A reminder to live as a servant

I struggle to serve. I frequently pray that I would serve others with much more grace and intensity - I seldom get it right! Yet, I know this is the way of Jesus - kenosis leads to theosis (self emptying love is an aspect of the character of Christ).

This quote encouraged me in my quiet time this morning:

To weep with those who weep, to accept the role of a servant, to give up anger when we have a right to be angry — to do these things is to acquire the character of a person who fits in with Jesus Christ.

- Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. (via mshedden)

At the World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta this year I experienced that great inner dichotomy between love of self and love of others. I am far too quick to want to 'get things done', to be involved in organizing and orchestrating events and situations. I am far too slow to listen, to wait, to be unseen, and to truly serve.

Today I pray that God would continue to transform my character and make me more like Jesus.

Be a servant, and be free.

In recent months I have become quite fond of tumblr - of course it is the people that one follows that make tumblr so worthwhile. One of the people whose posts most resonate with my own theology and spirituality is invisibleforeigner. I find such depth, encouragement and challenges in the posts from this person.

Today invisibleforeigner posted the following deeply challenging quote:

Be both a servant, and free: a servant in that you are subject to God, but free in that you are not enslaved to anything – either to empty praise or to any of the passions. Release your soul from the bonds of sin; abide in liberty, for Christ has liberated you; acquire the freedom of the New World during this temporal life of yours. Do not be enslaved to love of money or to the praise resulting from pleasing people.

Do not lay down a law for yourself, otherwise you may become enslaved to these laws of yours. Be a free person, one who is in a position to do what he likes. Do not become like those who have their own law, and are unable to turn aside from it, either out of fear in their own minds, or because of the wish to please others; in this way they have enslaved themselves to the coercion of their law, with their necks yoked to their own law, seeing that they have decreed for themselves their own special law – just when Christ had released them from the yoke of the Law!

Do not make hard and fast decisions over anything in the future, for you are a created being and your will is subject to changes. Decide in whatever matters you have to reach a decision, but without fixing in your mind that you will not be moved to other things. For it is not by small changes in what you eat that your faithfulness is altered: your service to the Lord of all is performed in the mind, in your inner person; that is where the ministry to Christ takes place.

— St. John the Solitary, Letter to Hesychias

This is a very challenging way to live - to live as a servant and to live as a free person. Our world encourages us to live as free Lords, Lords of our own destiny and making, not as free servants.

Over the last four years I have struggled to choose the path of service - perhaps it is because I am so addicted to being a 'Lord'. I qualified early in a unique and interesting discipline. I was afforded great opportunity and favor within the Church. This was not good for me. My ego sought the recognition and affirmation that others gave. I soon realised that I was becoming less and less Christ-like as I lived the life of a Lord, instead of the life of service, living like Jesus. So, I took up a post that called for service. I decided to give my energy, training and ability to serve the ideas of others. I dedicated myself to helping other people to become the best that they could be. It has often been a challenging journey.

My wife and I were wise enough to make some small commitments that have helped us. We have turned away opportunities for greater earning capacity - simply stated we did not want to be owned by money. We want to be free to respond to God's call to ministry, wherever and whenever it may come.

It is not always easy. But, we are striving to be free servants - choosing to serve. Sometimes we get it right. Often we don't.

A theology of the ministry of an ordained Deacon in the MCSA.

One of the great joys that I have is serving as the co-ordinator of training for persons who are training towards ordination for the ministry of word and service in the MCSA.

For those who are not aware, the MCSA ordains persons to the ministry of word and sacrament (called presbyters, the are most commonly ministers of local Churches, often called by the title Reverend), and then the Church also ordains persons who are called to the ministry of word and service (these persons are addressed by the title deacon).

The ministry of word and service is an incredibly high calling that has its roots right back in the early Church of Acts. Of course it can trace its character back to the ministry of Jesus, who was perhaps the very first Christian deacon. Jesus said that he came not to be served but to serve.

Sadly, deacons are often treated like 'second class' presbyters. This is most often because they do not administer the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist. The result has been that the Convocation of the order of deacons has requested, on numerous occasions, to allow ordained deacons to preside as ministers over the sacraments (particularly the sacrament of Holy Communion). This is also a pragmatic need since deacons are most often visiting the sick, the elderly and such persons that cannot come to a regular service of worship.

However, if one were to make such a concession it would require some significant theological gymnastics to sustain a credible position in its favour. As a result I was asked to prepare a discussion / position, paper on deacons and the sacraments in the MCSA.

This paper take the point of departure that there are three co-equal ministries in the Church (taking the triune God as a point of departure). These three ministries (the ministry of the lay, the ministry of ordained presbyters and the ministry of ordained deacons) are mutually interdependent, and of equal necessity and value in achieving God's mission for the Church.

Moreover, the paper argues that the traditional translation of the Biblical Greek words diakonos (acts of service) and diakon (the one who serves) have been inaccurate. You can read the paper for the finer points of this argument. The essence is that a deacon is not only a servant (in the Biblical sense), but more particularly an 'emissary servant', one who is sent to represent the King.

Here is the paper. It will be of particular use to persons who are considering offering for the ordained ministry and are unsure of whether God is calling them to be ordained presbyters or deacons. It will also be of use to deacons and presbyters who are getting ordained this year and need to write the assignment on the uniqueness and distinctiveness of each of these forms of ministry.

Deacons and sacraments.doc (MS Word document 88 Kb). NB! Students, please use accurate references when using sources from this document!

Please pray for us as we go to the Doctrine, Ethics, and Worship Commission meetings of the MCSA this week (DEWCOM). Amongst other things we will be deliberating on Same Sex Unions, Abortion, a theology of Mission, Human Sexuality and Marriage and a host of other important doctrinal issues.