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What is a Deacon?
Service, Love & Justice
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2/24/2019 Year C, Epiphany 7,
Gen 45:3-11, 15|Ps 37:1-11, 39-40|1 Cor 15:35-38, 42-50| Luk 6:27-38
Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Berkeley, CA.
Read (PDF): X6a Sermon – What is a Deacon
Listen (audio): (add audio here)
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(Text below):
I will admit, the readings and themes for today stumped me at first as I started to look at what I was going to say to you this morning. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel inspired – there are some wonderfully juicy lines in today’s lectionary readings and any one of them could be the seed, the beginning of a homily.
We heard the beautiful story of reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers from the Book of Genesis, an admonition not to fret but to trust in the Lord from our psalm; the New Testament reading was from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth with instructions about permanence vs. impermanence, tangible things vs. intangible, the importance of putting our hope in God; our reading from Jesus in the Gospel of Luke is all about loving our enemies, giving to people in need, and “doing unto others” – the Golden Rule. And all of this opened with a collect that never fails to pull at my heartstrings. It began: “You, God, have taught us that without love, whatever we do is nothing…”
It was that last piece, (the collect), and today’s Gospel proclamation, that called to me the most. Without love, whatever we do is nothing.
There’s a joke among preachers that we each have essentially one sermon that we deliver in different ways. If that’s true, the gist of mine is pretty simple:
- Jesus was right: The greatest commandment is to love God, love others and love yourself.
- Paul was right (which you won’t hear me say too often), in his first letter to the Corinthians: If we have everything else but do not have love, we have nothing.
- The many mentors I have had on this journey have all been right: Everything else is logistics and details.
So my challenge this morning was not trying to find something to preach about – it was in finding a different way to preach about it, a different angle to look at it from. Love is important – without it, “we have nothing” and “whatever we do is nothing,” right? So perhaps I could look at this and consider it from a slightly different angle. I would like to share with you why it matters to me… and maybe it will speak to you as well; maybe it will even speak to one or two of you in a way that helps you hear your own call more clearly.
I am here with you at Good Shepherd as a deacon- in-training, which means I feel a deep call to ordained ministry as a deacon and I am growing into that role by being here, serving and assisting during services and being part of the community life of this church – an on-the-job training program that the Church calls “field education.” But I don’t just learn from priests and deacons – you are actually all helping me to better understand my call and to live into it. And thank you – I am grateful!
Part of a deacon’s job is to teach, by both word and example, what it means to be ordained to that order or what a call to the diaconate might feel like. But it might help to know what deacons do.
Most people understand a priest’s role: priests are responsible for the spiritual and pastoral lives of their congregations. Following Jesus’ example, they are shepherds to their flock. They consecrate and lead the Eucharistic meal, provide pastoral care and counseling, preside over sacramental events in the life of the church such as baptisms, weddings and funerals; and give blessings. A rector, vicar or priest-in-charge is called to be the leader for a church; they care for their parishioners and also do a good deal of administrative work, to make sure things run smoothly.
A bishop is elected to be the “chief pastor” in a diocese, to “guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the Church.” (according to the BCP). Bishops ordain and have oversight of the priests and deacons in their dioceses; they are responsible for the well-being of the clergy and for guiding the education and journey of people who feel called to ordained ministry; and bishops make sure that the Church and its ministers are providing a spiritual home, a safe and supportive place of worship and community, for people of faith.
It is the ministerial “job” of all people who have been baptized – the larger group called the laity – to be the Church – to reach out to those in need: To love our neighbors as ourselves and to do our best to follow the example Jesus set for his disciples. WE are his disciples. We are called to be the “Body of Christ in the world,” to do our best to each day live into what we feel Jesus would do in our place – which is not a small task.
But what is a deacon? What does a deacon do? I have been asked this question by folks who are new to the Episcopal church and by lifelong members; by folks who have been in a congregation with a deacon and by folks who are pretty sure they’ve never met one in its natural habitat; and of course, by my family members and friends who want to know what exactly I’m really up to with all this Church Stuff. Alright, so: what does a deacon do?
According to the Book of Common Prayer – looking it up is not cheating, it’s using your resources – deacons are called to a very specific ministry. In the Examination, part of the Ordination of a Deacon, the bishop who presides tells the candidate/s:
- You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world.
- You are to assist the bishop and priests in public worship and in the ministration of God’s Word and Sacraments…
- At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself.
Deacons reflect or represent the servant ministry of Jesus, following his example of reaching out to, working among and helping people who May live on the margins of society, who are ignored or oppressed and who are in the most need. They are called to be a bridge between the needs of the community and the church – to “stand in the door” as I have often been told, with one foot in the church and one foot outside, and are counted upon to be prophets of their times, to speak truth to power and seek justice when they see wrongs being done.
A deacon’s role is to listen to the needs and concerns of people in a parish’s area or neighborhood, bring those needs and concerns to the church, open a conversation about what might be done, help to put in motion what will be done, and bring that answer back to those in need. The Venerable Betsy Bennett, an archdeacon from the Diocese of West Missouri, put it this way: “While the deacon’s liturgical role does assist the celebrant, the primary reason for these liturgical duties is to serve as a reminder of the diaconal service to which all baptized persons are called.”
Deacons don’t address or solve all the problems they encounter or make them go away, and they don’t provide an answer by themselves… they are here to help engage the people of the church community in learning what the needs of the larger community around the church are, & lead the congregation in ministering to those people.
In church it is a deacon’s role to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus taught, to invite the congregation to affirm their faith and to bring their intercessory prayers to God, and it is a deacon who dismisses the congregation to go forth to love and serve – These are a deacon’s roles because they are liturgical reflections of what deacons are called to do in
the world outside of church buildings, where most of their time in ministry is spent.
In his book Tears we Cannot Stop, author, activist and what I would call modern-day prophet Michael Eric Dyson wrote: “Justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public.” I think that may be the most diaconal thing I have heard during my several years in seminary. Love is everything, right? Without love, we are nothing; and “Justice is what (that) love sounds like when it speaks in public.” What better expression of the Golden Rule and of God’s greatest commandment, might we find?