Sadly, the post below is taken from my last Living Faith Column for the Advertiser. I didn't actually see it in there so in case it didn't make it, here it is for you. And if you are intrigued to know more about what Ben is up to, check out his video on

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MIoirD5CQA&feature=youtu.be

 

For the Love of Chocolate…

My youngest son Ben is in Bolivia. He finished at Blue Coat last summer and now he's doing a gap year with Youth With A Mission, working with street kids in Santa Cruz. Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America, there's no social security, and thousands of kids end up living wild on the streets, where they are treated like vermin.

I am hugely proud of him – but why should Ben, a vicar's son from England, sacrifice a year helping kids dumped on the streets on the far side of the world? He's been passionate about it ever since he first heard of their plight – but why go to such lengths?

If you go down to Cadbury's World you will find a great display about chocolate. It was first made in South America from cocoa beans. Because of the prestige of chocolate, these beans were very valuable to the Indians. One exhibit says that to the Mayans a human being was worth 72 cocoa beans! So your life literally wasn't worth a hill of beans…

Our society puts financial worth on people. If you lose your life in an accident, your loved ones are compensated for the predicted loss of your earnings. So if you would have earned £25,000 for the next 40 years they'd get a million pounds! I know, not much hope in this recession, but at least it's better than beans!

But God puts an entirely different value on your life. The Gospel tells us that He loves us so much that He gave His only Son – Jesus, who died in agony on the cross - so we could be forgiven, saved and loved. Every human being is therefore of infinite worth, because in Jesus God gave His own life as the price for ours.

That's why our Ben is with those street kids. No human being is vermin. Whether you are on the mean streets of Santa Cruz or the relative comfort of Walsall, you matter to God. If as so many do these days you feel your life is worth little, go to the One who gave everything for you on the cross. Ask him to show you how much you matter. Think about it next time you are enjoying a chunk of delicious, melt in the mouth chocolate…

Reflections on the AGM 2013

This is the sermon from last Sunday, when we held our Annual General Meeting. If you want to know what decisions were taken at the AGM, the minutes are in preparation. But here is the talk I gave during the service preceding the meeting. My aim was to encourage everyone during a time of significant change and to remind you that God is in charge.

I can't believe this is my last AGM with all of you. In my Rector's Report I wrote about the many changes we have been through in the past year. Because of Anglican protocols and the timing of announcements I wasn't able, at the time of writing, to tell you that Elisa and I were preparing to leave. And now the reality is nearly here.

It's still controversial to have the AGM in morning service – but I think it's really important. We cannot say this is God's bit and the rest is our bit. The whole of our church life belongs to God. We're here at the AGM to give thanks for the past, to seek vision for the future, to consider our needs, financial and otherwise, to look at matters which unite us and those which could potentially divide us: these all need to be brought to our loving heavenly Father, because we are his family and we're here to learn how to trust and follow him. So it is all part of our prayer life and our worshipping life together.

The church grows! It's in both of our readings (the parable of the mustard seed and the Acts 2 passage which provides the basis for our values. We have a part – the farmer sows – but God has the greater part – He makes it grow. St Matthew's has grown over the past year, in fact our figures show the strongest growth in the Diocese! Praise the Lord! But humbly – some of that is because we're recording some things properly for the first time.

Acts 2 reminds us of our core values, awe, unity, generosity, hospitality and growth. I think the growth doesn't come without the other bits:

·         Awe – above all the church has to be about meeting with God. 2 examples last weekend, when God moved in our services and people were healed… when a God filled silence descended upon Messy Church…

·         Unity – the teamwork in this church is just fantastic! More on this later because teamwork is the key to what happens next.

·         Generosity – this church demonstrates amazing generosity, not only with money but with time, talent and energy.

·         Hospitality – our welcome is frequently acknowledged by many who come to visit us. Our small groups, so vital to our discipleship, depend on the hospitality shown by leaders and members.

·         Growth – the outcome of the above. When people encounter God with awe, when there is teamwork so that we move forward together, when we are generous and able to make things happen, and when people are welcomed and wanted, well, they want to be part of that. That's the kind of church I want to belong to, don't you?

Note the start point in Acts 2:42 – they devoted themselves… The time ahead will demand commitment from us. Nonetheless as a church of activists! we need to remember that Mary, who sat at Jesus' feet, chose the better part. Make sure you don't overdo the Martha side!

You are an awesome church and it has been an immense privilege to serve God here and to learn so much from your faith, your love, your fellowship and your energy. I wouldn't be going if I didn't have every confidence in you! You are a great team and I know that you will continue to build up St Matthew's.

I'm not quite ready with my farewell speech yet. I'll save it for another day. But there are two things I want to say in the meantime today, or rather two kinds of vacancies churches can have:

·         a dismal one where the direction is gone, we don't want to start anything new in case the new vicar doesn't like it, everything is on hold, people start to drift and the church shrinks

·         a teamwork vacancy where people take up the challenge to step into new roles and move forward together. Actually vicars love to come into churches that are going somewhere and will expect you to state what your vision is in the parish profile.

Churches of the second sort grow during a vacancy. You will grow too! We have great teams here – Messy church, admin, wardens, home groups. Brothers and sisters, you can do it. You will be amazed when your new vicar arrives at how brilliant your vacancy was! Take the opportunities offered by this year's Mission Action Plan to play your part!

But above all the Church is about God. St Matthew's is not our Church, it's his Church. His promise to you is, "I will never leave you, I will never forsake you." He is working out his purposes for St Matthew's. So let's keep our focus on Him, His love for us and His presence among us. Then, through all the challenges before us, He will be our strength.

I hope you all enjoyed Ben's video from Bolivia at Church Hill Praise last week! If you weren't at that service or if you would like to see it again, the link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MIoirD5CQA&feature=youtu.be

God of surprises

God never ceases to surprise me, and nor do his people!

At Messy Church the other week I was doing the talk. It was about The Road to Emmaus (if you don't know this beautiful story it's in Luke chapter 24) and I was sharing how the risen Lord walks with us on our journey through life, even though there are times when we don't seem able to see him. The atmosphere was fairly normal – noisy and messy, as you expect at Messy Church.

Then I said "Let us pray" and stood there and waited. The noise just faded out in what felt like a very holy way: from the smallest baby present to the oldest grandparent, everyone just tuned in to God's presence. It felt as though that same risen Lord who walked with the disciples on the Emmaus Road all those years ago was walking among us, stilling our hearts…

Totally different context. Book of Common Prayer Communion Service last Sunday. Hasn't changed much since 1662 really. However George was down to speak about healing, because the 10am service next up was due to be a healing service. So George said, "Why don't we offer healing at 8am too? We can ask everyone who wants anointing with oil and prayer to stay at the rail after they have received the sacrament, then we'll pray for them."

Well I must admit that the reason we have never done this before at 8am is because I have misjudged everyone. I really thought nobody would want it – but maybe if George produced a real cracker of a sermon one or two of the braver souls might give it a try. I was amazed and delighted when almost every single person at that service stayed at the rail for prayer.

 

I have to say I was humbled too. God and his people far exceeded my limited expectations. Well done all you 8 o'clockers and thank you Lord! I'm all agog now to get some feedback from the congregation (and from the 25 or 30 who came to the prayer stations at the 10 o'clock service) to find out what happened. What did God do for you at that very special time in his presence? Please let me know!

These are just two very recent examples of the very many ways God has blessed me, encouraged me and opened my eyes through all of you at St Matthew's. You have done so much more for Elisa and me than we have done for you. We are going to miss everyone so much!

However do not forget that the same Lord who has been with us through all those special times, hard ones as well as delightful ones, isn't leaving. Vicars come and go, but He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is working out His plans for us and for you and He has many more amazing surprises in store for St Matthew's!

Announcement Sunday 7 April

It is very appropriate that we were thinking about journeys on Sunday. We followed the weary disciples through the experiences of death and resurrection as they trudged back home with their mysterious companion. I need to announce a new stage in our journey with you...

Elisa and I arrived at St Matthew’s 11 years ago, almost to the day: we moved in on 5 April 2002 and my induction here was on 22 April. Our Ben was still seven years old when we came – as you know he’s in Bolivia now and it’s his 19^th birthday on Wednesday. It’s been both a wonderful and a challenging experience and I have learned such a lot about walking with God from you all.

However the time has come for us to think about the next phase of the journey. Our children have grown up and left home. We are now grandparents, my mum is 85 and we don’t know how much longer we will have her. So we are feeling the pull to be closer to family. Moreover in October 2014 I will be 60 years old. So I have been looking for a last post as vicar, perhaps one a bit less demanding than St Matthew’s has been. I need to start there soon so that I have a reasonable length of time to do a good job before I retire.

I believe I have found that place where God is calling us to be. A few weeks ago Elisa and I went to interview at the parish of Wraysbury and Horton, which is down near Heathrow airport. It’s half an hour from my daughter, an hour from my mum and five minutes from my brother. We felt a sense of God’s calling to be there. After the interview they offered me the post and I accepted. A statement was also made at Wraysbury and Horton on Sunday.

I am very very sorry to be going. Your friendship and fellowship, your prayers and support, your love for God and for us have been a joy and an inspiration. Not too much of all that today though! You are going to have to put up with me for at least a couple of months more! There will be time for farewell speeches then. Just some words of encouragement for today.

Because this isn’t just about me and my journey. It is also about St Matthew’s and your journey. We’ve come a long way together and seen some great achievements: paying off our debts, launching our Asian congregation, refurbishing the St Matthew’s Centre, starting Messy Church, re-organising our structures and admin. We have put a great team together and we are really going places! There's a powerful sense of energy and vitality about us right now. I picture St Matthew’s as a jet plane on the runway, ready for take off. It’s been my privilege to be involved in getting us ready to fly! But I think the time has come for someone else, perhaps a younger person, to take over the controls, and get us up to 50,000 feet where God wants us! Churches grow and develop over time: and now is the right time I think for God's new person to come with fresh vision for a new phase.

 
I just want to say one more word before I finish, about the service changes. There's an obvious question – why do it now, Colin, just before you go and can't see it through? I have wrestled long and hard with this issue and here is why I have gone ahead:

·         I believe St Matthew's will be far more attractive to your new vicar with a more sensible and manageable service pattern than the one we have been using.

·         Changes to services always bring uneasiness and sometimes hostility. I prefer to draw any flak for what I believe are necessary changes as the outgoing vicar rather than leave it to the incoming vicar to deal with and get his or her ministry off to a difficult start. That in my view would be cowardly.

Back to journeys. Our message today is that Jesus walks with us all along the way, when it's easy going and when it's tough, when we feel He is near and when we don't. He said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." Please pray for Elisa and me, it's really hard for us to uproot and leave people we love at this stage in our lives. Pray that we will know his presence with us in these new steps along the way. And I know He is doing amazing things at St Matthew's. This is part of His wonderful plan for your future!

 

With all our love, Colin and Elisa.

My Easter Hope

When you are a vicar you do lots of funeral services. You cannot, you probably should not, avoid the sobering reflection, "One day that'll be me there in that box... some other vicar will be taking my funeral just like I am taking this one." How to cope with this constant reminder of your own mortality?

Well sometimes people help you through it. A few days before she died I visited a very brave lady who was dying of cancer. Just before we prayed together she said, "I know what's happening to me and, do you know, I've accepted it. I've always trusted in the Lord and I know I have nothing to fear." I was so inspired by her faith! The funeral when it came not long afterwards was as much about triumph as tragedy.

So what does this faith rest on? Easter Day, that's what! Jesus was dead, there's no doubt about that. The Cross happened in front of the Roman governor, King Herod, the chief priests and thousands of Passover pilgrims. But on the third day Jesus' friends started seeing him again. They have left us their witness statements in the form of the New Testament. There is no doubt of the reliability of these witnesses because many of them staked their lives on it. They knew Jesus was risen, so they were not afraid to face death for his sake. The one who had come back from the grave would raise them too.

So death is not the end folks! It wasn't for Jesus, and because of him it need not be for us. My cynical old Scots grandad used to say, "How can we know there's anything after death? No-one's ever come back to tell us." But that's exactly why Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection tells us loud and clear that there is life in his name!

This is important. A matter of life and death. Too vital to be left hidden under that fluffy pile of chocolate eggs, bunnies, daffodils and hot cross buns. The Easter Bunny isn't coming this year anyway, he's gone back into hibernation...

 

Give the resurrection some thought this Easter time. If it would help, come to one of our Easter services and find out more – details elsewhere on the website.

Yes, one day it will be me, there in that box… but thanks to Jesus, I can live with that.

 

(recently published in Pioneer magazine)

Isla

Another few hours spent yesterday with Isla, our beautiful granddaughter – now scientifically proven to be the cutest baby on the entire planet!

And part of it is the beautiful simplicity of her life. She isn't worried about whether there will still be snow tomorrow or how to pay the mortgage or how the big bang started. All she does is eat and sleep – bliss! What a sad contrast to my own anxiety-ridden life.

Why and how did I ever find so many things to worry about? Why do I define the Christian life in terms of activity, instead of being? Can it be that we run around after this and that because we are trying to attract our Father's attention? To make him love us more, as if that were possible? Can't we learn from Isla that our mere existence is enough to provoke the love and delight of heaven?

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall never go hungry." He also said, "Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." All we need to do – just eating and sleeping…