Moments in time - reflections on ordination and consecration

It has been great to learn about the recent ordinations and consecrations amongst the diaconal community of DIAKONIA (scroll down for some news through LDA, and Indonesian sisters in IKADIWA). A time of joyful celebration in many places, cultures and languages, but all drawn together into the family of God, serving in many different ways but all part of the body of Christ.
I came across this ordination anniversary reflection posted here and it invited me to think about what it might mean for all of us to reflect upon our own ordination/consecration/commissioning on each anniversary. (I'd welcome any written reflections!)

Ordination Anniversary

Called out to serve, not long ago
yet seems it’s been forever.
A calling tailor-made, for me
To use the gifts God gave.
If have one regret it’s this.
Why did I wait so long
to heed the voice that nudged my soul
and asked again, again, “’Who’ll go for me?”
Has life been wasted?
Heedless hours spent for myself,
which could have been
my gift to you.
But no! Those years have made me what I am,
and when the time was right,
you caught me up and carried me
on angel wings, so fast it seemed.
I flew to meet your day, and answered
“Here I am Send me.”
So thank you Lord, for calling me
To share for you the awesome task
Of bringing love alive in dark, forgotten corners,
where hearts ache to feel your Spirit’s flame
and be warmed back to life.
Thank you for the joy that bubbles up
and inspiration out of nowhere, when I least expect.
For walking by my side, and when I fall,
for being there to pick me up with tender arms.
God give me faith to walk with you
into the future you have planned for me.
Increase my trust and use my talents.
Make me brave to meet your Day,
(whenever that may be)
when you will call, and by your grace
I’ll hear an echo of familiar words,
“Well done, my faithful servant.”

Ben Ema's consecration as Lutheran Deacon

In 2011, the Lutheran Deaconess Association Board of Directors voted to accept men into the LDA's diaconate. Ben Ema has been serving as the first President of the Community of Lutheran Deacons (CLD) which includes men who are deacons or deacon students.

Ben by profession is a nursing student at Valparaiso University. He has now completed his requirements for formation to be a Lutheran Deacon, and his consecration service will be on Sunday June 8th in the afternoon, to be held at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University, 1600 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso, Indiana.

This is a very exciting time for Ben, and historically a very significant time as Ben will be the first Lutheran Deacon (through the LDA) to be consecrated.

Congratulations, Ben! 

(If you wish to send a greeting to congratulate Ben, perhaps you can communicate via Lisa Polito (Executive Director, LDA) or via the Facebook World DIAKONIA page)

Ben Ema (centre back) with other students - Elliott Stephenson, Steve Arnold, Andrew Stoebig, and Jack Walter

         

Rev Bill Loader has several 'charges' for new Deacons in the Uniting Church in Australia. This one is adapted for Ben. 

You have become a member of an order which has taken many forms over the course of the church’s life.
Like all ministries it finds its origin and its life in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
All are called to ministry.
All are called to share God’s life in the world, whether in formal acts of worship or hands-on actions of care.
All orders of ministry which have been put in place in the church to make this possible participate in this same wide range of ministry.
They vary in the focus and intensity of their activities rather than in their range.
As a Deacon your primary focus will be offering leadership in this wide range of ministry as it expresses itself in acts of caring service in the world. You will do more than this, but this is the concentration that belongs especially to your order.

To engage in leadership includes leadership by example.
You will pray for people.
You will care for people.
You will bring to people in word and deed the good news of hope and love.

To engage in leadership also includes teaching.
You will dream dreams and see visions and tell what you have seen.
You will help people understand how to care, what they are caring about and why.
You will help people make connections between themselves and their faith and their world.

To engage in leadership also includes prophecy and protest.
You will not only see the poor, but identify the structures which create and sustain poverty.
You will not only see injustices, but identify the powers at work whose interests are served by injustice.
You will not only comfort the broken-hearted, but cry out to God with them in the impenetrable darkness where no answers are ever visible.

When the sands blow and the dry winds buffet you, stand firm,
As you have stood firm before.
The buds that have long been forming will wait their time
And then the colour will come
And you will surprise yourself again with beauty and strength.
Sink your roots deeply,
for new seasons await you,
new fruit to form, new seeds to spread,
borne by the naturalness of your spirituality.
Don't be afraid to penetrate deeply into the rich soil of scripture beneath the surface mulch
which keeps it warm and makes it look nice;
People need depth and you can give it to them.
At times you will hum with insects, flies, and bees
and kweech with squawking birds.
Enjoy the buzz and challenge of ministry,
but treasure also the times of silent renewal.

For you are not asked to carry the world on your shoulders.
You are not to be held accountable for every human need.
There will be times when you must close your eyes, not in denial, but because you can only see so much.
There are times when you must rest, not in carelessness, but in deliberate nurture of your own being.
You do not have to do everything, so you can be free to face human need without the trickeries of denial and without the self indulgence of despair.
Such freedom from yourself will mean you will be best available to others.
You will be free to affirm joy and to affirm pain
and to be yourself and bear fruit in ministry.

Congratulations, Robin!

Deaconess Robin Hughes was consecrated on 11th May at Bethesda-on-the-Bay Lutheran Church in Bay Village, Ohio. Robin had previously completed a social work degree, a natural fit for diaconal ministry. Robin has been a distance student through Valparaiso University, completing on-line courses and chaplaincy training. She has been serving in an internship as visitation minister in a congregation. Congratulations, Robin!
(Lutheran Deaconess Association)

United Methodist Women's Assembly

Lovely to see Emma Cantor (President, DIAKONIA Asia Pacific) taking part in the consecration of 26 Deaconesses on Sunday 27th April, held during the closing service of the UMW Assembly, in the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky. United Methodist Bishop Violet Fisher and Bishop Cynthia Harvey consecrated the new deaconesses. General photos of the UMW Assembly here. Hilary Clinton's address, Wake up the World, can be viewed here.
 











 (Source: UMW)
Twenty-six women from 18 conferences were consecrated as United Methodist deaconesses during the closing plenary worship of the United Methodist Women’s “Make It Happen!” Assembly in Louisville, Ky., April 27.
Deaconesses and Home Missioners are women and men called by God to lay vocations in a lifetime relationship in The United Methodist Church. Their work alleviates suffering, eradicates causes of injustice and all that robs life of dignity and worth, facilitates the development of full human potential, and shares in building global community through the church universal.
“This class of deaconesses reflects the strength and unity found in the diversity of those who are called to ministries of love, justice and service,” said Becky Louter, executive of United Methodist Women’s Office of Deaconess and Home Missioner program. Among the deaconesses being consecrated during Assembly will be Jolynn “Jody” Bullard Halstead of Central United Methodist Church in Asheville, N.C., who knew early on that her work as a registered nurse at the city’s Haywood Street Respite was more than a day job.
“I have a need to be in uncomfortable places,” she said, explaining that she learned about the deaconess service track while leading Bible study in a local jail. “I’ve known for a while I was to be in mission but didn’t know where.”
When she started working with the Reconciling Haywood Street United Methodist mission church’s respite for homeless adults recently discharged from hospitals, her calling became clear. “All these things God put in my way seem to make it clear that I belong, I fit in at Haywood Respite,” she said. “I’m a RN and faith a community nurse, and I’m in mission,” Ms. Halstead said.

Deaconess consecrated during Assembly are:

• Laarni Serquina Bibay, children's health advocate, Tidewater Pediatrics, Portsmouth, Va.
• M. Garlinda Burton, coordinator of emerging ministries and intersectionality, Hobson United Methodist Church, Nashville, Tenn.
• Kathi Smith Edwards, staff, The Haven Women’s Outreach Center, Clyde, Texas.
• Elizabeth Cheryl Farr, director of communications, New Albany District, New Albany, Miss.
• Elizabeth Sevier Graham, outreach director, United Methodist Committee on Relief Sager Brown Depot, Baldwin, La.
• Jane O. Grays, Outreach Aide, McKendree-Simms-Brookland Outreach House, Washington, D.C.
• Mae Griner, RN, North Florida Regional Medical Center, Gainesville, Fla.
• Megan Elizabeth Hale, teacher, Arlington Independent School District, Arlington, Texas.
• Joylynn Bullard Halstead, RN, program manager, Haywood Street Respite, Asheville, N.C.
• Barbara L. Haralson, program developer, Graham County Interfaith Care Alliance, Safford, Ariz.
• Joy de Leon Hayag, community outreach coordinator, Pitter Patter Pantry, Lanark, Ill.
• Anne Marie Hillman, director of education ministries, First United Methodist Church of Melrose, Melrose, Mass.
• Pamela Marie Johnson, life skills trainer, Oakridge Residential Services, Brainerd, Minn.
• Mary Ellen Kris, ministry with the poor consultant, General Board of Global Ministries, New York, N.Y.
• Jerrie E. Lindsey, court appointed special advocate/administrative assistant, 22nd Judicial District CASA Inc., Ada, Okla.
• Grace Sy Quimsiam-Mallare, lead teacher, Family Service Association-Hemet Child Development Center, Hemet, Calif.
• Christina M. Meyer, special education teacher, Rockford Public School District #205, Rockford, Ill.
• Cecelia Elaine Williams Nelson, registered dietician/nutritionist CitiCare Inc., New York, N.Y.
• Tracey S. Owens, activity coordinator, Brooks-Howell Home, Asheville, N.C.
• Anselma Samson, coordinator for leadership development for church and community, Resurrection United Methodist Church, Chesapeake, Va.
• Elizabeth R. Shadbolt, immigration advisor, Vanderbilt University International Services, Nashville, Tenn.
• Erie Stuckett, CEO/project director, I Challenge You Inc., Greenville, Miss.
• Idelia N. Ulmer, environment health specialist, Seeds of Hope, Henry County Environmental Health Services, McDonough, Ga.
• Judith G. Vasby, coordinator of caring ministries, Willerup United Methodist Church, Cambridge, Wis.
• Lee Anne Venable, development director, Habitat for Humanity, Baton Rouge, La.
• Jane H. Wakeman, school psychologist, Bridgeport Connecticut Public Schools, Bridgeport, Conn.