I am continuing my thoughts for the Episcopal Village Mission Event. I was so caught up in my last post about the excitement of the role of the diaconate in this movement that I really didn't pay proper attention to all of our roles. And not to use this as an excuse but for background - my diocese has not had Ordained Deacons that are licensed to work for about 25 years. I do not know every detail, but I do believe at this time we have 1 ordained deacon that is licensed to work in our diocese and I know of an ordained deacon who is licensed in another diocese but lives here and has access to living out her call in worship. What this means to me and for me, is I don't know any deacons - I don't have a role model, a mentor. I don't know what the Deacon will look like in our diocese. I can dream. I have personally only met three ordained deacons. The Order of the Diaconate really kind of fell out of the Church for about 300 years...at least this is what I am reading about. While this Order is ancient in a lot of ways it has been forgotten. Every time I begin to awaken to Who I am and who I am called to be as a Deacon I get very excited ;-) Forgive me if in my excitement I didn't finish the conversation, I do realize I got caught up.
I didn't talk about the laity at all - for non-church folk the laity are the people of the church. The Episcopal Church has a very strong laity, very strong leaders and very active in the whole life of the church. The laity does, well pretty much everything in the church and takes the church into their workplaces. There are people who feel called to be Lay Ministers in the church, some attend formal formation processes and I know quite a few who have gone to seminary and much of our laity says - hey I have a talent, a gift from God and I want to give my time to you in the church and share that gift to enhance, enrich and grow the Kingdom of God.
The laity has a profound statement to make on this movement because they are sitting in the pews and worshiping with their community. The laity is in a unique position of "hear"ing what is really going on in the pews. Where are people embracing worship and finding God? Where are people gathering in the parking lot feeling as though they just left a church and didn't worship. Where are the people? Period. Where are their neighbors and their friends? Where are the people they passed in the grocery buying coffee for church on their way into church? And quite frankly - what are they feeling about God? Have they always wondered what Centering Prayer was? Would they like to sing the psalms? Would they like to experience a candlelight Taize service? Would they like to have a traditional seder meal and worship together at table? Would they like to move around more in church and express worship in new ways? What do they want/need to enrich their relationship with God, how would they like to serve others so that they might experience serving Jesus and where in their "church" experience would they like to explore new ways of discovering the Holy Spirit?
And here is where I feel I downplayed the work of the priests in my earlier post - because of course priests and seminarians are leading this movement. Priests are our spiritual leaders, our visionaries, our missionaries. Priests can sit with the laity and discourse on what they are "hear"ing and experiencing in the life of the church. Priests can tap into the liturgy and ancient practices, the creeds and the prayers and expose them to their congregation, they can breathe life into the prayerbook and bring it alive for their flock. Priests can be facilitators and living examples of how scripture, the Word of God, deep tradition and ritual bring into your life radical transformation. If I didn't have priests proclaiming the Word of God to me, exposing to me the story behind the story and showing me how the Cross intersects every moment of my life now - I wouldn't be who I am or where I am.
Together the laity and priests welcomed me, introduced me to a deeper relationship with God, taught me, guided me, inspired me and challenged me. I am like the baby bird - they fed me, strengthened me and at some point kicked me out of the nest to fly and then began to fly with me and we journey onward.
So my earlier post was my "aha" moment of discovering for myself the integral role that Deacons will play in this movement, as the bridge between the church and the community and understanding the very real needs of those who do not sit in our pews. But the truth is, we all have an integral role - Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Laity, those in the pew, those not in the pew, those who desire God and those who disregard God.
God is God. The Alpha and the Omega. The Great I AM. The Source, the Light, the Creator. The One True God, the Unknown God. And we are all God's children. It doesn't matter if we know the truth, recognize the truth or dismiss the truth - the Truth is the Truth, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever.
What I know for myself is this - the Truth set me free and in my freedom I pursue the Truth. I love because I am Loved. I create because I am Created. And how could I ever contain that within myself and not want to share it with everyone?
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