Ordination Address - 26 Jul 1942

A huge crowd of people had been with our Lord the whole day, and they looked tired and hungry. It was a desert place where the people could not get anything to eat, and it was evening time. When our Lord asked the disciples to feed the people, they were surprised to receive such an order. There was some food with a small fellow, but how could they feed so many with so little food. In St. Matthew’s Gospel we read that our Lord said, “Bring them hither to me.” The world today is tired and hungry and people do not know what they want or who would satisfy their hunger. Many of them are homeless and starving and they are hungry for food and home. Many have seen nothing but hatred and cruelty in the world around them and they are craving for love and sympathy from their fellowmen, and for the establishment of peace and goodwill among the nations. Many are so troubled and disturbed in their minds that they are longing for peace within their souls. Many are longing to know what would give them freedom from the bondage of sin. There are many hungry for the knowledge of the true way of life and for a knowledge of the true God. When we look at the world and its various needs we realise how inadequate our resources. What can 116 clergy do in a country of about 6 million people? How can we Christians, being a very small minority in the country, ever hope to bring the rest of our countrymen into the fold of Christ? How can the Church, with such poor resources, face the hostile forces of materialism and superstition that we find in the country today? One great weakness of ours as individuals and as a Church is diffidence. The lack of success in our work is very often due to diffidence. Of course, if we are counting on our strength only, we have reasons to feel diffident. In our work for God if we rely on our material resources we will naturally feel feeble. But over and over again God has been teaching his servants that they should rely on their spiritual powers rather than on their material resources! 1) The Jews who returned to Jerusalem from their captivity in Babylon resolved to restore the worship of the Lord in his holy place. To begin with they had large hopes and plans and they toiled hard. But they were poor and few and surrounded by enemies. They felt they could not carry on their work. When they were disheartened and discouraged God sends them a message: ‘Not by might nor by

power but by my spirit.’ God did help them to build the temple of Jerusalem. 2) Again, the spies returned from Canaan with their report of the strength of its fortifications and the presence of the children of Anakim and giants. Yet Israel conquered Canaan. ‘Lord,’ the disciples said, ‘there is a lad here with five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?’ Yet the multitude was fed. My brother, you have come to one of the most solemn hours of your life. When you consider your abilities, talents and powers it is natural that you should feel what very little you are bringing to the Lord for his services. You will feel that all you have acquired are not adequate to meet the needs of the people you are called to serve. But our Lord says to you, ‘Bring them hither to me.’ So you bring them to the Lord, though they be only five loaves and two fishes. He will bless them and feed the hungry souls that are waiting to be fed. By your study and reading you have been preparing for this sacred office for many years. You have submitted yourself to the discipline of a Theological College and of a community life in the Christa Seva Sangam in order to bring a trained and disciplined mind and body to the work of our Lord. You have learnt the value of prayer and devotions as sources of spiritual power, and have acquired habits which shall be an asset in your ministry. Bring all your learning, all the knowledge you have acquired, all the valuable habits you have formed, all your special talents and powers to our Lord and place them at his feet that he may bless them, and ask him to feed the hungry souls. When you are called upon to preach you will, no doubt, take great pains to prepare your sermons, but when you have done your best bring everything to the Lord for his blessing. Before you go into the pulpit recall the scene of the Feeding of the Five Thousand and ask God to accept your preparation with all its imperfections and use it to feed the hungry souls. You will have already realised that God works in the hearts of His people in most unexpected ways. He uses us and our words in ways we do not know. A sermon you preach, an ordinary conversation with a person you have met by chance, a visit to a home may not appear to you to have any worth, but God may use them for the benefit of his people. Therefore learn to bring all your gifts and talents to God daily for them to be touched and blessed by him. One more thing: There is a capacity of yours that will be taxed to the utmost in your ministry. It is your capacity to love. Your success as a priest will depend largely on your capacity to extend to your fellowmen your love and sympathy. You will come into contact with men daily. Some of them, you will learn to love quite easily, while others you will find difficult to love. Love is an act of will and must not be allowed to depend on your likes and dislikes. Remember that our Lord loved even his enemies. I am sure it is love of your fellow-men that prompted you to leave your home and people and go to work in India to be in charge of the hostel for Indian students managed by the Christa Seva Sangam. It is love for the souls of men in the fighting forces too that urged you to decide to accept your curacy in Trincomalee. Love is one of the natural faculties of the human soul, but it can be heightened by divine power to a giant strength. You need to bring to God daily your love for your fellowmen with all its blemishes and shortcomings. You need to have your natural love inspired by him who laid down his life for men. As you have come here to dedicate yourself to God’s service and to receive the Holy Spirit, we will pray that the Holy Spirit may breathe upon your natural love till it is a flame of fire.

In conclusion, may I suggest to you a picture which I would like you to constantly recall during your ministry, specially when you go to God’s holy altar. It is one of the ceremonies of Jewish Sacrifice called the ‘wave offering’. The priest held an offering in his hands and waved or moved it, not from side to side, but towards the altar and back again. It symbolises the offering of ourselves first held out, presented, given to God to be consecrated, illumined, filled, inspired with his shining and His gifts, and then given back by Him for use among men. May your prayer be today as well as every day of your life, ‘Lord take me, with all that taking involves, that thou mayest give me back to the world filled with thy gifts.’