Celebrating Ten New Presbyters in the Church of God

It was a beautiful day in the Los Angeles neighborhood ... and a great day for an ordination service!

So we did what Anglicans "do" when it's time to ordain new priests ...

... got a cathedral lined up and found a crucifer to lead the procession. Then we herded a bunch of clergy into line (NO small task, that!) ...
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And got ready to process to (you guessed it!) ... "St. Patrick's Breastplate."

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Now, the ordaining of new clergy is the main reason for the celebration, but let's face it ... seeing old friends and connecting with colleagues we usually only see on "Facebook" is also worth celebrating. (Here's me with friend Albert Ogle.)
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Cue Music: (click video to play)

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And here they are ... two-hours-and-change later: 10 New Presbyters in the Church of God with their bishops and the preacher du jour ... Grace Cathedral's Canon Mary Haddad. (Great sermon, Mary!)

And here's my friend Vicki Mouradian giving +Jon a blessing at the end of a VERY blessed day.

It was a great day to be an Episcopalian ... an Angeleno ... and I found myself thinking about some of the "ghosts of ordinations past."

I remember singing the same anthem the choir sang today -- Friedell's "Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether" -- at my friend (now Dean of St. Paul's, San Diego) Scott Richardson's ordination in (I think) 1990. Maybe 1991. Whatever. A long time ago.

I remember the year someone missed that the names of the year-before's ordinands were listed in the litany instead of that year's crop ... and the litanist didn't miss a beat and prayed God's blessing a whole slew of last year's priests. Oh well.

I remember the year we ordained the first "openly gay" priest in this diocese. I was the litanist that year and my cue to move to the lectern was when the bishop asked if there was any "crime or impediment" ... and I remember literally feeling the intake of 1000 people holding their breath ... and all was well.

I remember my own ordination when my son thought the mounted police who were gathered in the parking lot adjacent to St. John's to monitor a protest going on further down Figueroa Boulevard were there "to make sure my mom gets ordained." (At least that's what he told his Grandma!)

And I remember the year we ordained Robert Two Bulls and the procession was led by the MOST amazing corps of Native American drummers ... and how when they stood in the narthex it felt as though St. John's might just be pulsing with the heartbeat of the universe ... and then as the last drum beat faded into the first chords of St. Patrick's Breastplate and we processed down the aisle into the packed cathedral ... well ... it was the kind of moment you remember when you're remembering those kinds of moments.
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So congratulations to Anna, Jeffrey; Shannon, Allison, William, Elizabeth, Victoria, Loren, Kirby and Richard. May God richly bless you in your lives and ministries ... and may the One who has given you the will to do all these things give you grace and power to accomplish them!

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