Dear Friends,
I am very grateful that so many of you were willing and able to take part in the Parish Review event last Saturday. It was both enjoyable and encouraging as we were led through the process by Canon Paul Dyer, fortified with the coffee and scones that the Revd Carlie Hannah was issuing from the servery. It was good that our Archdeacon, Craufurd Murray, was there to represent the wider Diocese. We experienced a happy faith community, sure of its identity, and wanting to make the most of its taonga as it moves into a future that is difficult for the Church, but full of fresh opportunities for ministry. There was a remarkably strong consistency about the findings of the process, and also about the aspirations of our community.
Paul Dyer preached the next morning as we celebrated the Assumption of Mary. He spoke of the Magnificat, Mary’s brave and joyous song. Among other things he said:
“As we gather here in the midst of this review process we have been recalling the stories of the immediate past and how God has come to you in this place. There has been some consideration of possibilities for the future. You as a parish have a history and a tradition that is a gift to the Church and beyond the Church. It gives you an identity and a responsibility. This is not only about being great custodians of the past, but it also has to do with imagining possibilities, as Mary did, and living those out as you add to the story.
As Mary was the God-bearer, bearer of Jesus, and voiced the heart of the Gospel, so you are called to fulfil that role as a community in this day and this place. What are the possibilities for you to bring Jesus into being in this place? How would you in this place and time echo the words of Mary’s song? What words would you proclaim? The point is not so much one of reproducing her words, but of finding your own expression of the spirit of the song, as you contemplate the possibilities that are waiting for you. To discover the possibilities it is important to look in the unthought-of places. Great originality means honouring the past and then being alert to notice the inspiring thought which comes from an unimagined direction. We discover these possibilities when we are anchored in our past, living adventurously and imaginatively in the present, and focusing attention on some clear direction for the future. The greatest hurdles to church life come from loss of connection to the past, lack of imagination and spirit of adventure, and lack of focus as we face the future… Look forward to the possibilities of tomorrow with hope and anticipation, and do what you can do, then leave God to worry about what is left over.”
Next Sunday at 10:00 am our preacher will be the just retired Bishop of Malaita in the Solomon Islands, Bishop Terry Brown, who like Bishop Victoria is a Canadian. He took a major part in the negotiation that led to the end of the bitter fighting on Malaita a few years ago. Melanesian Brothers were murdered in that conflict, and recently Bishop Terry saw their names added to those commemorated in the Chapel of the Modern Martyrs in Canterbury Cathedral.
May God bless you all.
Peter Williams
