I’m writing just after the weekend in which we had a parish celebration marking the 40th Anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. I still feel rather overwhelmed. Thank you for so many greetings and good wishes, cards, messages and gifts. I was quite taken aback when I opened the envelope which was put into my hand at the end of the Eucharist and can only thank all who contributed for your generosity – as yet the very special gin remains unopened!
There was so much went into the preparations. Thanks to all who were involved in catering, setting up the marvellous exhibition (and finding the material used!), in cleaning, decorating and flower-arranging. And those amazing cakes! I’m honoured by the bell-ringers’ “Date Touch” with the 2022 changes on the bells. Speeches which left me lost for words. And for the service, thanks to organist and choir, and to our servers – back in action for the first time since the beginning of 2020, and ready to keep the clergy right!
The service was, of course, a Eucharist – not my offering but ours. It was tremendous to have so many people in church (and mixing afterwards). It might have been my 40th anniversary of Ordination – but a priest is nothing without the people who make up the Church. The singing, the prayer and the sharing in Holy Communion tell of what it is to be the Body of Christ and the People of God. For many of us it was perhaps the biggest act of worship we’ve been involved in since before the pandemic.
And here, I think, was a reminder of the direction we might now take. For
two and a half years we have had to scale things down and to distance ourselves
– not least from each other. Things have got smaller and our expectations have
been reduced. As at last we were able to do something on a bigger scale – both in
worship and in the party that followed – here was a reminder that our faith
should not be one characterised by scarcity but one which is lived in the
knowledge of God’s abundant provision. Sam Wells, Vicar of St.
Martin-in-the-Fields in London sums it up like this:
“God gives his people everything they need to worship him, be his friends, and eat with him.”
These are words to take to heart: God gives us everything we need; we have only to recognise the fact. I’ve just come from a planning meeting as we seek to re-launch Messy Church. Do we have the resources to do so? And I found myself quoting someone who said that a church which has the desire and faith to undertake a particular task already has in place at least 80% of what it needs. We might be conscious of things we lack, but the generosity of God and the celebration in which we can share tells us there is something more.
Stanley Hauerwas drew from what Sam Wells says when he spoke to seminarians training to be priests at Nashotah House, USA – and these are words which may speak to us all:
It is true that you will often find it hard to see any result from the work you have done. Even worse, you will sometimes see what you have worked hard to accomplish dismantled by those who come after you. But this is God’s work. It is work that is impossible to sustain if we do not trust in God’s determination to love us. God’s building is built of small acts of kindness and tenderness that are themselves all the results we should desire. For as Sam Wells suggests, God is a God of abundance who has given us all we need. We are not in a zero-sum game. Your life will not be wasted, because you have been made part of God’s abundance.
My thanks again for all you have shared with me as we travel together
as God’s people.
Martin Jackson
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