Ordination of Deacons: Bishop Mary's Sermon
Llefara O Dduw, canys mae dy weision yn gwrando – speak to us O God for your servants are listening Amen.
Today is such a special day, a wonderful day for us and for the whole church of God.
It is great to celebrate the ordination of eight amazing deacons, we are so glad to welcome Natalie and Jeremy, Ali and Pete, Heather, Ross, James Wragg-Smith and James Lawson as they are ordained and begin their new ministries.
We are reminded throughout this service, that deacons show us all one of the most important aspects of Jesus’ ministry. They show us servant leadership - something of the revolutionary nature of God’s love. This calling is described in the words of Jesus that we have just heard when he spoke about himself as the one who came, “not to be served, but to serve”.
Today is also a feast-day of the church – a celebration that amplifies the ministry of deacons. Today we remember the Birth of John the Baptist: the name John means “a gift of God” and John the Baptist is an important character in the Jesus story. He is the one who God sent, to prepare the way for God’s Saviour.
John called people back to God, he turned his back on worldly power and privilege, calling people to repent and baptising them. He spoke up for God’s values even though this cost him his life.
John the Baptist, even before Jesus, shows us what servant leadership looks like, and this all began even before his birth: St Luke the Gospel writer tells us that when she was pregnant with John, his mother Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and meeting her cousin the Virgin Mary, when they were both pregnant, Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice, “happy is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of the promises of God.”
John’s mother Elizabeth, believed that God does amazing things, and John the Baptist demonstrated this in giving his whole life to living this out. As we remember his birth today it is wonderful that baby Rowan has been a part of the ordination journey for these deacons and has been on retreat with them. She is a living reminder of the God who comes to meet us, and is revealed amongst us in the little ones, in the vulnerable and those whom the world sometimes regards as least powerful.
That is what the Gospel reading we have just heard is all about: A call to see the world and to find our place in it according to God’s values. And God sees things so differently from us.
We heard about another John, in the Gospel reading, John the disciple and his brother James. Like all the disciples, they have accompanied Jesus throughout his ministry, hearing him teach about the Kingdom of God. St Matthew tells us that they are all on the way to Jerusalem where we know that Jesus will be arrested, and be brutally tortured and put to death, but the disciples have not yet understood all that Jesus has been telling them. Jesus has been teaching them about how God’s values will overturn the power of this world. The disciples appear to believe that Jesus is talking about becoming an earthly King, they seem to be hoping that they might gain status, power and prestige too.
According to St Matthew their mother is caught up in their request to have a special place in this Kingdom Jesus has been talking about. St Matthew says that the mother of James and John approached Jesus asking for promotion for her sons, although these are men who are hardly shrinking violets – these brothers were given the nick-name Boanerges “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus, so maybe, it was their idea all along.
This request for special treatment reflects what know and experience about how power works in this world: We humans tend to gravitate towards those who seem to be successful in the hope that our allegiance will win us popularity and material rewards. That’s what these two brothers seem to be looking for, and it annoys the other disciples – possibly because they were also hoping for a special place and didn’t want to be out-ranked. But Jesus, answers telling them all (and by extension all of us) about how very different God’s ways and ideas are. He talks about sharing in his work as “drinking the cup that he’ll drink”: He speaks of a God, who grieves over the wickedness and brokenness of the world, and who looks after the needs of those who suffer. Jesus reminds us of how God has always promised to liberate the downtrodden and the oppressed.
The shock of his message is that Jesus offers himself as a ransom for the world. Rather than declaring God’s judgement upon others by seizing their power prestige and position for himself and his followers and punishing them, he takes upon himself the bitter consequences of human selfishness, hatred and greed in order to set humanity free. “Drinking his cup” will not mean gaining earthly power, it will mean becoming less, serving others, it may even mean suffering and being willing to die for others.
Jesus’ way, will involve a radical new understanding of the cost of the love of power and by contrast a deeper appreciation of the power of God’s love.
I find it heartening that the Gospel does not present James and John and the other apostles as perfect people who understand Jesus straightaway, but rather as ordinary people who struggled to accept his teaching. And yet they, with all the first followers of Jesus, succeeded in carrying the Gospel to the whole world. We too are not perfect; we may find Jesus’ teachings difficult to understand, and hard to follow.
In one form or another, the temptation to dominate others is always lurking in our hearts. So much energy is wasted on the quest to lord it over others, even within the Church. We need to keep remembering Jesus’ words that “It will not be so among you”.
When we feel that this is difficult we should remember the hopeful message we heard from the prophet Jeremiah who reminds us of the God who calls us and knows us. “Cyn i mi dy lunio yn y growth fe’th adnabum; - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”. Jeremiah feels tempted to say, There is no way I can do this, he says: “ I am too young” to which God says: Do not be afraid, I am with you: “Paid ag ofni, oherwydd yr wyf fi gyda thi i’th waredu”.
Our ordinands today are signs of God’s encouragement and hope. They like John the Baptist have names that speak of God’s gifts and hope:
Natalie might reminds us of the gift of Jesus, her name means Christ’s birthday, Jeremy means “exalted by God” and Ali or Alison means “raised up”. Pete means rock – we know that from St Peter, Heather reminds us of hope – her name points to an evergreen and beautiful plant. Ross (as well as being perhaps the most popular housemate in Friends) might be a reference to a headland, a sign of being on the look-out for God – he’s also Thomas Ross (so he’s named after another disciple too) and our two James’ James Wragg Smith and James Lawson share the names of a disciple and a brother of Jesus and also a name connected to Jacob another Biblical hero. Each of our new deacons with all their gifts and their willingness to accept God’s call are great reminders to us of Baptismal call to follow Jesus the servant King.
Our world needs servant leadership how revolutionary would it be if we put this into action and put service before self and valued all, starting with those who have least. Our Church needs servant leadership if we are to be faithful to God’s call.
We often talk about how important the diaconate and servant leadership are, but we do not always show this in the way that we live out our faith.
When new priests are ordained clergy often drop to their knees in front of them and ask for a blessing. If we were serious about valuing the calling of our deacons, we should all be finding ways to ask them to pray for us, that we might seek to be faithful servants of Christ too. Deacons remind us all of our shared call not to be served but to serve.
Jesus, Servant Saviour as we pray for Natalie, Jeremy, Ali, Pete, Heather, Ross, James and James to be ordained deacon today, help each one of us here to hear your call and to grow in love and service of others. May we recognise and honour your loving presence in our neighbours and in all creation. We pray for grace to give of our time and gifts with humble hearts and open hands, confident in the amazing power of your redeeming love. Amen.