When Revelation 1:6 says that Jesus Christ ‘made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father’, we are faced with some quite startling and thrilling implications. Gone are views of the church which dismiss priesthood as an antiquated notion belonging to the Old Testament or, even, a pre-Reformation period. Instead we are given to see the people of God as participants in the High Priesthood of Christ and restored to their great created dignity.

Of course, some images of priesthood do need to be cleared away, but not by attacking the positions of others. Instead, as we see what God has done in Christ, many inadequate understandings evaporate in the strong, warm light of His revelation. In their place we are given to see that themes such as Creation, Tabernacle, Temple and Worship are all related to the great reality of who we are—God’s royal priesthood, and His holy nation.

For many, discussions of topics like this have been regarded as the domain of academic theologians. In this School we will certainly engage with those whose gift it is to teach us, but we especially want to show that to speak of Christ’s Priestly Community is to speak directly to the church in its life and witness in the world today.