Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-4
It’s Time for Good News!
By Rev. Dr. Sarah Lund
Rev. Lianna Campos Ordination Sermon, October 12, 2024
First Congregational UCC of Indianapolis, IN
I first met Lianna over 7 years ago when she served on the search committee at First Congregational. She was a school math teacher and a newlywed.
From my interactions with her as I continued in the interview process to be called as the first woman senior pastor at First Congregational since its founding in 1857, I knew right away how much Lianna loved learning, loved Josh, and loved Jesus.
I am deeply honored and filled with joy to be celebrating today and I give thanks for the important role Lianna played in calling me to this congregation.
Lianna also served on our pastor congregation relations committee, and in our worship and faith formation ministries that helped install the prayground in our sanctuary.
Her support of me and my ministry has been significant and I am grateful.
The scripture Lianna chose for her ordination service is a passage from the prophet Isaiah that biblical scholars describe as arising from people in pain.
Ancient Jerusalem has been devastated.
Isaiah’s community members are grieving the loss of their old ways of life. The people are in mourning, they are frustrated and feeling humiliated. Things are not the way they used to be.
The people have failed to bring back the glory days.
Institutions have crumbled and fallen. The work of repair and rebuilding is slow and costly. The workers are few.
The people dream about accomplishing what has been too difficult: rebuilding Jerusalem as a city where righteousness and justice flourish.
Sound familiar, church?
The Isaiah 61 passage is also an Advent story, helping us prepare for the ways Jesus will restore justice for humankind.
Jesus’ own ministry reflects the calling of Isaiah, as the gospel account recalls Jesus reading from the Isaiah scroll at the beginning of his ministry.
The prophet Isaiah’s passion echoes through the centuries, speaking a powerful word for the church to hear today.
Old Testament scholar Dr. Corrine Carvalho says, “As an Advent text, Isaiah 61 is not just about the ability and desire of God to heal human wounds.
It is a call to be the bodies through whom divine justice becomes a reality, not just within our own small communities, but to the whole world.”
Listen again to these words, as we apply them to the ancient rite of ordination. An advent of Lianna’s authorized ministry in the United Church of Christ.
There are three parts.
First is the call of God and the Spirit’s anointing.
Second are the five key aspects of ministry.
Third are the ways our ministries impact the world because of God’s grace.
Scripture says,
“The Spirit of Exalted YHWH is upon me, for YHWH has anointed me:
Here are the five ways the Spirit anoints us to do the work of God:
God has sent me to bring good news to those who are poor;
to heal broken hearts;
to proclaim release to those held captive and liberation to those in prison;
to announce a year of favor from YHWH, and the day of God’s vindication;
to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who grieve in Zion—to give them a wreath of flowers instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of tears, a cloak of praise instead of despair.
And according to Isaiah, God will bless your ministry for two reasons:
They will be known as trees of integrity, planted by YHWH to display God’s glory.
They will restore the ancient ruins, and rebuild sites long devastated; they will repair the ruined cities, neglected for generations.
These are powerful words the Still Speaking God has spoken to us this day!
Generational cycles of abuse, harm, violence, trauma, neglect, discrimination and bias will be healed.
It’s time for some good news!
Restoration, rebuilding, and repair will come from this liberating healing work.
Most of this healing will be internal.
The inner workings of the mind, heart, and soul.
This is where most of our work begins in ministry.
It’s the slow, quiet work of healing.
The results of ministry are often invisible.
The impacts of ministry are underground, deep at the root level.
The trees of integrity the prophet Isaiah dreamed about, these are the roots ministry nourishes: integrity for the sake of God’s glory.
Time for some real talk: Ministry is not glorious.
It is often messy, tiresome, and tedious.
October is pastor appreciation month, yet most pastors go unappreciated despite the fact such a month exists.
So in case no one has yet appreciated you, let’s pause to say to our pastors gathered here today: “Thank you!”
Ministry according to Pastor Isaiah is good news.
Ministry according to Pastor Isaiah is why many of us felt the call and answered the call.
We heard the same Spirit of Yahweh that Isaiah heard.
We were anointed with the same oil that dripped onto Pastor Isaiah.
And you, Lianna, you too, now, join in this number.
You too, Lianna, have heard the calling of the Spirit of God, Wisdom Spirit, Sophia.
You, too, Lianna have been anointed by the Spirit of God to bring the good news into this world.
All of us gathered here today at First Congregational of Indianapolis and gathered with you online from all over the country, we are here to confirm, affirm, and celebrate your calling to be ordained into authorized ministry.
Today we make it official in the United Church of Christ.
Today we ordain you!
The Spirit of God is upon us!
The Spirit of God anoints us, falls afresh on us, to bless this ordination of one called, equipped, and deeply loved by God.
Lianna, know this: wherever the Spirit leads you from this day forward: you carry within you all that you need because God is with you, God’s Spirit is upon you.
There is nowhere you can go where God is not there.
There is no trouble you can encounter where God will not help you.
There is no shadow of the valley you may walk through where God’s light won’t guide you.
For the Spirit of God is upon you, Lianna. And She shines her light of love before you, behind you, below you, and above you, and within you.
On this your ordination day, remember and know without a doubt, Lianna, that you are forever loved by God.
Not because you are perfect, because nobody is perfect, including us ministers.
You are called and anointed and blessed because you are God’s child.
Jesus was often questioned about where his authority came from. Who do you think you are?
Minister face the same challenges, especially if you are a woman, young, a person of color, LGBTQ and/or neurodivergent or disabled.
People will wonder.
Who does she think she is??
Well, Isaiah reminds us, and reminded Jesus, that who we are
Is called.
Anointed.
And blessed!
And you, Lianna, are called, anointed and blessed. So if anyone, including yourself, ever questions your authority. Here is all you need to know.
You are called.
You are anointed.
You are blessed.
Period.
The healing journey you have traveled and continue to travel is part of the living Gospel of the Still Speaking God.
God’s good news continues in your life and in your ministry.
So keep doing all the things that bring you healing, wholeness, health, wellbeing and joy for your human body/mind/spirit.
Your spiritual, mental health, physical health and personal relationships with family and friends—these commitments will keep you rooted in God’s love.
Keep you connected to joy.
Keep you in the light.
As ministers called into the shadows of injustice, we need rituals and practices and sabbaths where we can bathe ourselves in the light of God’s Spirit, the light of Jesus Christ.
Lianna, tend to your light.
When it starts to fade, pause what you are doing and make a change.
Let other people you trust shine a light upon you.
Don’t let your light get burned out.
We need your light to shine!
We need you to survive.
We need you to thrive and flourish.
Discern what is yours to do and what is not.
Be ok with saying “no” often.
This will give you freedom.
Create your own way because the church may not have ever imagined what you dreamed of and that’s ok.
Be bold in casting your visions and speak up for what you believe is right.
Honor the burning fire inside of you and let this fire guide you.
Be liberated to be all who God is calling you to become.
And I know we, the church universal, will be blessed by the calling, anointing, and ordaining of Lianna Campos.
Dearly Beloved, it’s time for good news.
Let us ordained her!
May it be so.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
