Beloved in Christ,

To be a priest in God’s Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is a profound gift. It has been many years in the making. The journey has had its ups and downs. It has had its mountain top experiences, and its moments of dry desolation. And in all things, God has formed and reformed me.

This call was affirmed and supported by so many people over the last seven years, which includes many of you at Saint Philip’s! Truly a great cloud of witnesses here on earth and in heaven interceding have helped me answer God’s call on my life. I am so grateful to have had so many wonderful people across churches from all over the country help make known God’s call on my life.

And now the day has come and gone. I was ordained a priest on Saturday, August 23. I celebrated my first mass at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Tucson on August 24. I feel the weight of time and space compressed—so many hopes and dreams and desires bursting forth into fruition by the grace of God.

I am so grateful to all of you who were there, and to all who were lifting your prayers up from a distance.

I am so grateful for the time and energy of the choir, whose voices lifted me and Mtr. Samantha up to the heavens.

I am so grateful to all the people who helped make the reception happen, for the delicious food, for the cleanup and set up and take down.

I am so grateful for all the volunteers—all the acolytes and vergers and clergy—who gave up hours of their time on Saturday to serve.

To all of you, to the entire Saint Philip’s community, I am so grateful to serve the Lord in ministry and shared faith with you!

The day was a blur of joy and wonder. Tears of joy to be granted the opportunity to serve God and the Church. To walk with people in the triumphs and travails of life. To know people as made in the image of God and bearers of the Holy Spirit. To strive to know people as Christ knows us.

To offer the very body and blood of our Lord to those in need of refreshment, to be reminded that we come unto the altar of God as a people who labor and are heavy laden, and there we find Jesus, giving Himself, giving rest and comfort to our minds, our bodies, our souls.

Being reminded that even in the darkness of our world, the Light of God shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

As I step into this new chapter of ministry, I think of the Latin poem first encountered in Michael Ramsey’s The Christian Priest Today back in 2019.

O Sacerdos, quid es tu?
Non es te, quia de nihilo,
Non es ad te, quia mediator ad Deum,
Non es tibi, quia sponsus ecclesia,
Non es tui, quia servus omnium,
Non es tu, quia Dei minister,
Quid es ergo? Nihil et omnia,
O Sacerdos.

O Priest, what are you?
You are not from yourself, for you are from nothing;
you are not to yourself, because you a mediator to God;
you are not for yourself, for you are spouse of the Church;
you are not of yourself, for you are a servant of all;
you are not yourself, for you are a minister of God;
what therefore are you? Nothing and everything,
O Priest.

I look forward to serving you and God as Priest. I look forward to growing with you in faith!

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Alex