No Ordinary Ordination

On Thursday night, the 11th of June, a bus party left from Greyfriars to head up the road to see the ordination into the ministry of Jane Blackley, who finished her 15 month probation with us last year. While she was applying for posts she helped in a few services and also carried on some of the pastoral work with us as well, so we got to hold onto her a wee bit longer.

In her time with us, Jane became a much beloved worship leader and friend. From my own personal experience, I was always amazed by how she remembered people and their lives, checking up after important dates, recalling worries and generally being very supportive, without ever being pushy. She was involved in all aspects of the church, most of which went on entirely out of my notice. One thing that was very precious to me were the meals that organised for the students in Greyfriars, where general fun and nutritious food (she struggled not to be a mother to us all) were the priority. Elsewhere in her Greyfriars life there were many stories, one particular favourite story of mine was the day she presided over a memorial service for Greyfriars Bobby. Fifty dogs versus one probationer. It was a drawn match.

So, in support of our friend, we tootled up the road, reading, chatting and snoozing all the way to Brechin,

Brechin Gardner Memorial Church

encountering in a roadside cafe a bus party from one of the earlier churches where Jane did her training. (Our bus was better). Jane was called to be minister of two congregations, Brechin Gardner Memorial and Farnell churches, the former in the town, the latter in the countryside. The induction service was in the larger Gardner church, which is a beautiful Art Nouveau-esque building in red sandstone with a serene garden, almost like a Cloister (wonderfully unpresbyterian). The rain had been on and off (the locals were worried for the Angus Show which was already set up for this weekend) but by the time we got there it was clear and sunny, with the light falling quietly in the sanctuary.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been at an ordination service, but they are, like weddings, generally lovely. There are lots of official things which must be carried out – edicts read, papers signed – but by far the most affecting thing is the ordination itself, which is performed with prayer and the laying on of hands. All the members of presbytery (for a wee introduction to the structure of the Church of Scotland, have a look here) gather round and place their hand on the person who is going to be ordained. Those who can’t reach (I love this bit) often touch someone who is touching the minister elect, so that they form this huge mass of folk all hoping for good things and blessings on one person. Then there is shaking hands, hugging, singing, and what not. After the service everyone troops out past the minister, chatting and congratulating, and maybe greetin a wee bit, and then food. The food part deserves a special mention to the ladies of Brechin Gardner Memorial. What. A. Spread.

It is, undoubtedly, a special time and a special service. And those performing the service stressed the fact that it did not mark the end of the journey – it is after all, the end of the minister’s training, and the (possibly very long) vacancy period in the church or churches involved – rather it is the beginning of a marathon. However, and Jane chatted about this in the days before the event, we mustn’t raise this ordination so far far above the ordination that Jane already undertook – ordination to the Eldership. As the very useful wikipedia entry on Ministers and elders reminds us, the minister is theologically understood as an elder with a special task – not above or superior to the rest of the Session (all the elders, including the minister, of a church) and, crucially, not the sole worker one responsible for what happens in that church.

Beyond the eldership, there is a very present sense in which all those who follow Jesus are ordained to ministry, a fact which is often stressed as such occasions, but nevertheless must be reiterated. The secondary definition of ‘Ordain’ is ‘To order by virtue of superior authority,’ there are few more superior authorities than the words of Jesus:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12: 30-31)

We are ordained, or ‘called’, to love, as simple as that. Jane is called to love those in her congregations and her community as their minister of word and sacrament, but she is still called to love all people, as she has done for all of her life lived before that moment of the laying on of hands. That call is for us too.

Ishbel McFarlane