By Elspeth Kernebone
7 February 2022
NEW Anglican deacons were urged to seek strength and peace in Jesus during their ordination ceremony.
Seventeen men and women were ordained as deacons in a service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday February 5.
Ridley College principal the Reverend Dr Brian Rosner preached on Psalm 29, linking its theme of God’s power in nature to Jesus’ power over the storm displayed in the Gospel of Mark, chapter four.
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Dr Rosner said the Psalm’s underlying message was the same as the message throughout the psalter: that no one is like the Lord God.
He said the psalm described the two gifts ordinands needed for their future: strength and peace from God. Strength to face the challenges of living a faithful and fruitful Christian life, and peace to face the inevitable disappointments.
But Dr Rosner said God’s power displayed in the storm throughout the psalm showed that when praying for strength and peace, Christians were praying to the supreme God, a glorious God of power and peace.
“It’s no accident that Jesus displays the same power over nature that we see in Psalm 29, for Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth. He sits enthroned over the flood as king forever, and we can pray to him with the power and peace that all of us need,” Dr Rosner said.
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“The Lord Jesus sits enthroned over the flood. The Lord Jesus Christ sits enthroned as king forever.
“May the Lord Jesus give strength to his people, particularly these ordinands. And may the Lord Jesus Christ give to his people the blessing of peace.”
Kathleen Alleaume Ross, Elizabeth Bolton, Elsa Carr, David Chiswell, Benjamin Scott Clements, Xeverie De-Leon, Kristen Dillon, Louis Glazebrook, Gavin Hansford, Bradley Jackson, Andrea Nagy, Terence Ng, Joshua Simon, Anastasia Slater, Lydia Jebaranee Thangadurainadar, Grace Wang and Samantha White were ordained as deacons at St Paul’s Cathedral.
