Congratulations to Christine Evans on her ordination at Hope Central Church last night. And congrats to the Hope community for their 15th ordination in six years. Five more candidates are in the process, seeking ordination either in the United Church of Christ or the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Christine, a fellow Disciples minister, asked me to offer the charge during the service and I thought I’d share my humble offering:

Reverend Christine Evans, by the grace of God you stand before us this night as an ordained minister in the Church of Jesus Christ. And what a night it is! There’s something about the way the bright light of this sanctuary is breaking into the darkness of the world outside as we approach the longest night. There’s something about voices raised in the harmony of song drifting on the cold night air.

One night a couple of years ago you and I were part of a group studying monasticism at Glastonbury Abbey, sitting in the living room as the professor read from the Epilogue to Thomas Merton’s Sign of Jonas: “The night, O My Lord, is a time of freedom. You have seen the morning and the night, and the night was better. In the night all things began, and in the night the end of all things has come before me. Baptized in the rivers of night, Gethsemani has recovered her innocence. Darkness brings a semblance of order before all things disappear. With the clock slung over my shoulder … it is my time to be the night watchman in the house that will one day perish.”

Christine, I charge you to be the night watchman in the house that will one day perish. The church as we know it needs to be born anew with the coming of the reign of peace and justice, the reign of Christ for which we watch and work these long nights of Advent.

And as a watchman I charge you to be vigilant, alert to the in-breaking of God’s light into the world and to sound the alarm that will awaken a sleeping humanity to the dawn of hope. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “It is the God who said: ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 4:6)

Christine, as a herald of the Good News of the coming of the light of Christ, I charge you to let your light shine by living a life worthy of being called a Disciple of Christ. And as a minister of Word and Sacrament you will need to become ever more intimate with the Scriptures, the traditions and history of the church, the spiritual practices that animate faith; grounding yourself in a life of watchfulness and diligence. The church does not need perfection in these tasks, it merely asks for faithfulness.

You have chosen to be ordained in a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. And you are charged as part of the one body of Christ to welcome all to the Lord’s Table, even as God has welcomed you and each of us. The welcome you extend will need to be extravagant, even seditious, in its inclusivity. You are charged to stand firm on the foundation of God’s steadfast love and in so doing withstand a world of warring madness, bigotry, and the powers of domination and oppression.

To serve faithfully in the office to which you have been ordained, Christine, never underestimate the time and effort you need to rejuvenate your spirit, soul, and body. Care well for the treasure God has entrusted to you. Consider yourself charged to find moments of rest and relaxation, moments to breathe, and to enjoy the simple beauties of life. I charge you to laugh heartily, eat healthily (and sometimes unhealthily), and stretch your body in all those yoga poses you so enjoy.

Christine, as you nurture your own spirit, soul, and body and the spirits, souls, and bodies of those you will serve, make this ministry your own. Let your imagination soar even as you bend low and stick your hands into the earth, letting the light of Christ shine in where it is needed to make new things grow. Don’t be afraid to go beneath the surface. It was Walt Whitman who wrote: “From this hour I ordain myself free of limits and imaginary lines” (Song of the Open Road) and I charge you to live your life prophetically in the fullness of the freedom that Christ Jesus offers.

Lastly, in the words of Paul, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. … May the God of peace sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, 23)

May it be so. Amen.