Hello/Goodbye

My own Induction at AFC

  I don’t usually attend many Induction services       for ministers; but I have been to all of my own!

 Last Saturday I attended such a service and then,   on Sunday, I was present at a minister’s farewell.     On Saturday it was all about ‘hello’, whilst on   Sunday there was a muted atmosphere as a   congregation said ‘farewell’.

 Induction services are full of expectation.  The   truth is that neither minister nor congregation   really know each other at this stage, so there’s   also a bit of anxiety!

 Saturday’s induction was a splendid occasion   with a full church and wonderful music.  The   neighbouring Parish Church was well represented   with choir members and Vicar taking part.  And   there were many present who knew the incoming   minister from previous pastorates.  It was a joy to   be there.

Sunday’s experience, although tinged with a certain sadness, was also a joyful one. There was a busy lunch with cakes being cut and some deeply moving speeches afterwards in the church along with presentations.  It all marked the end of a significant chapter in the church’s life and the beginning of the outgoing minister’s retirement.  The sense of a job ‘well done’.

What struck me on both days is that ministry is never just about one person but the fusion between pastor and congregation.  It’s a partnership and consequently both services were just as much about the church members as the minister. Indeed, in any church the minister is never a permanent member!

So, wasn’t it strange to have these two occasions come side by side last weekend.  Both churches, and ministers, will stay in my thoughts and prayers and it was a real privilege to share in services that said hello/goodbye.

Coffee - part of God's Rescue Plan

 

After Service Coffee at AFC July 2023

Towards the end of last month the news bulletins were full of the dramatic rescue of six children and two adults from a stranded cable car in Pakistan.  The children were on their way to school and often took this one mile journey, 900feet up in the air, thus saving themselves a two hour road trip.  This was the fifth trip of the cable car that morning, before it became perilously dislodged.

Just a week before, whilst on holiday in the Austrian Tirol, we had used cable cars over a dozen times.  They can indeed be thrilling and nerve racking at the same time!

What struck me most about the incident from the Khyber valley in Pakistan is that when the official helicopter rescue ended at dusk, with six people still stranded in the dangling cabin, the locals mounted their own successful operation using zip wires.  One of the passengers, a young boy, seeing the helicopter depart said he thought: well, this has been my last day. Yet to the cheers of the crowd the other side of the mountain, he was safely rescued along the zip wire later that night.  He now, hopefully, has many days stretching out before him.

Those villagers never gave up on the rescue.  They showed a wonderful spirit of hope.  And the result is eight precious lives restored.

The Bible occasionally uses the image of God as Rescuer. Whether from a dark pit or a valley of despair, the idea of that God lifts us up and helps us live another day.

Recently day a friend told me how difficult it was to go through a bereavement just as the Pandemic dawned.  In the days of isolation that followed the usual support and passing words of encouragement that would usually have come from casual encounters just never happened.  And that made it so much tougher.  The ‘rescue’, as it were, didn’t seem to happen.

That’s why I’m always so thrilled to hear the buzz of conversation over coffee in the church hall after morning service.  I sense that such good work is going on at every table as people share news of the week, news of every shade.  And in the sharing, the conversing and the simply ‘being together’, God breaks through and comes among us.  Love touches our lives, and we are made just a little bit more whole.

Just drinking coffee and chatting?  No – it’s much more than that.  It's part of God’s ‘Rescue Plan!  

The Car Park Parable

 

We have recently installed new controls in the church car park, and it’s felt like quite a significant moment in our life together.

The truth is we have been talking of doing this for years, if not decades, and at a recent Church Meeting the time just seemed right to grasp the nettle and give approval for the new scheme.

Our church’s car park is a blessing, and we must not lose sight of that.  I know of more than one congregation that has been forced to close because of a town centre location with no car park.  Yet, the truth is that our car park has been open to abuse.  It’s particularly unfair when some people and businesses pay for yearly permits whilst others, who have no connection with AFC, just take a chance every day to park without making a contribution.

Recently one of our Elders discovered that the only description of our church on a local website was that of being a car park!  That, perhaps, explains part of our problem.

Well, now the cameras have been turned on, the notices erected, and the touch pad installed for user group members to enter their registration numbers.  The Elders have done sterling work sitting by the signing in portal for the last few days, gently encouraging people to enter their details.

In the process of all this we’ve learnt that car parking companies sometimes employ theological terms as they talk about ‘grace’ periods for dropping people off, or ‘forgiving’ a certain number of fines per month!  It’s also been ‘interesting’ to gauge the public’s reaction.  Some people forgot the number of their car because it’s the family’s second vehicle (something of a First World problem there perhaps).

Currently, as we make our way through Matthew’s gospel in the lectionary cycle, we are in the middle of many parable stories told by Jesus.  They are coming thick and fast in these middle chapters.  So, I occasionally wonder how our Lord might have used the Parable of The Car Park?  Maybe it would have carried themes of justice and equality and of trying to be considerate of others who need the spaces after us.  It could become a parable about just how difficult it is to ‘permit’ and ‘not permit’. And I’m sure the themes of grace and forgiveness would find a place in it too.

I love the ‘stories of Jesus’ and it’s not a bad exercise to ponder the type he might have told if he had been teaching in the 21^st century.

The Blog will return in September, hope you have a good summer.

Is unity in disunity possible?

 

The Church of England recently held its summer Synod at which the Archbishop of York made a keynote address.  Although it hit the headlines because he raised the rather well-rehearsed idea that calling God ‘Father’ is not always helpful, the main thrust of his talk was about the growing disunity within The Church of England.

Here's a line from his speech:  We remain stubbornly unreconciled, appear complacent about division, and often also appear all to ready to divide again.  We have got used to disunity.  We think it’s normal when in fact, it is a disgrace, an affront to Christ and all he came to give us.

Well, maybe looking over the fence and commenting on another denomination’s synod may be considered bad form, but I have to say Stephen Cottrell’s words touched me, especially the idea that disunity may even now be considered the norm.

The context of the Archbishop’s message was not so much ecumenical disunity but the strife that is tearing the Anglican Church apart at the moment, cantering especially around issues of sexuality.  The same critique could be made of many Churches, including The Baptist Union which is struggling hard to find a way forward. 

The next few years may see various denominations splitting over this issue.  Perhaps we will not be able to all sign up to one view on sexuality.  The challenge will then be about how we respect our different interpretations of scripture.  If it’s not too confusing a thing to say, I pray for a unity even within our disunity; for there is still so very much that holds us together. 

We’ll see, we haven’t reached the end of the road quite yet, but hard and difficult decisions are before every denomination.

A hymn, by the United Reformed Church minister, John Campbell has an opening line which reads like a wonderful prayer: 

                                    A body made of many parts,
                                    diverse, yet all together,
                                    where each is valued, each required,
                                    and all are one forever.

May it be so.

Wise Words

 

This weekend many of us who followed the Revised Common Lectionary will touch on the theme of ‘Wisdom’ in our sermons.  That’s because, as we follow Matthew’s gospel this year, on Sunday we reach the passage where Jesus talks of God’s wisdom often being found in unexpected places and spoken by unexpected people.

Our neighbours in France are going through turbulent times following the shooting of Nahel.  As with so many issues this one is complex and generates deep emotions.  Following the shooting of this young man we have seen numerous protests and riots on the streets of many French cities, and we have been saddened that the response has generated considerable anguish among so many citizens.

The right to protest is a commonly accepted one in liberal democracies, yet when it escalates into violence and threatens the loss of more life, we long for a word of wisdom to come that will help re-settle society and enable different factions to find more common ground.

With that in mind I was so impressed to hear such wise and proportionate words spoken by the captain of the French Football Team last week, Kylian Mbappe.  He issued a statement, on behalf of all the players, which ended:

…we understand what’s at the core of the anger, but violence does not solve anything, even less when it inevitably turns against those who express it…you are destroying your own properties, your neighbourhoods, your cities.  The time of violence must give way to that of mourning, dialogue, and reconstruction.

What helpful and inspiring words from the players of France’s national team, Les Bleus.  And, perhaps, it appropriately underlines the truth, which Jesus teaches in this week’s Gospel, that often wisdom is, indeed, found in unexpected places.

The nights are drawing in...!

For us northern hemisphere dwellers (and that’s a staggering 90% of the world’s population), we have now had the longest day of the year.  From now on we’ll be going round saying the nights are drawing in!

A minister friend of mine grew up in the far north of Scotland and remembers his father reading the newspaper at midnight.  That phenomenon is shared by many Scandinavian countries, along with Greenland and Alaska.

The tilt of the earth gives us the seasons, yet if you live near the equator the sun rises and sets the same time all year through!

Light is an important idea in the bible.  For a physicist it may be defined as the electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, but for a theologian it represents such concepts as goodness, a directed pathway through life and even happiness and joy.

One of the hymns that always seems to go well at AFC has the catchy refrain Walk, walk in the light. And, of course, we recall that creation command of Let there be light, and Jesus referring to himself as the Light of the World.

Life has a constant rhythm between light and darkness, whether that’s in the hours of the day and night or the passing of the seasons, and God can be found in both. 

So, during these long days of summer we are reminded of the blessings of God’s light, both physical and spiritual as we seek to be a people who walk in that light and are guided by it. 

Goodbye to our Link Missionaries

 

Our BMS Link Missionaries have now left their home in the port of Beira where they have been working alongside the Baptist Convention of Mozambique for the last ten years.

It's been a privilege for us at AFC to have had two visits from Liz, Sergio, Chloe and Joshua Vilela over recent years whilst they have been back in England on Home Assignment.  Sergio has told us about his work training pastors and youth leaders, and Liz has shared with us something of her involvement with pre-school playgroups.  On both occasions it was a delight to meet with such an enthusiastic and committed couple.

The family will first visit Brazil and catch up with Sergio’s folks before settling back in Britain where they will look for new opportunities of service.

The children seem to have loved their life in Mozambique and write about the fact they are leaving such nice schools and sunsets.  When asked what they are looking forward to, they replied: our new house, living near family and the cold!

Liz and Sergio described one of the leaving events they have attended, one that centred around their church family.  The service started at 10.00am and finished at 2.30pm having included five baptisms and two dedications of children.  The leaving lunch then commenced at 3.15pm.  It seems that the Vilela’s are leaving a vibrant Christian community, one in which they have given much and received much in return.

So, we thank God for Liz, Sergio and the family and for this splendid decade of committed service. May God bless and direct them into coming days