Ordination of Deacons Sunday March 2, 2013 The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, PA The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa St. Benedict quoting from John’s Gospel “walk while you have the light of life that the darkness of death may not overtake you”, Inserted the word “run”, “run while you have the light of life that the darkness of death may not overtake you”. Some may feel like running, either away or toward this moment, some may feel like they have been running all weekend long. What a terrific weekend it is in our diocesan life we are having, yesterday gathering and electing Bishop Sean Rowe as our Bishop, and today gathering to remind one another of our call to mission and ministry as our prayers and praises and our Bishop’s hands meet the Spirits affirmation of these three fine people before us taking on the Diaconate today. So let us run while we have the light of life (and before any snow or ice falls) to the scriptures and there find once again the opportunity to be reminded of God’s call on our lives. The story of Jeremiah’s call to God’s action is one that invites us into the very nature of what Holy call from God is about. And as we explore this story together let me remind you that though today we are about ordaining deacons who have been discerning a particular call in the Church, the nature of call is for all of the Baptized , that is God’s call on our lives, and on this Church that is Christ’s own. What we learn from Jeremiah’s call is first that God’s call on our lives is about relationship! God “knows us” even before we are in the womb and God “consecrates” us. How intimate and how profound to be known in the depths of our being, to be loved even deep down there in the un-loveable regions who we might doubt ourselves to be; and how horrifyingly lovely it is to know that God claims all of it as holy. Yes God loves us into being and we are worthy of loving God back and serving God’s world. Second, we learn from Jeremiah’s response to God’s call, what all of us have experienced when a call is being made upon our lives. We doubt it. Jeremiah says, But, but, I am only a child? This is a pretty consistent dynamic between the created and the creator, found throughout the biblical story and throughout I am guessing most of your narratives. I doubt it God. I doubt I am the right person for that task, for that ministry, for that job. I doubt I have the courage, the skills, the time, I doubt I have the words. Third, we learn from God’s response to Jeremiah’s call, to quote Bishop Rowe’s remarks from yesterday, “God’s future will raise the expectations” and God’s very spirit will equip us necessarily for the work of answering God’s call. – God tells Jeremiah, I’ll give you the words to say----and I believe and I have seen with my own eyes, that God not only gives the words, but God gives also the courage, the compassion, the determination and the grace to become no less than the very voice, the hands, and heart of God himself in the world., But God also gives us one more secret weapon to respond to a call to serve Him in the world- He gives us the gift of Jesus Christ, who revealed in flesh and in word, shows his glory, the very image of God (as Paul tells the Corinthians). The other secret weapon then is We are given one another! One another in Christ, doing together in Christ, more than we can ever imagine. So we join these three gifted and wonderful children of God, who find their way to this place this day in their journey to pursue a call. And we remind them as we remind one another that 1.They are loved and known, intimately and wonderfully by the one who made them and brought them here this day. And not only are they loved and known, deeply and intimately but members of congregations, friends, Sunday school teachers, small group bible study partners, the sick and the hungry, the lonely and the needy, seminary classmates, Priests and Deacons, have seen this love shine through them as bright as the northern lights. Michelle, Elizabeth and Beverly; Even commissions on Ministries, and committees that stand have seen it and claimed YOU as ready to take on this unique call to serve. 2. One thing you can be sure of in your call not just today but plenty of other days as well, is that you will doubt yourselves. . Doubt that you have heard it right? Doubt that your ministry is making a difference, doubt that you are the right person at the right time. Doubt that any of this stuff we do together matters in the end. And its easy to understand as you enter leadership roles in a church that stands on shifting sand. We know of the volumes of writings filling bookshelves on the subject of the institutional church in flux, in change, in transition, and some even say “death”. A ten year survey conducted by Hartford Seminary entitled “A decade of change” (ya think?), statistically measured and produced findings about the trends in mainline denomenations over the decade of 2000 to 2010. Their findings: a steep drop in the financial health of congregations. ; High levels of conflict within denominations; and an aging and declining membership. (sound familiar?) At the same time however what was also discovered was an increase in innovation and adaptive worship and ministry methods. A rapid adoption of electronic technologies for communications and implementation of ministry and (and this is the punchline) an INCREASE in MISSION Oriented Programs of outreach to the neediest and poorest in society. -Which brings me to the third piece of our claim on the nature of call not just for these three deacons this day, but for all of us as the Church! Even in the midst of shifting sand, and maybe even if truth be told the sand in this equation of the worlds’ deepest need and God’s deepest desire for it has always been shifting sand! Maybe even God knows its shifting sand and that is exactly where we are called to be! In it! In the sandbox if you will. Let’s face it- God has us just where God wants us. Of course we feel unprepared, unsure, uncertain, All who have entertained a holy call to get in the mix as it were have felt unprepared, just like Jeremiah and all others in our biblical narrative who have been called by God to be the hands, hearts, and voice of GODS’s preferred future. God gives us the words! Gives us the courage! Gives us the heart! The nature of how we do church is certainly changing but what remains is God’s call on us and the powerful grace we discover as we seek to answer God’s call. And guess what; the truth is, and we have we need right here! Right here! Michelle, Elizabeth, and Beverly. The promises you make today before us and your Bishop are specific to the vocation of Deacon in this Church! Hold on tight to your God who loves you desperately by studying and losing yourself in the Scriptures- model your very lives on those scriptures which means lose yourself in a frenzy of loving this broken world God desperately seeks to redeem! Hold our feet to the fire! This partly the Deacon’s job. Reminds us over and over again to live into answering God’s call on our lives to be the hands, heart, and voice of God, especially to the most vulnerable and needy! And thanks for carrying out those other duties the vows seek not to define! In all things and in all places remind us by the way you lean into your vocation of the proclamation St. Paul begs us to heed: That we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Amen.