Servant & Evangelist - Deaconing

Servant & Evangelist - the Ministry of a Deacon
Ordination to the diaconate of Rosy Barrie, Margaret Legg & Bill Radmall
by the Bishop of London

“… do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.” 2 Tim 4.5

I had just finished a primary school assembly about Noah’s Ark – not a subject I would have chosen myself - and explained that I couldn’t stay for the usual class awards because I had to go off and meet with some deacons.

“Who knows what a deacon is?” I realised immediately what a stupid question that was to a bunch of five to ten year olds. Two hands went up however. A very young girl in the front row who it turned out was still troubled by the Ark story: “Were you in the ark, sir?” The older ones laughed and I said “No”. She looked puzzled and said: “So why weren’t you drowned?”

The other hand was that of an older boy who I guessed might just know what a deacon was: “Is it something you put on a hill and set fire to?” Only a letter out!

There are so many rich themes in tonight’s readings for St Luke’s Day, and many of them relate to that question ‘What is a deacon?”

Strengthen the feeble hands, says Isaiah, tell
the good news of Redemption as Streams in the Desert.

Paul sets an example to Timothy of the values of companionship and collaborative ministry – Luke is with me; bring Mark to me – the same Mark whom years previously Paul had all but written off as too whimpish – but now, bring him, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.

Although Paul knows his martyrdom is just around the corner – and that always made the New International translation of our verse a particularly unfortunate rendering of the Greek: ‘keep your head in all situations’. So although Paul was about to lose his head, he wanted the scrolls and the parchments. Study is a responsibility at all times for all who minister in the church of Jesus Christ.

Paul also speaks of those who desert when the going gets tough, and Christian ministry although always rewarding and a great privilege, is sometimes very difficult – not least because of the very people we are trying to serve. As the old adage has it;

To dwell above with those we love,
O that will be glory.
But to live below with those we know
Is quite a different story!

But Paul points to the comfort and strength he receives from God as well: The Lord stood at my side.

More themes in our Gospel; Jesus sends us out as, ‘Lambs among wolves’, and ‘Labourers in the harvest’ to demonstrate and proclaim the Kingdom of God.

It’s a comfort to many of us that he also tells us to accept hospitality as part of our Gospel ministry. He warns us, however, about being too choosy. Don’t turn down the Athenaeum for the Garrick!

In Luke’s other great book, the Acts of the Apostles, he makes further links between the ministry of the Deacon especially and showing hospitality to the needy and the neglected. So much pastoral succour and love may be offered around the table. It can be a very demanding ministry. I think it must have been a weary deacon who defined hospitality as the art of making people feel at home, when you wish they were!

So there are many rich themes in our readings, but two more which are the basis of all the others.

From our text:
“Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfil your ministry.”

The root of the word ministry and deacon is the same. Paul tells Timothy that he must fulfil his diakonia, his servanthood.

You are being ordained deacons in the church of Jesus Christ who came to us as the deacon King; who washed his disciples’ feet and commanded them to love one another as he loved them.

The high calling to which you are being ordained, for the rest of your life, is that of deacon, servant. Whatever other ministry you may go on to exercise, the diaconal ministry remains the foundation.

When the Bishop goes to old fashioned churches like St Mary’s Bourne St, and his vestments are laid out, there is a dalmatic set out for him, the liturgical vestment of a deacon – Andrew is wearing one tonight - and whatever other grand and symbolic vestments he puts on over that, it remains the first and foundational garment, to remind him that he is always deacon as well as bishop. English Monarchs wear a dalmatic at their coronation.

In one sense all Christians are to ‘fulfil their ministry’ in what is called the priesthood of all believers, or of all the baptized. But deacons provide a particular, sacramental focus for servant leadership.

I know that all three of you have already been involved in ministry for many years. But today signals a public recognition and a transition from being ministers in general to deacons in particular.

You yourselves become signs of the kingdom, a proclamation of the Gospel, marked servants of Jesus Christ. Whenever you feel put upon, taken for granted, pre-occupied with trivia that someone else should be doing; then as well as kicking the cat and taking it out on your spouse, you must also give thanks to God for your diaconal charism. (And you may need to run a course for your church members on collaborative every member ministry!)

The second foundational theme in our text is encapsulated in Paul’s phrase ‘do the work of an evangelist!’

Evangelism is a word that has been laden with so many other associations over the last century that it has been quietly dropped by some parts of the Christian Church. As one of my evangelical friends told me the other day – ‘I thought evangelism was something I shouldn’t even do to my dog, let alone my friends.’

Indeed, on the way here I and everyone else in my carriage were evangelised – given this tract, which tells us how to be sure of heaven, and for good measure, how to be sure of hell! (I’m reminded of a church notice board I saw near here years ago. It said in big dayglow letters: ‘Are you tired of sin? Then come inside.’ And some wag had added in felt tip underneath: ‘If not, phone Bayswater 2372.’)

But Paul’s understanding and command to Timothy was simple and clear. He did not tell Timothy to be an evangelist – or to give tracts out and embarrass people on the tube – but to do the work of an evangelist. And that is simply to make the good news of Jesus Christ known in everything that we say or do.

To go back to those beacons burning on hilltops, our Lord reminds us that we should not hide our light under a bushel, or inside the four walls of our churches.

Deacons have traditionally been those who have gone out to the margins of society; to the unchurched, whether rich or poor, and to the marginalised whether within the church community or outside. Deacons have been the go-betweens for priests and bishops, representing them to the world and bringing the needs of the world back to the church in prayer.

This is why liturgically a deacon (Andrew today) reads the Gospel, the good news; and why he will lead the prayers – bringing the needs of the world to God in prayer. And why he sends us back out into the world at the end of the service.

And this is all part of doing the work of an evangelist. It is brokering a meeting between those who need God, and a God who loved the world so much that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins, to be our advocate in heaven and to bring us to eternal life.

Deacons, you, are to remind the church when it becomes self-absorbed, that we are to fulfil the Eleventh Commandment of our Lord – to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. This is not an optional extra for evangelical Christians; it is the calling of the whole church of God.

We should all listen to the next words that the Bishop will read to us, and remember, that the call to be servants and proclaimers of the Gospel, focussed in the ministry of these almost-deacons, is the calling of all of us who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Fulfil your ministry. Do the work of an evangelist.”