new hymn for Deacons

Rev William Weisser was asked by the North Carolina Conference deacons to write a hymn for the conference’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of the order of deacon in the United Methodist Church. 'O God of all Creation' is the result. It may be a welcome addition to other denominations looking for a hymn relevant to Deacons. (Note: PDF version of music can be downloaded here). 

Orlando

At home in Australia, my colleague Rev Jana Norman is organising a prayer vigil, remembering victims of the horrific attack on people in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Jana lived and worked in the city for several years.

I have been reading responses from various religious leaders around the world including the Episcopal Bishop in Florida and other leaders in the Episcopal Church (and many more!).

I applaud the comments made by the President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, including the challenges he recognises for the global church. He writes:

The Uniting Church in Australia expresses its deep sorrow at the deaths of 49 people in a despicable act of violence at a gay nightclub in the city of Orlando in the US state of Florida over the weekend.

No words of comfort we say are enough to console the families and loved ones, or to heal the damage done by this hateful act of homophobia.

Murder for whatever reason - religious, racial, or on grounds of sexuality or gender - is an outrage against humanity and God’s creation.

The horrific attack in Orlando has raised strong and legitimate feelings among the LGBTIQ community and others about the failure of the world’s religious to love all human beings equally regardless of sexuality.

As Christians we need to reflect seriously on the fact that even our prayers for the dead are being heard as hypocrisy in some ears.

For our own part, Uniting Church members must reflect on our commitment to accept LGBTIQ people as full members of our church; confess and repent our own failures to accept people equally; and recommit ourselves to rejecting homophobia in all its forms.

Amid our own prayerful reflection, today we give thanks to God for all those who work to eradicate homophobia and all forms of hate in our world.

Stuart McMillan, President, Uniting Church in Australia

I have collected a number of resources for congregations to use and uploaded them to my worship resources website here. I appreciate the work of Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, and the way she has crafted words so quickly in response to the Orlando tragedy. I commend it to you for your own prayerful reflection. Although it's specifically U.S. in context, it resonates globally. 

To a Place of Celebration

EBENEZER 8.7.8.7 D (“Why Do Nations Rage Together”)

To a place of celebration filled with laughter, dancing, joy,
Came such violent devastation— one man’s efforts to destroy.
God, we grieve for loved ones taken; we lament, “What can we do?”
Now, we’re feeling lost and shaken; heal our nation! Make us new!

Weapons kill— and so does silence; hear our prayer as we confess:
We have given in to violence, we have bowed to hopelessness.
God, we’ve lost our sense of vision of a world where there will be
Plowshares made from violent weapons, justice in society.

Give our leaders strength for action, give them minds to mend our flaws,

Give them courage and compassion and the will to change our laws.
May we work for legislation that will curb guns’ awful toll.
God, renew our dedication to a world that’s just and whole.

Give us love to change our vision; give us love to cast out fear.
Give us love to welcome difference— love no hatred can destroy.
Only love can stop the violence; only love will bring back joy.

Give us love to speak with wisdom— love to work for justice here.

Tune: Thomas John Williams, 1890. Alternative Tune: BEACH SPRING

Text: Copyright © 2016 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: bcgillette@comcast.net New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com

Although access to guns is only part of the problem with what has happened in Orlando, I'm heartened to hear about this Mexican artist who has melted 1,527 guns, to make shovels to plant trees. The prophetic role of the artist! “If something is dying, becoming rotten and smelly, I think there is a chance to make a compost in which this vast catalog of solutions can be mixed in an entirely new way.” He was aiming to show “how an agent of death can become an agent of life.” These new shovels have then distributed to art institutions and public schools, where people in the community are now using them to plant a minimum of 1,527 trees. 

Meeting with MDO in London, June 2016

It was a delight to meet in London with Deacon Karen McBride (currently Deputy Warden MDO and incoming Warden MDO in September) and Deacon Richard Clutterbuck (incoming Deputy Warden MDO in September). The MDO office is in central London, part of Methodist House.

Karen gave me a copy of a well-researched history of diaconal ministry in the Methodist Church - I'll enjoy dipping into it. Karen also gave a copy of the recent publication prepared to help congregations better understand diaconal ministry - it's a really helpful resource.

Deacon Karen McBride, Rev (Deacon) Sandy Boyce, Deacon Richard Clutterbuck

The MDO is a religious Order and an order of ministry with the Methodist Church. The Methodist Church has two orders of ministry: presbyteral and diaconal. The two orders are equal in status yet with certain difference in focus, style and character.

In the Methodist Church, deacons are ordained:
* to assist God's people in prayer and worship;
* to hold before them the needs and concerns of the world;
* to minister Christ's love and compassion;
* to visit and support the sick and the suffering;
* to seek out the lost and the lonely;
* to help those served to offer their lives to God.

A deacon's main focus is to take care of the community's needs and to help God's people make the most of their faith in every day life, through:  

Service
Taking as their model the way that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, deacons help people to understand the nature of God's love and healing through acts of loving kindness. They encourage people to realise that by serving others in God's name, they also encounter and are served by God.
Free from responsibility for pastoral charge of churches, deacons are able to work at grassroots, alongside people within and beyond the Church community and to offer a prophetic voice from the margins.

Witness
Deacons seek to connect faith with life in today's world in such a way that people are encouraged to articulate their experience and deal with the practical problems they encounter. They draw attention to and help interpret God's activity in the world and daily life.

AED Triennial Assembly

The Association for Episcopal Deacons Triennial Assembly begins in Minnesota today, June 16-19th, 2016. The theme is, 'Diakonia: Engaging God's Mission'. May it be a great time of fellowship! 

If you click on the link above, you can see the program highlights.

opening night

AED group photo

Methodist Deacons in New Zealand

New Zealand is a small country “at the bottom of the world”. Over the past 30 years, the Methodist Church in New Zealand has ordained 33 deacons – 7 men and 26 women. At the present time, there are 6 active deacons, with many in retirement who continue to be involved in ministry. There is a strong sense of the heritage of the Deaconess Order.

Deacon Edna Evans writes: 

Up until 4 years ago most Deacons were self-supporting and covenanted to their Home Parish.  More recently there has been some development in appointing a Deacon to another parish through itinerancy.  The development of different ministry roles has increased connections between church and community, and continues to raise the profile of  the church in some community groups.   We are proud that a  few deacons have received  New Year's Honours or Queen's Birthday Honours  for services to their communities. 

The New Zealand church has many Pacific Island members integrated into its life and slowly some  are acknowledging a call to ministry as deacons. We are excited that the work of deacons is continuing with the ordination of 3 new deacons in the last 3 years.  The support of Trinity Theological College  is appreciated,  encouraging people to consider the Diaconate as a ministry option, with specific papers offered  where appropriate.  The Mission Resourcing Unit is responsible for support and ensuring Ministry Covenants are current.   While working in the community, the deacon is also an integral part of their local church, and district  synod, often taking on leadership and committee responsiblities.

The Diaconate Task Group is our national body which supports deacons, oversees tasks that need doing, as well as regularly reporting to the annual Methodist Conference and ensuring that the church  understands this vital ministry.   It also organises our bi-annual national Convocation – with 10 people recently attending in April.

To conclude, here are some words from NZ poet Joy Cowley  from Aotearoa Psalms - 

'The Bridge”:

There are times in life when we are called to be bridges,

not a great monument spanning a distance and carrying loads of heavy traffic,

but a simple bridge to help one person from here to there over some difficulty

such as pain, grief, fea, loneliness,

a bridge which opens the way for ongoing journey.

When I become a bridge for another, I bring upon myself a blessing,

for I escape from the small prison of self and exist for a wider world,

breaking out to be a larger being who can enter another's pain

and rejoice in another's triumph.

I know of only one greater blessing in this life, and that is,

to allow someone else to be a bridge for me.

Building Kingdom Communities with the diaconate as a new order of mission

New book out by David Clark (member of the UK Methodist Deacon Order), author of Breaking the Mould of Christendom (summary here), in which he explored the diaconal ministry of the whole people of God and the role of Deacons in the 'Copernican shift' that needs to happen. Highly recommended. His new book, 'Building Kingdom communities' builds on the work of his first book. The promo blurb: 'In a world in which resources are unjustly distributed, identities are under threat and solidarity is fragile, the toughest task facing humanity is the quest for community. Christians fail to grasp that in the gifts of the kingdom community - life, liberation, love and learning - they hold the key to what the search for community is all about. This book describes those gifts and how a servant church, through the creation of its diaconate as an order of mission, might offer a fragmented world new hope. The Methodist Church in Britain is taken as a model of what could be achieved'.

(Book is available on Amazon, £6.99 plus postage. I found it on Fast Print, but postage is prohibitive outside of the UK/Europe. I'll keep looking to find a better deal to purchase the book!)

David's first book, Breaking the Mould, was such a great read (my copy was passed around to many people who enjoyed reading it!), and I'm looking forward to dipping into his new book. I'd say both books are definitely essential reading for Deacon candidates, Deacons in ministry, Selection Panels, those who are involved in formation for ministry for all ministry candidates, and for all those engaged in leadership in the ministry and mission of the church - in local churches and congregations, and in the 'governance' part of the church. The 'Copernican Shift' is desperately needed in the way diaconal ministry is seen within the church, and the way it might offer 'a fragmented world new hope'.
 
David Clark became a member of the Methodist Diaconal Order in 2005. Prior to that, he worked as a Methodist minister in Sheffield and London, and as a senior lecturer in community education at Westhill College, Birmingham. He played a leading role in the emergence of the Christian Community Movement, set up the Christians in Public Life Programme and founded the Human City Institute. He is co-ordinator of the Kingdom at Work Project. He has written at length about the mission of the church in today’s world.

Wildfires in Alberta

Living in a country that experiences the horrors and devastation of what we call bushfires in Australia, it is shocking to see the wildfires in Alberta Province in Canada - and the devastation of whole communities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters, those who have been evacuated and fled their homes, those who are supporting them, and those who have lost homes and livelihoods. It may be quite some time before people will be able to return to their communities to see what remains. We pray for the diaconal ministry agents in the area, and practical responses of the churches to support the people impacted by the fire.

A Minister in the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Cathie Lambert, wrote this prayer after fires devastated the Margaret River region of Western Australia in 2011 in which she lives:

A prayer for the fires
We lament the devastation of the fires....
of tragic loss....
of homes reduced to ash....
of mementos that held treasured memories...
of treasured possessions and everyday necessities....
of livelihood...
of vegetation and animals....
of the beauty of the landscape....
We bring these images of loss into Your Presence,
sharing Your grief and sharing the grief of Your people and Your land.
We pray for those affected - for courage, strength, patience and hope, to face the days and weeks and months ahead, even when the story no longer has media attention.
We give thanks for those who have fought hard to contain the fire and bring it to an end, and for those who have supported residents - for firefighters, police officers, ambulance officers, and emergency workers. We are thankful that no lives have been lost in this catastrophe.
We give thanks that the people are not alone in their time of grief, anger, confusion and sorrow, and that the sense of goodwill in the community, and across the nation, offers them encouragement and practical support in their time of need.
We give thanks that the God we know in Jesus Christ journeys with us and remains with us all the days of our life, even through the dark valleys and times of sorrow and lament. Amen.

Anglican Church in Canada also has posted prayer points....
This is a terrifying time for the residents of the City of Fort McMurray, all of whom have had to evacuate. I think particularly of how stressful this is for those who are critically ill and those who tend them under these very difficult circumstances. Pray for all who are fleeing the fires that they may travel in safety. Pray for those who will receive them in emergency shelters. Pray for those who, against the odds given the unusually high seasonal temperatures and high winds, are battling the blaze and attempting to curtail its reach. Pray for all the firefighters, police and emergency service workers. These are exhausting days for them. Pray for all who face the loss of their homes, businesses, and livelihoods. Pray for all who are trying to protect City Hall and other public service buildings with an eye to the huge task of rebuilding the city in time. Let us continue to hold Fort McMurray in prayer, as we as a Church and a nation responding to this unfolding crisis.
The Most Rev Fred Hiltz, Archbishop and Primate.