The Deacon of Dibley

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

On the right sidebar you will find a link to
the service liturgy, the "chapel" where you can light a candle
(and leave a message!), and a little wit and wisdom from a few favorite saints!

I'm so glad you stopped by - thank you for all of your prayers and support! This road has encompassed a little more than a decade, two denominations, two dioceses, and the constant process of discernment! Through it all I have been so lucky and blessed to have all of you with me... to ask me how the process is going, with endless encouragement... you have helped me know who God created me to be.

And I know that many of you will not be able to be at the ordination service in person. However, we know that The Spirit makes things possible that we would consider impossible. So please browse the right sidebar and participate in any way you feel led! (And please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post!)

I will leave you with one of my favorite thoughts from one of my favorite deacons: The Franciscan Four-fold Blessing...

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To light a candle in Dibley's virtual chapel, please click on the above image. (Please keep in mind candles will only stay lit for 48 hours...)

Simply select a candle to light and click on it. You will have a chance to attach "words of dedication" if you are so inclined. These words will be visible to all who visit "the chapel" (including me) for forty-eight hours! (And please leave your name at the bottom of the "words of dedication field" as simply filling in the "initials" field may cause some confusion!)

My candle will most likely be the first one you see... Feel free to click on other candles to see the messages of others and to see who else has visited! Check back as often as you wish!

A PRAYER OF SAINT FRANCIS
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen

A COLLECT FOR SAINT MARGARET
Loving God, in every age you call your people to holiness and raise up among them models of virtue. We thank you for the life of St. Margaret of Scotland: a woman of leadership and vision in a dark, chaotic time; a wife and mother exemplary in patience, dedication and love; a teacher supported and inspired by a life of learning; a generous friend and tireless servant to the poor and helpless; a model of Christian faith and persistent prayerfulness.
Help us to grow rich in the virtues of St. Margaret: that faith, hope and love might enliven our presence in the city and neighborhood, our relationships with family and friends, our concern for the education of the young, our response to suffering and powerlessness, our communal prayer in word and sacrament. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

PRAYERS OF SAINT BRIGID
May the blessing of light be on you, light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine upon you and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire, so that the strangers may come and warm themselves at it, and also a friend.
And may the light shine out of the eyes of you, like a candle set in the windows of a house, bidding the wanderer to come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you, the soft sweet rain...
May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up and shed their sweetness on the air.
And may the blessing of the great rains be on you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there many a shining pool where the blue of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you - the great round earth; may you ever have a kindly greeting from them you pass as you're going along the roads.
May the earth be soft under you when you rest upon it, tired at the end of a day, and may it rest easy over you when, at the last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be off from under it so quickly, and up and off, and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you and bless you kindly.
Amen.

I would like the angels of Heaven to be
among us.
I would like an abundance of peace.
I would like full vessels of charity.
I would like rich treasures of mercy.
I would like cheerfulness to preside over all.
I would like Jesus to be present.
I would like the three Marys of illustrious
renown to be with us.
I would like the friends of Heaven to be
gathered around us from all parts.
I would like myself to be a rent payer
to the Lord; that I should suffer distress,
he would bestow a good blessing upon me.
I would like a great lake of beer
for the King of Kings.
I would like to be watching Heaven's family
drinking it through all eternity.
Amen.