By Mandy Stark

It was a day of being lavished upon with generous gifts of every kind…

Beautifully worded cards and floral bouquets, leadership books and Koorong gift-cards, long distances travelled bringing the gift of presence, even “ministry” earrings (the kind that don’t get you into trouble as a woman with those over-the-ears microphone headsets!!)

Gifts that are a tangible reminder of the gift of God’s people to us…

Our individual and collective communities, always supporting and affirming, as they’ve walked the years of the ordination journey with us, cheering us on, holding us up, calling us higher.

Gifts of the Ordination service itself…

The encouragement and exhortation of God’s Word, to be shepherds of God’s flock, having the same mindset as Christ Jesus, taking the very nature of a servant, and being presented with our individually chosen “Ordination Bibles”.

The affirmation and commendation of hearty handshakes and embraces, as we shared our unique stories, the telling of how our calling, character and ministry gifts have been discerned, tested and developed.

The sacredness of taking solemn vows of commitment to the ministry of the gospel, overawed by the responsibility as well as the privilege.

The laying on of hands in prayer, feeling filled up and fueled, blessed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, for a lifetime of called ministry.

Gifts that also reminded me of God’s calling…

The verse that God ultimately used to confirm his invitation to pursue ordained pastoral leadership…“I am giving you the service of the priesthood (or ordained ministry) as a gift” (Numbers 18:7).

It’s truly a gift of God’s grace…

The gift of being allowed to serve God, his people, and the world, as ordained pastoral leaders in the way we do, and to do this as part of a multi-generational, multi-cultural, pastoral leadership community, friends and peers for a life-time of ministry.

And so now, having received our Ordination as a gift from God…

We pray that we might somehow be God’s gift to others, as we seek to be the pastoral leaders he has called us to be, in whatever context he might call us to in the future, always trusting that…

“Faithful is he who calls [us], and he also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).