Ricardo Montalban tells an amusing story about his early days of movies. He got a hit film part playing a butler. He wanted to make a good impression so fell over himself learning the proper accent, tasks, etc that a butler would need to know. However, he overplayed it a bit and the director on the set told him "Montalhan, the perfect butler is never seen and never heard."

We've been talking about deacons a bit at church; Kieran has been preaching about them and the elders have asked us for nominations of those men who we feel are qualified. Ibelieve all the men who were submitted have been approached by the elders letting them know they are under consideration for this task. I also know, as a deacon, that I have been asked many times over the years what that means. I wanted to discuss that a bit today, so those who were submitted and we who will be "sounding them out" have more things to think about.

You likely know I am the deacon here who does the bulletin and also has responsibility for our duty roster of service, and membership directory. I am also the one who is supposed to keep on top of our TV show (cancelled, for now) and our radio show (which went out of business. Apparently I haven't been doing too well with those things!). I keep the communion preparation rotation running pretty smoothly, and am used to gather volunteers for duties in other deacon's areas as well as mv own. I am also on "official" loan to the other deacons myself from time to time, such as helping Robert with building duties occasionally and assisting Bill with the treasury.

Because I have these tasks, it looks like I have a lot power. Occasionally, someone will want some favor, like me putting them down for an opening prayer on a certain day. OK, cool. But once in a while, someone will say don't like the way Mr Soandso leads singing, don't put him down for that anymore. " As if! Look, I like chocolate. I am supposed to eat less chocolate, to lose weight. When I walk by the dish, I don't take it as much as I used to. Now, who's the boss here? My arm, doesn't reach out for the chocolate, or my head which is doing all the thinking? Well, a deacon is the arm and the elders are the head. Who leads singing and who doesn't is decided by them. All I do is create a duty roster, hopefully well balanced and fair. I don't add people without asking and if you want someone omitted, well, you need to talk to the elders about that. So really, I don't have any "power" at all.

If you've been approached about becoming a deacon, I would ask you to consider these things. Do you want the job? It will likely require fair amounts of your spare time, depending on what areas you are assigned to. I will tell you our elders to like to “help you grow" by giving you tasks that you would not have volunteered for (such as, oh, bulletins!!! But aren't elders supposed to do that). What about the rest of your family, do your kids want you to? Your wife interested in spiritual growth (and possible scrutiny)? Are you willing to help those who are never satisfied, complain about your work, and may do very little to help you help them." In other words, are you serving God under the leadership of the elders, regardless of those cantankerous members (like me!) who make it hard to do?

Because if you do it right, and pass the decisions back up to the elders, then the actions you take are clearly seen as their actions, as it should be. And you? Well the perfect deacon is probably never seen and never heard. (no, I'm not perfect' )

Randy