The newest deacons in Christ's Church

ANNANDALE, Va. -- Five people stepped forward Saturday, declaring they were ready and able to answer the call to be the first vocational deacons in the Diocese of Virginia.

For them, it has been a journey of many years. For the Diocese of Virginia, it has been a journey of many decades.

"We as a diocese reclaim the ancient and sacred order of deacons and as a full, separate and distinct order of ministry," declared Bishop Shannon Johnston at the ordination ceremony of the first vocational deacons in our diocese.

After finishing his sermon, Bishop Johnston laid hands on the foreheads of Barbara Lockwood Ambrose, Dana Evenson Buchanan, Mary Elizabeth Emerson, Marty Monroe Hager and Linda E. Murphy, and made them into deacons.

"You will serve by offering the redemptive love of Jesus Christ to those the most in need," the bishop told the new deacons, "especially the poor, sick and lonely."

It is hard to overstate the importance to our diocese of the ordinations on Saturday bringing to life this distinct and iconic order of ministry. There have been a handful of vocational deacons in our diocese, but they've been ordained in other dioceses and on loan to us. But Virginia has never ordained its own deacons -- not until Saturday.

Each of the new deacons has walked a long road of preparation and many disappointments, all for the privilege of being ordained to ministry of servanthood that carries no salary and requires obedience directly to the bishop. The five attended a three-year theological school that met primarily on weekends, and served internships in social service settings.

A few words of explanation about the diaconate are in order. The Deacons as a distinct order of ministry has its origins in the New Testament. In the early Church, deacons brought communion to the sick and served the poor.

In later centuries, the diaconate became more of a stepping stone to other clergy orders -- the priesthood and episcopate (bishops). We retain a vestige of that with our "transitional deacons" whereby people like me are required to serve for six months to a year as deacons before moving onto the priesthood.

Yet there have always been permanent deacons. You can identify them as those clergy who are wearing their stole diagonally across their left shoulder.

Deacons represent living icons bringing the church into the world and the world back to the church. They do not celebrate the sacraments, but as their name suggests -- deacon (a Greek word for table waiter) -- their liturgical role is to read the Gospel, set the Holy Table for Communion, and declare the dismissal sending us back out into the world. I believe the most important words a deacon declares is the dismissal. The best deacon dismissal I ever heard was "get up, get out and go do something."

The Book of Common Prayer rite for ordaining deacons includes this instruction by a bishop to a new deacon: "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."

The site of Saturday's ordination was especially symbolic -- St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Annandale, in the suburbs of Washington DC. The neighborhood is modest with a high immigrant population.

Deacons typically hold secular jobs, but they bring to their jobs their sense of servanthood. The bishop pointed out that "to be plain honest" all of us -- bishops, priests, deacons and lay people -- should bring that sense of servanthood to all that we do. But, he said, deacons are especially supposed to bring the pain of the world back to the church. "This charge is unique for deacons," he said.

"Hold the Church accountable," the Bishop continued. "I want deacons to raise Cain with the Church!"

For me, it's been a privilege to serve on the diocesan Committee on the Diaconate. I've seen up close the many turns and tumbles as the Diocese of Virginia has created a program for the education and formation of vocational deacons.

The chair of our committee, The Rev. Jane Piver, has shown great leadership through many travails in bringing these extraordinary people to this day and she is owed much thanks by many.

It wasn't easy for any of them, and I especially admire their fortitude and perseverance. We will soon be evaluating the program, and hopefully tap the wisdom of the experience of these five new deacons.

On Saturday, it was time for the celebration of a great milestone in the life of the Church.

"May your ministries of service be your heart's joy," the bishop concluded in his sermon.

Photos by yours truly from my pew.

The Diocese of Virginia delays ordaining deacons

Yesterday we received three emails from the Diocese of Virginia. I have already posted two on the votes by our bishop and Standing Committee declining to consent to the election of Mary Glasspool as suffragan bishop in Los Angeles. Their votes have no practical effect because she received enough elsewhere to go ahead with her consecration as a bishop in May. You can read more about that below.

The other communication received Friday (why do these always come on Fridays?) concerned the future of the vocational diaconate in the Diocese of Virginia. The decision has an unfortunate impact on ministry in this diocese and our parish. I am reprinting that communique below; to slice through the obtuse language, it means that this diocese will not ordain permanent deacons until 2011, if ever.

The Standing Committee's stance is a signal that there is a major vacuum of education in this diocese about the diaconate. Mostly what we've seen in Virginia are transitional deacons who are temporary deacons on their way to becoming a priest, like Heather Warren who is currently serving at St. Paul's in such a role. There are a few vocational deacons here, like Ann Scupholme, who were ordained deacons elsewhere, and they tend to serve as unpaid missioners in small churches.

The authentic role of vocational deacons is to bring the church to the world and the world to the church; to lead us out of our cloisters and into the ministry beyond our walls. As one deacon I know put it: "The role of the priest is to bring the good news to the world. The role of the deacon is to bring the bad news back."

The vocational deacons serve permanently, and in my opinion every congregation should have a deacon. Indeed, all of us are called to be ministers in the church, lay and clergy alike. But we also ordain some to lead us, and through their ordination to highlight the sacramental and incarnational value of our ministry. Priests tend to the flock and grow the flock; deacons are there to pull us out of ourselves and move beyond the flock.

You know the deacons by how they wear their stoles over the left shoulder. Liturgically, they set the table, emphasizing their servant ministry.

In the last two dioceses where I served, I was privileged to serve alongside deacons. I cannot imagine how we would have done our work without the deacons -- they are that important. The vibrancy of the permanent diaconate was infectious, and brought to life everything else we did, from prison ministry to Cursillo, to work in nursing homes and homeless shelters. We could not have done any of it well without the deacons.

By delaying ordaining vocational deacons, the Diocese of Virginia is cutting itself off from this crucial and fruitful ministry. I pray that our leaders will soon discern an understanding of the importance and potential of the diaconate and get on with ordaining vocational deacons.

Below is the communication from the Diocese of Virginia:

April 9, 2010

The Standing Committee, key leaders in diaconal formation and some members of the diocesan Committee on the Diaconate recently gathered for a conversation on the formation process for the vocational diaconate. After the meeting, the Standing Committee made two decisions that affect the process and that will have implications for the formation of future deacons. First, the Standing Committee voted to recommend Candidacy for Holy Orders for the first class of postulants who have completed the Diaconal Formation Institute. "The Standing Committee recognizes candidacy as a time of significant formation and we invite the group to continue in that formation," said Don Metheny, president of the Standing Committee.

The Standing Committee also postponed consideration for ordination of the initial class until all canonical requirements are completed successfully. The five members of the initial class will begin their practicum placements in parishes at the end of May, completing them in late November. The Standing Committee plans to consider the initial class members for ordination at that point.

For the five candidates, this means a second delay of their ordination, which was originally scheduled for January of 2010, then rescheduled for May. The ordinations are now tentatively scheduled for early 2011. The Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, bishop of Virginia, said, "I concur with the Standing Committee in their decision, while standing in support with these five and with all who are in formation for the vocational diaconate."

"These pioneers have been on an emotional roller coaster, but they continue to experience God's call and to feel God's grace," the Rev. Canon Susan Goff, canon to the ordinary, said after sharing the news with them.

In 2008 and 2009, the first two classes of vocational diaconate postulants entered the diocesan Diaconal Formation Institute. Vocational deacons live out their entire ordained ministry as deacons, focusing their energies on a bridge ministry, which is intended to build significant ties between the Church and the world, particularly in service to persons in need.