The Call to Servant Ministry

BY THE REV. MARTI HOMES, ARCHDEACON

Years ago, as I was learning from the Rev. Bill Yon how to serve the diocese in the role of consultant and trainer for parish stewardship planning, he shared with me many “Yon-isms” – his practical and down-home adages. Over the decades, his sayings and wise guidance have helped form me and my ministry. One of Bill’s comments to me on a road trip to visit a parish has repeatedly popped into my head. On this particular occasion he said, “Marti, no one becomes a plumber unless they know a plumber, and no one will begin to tithe until they know someone who tithes.” Following his wise train of thought, I have decided that this is also true in servant ministry: No one will be called to be a deacon until they know a deacon.

This is the first in a 3-part series on the Life and Work of Deacons. Each part will focus on one of the three areas of deacon ministry as they appear in The Ordination of a Deacon. The deacon is to minister where they live (family and parish life), work (secular employment or community-based volunteer, service, and/or advocacy work and work in the church), and worship (in the various forms of liturgy). It is in the balanced integration of these three areas of ministry that the deacon is called to serve. Hopefully, the series will be a path for laity to get to know a deacon, and perhaps hear a call to enter this life in ministry.

Part 1: The Role of Deacons Where They Live

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.

As a deacon in the Church, you are to study the Holy Scriptures, to seek nourishment from them, and to model your life upon them. You are to make Christ and his redemptive love known, by your word and example, to those among whom you live, and work, and worship. 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, and you are to carry out other duties assigned to you from time to time. At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself.

The Ordination of a Deacon BCP 543

Deacons are called to serve in myriad ways. Some examples: she offers loving personal care for her bed-bound mother-in-law, who is living her last days in their home. Another participates in an interdenominational bible study group in his neighborhood. One cares for his mentally ill son, and volunteers with two local free food distribution programs to serve the poor in their community. She is raising teenagers and serves as a volunteer reading tutor for students in a low-performing elementary school. He has led an EfM seminar for over 20 years, and she advises the Outreach Committee in her parish. She commits time to family gatherings and traditions, and often has her grandchildren spend the night or a few days with her. He rolls the trash bins out and back on pick up days for several elderly widows on his street. Others toil in community gardens at their parishes. These are living examples of how deacons are living out their vows where they live – in their own homes, neighborhoods, and parish communities.

Wherever deacons are and in all that they do, their lives serve as an example of how to live as a disciple of Jesus – how to follow the command to love others as he has loved us – in those ordinary acts of daily living. Most of these examples are not flashy, headline-worthy deeds that result in awards, medals, or recognition. More often they are unnoticed, mundane, demanding, and messy. Some are fun and refreshing ways to build strong and loving family and friend relationships. Others are ways to honor sabbath rest. All of them require consistency, dependability, self-sacrifice, compassion, prayer, and love. None of this is glamorous, and yet, this is the life of service to which the deacon is called. The life of a deacon starts with and continues throughout ordained ministry, in ordinary acts of daily living with their family, neighborhoods, and communities of faith.

Serving as deacon where they live is foundational for all other aspects of ministry in the church and elsewhere. This is where the deacon has developed the capacity and perseverance to serve, teach, and lead others in how to notice needs and to care for the helpless, oppressed, vulnerable, and poor.

For more information about the diaconate please contact the Rev. Marti Holmes, Archdeacon, at mholmes@dioala.org.