling us that life must go on even
after one’s death, that death happens even after
one’s birth, and that grieving happens even during
just before celebrating a supposed happy new year.
I chose the same biblical text appointed this
year’s Christmas day to keep that joyous spirit of
Jesus birth even as we are experiencing sadness at
this very moment as a result of the death of a loved
one. I also believe that this Gospel text is telling us
something about our loved one who died because how
in the world did she die on Christmas day. Was this a
coincidence? or God’s design? or the dead person’s
design, or both? No one knows. What we do know is
that dying of one and birthing of another can happen
at the same time. And that, death is so vicious that
it can happen to anyone expectedly or unexpectedly,
and at anytime even at Christmas day. Now, allow me
please to help us reflect further.
Particularly on the first five verses in the
Gospel appointed today, the evangelist John writes:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things came into being through him, and
without him not one thing came into being. What has
come into being in him was life, and the life was the
light of all people. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
The first key word here is the word “Word”.
WORD here is referred to Jesus where even before
everything was created he was already in the mind
of God. Jesus was with God even before Genesis
Passing on....continued on p12