June 24, 2021
My Dear Doubters of Great Faith,
I believe strongly that each and every one of us is ordained into our particular role of ministry in the body of Jesus Christ’s Church, bishops, priests, deacons, and laity. Each has our very specific call, purpose, and function in carrying out God’s plans of salvation and redemption, and we need (desperately) each and every one of those roles being carried out, fully and faithfully, for this great endeavor to move forward! As a reminder, as I was schooled, these roles are NOT hierarchical; rather they lie on a plane, each being specific in its own nature and function.
As a congregation, we haven’t had interaction with a deacon of late, and so it bears remembering the specific call to the Sacred Order of Deacons, from the service of ordination in the Book of Common Prayer:
“As a deacon in the Church,…you are to make Christ and his redemptive love known, by your word and example, to those among whom you live, and work, and worship. YOU ARE TO INTERPRET TO THE CHURCH THE NEEDS, CONCERNS, AND HOPES OF THE WORLD. You are to assist the bishop and priests in public worship and in the ministration of God’s Word and Sacraments…”
- BCP, p. 543
Deacons work under the auspices of the Bishop Diocesan, and are assigned to locales and locations where they will best be able to carry out this interpretive function, relaying information to and from the congregation. They see the world and help direct us into those places of the world’s greatest need. Deacons are “gap-standers,” the conduit between the Church and the margins of injustice.
I am so excited to welcome one of our Diocese of Dallas deacons to our midst this Sunday, the Reverend Jennifer Smith. Deacon Jennifer works closely with Carrie Headington, Canon Evangelist, and she heads the diocesan Racial Reconciliation Commission. Deacon Jennifer is also a medical doctor, a pediatric radiologist at Medical City Dallas, and she has spent the COVID-19 pandemic assisting and advising Bishop Sumner, traveling with him on his weekly visitations. She will be with us at both our 9 and 10:30 am services, bringing us a word from the world.
I hope you will make it a point to be with us, to hear God speak through this particular witness of faith, the deacon, Deacon Jennifer, and to help roll out the warm welcome for which the Doubters of Great Faith have become so well known!
Yours in joyful anticipation,
Fr. Christopher+
