Dear Church,
What a blessed weekend! On Sunday we celebrated the feast of the Ascension. On Saturday, Nancy Nethercott was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Dan Scott. Nancy has served on staff at The Table for the past six months and now assumes the office of deacon among us.
What is a deacon? What do they do?
The diaconate is one of the three orders of ministry recognized in the Anglican church; the priesthood and bishopric being the other two. Every priest and bishop are first ordained a deacon, and once a deacon, always a deacon. That means we now have four deacons at The Table: Spencer, Ben, Matt, and Nancy. Nancy will serve us solely as a deacon until her ordination to the priesthood (stay tuned for that date to be announced!).
The Greek word for “deacon” means “service.” Here’s what Bishop Dan read aloud at Nancy’s ordination service: “It belongs to the Office of a Deacon to assist the Priest in public worship, especially in the administration of Holy Communion; to lead in public prayer; to read the Gospel, and to instruct both young and old in the Catechism; and at the direction of the Priest, to baptize and to preach. Furthermore, it is the Deacon’s Office to work with the laity in searching for the sick, the poor, and the helpless, that they may be relieved.”
You’ll notice that as a part of her ministry, Nancy will regularly read the Gospel lesson and lead the recitation of the Creed, lead the Prayers of the People (along with a team of others), prepare the altar for Eucharist, and assist in the distribution of the elements. The proper way to refer to Nancy as a deacon is “Deacon Nancy” or “Reverend Nancy” or simply “Nancy.” Once ordained to the priesthood we will get to call her “Mother Nancy!” 🙂
Her staff title among us is “Missionary-in-Residence” at The Table. Another focus of ministry for Nancy will continue to be with the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies where she serves as Chaplain. She also serves in the ministry of “Global Training in Spiritual Formation and Biblical Worship” with Faith and Learning International. Nancy is also trained to come alongside God’s people as a spiritual director and finds great joy in that ministry and as a part of the team of prayer ministers at The Table.
We are overjoyed to welcome Nancy as clergy at The Table. May Christ bless us richly through his gift of Nancy to our body!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt
Leave a Reply