July is often seen as a month when things begin to wind down for the summer, but for Jackie Richardson and Kim Wright this July is a time for new ministries to be released and new responsibilities assumed, following their ordination as Deacons.

It will be a great day both for Jackie and Kim and for our parish. I know that a number of you will be in the Cathedral to support them. On July 10th they will both be at St Mary’s 10.00 am service and on July 17th at St John’s, in order to give both churches a chance to welcome them in their new role.

When I learned that the ordination was going to be on Sunday 4th July, I had to smile. After all, July 4th in America is Independence Day, when the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776 is commemorated with fireworks, parades, carnivals, picnics, and all sorts of celebrations; because that hard-won independence is a foundation stone of America’s identity.

However, for all Christians – and especially for Christian ministers (in the most comprehensive sense of the word) – a sense of independence is just about the last thing we need to cultivate. This extract from the Ordination Service may help explain why:
“Deacons are called to work with the Bishop and the priests with whom they serve as heralds of Christ’s kingdom. They are to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, as agents of God’s purposes of love. They are to serve the community in which they are set, bringing to the Church the needs and hopes of all the people. They are to work with their fellow members in searching out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless, reaching into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible.
“Deacons share in the pastoral ministry of the Church and in leading God’s people in worship. They preach the word and bring the needs of the world before the Church in intercession. They accompany those searching for faith and bring them to baptism. They assist in administering the sacraments; they distribute communion and minister to the sick and housebound.
“Deacons are to seek nourishment from the Scriptures; they are to study them with God’s people, that the whole Church may be equipped to live out the gospel in the world. They are to be faithful in prayer, expectant and watchful for the signs of God’s presence, as he reveals his kingdom among us.”
How can anyone fulfil that charge? How can any of us, with our unique set of strengths and frailties, live up to all that?

The answer is that left to our own devices we cannot. As the Bishop goes on to say: “You cannot bear the weight of this calling in your own strength, but only by the grace and power of God.”

Just so. None of us – whether licensed lay ministers, choir, sidesmen, Sunday School teachers, flower arrangers, youth leaders, bell ringers, coffee rota, PCC members, clergy – none of us can bear the weight of our Christian calling in our own strength.

Fortunately, we don’t have to, for God’s grace and power are freely given to us, day by day. I’ve come to realise that the key to all Christian life and service is to realise, first, that we depend on God’s grace for all things at all times; and, second, that we ask God to release that grace, which includes all the resources of the Holy Spirit, in us and through on a daily basis.

My prayer is that Jackie’s and Kim’s ordination will be a time of blessing and inspiration for them, and for us all an opportunity to remember again that being a Christian is never about independence, but always about living “in dependence upon God’s grace”.

Yours in Christ,

Charles Stewart