Sermon preached on the occasion of Josh's first celebration of the Eucharist.

 

28^th June 2026

Josh Priesting Sermon

 

It is a huge privilege to be asked by Father Josh to preach at this wonderful occasion. Father Anthony has made it clear that you want anecdotes!  I have some anecdotes!  I have run them by Josh and if you want more have a word with me afterwards, I’m easily bribed! 

 

I was priested in June 1998, Josh was born in Feb 1999, if you do the maths, you can see that he was an embryonic presence at my priesting!  I will leave it to the theologians to decide whether yesterday was even necessary and whether he was priested in the womb so to speak! FWIW I don’t think so; no hands were laid on him; there was also no intention on his part. This state of no intention continued probably until he started University.  To that end the University chaplaincy and his later experiences deserve most of the credit for the fine young man he has become, we are proud to call our son, and you are fortunate to have as your curate.  

 

What sort of boy was he? I wouldn’t have predicted his future career path, although some of his teachers did, and if ever there was a clergyman needed in a school production, Josh got the gig! As parents we thought he might go into politics, he was a very good debater, several times we discovered this to our cost!  I feel sure that those who knew him as a child would recognise the adult! The  wit is still quick, he still longs for a more just world, he may even eat more vegetables although (maybe not!).

 

He has an easy manner and I once told Josh he couldn’t get through life on charm!  I relayed this back to a colleague who at the time said, yes but this is Josh and he will probably give it a go!  

 

He wasn’t always as charming to his mum!  One time we were walking through London West End and  he said, ‘Carole King You’re beautiful’, I nearly fell over, it is such a long time since you spoke to me like that, I said.  I wasn’t he said look it is a poster for  Carole King the (folksinger) musical.  Charm intact; he still has a love of theatre, music and popular culture and plastic bricks from Denmark!  All of which combine to give him a rich hinterland which informs his preaching and his vocation as a whole.  It might be worth saying he is good at celeb spotting, once he got very excited at theatre, not because of the quality of the drama but because he had just seen Kim from Eastenders! David was in London with Josh a few months ago to find Josh a few steps behind having struck up a conversation, David didn’t have a clue but soon learned that Josh had struck up conversation with Mike Leigh the playwright.

 

 

I hope that gives you a taster of Josh growing and grown up! I am here to preach and I want to reflect on the gospel in the context of the celebration of the Eucharist as a whole and this Eucharist in particular. The Gospel  for today is a short excerpt from Matthew and is set in the broader context of chapter 10. Here Jesus instructs and sends the disciples out in pairs.  They are given instruction on the message that they are to take to the communities. Jesus encourages them to embrace the places where they are made welcome, and equally importantly to shake the dust from their feet where they are not welcome.  There is no equipment for the task, other than the clothes they wear, for they are to rely on the kindness of others. 

 

If people receive the disciples, they receive Jesus Christ and in receiving Jesus Christ they receive the one who sent Him. ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me… and later and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”  

 

 

One little cup of cold water in a country where land is parched and temperatures are as hot as those, we are currently enduring. How welcome were our cups of cold water this week? Through a ministry of giving and receiving  hospitality in Jesus’ name, we are called to follow Jesus by opening our hearts and minds and our fridges and offering what we have in a spirit of love and sharing, not only to those like us, but to those in need, those little ones.  I know you offer hospitality to the homeless here; in so doing you follow the example of the one who calls all of us to share his life, and our plenty with those who don’t have as much.

 

Such moments are acts of compassion, hospitality and underlying companionship. Companion is an old-fashioned word, but it is a good word.  Companion can be broken down to mean one who shares bread. The French for bread is pan, keeping the Latin root;  A companion is someone who we share bread with.  In this Eucharist we are nourished by the Bread of Life so that we too can share that life giving bread of life with a hungry world.

.

 

In a few moments Josh will be host at a table for the first time, this is not the sum of his priesthood, but it is a very important and visible aspect of it.  Through the hospitality of this table, through the bread and wine of this mass/eucharist we are met with a generous and radical host who calls us to be equally radical and generous with these gifts of his creation.

 

The world needs priests who by what they represent symbolise and  point people to God.  This Petertide the church of God has some new priests; I am fortunate to know a few of them and to know what a blessing they bring. It is time for me to wind up as we celebrate and give thanks to God for  a new priest, your curate, your friend, your fellow disciple, and our son all grown up! 

 

To be a priest is not purely functional but today Josh will for the first time celebrate one of the functions of priesthood, he will also bless and pronounce God’s forgiveness for the first time.  I’m sure it is not a day that Josh will forget Josh will now proudly and humbly take, bless, break and give the Eucharistic elements amongst you for the first time, there will be many more, but I hope today will be special for us all but especially for Father Josh.

 

Michael Sadgrove at an occasion such as this said perhaps a priest is never more a priest than when he or she is at the altar, just as the church is never more the church than when we do what we are doing now, making eucharist, giving thanks, offering our life to God, receiving it back transformed.

 

 

A new priest stands among us.  The altar is furnished with bread and wine, the host is present and  it is time to do what Jesus commands, to celebrate the feast, and once more to show forth the Lord’s death and resurrection and to take his message of radical love and hospitality out into  the places where we all serve.  Congratulations to Josh and thanks to you all for your role in his nurture as he takes his next steps upon his vocational journey.