The Concerns and Hope of the World

Dear Friends,

I was ordained to the diaconate a couple of weeks ago - another turn in my Anglican journey. I have been a minister for nearly 30 years, and I went into the evening without a great deal of expectation. I was beautifully surprised. I suppose God actually does do more than we imagine or ask for. The service was a poignant reminder of the diaconal calling that undergirds all ordained ministry. Several friends attending the ordination commented on part of the Bishop’s exhortation, “…you are to interpret to the church the needs, concerns and hopes of the world.” One friend said the phrase was tattoo worthy - we will see!

We rightly imagine diaconal work as focusing deeply on the brokenness of our world - we serve in these spaces of need. But this part of the exhortation teaches us that the needs and concerns are something we bring into the gathered church - interpret for the community so that all might empathize with and come alongside our neighbors in their needs and concerns. But the last word “hope” takes a remarkable and surprising turn toward the desires and dreams of our neighbors. We are not simply bringing what has gone wrong in the world to the church, we bring the hopes and dreams of our neighbors as well. When was the last time you had a conversation with someone outside the church about hope and desire, and discovered you shared something in common with them, and then shared what you learned with brothers and sisters in the church?  I’ll admit that I more easily imagine the gift of hope being a one way street - flowing from the church to the world, and not, from the world to the church.

I cut my teeth on the theology of the reformation and the Presbyterian tradition that tends to emphasize the extent of human fallenness and sin - depravity, and more, total depravity. The result is often that we imagine a deep and dark line or wall between those inside and outside of the church - the antithesis, theologians call it. It is important to grasp the depths of our alienation from the goodness of a relationship with God and the way this wound touches our deepest selves and the society and world that we have created - the personal and institutionalized ruin is profound. But across my 30 years of pastoring, I am more and more aware of how those inside and outside of the church share similar hopes. Amidst our differences we hope for truth, love, and beauty to prevail against their opposites in our own lives and the lives of those we love - even in the world. Christians have come to understand how this deep hope is met in Jesus, and we are not the only ones that hope for these things.

As you set aside time this Lent to reflect on sin and brokenness and deepen your practice of repentance, consider how our shared diaconal calling to interpret to the church the needs, concerns, and hope of the world might lead you down a few surprising paths.

Blessings,
Tuck

The Rev. Dr. Tuck Bartholomew is Canon for Church Planting