The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



Ordination of John Bender to the Diaconate, February 23, 2008 , St. Philip’s Church Nashville

"For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves." (Lk. 22:27)

“Service” is the word that our Scripture uses today, though it could have used others, “ministry” for example. The Greek is “diakonon”, and therein lies the clue as to what we do today. Diaconal ministry is service, service rendered to others, and Jesus himself is our model. The Church ordains deacons because servant ministry is a part of our identity, and deacons remind us of who we are. We come upon this identity legitimately, for it is the identity of Christ himself. In the second century Bishop Ignatius wrote to one Christian Church, “Everyone must show the deacons respect. They represent Jesus Christ” (Trallians 3.2). And to another he wrote, “Let the deacons (my special favorites) be entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ” (Magnesians 6.1). The “ministry” word in the bishop’s letter is the same as the “service” word in our Gospel today. When Jesus and his disciples gather at the table, and share the Last Supper, as they do in our Gospel today, it is then that he tells them “I am among you as one who serves”; that is, as one who deacons.

This is good news for us as we gather to ordain our friend and colleague John Bender to the sacred order of deacons, the ministry that is personified in Jesus Christ himself. There is more involved in this ministry than waiting on tables, though as our Gospel indicates, that’s included too. Hospitality and welcome are a part of Christian ministry, Christian service, the sort of hospitality and welcome that comes with table fellowship. We entertain others in a meal, sharing not only the means of life but our very own selves in the process. Identity is a tricky thing, however, as we carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ. As we welcome others we find Jesus present in them as well. “And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:38-40).

But still, there is more to servant ministry, if our pattern is Jesus Christ. “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). What we learn from Jesus Christ is that servant ministry is sacrificial ministry. The service we render to others is costly service, the sort we learn standing at the foot of the cross. Diaconal ministry, if we take Jesus at his word, involves sacrifice, the offering of oneself for others. In fact, diaconal ministry can have no other foundation than the one given by Jesus’ act of sacrificial self-giving. Jesus gives himself as a ransom for many, and calls the Church in her ministry to sacrificial service. As St Paul says, “In my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col.1:24). That “completion” is the sacrificial service of the Church, the giving of ourselves for others that is at the heart of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

That ministry Jesus shares with others. This is the only reason the Church dares to ordain anyone as deacon, because the ministry is his, and we have his commission. If we did not have this commission this ordination would be nothing more than an act of human presumption. Apostolic ministry claims that Jesus’ ministry of sacrificial service is present now, focused for us in the ordained ministry, that reminds us of our own vocation as Christians. The centuries drop away today, as we renew the commission given to the Church by Jesus Christ, through the ordination of John Bender to this sacred ministry.

It is customary on these occasions to ask the ordinand to stand. John, what we do today is no act of accreditation or recognition of status in the Church, though the ministry that you have undertaken is an honorable one, and we honor you for it. You are not being ordained as the purveyor of a religious franchise, the authorized representative of a particular religious product. Instead, you are being invited by God into a life of service, one that is meant to remind every Christian of the call of God and his claim on our lives. You are to pattern your life on the cross, on the great and ultimate act of service of Our Lord that has brought us salvation and new life. You are not simply taking up new duties but embracing a new way of being. You are to complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions by embracing Christ’s sacrificial way of life, knowing that the way of the cross leads to new life. As deacon, you are entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ himself. There is no higher call, and today Christ himself has given you this commission through the apostolic ministry of the Church.

The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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