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Licensing Service for Alex Hughes and Mark Rodel
Thursday 2nd October
7.30pm at St. Peter’s
Readings: Philippians 2:14-18, Luke 10:1-12
Some time ago I was asked what my aims were as Bishop of Portsmouth. If you have got a mind like mine, which spends most of its time all over the place (or, put more politely, a mind that’s always beside the point!) you pick on one word in a question like that and see where it will spin. For a split second, that word “aim” made me think of guns, and the names of about half a dozen people who at that particular moment I’d like to shoot! But then in the pause I started being a bit more serious. What sort of answer should I give? Do I want to run the diocese as a commercial success? Not really, because although an organisation like the Church needs to be efficient, and the finances properly accounted for, our primary concern is fidelity to the gospel, whatever the world thinks of us – so we must expect now and again to get into a bit of trouble.
So my aims amount to two things. To help deepen the worship of the communities in this diocese. Then, to help those communities become more aware of the parishes in which they are set, both for the spread of the gospel, and its social implications.
Those aims are not, of course, rocket science. But they are appropriate for the licensing of not just one priest, but two priests here tonight – Alex to be priest-in-charge of St. Peter’s and St. Luke’s, and Mark to be Associate Priest at St. Luke’s, and to work in the new area of pioneer ministry. They will indeed have a wide remit, and it will be important that Alex and Mark are not too constricted by parochial concerns if they are to develop that mission. The two churches have had their ups and downs in recent years. They were built by different traditions within the Anglican spectrum. It’s easy to make too much of those differences, a sort of Anglican hobby. For over ninety nine per cent of the population of these parishes, the details of those flavourings are of no importance whatever. When it comes to worship, there may be some questions about how this building at St. Peter’s is used within its catholic tradition and St. Luke’s, where perhaps low church reductionism with lots of choruses may not be the answer. Mark’s pioneer ministry is about pushing at the boundaries of worship and mission, and I have no doubt that some imaginative and creative ideas will emerge.
To send them on their way, I want to focus on three important ingredients of the mission of the seventy from tonight’s gospel, uniquely given us by St. Luke. First of all, Jesus sends them out two by two. That immediately conjures up pictures of the animals going into the ark under Noah’s direction! I suspect that the duo method of mission is about the need to establish that no one should be given the task of proclaiming the gospel if they are not prepared to love - and work with - their neighbour. One of the historic weaknesses of the Church is the solo ministry model, which comes at its saddest and most tragic when a really good priest looks after his parish exceedingly well, but can’t stand the sight of his colleagues. A couple of years ago I heard from a bishop in Denmark, who said that life in his diocese was pretty much the same as I would find in England, and – with a touch of sardonic Danish humour – he told me that the two pastors at a particular church of wanted to murder each other! The talents in Alex and Mark are a real blessing, to be nurtured and enjoyed, and not squandered. The Church can be very anti-intellectual, but it will not stifle the academic gifts Alex brings, just as it can be very stuffy and narrow, but it will not stifle the gifts that Mark brings. And if anyone thinks they can play one off against the other (and the church is full of its own power games), they have a surprise awaiting them.
Secondly, Jesus sends them out as lambs among wolves. Mark and Alex are unlikely to meet the wolves who licked Martin Clunes on television a few weeks ago! But as priestly lambs they can articulate the frustrations of those who will suffer unemployment thanks to the wolves who have been playing financial games far too recklessly and for far too long, and the questions of those who can ill afford the sharp increases in food supply. In the Bible, gold is a symbol of the wisdom of God – and not human folly and greed. And like lambs, Alex and Mark in all their innocence and newness will meet lots of vested interests, whether at St. Jude’s, the Cathedral, or St. Mary’s, Fratton, and others who have been around the Portsmouth scene for some time. I am always suspicious of those who claim to “really know” what’s going on – and I hope these two “young Turks” will have the courage to ask some awkward questions, and not be fobbed off with answers easily given by senior colleagues!
Then, thirdly, Jesus tells his disciples not to take any props with them, whether it’s a cloak or anything else. There are lots of props that we can carry around with us and rely on far too much. Being in hospital as a patient brought home to me that I really was just someone else, sometimes at the edge of my faith, sometimes even at the edge of myself, and my public role was of no significance whatever. Moreover, one of the mistakes I frequently make is to go into new situations with all sorts of psychological props, working out in advance what the people are going to be like, what they are going to say, and exactly how I am going to respond to them. Instead I should put all of that to one side, and try to take things at their face value. That, after all, is the great gift that a priest can bring, whether it’s working with parishioners, or going into educational institutions like St. Luke’s School or the University, or wherever else the Spirit takes Alex and Mark in the challenging future that awaits them.
The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the labourers are few, says Jesus in tonight’s gospel. Every single organisation sings that song. I hear it everywhere in the diocese and beyond, and I am not referring to the church – though it’s true enough there – but to hospitals, colleges, local government offices, voluntary organisations. You name it, everyone is saying that there is too much to do, too little time to do it in, and too few people to carry it out. But the work of the gospel is different. The harvest is indeed plentiful, and the labourers are indeed few. As with those seventy anonymous disciples Luke tells us about, Jesus sends us out, two by two – we’re not on our own. He sends us out as lambs among wolves – we’re not to try playing the world’s games. And he sends us out with as few props and presuppositions as possible – we’re not too cluttered with unnecessary baggage. And we’re to start where we can, continue where we go, and to offer it all, accomplishments, failures, and omissions, to the Lord of the eternal harvest.
