On Saturday, April 15, the Rt. Rev. Gregory O. Brewer, bishop of the Diocese of Central Florida, continued his path toward ordaining more than 200 people before the end of his episcopacy with the ordination of four men to the priesthood at All Saints, Winter Park. The four responded with joy and gratitude to God, to their sponsoring churches and other supporters, and to Brewer, whose powerful sermon followed the path of their journeys in Christ: rescued from sin, responding to God’s call and requesting from him a heart of compassion and servanthood.

“It’s an incredible honor to be called to serve God’s people in this capacity, and I’m excited for the journey ahead,” the Rev. Zacher Bayonne posted on Facebook following the ordination, thanking his sponsoring church, Trinity, Vero Beach, and a host of other friends, family members and mentors. Bayonne is currently in ministry transition.

“Having been a pastor for 25 years before moving into the Episcopal Church in 2020, it was disorienting to move into a world where we were starting over,” said the Rev. Dr. John Winston “Winn” Collier, a writer and professor at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, who also directs the school’s Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination. “All Saints, Winter Park, has become a second home for us. They’ve welcomed me in, encouraged me in this ordination path and become a community that I love.”

The Rev. Preston Grissom, sponsored by Incarnation, Oviedo, had similar thoughts. “Father Tom [Phillips] and the wonderful people at Church of the Incarnation have been so wonderful during this process, offering much-needed encouragement in a time of discernment,” he said. He currently serves as a chaplain at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Chesapeake, Virginia.

“While I am not currently serving at All Souls, Horizon West, I still maintain a good relationship with Father Matt [Ainsley] there and am so glad that I was able to build a relationship with him and his parish over the past couple years,” said the Rev. Luke Klingstedt of his sponsoring church. He serves “for the foreseeable future” as curate at St. Timothy’s, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “All Souls was gracious enough to take me in throughout my process while I was still living in North Carolina. Their community is wonderful and was so supportive of both Chloe and me, and I was so thankful for their presence in my process.”

To open his sermon, Brewer pulled from the appointed prayer for the day, the close of Bright Week, which begins with Easter. That prayer says in part, “We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son.”

“That’s the foundation,” Brewer told the four ordinands. “That’s really why we’re here – because God broke through into our lives and did something we could never have done for ourselves. … We have been rescued.”

And this rescue requires a response, Brewer said. In his own case, “The only way I know how to adequately respond to what it is that God has done for me that I could not do for myself is to say, ‘Yes, whatever do you want me to do? Here I am, your servant.’”

This attitude of servanthood helps build the trust every priest needs to minister effectively, Brewer explained. “You see, servanthood is not about giving it to the people who deserve it. No, actually, more often than not, it’s about serving the people who don’t deserve anything and give you the worst time in the world, who don’t necessarily like you at all.”

The ordinands resonated with Brewer’s emphasis on servanthood, which they agreed will be an essential part of their ministry. “The part of the sermon that ministered the most to me was when Bishop Brewer was very transparent with how lonely it will be serving the church as a priest,” Bayonne said. “I appreciated the transparency with one of the many difficulties we would have to be mindful of as priests in the church of God.”

“I found Bishop Brewer’s theme of servanthood quite fitting to the occasion,” Grissom said. “Ordination to the priesthood is, of course, a moment of celebration, but it is also a sobering moment to remember the life to which we are being called. I was encouraged by the analogy of the shepherd in our Gospel reading, which revealed one who tenderly cares for the flock while offering guidance for the journey ahead.”

In closing his sermon, Brewer reminded the four new priests of a key truth: “No matter what God asks, keep saying yes,” he said. “Continue to ask God to give you his heart of compassion, both for the people in your congregation as well as the community where you serve. … You’re there to serve Jesus, and God will hold you in the palm of his hand, no matter how difficult it gets, and it does.”

“Bishop Brewer’s sermon was incredibly refreshing and intentional,” Klingstedt said. “His honesty about the difficulties of the priesthood alongside his insistence on the importance of prayer is precisely what I needed to hear as I now begin my ministry.

“I do not need someone telling me that it will be an easy road; I know that is not true!” he added. “What I need as a young priest is clergy who have been serving God for a long time to communicate the realities of ministry – the importance of prayer and servant leadership, the necessity of humbly approaching God’s Word, the immense blessings and acute difficulties that will come – and that is precisely what Bishop Brewer did with clarity and compassion.”

Collier, the senior member of the group, agreed. “Bishop Brewer called us into the burning heart of our vocation: to allow our own hearts to be lit by the fire of God’s love and then to let that flame burn hot in the world, with God’s people,” he said. “It was a searing word, and I pray that it will be so in me, in all of us.”

Watch the ordination service at this link.

PHOTOS: (C) Bishop Brewer with the four ordinands, L-R: the Rev. Klingstedt, the Rev. Grissom, the Rev. Dr. Collier, the Rev. Bayonne. | Photo credit for all: Stephen Feibelman, All Saints, Winter Park