Ordination Sermon on August 23, 2025

Ordination of Giselle Loucks, Sam Trottier, & Peder Stenslie

August 23, 2025 * Faith Lutheran Church, Bismarck, ND

Isaiah 52:7-10, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Mark 10:35-45

 On Saturday, August 23, 2025, the Western North Dakota Synod had the joy of celebrating three ordinations! Giselle Loucks, Sam Trottier, and Peder Stenslie were ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament at Faith Lutheran Church in Bismarck, ND. These new rostered ministers in the ELCA will serve congregations in Keene, Turtle Lake, Mercer, Underwood, and Washburn, ND!

This blog post contains the sermon I offered during this great celebration!

If you’d like to watch the video recording of the entire worship service, you can find that here – https://www.facebook.com/reel/760550723362711?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e

Peace in Christ,

Bishop Craig

Sisters and brothers, friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus who is the Christ. Amen.

Sam, Giselle, Peder – this is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

For some of you, the journey that has led us to today has been something that all of us who know you and love you have known would come sooner or later. For at least one of you – we didn’t think it would be quite this much later. BUT, regardless of how long it has taken us to get to this day, we join the saints of all creation and give God thanks and praise that this day is here!

 I’m honored to be invited to proclaim the good news during this worship service and to preside at the rite of ordination – these are two of the most joyful things I get to do serving as your bishop.

I am grateful to everyone that is joining us in this beautiful sanctuary or online around the world.

I’m grateful for Pr. Sylvia Bull, Pr. Derek Harkins and the members of Faith Lutheran Church for serving as our host congregation for this unforgettable time in the life of Christ’s church. And to Heart River Lutheran Church for coordinating hospitality today.

And to First Lutheran and Clear Creek Lutheran in Keene, Birka Lutheran in Washburn, St. Olaf Lutheran in Turtle Lake, Augustana Lutheran in Underwood, and Our Savior’s Lutheran in Mercer for extending calls to these soon-to-be pastors in Christ’s church.

Martin Luther had a lot to say about Christian vocation. One of the things that we believe he said is that, “Christian vocation is not about production (though production will result), just as it is not ultimately about my own satisfaction (though it will surely satisfy), but it is about the neighbor, about giving oneself to the other in love and service in the glorious freedom of the gospel. And God will welcome all our efforts to that end, however skilled or hesitant they might be.”

So, finally, I’m grateful for the scripture that you have chosen to accompany us on our journey today. They help center us in the variety of ways that God is calling us to live as God’s children who seek to live out our Christian vocation as followers of Jesus.

And, of all the ways we could begin today, the scripture we received begins by wanting us to look at our feet. Our beautiful feet as the prophet Isaiah calls them. Now, one of the only times that I’ve known a Lutheran Christian to be concerned with their feet is when they are being asked to volunteer for something they don’t want to do – and in those situations, they look at their neighbor’s feet.

Isaiah isn’t offering prophesy to force someone to volunteer for something that they don’t want to do or remind us of the importance of wearing the latest fashions in footwear, or even whether or not we should do foot washing during Maundy Thursday worship.

God speaking through Isaiah, is reminding us – as the messenger’s – that the one who is brave enough to strike out on an unknown journey in order to bring the good news of God’s kingdom to the ends of the earth will bring forth peace and salvation.

It’s not the feet that are beautiful necessarily. It’s the mission and ministry our feet carry and the good news for all creation that they deliver.

Sometimes those feet will carry us to places that feel like mountaintops. And sometimes, those same feet will carry us into deepest, darkest valleys. In all of the places that our feet will take us, they are beautiful. Because where they go, you go, and God goes with you. Beautiful, isn’t it.

Of course, the Apostle Paul doesn’t let us get stuck thinking about our feet – or looking at our neighbor’s feet. Paul reminds us over and over again in his epistles, and directly today in the first letter to the church in Corinth, that the center of our faith is not our feet, but the cross of Christ Jesus. And that this center of faith is foolishness to the rest of world.

The cross, where God uses the humble, not the conceited.

The cross, where God works through weakness, not strength.

The cross, where God changes the world, not with military might or while sitting on a golden throne of privilege.

Peder, Giselle, and Sam…as you are set apart today for ordained ministry in Christ’s church, may you discover anew each and every day that ministry is rarely what you might expect it to be. It rarely happens as you have planned, no matter how hard you’ve worked at planning something. No matter how sore your feet might be from time to time on this journey.

A mentor of mine once told me, “There will be moments in your life as a pastor that will take your breathe away. And they will happen most often when you are small enough for Christ to be big in you.” Or as Paul says, “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

I remember a few weeks after I was ordained, I was called to the hospital to be with a member who was dying. Of course, I was fresh out of seminary, so I was still convinced that I had to do something impressive and super holy to prove that I truly was worthy of being called a pastor.

I grabbed my red pastoral care book, found a few scripture readings and prayers that I knew would be awesome and make me look even more awesome. I even practiced them in the car on the way to the hospital.

I got to the room. It was quiet, aside from the humming of many machines keeping this child of God alive so the family could gather and offer their goodbyes.

I was invited into the circle of family and friends who had gathered, simply holding hands. Quiet. We sat in that quiet for a long time.

Finally, I broke the silence and offered a prayer. Stumbling for words. Nothing that I had prepared or practiced. Nothing from the red pastoral care book that I had spent so many hours studying and reading from during seminary. I left feeling miserable, thinking I had done nothing to care for this family in their time of great need.

A few days later, I met the family at the funeral home to plan for the funeral worship. One of the family members asked if they could speak to me privately.

“Sure,” I said. “Pastor, I just want to thank you for what you said and the prayer you offered the other day at the hospital. It meant the world to our mother and to all of us.”

As I walked away, I thought “What did I say?” I couldn’t remember anything that I had said or done.

Here’s what I learned that day and carry with me to this day. God does not call people like you and me because we’re remarkable. God calls you and me because God is faithful. And sometimes the most holy thing we can do in ministry is simply to show up, to be present, and to trust that Christ is enough.

Ordained leaders in the church don’t always believe that good news. That Christ is enough and all we need to do is to get out of Jesus’ way.

Jesus closest friends didn’t always realize that either.  James and John in our gospel reading today seem to have forgotten. They want a special seat for important people who are just as great as they are.

In true Jesus’ fashion, he turns their arrogance upside down – “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant…for the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.”

As the church gathers to celebrate the gift of ordination for Sam, Giselle, and Peder today, we will lay hands on them and bless them – not so they receive a golden crown or triumphant seat of glory beside Jesus that makes them better than everyone else. We lay hands on them and bless them as they begin a vocation of service as ministers of word and sacrament.

Peder, Sam, and Giselle, in your ministry you will stand at the table, at the font, at the bedside, in a church meeting room, in the food pantry line, serving in Christ’s name. The authority of a pastor or of the church does not come from having the best seat in the room. It comes from washing the feet of the ones nobody else notices.

So, Giselle, Peder, and Sam, and sisters and brothers in Christ from wherever you are joining us today…GO…

…with beautiful feet,

…with foolish courage,

…with the servant’s heart of Jesus.

Because…

…the One who calls you is faithful,

…the One who sends you walks beside you always,

…and the One who meets you on the mountaintop or prairie buttes; in the darkest valleys or at the cross: at the table or the font,

…that One, Jesus, will never let you go.

Thanks be to God. Amen.