Breaking Bread
What do deacons do?
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. - Acts 6:1-7
Occasionally, we are given a job and we turn it into something much bigger than it was when we received it.
That was the case with Stephen and the first deacons.
What was needed by the apostles was someone to help serve meals to the widows and others who were abandoned and forgotten by the community.
But Stephen, the first to be called, did more than serve meals. He went among the people and spoke with them, sharing the Gospel, bringing the Word and love of God to them.
It is his example that we deacons follow today.
Our mission is to bring the Gospel to the people and bring the issues and concerns of the people back to the church.
We do this by serving both on the altar and in the world.
The great thing about serving meals to people who are hungry is that it feels so good. Those who give and those who receive are both recipients of the joyful and loving exchange.
I can understand why the apostles didn't want to give up the work of feeding the hungry and needy. It is so gratifying. But they had other work to do. They had to grow the church and extend the mission.
This is the challenge we have in our work today.
When we find that there are so many more who need help than we can provide, we need to reach out for others to get involved.
This, too, is the role of the deacon, to bring others into the ministry so that more can benefit.
The beauty of the ministry is that everyone can participate. Everyone can benefit. We can all join together and come away feeling good about ourselves and others.
There is no better way to get to know someone than to break bread with them.
More to come...