These past two Sundays have been a chance for me to take a break, to be away from my assignment by Bishop Rickel as the deacon at St. Stephen's Church, Seattle. I flew to Minnesota to attend my godson's Confirmation, and then I took a Sunday to... do nothing!
And it felt...both odd and good. First, the good part: it's always nice to take a break, and I love visiting my family. But I missed my "peeps" at St. Stephen's, and felt a little weird not being there as their deacon. Isn't that where I'm supposed to be?
No. I'm a deacon, and that means that not only do I need breaks from time to time (hey, even priests need those!), but my primary vocation is in the world, and it's not healthy for me to be in church every Sunday. It's not diaconal. Deacons are an icon of service in the world, a visible (and sometimes visible in their conspicuous absence) symbol of every baptized Christian's call to go out from the church to "love and serve the Lord." I'll be back next Sunday, and will even be preaching, but these past two Sundays were also significant days in the story of my ministry at St. Stephen's. As their deacon, I sometimes demonstrate to them in my absence that though the source--the heart--of our life together as a Christian community is the weekly gathering around God's Table, the world beckons. Often, we must be away.
Blessings to you in your coming and going as the diaconal presence of Christ in the world!
