Ordination Sermon
The Narrative Arc of Creation
A sermon for the Ordination of Michael Jackson Chaney, Jr.
Isaiah 6:1-8 and Ephesians 4:7,11-16
Professor Chaney. Just one question. Didn’t you have enough to do already? At one level, I get it. Jesus has worked in the movies for a long time. From Pathé’s 1902 hand-colored Life and Passion of Jesus to Passolini’s gay, marxist interpretation in the Gospel According to Saint Matthew or from the agnostic Jesus Christ Superstar to the challenging Jesus of Montreal and the Last Temptation of Christ, the Gospels and film, any of us can understand, but Chaney, honestly, why priesthood? Is Chaney time—driven by breathlessly running to get to the next thing—not challenging enough for you? Do you really want to take the teetering jumble of sometimes conflicting demands of your life and add the sacramental role of priest to the mix?
My dear congregation, I have gotten ahead of myself. I have tried to jump to the end of the second act. What am I thinking? How can we possibly appreciate the rising action that has our hero dealing with one plot twist after another as obstacle after obstacle rises to prevent him from achieving his dramatic need? We have yet to dive into the first act? We haven’t had near enough exposition to set up the character arc. Let us begin again.
Michael Jackson Chaney, Jr. hit the jackpot in the lottery at birth by being born white, heterosexual and male in the Deep South. To complete the picture of social privilege, he was initiated into the Christian faith before he even knew what it was or what it could mean for him—baptized in the Episcopal church in a small Mississippi town. Michael grew up in the center of the known universe. His social location rested securely at the top of the heap.
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Like most all children, Michael saw readily the interconnectedness of all things. Through his eyes of innocence, he remained in “in constant amazement of nonstop encounters with new stimuli” as he connected, empathized and shared “in the wonder, love and tragedy” he encountered. The very first inklings of a calling as artist emerged as he drew on the back of church bulletins on Sunday mornings.
Once in Junior High, Michael attended youth retreats at the Episcopal camp and there he found “girls who were interested in creative and iconoclastic boys” like him. That was enough to galvanize his interest, but fortunately for our story, he also discovered what he would “later come to recognize as God’s grace” and “felt accepted for who [he] was becoming as a person and [he] felt encouraged to grow and foster his artistic talents as an expression of the spirit.”
This sermon continues here: The Narrative Arc of Creation
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