I was privileged to attend the Institution and Induction of a new Reverend in a neighbouring Anglican church and I was very blessed by the ceremonial way in which this vicar was presented to the congregation and accepted and prayed for by the congregation, senior Reverends and Bishops and local leaders of the area.
Something in particular though caught my attention and it was the last item on the program titled ‘The Commission of The People Of God’. This consisted of a series of questions presented by the Bishop of the City to the congregation who were to reply to each one by saying ‘With the Help of God We Will.‘ I began to ask myself can I truthfully answer these questions in the affirmative? Below are the questions with the expected response:
Bishop: Will you continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers?
People: With the Help of God We Will
Bishop: Will you persevere in resisting evil and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People: With the Help of God We Will
Bishop: Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ?
People: With the Help of God We Will
Bishop: Will you seek and serve Christ in all people, loving your neighbour as yourself?
People: With the Help of God We Will
Bishop: Will you acknowledge Christ’s authority over human society, by prayer for the world and its leaders, by defending the weak and by seeking peace and justice?
People: With the Help of God We Will
These questions form the basis of how we are to live out our Christian Walk. How far have we travelled from these principles? If we ask ourselves honestly to analyse every word of every question, can we say yes we are doing it already?
Perhaps we need to re-covenant as I did when answering these questions to do better with the help of God, perhaps we should print out these questions and paste them around our houses as a daily reminder of what we should be doing.
Finally the Bishop gave a charge titled ”The Sending Out’ which was equally challenging but encouraging:
Go out into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no-one evil for evil; strengthen the faint-hearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honour everyone; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of The Holy Spirit and the blessing of the Lord Almighty, the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you always. Amen
