Last weekend I was welcomed and installed as a Bishop of Bolton in the Diocese of Manchester. I was invited to speak from the Bible readings, which were Isaiah 61:1-3 and Ephesians 4:4-16. My theme was ‘more oil.’ Here’s what I shared.

One day in early 2008 when I was a Vicar in Sheffield, I awoke one Sunday morning with a strong sense that I should anoint people with oil, at our three Sunday services that day. So I found my jar of anointing oil, and it was almost empty. ‘Oh!’ I said to myself. ‘I’ll only be able to anoint half a dozen or so people with that.’ Anyway, I prayed for people at the first service, and prayed for about ten people. At the second, I prayed for another fifteen or so, and at one point I thought: ‘has the oil run out yet?’ So I took a good look, and to my astonishment the jar was just over half full. It was at least ten times more full than it had been at the start of the day! No one had touched it. No one had refilled it. I used it later that day. And the next week. And for the following eighteen months, as I moved to York. And it never went down. Occasionally I’d get my ruler out to measure it, and it never went down. I used it to pray for lots of people, often for healing, and some (although not all) were dramatically healed. I don’t know how long it would have lasted, as I kept it in my robes pocket, and one day I went to the robes cupboard in church and all my pockets had been emptied and the oil was gone. I wrote to Bishop Jack, the Bishop of Sheffield, to tell him the story. Bishop Jack wrote back in his usual manner with just a few words. He wrote: ‘Dear Matthew. Thank your letter. There is always more oil. God bless. Bishop Jack.’

Tonight I’d like to speak briefly on the theme of ‘more oil’ because I think God has more of the oil of his Spirit for us to receive and give away, here in the Manchester area.

Anointing with oil is an ancient ritual practiced by many religions, where olive oil is poured, or smeared, on someone or something. It often symbolises being setting apart and making sacred. In the Christian church it particularly symbolises the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. When we anoint we’re basically praying for more of God’s Spirit. We do that, because we believe that God has more for us, and our communities. My question is: what kind of more? And how much more? The answer is found in our first reading from Isaiah 61.

Isaiah 61 says that when God anoints people – when more of his Spirit is poured out – change happens. Change happens in and through people. Not just in the one anointed, but also through them to others. Transformation takes place. Transformation, of course, is at the heart of the vision of this Diocese of Manchester: we’re about worship and growth and transformation!

So what kind of transformation does Isaiah 61 speak about? We’re told that:

  oppressed people, who are used to bad news … receive good news;

  broken-hearted people have their lives rebuilt;

  people held in captivity are set free;

  people in mourning receive comfort. And the list goes on.

What a wonderful, compelling vision! It’s a vision of changed lives, which the New Testament calls ‘the kingdom of God.’ Whoever you are, whatever your background, I hope this vision warms your heart! I hope you think: ‘I want to see that. I want to be part of that! Helping people experience that!’ In short, I hope you believe in transformation. That things need to change. And can change.

Jesus believed that. It’s why he came, in great love. Yes, he came to identify with our humanity by becoming human like us; we call that incarnation. Yes, he came to die on the cross for our forgiveness and make us right with God; we call that justification. But the purpose – the why – was to bring transformation to people. That’s why, when he sets out his manifesto at the start of his ministry (recorded in Luke 4), Jesus uses as his text this very passage, from Isaiah 61! Basically he says: ‘this is me! This is what I’ve come to do! I am anointed for this: to change lives with great love.’

One of Jesus’s names in Hebrew is ‘Messiah,’ which translated in Greek is ‘Christ.’ But what does ‘Messiah/Christ’ actually mean? It means ‘Anointed one.’ Jesus was the Anointed One, overflowing with the Spirit to bring transformation. That’s who he was. And how he lived. That’s why:

hungry people? – he fed

sinful people? – he forgave

sick people? – he healed

marginalised people? – he drew in

despised people? – he gave dignity

This ministry of Jesus is beautiful and holistic. It’s a broad ministry of transformation. That was the case two thousand years ago and it’s the same today, as it continues through his church, his body. And I hear and see good signs of this, in this region today. Food banks. Debt advice centres. Lunch clubs. Toddler Groups. I saw evidence of it in Salford back in March, when my appointment was announced, as I met people whose lives had been turned around through faith in Jesus. And how they were serving people in poverty, sex workers and people in need. There are good things going on. But I believe there’s more. And the more comes – yes, through being more strategic and targeted; yes, through starting new initiates and churches; but most of all, the more comes from a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. By us asking for, and receiving, more oil.

So how much oil is available? I want to tell you something that if you get this, it will change your life. (And I don’t say this lightly) How much oil is available? I think there is loads! There are vats of oil. Ready to be poured out. And even more, as we give away and pass on, what we’re given. I believe that. And I come here, expectant to see that.

Now, before you think you’ve appointed some kind of naive and wacko bishop (!) I understand that it’s possible to have what theologians call ‘an over-realised eschatology.’ That means you over-play, and over-emphasise what God can only do here on earth, forgetting that the kingdom of God will only reach its fulness in eternity. I understand that. But we can go the other way. We can have an ‘under-realised eschatology,’ which means we have little or no expectation of God doing very much this side of heaven. And I’ve been guilty of that on many occasions. And then God gets my attention, and tells me to expand my horizons, to be expectant that he really does want his kingdom to come here on earth as in heaven. And that I need to work for this and pray for this. For more oil.

The writer of John’s gospel knew this, which is why he says in 3:34 ‘God gives the Spirit without limit.’ St. Paul knew this, which is why, in Ephesians 3 he writes of God being the One ‘who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask of imagine.’ And Jesus himself knew this. After all, he was the most Anointed-One and said to his followers, in Luke 6:38, that as we give away what God gives, so ‘A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured out into your lap.’ Our job, then, is to ask, receive and give away,

When I was anointed three days ago as a bishop, the Archbishop of York said these words over me:

  ‘May God, who anointed the Christ with the Holy Spirit at his baptism,

   anoint and empower you to bring good news to the poor,

   to proclaim release to the captives,

   to set free those who are oppressed, 

   And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

What was he doing? He was prophetically declaring Isaiah 61 over me! Telling me that I’ve been anointed to continue the kingdom work of Jesus. Bringing transformation to others. And then passing it on.

One sign in Isaiah 61 of transformation, is seeing people healed. Healing was, and still is, central to the life and ministry of Jesus, because when someone is healed, it’s a visual picture of the greater transformation the Spirit wants to work in our hearts, home, streets and communities. God heals in a variety of ways. For example through the body’s natural self-healing mechanisms. Of course through human agents, like doctors & medics. But he also sometimes heals as we pray. Church history attests to this. Origen of Alexandria, for example, writing two centuries after Christ, says this: ‘The name of Jesus still takes away mental distractions, and daemons and diseases as well, and implants a wonderful meekness and tranquillity of character, and a love to mankind and a kindness and a goodness’

I could tell you many stories myself of healings today. From headaches to cancer. From eczema to sensory loss. Just this week a consultant paediatrician was reminding me of how she’d had an eye condition which couldn’t be treated. The eye would dry out at night, and she’d have to peal it open each morning. And then we prayed and it was healed. She said to me: ‘it could have been a fluke, but I’d had the condition for ages, and it only got better after prayer.’ Healing is a regular occurrence in God’s church. Even last week, someone was healed in my final service in York.

Of course, not everyone we pray for is healed. But some are. And the more we pray, the more we see.

Healing is a picture of new creation and a delightful sign of the kingdom of God, that the Spirit brings. It’s a sign of more oil. So if you are unwell, or injured, & would like to receive prayer, I and the Bishop of Islington (who’s here today) would love to anoint you and pray for you at the end. We’ll be in the quire.

But the main sign of transformation, which the anointing Spirit brings, is following Jesus. As we recognise our need – our selfishness and frailty, and receive his forgiveness and grace and see what Jesus has done in his cross and resurrection, so we repent and believe, and mark it in baptism. I’ve baptised hundreds of people, mainly adults, over the last twenty seven years of ordained ministry. And I absolutely love it, as we pour water over people, or immerse them in water, as they commit to following Jesus for life.

When I was a Vicar in Sheffield, just before I left we baptised more people in one service than we’d ever done before. One was a woman who’d been coming to church for quite a few months. She would slip in a few minutes after the service started, and sometimes leave early. I eventually managed to speak to her and she told me she would come in and cry through the service. But it was a good cry. A healing cry. She asked ‘Is it OK to cry like that?’ I reassured her, saying: ‘that kind of thing happens to many people. Responding to the presence of Jesus. He’s here. He welcomes you.’ She kept coming back and eventually went on an Alpha course to find out more, and then committed her life to Christ, and got baptised. Because she discovered Jesus was amazing.

Maybe you’re here tonight and you’re not yet a follower of this Jesus or part of his church. I and the people of the churches in this Diocese, would love to introduce you to him, and encourage you to begin to follow him. So if you want to know more, come and talk with us.

Christ wants to transform us, and then through us transform others, which is what our reading from Ephesians 4 is all about. Ephesians is a New Testament letter talking about how amazing Jesus is, and then it talks about how God wants his church to continue the work of Jesus today. Jesus is the one who unites us. We are ‘one body’ having ‘one Spirit’ with ‘one hope’ based around ‘one Lord (Jesus), one faith, one baptism.’ We’re united, but not all the same! The church celebrates unity in diversity. In particular five key leadership roles that bring transformation are mentioned. Did you notice? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. They describe Jesus’ ministry, representing his five leadership roles, which continue as Jesus gives away those leadership roles to the church today, inviting us to not to keep God’s oil to ourselves but to raise up leaders in all these areas, and anointing them to also be agents of transformation in the church and world.

So how much oil is available for this? The answer, I put to you, is lots! And we need lots, because there’s much need, and we need great, servant-hearted leaders in every area of life. Not just in the church, but also in politics, education, media and arts, science and more. And in our streets, homes and families. Working away. Serving. Caring. Giving.

Sisters and brothers, we only live once. Our lives aren’t actually very long. That’s why Pope John Paul II was right when he said: ‘The future starts today, not tomorrow.’ Most of want to use our lives well. So why don’t we spend what’s left, doing Isaiah 61? Doing what Jesus did?  Bringing transformation. To do that we need the oil of God’s Spirit. More oil.

Rosario Butterfield is a gifted author. She said that ‘when Jesus walked the earth, he met people empty and left them full.’ Maybe you feel like my jar of anointing oil which I mentioned at the beginning – like you’re almost on empty, and haven’t got much left. The good news, as Bishop Jack said to me, is that there’s always more oil! So why don’t we ask? 

Let us pray.

‘Come Holy Spirit. Come. Pour out the oil of your Spirit. To transform us. And through us, to transform many others.’ 

And let me pray over us what was prayed over me at my consecration on Thursday, so I may give away what was given to me, for that is what I’m called to do. So receive this blessing: 

   ‘May God, who anointed the Christ with the Holy Spirit at his baptism,

   anoint and empower you to bring good news to the poor, 

   to proclaim release to the captives,

   to set free those who are oppressed, 

   and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’