Pictured (left to right) Rev. Andrew McDonald, Rev. Lynnette Lightfoot (both ordained deacons), Bishop Victoria Matthews, and Rev Anne Price (ordained Priest) following the diocesan ordination service held in ChristChurch Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand on Saturday 29th November 2008.
The recent diocesan ordination service was enriched by stronger symbolism this year: the bishop presiding from the cathedra, cruciform prostration by the ordinands, vesting the new deacons in dalmatics, anointing the new priest’s hands with oil, censing the gifts,…
We are all too aware that medieval accretions cluttered and confused primary, powerful symbolism. But the stripping back to bare essentials has often resulted in the loss of the power of the symbolic altogether. And the aggrandising of words at the expense of action, gesture, and symbol. This is seeking from words a task for which they are not fit. With the rediscovery and renewal of the central symbol, it is good to see that symbolic life being enriched in a natural way, with the stresses in the right places. There is no fear that the wood will be lost for the trees.
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| Ordinations 29 Nov 2008 |
