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Ad Clerum Trinity 2009
Dear colleagues,
Ministry for Mission Strategy
You will have heard by now that there are going to be three Archdeaconry Days to continue the process of consultation and exploration, as we move towards a strategy of ministry for mission. Each one will take place on a Saturday, and will begin at 9.45 a.m. and end at 1.30 p.m. The following venues have been chosen:
June 27th at St John’s, Fareham
July 18th at Ryde School
September 5th at SS Peter and Paul, Wymering
We very much hope that they will be well-supported by all of you, as this issue concerns the future in a big way. We also extend a welcome to churchwardens, Readers, and other lay ministers, including youth leaders and musicians, as well as actual or potential ordinands.
Each day will start with worship, and some bible-study, using notes I have prepared on Christ’s Summary of the Law. Please find them below. You may like to share them with ministerial colleagues, and others, by way of preparation. The love of God and neighbour is a good starting-point for all our reflections on ministry and mission. There will be some presentations, and time for discussion, and for feedback. All this will subsequently be conveyed to a small Working Group which I have appointed, consisting of Simon Weedon (convenor), John Bridcut, David Brindley, Anne Faulkner, Tom Kennar, and Debbie Sutton. They will then identify elements for a strategy in the deaneries, and report to Bishop’s Council in October, with a view to an update at the November Diocesan Synod. Deanery meetings will then follow between November and February next year.
So much for the immediate timetable. What kind of method should be used? The Archdeaconry Days will follow a template consisting of five questions – what/why/who/how/when:
- What? The resourcing of the Ministry and Mission of the Church.
- Why? In response to God’s grace and goodness in the world.
- Who? We are all involved, as members of the baptized community.
- How? The ways of the past need to adapt for the future.
- When? Clarity needed, so that we can move together, as an episcopally led Church.
None of these questions is straightforward, particularly ‘How?’, and the ‘When?’ must clearly involve a proper process, but not one that stretches out into the future in never-ending delay! This template will help to clarify our thinking and planning, and ensure that everything important is covered, and the strategy both inspired and realistic. It is an obvious result of the Kairos process.
Lest some of this seems miles away from where most people in this country are, I want to conclude with two thoughts.
The first comes from Oliver James’ best-seller, ‘Affluenza’, published two years ago. It is a damning indictment on much of our way of life, as the catchy title suggests. I always ask those about to be priested to write a short review of a book they have recently read, and the choice made of this book by one candidate hit me between the eyes. It talks about ‘affluenza’ as a virus, on the strength of interviews with 240 people from different parts of the world. The analysis which follows highlights such issues as insecurity, alienation, incompetence, and what James calls ‘inauthenticity’. Some will doubtless dismiss his thesis as over-exaggerated. But we often have to ‘hear’ truths presented in a powerful way before we get an important point that we might easily ignore. As a Church, we have to take observations such as these very seriously, and we also need to recognise the ways in which we ourselves share the attitudes and conditions so described. If we really do believe in incarnation and atonement, then these doctrines need to become realities in our own lives as we actually live them. It is about transformation of the ordinary – perhaps transfiguration is a better word for it.
And that brings me to my next thought. I recently came across a Retreat Address given by Archbishop Michael Ramsey over thirty years ago. Picking up Arnold Toynbee’s interpretation of history, where he warns against archaism, futurism, and detachment (all of these, by the way, temptations for Christians!), Toynbee argues for an alternative, what he describes as transfiguration. Ramsey sharpens up this insight considerably in the following way:
‘Transfiguration is to accept the situation as it is, and to carry it into some larger context which makes some sense of it and gives the power to grapple with it. That larger context is Jesus crucified and risen, and we are called, again and again, to be lifting human situations into that context and finding that in that context new and exciting things begin to happen to the situations, and to us who are confronting them.’ (Michael Ramsey 1904-1988)
With every blessing for the coming months
+ Kenneth
Summary of the Law
Ministry for Mission: Archdeaconry Days on June 27th (Fareham), July 18th (Ryde) and September 5th (Wymering)
Bible-Study Notes on Our Lord’s Summary of the Law:
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.
On these two hang all the law and the prophets.’
(Mk 12:29-31, cf. Mt 22:37-40 and Lk 10: 27-28)
Where is it from?
This text comes from Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus is asked by a lawyer which is the greatest commandment of all. The purpose of the question was probably to trap him. Instead he came out with a well-known declaration that every (male) Jew is supposed to recite twice each day. It is often called the ‘Shema’ (pronounced ‘Shimaah’) from the opening Hebrew word.
It is made up of two quotations from the Old Testament Law – Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. The first comes from a section about worship, the second from some teaching about human relationships. It is brilliantly simple – and deep.
What does it mean?
The first commandment is about loving the Lord with the whole of our being. Heart, mind, soul and strength aren’t intended to be water-tight compartments. Hebrew psychology is very holistic! Like some of our well-used liturgical prayers today, there was some variety, just as we find in the gospel texts themselves. For example, Matthew only mentions heart, soul and mind, which probably reflected the best Hebrew tradition. The call to worship with all that we are and all that we have can be a real challenge, because we are all different – hence, among other things, different kinds and styles of ministry.
The second commandment applies to ourselves and each other. Luke uses the scene to launch into the parable of the Good Samaritan – ‘who is my neighbour?’ Human weakness being what it is, we can find it hard to reach out to others, or to forgive one another, ourselves included. And we are called to love ourselves as we love other people – just as much, and not less. The kind of Church we are and the kind of people we are may not be perfect, but it’s the best place to start.
What can we do about it?
The Summary of the Law is not a piece of Jewish piety conveniently plucked out of the memory by Jesus at an awkward moment. By declaring it himself, he is not only reaching into his own religious past. He is also proclaiming it in his name, and for all time. How we shape our patterns of ministry has to take seriously our past, what we have inherited. But it cannot remain the same.
The question is, how can we today express our love of God and our love of one another – the neighbour right next to us, not just the congenial friend from further afield - with all that we are and all that we have? Loving God and our neighbour is about mission. There are never going to be enough ‘resources’ – the disciples learned that when five thousand people were fed from a few small loaves and fish. God does not call us to live in a world of make-believe, or a golden age in the past that never really existed. God calls us to faithful discipleship NOW.
A Thought
The Summary of the Law comes from Jesus’ own mouth, and it unites Jews and Christians, an important and forgotten truth. It has been used across the centuries in many different ways. For example, near the start of the Rule of St Benedict, there is a chapter entitled ‘the tools of good works’, which begins with the Summary of the Law, as the key to true discipleship. More recently it has often been used as a preparation for the eucharist, because the love of God and neighbour can refer to so many aspects of the life of faith.
It has obvious implications for our plans about ministry, because the Kairos process has been grounded in God-centred prayerfulness from the very start. Indeed, last November’s ‘Call to Prayer’ was about ministry for mission. What is the best way for us, the priestly Body of Christ, to do this in our own day, both from what we have inherited, and from what opportunities could lie before us? The Christian life never stops!
A Prayer
Lord God,
you have called your servants
to ventures of which we cannot see the ending,
by paths yet untrodden,
through perils unknown.
Give us faith to go out with good courage,
not knowing where to go,
but only that your hand is leading us,
and your love supporting us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+ Kenneth Portsmouth
June 2009
