I was not radical. I was not passionate. I was not convicted. I wanted so badly to be inspired by women whose stories would then form and inform mine. I just want to say, Anne, that yours has been one of those stories.
from “Diaconal Ministry: Anne Keffer,” an interview for Canadianlutheranhistory.ca/diaconate
The first time I met Sister Anne Keffer was at a Diaconal Ministry Formation Event at Gettysburg Seminary. It was during the summer between my first and second year in seminary, and I had just changed formation tracks from the Associate in Ministry track to the Diaconal Ministry track in the ELCA. While I was in seminary and pursuing a degree, and while I was in candidacy and discerning a call to public ministry, I was still very unclear about the expression or application of my formation…I had no idea where I would land. At that formation event, Sr. Anne shared about Diakonia World Federation and the network of diaconal organizations serving in various church bodies around the world. And with that presentation, a piece of my discernment puzzle fell into place. With that presentation about Diakonia and the deaconess communities that were part of Diakonia, I had a new vision for what was possible. There was a possibility that I could be in community formed by faith and intentional living, serve the church and the world, partner with the global church, and work with and on behalf of children.
Over the next year I changed formation tracks again, completed seminary, and began formation with the ELCA Deaconess Community…where Sr. Anne was serving as the Directing Deaconess. Her conviction about the importance of diakonia (the work, as distinct from Diakonia the organization) and her conviction that we who were called to the ministry of diakonia had something to say that the church and the world needed to hear was both inspiring and challenging.
I never got directly involved with Diakonia (the organization), but diakonia (the action) became part of my vernacular. The direction my life and ministry took has been different than much of what I imagined it would be when I first heard Sr. Anne present at Gettysburg. She and I went different directions. But when I moved to Winnipeg I got reconnected with Sr. Anne, and was blessed by a few really significant conversations with her that were, again, both challenging and inspiring. She spoke directly about her confidence in me and my leadership in the church…a word of support and encouragement I really needed at the time.
A few months ago, while she was in palliative care, I was invited to be part of a panel of deacons that dialogued with Sr. Anne about her work as a deacon in Canada, her vision for the future of deacons and diakonia, and her hopes and prayers for the church. (The recorded conversation can be found here: https://youtu.be/PzjMFL8xa3E) What was initially intended to be a moderated interview ended up being a really powerful conversation as three deacons who had been impacted by Sr. Anne in different ways, whose ministries were distinct from one another, and whose journeys in the church had been quite different, shared our call stories and listened to her and to one another. We probably don’t agree on everything. We probably have different perspectives on the systems and structures that are part of being in public ministry. We all have various scars and wounds from life in ministry. And yet, at the end of that conversation, we each got to tell Sr. Anne what she meant to us, how she’d impacted our understanding of our call to ministry, and what role her faith and service had played in our lives. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of anything like it.
I can confidently and firmly say that Sr. Anne “finished the journey faithfully”. As I said to her at the end of that recorded conversation:
“As one of the younger people in this circle, I came into the Deaconess Community wanting and yearning for a legacy to participate in. I was feeling all sorts of disconnection with my own history and story, and I needed a new story to connect to. In the Deaconess Community I found this legacy of women who had lived radically, who had lived passionately, who had lived from a place of conviction. And I was not that. I was not radical. I was not passionate. I was not convicted. I wanted so badly to be inspired by women whose stories would then form and inform mine. I just want to say, Anne, that yours has been one of those stories. As you have lifted up the history of deaconesses…the history of women who have come before you…and as you have invested in those of us who are coming after you, I have been formed and informed by the legacy that you’ve participated in. So I’m really humbled by that. I’m humbled by your confidence that this work can continue, that you trust those of us who are younger to carry it on, and that you believe that we have what it takes to do the work… So I’m humbled for my name now to be in community with yours. My story is now formed and informed by your story.”