The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

The only time I came out on strike as a civil servant, and then only for one day, was in 1976, when the first steps, were being taken to link pay with performance.  I had grown up with a public service culture, which demanded and fought for adequate levels of pay, but then took the view that we should get on with our work without expecting anything more than a word or two of thanks from our superiors if the task was well done, and hopefully a favourable report at the end of the year. Bonus payments were unheard of.  As a manager I was probably wrong to oppose the introduction of financial incentives which were already common in the private sector, but perhaps I was right to protest – however feebly – against an early sign of what we might characterise as the hireling culture, the culture of greed and bonus-chasing which has arguably done so much damage not merely to our society, but even to our economy.  As usual in Jesus’ parables, the contrast is sharply presented in order to make the point. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand runs away because he doesn’t care.   
Those of you who came to the Annual Parochial Meeting on Monday will have heard Fr Stephen talking about Bob Jackson’s analysis of the reasons why churches of our size find it so hard to grow.  It seems that in order to expand beyond the numbers to which any one priest can minister effectively – the Pastoral Model of ministry to which most of us are accustomed – we need to move to the Programme Model, in which the key role of the Vicar is to inspire and manage a broadly based leadership team.  With Emma in close support, Katherine in the Parish Office, Paula in the vicarage and Liz Brown as our youth worker, supported by our churchwardens and a host of dedicated volunteers, we already have the makings of an appropriate management structure, but over the coming months we will be consulting widely about the vision for our growing church, towards which we should be striving. We need that vision to be something we can all share, so our thoughts at this stage are very provisional.  We start from two broad propositions – first, internally, we want our church to feel more welcoming, more hospitable, more like a supportive family community, one which is inclusive enough to give everyone the space they need to be fully themselves.  Second, looking outwards, we want our church to be a force for good in the community both locally and further afield, a place where concern for the health of our society is apparent – explored, articulated and given expression in deeds as well as words. 
We encountered such a community – welcoming, hospitable and mutually supportive – in both this morning’s New Testament. The Christian community John describes is characterised by the love which God commands.  Our love for one another should be so great that we should be prepared to lay down our lives for one another, that being the measure of the love that our Lord has for us.  I know we do try to be welcoming and hospitable, and I do hope that is the experience of those of you who are new or relatively new.  Do please tell me or any of the clergy, wardens or sidesmen after the service if we have failed in that intention.  But even if we haven’t fallen at the first fence, we have a very long way to go before we could claim to be anything like loving enough to lay down our lives for one another.  We really do want to explore what more we can do as a church community to create the optimum conditions for the love of God to foster among us the development of such healthy, loving, sensitive, supportive relationships. 
The spirit that is recognised as a force for good in the community outside the doors of the church is more like the effect the early church was having in Jerusalem.  What Peter and John were doing when they healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, who appealed to them for alms, was not the deliberate result of any mission and outreach policy they might have conceived.  It was quite simply the natural expression of their faith in the healing power of Jesus.  They believed that the Spirit which had filled Jesus was now filling them, so when they were moved by the plight of the lame man, they looked at him as Jesus would have looked, and acted as he would have acted, commanding the lame man in the power of Jesus’ name to stand up and walk. Which he did.  That was the first and most important result, but it prompted the leaders of their community, the rulers of the temple, to demand what was going on, why they were doing such things, and by whose power and authority.  Which is where we came in, so to speak, at the hearing before the Sanhedrin, which gave Peter and John the opportunity to witness to the healing and saving power of Jesus Christ.  If we engage with our community, drawing by the Holy Spirit, as Peter and John did, on the saving love and power of Jesus our Lord, then things will happen, we shall become a force for good, and people will want to know what it is that inspires and empowers us. And we need not be shy about telling them.
The image of the Good Shepherd, which we encountered in the psalm as well as the gospel, suggests how the two aspects of our vision – inward-looking and outward-looking – might relate to one another.  The Lord is my shepherd, is one of the best loved, most reassuring passages in all scripture.  At times of great distress, many of us have found comfort in the sheer beauty of its poetry, in the images of joy and peace that it evokes, as well as in the rich heritage of music it has inspired.  When we look to the Lord Jesus as our shepherd, we know that in his safe keeping no evil can harm us.  That is the view of the sheep from within the fold.  But what if we in our turn are called to assume towards others the role of shepherd – it may be towards our children and grandchildren, or our godchildren, or the more vulnerable members of our church community, or other communities to which we belong.  Standing at the gate of the fold, looking out, there are all sorts of dangers, both seen and unseen, and until we are put to the test, we cannot know what we may be called on to do to for love of those who have been committed to our care.  We dare not say that we would lay down our lives for them, lest that should turn out to be an idle boast, as it was for the first disciples when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus.  But in John’s words, if our hearts do not condemn us, if we know in our hearts that we have put our trust in the Lord Jesus, we can have boldness before God, and in that confident faith we will receive from him whatever we ask. 
It is in that spirit that we embark together on the process of discernment that we believe will turn our first glimmerings of a vision for the future of our community into a plan for its development and realisation.  Jesus said: I am the Good Shepherd.  So it is that we pray with confidence for his guidance as we seek to become more truly the body of Christ the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep in order to take it up again.  With Him we shall find our way to become more fully the welcoming, caring community to which we aspire.  With Him we shall be empowered to tread our path of willing, loving sacrifice.  And with Him we shall rise in joyful Easter triumph.