Hey folks! Our current unit in the kids curriculum is about the Church: what it is, what it does, and what it means to be a part of it.
Click here for a general overview of the unit.
For the next three weeks we'll be continuing to discuss the "Ecclesial Sacraments."
We've been saying that the Church’s mission is to go and to gather. As it gathers, we are to be learning everything Jesus commanded us (Matt. 28:20). This week we're talking about the Sacrament of Holy Orders, or Ordination.
At the very beginning of the Church’s life, Jesus set apart thirteen men (the twelve disciples - Judas + Matthias + Saul/Paul) and sent them (greek for sent = “apostolos,” English = “apostles”) gave them the authority and responsibility to lead the Church in his way.
He also commissioned them to receive and carry that authority down through history by setting apart others as “overseers” (bishops), “elders” (priests), and “servants” (deacons).
This setting apart is the ordination of an individual to “Holy Orders.”
The sacrament of Holy Orders is, simply, the ordination of individuals to one of three offices in the leadership of the Church: Bishop, Priest, and Deacon. In the New Testament, “Bishop” (episcopos) and “Priest” (presbyteros) are used essentially interchangeably. But as the Church grew rapidly, by the second century (i.e., the 100s) the Bishop and Priest developed into two offices.
Bishops are those who are given the highest authority and responsibility to guard the apostolic teaching (cf. 2 Tim. 1:14) and oversee the ministry of the Church’s priests and deacons.
To become a bishop is to be joined to the succession of apostolic authority, all the way back to the beginning of the Church (when our bishop was ordained recently, he was given an actual chart that traced the successive ordinations of bishops from his ordination all the way back to the Apostles!).
The way things work these days (as they have for a loooooong time) is like this: Bishops oversee a group of churches and take ultimate responsibility for what occurs there. This group of churches is called a “diocese.” The bishop ordains priests to function on his behalf (since he can’t be everywhere at once) to preach, administer the sacraments (specifically the Eucharist), and shepherd God’s people within that diocese.
The bishop also ordains deacons as servants of the church who also preach, administer some sacraments, and shepherd the flock in service to a particular parish’s priest.
As Anglicans, we joyfully receive this threefold structure as the normative ordering of the Church.
Scripture to consider:
John 20:22-23
Matthew 18:18-20
2 Tim 1:6-14
1 Tim. 3:1-13
Titus 1:5-9
Questions for your kids
Why do you think it's important to have people set apart to teach and provide the sacraments to God's people?
Who are the priests at our church? What do you see them doing? Why do you think they do it?
What do you think it would be like to be a bishop, priest, or a deacon?
Holy Imagination
Learning the faith isn't just about memorizing facts. It's about seeing the world as it really is: "charged with the grandeur of God."
Read the Story of St. Ambrose attached here:
Why do you think he was hesitant to become a bishop?
And how did he "guard the good deposit" that was entrusted to him as a teacher of the faith?
Peace,
Danny+