Deacon Elizabeth…

 

I remember so very well the late afternoon light fading in the front hallway as I asked Liz Miller to sit with me for a moment on the bench and have a quick chat.  It was an impetuous question, and not one that I had fully thought through as it came out, but since then I’ve come to understand that it was the Holy Spirit that caused me to ask her “You’re already doing the work of a deacon, why aren’t you ordained?  Would you consider thinking about that possibility?”

 

I remember her early response as being flattered, but basically feeling that there was no way she could do such a thing – being a deacon was much to important a role for her to consider taking on.  I’ve learned over the years that a genuine reaction of humility is one of the key signs that a person truly is called to ordained ministry, so I didn’t stop pressing her to think more deeply about the question.  Eventually she and her husband Terry agreed to sit down with me and talk about what might be involved and what sort of things they could expect both from the process of parish discernment and from the new role after ordination.  I am pleased to say that Elizabeth relented and agreed to enter into a process of discernment to determine whether or not the call that I had seen was in fact a genuine call recognized by the parish and by herself as well as by the Bishop and the Diocesan leadership.  We see the results of that process and the training which has followed now as we welcome Deacon Elizabeth to her new ministry among us.

 

The Episcopal Church is still in the process of recovering the full ordering of its historic and catholic threefold ministry.  You have been ministered to by deacons since the founding of the parish – but those have been deacons who have been primarily living out their servant ministry as priests and bishops.  In our polity all bishops are first ordained as priests, and all priests must first be ordained as deacons, and all of deacons (and everyone else) must first be baptized.  In the last 50 years or so, our denomination has come to realize that we have been remiss in not lifting up men and women to serve God as vocational (rather than transitional) deacons.  A vocational deacon is one who serves God throughout their entire ordained ministry as a deacon, and who focuses on serving God through caring for the physical needs of the people of the world.  Deacon Elizabeth’s primary ministry as Soup Kitchen Coordinator is the fullest of expression of the ministry of a deacon that I have ever experienced. 

 

As a sign of this ministry, deacons have some specific roles to play in our Eucharistic liturgies.  A deacon represents to us Christ in his servant ministry and therefore is the person who reads us the gospel, invites us to prayer and to the confession of our sins.  A deacon represents to us the servant ministry we are all called to have when the deacon sets and clears the Eucharistic table and aids in the distribution of the communion elements.  Finally it is the deacon as clearest expression we have in the Church who challenges us to depart from our worship service and to go forth in service and thanksgiving as servants to the whole of God’s creation.  You will notice that Deacon Elizabeth will be taking her proper role in our liturgies and I hope that as she does so, we will all be reminded of the challenge and call her ministry lays upon each of us.

 

Deacon Elizabeth has been ordained a deacon from our parish, and to our great good fortune and through the kindness of our Bishop she has been assigned to continue working among us, but she does not “belong” to Trinity any more than do the other clergy who serve in this place.  Deacon Elizabeth was ordained by our Bishop to serve the whole Church, our Diocese and our denomination.  She properly “belongs” to Bishop Paul – in some ways more so than the rest of the clergy at Trinity, since as a Vocational Deacon she has a special relationship and connection with her Bishop.  It is sometimes confusing for all of us having seen Elizabeth being raised up among and than “returned” to us as our Deacon since she never left, but I hope that we can remember that just as her new ministry will allow her to serve us in new ways here in the parish, it may also occasionally require her to serve the larger diocese just as all our clergy do at different times.

 

We have witnessed a significant transition in Deacon Elizabeth’s life as she has been ordered into the full ministry of the Diaconate.  We will likely continue to witness a transition in both her and in our common parish life as we welcome her new ministry into our common life.  Deacon Elizabeth will continue to be the primary minister to our guests in the Soup Kitchen and will take on the role of staff liaison to our Outreach ministries.  She will also take her proper role in the visitation of the ill within the parish joining Mother Laura and myself in this ministry.  I expect as her ministry grows and flourishes in this place we will hear the challenges she will put upon our hearts to more fully live out our Baptismal Covenant to “seek and serve God in all persons, respecting the dignity of every human being.”  Let us pray for God’s grace and power in her new ministry and that through her God’s Church and all of us would continue to be remade into the image of Our Lord and Savior Jesus, God’s Christ.

 

-Nick+

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