The Bishops Pastoral Letter for June 2017
Who am I? I am newly made, I am enthusiastic. I know that I have a lot to learn, and I am keen to get started. I could be a man or I could be a woman. People often think I am a priest but I am not. You can tell that when I am properly dressed in church, because I wear a stole over my left shoulder. I will be coming to a parish near you soon.
All those clues should help you work out who I am, but this suggestion from a schoolboy may not: 'I am placed on a hill and set on fire as a warning to people'. No, I am not a beacon; I am a deacon.
At the beginning of this month I will be ordaining twenty two women and men to the order of the diaconate. We often think of deacons as just trainee priests, obliged to wait for a year until they can 'do all the important stuff, like preside at the Eucharist, bless, absolve. But in reality being a deacon is an important ministry in its own right, reminding us of what the church is all about. And it is a ministry which is never lost: every priest, and every bishop, remains a deacon throughout their lives. And there is a growing number of 'permanent ' or 'distinctive ' deacons, men and women whose lifelong vocation is specifically to this office. Maybe this pattern will be coming to a diocese near you quite soon.
Deacons hold before us the mission of Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve. Their ministry is about showing the kindness, mercy and care of God in the life of the church and in the service of the world. This is the primary pattern of leadership in the Christian community: to put the needs of the other before our own, and to find our joy in the joy of our brothers and sisters.
But this is not the same as simply being amenable to everybodys whim. Deacons are not doormats; on the contrary, the word in the ancient world referred to servants entrusted with the authority of the master, to deliver as heralds the message of the one by whom they were sent. This is why one of the distinctive roles of the deacon is to proclaim the Holy Gospel: to a world obsessed with self-seeking and domination, they announce the good news of a God who comes to serve.
Being called to ordination as a deacon is a wonderful privilege. Pray for our newly ordained deacons, whether they in your church or in a church nearby; pray that they may be given grace and confidence to enter fully into this servant ministry. But their vocation is just a reminder of the life to which we are all called as followers of the servant King: pray that each one of us individually, and all of us together, may show in our lives what it means truly to love and serve our neighbours.
+Michael
June 2017