School holidays are supposed to be fun. The kiwi response is the laconic “yeah right”, an economical statement which incorporates a bit of cynicism and a realism that characterises the New Zealand way. The weather in Wellington has been shocking. Windy and miserable in the extreme, the capital city has been virtually abandoned through the high season, and rightly so. Now that work has started again in the commercial world, the roads are not that deserted as they were. My own children spent the New Year in various locations. I guess we are getting ourselves ready to some extent for the empty nest phase. There is some ambivalence in this position of course. So much of what we are and what we have done has focussed on our offspring.
I am due to begin my fifth year at the College where I work in April. A wise man I know said recently that there is probably only room for one Chaplaincy in a ministry. The word “ministry” here only makes sense for those who are ministers – pastors in the biblical sense. Most of my work has been spent in church communities – “congregations” is what we used to call them. Here the Presbyterians use the word “parish” which is a dated and outmoded word really, as the concept of parish borders has long died (together with Mr Plod and the local Vicar visiting people in a specific area on a bicycle). The four years of full time school work have been very different, driven by bells and programmes in the extreme, and the desire to please the paying people, the parents of a private school who expect results. Church work is different – the customers are volunteers - and how does one keep volunteers focussed? There are no exams, no career plans at stake, no obsession with results and image. In the local church one can only hope that vision, passion, and enthusiasm will drive people along.
The truth is that the local churches in the traditional churches in New Zealand – certainly in the Presbyterian family – seem to be fading. A brief look at the statistics recently published show many smaller congregations fading away. The most glaring absence – children. And in many cases people under 60! The kiwi way, fiercely independent, has also become seriously secular. Whatever we say about post-modern manifestations of worship, with their DIY manifestations and new definitions of traditional terms (which may in fact manifest post-Christian tendencies but at least are an attempt to be more relevant), people are not that committed to institutions, and have not been for some decades. In Presbyterian terms, people resent a top-heavy system and the paying of any kinds of fees into a centralised black hole. The denomination in which I serve is trying to refocus its mission, and restructure its regional bodies in order to face the future. The changes are not being well received as people are naturally resistant to change where no benefit is offered. Consumers….
The truth is that without a vision for reaching others with the good news, the Church will stagnate and die away. It remains one of the few, or only, organisations that exists for its “not-yet” members. And here, at the beginning of the New Year, I find myself reflecting on choices and options for my future. Should I carry on working in a place where I don’t really fit (the mandatory or obligatory and “token” Presbyterian) – or should I more into “parish” ministry again? The local church, where it works, is the most wonderful place of hope and renewal. Where it doesn’t work, the local church can be a very dreary and sad place, where people hold on too tight to what they have, not realising that the boat is in fact sinking, or the tide is rising (if they prefer a landlubber’s metaphor).
My hope in the local church has been revitalised by our membership of a local church that does work. It’s not a perfect church – there is none. But it is a place where difference is accommodated – while Jesus remains at the centre. “All Saints” is a good place to be. There is a sense of God’s presence – and expectation, and a meeting with the Divine. That openness to renewal and to the power of the Holy Spirit is key to this life. That’s what I miss in chapel at school. There are moments few and far between where there is that sense of Presence.
“Presence” has to be redefined in the context of the school where I work. My own presence, and that of other Christians, has to remind people of a different way of seeing the world. This presence can be an isolating experience, especially where one is the sole prophetic voice at times. That ministry of “presence” of course is not the pre-requisite of paid ministers. It is the ministry of the “laity” (an unfortunate term implying lack of knowledge) – the ministry of every Christian.
The new decade is a time of grace – in a sense each day is a day of grace in which we are allowed to start again. New beginnings are great – we can offload the rubbish we have collected along the way, and ask God to help us re-frame the story of our lives. I have enjoyed a brief time of Epiphany – the celebration of the light of Christ shining into the hearts of the gentiles (which incorporates most of us - unless of course you are Jewish). May we be wise to seek the child Jesus – who confounded the powerful by surrender of all that he was to become one of us.
I will wait for the Lord. Wait on the Lord if you like, but I prefer the former as it is the Lord who acts. At best we respond to His working in our lives, in prayer and in praise; in worship – in the full sense of service.
May the new decade be a new beginning of some sorts for you – perhaps the best beginning would be the risk of an invitation to God to enter your world again – to shine new light on your circumstances, your thoughts, your hopes and your dreams.
Come, Lord Jesus.
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