Alleluia, alleluia!
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
Alleluia!
GOSPEL: Luke; 4:14-21
Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the
synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they
handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the
place where it is written: Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord's year of favour
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, 'This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen'
[and he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips].
Today having
been on a retreat to prepare himself spiritually Canon Crean has in the words
spoken today to be appropriate
This ‘today’
is appropriate because Jesus fulfils all the hopes and longings and yearnings
of the people of Israel. Without their fully realising it the longed for Messiah
is in their midst.
I hope it is
not too fanciful for me to extend this metaphor to Bishop-elect William Crean's ordination today:
The
spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord's year of favour
Firstly
Jesus
proclaims the words of the prophet Isaiah, on the Sabbath day, who speaks of a
choice, an anointing, a call to proclamation of good news to those who need to
hear it, news of freedom and light in a year of favour.
In the choppy
waters of a recession, but more importantly at a crucial time in our history
with the many the challenges to faith and to vulnerable life
It is the Lord’s
work – the year of favour - a year of blessings, of a renewal of faith,
a return to the doorway of our baptism and re-entering and rediscovering the
richness of our faith heritage. And the truths of our faith set us free.
It is good
news today as our diocese can now take a new course in the Year of faith
symbolised by boat – as we can now set sail with a captain of the boat in our
diocese again
Secondly, we hear the words:
The
spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.
We pray for canon
William Crean who on this our Sabbath day - who will receive the Holy
Spirit in the sacrament of holy Orders, who will receive a divine
commissioning : -
He,
likewise, will be anointed on the palms of his hands with the oil of chrism who has been sent to us
fittingly in the year of faith.
Also he is
called to take and to urge us also to take up the call, the challenge of the
year of faith, the call of Jesus Christ.
Thirdly,
Referring back to the Gospel reading, we read that ‘They
handed him the scroll’
In the ordination ceremony today Bishop elect Crean is
blessed with the Sacred Scriptures – the book of the Gospels is placed on his
head, and in the prayer of consecration
we hear the words: ‘so now pour out
upon this chosen one that power which is
from you the governing Spirit whom you gave to your son Jesus Christ..’
After his anointing Bishop Crean is presented with the
Book of the Gospels by the presiding celebrant, Archbishop Brown
Fourthly,
Jesus after
reading from the prophet Isaiah sits down and takes his seat and all eyes are fixed
on Him.
He
then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all
eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him
The bishop takes
his seat today over there on the sanctuary we have the specially designated
seat called the ‘cathedra’ which is
assigned only for the bishop and from which he speaks with the authority as a
successor to one of the Apostles.
All eyes
were fixed on him as he took his seat- with a look of expectation, joy and hope
as he takes his seat. Likewise today the eyes of at least 1100 people will
be fixed on Canon Crean today.
Finally,
May Bishop-elect
Crean he win the approval of all as Jesus does in the next verse of the Gospel of
Luke
May he
receive wisdom strength and courage
May God
bless him and our diocese
St Colman
Pray for us
Blessed
Thaddeus pray for us
Lovely prayerful ceremony this afternoon, with best wishes to Bishop William Crean today and always.
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