Anglicans install two new deacons

The two newest deacons in the Anglican archdeaconry of St Vincent and the Grenadines have been told to enter into the situation of God’s people wherever they are and minister to them.

During the sermon at the ordination service of Elso Ross and Milton Thomas at the St George’s Cathedral on Tuesday, Rev Christian Glasgow advised the two newly ordained men that in ministering to God’s people they should save {{more}}and shape people’s lives and encourage them on the road to the Kingdom of Heaven.

He additionally advised the deacons that they cannot take on the ministry themselves, and informed their wives, who were both present at the service, that they will be very important pillars in the ministry.

According to Glasgow, who is the rector of St George’s Parish Church, Grenada and the archdeacon of Grenada, understanding the Anglican way of doing things is important.

“The task set is a very great and awesome one and certainly it requires a method of achieving it.”

The Anglican way of doing things, Glasgow said, is to use scripture, tradition, reason and culture in decision making.

He told the new deacons that the ordination meant they were being brought to another level in the church; it also means that they are being called to embrace and understand the Anglican church and how Anglicans do things.

“As Anglicans we are called to participate in God’s mission in the world by embracing skillfully evangelism, loving service and propheticness. As we do so in all our daily context, we bear witness to and follow Jesus Christ.

“The age in which we are called to minister is a very difficult one, it is strange and it is posed with many challenges and a whole range of contradictions.”

The archdeacon related that recently, he had vacationed in Barbados with his wife, who is also a priest, and while there, they visited with his wife’s goddaughter, who has declared that she is gay and has a partner she intends to marry.

He said they visited her both as godparents and ministers, sat and counselled her, and at the end of the visit, confirmed their attendance at the upcoming wedding ceremony.

Glasgow said he knows attending a gay wedding ceremony might be frowned upon, but if he is untrue to the Anglican way of doing things, he would just hold before her, the full view and application of her action, and at the end of it, let her make a choice.

He held, however, that he is required to show her the love of God and by attending the ceremony, one does not know what opportunities to minister would present themselves.

“… I, as a minister of God, have to show her the love of God, for at this moment she is a person who is in need of knowing and experiencing the love of God.

“You may never know how in the ceremony, you would be ministering to a whole village of people…

“At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving those in need they are serving Christ himself.”

The Rev. Deacon Elso Ross is a teacher by profession. He has spent more than 37 years in the classroom, most of which were spent at the Belmont Government School. He is a communicant in good standing at the St John’s Anglican Church, Belair. Ross was an altar server for many years; he was then licensed as a lay reader and chalice bearer, serving for over 16 years. He is a resident of Upper Cane Hall, where he resides with his wife Carol, head teacher of the Kingstown Preparatory School.

The Rev. Deacon Milton Thomas, who resides at Bamberaux Road, Layou, is married to retired schoolteacher Susan Seaton-Thomas and is a father of two. He has been a lay reader and chalice bearer with over 19 years of experience and is also a Eucharist Minister.

He is a communicant in good standing at the St James Parish Church, Layou. Thomas was a member of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) for over 37 years and has served as both priest’s warden and people’s warden and as the parish representative on the Island Church Council (ICC). Thomas is a taxi driver by profession.

The ordination service was held on the feast day of St Michael and All Angels and was presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese of the Windward Islands, Reverend Calvert Friday. The Old Testament and New Testament readings were done by Susan Thomas and Sylvia Sheen respectively, while the Litany of Ordination was sung by Rev Everton Weekes, rector of the Parish of St Mary, Bequia and archdeacon on St Vincent and the Grenadines. Diocesan Registrar Grenville John did the reading of the certificates of ordination and general licences.