A Deacon’s Call to God and You

A sermon by The Rev. Paddy Cavanaugh, Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year A – Track 1, June 11, 2023

Gen. 12:1-9 (Call of Abraham), Romans 4:13-25, Matt. 9:9-13; 18-26

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, amen.

Good morning St. George’s! I am so overjoyed to be with you this morning as your new associate rector and I can’t express how grateful I am that you called me. It’s really a tremendous gift to be called to a community that is as vibrant, faithful, and downright fun as this one is, and to be honest it makes me feel a little spoiled, especially after hearing some of the call narratives in today’s lections, which I’ll touch on later. But first, I wanted to give you an update on something remarkable that happened in my life since I last saw you, and that of course is getting ordained as a deacon at the Cathedral in Boston last week. In this ordination ceremony I entered the church as a lay person, the bishop laid hands on me and called down the Holy Spirit, and I left the church, ordained as a deacon. So what exactly does that mean, being a deacon?

We’re all familiar with priests and what they do, but the office and ministry of a deacon is often more of a mystery to many of us who aren’t used to having deacons around on Sunday morning. Now, I’ll be the first to confess that having only been a deacon for about a week, it’s still kind of a mystery to me, and so I thought I’d use this sermon as a chance for us to figure it out together. In fact, I suspect that us figuring things out together is at the heart of being a deacon to begin with. 

So first, deacons tend to fall into two categories in the Episcopal Church. Those in the first category are often called vocational deacons. These vocational deacons will be quick to inform you that they are indeed the real deacons – deacons who are called specifically to the diaconate alone and not the priesthood. Vocational deacons typically remain in this order of ministry for life. Those in the second category of deacon are commonly referred to as transitional deacons. Transitional deacons are deacons who are called to the priesthood and according to the ancient tradition of the Church, are ordained as deacons for a set period of time, typically six months, to further grow into their vocation before they are ordained to the priesthood. This latter, transitional category of deacon is the one to which I belong, and God-willing and you all consenting, I will be ordained as a priest in December of this year.

So what exactly does a deacon do? The ministry of a deacon is characterized by many things, but there are two main gifts, or charisms, which stand out. These are first, to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in word and deed, and second, to carry out the ministry of Jesus as a servant to those most in need, such as the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and all those marginalized by society. In short, deacons make sacred vows to proclaim the Gospel and to serve the ‘other.’ At this point you may ask yourself, are not those sacred duties of proclaiming and serving not the responsibility of all of us who are baptized into the one body of Christ? You’d be right to ask yourself that question, and the answer, of course, is yes, we are all responsible for those things. When we are baptized we all make sacred vows in our Baptismal Covenant to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” and to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving [our] neighbor as [our]self” (BCP, 305). 

Now, if we left it at that we could conclude that the ministry of a deacon is entirely redundant, and I could take off this collar, come sit in the pews, and would not have any other business to attend up here. As tempting as this sometimes is to clergy, that would be thoroughly missing the point. The flip side of this way of thinking is for lay people to say “well, it looks like there are clergy, namely deacons, who are doing the work of serving and proclaiming for us, so I suppose I’ll just sit back and enjoy the sermon.” If that is how you feel this morning then I’m sorry to say that this sermon will not be very enjoyable. It is clear then, that there is something else that makes a deacon’s role important.

And you see, that important thing is you – the laity. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again; the laity is the first, largest, and I daresay most important order of ministers in the entire Church. Laity in Greek simply means “the people” and you as the people of God are called to a unique vocation of carrying out the mission of God in your daily lives in the world. Like the saints of scripture who were called out of their old reality and into something new, you are called by God to be beacons of Christ’s prolific love in all that you do. Like Abraham you are called to leave those familiar and overly comfortable places to go to a new land of blessing and abundance that blesses others around you. Like St. Matthew who collected exorbitant taxes for his own profit, you are called to put down a life of self-service, and instead collect and dispense God’s prodigal blessings for the profit of all those you encounter. You, as the people of God, are blessed by God so that you may be a blessing to others. It’s really that simple. That is your vocation, your beautiful, difficult, and mysterious calling in this world, to be blessed for the blessing of others.

As for my vocation? Mine is to remind you of yours. I made vows to do all in my power to help you fulfil your vocation by word and example. The liturgy itself models for us how our differentiated orders of ministry – lay and ordained – are to support one another in fulfilling the vows we all made. In the liturgy, the deacon has three distinct roles. First, deacons stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the laity to proclaim the Gospel as a reminder that the teachings of Christ Jesus are a blessing and commission for all of us. Second, deacons set the altar as a sign that all of us who are blessed by receiving Christ’s sacrificial love in the Eucharist are then called to acts of sacrificial servanthood in the world. And finally, the deacon bids the dismissal at the end of the service, saying “Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit,” not “let’s go home, we’ll see you same time next week.” The dismissal is a powerful reminder that our blessing with Christ’s body and blood is also a charge to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world; a royal priesthood of all faithful people regardless of our clerical status.

What does that priestly work look like in your own lives? I invite you this week to imagine that wherever you work or study or live outside of this place is like a holy sanctuary, just like this one, where you set yourself to tasks that glorify God through blessing others. Imagine that your desk at work or school or home is its own kind of holy altar at which you serve God in the service of others. Our gifts for ministry take many forms and just because you may not be explicitly proclaiming the Gospel through words does not mean that the deeds of your life and work cannot be a Gospel proclamation in their own right.

Even if what you do during the week when you are not at church seems entirely unrelated to this work of serving and proclaiming, do not think that you are somehow less capable of fulfilling your vows in service to God and neighbor. Do not confuse your occupation with your vocation. Occupation is that which we all must do to pay the bills and survive in life. Vocation, on the other hand, is that which we do to satisfy God’s call on our life to extend God’s blessing to the lives of others. God has given us each a tremendous capacity for creativity which we can use to bring our occupation and our vocation into greater alignment. And if you ever find yourself struggling to reconcile your occupation with your vocation, please be in touch, figuring this out is exactly one of the reasons to have a deacon around.

Because you, St. George’s, have been called to the work of ministry. I have been called to the work of supporting your ministry, and so has Rev. Shearon, who is technically still a deacon – she did not renounce those diaconal vows when she was ordained a priest, and neither will I. We made vows to help you keep your vows, and these are vows that we intend to keep. Amen.