Ordination

An Ordination is an amazing event. Our Vicar Jan is now a Pastor and we are a joy filled congregation. Our Nebraska Bishop delivered the sermon and conducted the ceremony. He is a man with a soft, warm, compassionate voice; he lives in grace and grace is what he bestows in the name of Jesus the Christ.

He Who Must Be Obeyed and I picked up a friend, who joined Holy Cross the same summer we became members. Events are made all the more memorable when they are shared. The church was filled with joy and joyful people. We missed the ordination of a great niece and are saddened for not being there.

My thoughts went to ordinations past and ones to come. At this moment we have a dear friend in my email folders as "Sara from Senegal." She spent a couple of years there in the Peace Corps and is now at Pacific Lutheran Seminary. She already pastors me by email.

A beloved cousin, Pastor HMS was ordained in my home town. My mother purchased his first stole. He wore it delivering her memorial service in the Cave Hills Lutheran Church. I thought of him, and her last night from my vigil seat at the ordination service.

One of my dear, dear friend's son's is a Catholic Priest. His ordination was unforgettable, drawing tears of holy wonder and thanksgiving. He studied at the Vatican and the Cardinal Red was an impressive sight as he took his vows during his ordination in Omaha.

Our red ecclesiastical paraments are only used at Pentecost and Reformation Sunday; and they were used last night. The attending pastor's stoles were red over their white albs. It was beautiful. Red for this Nebraska transplant does not remind me of football. It reminds me of my most holy spiritual beginnings.