Sermons by Bishop Paul V. Marshall

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Keeping the Church Aware
September 25, 1999
Bishop Paul V. Marshall

[On September 25, 1999, Bishop Paul ordained Jim Smith a deacon at St. John's Episcopal Church, Ashland, PA, one of three churches of   North Parish. This is Bishop Paul's sermon.] 

This is truly the day the Lord has made; we do rejoice and are glad in it. Today Jim Smith takes up the ministry of deacon, and the ministry of North Parish as a whole is enhanced. Thank you all for being here to support him at this important step. I am grateful to all of you in North Parish who have helped Jim get here today. I must offer special thanks to Father Eric Snyder and Canon Charles Morris, two holy and devoted men: they have given themselves in many ways to prepare Jim for his new ministry.     

I very recently heard a story that just begs to be told here today. It is not a joke or funny story, but more of a parable or Zen Buddhist story. It's about a man like you, Jim, a man who was about to begin a new ministry, and being a good and conscientious man, he was a person who wanted to get it right.  

Someone told him that over on the other mountain there lived an old monk who had the wisdom he needed. So he packed up his donkey and walked for almost a week until he came to the hut where the monk lived. It had rained almost the whole time, and he was a little miffed when he was asked to wait outside the hut for a few minutes until the monk was done praying. Then he entered, introduced himself, and when asked what he wanted, explained that he was about to take on this new task, and would be eternally grateful if the monk could give him advice. The monk nodded, and began to think -- or to sleep, he couldn't tell which -- after a few minutes the monk raised his head and looked our man in the eye. He braced himself for the speech. The monk opened his mouth and said a single word..."awareness."     

When you've walked a week in the rain, down one mountain and up another, one word may not seem like much of a pay-off. Our man left the hut and paced around in the mud and finally decided that he had come too far to get just one word. He went back, disturbed the monk's prayers and told him he needed more than one word. So the monk thought some more, and after a few more moments said, "awareness, awareness."  

The traveler stomped out of the room without saying goodbye. He got half the way to his mountain, stopped and went back. That monk hadn't gotten so famous without knowing more than one word. This time he   stomped into the monk's hut, and blathered, "I have come a long way to see you. I want to give my life to Christ's people and I don't want to mess us. They are counting on me. PLEASE give me your best advice."   

The monk's old brown eyes met his, and with great compassion glowing in them, he said to our man in his kindest voice, "awareness, awareness, awareness."   

There are some special awarenesses that go with serving Christ that I would like to review this morning as a servant is ordained.   

In the United States there really are people whose major social concern is whether or not leaf blowers should be banned. That is a simple fact. Noise pollution, like light pollution, is an issue, but we need to see farther if we are to make a difference in a world of bloodshed and starvation. So one of the main jobs of the deacon is to keep the church aware. Our prayer book lists among the things deacons are to do a duty to "interpret the needs and concerns of the world to the church." Keep us aware. Aware of the needs of the people of North  Parish, the needs of the people in Schuylkill County, aware of the needs of all who suffer everywhere. Deacons need to read the newspapers, be in the community, be the eyes and ears of the church.  Deacons have to speak up for those whose voices -- if they have them at all -- whose voices the church would otherwise not hear. Be bold, pushy even, on behalf of the weak, the oppressed, the lonely and the frightened. It is peculiarly the task of deacons to keep lay people and the other clergy on track, aware that the Christ we follow looks to us to be his arms -- and his heart -- in a suffering world. It's fine to be a little aggressive about this.   

Awareness, awareness. Jim takes up his ministry as deacon in a unique setting. Here in the northern part of Appalachia, churches are being led to reinvent themselves, as they have had to do in many places in the region. That is a cause for pride, not embarrassment. The idea of North Parish is that of a team; with bishop, lay leaders, and the clergy we can get working together so that every person does all that she or he can to contribute to the care and growth of Christians in their community. You will be given more responsibilities than before, but they remain a piece of one single pie. 

Every Palm Sunday we read about Jesus emptying himself, taking the form of a servant. In a small organization like North Parish it is easy to forget that; it seems to be a law of human perversity that the less there is at stake the more intensely people will struggle for power. Or maybe it just seems that way. In this relatively unique situation, your special role is constantly to teach by example that power, control, having one's own way are just the opposite of being  like Jesus Christ. Whenever anybody looks like they are determined to win, determined to have it their own way, or are tempted to operate independently from the team, remind them, in Saint Paul's words, "You did not so learn Jesus Christ." If the bishop's symbol is the shepherd's crook, perhaps the deacon's is the cattle prod, at least some of the time.

Awareness, Awareness, Awareness. There will be a honeymoon following this liturgy. A period when people are enjoying the transition from "Jim" to "Deacon Jim," and we hope eventually, "Father Jim." That's all new and fun and rightly so. God is not against fun.   

But I promise you as surely as God made little green apples that you will also have some lonely times, you will have moments that are  painful, you will have problems that you cannot solve.  You will make mistakes, and some of those mistakes will affect other people. There are times when you will have to stand alone on the side of justice or common sense, and you find out how lonely the cross is. You will also discover that once you wear that collar, some people  will use you like a psychological punching bag. Those are the moments when the third and greatest awareness of them all needs to be with you.    

There is a hymn I love that begins, "We walk by faith and not by sight." It's worth looking up. We come into ordained ministry knowing that the tasks are larger than we are. We come because we know that when Christ emptied himself, and took the form of a slave, even to the point of death, God took up all our pain, all our perplexity, all our suffering. To say "Christ is Risen" is to say that no act of faithfulness is lost, no blunder is unforgiven, no evil endures  forever because Christ is the victor. The universe is headed towards its completion in him. In God's time justice and mercy will triumph, and God will personally wipe the tears from every eye. Being aware of that big picture, that we come not only to share the agony of the cross but also to be filled with victory of the resurrection, is the basic and sustaining truth for all Christian living. For those who serve as deacons in the church it is a truth that you will cling to for life itself, and what you will find you get when you cling like that .is life itself.    

So, Jim, keep us aware of those whom God calls us to serve, until we serve them. Keep us aware of the unique talents and opportunities that total ministry presents North Parish and the diocese, until we rejoice in them. Keep us aware that it is Christ's cross to which we go for comfort, and Christ's resurrection from which we come strengthened for service. Strengthened for service.

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