{"id":288319,"date":"2018-07-02T23:37:25","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T03:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=288319"},"modified":"2018-07-02T23:38:25","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T03:38:25","slug":"were-at-the-top-of-the-roller-coaster-now-newly-ordained-deacon-launches-blog-about-his-daily-life-in-holy-orders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/07\/were-at-the-top-of-the-roller-coaster-now-newly-ordained-deacon-launches-blog-about-his-daily-life-in-holy-orders\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We’re at the top of the roller coaster now’: Newly ordained deacon launches blog about his daily life in Holy Orders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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This is simply a great idea, from Deacon Ken Crawford<\/a><\/strong> from the Diocese of Sacramento:<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was ordained on June 30th, 2018 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament by Bishop Jaime Soto.\u00a0 This website is a journal of my life as a Deacon.\u00a0 My intent is to post a journal entry every morning in 3 formats: video, audio podcast and text blog-post.<\/p>\n

Some background on me:<\/p>\n

I am a life-long Californian, born to fallen away Catholics.\u00a0 I was raised in Oakland, CA and occasionally attended the Methodist church as a child.\u00a0 I was baptized in the Methodist church as a youth.\u00a0 In middle school my parents divorced and I moved to Newark, CA for high school.\u00a0 However, for me I mostly consider those years a short stop-over and primarily consider myself a product of Oakland.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more about him here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From his first blog post:<\/p>\n

About a month before my ordination I decided that I really wanted to well document my first year as a deacon.\u00a0 Like the first year of marriage I\u2019m sure there is going to be so much that happens that is going to be formative in my ministry and I though it would be really good, both for myself and perhaps for others, to share that with all of you.\u00a0 And so we begin that journey today.<\/p>\n

My plan is to post every weekday, perhaps an occasional Saturday, for a full year, and then we\u2019ll see where it goes after that.\u00a0 Today my intent is to post about the ordination itself.\u00a0 Then in the days and weeks to come, I\u2019ll post more about myself, my journey that got me here and then other things that occur.<\/p>\n

As we were about to be ordained and were standing outside on the steps of the cathedral, waiting to process in, one of my brother candidates said, \u201cGentlemen, we\u2019re at the top of the roller coaster now!\u201d\u00a0 And it was so apt.\u00a0 There was something about it that just resonated, not only then but in the moments to come.\u00a0 We had worked so hard to reach this moment.\u00a0 But at the same time, we knew we were just starting on this journey.\u00a0 We had butterflies and unease and we weren\u2019t sure where this was all headed, and walking down the isle into the church as part of the procession was like that first drop of the roller coaster.\u00a0 It was both exciting and exhilarating and a bit terrifying.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t know what was going to come.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t know if you were going to be able to take it.\u00a0 But you were excited nevertheless.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s how we all felt on Saturday.<\/p>\n

One moment that really stood out to me was when I promised my fidelity to the bishop.\u00a0 I had already done that in writing, they have us sign an form.\u00a0 It was done in either March or May, somewhere in the spring.\u00a0 So I didn\u2019t think that doing it again in person would be that big of a deal.\u00a0 But just like my own wedding, where I promised to love and care for my wife for the rest of our lives, the same was true of actually standing before the bishop and promising my fidelity.\u00a0 For the 2nd time in my live I stood in a church and promised to serve someone for the rest of my life.\u00a0 That was a meaningful and important moment for me.\u00a0 It really affected me deeply.<\/p>\n

A 2nd more humorous thing is I didn\u2019t realize how hard it was to shove the Holy Spirit into someone.\u00a0 When Bishop Soto laid his hands on me I expected something gentle.\u00a0 Yet he was really shoving down.\u00a0 At first I thought, am I kneeling to tall?\u00a0 Does he want me to be lower?\u00a0 \u2026all the other guys said the same thing, that he pushed really hard.\u00a0 So one can only assume that the Holy Spirit doesn\u2019t go in easy and you really have to push.\u00a0 \u2026 that was I humorous moment, but I don\u2019t know, maybe there\u2019s something there.<\/p>\n

And finally, I was reminded of something that perhaps I had a little bit forgotten.\u00a0 You should never assume how God\u2019s grace will feel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more<\/a><\/strong> and check out the first video entry below. I think this will be a fascinating journey to follow\u2014and it may well be helpful to a lot of deacons walking a similar path (along with deacon candidates and those who are discerning a vocation.)\u00a0 Bookmark and plan to check back frequently. I know I will.<\/p>\n

Ad multos annos<\/em>, Ken!<\/p>\n