Rector's blog

The New Start 2011 course began well last night.  I am very grateful to Sue Bull and the team who provided supper for 60 people, served in a gracious and generous way.  There was a positive atmosphere of hospitality, friendship and expectation.  I really appreciated the enthusiasm and desire to learn.

Learning and teaching is perhaps a classic example of a “win/win” situation.  In a true partnership, your ‘gain’ is not at the expense of my ‘loss’.  Perhaps this is especially true of spiritual learning.  I am not diminished as a teacher by you learning – indeed, it is rather the opposite.  When I teach, not only do I enjoy that, but I also benefit from now belonging to a community which is more knowledgeable, confident and articulate about its faith.

From the comments that I have received so far, people particularly liked making connections between history, ‘my story’, and ‘our story’.  For example, I recite history as a way of finding and displaying ‘my story’.  History is not merely an objective re-telling of facts; it is a way that we name who we are in the world today.  The stories of heroes and events from the past can shape my life, by naming the values and hopes that give my life purpose.  Moreover, I am connected with you as we tell the same stories – even if we do so for different reasons, and give the same stories a different spin.  So, for example, during the New Start evening, we discussed Moses and the Exodus, some emphasizing the moment when God is revealed in the Burning Bush, some rejoicing in the crossing of the Red Sea.  We are enriched by somehow by belonging to the same story.

Recognizing this, I can say that the Census last week missed an opportunity.  For though there was a chance to register ethnicity and religion, the census essentially treated us as atomized individuals.  Where was the opportunity to declare our community of belonging?  Where the chance to answer “where do you come from”?

Each person needs to have an answer to that question, not so that we can be put in a pigeon-hole, but so that we can relate more fully to each other.  Part of the answer for me is “the Garden of Eden” – by naming that story, I am joined with all those who see humans as created by God, from the ‘dust of the earth’, and blessed by originating in innocence, peace and intimacy with our Maker.

I don’t like being angry.  I don’t find it an easy feeling to deal with.  And I have learnt about displaced anger: that is, when I allow myself to be open about feeling angry because of, say, a new computer (see my previous blog), there is probably another deeper issue troubling me.

I am cross about seeing quality people whose talents are unappreciated and unused.  In my recent meetings with Synods and Councils in the national Church, I am increasingly coming across talented priests who are not being stretched or encouraged to broaden their ministry.  My experience is within the Church, but I imagine that this may be familiar territory to you too.

What makes me angry is that recognising talent is something that should lie at the heart of any leadership in the church.  A vicar/rector is charged with identifying gifts, developing skills, releasing people into service, and celebrating all that volunteers do to enrich our common life.  As we approach our Annual Parish Meeting, for example, that is what we are doing as we invite people to consider joining the PCC – not only to do XYZ for the parish, but to provide some of the leadership that we need to flourish.  Or, when Nick Graham does his fantastic work in creating the youth choir Cadenza, we should be a place that rejoices in such leadership, with encouragement and support.  Or, take the Trinity Club: providing a safe environment for the robust exchange of views on tricky moral matters is an excellent way of developing the sort of thoughtfulness that any community needs.  Pastoral Care is not only about looking after the needy, it also involves bringing personal potential to fulfilment.  St Benedict says “The Abbot must so arrange everything that the strong have something to yearn for and the weak nothing to run from” (Rule 64.19).  Those in central or “senior” positions are required, because they see the wider picture, to seek to connect others with opportunities to serve.  In business terms, this is ‘talent management’ or running a ‘talent pipeline’: it’s not rocket science.  But my current experience, in speaking to a good number of committed energetic priests nationally, is that the Church of England has as yet a poor record.

And I puzzle over what comfort I can bring to those who are frustrated. 

I can say “Not everyone can be the Archbishop of Canterbury!”  There are a limited number of senior posts or influential committees to serve on, and, though we hope that choices about who does what are based on merit, it still means that there will be good people who are not chosen.  That is a difficult thing to convey to someone who is feeling left behind: just because you are not offered more responsibility, it does not mean that you are not good enough.  But what I want to say to those in “senior” positions is that dismay is keenly felt and needs to be managed: it is possible to establish a positive environment of expectation and service (which is recognisably different from a culture of high ambition and status-seeking).  This is possible, but requires quality leadership – and it takes time.

But there is also an amazingly powerful phrase in the prayer that Methodists use at the start of each year in their service of “Renewing the Covenant”.  The congregation pray to God:

…. let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you……

I find it hard at the moment to support others who are feeling that the Church is “laying them aside”.  It seems such a waste.  It might be that God is choosing to “lay them aside” – but discerning whether that is God’s will or the Church’s incompetence is hard.  Jesus said “the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few”.  My anger is stirred by the thought that our current reality may be “the harvest is plentiful, and the labourers are ready and willing, but they are not being properly commissioned”.

Arrrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhh!

I hate it when IT goes wrong.  Hate it.  Hate it.  Hate it.

My computer at home had to be replaced urgently.  I was very grateful to the Office, Rogan and others who supported this.  But I dread any trip to PC World because I feel so out of my depth.  It’s the same with cars – I can fill a car with petrol and drive it.  Anything else is largely beyond me.

Anyway, with all the courage I could muster, I bought a new computer and a range of accessories.  Why is it that I can turn the machine on and it immediately works, with amazing capacities?  Yet when I unpack a new keyboard, out of the box falls a manual of 120 pages!  There seems a remarkable difference between the two ends of the spectrum: “plug and play” and all these pages of information about how to use a keyboard.

The Reformation was partly fought over the issue that the Catholic Church had made God too remote – immediacy had been sucked out of the relationship; an ordinary believer had to wade through all sorts of conditions, liturgical practices and devotional prayers to come in any way close to the loving God.  As the early years of the Reformation passed by, perhaps some came to over-emphasise intimacy with God – as though God spoke directly to them, immediately about every detail of their life.  For most people, such a relationship with God soon begins to feel unbalanced.  Yes, God is intimately connected with us; but God is also the majestic transcendent creator of all that exists.  Too much intimacy domesticates God, and eradicates glory, awesomeness and majesty.

But the opposite of a simple relationship with God is not one based on secret complicated rules which are revealed only to a chosen few.  That has been a false path since the earliest days of the Christian Church, and is generally labelled “Gnosticism”: meaning any pattern of religion that relies of a secret knowledge, accessible to few.  No, the counter-balance to intimacy with God is a recognition that it takes time and discipline to get into the right ‘place’ where we are likely to encounter God.  This can involve moral discipline (it takes time to be moulded by God’s will so that we are likely to follow it intuitively and so be God’s immediate companions on our life’s journey), or devotional discipline (this is not a matter of saying complicated prayers, but a recognition that some of the profound things in life take time to express and be felt deeply), or theological rigour (we don’t need to think complicated thoughts to come close to God, but rather some of our ‘natural’ patterns of behaviour need to be unpicked so that we can appreciate the heart of who God is).

Some of our praying will have the nature of “plug and play”: just say what is on your mind, as though God is standing right beside you.  Some of our faithful living (especially during Lent) recognises the other end of the spectrum: that devotion, dedication and application makes it more likely that we will at some stage encounter God.  Both are needed.

With IT, I struggle with the latter.  But if anyone is selling magic wands that make computer equipment work simply and smoothly, then I would like to buy two now.

I watched Comic Relief last night.  I have seldom done this before, but, being on the receiving end of the £1 million grant to the Bishop Simeon Trust, I felt I owed it to them to watch some of their programmes last night.  I was moved and impressed.  What did I see?

1. They said “Thank you”, time and time again. Each presenter, each TV personality whether in the studio or out in Africa, said “Thank you for your giving”.  That’s impressive.  I know because it’s hard to do it time after time, especially when you have a lot to say thanks for (for example, at an Annual Meeting).  But gratitude is not only deserved in such circumstances, it’s also a great motivator.  In the parish, I want to convey my thanks, clearly and warmly, whenever we are addressing our own parish finances.  You don’t give to the parish because of me, but I am the person who has to say “thank you”.  Whenever I say it, I mean it.  Without your giving this parish would quickly fade away.  What is so special is that you not only give, but you give for good reasons (beyond guilt or entertainment… which is one trap that Comic Relief programmes can fall into).  I am increasingly aware that the national Church has not yet found its voice in saying thanks in the right way for all the support that parishes give to “the centre”.  Perhaps that is one thing I can help develop while on the Archbishops’ Council.
   
   

    

2. They urged us to give, and give now.  Hesitation stops charity.  There are lots of good questions to ponder about our giving: will the money be wisely spent? Is it going to the right projects? What are they doing to help themselves?  With these questions and many more, our hearts can turn cold.  Just look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  I have always imagined that the two people who did not help the victim were well-intentioned, yet passed by on the other side while still pondering what they should do.
   
   

    

3. There was a brilliant immediate connection between your decision and other people’s lives.  ‘You give – people live’.  You give £10 and they will be able to buy 5 more Malaria testing kits.  It is as simple as that.  Now, you and I know that Comic Relief (as well as Bishop Simeon Trust) also have overheads and central costs that need to be met somehow.  But the fact remains: you give, others benefit.  Full stop.  That is also something I have tried to convey as I talk about our Parish Funding Programme.  Because you gave over the last couple of years, we have hired a youth worker, developed the Parish Youth Choir and choral scholarships for the Holy Trinity Choir, completed the ramp at Holy Trinity, and finished half of the urgent work at St Mary’s. You give, we thrive.  Once again, I see the lack of this message working at diocesan and national levels in the Church.  But that is true also within our nation.  Comic Relief raising £74 million based on programmes aired during one evening is a staggering feat.  Why can’t the Chancellor of the Exchequer do that? I want to pay my taxes, because I want to belong to a country that is safe and contributes to the world’s peace, that looks after its old people, the infirm and the needy … and many more examples…. Which takes me to my final observation:
   
   

    

4. There was such passion on view last night.  I have already spoken against “Poverty tourism”.  We must never manipulate and misuse the enthusiasm of others.  I have seen plenty of desperately needy people in South Africa.  I have been invited into their shacks, schools and clinics which are so basic compared with what we enjoy.  I must respect these lives and neither use nor abuse the welcome I have received.  Yet I can also be passionate about helping them.
   
   

    

I felt deeply moved by Comic Relief.  I wasn’t carried away (I’ll leave that to today when I watch the rugby), and I am aware there are difficult issues raised by any sort of international development aid.  But this works.  You give, others flourish.  That is as true overseas as it is when you give to this parish.

I am standing down as the Chair of the Bishop Simeon Trust.

Simeon Nkoane was the assistant Bishop of Johannesburg in the 1970s.  He was a charismatic figure with a passion for youth work especially amongst the poorest in the townships of that city.  One day, during the darkest moments of Apartheid, an English friend, Judith Scott, asked “what can I do to support you in your work?”  Simeon replied “Take some of the talented black youths out of the townships – specially those being targeted by the Security Forces – and give them an education in England, so that they can return as some of the leaders of the next generation”.

And so the work of the Bishop Simeon Trust was started, and has continued to this day with a focus on youth, education, leadership …. and, since the 1990s, work with those affected by AIDS.  20 years ago the Anglican Church in South Africa recognised that the Diocese of Johannesburg was too large, and decided to split it into 4 dioceses.  The eastern quarter was to become the Diocese of the Highveld, and Bishop Simeon was to have become it first bishop – but sadly he died of cancer too soon.  So David Beetge was appointed as the first Bishop; upon his untimely early death, Bishop David Bannerman was appointed, who holds that post today.  This story intersects with our parish’s history in 1997, through the fortuitous introduction to us by Stephen and Rachel Bampfylde of Bishop David Beetge.  So began a grace-filled relationship with him and the people of that Diocese; my being Chair of BST brought these two stories together.

In my five years as Chair of BST, the trust has moved on in two main ways:

20 years ago BST was merged with another Trust also working around Johannesburg, The Living South African Memorial, based at St Martin’s in the Fields, London. It was wonderful to bring together the passion and commitment of people from that parish which, being next door neighbours with the South African Embassy, has been in the forefront of the struggle against Apartheid for generations.  The two Trusts were welded and merged, but perhaps not fully united until recently.  It was particularly exciting for me last week to be travelling in South Africa with a new trustee who knows nothing of this history, and so can come to our work without that baggage.  I believe I can hand over a united board with less burden of the past.  It is remarkable how history of organisations can live on – but then we know that in this parish which was “united” as Holy Trinity and St Mary’s a mere 312 years ago!

Secondly, after a few years as Chair, I began to feel increasingly awkward about making significant decisions in Watford (the home base of BST) that affected the lives of thousands living in Jo’burg.  It felt most awkward when I was actually among the people of South Africa: I knew that some decisions had to be made much closer to the people whose lives were being affected.  We needed a South Africa based employee of BST.  So, a few years ago, we made the post of Director redundant, and shifted the post southwards.  You will understand that that process is not easy, but we have secured an excellent person now working in the Highveld, Bandi Biko, who I hope may visit us in England some time soon.

I have also overseen much ordinary work in the last five years: employees coming and going, developing better relationships with donors, and the recent highlight of securing the Comic Relief grant for the next five years.  So it feels a good time to be handing the reins over to someone else.  BST is in good heart and the commitment to continue the work is high.  We will continue the link this parish has with the people of this area, and I will continue to offer whatever support I can as a Canon of that Diocese.

I am doing this now as I have recently been elected to the Archbishops’ Council, and so I needed to clear some space in my diary to take on this new responsibility in this country.  My first meeting of that Council I will be attending today.  More about that later.