Clergy in the Diocese of Auckland have today been renewing their vows, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, the day set aside for thanksgiving for Holy Communion.

And they’ve been reminded that their sharing in the Eucharist is a key that can unlock them from the fantasies and false expectation that can be held by others – and by themselves.

The Rev’d Sarah Moss, who preached the sermon at Parnell’s Holy Trinity Cathedral this morning, quoted the Archbishop of Canterbury, who once said that ministry is about living in the fantasies and expectations of others.

“It can be a challenge,” said Rev’d Moss, who is the Chaplain at Auckland’s Diocesan School for Girls, “to maintain a sense of ‘self’ in the midst of these expectations.”

Taking part in the Eucharist is more than an intellectual recollection of historical events, she said.

It is a ‘re-membering’, a taking part in the self-offering of Christ that “goes a long way towards freeing us from the burden of expectation. It also saves us from the trap of thinking it is all down to us.”

Rev’d Moss said the importance of clergy taking time away from parish demands for the renewal of their vows was precisely that it “takes us out of our own schedule and reminds us that the work we share is the work of the whole Body, and is not just our own.”

She then reflected on her own return, in her twenties, to the Anglican Church.

“One of the most profound things about coming ‘home’ … was moving out of my seat to go to the altar to receive communion.

The “sacred interchange of the giving and receiving of the bread and wine, and standing alongside others as they did the same – was profound.

“It redefined the private act of the ‘me and my God’ experience… and made it a communal act of solidarity, with each other as much as with God.

“Sharing together the bread of life and cup of blessing is as liberating as it is unifying. It reminds us that we are defined by something other than fantasy and expectation… by something greater than a multitude of singular acts of devotion.

“It allows us to gather in unity amidst our diversity and it affirm the identity we find – and find again – when we are reminded of our place in the body of Christ. Sharing the one bread announces both our individual and our corporate participation in the divine life, into which we are drawn by the God who is at once beyond us, within us and between us.”

The service began on a poignant note – with Bishop Ross Bay paying tribute to the Rev’d Jenny Harrison, co-vicar of St Peter’s Onehunga, who “after a long, dignified and courageous” battle with cancer had died the previous evening. The latest issue of Taonga magazine includes a feature on Jenny and St Peter’s. 

Bishop Ross, who presided at the morning Eucharist, was accompanied by Bishop Kito Pikaahu, Pihopa o Te Tai Tokerau.

In the afternoon, the bishops travelled to Whangarei, where a similar service was held.

Footnote: The renewal of vows and blessing of oils service has traditionally been held on Maundy Thursday in Auckland. But the demands on clergy during Holy Week had lead to the shifting of the service to another feast day, at a less pressured time of the church year.