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Our celebration here today is a reminder of our Presbyterian heritage coming to us from Scotland and the Scots. This celebration invites us to recognize and appreciate all that we have gained from and all we can offer by the ways we share in the life of the Presbyterian Church, highlights important insights of the Reformed theological tradition and asks us to re-commit to expressing our identity as Presbyterians in practical ways such as our passion for education and learning, our concern for the fabric of our nation and our world, and our promise to live faithfully, to act justly in all we do – our living out of what the Shorter Catechism reminds us is our chief aim: “glorifying God and enjoying God forever.”

The many links between the South and Scotland result from the arrival on these shores and in these mountains of many immigrants who arrived directly from Scotia’s shores or by way of a brief sojourn on the Irish island! At a recent meeting of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Joe Sandifer, our "Pastor to the Pastors", shared the text of a petition written by a group of Highland Scots who immigrated to North Carolina, settling in the Upper Cape Fear River area beginning in 1739. These good folks were known as “The Argyll Colony”, because Argyll (whisper it) is the county seat of the Campbells and had been their home before departing for the new world. They came from Knapdale, and the Kintyre and Taynish peninsulas and the island of Gigha. Their petition, in which they requested a Minister to come serve them, was addressed to the Synod of Argyll centered in Inverary. Here is the text of the Petition:

To the Revered Members of the Synod of Argyle: We the Subscribing Inhabitants on the North West branch of Cape Fear River in Bladen County in the province of  North Carolina having taken unto Serious Consideration our Deplorable and Desolate State and Condition for want of Gospel ordinances for some time – which we would gladly promote to the outmost of our powers and abilities if we should be so happy as to obtain a minister authorized according to the Rules and Discipline of the Kirk of Scotland whose sons we still profess ourselves to be; not withstanding of our great distance from our Native Country.

[Today when a Presbyterian congregation are looking to call a new Pastor they complete a document known as the Church Information Form, that tells prospective applicants about the congregation and the community it serves. I have never yet seen a CIF which declares a congregation to be in a “deplorable and desolate state”.]

The Petition continues:
We are hopeful, you will take our deplorable state into consideration and send us a minister who will be zealous in the Discharge of his Duty, a man of solid piety and Learning who can preach our native language (likely both English and Gaelic) – whose doctrine, life and conversation keep apace together, who is not too free on the one hand nor too reserved on the other.

[Now this is where this Petition of 1748 does sound a lot like congregation’s expectations of potential Ministers today. The Pastor they are seeking must have his life and his beliefs and his conversation in balance – you know a Pastor who is good with the kiddies, great with the youth, able to chat with the seniors, always out visiting the sick and the needy, and always available when you call the church office – you know that sort of thing! Also this great Pastor cannot be too shy nor can they be too outgoing – just that perfect balance – as if any Pastor’s are perfect or balanced or perfectly balanced!]

Continuing in the Petition:
We can with confidence assure you that he will meet with all the kind offices and services that be in our power for his further encouragements (listen up, here are the terms of call … for his further encouragement, as if coming to the wilds of North Carolina wouldn’t be enough!!) we agree to pay ten pounds sterling, for his passage on his arrival here [a signing-on bonus!] and to pay yearly the sum of seventy pounds sterling for the space of three years; and longer as we and he are agreeable to each other. The Petition was signed by 75 people.

Vito Corleone had a habit of making people an offer they couldn’t refuse! Sadly the mafia that was the Synod of Argyll found it possible to refuse this offer for eight years – the time it took to find a minister willing to come to North Carolina! And so it was that not until 1756 did the Reverend Hugh McAden, an itinerant preacher, arrive to preach in various locations in the area. McAden enjoyed a great partnership with the exiled Scottish Presbyterians and together they founded many new congregations and established a strong Presbyterian presence that continues to this very day!

One of the hallmarks of our self-understanding as Presbyterians is the belief in, and the practice of, the Priesthood of all Believers. In the Reformation period the importance of this doctrine distinguished the new Reformed Church from that of the medieval church. For us today the same doctrine can help immerse us in two very important beliefs and practices. Firstly it can convince us of the uniqueness and completeness of God’s intervention in Jesus Christ and secondly it calls us forward to living and serving faithfully together in the life of the Church.

Three men were sitting on a park bench. The one in the middle was reading a newspaper; the others were pretending to fish. They baited imaginary hooks, cast lines, and reeled in their catch. A passing policeman stopped to watch the spectacle and asked the man in the middle if he new the other two. “Oh yes” he said. “They’re my friends.” “In that case”, warned the officer “you’d better get them out of here!” “Yes, sir” the man replied, and he began rowing furiously.

Faced with such a scene, we would rightly ask, “What in the world is going on here?” And we may well feel some sort of disorientation over what we read in Hebrews with the many references to blood and sacrifices and priests! The use of this language and these images may make us feel a bit uncomfortable. But let us see these words for what they are: a grateful affirmation of the truth and significance of Jesus Christ’s priestly work. The self-offering of Jesus is sufficient to bring all people into a relationship with God. In Jesus, comfort and care and forgiveness and love are assured to and for everyone. Being put right with God is not something we can do for ourselves, nor is our standing before God something which we can lose by some failure to follow the rules of the church as it was in the pre-Reformation church. Being put right with God, being reconciled to God, entering into a relationship of faithful friendship, is open to us only and solely because Jesus accepted the hurt and pain of the world and our division from God and opened the way for us to know and be known by God, to be forgiven and to forgive, to be welcomed and to be welcoming.

Further out of this ministry of Jesus, you and I are called to make this our ministry as well. We have been made priests. In our Baptism, we have been ordained to this calling. We are priests, all of us, not just those who are clergy, together we all belong in the priesthood of all believers, called by God, commissioned by Christ, and inspired by the Holy Spirit. We are priests to and for each other. We are priests to and for the world around us. That in us and through us, each other and the world might be blessed by God. This priesthood does not involve us in performing more tasks but it is our basic identity, our identity in Christ to be embraced and enjoyed, which births in us a sense of excitement and expectation.

As priests, we can and ought to approach God “with a true heart in full assurance of faith” because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. In short, in our mind and body, in our heart and flesh God has been and is transforming the profane into the holy. We are encouraged to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering because in Jesus we have been encountered by God’s mercy and love. We are to provoke one another to love and good deeds, a provocation that is not adversarial, but occurs as we meet together in worship and friendship and fellowship as we do here today.

During a shipwreck rescue operation, eleven people were hanging on a rope under a helicopter: ten men and one woman. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one had to leave, because otherwise the rope would break and they all would fall back into the boiling sea. They were unable to decide who would let go, until the woman gave a very touching speech. She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because, as a woman, she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids and for men in general, and was used to always making sacrifices with little in return. As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping.

You see there will be times when we need to keep hold of the truth of who we are and what we are called to be and do in Jesus Christ. And there are times when we need to let go of things that might otherwise stifle our ministry as priests within the priesthood of all believers.

Commissioned to a ministry of forgiveness, we take hold and keep hold of the God whose nature is love, and we let go of all enmity, prejudice and hatred. We serve as facilitators of forgiveness.

MOVIE LINK To Today's Text From Hebrews.
The Movie: Gandhi, the life story of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of Indian independence. The Scene: Near the end when during the fighting between the Hindus and Moslems a Hindu man approaches Gandhi to tell him he has killed a boy, a Moslem, and Gandhi tells him to adopt a Moslem orphan, and raise him as a Moslem.

Be forewarned that, at times, this can be scandalous work. Almost everyone can name somebody whom they think does not deserve forgiveness. Jesus, though, reveals to us the God who is not a moralist, not an accountant, not a rules-maker, not a power-broker, not a law enforcement officer, but a graceful lover eager to take the burden of sin off people’s backs. Such an identity for God combined with such a ministry from Jesus must inform our priestly efforts.

No priest of God rightly can withhold from an individual who has sinned that which God freely offers to everybody, that for which Jesus made the once-and-for-all offering described in the Hebrews text. To withhold the grace of God from a person who has sinned is a sin every bit as serious as the sin to which the withholding is a response. Acting as a miser of grace contradicts ministry inspired by the priesthood of Jesus.

Second, Jesus commissions us to a priesthood characterized by humble confidence (10:19). The work of Jesus fills us with confidence regarding our ability to experience forgiveness and our opportunity to engage God in the “holy of holies” of life. Herein is all of the authority that we need to function as priests to each other. Confidence, however, must not be confused with arrogance. Our responsibility is to serve each other, not to try to play God or to take on the authority of Jesus in relation to each other.

Knowing with confidence the all-sufficient work of Jesus allows us to speak boldly about Jesus, commending him to others, and to serve others compassionately in Jesus’ name without attempting to take unto ourselves work that only Jesus can do. So confident are we of Jesus that humbly we refrain from judging other people and proclaiming who is and who is not acceptable to God.

Third, Jesus commissions us to a priesthood of hopefullness (10:23). What good news we have been given to share with people! God keeps promises, and the promise of the work of Jesus is forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and meaning in life for all of us.

Recently I have spent a good deal of time among hurricane survivors; people for whom hope seems scandalous. Life has not been easy for these folks. Things have gone badly for them. Depression seems more fitting than positive expectation. Such individuals will not listen to an easy optimism or be moved by promises based only on hunches.

Among priests commissioned by Jesus, the substance of hope consists not of a Pollyanna view of the future, but of a realistic view of the past. Look what God has done through Christ. Consider the provisions made for us in the priestly ministry of Jesus. We have every reason to live with vibrant, expectant hope and to encourage others to do the same.

Fourth, Jesus commissions us to a priesthood provocative of love (10:24). Because we have been loved so lavishly, we love responsibly. To experience the love of God through the revelation and actions of Jesus is to live by love ourselves and to seek to prompt love among others.

Virtually nothing in this whole Hebrews passage on priesthood makes sense apart from recognition of its foundation of love. Both the gift of God and the offering of Jesus were profound expressions of love. Our subsequent priesthood reeks with a lack of authenticity if both its words and actions are not transparent to a similar love within us and a desire for such love within others.

Finally, Jesus commissions us to a priesthood that is encouraging (10:25). To us is given the happy responsibility, rooted in the love of God and the grace of Jesus, of enabling others to feel better about themselves, to see previously unrecognized possibilities in their lives, and to face the future with eager anticipation. Conversely, any priesthood that trades primarily in prohibitions, judgment, negatives, and condemnation is not the priesthood commissioned by Jesus.

Our commission as priests is accompanied by a positive promise. Though we work every day at the responsibilities assigned to us by Jesus: offering forgiveness, exuding confidence, confessing hope, prompting love, and providing encouragement, we need not worry about the success of our efforts. The results of our priestly work already have been assured by the one who calls us to this work and makes us strong in the faith that allows us to live as the righteous people of God. Thanks be to God!  Amen.