Why Do I Need a Collar to Do Ministry?
Deacon Joan Wood ('15)
Church of the Holy Spirit, Bellevue, Nebraska
"I always turn around and check out where you plant your feet when you do dismissal," a congregant tells me, with a grin. She's referring to the bishop's sermon at my ordination in June of 2015. Bishop Barker reminded us how the priest's symbolic place is at the altar and while the deacon assists the priest, the "charged and unique" place of the deacon comes at the end of the communion rite, when she stands at the church entrance and stands, as it were, with one foot in the church and one foot out in the world.
It's at this in-between place where deacons call on the people to go out into the world and do their job - love and serve the Lord.
The first image that popped into my mind was of one foot on the firm foundation of the church and the other on the shifting sand of the world. As the new and only deacon at my church that image served me well, for a while that is.
On one of the week days when I wear my collar because it's a "work day", meaning I spend the day at church attending a worship service, leading a Bible study, and then doing pastoral visits and such, I stopped off at the grocery store. Wearing a collar "out in the world" was a challenge for me. However, I've become accustomed to people giving me those second and third looks because just like them, I've never seen a woman, or a man, wearing a clerical collar in a grocery store in Bellevue, either.
As I was standing in line with my basket, the gentleman behind me started chatting with me. Turned out that he knew where my church is located because he had been there, but not to attend a church service. He comes to Church of the Holy Spirit to get food when we host a Mobile Food Pantry. I learned that he is one of the "working poor". He asked a couple of questions about the church and the diaconate, which caused me to reexamine why I'm a deacon.
Why do I need a collar to do my ministry?
Becoming a deacon was never on my bucket list, in fact at one point in my life I had decided I really didn't need God, let alone church. But God, being God, didn't listen to me and I eventually found my way to the Episcopal church, where after serving in many lay ministries, my parish recommended that I explore the diaconate, which eventually led me to attend Bishop Kemper School for Ministry.
While at Bishop Kemper School, I was pretty sure that serving at the altar would be what I loved the most. And just as I had suspected, serving at the altar and elevating the chalice as a first-time deacon was indeed a moment of awe...and it continues to be.
But it's the times that I'm away from the walls of the church and in the community while wearing a collar - or not - and listening to the stories of how the church has helped or has hurt the children of God that I most feel I'm where God wants me to be...bringing the church, in my own small way, to the world.
In that way, I bring the needs of the world to the church. But merely telling the people the needs of the world is not enough. It's helping them to listen with not just the ears of hearing, but also with the hearts of compassion that is crucial. That's why I'm a deacon.
In time, my image of the "in-between place" being between the firm foundation of the church and shifting world began to change. Neither the foundation of the church nor the world are static, changeless.
Our only true foundation is Jesus and here's where my formation at Bishop Kemper proves invaluable. It's not just because of the all important theological foundation but also for the hours spent on "other" things, such as: talking about as well as how our duties and expectations would differ at our respective churches, about our expectations, our fears and perhaps most of all, how we saw ourselves going out into the world and living into being a deacon.
And my friend is spot on to turn around and check on me. It reminds me, as I live into being a deacon, that stable ground is not in the church or in the world; it's found only in Jesus Christ.
The first image that popped into my mind was of one foot on the firm foundation of the church and the other on the shifting sand of the world. As the new and only deacon at my church that image served me well, for a while that is.
On one of the week days when I wear my collar because it's a "work day", meaning I spend the day at church attending a worship service, leading a Bible study, and then doing pastoral visits and such, I stopped off at the grocery store. Wearing a collar "out in the world" was a challenge for me. However, I've become accustomed to people giving me those second and third looks because just like them, I've never seen a woman, or a man, wearing a clerical collar in a grocery store in Bellevue, either.
As I was standing in line with my basket, the gentleman behind me started chatting with me. Turned out that he knew where my church is located because he had been there, but not to attend a church service. He comes to Church of the Holy Spirit to get food when we host a Mobile Food Pantry. I learned that he is one of the "working poor". He asked a couple of questions about the church and the diaconate, which caused me to reexamine why I'm a deacon.
Why do I need a collar to do my ministry?
Becoming a deacon was never on my bucket list, in fact at one point in my life I had decided I really didn't need God, let alone church. But God, being God, didn't listen to me and I eventually found my way to the Episcopal church, where after serving in many lay ministries, my parish recommended that I explore the diaconate, which eventually led me to attend Bishop Kemper School for Ministry.
While at Bishop Kemper School, I was pretty sure that serving at the altar would be what I loved the most. And just as I had suspected, serving at the altar and elevating the chalice as a first-time deacon was indeed a moment of awe...and it continues to be.
But it's the times that I'm away from the walls of the church and in the community while wearing a collar - or not - and listening to the stories of how the church has helped or has hurt the children of God that I most feel I'm where God wants me to be...bringing the church, in my own small way, to the world.
In that way, I bring the needs of the world to the church. But merely telling the people the needs of the world is not enough. It's helping them to listen with not just the ears of hearing, but also with the hearts of compassion that is crucial. That's why I'm a deacon.
In time, my image of the "in-between place" being between the firm foundation of the church and shifting world began to change. Neither the foundation of the church nor the world are static, changeless.
Our only true foundation is Jesus and here's where my formation at Bishop Kemper proves invaluable. It's not just because of the all important theological foundation but also for the hours spent on "other" things, such as: talking about as well as how our duties and expectations would differ at our respective churches, about our expectations, our fears and perhaps most of all, how we saw ourselves going out into the world and living into being a deacon.
And my friend is spot on to turn around and check on me. It reminds me, as I live into being a deacon, that stable ground is not in the church or in the world; it's found only in Jesus Christ.