Priestly Ordination of Allen Junek
1 Corinthians 3:5-11 
Luke 24:13-35
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Austin

Some years ago I was working for a parish in downtown Philadelphia. One of their major outreach programs was the Saturday Soup Bowl, which began in the predawn hours as the city’s homeless population would make their way to the parish hall. I don’t make a secret of the fact that I do not consider myself a morning person, but one Saturday I mustered the strength to make my way down to the church. The parishioners who ran the meal intentionally treated their guests as, well, guests. Each place at the folding tables was set with a placemat and utensils, and a volunteer would bring the meal to each person as they sat down: a cup of coffee, a bowl of soup, a bit of bread. And so that morning I served my neighbors, many of whom I recognized from walks around the neighborhood; for most of them it would be the only hot meal of the week. After the initial wave there was a bit of a lull, and I took a step back to enjoy, or at least endure, my own cup of bitter parish hall coffee. As I looked around the room and took in the scene of the mass of humanity who had joined us that morning, I heard a voice in my mind, very clearly and entirely unprompted: “The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.” In that moment, my eyes were opened. There was Jesus, breaking bread right in front of me fifty times over, as he promised he would be, knitting together a communion of people who by rights should have nothing to do with one another. My heart warmed within me; for a moment I saw someone who had always been and would always be there, the moment when you see a loved one and realize, “Of course it’s you. It was always going to be you.”

God’s arrival in our lives will stop us in our tracks if we let it. As the disciples make the journey away from Jerusalem toward their home in Emmaus, a stranger comes alongside them and asks a simple question, and for a moment everything stops. “They stood still,” Luke tells us. “Are you the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on?” comes the reply. “Our world is in shambles, we are adrift, walking away from hope in a direction that we only chose because at least it’s familiar. There have been reports of what would be good news if only it were true, but we don’t trust the source–who would take us seriously if we took seriously those on the underside of society who are trying to show us something about God?” And although we do not recognize him yet, and although we have not yet trusted the good news that others have already brought us, Jesus begins the slow, long work of interpreting himself to us. In scripture and a sacred meal, he affirms everything we know in our hearts to be true, but are afraid is too good to be true. But study and careful explanation will only get us so far. We need to be human with each other too. Jesus sits with us and demonstrates that while he is the sustenance that nourishes body and soul, he is in need of something to eat too. He places a bit of bread in our waiting hands, and in that moment the resurrection becomes real. The stone is rolled away from our hearts, the embers of our love for the one who loved us first are fanned into flame, stilled hearts begin to beat, slack lungs fill with breath, adrenaline courses through every vein, and the body of Christ runs out into the world to find someone to tell. This is Jesus, our great High Priest, embodying the ministry of his people: to guide others to the places where he has promised to be found. Jesus waits for us in the opening of scripture and the sharing of good news, of any and all kinds. Jesus waits for us in the breaking of bread at folding tables and at this altar, where the gift of hospitality nourishes and strengthens feeble hearts. Jesus waits for us in the voices of the overlooked and disrespected and he waits for us in our ears when we dare to listen and trust.

We gather here to give great thanks that Allen has been the beneficiary of this, the Church’s ministry. We gather as a community of communities who have found Jesus where he promises to be found, who have stayed close to him, and invited others to do the same. Some of you planted, some of you watered. Some of you know intimately what it means to care for the sick, the poor, the overlooked and dispossessed. Some of you have nourished Allen in his moments of distress. Some of you have taught him how to pray. Some of you have shown him time and time again that God doesn’t make mistakes, and that includes him. But thanks be to God that God is the one who has given the growth, who has taken all of this and brought Allen to a place where he could look at a bit of bread placed in his hands and say, “Of course it’s you. It was always going to be you.” Today God gives another priest to the Church to keep us focused on Jesus and the places he has promised to be found, to embody Christ to the world even as he is known to us in the souls and bodies of all who need nourishment and a word of good news. God has been deeply, deeply good to us all in bringing Allen to this day.

My brother, as you continue on this path, remember those who have loved you into being, and your love for the one who loved you first. Hold it close, and hold close the people he brings to you, for the love that binds us together is the only thing worth staking your life upon. It is the only thing that will sustain you when the work is hard, when you question why you are here at all, when the love you dwell in and offer to others is not returned. Guide your people to the places where Jesus is, and not to the places where he is not. Pay close attention to the microscopic ways God is reordering the cosmos all around you. Remember to take deep breaths. Plant and water as you have been planted and watered, and let God do the rest, for we serve a God who is faithful, and today we have you to show for it.

Every ordination is a celebration of the ministry of all God’s people and of God’s faithfulness to us in calling and preparing leaders for that ministry. Every ordination is celebration that there are people who are just unhinged enough to say yes in laying down their lives for this vocation. Every ordination is a celebration that God is raising up people who were cast down, renewing that which had grown old, perfecting all things in and through Jesus Christ, the only foundation which has been laid for us to build upon. To God be the glory.