"Responding to the Call: Service for the Ordering of Ministry in The United Methodist Church" took place Monday evening.
Doug Smith
Before a nearly-full house, the participants of the service processed into the coliseum to a variety of hymns. Following prayer led by Bishop Kammerer, an anthem was sung by the Peninsula District Choir. The Rev. C. Douglas Smith of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy gave the Prayer for Illumination and read the Scripture Lesson from 2 Corinthians 5:14-20: "The love of Christ urges us all... In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself. .. So we are Ambassadors for Christ."
Bishop Kammerer titled her sermon, "Ambassadors for Christ."
She talked about Gandhi studying Christianity during his student days. "He read the Sermon on the Mount," she said, "and decided Christianity was the most complete religion in the world." She related that he lived with a Christian family later and changed his mind. He discovered the word of Christ rarely become flesh.
Bishop Kammerer pours water into the baptismal font.
"How visible is Jesus in your lives?" the bishop asked. "How visible is Jesus in our congregations and our communities. How powerful is our witnessing? Would it be said that our hearts burn within us as we read the Holy Scriptures as happened to John Wesley in his days?"
She said the Apostle Paul called upon all Christians to be ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador was the highest diplomatic official of the highest rank. "Paul understands himself and calls himself an ambassador for Christ. Paul was urging the early Christian church to take on that same role. Now it is our turn to take on that same invitation, not for the U.S. government but for Jesus Christ," Bishop Kammerer said.
Ambassadors understand they have a special calling to reconcile opposite views and people, the bishop said. "In the church, we are given this ministry of reconciliation. We are called to be ambassadors for him. In the climate we live in, we know tensions and wars happen because of the views of religious beliefs.
Carl Perez is commissioned a probationer.
"While we are still engaged in war, there is tension in citizens, and tensions in our churches about what the prophetic voice of our church should be. When we are in a time of war, we are still called to be ambassadors for Christ, that our peace is to be found in him."
The bishop explained that over the years she has come to a deeper appreciation of our Native American cultures. She told about a chief who lived until 1839. He once allowed a Christian missionary to read several passages of the Bible. The chief paused and said "It seems to be a good book. Strange that the white people are not better after having had this book for so long." What an indictment from him.
"The Apostle Paul understood that true ambassadors represented Christ and Christ alone," she said.
Pamela Clark Egan is ordained an elder.
Addressing those participating in the service she concluded, "You have been given an enormous responsiblity and an enormous privilege. You are an ambassador for Christ. What a privilege. What an honor. What a joy."
After examining all the candidates, the bishop licensed the local pastors, commissioned the probationer members and ordained the elders.
The bishop invited anyone in the audience who had felt moved by the evening's service to explore their call to come forward. Many responded to that call.
