Ordination to the Priesthood, March 21, 2018

On the evening of March 21, 2018, Day of the Commemoration of Thomas Cranmer, Bishop Jane Alexander ordained into the priesthood the Rev. Ruth Bott, the Rev. Andreas Sigrist, the Rev. Christopher Cook and the Rev. Billy Isenor.

Ian Bowden, of the parish of St. Augustine’s Parkland in Spruce Grove, read the first lesson from 2 Kings 22 and 23; Martin Cook, father of the Rev. Christopher Cook, read the second lesson from Philippians 4; and the Rev. Danielle Lepine, herself ordained to the diaconate in January, read the gospel.

The Rev. Alexandra Meek, rector of St. George by the U of A, gave the homily, in which she noted that each of the four being ordained this day had come, as she had come, to the Anglican Church from other Christian traditions.

And yet here we all are, called by God to offer our lives, formed as they have been
by different traditions, in service to God through this church, this tradition, this way
of being Christian. There is something to this, I think: a gift for us most certainly, and
for this church that we have found and that has sustained our faith as it has called us
into this life of service.

Meek encouraged the ordinands, reminding them that:

We need to be sustained by God’s own Spirit in this work or else we will just make
a bunch of noise no one will understand. We need to have our own faith fixed in the
life of Christ if we hope to point others to the love of God, and this will not just happen.
Like Josiah (in the first reading), we make the choice to live out the life of the covenant.
Abide in Christ, and by grace you will live what it means to be a priest in the church of God.

Each of the four then made the declaration and the vows of their calling, and in turn were consecrated to the priesthood and vested for ministry, before celebrating the eucharist together with Bishop Jane.

The Rev. Ruth Bott will carry on her ministry as Curate at St. Mary's, Edmonton and as coordinator of the PrayerWorks Hall Community Meals Program; the Rev. Andreas Sigrist is Curate at St. Luke's, Edmonton; the Rev. Christopher Cook is Priest-in-Charge of St. John the Baptist in St. Paul; and the Rev. Billy Isenor is Assistant Curate at St. Augustine's Parkland in Spruce Grove.