Jeremiah 1:4-9
Psalm 119:33-40
1 Timothy 3:8-13
Luke 22:24-27
"Ah, Lord GOD! I do not know how to speak, for I am only a child."
With that disclaimer of my inability, I should be able to sit down now like Jeremiah wanted to, and just let the Spirit speak for herself.
But today we see that God doesn't let his people off the hook that easily. God has patiently been calling for most of a lifetime to get Doris to this day. Andy, having answered God's call at least once already, is discovering the persistence of God's call, whatever twist and turns the journey may present.
Claiming not to know how to speak isn't much of an excuse in response to a call from the one who knew us before we were ever born. So we gather here today because God calls us all.
God sends the power of the Spirit wherever God chooses: women and men, old and young, boys and girls, babies and bishops, and at least once the Word of God was sent to a donkey. So Jeremiah (and you, too) can forget coming up with excuses of incompetence.
Even when we fear we may not quite understand God's Word that doesn't don't get us off the hook or stop God from sending us out to speak. Bible scholars, who are not known for holding their tongues, really don't understand the word that Jeremiah uses – the one that we get translated as "boy" or "child" – but that hasn't stopped them from spilling gallons of ink speaking about it. Maybe the Hebrew word "na'ar" means "child" or maybe "servant" or maybe "mute person" or maybe someone whose voice hasn't changed yet to the adult male voice usually required to be a witness. I suppose it could even mean something like "deacon."
Whatever na'ar means, it's clear that God is not accepting feeling like one as an excuse. God is not deterred by the reality that we do not perfectly understand what's going on.
Likewise, just because the Church today is in considerable debate about what "deacon" means, our uncertainty isn't going to stop God from calling people to become deacons of the Church.
Later this evening Bishop Swenson will give Doris a Bible. Having promised to "study the Holy Scriptures, to seek nourishment from them, and to model [her] life upon them" Doris had better accept, even if she feels she only has the understanding of a "na'ar."
That Bible is a sign authority and responsibility. Deacons receive the apostolic authority to proclaim the Word.
As deacon proclaiming the Gospel, Doris will hold in her hands the certainty of God's Real Presence among us. She will speak God's word to God's people as surely as Jeremiah did.
As proclaimers of the Gospel, Deacons are literally the evangelists of the Church.
But don't think that lets the rest of you off the hook. Remember the promises in the Baptismal Covenant, that you will be renewing tonight. "Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?"
By our baptism we're all proclaimers of the Good News, all evangelists. When Deacon Doris sends you out tonight rejoicing in the power of the Spirit, that same Spirit gives you the power to share the Good News. No excuses, any na'ar can do it, even a donkey.
But it's scary and the word IS difficult to interpret, even if we hear God's words to Jeremiah about not being afraid to speak
Interpreting God's word so people today can hear and believe can be really difficult, as nine-year-old Joey learned.
When asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School, he replied, "Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge, and all the people walked across safely. He used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters and call in an air strike. They sent in bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved."
"Now, Joey, is that REALLY what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked.
"Well, no, Mom, but if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"
Joey recognized two truths: God's power to save God's people in miraculous ways. And the power of human unbelief. And he did what he could to bridge that gap – with pontoons and a new telling of the story.
Bridging the gaps is what deacons are called to do – to build bridges in word and deed, in prayer and service (and maybe even sometimes with the creative equivalent of pontoons). Deacons are the ones who "interpret to the church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world." Deacons build bridges between church and world, and between God's word and our unbelief – bridges sending all of us out into the world to do the work God has given us to do, bridges showing us that in serving the helpless we are serving Christ. Deacons build bridges between our parishes and the bishop, other parishes, and other denominations. By building bridges to take us outside ourselves, deacons keep us from being self-serving servants.
Well, between proclaiming God's sometimes confusing word and building bridges this is beginning to sound like a rather heavy calling,. Are you overwhelmed yet, Doris?
Thank God, no deacon is in this alone. Check out that Baptismal Covenant again. Tonight as Doris accepts a ministry of servant leadership, the rest of us will join Andy in promising that we also are servants who covenant to "Seek and serve Christ in all persons."
Have you noticed how much the ordination and confirmation services have in common? There are many reminders that the call to any ministry is grounded in our baptism. In both ordination and confirmation prayers we hear of the power of the Spirit. We will pray that Andy will be sent forth in the power of the Spirit to perform the service God set before him. We will pray for Doris that God will give God's Holy Spirit to her, filling her with grace and power.
The power of the Spirit. Is this what supports those bridges the deacons build? Just where do we find these pontoons that will hold up our deacons' bridges. What does that power look like and how do we recognize it? We're told pretty clearly in Scripture and our Baptismal Covenant where we might find Christ. "Seek and serve Christ in all persons." But it's always been difficult to get a picture of the Spirit. I don't see any doves flying around? Or maybe in this church, the Spirit can be seen descending from heaven in the form of a bat? Though I'm not certain I have the faith to step out on some kind of aerial suspension bridge. I'm hoping for rather more substantial bridge support.
During confirmations and ordinations it looks as if the Spirit is supposed to hang around the bishop's hands. Check out the bishop's hands. Can you see the flutter of wings there? An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace? With the laying on of those episcopal hands, those confirmed receive strength from the Holy Spirit and those ordained receive authority and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Are those hands along strong enough to support the bridges the church needs?
Don't panic, Bishop! Thank God no bishop is in this alone either. Bishops may have the outward and visible sign of that power. But, thank God, the power from that sacrament is received by the people of God. We, all of us gathered together, have received that power. We are the ones to support the bridges that our deacons lead us in building.
God's people, baptized, confirmed, ordained – all of us together – receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
And that is where that power becomes incarnate – the power of the Spirit becomes outward and visible in whole Christian Community together, that group of people united by the bishop, gathered by the priest, and sent into the world by the deacon. We are ALL sent along those bridges out into the world in service of God.
It is in the presence of the Spirit in Community, not in any individual alone, that we find the power of the Spirit. It is the Spirit in Community, that helps us interpret and proclaim God's word. It is the Spirit in Community, that provides the support for the bridges for ministry.
Doris, this night as you are take up bridge building, remember that you are not alone. Your servant ministry is supported by the power of the Spirit living in all of us who are called by our baptism to minister with you.
And let all of us, who with Andy tonight renew our covenant with God, remember that we have received the power of the Spirit, so that we together in the Church can be the Body of Christ; Christ who is forever the bridge between this broken world and God.
Not to worry, my friends, in the power of the Spirit, we have a firm foundation!