New Beginnings

This morning we are celebrating three new beginnings.

The first, of course, is Carol’s first Eucharist.  It is always a great joy to share in a priest’s first Eucharist. It is something that a priest remembers for the rest of life.  We, who have shared in Carol’s first year of ordained ministry as a Deacon have watched her grow into the job, as it were, and we have come to value all that she has to offer us. She came to us with many developed skills but the real joy has been to watch her tackle new things – some of which she did not feel competent to tackle – and yet manage to do them with conscientiousness, competence and charisma. 

I use that third word deliberately because charisma is a God word. One of the meanings the dictionary gives it is ‘personal magnetism, and exceptional ability to attract and influence others, and whilst I have no doubt that there is an element of this in Carol it isn’t the meaning I want to concentrate on.  It is the other, more theological, meaning that matters most – a divinely inspired gift or power –which is given by the Holy Spirit.  Those who were present at last week’s ordination – or any who have been to an ordination or confirmation may remember that part of the service is the singing of an ancient Christian Hymn known as the Veni Creator Spiritus which begins with the words:

Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire

Through this we are reminded that it is the Holy Spirit who fills us with God’s power to act in His name and to be energised with His Love.

Charisma comes from a Greek word meaning Grace and it is the breaking through of God’s grace into our Lives so that it can be  described as God working in us. Another way of putting that is God dwelling in our hearts.

It is essential therefore for the growth of personal holiness but that is only half of the story.  It is also a gift from God to the Church for the world and so it is not simply for ourselves but for others.  A priest at ordination reaches a particular point in personal vocation and there is a sense that it is a fulfilment of a journey of faith which began at baptism. Our ‘Yes’ to God leads us from one thing to another.  We almost fall into the things we do!  You agree to do a little job for the Vicar. You are seen as a ‘willing horse’ so you get another job and so it goes on – until you are well and truly hooked.  Well, that’s what it felt like for me – and I daresay for Carol.

There’s a warning here!  Do be careful if the Rector asks you to do something. You never know where it might lead!  But, of course, it isn’t a particular person doing the asking – it is always God. He simply uses human instruments, human voices.  Those who take God seriously must expect Him to take them seriously – and anything we do for God is but a giving back in response to the immensity of His giving to us.  This can be put very simply as: Recognising that God loves you, you fall in love with God and so you want to share that love with others.

That is the very stuff of vocation – or responding to God’s Call.  But it is not just a personal thing. A priest is called to be set apart FOR OTHERS.  It is in a life devoted to serving God in others; through teaching, preaching, pastoral care and through helping others to grow spiritually – by feeding them with Word and Sacrament that the priest spends a life lived out for others.  It is this life, now to be lived out in a special way, that Carol has just begun.  So today is a new beginning for her and for those who will receive and share a ministry which belongs to both the Church and to Christ.

It is also a new beginning for Ollie Purdue.  He has yet, of course, to make his own personal ‘Yes’ to God and to recognise God’s immense love for him.  Even so, that love is already acting on and in his life through the love he is receiving from Clare and Lester, from his family, his relatives and friends.  He has already been shown how precious he is to his family and, from today, he will be precious in the heart of the Church.  Underlying all this is how precious he is to God.  One day, we hope that he will come to recognise this and respond to it.  But today, in a few minutes, as he is baptised, he will receive Charisma – the Grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit so that he will begin to live his life as a Christian – a follower of Jesus Christ who, as we shall hear, claims him for his own.  

In his early years this action of grace will not necessarily be obvious – it may be, as one religious thinker has put it - secret and silent – but it is real nonetheless.  It is nothing other than the love of God poured continuously into Ollie nurturing him as surely as the food he will eat.  And it will set him on a lifelong journey of faith which we pray will find fulfilment  in the kind of loving, giving and generous-hearted person we hope that he will become – one who will live his life for the good of others.  Ollie begins an exciting new life today and it is with joy that we share in his new beginning signified by His Baptism.

The third New Beginning we celebrate is that of St. Thomas, whose feast day we keep today.  Thomas, as you will recall, was a devoted friend of Jesus but like all his friends, Thomas ran away when the going got tough. He was not there when the soldiers crucified Jesus and was therefore no support to his dearest friend in his deepest need.  After the Resurrection when Jesus appeared to His disciples, Thomas was absent for some reason and when the others told him the Good News of Easter, he had trouble believing.  We call him ‘doubting Thomas’ because of this.  But it wasn’t that Thomas didn’t want to believe – quite the opposite. He just thought that it was too good to be true.  When, therefore, Jesus appeared to him, eight days later and invited Thomas to touch the wounds of the Crucifixion, Thomas was suddenly filled with a burst of new belief.  He cried out with words of worship and praise – “My Lord and My God!”

This was a moment of extraordinary grace as God’s love flooded his heart. It is one of the most pure prayers of the entire bible and expressed out of deepest faith.  It signalled a new beginning for him. From then on he was eager to tell people about His Lord and to live His life totally for God and for others.  Sometimes in our own journeys of faith – and it will be true for Ollie as it is for us and for Carol (because even priests are not immune) there will be times of darkness and doubt; of wanting to give up and give in.  But Thomas is our hope.

God never leaves us dangling in despair. He loves us far too much for that. His grace – the love which makes Him God – comes rushing to us if we let it.

For all of us, always, there is a chance for a new beginning.  We must take it.

It is a Charismatic – God-filled moment.