September Vicar's Blog
Welcome to the September Vicar's blog! Assuming I'm going to live until I'm 1080 (months that is), it's incredible how fast the past two months (0.2% of my earthly life) has just flow by. I'm questioning using the phrase 'earthly life'. I've been reading Tom Wright's 'God's homecoming' this summer. He's encouraging me to be mindful of Platonic dualistic language (earth/heaven; or physical/spiritual) as we contemplate the wonder - not of being whisked away to a place 'up there in the ether' which we think as heaven, but of God's true salvation plan - earth and heaven merging, or his Kingdom coming 'on earth as in heaven' (The Lord's prayer), or the renewal of all things (Mat 19:28). In other words, God's homecoming. Even if the World cup trophy didn't 'come home' this summer, we have something immeasurably better to look forward to coming home!
Celebrating with the twelve baptism candidates at the Ingram's pool in July was wonderful. I've also enjoyed starting discipleship with two men who are new in their faith. The idea is 1:1, for one hour, once a month for one year- going through the Fusion material 'how to make disciples who make disciples.' I'm convinced that more of us are being called to be 'spiritual parents' in various ways to newer Christians, and 1:1, intentional time could be one of the things the Holy Spirit is asking more of our church to be a part of. People are coming to faith out of a culture where Jesus is not Lord, so intentional discipleship time is crucial to help newer Christians think about what does it mean to make Jesus Lord in every area of our lives. And it's so rewarding and enjoyable to be blessing others this way!
At the end of July, around 60 or 70 of us got together with 13,000 others for the New Wine Christian festival. The worship and teaching were inspiring, and it was so much fun enjoying each other's company in a dry field as we served up the best 'field cuisine' we could muster! I was reminded to keep being hungry for God's presence, and despite all of our plans for the future, and strategy and programmes for growth and renewal, above all, we want to be known as a church whose people are hungry for the presence of God. As Moses pleads with God in Exodus 33 - (using my paraphrase) "if your presence does not go with us, we're stuffed! We don't want to go any further! What else marks us out from any other charity or benevolent organisation in the world apart from your presence with us?!"
So, how are you feeling about the end of Summer and September and Autumn term beginning? I've been fortunate to enjoy a little bit of a slower rhythm over the summer months - especially less evening meetings. As I've been thinking about September and the new term, I've got mixed emotions if I'm honest. I'm full of thankfulness for our amazing church and the godly women and men we get to walk alongside, and I'm excited about moving forward with the things that God has in store for us. However, at the same time I'm a little sad and disappointed that we've paused our evening 'Encounter' service for now - I do think that was God's will, and we paused it in obedience to him. Remember 'success = doing God's will', not programmes or outreach or other worldly measures!. Instead, success means learning to trust God as we wait with expectation for his guidance, refusing to go ahead of him and rush his plans. I can also feel worry, doubts, insecurities, shame, a lack of confidence in my ability to lead all banging on the door of my mind for attention.
I'm really excited about this year of discernment we've been going through - with the senior leadership team, PCC, Staff, our discernment evening as a church last March, a big leadership morning in June, and now our Impact Church weekend in October. I'm looking forward to sharing with you all our thoughts on our new mission statement, vision and values and what we feel might be some priorities of focus over the next four years. However at the same time I feel the anxiety of wondering 'what if no-one wants to walk with us'? What if people remain as 'busy' as ever with their own priorities and schedules and don't ever make time for the collective things God is calling us to do together? What if we outline this vision for change and nothing happens or we don't get any collective ownership? There's also an existential question I'm asking right now which is 'who are we'?! When we say 'we' at StAStB, who are we referring to, because at any given time, most of us are not in the same room as each other - different congregations, ages, interests, walks of life. As a leader, how do I inspire the 'we' at StAStB so that we can walk in the same direction on some things? These conflicting emotions are part of the nature of Christian leadership I'm sure, but I would appreciate your prayer for us, that we would hunger for God's presence, his power, his peace and his guidance this season.
Please make sure to book in for Impact. It would be amazing if this year we were jam packed because everyone of us felt the tug of the Holy Spirit, urging us to join in with the collective and incredible work that he has planned for us as StAStB. I'm going to close with some inspiring words from Lectio365 daily devotional app last week that I needed to hear, with all the competing voices clambering for attention in my head:
"Jesus says the most simple but profoundly beautiful thing: that 'the Father loves me' (John 16:27)…Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa says this: 'the whole Bible does nothing but tell of God's love….The love of God is the answer to all the 'why's in the Bible - of creation, incarnation, redemption. Everything that God does and says in the Bible is love, even God's anger is nothing but love. God is love!'.
As we leave the safety of the proverbial harbour this term, and hoist our sails waiting on the winds of the Holy Spirit, I pray that we would all know God's boundless, measureless, overwhelming and transforming love. Now that is a reason to get excited!
Revd John Monaghan.