A quotation from my son’s Facebook page:
“Note to self: Before trolley surfing in Tesco, check there is sufficient weight in trolley to counterbalance me.. ended up flat on my face, trolley upside down, surrounded by food… Wife laughing hysterically not helping.”
There is a sense in which I’m still picking myself up after the surprise, and honour, of being invited to speak here today. I’ve chosen to begin with this story mainly because it’s about starting again from the bottom. And during this talk we shall explore various aspects of starting from the bottom, though not literally flat on our faces, surrounded by food.
I met Diana and Simon when Diana spent some months on a placement at the church I was responsible for. Diana and Simon ‘jetted in’ on Sundays as part of their punishing schedule. Diana was at Cuddesdon during the week, and her weekends ‘at home’ were interrupted by the weekly expedition to Hemel Hempstead.
It was not that far in miles – a half hour journey on a good day – but a big gulf in terms of culture; we were in the ageing New Town of Hemel Hempstead.
Theirs was not a schedule that made it easy for Diana and Simon to become part of the community. They came to what is very much a local church, with most people living on one of the 2 large estates the church served. But Diana and Simon blended remarkably well, partly because of their willingness to take on whatever jobs were needed. Theirs was very much a bottom up approach.
For this talk today there was a vast array of Bible Readings to choose from. I was delighted when Diana chose a selection which lend themselves to thinking about a ‘bottom up’ approach. And I’m going to make 3 points, each starting with the letter E.
The prophecy of Isaiah, from which our Old Testament reading came, brought Encouragement. The prophecy came at an extraordinarily low point in the history of the people of God. Isaiah was speaking to a people who had been forcibly deported 1000 miles from their homeland. Their holy city Jerusalem had been razed and the Temple had been destroyed. It was to these people, at this devastatingly low point, that God’s message of Encouragement and hope came through Isaiah.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken – hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
It’s this passage which Jesus takes as his ‘vision statement’, when he announces, to the astonished synagogue congregation in Nazareth,
‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It’s a vision of a world transformed by the love of God; creation in harmony, people reconciled with one another, and with God. It’s a vision that begins with the poor,
with the oppressed, and the broken-hearted, the captives and the prisoners.
It’s a vision that starts with those at the bottom of society, with those scarred by circumstances. It begins with those who need encouragement most, those who are most aware of their need.
Psalm 118 offers a paeon of praise to God. But the focus is on the unlikely:
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the chief corner-stone.
God’s transforming power does not just return people to where they were before.
God offers a creative path, transformation of our perspective and our values.
So, the first, and longest point, on this ‘bottom up’ tour of the readings, is the Encouragement that God offers.
And the second E is for Each of us, or if you prefer, Everybody.
St Paul, writing to the church at Ephesus, spells out a view of Christian maturity:
‘Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift’
And he continues:
‘The gifts he gave … are to equip the saints for the work of ministry … until all come to maturity’
It’s a picture of shared leadership. It’s not a picture where one leader is expected to have all the gifts. It’s about the community of faith, where each person’s gifts contribute to the whole. So how does this picture, of each and every person contributing their distinctive ministry, fit into this service? It may seem an odd choice, when we’ve come together to support Diana, and to celebrate her ordination to the priesthood.
It makes sense with my final E, which is for Enabling. From now on Diana will be able fully to administer the sacraments. She will celebrate her first Eucharist on Sunday, when, as bread and wine are shared, people are enabled to receive, and meet with, the risen Christ. And in meeting Christ, by whatever means, we are enabled to fulfil the ministry God has called us to,
and to become the people God intends us to be.
How will Diana draw her strength, and her own enabling for this daunting ministry?
How is she to sustain this vision,in the attrition, as well as the joy, of daily parish life?
Jesus talks about himself as the Good Shepherd:
‘He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… the sheep follow him because they know his voice’.
On Wednesday I found myself talking to a Northumberland Shepherd. A fascinating man, with a sense of space, a kind of timeless grace. As well as Shepherding, he trains sheepdogs. He was demonstrating his whistle, showing how each command is given by a different sound. I’d assumed therefore that his sheep wouldn’t be used to his voice.
‘Not a bit of it’, he said. On the contrary, when he goes to feed them, they all come running when he calls. But if someone else calls from the farm gate, they don’t bother.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calls each one of us by name, with a special welcome for misfits. We are invited to listen, to know that we are loved. And in listening, to draw on that sense of the beyond, and to be renewed by an encounter with the God of love, who knows us better than we know ourselves.
In this bottom up journey, where the last shall be first: Diana, if you are to fulfil the ministry to which God has called you, if you are to Encourage, to include Everybody, and to Enable, I would like to encourage you to find some space. Space to draw, from the Good Shepherd, who knows you by name and who loves you; from the Good Shepherd who ‘leads the sheep out’, who goes before. Space to draw from Jesus the Good Shepherd, who has called you into his service; the Good Shepherd who encourages us all to listen to his voice.