Ministry Team Letters January – June 2003
Dear Friends
Towards the end of this month, on 28 June, Brian Atling will be ordained Priest and our new Curate, Ally Barrett, will be made Deacon at the Ordination Service in Ely Cathedral. Both Brian and Ally will be embarking upon new phases in their ministry, for which they need the support and prayer of us all. The context in which their ministries will be worked out, though, is very different from what it might have been 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. Brian and Ally both trained at Westcott House, which is part of the Cambridge Federation of theological colleges - a group in which ordinands from Anglican, Methodist and United Reformed traditions are trained together. It is no longer possible to see Christian ministry in terms of a single denomination. Our growing local collaboration with our brother and sister Christians at the Baptist Church, Salvation Army and Society of Friends underlines this, as does the United Pentecost Service at the Community School on 8 June. As Geoff Larcombe, Minister of the Baptist Church loves to say, there is only one church in Godmanchester: the Church of Jesus Christ.
Another changing feature of ministry is what some would see as the undermining of the parish system within the Church of England. It is a fact that there are now more parishes in the Huntingdon Deanery without priests than with them and, as the number of full time and stipendiary clergy continues to decrease - Ally is one of only 2 stipendiary deacons being ordained in the Diocese this year - that situation will become more severe. The Bishop of Huntingdon has challenged us all to re-think the nature of local ministry in a report entitled All Good Gifts. In it, he stresses that the resources of ministry are far greater than the number of clergy - a good thing, some of you might say! - and he encourages us to work towards creating informal 'locality groups' of parishes in which clergy, readers and other lay ministers can work together to resource effective pastoral care, worship and mission for all communities.
Within this Deanery, we are beginning that process. Huntingdon already functions as a formal 'team ministry', and south of the River are the parishes of Godmanchester, Hemingford Abbotts, Hemingford Grey, Fenstanton and Hilton. As a first step, the incumbents of these parishes have met to discuss possible ways of collaborating in the immediate future, before looking to prepare a long-term strategy. During the Autumn, Maggie Guite (Priest at Fenstanton and Hilton), Peter Cunliffe (Priest at Hemingford Grey) and myself will operate a series of 'pulpit exchanges' in the hope that we can get to know one another better.
Here in Godmanchester, we are immensely fortunate in the number of our licensed ministers, with a Vicar, 2 Curates, 2 active retired priests and a Reader-in-Training. This makes us one of the most strongly-resourced parishes in the Diocese, and puts us in the position where we must be increasingly willing to share our ministry with other parishes. We can choose to view the future either as something terribly bleak, or as an opportunity to re-think radically the mission of the whole Church in this area. Please pray for all who will be involved in discussions - especially our PCC - that we may choose the latter path and follow faithfully the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
Yours in Christ,
Peter Moger
Dear Friends
The month of April has been a real 'mixed bag'. Perhaps no more so than other months, but it has seemed that, during the past few weeks, we have seen our fair share of contrasts.
On the world arena, we have looked on as the coalition forces have gained control in Iraq - though not without significant human loss. Here in Godmanchester we have celebrated with great style the 400th anniversary of the progress of King James I through our town. In the parish we have mourned the death of several residents and a former Vicar (Neil Munt, who served here between 1962 and 1974), but we have also rejoiced with parents at the birth and baptism of new members of their families. In our worship we have travelled from the celebration of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through the blackness of Good Friday to the joy of Easter.
As we move forward into summer , the church calendar reminds us that Easter - the greatest and most important festival of them all - is still very much with us. For those of us who enjoy our chocolate it's probably a good thing that the official season of Eastertide lasts for 50 days! But seriously, there is much to be said for keeping a festival not only on one day, but for an entire season.
The resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrate at Easter, reveals God's promise of new and everlasting life to all who put their trust in him. What this means is that life becomes 'value-added' - that it becomes purposeful and very much worth living. To celebrate this only on Easter Day is impossible - for it's only as we live day by day in the light of the resurrection, that we see God's power at work in our lives.
There are those opponents of Christianity who see the faith as escapist. The Christian faith, though, is firmly rooted in life as we know it - it's faith with its feet on the ground - it's realistic. Part of that realism is an acceptance that we live in a world where the bad and the good live side by side and are mixed up together. God is in the middle of that mixture, constantly working to bring good from bad, hope from despair, and new life from death.
St Paul wrote to the early Christians at Rome that 'all things work together for good for those who love God' [Romans 8:28]. In other words, all things - good and bad - are mixed up - they intermingle, and God's ultimate purpose is to bring about good for those who love him. The message of Eastertide is that God provides a way through the labyrinth of a confusing and mixed-up world. May we, in our own lives, and may our world experience the new life God offers us in Jesus this Eastertide.
Yours in Christ,
Peter Moger
Dear Friends
A couple of years ago, I came across this (not very serious) Lenten Song - written to be sung to the well-known tune My Favourite Things.
Sackcloth and ashes, and days without eating,
Mortification and wailing and weeping,
A hair shirt that scratches, a nettle that stings,
These are a few of my favourite things.
Penitence, flagellants, memento mori,
Spending nights sleeping on rocks in a quarry,
The sound of a cloak'd solemn cantor who sings,
These are still more of my favourite things.
Tossing and turning and yearning I'm spurning,
Passions aflame like an ember-day burning,
Corpus and carnis and wild drunken flings,
Forsaken are they for my favourite things!
When it's Christmas,
When the tree's lit,
When the cards are sent,
I simply remember my favourite things,
And then I can't wa-a-a-a-it till Lent.
While these words can provoke a good laugh, the implication is a serious one - that Lent has a negative image. Lent is seen (almost without exception) as a time to give up our 'favourite things' so that we can draw nearer to God and grow spiritually. There is, of course, considerable value in this. Most of our lives are so cluttered that our spiritual faculties are blunted, and we quickly become 'out of tune' with God and his call on our lives.
But there is a danger if we go too far down this particular road. The assumption that lies behind 'giving up' things for Lent is that life is somehow separated into two parts - the sacred (or 'holy') and the secular (or the 'unholy'). Prayer and fasting are supposed to be 'holy' or 'spiritual' while chocolate, alcohol and sex are supposed to fall on the other, 'bodily' side of the fence. This approach - where something is either black or white, positive or negative - is dualistic - and forces us to place something in either one camp or the other. Dualism in Christian thought has long been resisted and indeed condemned. 'Christianity,' said William Temple, the famous mid-20th century Archbishop of Canterbury, 'is the most materialistic of religions'. By this he meant that Christianity is a faith of both spirit and flesh - and that in becoming a human being in Jesus - God affirms the physical parts of our world as well as the spiritual. The fact is that it is not easy to draw a line separating some things and others. Prayer may be good but we may use it to try and further our own ends. Fasting may enable us to focus more clearly on God, but it may become a matter of pride. Likewise, although the abuse of sex is manifestly wrong, in itself sex is a God-given gift and therefore good.
So what should we do about Lent? There's no doubt that, for many of us, to give up something to which we are particularly attached can be a helpful spiritual discipline - but only inasmuch as it helps us grow in our faith. What is crucial is what we 'take on' for Lent. Giving up chocolate alone will not make us more faithful Christians!
Here in the parish we shall be running a Lent course which encourages us to get back to basics - in other words - to encounter again the person who is the foundation of our faith and who transforms our lives: God's Son, Jesus. The course is based on a series of five encounters different people had with Jesus, as they are recorded in the Gospels. The aim is to get inside what the Bible is saying in each of these accounts - but also to work out how this affects our own lives as followers of Christ and to challenge us to let God transform us into the people he wants us to be.
We shall be holding two meetings each week:
On Monday afternoons at 2.15 at 16 the Causeway, beginning on 10 March
On Wednesday evenings at 7.30 in Church (beginning with a quiet Eucharist), beginning on 12 March
As usual, we shall begin our observance of Lent on Ash Wednesday (5 March). In the morning, the Eucharist will be celebrated at St Anne's School at 9.15, and in the evening there will be a Sung Eucharist in Church at which the Imposition of Ashes will be administered.
May God give us all the help we need to keep a positive Lent and grow in our faith.
Yours in Christ,
Peter Moger
Dear Friends
Shortly before Christmas we dedicated a beautiful oak letter-rack and bookcase, given by Patrick Hall in memory of his stepmother, Minnie, and Pat Saunders, in memory of her mother, Joan Richards. As well as beautifying the South-West corner of the church, the letter-rack will (we hope) keep our loose bits of paper tidy and the bookcase will soon be pressed into use as part of our lending library.
In the Old Testament, the writer of the Book Ecclesiastes wrote that 'Of the making of books there is no end'. We cannot but agree. Despite moves towards 'paperless' offices, and a phenomenal growth in image communication in recent years, book production and sales continue to rise. There is evidence, too, to suggest that reading remains a favoured pastime of many.
As Christians, there is always the need to deepen our faith and broaden our understanding of the things of God. It is probably true for most of us that the more we progress in our knowledge of God, the more we become aware of how little we know both about him and of him. Christian books are an important tool for our journey of faith. The aim of the church lending library is to provide resources for all within our church family to grow in faith through reading. Whether our main interest lies theology, biblical studies, ethics or prayer and spirituality, there is always more we can read. Many of us, too (typically the largest group in churches which have lending libraries) will find it helpful to read Christian biography. There is much to be learned from reading about how the lives of others have been transformed by God.
Our aim is to provide a range of books which will grow with the months and years. I am immensely grateful to Peter Dawe for volunteering to manage the library, which will operate - on a self-booking system - after church services.
To return to Ecclesiastes, the writer also observed, though, that 'much study is a weariness of the flesh'(!). To help whet the appetite and give is a 'way in' to some of the books in the library, we plan to offer a series of reviews in the parish magazine, so watch this space!
May God bless us through the writing of others and draw us ever closer to himself.
Yours in Christ,
Peter Moger
Dear Friends
This time last year, I reflected on what had been happening in the previous year here in Godmanchester. And once again, in looking back on 2002, there has been a great deal for which to give thanks. Our staff team has been greatly enriched by the arrival in July of Brian Atling as Assistant Curate. We have begun to experience being a 'training parish' for ordinands and readers, welcoming Lisa Cornwell, Judith Dunkling, Judy Usher and David Wakefield among us. In the year ahead, we shall gain Ally Barrett as a second Assistant Curate. Our ministry continues to develop: of special note in the past year have been the growth in our children's work (especially the children's church) and in pastoral care (largely through Brian's efforts).
The year ahead brings fresh challenges. There is the added financial responsibility of increased parish share and running costs. Peter Ballantine, our Treasurer, has recently produced figures to show the true cost of maintaining our ministry as a parish church. This works out at a staggering £1460 per week (or 15p per minute), or - if we prefer - £1 per day per head of the electoral roll. Hard facts, maybe, but we do ourselves no favours if we are unrealistic about our costs and our giving to God's work. Then there is the challenge of having to move out of our church building for five weeks whilst essential timber preservation work is carried out. There is also the continuing challenge of demands placed on us by other bodies: most recently the new regulations concerning disabled access for churches.
It is easy (and somewhat dangerous) to see these, and other, issues purely in isolation and as 'problems'. What is crucial is that we see each one within the bigger picture of the mission of our parish. If we are clear about our aims as a parish church, then many of the perceived 'problems' can become 'opportunities.' If we are striving to be an inclusive church community, the requirements for disabled access, for instance, can only be for good if they enable our church building to be accessible to a wider range of people. If we are committed to careful stewardship of our historic church building for the benefit of future generations, then fabric work will be seen as an essential part of that. If we are concerned to maintain a lively and engaging pattern of church life and outreach within our town - something which forms part of the call of all Christian churches - then our budgetary costs will be seen as a necessary means to an end.
It is vital that we start from the point of a shared vision for worship and mission, from which all areas of our church life then flow. Vision, though, is not something that can be generated by a committee. For Christians, it comes from a faithful response to God's leading. At this season of the year, we remember the Wise Men, who by the leading of the star, learned God's purpose for them, and discovered the Christ-child. My prayer for us all in the coming year is that we, too, should become clearer in our vision as a parish; that we would be open to God's leading and willing to face the challenges (or is it opportunities?) he places before us.
Wishing you God's blessing throughout the coming year.
Yours in Christ,
Peter Moger