“If the first thing that God in Christ does is to alter His
people and share their life in order that He may redeem and change it, then the
deacon in his or her pastoral, liturgical and catechetical ministry I there to
hold before the church the truth that, before you can change people, you must
attend and engage them.” P vii.
“The church of England has generally lost sight of the
distinctive ministry of the deacon seeing it as a rite of passage to the
priesthood, or, when women could not be ordained priest, as an ordained, none
presidential, ministry open to women.
Not only has this diminished the ministry of the deacon, it has also
deprived the church of a vital resource in ministry and mission” Pxi.
“Essentially the ministry of the deacon is the ministry of
the church and at the heart of the diaconal vocation is a love which reflects
the love of Christ. Deacon are lovers –
lovers of God, lovers of God’s church, the body of Christ, and lovers of God’s
word.” Pxi.
“Diaconal ministry has three particular strands enabling
people to worship, providing pastoral care and proclaiming the Gospel.” Pxi
[gosh, when you think about that one it’s really short and simple, but at the same
time so deep and all encompassing]
“…the church needs to recognise the distinctive ministry of
deacons and to affirm and support those for whom this is their vocation, seeing
them not as apprentice priests, but as ministers in their own right.” Pxii.
“The diaconate needs to be recovered from the false idea
that it is just a time of transition before the ‘real’ priestly ministry
begins. Instead it should be welcomed as
a time (perhaps more than a year) in which to live into diaconal ministry
unencumbered by the additional responsibilities of priestly ministry that will
eventually develop rather than supersede diaconal ministry” Pxii
“You must join the family, Mr Dishart, or you are only a
minister once a week” Quoting from JM Barrie’s The little minister.
[on the church as a family] “…families can be a source both
of joy and irritation. We may love them easily, or we may have to work at it,
but love them we must if our ministry is to be Christ-like and not a source of
stumbling – congregations have an uncanny knack of knowing if they are loved or
merely tolerated.” P13.
“Diaconal ministry is not just the caring, social side arm
of the church that some assume it to be; the deacon is a constant reminder to
the church of it’s showing in Christ’s servants ministry as the deacon
encourages and helps all Christians to live their baptismal vows.” Pxiii.
"..it is the privilege of the deacon to be a catalyst
for the ministry of all the baptised, encouraging and freeing them by our
example to live for the glory of God.” P45.
"Deacons do not take over and do all… we need to
remember that deacons point to the truth that who we are, rather than what
we are, is the basis of life in the church.
There can be a temptation to take over the work of others and thus
disempower them, but equally the church can collude with the deacon letting him
or her do the work of ministry that others might be excused.” P6.
“…three strands to the ministry of the deacon:
Liturgical.
Pastoral.
Catechetical.
Here the deacon is attendant, agent and bearer of a message…
far from being unrelated or even opposed to each other, one without the other
two is incomplete – worship loses touch with life, teaching becomes academic
and not transformative, and pastoral care becomes secular social work. This is not to down play the value of each in
it’s own right. Many lay people are
called to share in ministry in this way, but the deacon embodies their
integration in in doing so reflects the ministry of Jesus Christ.” Pxiii.
“Before anything else, deacons are worshippers. Only thus can the deacon be a guide into the
liturgy. Worship led by a non-worshipper
will be a performance” P47.
[talks about not needing specifically to have healthcare /
social care qualifications in the C of E] “What is important whether or not the
deacon has professional qualifications, is the ability to relate to people for
whom the mainstream of society is a long way off. In looking for possible diaconal vocations,
the instinctive ability to get alongside people of different ages and social
contexts and to speak their language is an important marker, along with
evidence of a life of service outside the community. The church could be identifying such people
amongst its baptised and asking if this is a pointer to a diaconal vocation”
P33.
“Deacons should be found on the church doorstep on Sunday
mornings, inviting people to cross the threshold, welcoming both the regular
worshipper and visitors. We do not
expect our guests to our homes to let themselves in, sit themselves down, and wait
for us to appear. Instead we greet them
and welcome them, and if it is their first visit we show them where things
are.” P43.
“…at the end the deacon, the catalyst for Christian
discipleship in the world is the person who dismisses the congregation, getting
them back over the threshold from the church into the world with the charge ‘Go
in peace, to love and serve the Lord.’ “ P44
“…it is the church, as much as the world, that needs a
deacon on the threshold to make that margin transgressable.” P44.
“Deacons are there to ensure that worship is both heavenly
and earthly, to hold liturgy and social justice together and open people’s eyes
to the endless possibilities for the worship to affect the way we live, and
thus to be expressed in the hundreds of different places the congregation end
up during the week.” P48.
“Several of the deacons roles fit together to make visible
the servant ministry of the church in the world, the deacon who calls us to
confession is the deacon who last week sent us out in the world to proclaim the
gospel and who know that we have inevitably slipped up in the course of doing
that, and so now invites us to confess together.” P54.
“In a culture where most people can read and there are
bibles in churches we should not forget that whoever reads the scripture
proclaims the gospel on behalf of all the baptised community who themselves
share that responsibility” P54.
“When the president introduces the sharing of the peace by
recalling our peace and unit in Christ, it is the deacon who bids the people
share a sign of peace, thus linking life and liturgy, giving expression to the
truth that has been proclaimed and making preparation together around the table
as one body. Then, having receiving the offertory gifts from the congregation…
the deacon makes practical preparation of the altar for communion.
After communion the deacon clears up: a very practical and
necessary task after a meal. Whilst the
soap and hot water part of washing up after communion takes place later, the
fact that ablutions are done straight after the distribution is a very public
reminder that the meal is complete, all is consumed and it is time to move on
in mission, It is a sign of stewardship and the practical
care we are asked to give to all things that are entrusted to us, since the
care taken with the chalice after communion is indicative of the care we take
with all the possessions God gives to us.
It is a visible reminder that the routine tasks of life belong to the
group.” P55.
[continuing some time later from the above] “… and finally,
the deacon sends us out to love and serve the Lord, gets us over the threshold
and out into the world. The deacon is
one of the first over that boundary, greeting people out the door as they leave
and effectively leading them out by example.” P55.
[Quoting John Chrysostom] “Adorn the altar with fine linen
if you will, but do not forget your brother who is outside and without a
coat. For he is a temple of far greater
wealth.” P56.
“…it is a misue of the diaconal vocation if the deacon find
himself or herself duplicating the ministry of a reader rather than taking a
particular role in liturgy alongside the priest, keeping before the church its
own servant ministry flowing from that of Jesus Christ.” P56.
[Quoting Aiden Kavanagh] “…the server of servers, cantor of
cantors, reader of readers. He [sic] is
the butler in God’s house, major domo of it’s banquet, master of its
ceremonies. Given the emphasis of his
office and ministry, the deacon is the most pronounced christic the three major
ministries. This implies that it is not
the bishop of presbyter who are liturgically ‘another Christ’ but the deacon.”
P56.
“The deacon who has leaned to wait in Advent, to rejoice at
Christmas and Easter, to repent in Lent, to wonder at assentation and to be
surprised at Pentecost is being equipped to help people bring their daily lives
into the story of God’s ways within the world.” P58.
“Whilst it is the priest that give the absolution, it is not
without reason that deacons lead people in confession and then in sharing the
peace when the reconciled church gathers for the Eucharist” P68.
“Because the cross is at the heart of our lives, we will be
face with, rather than protected from, pain and frustration. But at the same time we are people who sing
the magnificat, we are people who hope in God. Diaconal ministry is essentially
hopeful. If we do not hope in the assurance that our God comes to save, we
might as well not bother.” P69.
[Quotes Francis De Sale] “Great works do not always lie in our
way, but every moment we may do little ones excellently, that is, with great
love” P71.
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