Working together. (October 24)

Dear Friends

As I write this, a film crew are in the process of cordoning off chunks of the street where we live. The rain is falling like a river but they are being stoic as they lay out their bollards. They’re awaiting the arrival of the lorries that will bring in all of the equipment it takes to make a movie. Around the corner, one house has been vacated by the family who live there, security guards have been watching it twenty-four hours a day, and a steady stream of vans have been taking the owners’ stuff out and bringing new stuff in. It seems that this Henleaze house is about to become the home of the character Emma Thompson is playing in the film “The Road to the Cemetery” which is being made for Apple. I have, as you might suspect, tried regularly wandering past wearing my dog collar hoping they might suddenly discover a bit part for a vicar – but no joy.

Nevertheless, simply watching this unfold is fascinating. You know my passion for films and the whole glorious process of turning story on page to vision on screen. The sheer scale of the undertaking is incredible. It helps me appreciate why it is that the credits at the end of a film always make such a long list of names. It takes a vast team of people to make movies. I’ll do my very best not to get distracted in the coming days – I promise!

Imaging the similarities to the life of the Church are inevitable.

Pause for a moment and just take in how many individuals make up the family of the Church across the world today. 2020 data from the highly regarded Pew Research Centre suggested that, of the world’s 8 billion people, around 2.38 billion were Christians, making Christianity by far the world’s largest faith. Breaking this down, 1.3 billion were Catholics (the largest denomination). With the more recent history of the decline of Christianity in the western world, of which the URC is a part, it can be all too easy to forget that we belong to the biggest religion the world has ever known. With all we quite rightly need to reframe in the history of the spread of Christianity, so often linked to injustices and abuses, violence and cruelty, it can be tempting to neglect the sheer vibrancy of the contemporary Church in so many places. And, in place after place, people are following Jesus at great personal risk and cost in communities hostile, suspicious and downright dangerous. Inevitably, we tend to narrow Church to congregation and our focus becomes our own life, work and survival. Step back, and the global community of Christ is an awesome collection of very many people.

Then, let us narrow our vision. Recently, via Companions, I’ve shared a little of the URC’s Church Life Review. That’s a process of reimagining how our little bit of God’s Church might work, and work better. And here’s the connection to a film crew. That process of thinking and planning isn’t in the hands of some unknown and unknowable secret sect. It is being led by people like us, names we can know (listed in our special edition ‘Reform’ magazine), many of them friends I’ve worked with for decades. And they are devoted to it because, just like us, they are devoted to the URC and to the congregations they know and love. They are like the guys putting out bollards in the rain to enable the film to be made. They are part of the whole, and offering the bit they can offer to help the whole URC thrive.

Narrow the focus further. Both of our churches have already received loads of help and support from the URC’s South Western Synod. In early October, we’ll formally welcome and induct Revd David Downing as our new Synod Moderator. Please hold him and his family in your prayers as this new ministry begins. Several of us serve on Synod committees and groups. Synod grants have helped us with both of our church buildings and, we expect, further grants will be asked for as we work with both buildings. Synod advice for things like safeguarding and legal matters has continued to be vital. Again, our two churches flourish in part because other people, many of whom we may never meet, want to help us flourish and release resources to help us do so.

Keep homing in. Think of our two congregations. Think of all the people who belong in different ways with us. Think of those who come and go through our buildings in the course of a month. Think of the elders, treasurers, church secretaries, pastoral visitors, administrators, musicians, readers, people praying, worship leaders, preachers, newsletter editors, welcomers, cleaners, gardeners, maintenance folk, coffee and tea makers, and more. Think of the hive of creativity, faithfulness, kindness, generosity and a spirit of common purpose that makes our two congregations tick. Think of the devoted hours and lives offered. Think of the gift we each are to each other. What a list of credits it would take to name everyone if our two churches were a movie!

And think of yourself. Think of the gift you are to the Church of Jesus Christ because you are you. Think of the gifts you know you have. Think of how you already offer them to help the world, and, maybe, to help our congregations. Wonder about the gifts you may not yet have discovered, or may not yet have been able to offer. The Church is enriched because you are part of it; immeasurably enriched!

It takes a huge team to make a film. It takes all of us to make a church. I have been moved again by how our lectionary has taken us to the tiny letter of James. It’s possibly written by James the brother of Jesus or someone close to him and, as often happened, writing in his name. It may have been a circular, passed around the first Christians as they scattered after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. It pictures what makes the fledgling Church tick; homing in on the wisdom God plants in the hearts and lives of believers: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” (James 3: 17-18). Let the people say “Amen!”

Yours in Christ

Neil