9th
April 2020
Maundy
Thursday
Pastoral
Letter No. 7
Fr
Andrew writes:
In any
ordinary Holy Week the Bishop invites all the deacons, priests and bishops in
the diocese to the cathedral to reaffirm the promises made at ordination and to
be reminded of how their ministry serves the whole people of God, and are not
simply an end in themselves. This most often happens on Maundy Thursday. This
year, of course, that gathering with the Bishop – known as the Chrism Mass - cannot
take place (although there is a virtual replacement!).
Each Holy
Week it is my practice to reread the Ordinal and ponder afresh its meaning in
my own ministry. It is worth a read by everyone, clergy or not. (https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/ministry/common-worship-ordination-services#mm014). It sets out in clear
and beautiful ways what your bishops, priests and deacons are all about (or
meant to be). It is a means of reconnecting with Jesus Christ, the Good
Shepherd and our great High Priest.
The
ministry of a deacon and a priest are distinct. It is worth remembering, not
least by priests and bishops, that they were first ordained as deacons and that
that ministry of service still holds good for them. Likewise, all clergy were
first baptised, and that is the fundamental building block of Christian service
which every last one of us shares. In my book you can have as high a doctrine
of ordination as you like, as long as your doctrine of baptism is higher! As St
Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD) said, ‘I am a bishop for you and a Christian with
you’ (Sermon 340: ‘On the Anniversary of
His Ordination’). That is our first calling, to be disciples. For some who
are called that way their discipleship is exercised in public ministry.
It is also
worth remembering that, as the Chrism Mass is the place where clergy reaffirm
the promises of their ordination, every
member of the church reaffirms the promises of baptism at Easter, during the
Easter Vigil.
The
introduction to an ordination service at which deacons and priests are ordained
together sets out the roots of ordained ministry:
“God calls his people to
follow Christ, and forms us into a royal priesthood, a holy nation, to declare
the wonderful deeds of him who has called us out of darkness into his
marvellous light.
The Church is the Body of
Christ, the people of God and the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. In baptism
the whole Church is summoned to witness to God’s love and to work for the
coming of his kingdom.
To serve this royal
priesthood, God has given a variety of ministries. Deacons are ordained so that
the people of God may be better equipped to make Christ known. Theirs is a life
of visible self-giving. Christ is the pattern of their calling and their
commission; as he washed the feet of his disciples, so they must wash the feet
of others.
Priests are ordained to
lead God’s people in the offering of praise and the proclamation of the gospel.
They share with the Bishop in the oversight of the Church, delighting in its
beauty and rejoicing in its well-being. They are to set the example of the Good
Shepherd always before them as the pattern of their calling. With the Bishop
and their fellow presbyters, they are to sustain the community of the faithful
by the ministry of word and sacrament, that we all may grow into the fullness
of Christ and be a living sacrifice acceptable to God.”
That is a
good general overview of the place of ordained ministry within the Church. There
is a fuller account in the Ordinal of both the role of a deacon and a priest
which comes later in the service.
I would
like now to share some of my reflections on my priesthood this year, in the era
of coronavirus. As in so many areas of life the lockdown has been a game
changer in how priestly ministry can be carried out: it has thrown so much into
sharp relief. The daily norms and patterns have changed for us as a church and
me as the one entrusted with leading the church, preaching the word and
celebrating the sacraments (done, of course, in partnership with fellow priests
and deacons, lay ministers and lay officers and staff of the church).
I
explored the question ‘can a closed church be alive and
active?!’ in
Pastoral Letter 3 (https://canonandrewb.blogspot.com/2020/03/coronavirus-pastoral-letter-3-23rd.html). A similar question is
true for a priest: ‘can a socially distanced priest be alive and active?!’ In
the absence of a building and congregation perhaps the role of a priest
diminishes. Actually, I believe, and have found this to be the case over the
last three weeks or so, that the answer is the opposite: a priest who is
socially distanced in the era of modern technology can and should be alive and
active as a priest. Indeed in some ways this crisis has brought out more of
what it means to be a priest, and a church, than in normal times.
The early
Christian experience was living life as a hidden church for it was a church
that knew the prospect of martyrdom very readily. Prayer and the breaking of
bread was offered in homes and Christians gathered in hidden places, crypts and
catacombs. The Church after Constantine (315AD) took on a new public life and
the role of bishops changed too: from being characters in the shadows praying
for and with their people and being shepherds, they became leaders in the
public square – the shepherd’s crook became less prominent and the monarchical
mitre became the dominant image of the bishop.
So where
are we today? Bishops, who represent the fullness of ordained ministry, are
both of the above - shepherds and public figures - but the latter role is
decreasing. At the same time the church is learning a new way of relating to
society, not being the dominant force we once were, not being able to take for
granted that everyone is really a lapsed Anglican unless they are consciously
of another denomination or faith. We can lament that, or embrace the reality.
I have come
to the conclusion, highlighted in the coronavirus era, that the role of the
priest can be distilled down into two key things: offering the sacrifice of the
liturgy for, and with, the Church and shepherding the Church. This is captured
in the Ordinal: ‘Priests are called to be servants and shepherds among the
people to whom they are sent…they are to unfold the Scriptures, to preach the
word in season and out of season, and to declare the mighty acts of God. They
are to preside at the Lord’s table and lead his people in worship, offering
with them a spiritual sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.’
As with so
many people I am looking at the fundamentals of who I am when the accretions of
what is deemed ‘how we always do things’ are stripped away.
In the
Gospel Jesus looked at the crowds and had compassion on them because ‘they are
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Matthew 9.36). I have
tried not to feel harassed and helpless like a shepherd without sheep! (Remember
that the root of the word ‘congregation’ literally means ‘the coming together
of a flock’).
The Ordinal
says that as a shepherd and priest I am also to ‘feed and provide for
[Christ’s] family, to search for his children in the wilderness of this world’s
temptations, and to guide them through its confusions’. Lockdown tells me I
have to be a shepherd in new ways.
In virtual
ways, I have to ensure a number of things: a. that the people entrusted to my
care is fed spiritually (in the offering of worship), and physically (in
ensuring they have access to shopping and provisions); b. that I have search
people out who may have fallen through the cracks of care and provision; and c.
I have to interpret what we are going through in the light of the hope of the
Gospel and encourage people in that hope. That’s why the streaming of worship,
pastoral letters and phone calls.
Really
importantly I reflect that, whilst I have responsibility for all this, I am
also to remember that I do not do this in my strength alone – otherwise it
wouldn’t happen! – but the Ordinal reminds me that ‘Guided by the Spirit, [priests]
are to discern and foster the gifts of all God’s people, that the whole Church
may be built up in unity and faith.’ I give thanks to God for his grace and for
the gifts of my colleagues and congregation(s) that are so evident at the
moment.
That is the
final pointer to who and what will be as a church and God’s ministers after
this crisis has passed. My task is to discern with you how we can come through
this stronger and more authentically the Church than when it started: what
needs purging away so that we grow deeper in our faith? What are the ‘norms’ of
our custom and practice that we take for granted that we really can do without?
What are the truly precious aspects of our life as a church that we cannot do
without, or that we need more of?
These are
key questions for a priest and a church. In the light of all I have said above,
I cannot wait until the day when we can congregate (as God’s flock) again: on
that day - singing and praying - we will lament the pain and sorrow suffered by
so many; we will celebrate our deliverance from the virus; and we will commit
ourselves afresh to the enduring love of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, the
pattern of every priest’s calling.
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