DIAKONIA: INTERVIEW WITH BISHOP CURRY

Here’s a fascinating interview from Episcopal Cafe with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church in the USA about deacons.  He is absolutely spot-on, and it’s worth reading the whole thing as it’s enormously encouraging.

But there is a very different voice from a deacon who actually has a life and living in the world, what people call the real world, not just the church world, but the real world, and has a life in the church. They actually become the most profoundly bridg[ing] people in terms of leadership. They’re bridge leaders intrinsically. I mean that is the nature of the order, which is why the ordinal actually talks about the deacon bringing the hopes and needs of the world to the church and the church to the world, back and forth.

The deacon is at the intersection of world and church, if you will. Which is why the deacon reads the Gospel. I mean it’s not because it’s an honorific position. The deacon is reading the Gospel because it is the teachings and the life and the spirit of Jesus, who was God incarnate, who bridged Heaven and Earth. You see what I mean? Who is our bridge to church, our faith in the world. And so the deacon is that person, at the intersection. That’s a unique charism and calling for the deacon. It’s not the same for priests. It’s different for a priest. It’s not the same for a bishop. Though, the irony is bishops and deacons have the most in common.

The full interview is here:  https://www.episcopalcafe.com/70941-2/?fbclid=IwAR0R9ZE8KipRMiNQD4ZCtZ8__chA-0s_qMD0GePhs4FNBMEO8cInfWbLSNU