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St. John's Episcopal Church is located on the northwest side of Chicago, in the Old Irving Park neighborhood. You can learn more about us at our official web site. We hope you'll join us!

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Saturday, June 6, 2009

Julianne, Deacon

An impressive contingent from St. John's (Suellen and I counted 21) made its way to St. James Cathedral downtown today to witness Julianne's ordination to the Diaconate.

Through the kindness of David and Matt, who are real photographers, I was permitted into the press box to take pictures of the event. I learned at Heidi's ordination that the press box has THE best seats in the house – except there are not really any seats (a small price to pay).

At the beginning of the service Julianne was "presented" to Bishop Lee by Kara and three good folks from the Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer, as were the other Ordinands by their own presenters.

"Jeffrey, bishop in the Church of God, on behalf of the clergy and people of the Diocese of Chicago, we present to you Julianne Buenting to be ordained a deacon in Christ's holy catholic Church."

After all the Ordinands were presented in this manner, the congregation knelt and the Ordinands prostrated themselves for the Litany for Ordinations (you'll find it in your copy of the BCP).

The Ministry of the Word followed, with a thoughtful sermon by Rev. Juan Reed, who began by reflecting on his own ordination more than 30 years ago when, he said, "the Bishop laid his hands on my full Afro."

The Cathedral choir, supplemented by volunteers from parishes around the diocese, sounded fantastic. If you look closely, you'll see Cheryl:


Then it was on to the business at hand: ordaining the new Deacons:




After which the new Deacons assisted with the Eucharist:


Who's that at the far end of the communion rail above?

And before you knew it, it was time for coffee and posing with the Bishop:


After the service, a bunch of us headed over to the Elephant & Castle to celebrate with Julianne and her parents. It was a great day.

Congratulations, Julianne! St. John's is blessed to have you.

Julianne will be ordained to the priesthood on December 5. I sure do like that press box.

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2 comments:

Kara Wagner Sherer said...

Bob tells the story so well, you'd never know the service was a breezy two hours, and the party at lunch just as long! It was a honor to participate. God's Blessings Julianne!

Bob Miller said...


Until Kara said so, I had no idea the service was that long. Really. It was a beautiful service.

Afterwards I overheard two diocesan participants – Cathedral old hands – say it was the best ordination service they'd had in a long time. One called out to the Thurifer, "Good Smoke, Mark!" And it was.