Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your
Father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that
all people may be gathered into one flock, this we pray by the power of your
Spirit. Amen.
Some
of you know the story of why I’m a priest. When I was a boy growing up at St.
Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Boynton Beach, Florida, I starting serving as an
acolyte when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. And I loved it. I loved being close
to the altar and I loved having this way to serve God and that’s where my call
to the priesthood began. In that parish, there were different classes of
acolytes, depending on one’s experience and reliability. The top one was called
the Level 4 acolyte, and no one had achieved that level since this program was
instituted. Well, I’m competitive enough and enough of a perfectionist that I
probably don’t need to tell you who the first was. As a small aside, all of the
acolytes wore wooden crosses around their necks when serving, but the Level 4
acolyte got a silver cross – and it’s still the one I wear to do this day when
I get vested for worship.
