(The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity) Bible Sunday, Sunday 27 October 2019
Austwick, Clapham
Whilst preparing this talk this week I’ve been haunted by that terrible news about the Chinese people being trafficked to the UK who lost their lives in a refrigeration trailer discovered in an industrial park in Essex. I’m sure you have too. And by the questions it raises. How could we - humans - act so inhumanely towards others? Why do we tolerate people-smuggling in this day and age? How can I, having read this news story, then just move on to the sports reports and carry on with my day? And where is the Church in all this? [1]
The cynical answer to that last question is that the Church is to be found making pious statements in the media about the abhorrence of these crimes and offering prayer for the victims families - which to critical minds is a feeble response, another example of the Church’s impotency and irrelevance in today’s harsh world. [2]
However, the weight of the evidence tells another story. Following the announcement of these 39 deaths the churches of Grays, Essex, opened their doors for people to come, light candles and pray. Shaun Sawyer, the National Police Chiefs Council lead for modern slavery and human trafficking and the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, said the incident was a tragedy that law enforcement, NGOs, the church and faith groups are working "every single moment of every single day" to prevent. Those groups include The Salvation Army whose network of safe houses and outreach workers provide support to people rescued from modern day slavery; and the charities Hope for Justice and Stop the Traffik which have Church foundations. Then there’s The Clewer Initiative which enables Church of England dioceses and networks to raise awareness of modern slavery, identify victims and help provide victim support and care; aware of how modern slavery in rural areas is under-reported, they offer training to equip rural churches and communities to respond to modern slavery and help victims get the support they need. If you’re interested in that, let me know. We could do that here. [3]
Who is the Church for? Surely not just for its Sunday regulars alone, but for all people - we’re a non-membership body, open to all and reaching out in love and compassion into the world around. And what is the Church for? The more fundamental question. Surely it is for celebrating and finding ways to respond to the love of God for us and all the earth, to spread that good news around. That’s why PCCs use our income on the one hand to preserve our historic buildings and traditional services - the essential if inward-looking aspect of what we do, and on the other hand to reach out in compassion to promote and share the faith with those outside.
Last week The Bishop of Ripon Rt Revd Helen-Ann Hartley came to our Deanery Synod meeting in Gargrave Church - a building which imaginatively combines the ancient and the modern, enabling us to sit in pews for an opening presentation then gather at the back on comfy chairs in an informal space for refreshments and further discussion. She came to invite us as churches to start engaging with the new Diocesan Strategy - but recognising the coldness of that terminology she put it a different way, and posed the simple question to us: “What is your church’s story?” [4]
What is our story? The cynical answer to that question is one of declining attendances, particularly among the young, a sign of the Church’s impotency and irrelevance in today’s world. However the evidence invites us to tell another story. Take this season for instance, as the year cycles on towards winter. We defy the dark evenings by lighting bonfires, we deny the cold by burning fuel indoors. And the life of the church cycles on also, into a time of remembering - lost loved ones at All Souls, the saints of the ages at All Saints, and with the war-weary world, those lost in conflicts at Remembrance. May God hold us, in our remembering. These services which we offer, these times of meaningful worship presented with sensitivity and care: we know that they draw people, serve people. We understand that those who are usually found outside, find compassion and the blessing of the faith within these loved and valued historic buildings which are here for all.
The life of the church cycles on in other ways. This month we are being reminded of the financial costs of running our churches and invited to reconsider our giving. It’s an invitation extended to all for whom the church remains important in these times of great change. Most of us are caught in another cycle - sometimes called The Cash Triangle - a process leading from Education to Mortgage to Pension which then, through the generations, cycles around again. The church exists in this cycle, and we understand the ways it affects us; but the church also invites us into another cycle of life - in which a search for the Spiritual / Sacred / Mystical leads on into a place of Healing and Wholeness, and deeper on into a place of Acceptance and Love in community - which then, through the generations, cycles around again. [5]
In Leeds Diocese we are committed to a programme called Leading Your Church into Growth. It’s not naive, it’s fully aware of the reality of diminishing attendances, deteriorating finances and a shrinking and increasingly stretched paid workforce, a ‘spiral of decline which we may have learned to manage but not to reverse’ according to the priest and church growth consultant Bob Jackson. We can be a fatally self-apologetic body: Jeremy Paxman has commented that, ‘faintly embarrassed by the suggestion that there might be something more to life, it seems the Church of England thinks God is the ultimate ‘good chap’.’. But there is confidence in the Church of England continuing on as an amazing network of thousands of local churches, expressing and supporting community. The Church’s hands-on work with victims of human trafficking is just one example of this; look at any area of need in our world and you’ll find people of faith pioneering, leading and getting involved. From foodbanks to befriending, from prison visiting to meals on wheels, and in countless other ways, we are there - you are there, I know, for I see you doing it day by day, here in this place. [6]
“What is your church’s story?” Rather than settling for a tale of woeful decline, and rather than using the vague language of ‘being community’ let’s defy Jeremy Paxman, and be bold and say we are here, sharing the love of God - practically and through traditional and new ways of worship, with all the generations, in this place.
Yes, it can feel like winter is approaching - but we live in faith that after winter comes spring, as we unapologetically commit to defying the darkness, and invest in the means to keep the lights shining. And so this coming year I will be leading our PCCs and people into a process where we engage with the questions raised by our Diocesan Strategy, and where we establish in our pattern of worship and Church activity, some of the good practice of the Leading Your Church into Growth programme. The vision is for us to be ‘confident Christians, growing churches and transforming our communities’. [7] I hope you’ll embrace that vision and find in it good reason to continue to support the church financially to provide the resources to help us - together - live this vision out.
A closing prayer from the Leading your Church into Growth programme:
God of Mission
Who alone brings growth to your Church,
Send your Holy Spirit to give
Vision to our planning,
Wisdom to our actions,
And power to our witness.
Help our church to grow in numbers,
In spiritual commitment to you,
And in service to our local community,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Notes
[1] BBC News. Essex Lorry Deaths. October 2019.
[2] Diocese of Chelmsford. Grays lorry container tragedy: Bishop of Bradwell’s response. 24 October 2019.
[3] Grays churches response reported in Hattie Williams, Lorry tragedy sign of ‘deeper problem’, says Essex bishop, Church Times 24 October 2019. Shaun Sawyer widely quoted via Press Association eg. in Bodies of 39 people found in lorry were Chinese nationals, sources say, Yorkshire Post, 24 October 2019. Salvation Army: Modern Slavery; Hope for Justice; Stop the Traffik; The Clewer Initiative.
[4] Diocese of Leeds, Maturing in Christ, a strategy for the Diocese of Leeds 2019 - 2024.
[5] ‘Triangles’ quoted in Leading your Church into Growth Course Manual, Perfect Paperback 2018.
[6] Bob Jackson and Jeremy Paxman quoted in Leading your Church into Growth Course Manual, Perfect Paperback 2018.
[7] ‘Confident Christians, Growing Churches, Transforming Communities’ - Diocese of Leeds, Introducing the Strategy framework.
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