WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.480 Please pray with me. 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:15.339 Lord God, again, we thank you for this day that you've given us to worship you. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.120 And Lord, it is a privilege and an honor to be able to come into the presence of the living God 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:25.219 in order to bring worship, the sacrifice of praise. 00:00:26.019 --> 00:00:28.240 Lord, thank you that the children have led us today. 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:29.820 And we thank you for our children. 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:32.100 And the blessing that they are upon us. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:37.659 Lord, we ask you to please pour your spirit out upon us as a church so that this morning 00:00:37.659 --> 00:00:43.799 the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts may be acceptable in eyesight. 00:00:44.579 --> 00:00:46.039 Oh, Lord, our rock and our redeemer. 00:00:46.659 --> 00:00:47.659 Through Jesus we pray. 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:48.280 Amen. 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:53.000 I want to say good morning again to you. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.420 A lot of you were out when I had a chance to greet you. 00:00:55.519 --> 00:00:56.579 My name is Steve Breedlove. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.579 And I am the bishop of the Diocese of Christ, our hope. 00:00:59.579 --> 00:01:01.219 And it's a joy to be with you. 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:02.780 It is always a joy to come to this church. 00:01:02.899 --> 00:01:05.959 I got to tell you that I love this church. 00:01:06.039 --> 00:01:07.159 It's very, very special to me. 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:11.799 Now, as soon as you get real proud, just realize I say that every week to a different church. 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:13.899 But I do mean it. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:15.060 I do mean it. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:16.939 It is a delight to be here. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:19.700 And it is a delight to see the growth of this church. 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:25.000 I think I met six or seven new people today who were under the age of five months. 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:27.599 And so there is a lot of growth. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:33.579 You know, Palm Sunday in an Anglican church has always been a challenge from a liturgical 00:01:33.579 --> 00:01:38.699 point of view simply because there's this massive 90-degree turn that you have to take 00:01:38.699 --> 00:01:40.419 when you're going full speed in the service. 00:01:40.839 --> 00:01:43.939 You know, you take a 90-degree turn without even slowing down. 00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:48.619 You begin with the joy of all the children coming in and waving the palms and singing 00:01:48.619 --> 00:01:50.819 Hosanna and shouting to the Lord. 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:55.879 And it's a recapitulation of the original events of First Palm Sunday. 00:01:56.479 --> 00:02:00.199 And usually there's a Palm Sunday reading from the Gospels, which we did this morning, 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:03.239 and some celebratory singing as well. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:08.919 And then somewhere in here there's a sermon, but also somewhere in here there's this, as 00:02:08.919 --> 00:02:14.639 I said, this hard turn, 90-degree turn, when you read a different scripture, which again, 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:20.639 Tommy just read for us, which shifts the entire theme of the service from Palm Sunday 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:23.219 to Passion Week. 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:28.280 And so wherever that happens in terms of the service itself, because it can happen different 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:35.000 places, we turn from shouting Hosanna to the King to the dark theme of rejection that leads 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.859 to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and Holy Saturday. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:44.719 So we're bringing together in one service, every Palm Sunday, all of these different themes. 00:02:45.139 --> 00:02:50.719 So to make it more interesting, Tommy has asked that we also add an ordination on top of that, 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:51.000 right? 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:57.000 So we overlay on top of all of that a service that has been given to us by the Anglican 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.259 Church in North America, by which we ordain a deacon. 00:03:00.740 --> 00:03:03.400 I'm just saying, lots of moving parts. 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.840 I don't know what your family life was like when you were growing up, or maybe even now, 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.960 but we have five kids, and they're all married. 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:16.300 And whenever we get around for a dinner table conversation, there's 12 adults and usually 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:21.080 four or five other kids pile in there because we do have 12 grandkids so far. 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:25.620 And rarely do we ever have one conversation going on at the same time, right? 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:28.580 We have about three or four conversations going on. 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:33.080 And every once in a while, we may unite around one particular theme, but that's unusual. 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:38.120 But the wonderful truth I want to say to you, even as I've mentioned the cross currents of 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:43.080 this service today, when we have Palm Sunday and we have Passion Week and we have now an 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:50.620 ordination on top of it, there is, let me just stop here, there is one clear underlying theme 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:56.700 that ties it all together, a current that runs through all aspects of what we're doing 00:03:56.700 --> 00:03:57.240 here today. 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:03.020 And that theme is expressed in the last statement that Tommy just read to us from the lips of Jesus, 00:04:03.340 --> 00:04:05.600 from Luke chapter 22. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.879 I am among you as one who serves. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.219 You know, Jesus' life was stamped by a call to servanthood. 00:04:16.340 --> 00:04:21.280 The template of his life, and he understood this well, came out of the Old Testament. 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:26.280 He was the fulfillment of all of the prophetic pictures of the Old Testament so that we, 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:31.579 as we scroll ahead in our minds, we remember Luke 24 when he opened the scriptures and explained 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:36.779 to the disciples on the road to Emmaus from cover to cover, basically, how the entire scriptures 00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:37.479 point to him. 00:04:38.159 --> 00:04:43.079 So he was soaked in those prophetic words, those prophetic pictures of which he is the fulfillment. 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:49.659 And I cannot help but think, as he was walking into this last week of his life, that he was 00:04:49.659 --> 00:04:51.459 thinking of Isaiah chapter 49. 00:04:52.379 --> 00:04:54.819 Listen to this prophetic picture. 00:04:54.819 --> 00:05:03.839 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, key word, and to 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:08.579 bring Jacob back to him, that Israel might be gathered to him, for I'm honored in the eyes 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:11.100 of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:19.219 He says to me, and this is Jesus speaking prophetically, it is too light a thing that you should be my 00:05:19.220 --> 00:05:24.800 servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved Israel. 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:30.440 I will make you a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:33.040 Phenomenal declaration. 00:05:33.200 --> 00:05:35.640 You're going to be my servant to bring the whole world back to me. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:44.960 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to the one despised, abhorred by the nation, 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:48.180 the servant of the king, the servant of rulers. 00:05:49.919 --> 00:05:57.180 So do you see, even in the declaration of the great work of Jesus Christ, there is this not only call to servanthood, 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:02.299 but this call to walk a path of rejection. 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:11.000 Why did Jesus ride on the back of a donkey from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem? 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:15.319 I am among you as one who serves. 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:22.340 Why did He receive the hosannas knowing full well the fickle hearts of the crowd? 00:06:23.620 --> 00:06:26.300 I am among you as one who serves. 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:30.220 Why did Jesus wash the disciples' feet on Maundy Thursday? 00:06:30.220 --> 00:06:33.940 I am among you as one who serves. 00:06:34.420 --> 00:06:37.320 Why did He bow the knee to the Father in the garden? 00:06:37.620 --> 00:06:40.000 Why did He say, not my will, but thine be done? 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:41.500 You can quote it with me now. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:43.600 I am among you as one who serves. 00:06:45.080 --> 00:06:47.360 Why is Amy being ordained today? 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:51.360 She will be among you as one who serves. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:07:01.439 The Lord is at work in our diocese to stir up an awareness of the vocational calling of all followers of Jesus Christ. 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:04.120 We made a strong statement about that last summer. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:07.100 We wrote three papers on ministry and ordination. 00:07:07.259 --> 00:07:09.280 And the first of those papers was entitled, 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:13.100 The Foundational Vision of the Ministry of All the Saints. 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:19.700 And we stated firmly, and I trust very clearly, that every Christian is called to the vocation of ministry, 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.600 whether or not it be as a bishop or a priest or a deacon or as a layperson. 00:07:25.640 --> 00:07:29.760 That's really rooted in Ephesians chapter 2.10, one of my very favorite verses in Scripture. 00:07:30.200 --> 00:07:32.820 And I want you to understand this and remember this. 00:07:32.819 --> 00:07:40.480 In Ephesians 2.10, God declares to us, for you are His workmanship, God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus, 00:07:40.719 --> 00:07:47.459 His handiwork created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:57.759 And there's this tremendous picture of the fact that all of us are hardwired to do something that is good for the sake of God's kingdom. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:06.579 And God has woven together our temperament and our gifts and our stories and our past in order that we might make a beautiful impact. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:18.680 It is a wonderful thing to have a vocation, not just a job, but a calling, a vocation that identifies what we do with who we are and what we are to be. 00:08:19.980 --> 00:08:23.360 In January, I confirmed 16 adults at Church of the Ascension in Arlington. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:31.740 It was really a joy to meet with them one-on-one beforehand and hear them all articulate a sense of a vocation, a purpose from God. 00:08:32.340 --> 00:08:33.919 And I would ask them, what are you hoping to do? 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:41.320 I'm going to lay hands on you and pray for you and pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit and pray for gifts in your life, for renewed gifts and expanded gifts. 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:43.019 What are you praying for? 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:49.779 I remember one man who said, I have a nine-to-five job, but my real calling is to disciple my four daughters. 00:08:49.779 --> 00:08:58.220 But more than that, he said, Bishop Steve, I really want to teach other men the power of being a father to disciple their children. 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:04.240 And I want to develop a ministry within our own church where I mentor other men as disciple makers of their children. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:06.139 Wow, that's a calling. 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:09.959 Another woman said to me, a young woman said to me, I'm a violin teacher. 00:09:10.339 --> 00:09:12.620 I've been trying to be a really, really great teacher. 00:09:12.620 --> 00:09:17.720 But you know what, Steve, frankly, he said, I haven't really liked the kids I've been teaching very much. 00:09:18.179 --> 00:09:20.440 They annoy me because they don't do a good job. 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:27.299 And so she said, I realized through this whole process that I'm actually called to a much deeper calling than teaching them how to play violin. 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:36.460 I'm called to love them and teach them the beauty of music as a reflection of God, as who God is. 00:09:36.460 --> 00:09:38.660 Would you pray for me? 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:45.340 And Pastor Dean Miller has done a great job of discipling people around this idea that we all have a vocation or calling. 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:47.060 Well, what does that have to do with this morning? 00:09:47.139 --> 00:09:48.800 Well, Amy, I'm going to talk to you right now. 00:09:49.259 --> 00:09:51.740 You're called to the vocation of being a deacon. 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:56.720 Now, you will have details about what that means in your life, and we'll talk about that in a few minutes. 00:09:57.040 --> 00:10:02.200 According to your own background and your own calling and your own gifting, you have good works to do. 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:19.900 But underneath it, you play a particular role within the orders of lay, deacon, priest, and bishop in order to root us all into your identity as a deacon, which is another word translated as servant. 00:10:21.400 --> 00:10:27.060 So servanthood is to dominate you in all you do. 00:10:27.780 --> 00:10:29.820 Every vocation is a service, right? 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:33.460 Every vocation is beautiful and unique. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:44.520 But the vocation of a deacon, the very name that you bear, is to model servanthood in all you do to remind all of us how we are to operate. 00:10:45.400 --> 00:10:52.780 I want to give you four instructions specifically to you, and I hope the rest of you will pick up some information along the way. 00:10:53.300 --> 00:10:59.420 Out of the life of Philip, we don't know a lot about many of the deacons in the New Testament. 00:10:59.419 --> 00:11:03.360 But of all the deacons in the New Testament, we know more about Philip than anyone else. 00:11:04.099 --> 00:11:14.179 And we've already met him in that passage from Acts chapter 6, because he's one of the first deacons that was chosen when the church began to recognize the office of the deacon. 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:22.339 And so I want to state for you four principles for your life and ministry out of the life of Philip. 00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:24.820 The first is what I've already said. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.060 I'm going to emphasize it, expand it. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:35.080 A deacon's call is a call to humble service and therefore to define all of our ministries for us. 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:40.139 Philip, as we're going to see in a few minutes, was a highly gifted man, but his first job was what? 00:11:40.420 --> 00:11:41.379 To wait on tables. 00:11:41.379 --> 00:11:45.620 It is what many people call menial service. 00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:54.019 Well, that's an okay term because it's based out of an old French word which means hand service, using your hands for the sake of others. 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:55.659 And that's a beautiful picture. 00:11:56.460 --> 00:12:01.039 Maundy Thursday, Jesus, you know, we're going to celebrate and remember that Jesus used his hands to do what? 00:12:01.779 --> 00:12:03.700 Wash the disciples' feet. 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:14.320 So show me a deacon or a priest or a bishop or a layperson who refuses to clear the table or wash the dishes or sweep the floor or change the diapers or clean up the vomit, 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:17.800 and I'll show you somebody that God's not going to use very much. 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:25.560 Because inevitably, God has called us all to exemplify Jesus by our hand service. 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:33.259 One of the most influential pastors in my generation, and maybe somebody that not a whole lot of you are aware of, 00:12:33.319 --> 00:12:36.159 but in my generation was this guy named Eugene Peterson. 00:12:36.500 --> 00:12:39.379 And he wrote many, many books on pastoral ministry. 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:42.239 And he was a great influencer of our entire generation. 00:12:42.339 --> 00:12:45.239 He's still alive about what it meant to be a good pastor. 00:12:45.599 --> 00:12:53.299 And in one of his candid moments, Eugene Peterson commented that pastoral ministry was little more than shoveling sheep stuff. 00:12:53.299 --> 00:12:54.959 But he used another S word. 00:12:56.099 --> 00:12:57.419 Those were his words, not mine. 00:12:58.740 --> 00:13:05.079 But he's basically saying that all of us are called to common labor for the sake of others. 00:13:06.079 --> 00:13:08.559 Philip did not balk at menial service. 00:13:09.779 --> 00:13:11.139 He waited on tables. 00:13:12.919 --> 00:13:15.859 Luke 22, today's gospel reading comes from the upper room. 00:13:16.539 --> 00:13:20.359 After the Lord's Supper, when Jesus had already washed the disciples' feet, 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.779 and he reminds them a disciple is not above his master. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:26.899 And I've given you an example for you to follow. 00:13:27.680 --> 00:13:29.800 Later on that evening, as we heard in the text, 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.560 they started arguing about which of them was the greatest. 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:33.639 Go figure. 00:13:34.860 --> 00:13:36.639 Was that because they were just sheer idiots? 00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:37.860 I mean, you know, what's going on here? 00:13:38.019 --> 00:13:40.879 Were they, you know, were they suffering from group dementia? 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:48.559 Well, I'm wondering if they were thinking, well, if washing feet is my call, 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:52.220 then I think it's pretty significant that Jesus washed my feet before he washed yours. 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:53.620 You know, something like that. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:58.220 My tendency is just to think that they are very, very normal people 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:01.480 who learn life-changing lessons at 6.40 p.m., 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:05.200 and by 9, what, 17 p.m., they forgot them, 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:07.919 especially after four cups of wine, right? 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:09.860 It was a Passover feast. 00:14:09.860 --> 00:14:15.899 But Jesus makes his point in a phrase that I hope that we really remember, 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:19.060 in fact, that we've memorized by the time we're done this morning, 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:21.820 I am among you as one who serves. 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:23.860 You're not supposed to act like this. 00:14:26.060 --> 00:14:29.539 And, Amy, I know that you were already living in exemplary fashion as a servant. 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:31.779 Within the body, I know what you do. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:37.659 I know how your heart is for other people in the church, 00:14:37.659 --> 00:14:43.699 particularly how you've ministered in so many different ways to women 00:14:43.699 --> 00:14:47.659 and to those who are being taught and discipled. 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:52.519 So I encourage you to continue to keep up the service of a servant. 00:14:53.980 --> 00:14:56.139 The second thing I want to say to you out of Philip's life 00:14:56.139 --> 00:15:00.559 is that the Diaconate is a calling to true Christian spirituality. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.000 Again, we're going to talk in a minute about Philip's gifts, 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:06.240 but he was not chosen because of his giftedness. 00:15:06.899 --> 00:15:09.179 That's not the basis of his choice. 00:15:09.179 --> 00:15:14.359 It says clearly that the reason that he was chosen is because he had a good reputation, 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:17.539 he was full of the Holy Spirit, and he was full of wisdom. 00:15:17.859 --> 00:15:22.759 In other words, because of his love for the Lord, his dependence, his prayer life, 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:28.359 his study of Scripture, and his own determination to bow the knees to the Lord in his own life. 00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:32.979 In a phrase, he was a faithful, obedient man. 00:15:33.459 --> 00:15:35.159 He was a holy man. 00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:37.500 How important is it? 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:42.000 I've been reading Exodus in my own personal devotions lately, 00:15:42.259 --> 00:15:45.879 and a couple weeks ago I was in Exodus chapter 4. 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:51.340 And if you read through that, it summarizes in the first three chapters 00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:57.220 all of the preparation and qualities of Moses' life, all of his capacities. 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.159 And you read about the miracle of him being saved out of the Nile, 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:03.019 and you read about how he was taken to Pharaoh's house, 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:05.700 and he was raised, and all of the education of Egypt, 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:08.740 and he learned Egyptian, and he learned all those skills. 00:16:08.920 --> 00:16:11.540 And then you know, of course, about what happened when he was 40 years old, 00:16:11.540 --> 00:16:14.140 when he blew it, and he had to leave for fear of his life. 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:15.420 He went into exile in Midian. 00:16:15.520 --> 00:16:16.740 He became a shepherd. 00:16:16.860 --> 00:16:20.240 He spent 40 years in the desert learning how to lead flocks of sheep. 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:21.920 That was going to serve him in good stead. 00:16:22.040 --> 00:16:24.640 All these things that God was using to prepare him. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:30.080 At age 80, he has the burning bush, this incredible encounter with God, 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:31.960 in which he gets his commission. 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:36.039 So he decides that he's going to go back at the command of God 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:39.100 to do what God's told him to do, to set Israel free, 00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:41.259 to lead them out of bondage in Egypt. 00:16:41.620 --> 00:16:44.539 And in Exodus chapter 4, he says goodbye to his father-in-law, 00:16:45.539 --> 00:16:47.080 kind of wraps up things back in Midian, 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:48.980 and he's on his way back to Egypt. 00:16:48.980 --> 00:16:55.180 And then we run into this very strange event in Exodus chapter 4. 00:16:55.940 --> 00:16:56.800 Verse 24, 00:16:56.940 --> 00:17:03.019 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.839 Then Zipporah, that's his wife, took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:12.259 and touched Moses' feet with it and said, 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.559 Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:16.640 So he let him alone. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:21.480 It was then that she said a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision. 00:17:22.740 --> 00:17:23.960 What in the world is this about? 00:17:25.100 --> 00:17:26.780 I mean, if you're reading through Exodus, 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:29.420 surely you've got to stop there and go, what is going on? 00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:32.400 Well, it's about personal holiness. 00:17:33.080 --> 00:17:33.840 It's about obedience. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.460 Moses had been deeply prepared for the job that God had called him to do, 00:17:39.840 --> 00:17:43.940 but he was also simply part of the people of God. 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:47.279 And the people of Israel didn't know a whole lot at this time. 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:48.779 They were kind of early in their days. 00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:50.820 But they knew that Abraham was their father, 00:17:50.900 --> 00:17:55.279 and they knew from Abraham that God had called this nation to be a blessing to the world 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:00.940 and that God was going to use them to bring salvation to the world. 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:05.200 Abraham was the father of the chosen people of God to bring this blessing about. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:11.279 But as he received this calling, he also received a sign of the covenant with God, 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:16.039 a sign that he and his family were set apart, and the sign was the simple act of circumcision. 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:18.340 That has a whole lot of symbolic meanings. 00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:21.940 And you can kind of dig into that and figure out what that's about. 00:18:22.279 --> 00:18:24.500 But it was also just simply an act of obedience. 00:18:24.500 --> 00:18:27.039 And you didn't even have to understand it. 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:28.420 You just had to do it, right? 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:30.339 You had to do the right thing. 00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:36.259 But Moses had not thought that step of obedience mattered. 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:38.279 He hadn't gotten around to it with his own kids. 00:18:39.259 --> 00:18:43.579 So God, he's on the way to Egypt to do his job that God had called you to do, 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.339 and God stops him in his tracks. 00:18:45.819 --> 00:18:51.519 And basically what God is saying is your personal obedience and your holiness is critical. 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:53.539 It's life-changingly critical. 00:18:53.539 --> 00:18:57.000 You can't take another step in service without clearing this up. 00:18:57.619 --> 00:19:00.920 So Amy, you've got to take this personally. 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:08.119 Your obedience, your life of godliness, your true spirituality must be profound and deep. 00:19:08.819 --> 00:19:11.599 And it must be consistent in every way possible. 00:19:12.139 --> 00:19:16.460 And you must show us all the importance of a life of holiness. 00:19:17.539 --> 00:19:19.659 So you embody servanthood to us. 00:19:20.099 --> 00:19:22.700 You embody obedience and holiness. 00:19:23.539 --> 00:19:28.519 The third principle from the life of Philip is that a deacon is called to gifted service. 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:36.660 And therefore, a deacon defines the method by which the ministry progresses for everybody within the church of God, 00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:39.740 as we personally fulfill our gifts. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:45.680 It goes back to the Ephesians 2 passage I've already mentioned about you're created in Christ Jesus for good works. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:47.720 So let's talk about Philip. 00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:57.440 Philip, one of the first cohort of deacons, was chosen to do menial service, but to that basic servant ministry, which he never outgrew, we learn a few things. 00:19:58.080 --> 00:20:00.960 He was a gifted preacher and evangelist. 00:20:01.539 --> 00:20:09.820 Immediately after his ordination as a deacon, without further training, after he'd taken care of the table needs, he was out on the streets preaching Christ. 00:20:09.819 --> 00:20:11.799 He was in the synagogues preaching Christ. 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:15.279 Apparently, he was good enough to venture to speak publicly. 00:20:15.779 --> 00:20:16.859 Now, where did that come from? 00:20:17.679 --> 00:20:26.039 Philip was a Jew, but his name is Greek, which gives us a hint for the fact that he was raised as a Jew in a Greek-speaking culture. 00:20:26.659 --> 00:20:29.419 So he's like Paul or Stephen. 00:20:30.639 --> 00:20:36.899 Both are, excuse me, all three of them were people who were Jews, but who were raised in a Greek-speaking culture. 00:20:36.900 --> 00:20:47.040 In a Greek-speaking culture, he was taught the rhetorical capacities that Greeks taught all of their children. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:57.460 But he also, as a Jew, was taught that when you reach your bar mitzvah, you need to be able to stand up in the synagogue and be able to open the scriptures and proclaim the scriptures. 00:20:58.460 --> 00:21:00.860 Do you see how those gifts converged? 00:21:00.860 --> 00:21:06.500 And I think it's very, very interesting that three of the most significant preachers in the New Testament were all from that same setting. 00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:12.359 Of that convergence of Greek education and Jewish education, Stephen, Paul, and Philip. 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:17.720 He also apparently had enormous gifts and abilities to take risk and cross cultures. 00:21:18.220 --> 00:21:23.460 Because Philip was the one who opened the door for the evangelization of the Samaritans. 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:30.640 And he was the agent who opened up the entire nation of Ethiopia by sharing the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch. 00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.779 He was critical to the apostolic expansion of the church. 00:21:34.779 --> 00:21:36.039 Where did this come from? 00:21:36.099 --> 00:21:38.139 Well, again, think about his cross-cultural background. 00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:41.220 Think about the fact that he lived in a place with duality. 00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:46.599 Think about the fact that he probably understood what it meant to be a hated minority on both sides of his life. 00:21:46.779 --> 00:21:51.740 Because the Greeks hated him for being a Jew and the Jews hated him for being a Greek-trained Jew. 00:21:52.740 --> 00:21:54.960 And so he was in both places out of place. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:22:02.500 He experienced, I'm sure, compassion for the widows who shared his own language. 00:22:03.360 --> 00:22:04.480 That's Acts chapter 6. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:08.340 They were outsiders in their Jewish culture. 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:10.259 And yet he was sympathetic to them. 00:22:10.259 --> 00:22:14.279 All of this was woven into his life and his soul. 00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:20.440 So that he had the ability to radically expand the gospel into new cultures. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:27.700 Philip, in that process, was given the ability to perform signs and wonders in support of the proclamation of Christ. 00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:30.000 And those are not natural abilities. 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:31.660 Those are supernatural abilities. 00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:35.980 At the same time, you've got to wonder what he was like as a dad. 00:22:36.700 --> 00:22:40.820 Because he had four daughters who were all prophets in the New Testament. 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:43.800 So he must have discipled them very well. 00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:46.740 So you see all the gifts that he brought. 00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:48.860 And he fulfilled those gifts. 00:22:49.120 --> 00:22:50.740 God had made him who he is. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:52.700 Well, Amy, the point should be clear. 00:22:52.800 --> 00:22:58.120 The Diagonal Office offers incredible opportunity for the exercise of any gift. 00:22:58.119 --> 00:23:04.539 Evangelism, miracle working, apostolic expansion, teaching, discipling, waiting tables. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:13.219 And God wants to use you and fill you with his power so that what you do impacts others supernaturally. 00:23:14.239 --> 00:23:19.359 Years and years ago, when I was a young pastor, I was in a church. 00:23:19.459 --> 00:23:20.219 We were cleaning up. 00:23:20.899 --> 00:23:23.099 It was one of those work days when we were cleaning up the facility. 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:26.859 And I was up adjusting a fluorescent bulb up in the ceiling, okay? 00:23:26.859 --> 00:23:30.740 And I slipped and dropped the bulb on the concrete floor. 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:33.500 Well, you guys, have you ever seen a fluorescent bulb hit the floor? 00:23:33.719 --> 00:23:36.119 You know, it explodes, okay? 00:23:36.539 --> 00:23:37.919 And there were a bunch of other people around. 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:39.079 And I was embarrassed. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:42.759 And I quickly grabbed, you know, got down, started to get down from the ladder. 00:23:42.979 --> 00:23:48.240 But literally before I could get down from the ladder, a guy named Bill, who was a deacon in our church, 00:23:48.899 --> 00:23:51.659 grabbed a dustpan and a broom. 00:23:52.199 --> 00:23:54.599 And he came over and said, I want to do this for you. 00:23:54.599 --> 00:24:02.919 And I don't know how to explain this, but there was something about his action and his demeanor that literally pierced my soul. 00:24:03.619 --> 00:24:05.559 And I've never, ever forgotten it. 00:24:05.779 --> 00:24:16.819 That simple act of cleaning up a broken fluorescent bulb literally got into my heart and helped me understand who I am supposed to be in a way that nothing else could have. 00:24:16.819 --> 00:24:22.740 And so I'm just going to say to you, Amy, whatever your calling is, according to the gifts that you've been given, 00:24:23.099 --> 00:24:29.220 God wants you to use you in that gifting for ways that you can only imagine. 00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:33.500 So embrace who you're called to be in your gifting. 00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:43.859 And then my last statement about deacons is the deacons' call is to be a living example and leader of bifocal Christianity. 00:24:43.859 --> 00:24:45.759 What do I mean? 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:47.919 You're called to leadership. 00:24:48.959 --> 00:24:52.339 The body of Christ is crying out for good, faithful leaders, and we need leaders. 00:24:52.459 --> 00:24:55.119 And there are several kinds of leaders who are needed by the body. 00:24:55.419 --> 00:24:59.899 There are shepherds, pastors, and there are bishops who are shepherds of shepherds. 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:03.899 But a shepherd, by definition, stands somewhat apart from the flock. 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.740 He has to be, by definition, his eyes on the horizon, looking for danger. 00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:11.519 His eyes on the flock, making sure everybody is kept together. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:17.960 He's always thinking about and assessing where to get food, where to get water, where to go, what's the movement, where's safety for this flock. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:22.500 And so Tommy, as the shepherd of this flock, is always looking in the big picture. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:24.240 He has to. 00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:25.180 That's his job. 00:25:26.879 --> 00:25:30.420 But diagonal leadership is from within the flock. 00:25:31.259 --> 00:25:32.359 It's exemplary. 00:25:32.879 --> 00:25:35.099 It's by force of presence and example. 00:25:35.400 --> 00:25:40.839 It's by brushing the shoulders with everyone else, by being among the people. 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:50.720 And encouraging the flock to hear the word of the Lord through the shepherd that God has given in order to communicate and help everybody get what we're supposed to do. 00:25:51.259 --> 00:25:56.000 But having said that, it's also bifocal. 00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:04.059 It may sound like a contradiction, but the deacon's call is also to stand with a foot in the church and a foot in the world. 00:26:04.059 --> 00:26:07.720 And therefore, again, to define who the church is meant to be. 00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:12.359 Because as a church, we gather as a people of God to worship God and to grow. 00:26:12.619 --> 00:26:15.220 But we also scatter to live into the world. 00:26:16.019 --> 00:26:22.359 So every Sunday when you as a deacon proclaim, therefore, you know, go into the world to love and serve the Lord, 00:26:22.579 --> 00:26:26.559 you're called to embody that in your life and ministry. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:34.299 Again, we don't have many details about many deacons in the New Testament, but every single deacon we have, 00:26:34.919 --> 00:26:39.779 Philip, Stephen, Epaphroditus, I believe also Phoebe, 00:26:40.980 --> 00:26:46.279 every one of these deacons is stated not only to have capacities within the church, 00:26:46.679 --> 00:26:52.519 but to be either a missionary or a prophetic speaker or a preacher out in the streets. 00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:56.200 The tradition of the church is very strong on this. 00:26:57.019 --> 00:27:01.099 Deacons traditionally have maintained some form of mission in the world 00:27:01.099 --> 00:27:06.819 and therefore helped the church understand its bifocal vision to stand in both places. 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:11.940 So deacons have led in evangelism, they've led in compassion and mercy ministries, 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:15.500 and they've even led in apostolic mission, breaking open new territory. 00:27:17.879 --> 00:27:20.519 Amy, today is a powerful day of convergence. 00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:24.879 It's Palm Sunday, Passion Week, and your ordination. 00:27:25.900 --> 00:27:30.379 And to me, the thing that ties them all together is this massive theme of servitude. 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:33.220 I'm among you as one who serves, says our Lord. 00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:39.299 You are to be exemplary in your service, exemplary in your spirituality, 00:27:40.379 --> 00:27:44.240 exemplary in your fulfillment of your gifts and calling, 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:51.359 exemplary in being a bifocal Christian who lives with a foot in both worlds. 00:27:52.500 --> 00:27:58.019 And I pray that this church and our diocese is shaped and grounded 00:27:58.019 --> 00:28:02.279 in the servanthood of Jesus by Amy Atchison. 00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:07.259 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:28:07.259 --> 00:28:07.720 Amen.