New curate: Revd Sally Muggeridge

Following her ordination as Deacon yesterday at St Paul's Cathedral, I am very pleased to be able to welcome the Revd Sally Muggeridge as curate at St Stephen Walbrook.

Sally studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Westfield College, London and Henley Business School. Following a successful business career embracing several board level appointments in Marketing and Human Resource Management she became the Chief Executive of the Industry & Parliament Trust, a registered charity, a role held for seven years. She then joined the board of Total Oil UK.

With a long held and affirmed calling to ministry Sally commenced theological study with SEITE in 2008, initially as a self-supporting student, and graduated in Theology for Christian Ministry in 2013 at Christchurch University, Canterbury. She became a Reader (LLM) the same year, taking services and preaching widely in the Diocese of Canterbury and elsewhere by invitation.

As the niece of Christian apologist and broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge, Sally has managed his legacy through a literary society, publishing several religious books including Conversion, Malcolm Muggeridge on Faith, and Something Beautiful for God. She also initiated and edited a membership newsletter called The Gargoyle. Sally was an elected lay member of General Synod from 2010-15, and a Church Commissioner from 2012. She has also been serving as a churchwarden. These lay roles have been necessarily relinquished due to ordination.

A Freeman of the City of London, Sally became Master of a City Livery Company in 2013 - the Worshipful Company of Marketors. She has also held the position of Executive Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and is an Honorary Life Member of the Academy of Marketing.

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Malcolm Muggeridge - A Third Testament.

Transcending tribal identities

On Thursday, at St John's Seven Kings, we hosted a fascinating meeting of the East London Three Faiths Forum looking at the topic of Marriage and the Family. There was a high degree of consensus among the three speakers for what we tend to think of as being the traditional view of marriage and family life i.e. marriage being the lifelong union of one man and one woman for the procreation of children and the family unit as the foundational building block of society. From this perspective, the diversity of forms of relationship which we find today within society is viewed as a sign that society is disintegrating and that we have moved away from God’s pattern for human flourishing.

Yet, as Christians, we claim to follow someone who poses some very significant challenges to our understanding of the place of family (Luke 9. 51 - 62). "The obligation to bury one’s father was regarded by many Jews of Jesus’ time as the most holy and binding duty of a son; but Jesus says that that is secondary to the call to follow him and announce God’s kingdom." This call cuts across family life and our traditional understandings of family. Here, even saying goodbye to your family before you leave seems to be criticised by Jesus!

In Matthew 12, when Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were nearby, we read that he said: "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? … Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother." Then in Matthew 10 we read of Jesus saying: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; your worst enemies will be the members of your own family."

Tom Wright notes in his commentary on this passage that Jesus is quoting from the prophet Micah (Micah 7.6) who predicts the terrible divisions that will always occur when God does a new thing. "Jesus came to bring and establish the new way of being God’s people, and not surprisingly those who were quite happy with the old one, thank you very much, didn’t like it being disturbed." "He didn’t want to bring division within households for the sake of it," Wright says, but "he knew that, if people followed his way, division was bound to follow."

So what is this new way of being God’s people which challenges our more traditional understandings of family life? I’ve recently read the latest book by Peter Rollins called ‘The Idolatry of God’ which I’ve found very helpful on this question, so I’d like to share with you some of his thinking.

"There are so many divisions in society, divisions between political parties, religious traditions and social groups. This is perfectly natural, of course. From birth, we experience a pre-existing matrix of beliefs and practices that differentiate us from others.

We discover early on that we have been given a mantle, that we are part of a tribe, one with a rich history, deep hopes and a variety of fears. The world is full of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Some of these divisions have deep histories that span multiple generations, while others are very new. Some are serious and others border on the ridiculous. But, at their most extreme, these divisions can result in local and global conflicts."

Rollins argues that to leave these divisions behind we need to transcend our given identities:

"Whether we are Conservative or Labour, rich or poor, male or female, these various bearers of our identification do not fully contain or constrain us and all too often prevent us from truly experiencing our own humanity."
 
He suggests that that is what St Paul teaches when he writes to the Galatians saying, "there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3. 28). "Here Paul mentions six distinct tribal identities that were ubiquitous in his time; six identities that can be further subdivided into three, namely the religious (Jew and Gentile), the political (slave and free) and the biological (male and female).

It was not that these different groupings were totally isolated from each other, but the way that each of these groups related to the others was clearly defined and carefully regulated.

These distinctions were justified by the authorities either in terms of a natural law or a divine plan; thus the difference in roles and responsibilities were non-negotiable and were required to maintain social stability."

In Jesus’ ministry though "we find a multitude of references to one who challenged the divisions that were seen as sacred, divisions between Jew and Gentile, male and female, and slave and free. Jesus spoke to tax collectors, engaged with Samaritans and treated women as equals in a world where these were outrageous acts." In our Gospel reading today we see Jesus refusing to perpetuate the divisions between Jews and Samaritans when his own disciples want to see revenge enacted on a Samaritan village for rejecting them.

More than this, though, in the incarnation we are presented with a picture of God coming down to earth as Jesus and being progressively stripped of all his prior identity as God’s Son. In Philippians 2 we read that he "made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!" (2.6-8).

Rollins writes that, "This is called kenosis and describes the act of self-emptying. This is most vividly expressed in the crucifixion, where we see Christ occupying the place of the complete outsider, embracing the life of one who is excluded from the political system, the religious community, and the cultural network."

To do this is to cut through the divisions which exist in society because of our different tribal identities. This is what Jesus means when he says he brings a sword into the world. He cuts into "the very heart of all tribal allegiances, bringing unity to what was previously divided":

"There is no change biologically (male or female), religiously (Jew or Greek) or politically (slave or free). Yet nothing remains the same, for these identities are now drained of their operative power and no longer hold us in the way that they once did. These identities no longer need to separate us from each other."

Our "concrete identity continues to exist, but it is now held differently and does not dictate the scope and limitations of one’s being. Paul expresses this powerfully when he writes:

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7.29-31)

What we witness here are concrete references to three different categories: (1) relationships, (2) the things that happen to us, and (3) the things we own. For Paul, these continue to exist, but we are to hold them differently from the way we previously did. We are no longer to act as though we are defined by the things we own, the things that happen to us, or the relationships we have. While these continue to be important, we must hold them in a way that ensures they do not have an inescapable grasp upon us.

Paul understands this radical cut as emanating directly from one’s identity with Christ, for Paul understands participation in the life of Christ as involving the loss of power that our various tribal identities once held for us."  

Last weekend our curate, Rev. Santou Beurklian-Carter, took on a new identity, that of a priest. But she does not do so in order that she can then define herself over against the rest of us. Her role as priest is not that of ‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ knows best. Instead, her role as priest is to lead us into our commemoration of the act in which Jesus let go of every identity by which he was known, becoming nothing, in order that we might come into a new life within the family or kingdom of God where all are one and where there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female.

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Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes.

Ordination Service - Chelmsford Cathedral

Santou Beurklian-Carter, our new curate at St John's Seven Kings, was ordained deacon today at Chelmsford Cathedral. One of Santou's sponsors was the former Vicar at St John's, Gordon Tarry, with whom Santou worked as Children's and Youth Worker at St Margaret's Barking. Also ordained in the same service was Sharon Guest, wife of former St John's curate, Ernie Guest.

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Delerious? - Here I Am Send Me.

Farewell to our curate

This afternoon we said goodbye to Geoff Eze, who has been our curate at St John's Seven Kings since 2008. This is what I said in thanking him for all he has contributed here during that time:

Because of your wise-cracking and extrovert personality, we have enjoyed and been challenged by some of your sermons that have stayed firmly lodged in our memories like your Christmas Day sermon where you gave us a humourous quiz about yourself (surprise, surprise!) that had us all thinking this is Geoff bigging himself up again. Only to then remove your robes in order to symbolise all that Christ gave up through the incarnation. I remember the whole mood and dynamic of the sermon and the service changing at that point with the meaning behind the action being crystal clear and lodging in memory just as much as the action itself.

We’ve had sermons using jazz, liturgies which rhyme, video interviews, as well as many sermons that have weaved a contemporary story (often personal and self-deprecating) together with the passage on which you have been preaching in such a way as to sustain interest in both the story and the passage. These are approaches to preaching that are not just for effect; they have helped us get at the heart of bible passages in a way that helps them stay in our memory and therefore continue to influence us.

You’ve done some great work with our children and young people over the time that you have been here; organising and fronting Holiday Clubs and building up the youth group with a varied programme which has interested our young people and drawn in young people from outside the church too. You’ve also developed youth leaders and helped in handing over the running of the Youth Group so that we can be confident it will continue. But you haven’t simply focused on young people, important as they are, those elderly and housebound folk that you have regularly visited have been very grateful for your conversation and for bringing them communion at home.

You have played an active role in the development of Street Pastors within the Deanery and took up the opportunity to provide a Christian witness in the community by becoming a Police Chaplain to the Newbury Safer Neighbourhoods Team. You’ve supported the deanery by being the clerk to the Clergy Chapter and by being the arranger for the early cluster meetings. You’ve been a key part of building the closer relationship we now have with St Paul’s Goodmayes and have organised and led the Palm Sunday procession and Praise in the Park. You’ve also done some excellent work with local schools, initially with the Christian Education Project, and then more recently through the Easter Activity Stations and by forging new links with the new Aldborough E-Act Free School and Seven Kings High School.

So, there has been lots that you have done and much that we will remember with real gratitude. But, of course, we will also remember with real affection the person that you are; your optimism and positivity; your liveliness and energy; your humour and piano playing; and perhaps, most of all, the challenge of your ministry here – the challenge to us to expand our vision of what God can achieve through us combined with the encouragement to become all that God intends us to be.

Although we will miss you, we also know that you do need to move on for the next phase of your ministry, so we want to pray for your as you move to Stoke and as you begin your new ministry in the parish of Stoke Minister. Let us pray:

Lord God, we thank you for Geoff and for all that he has brought to St Johns during his time here. We thank you for bringing him to us and for all that we could share together during his curacy. We thank you for his new role in Stoke Minister and pray that you will help him adjust to his home, parish and city with all of the changes that will be involved. We pray that Stoke Minister will be a parish where he can use all of the gifts you have given to him and where he can utilise all that he has learnt through his training and curacy. We pray that he will continue to learn from you through the new experiences he has and the people he will meet and among whom he will minister in Stoke Minister. May your Spirit fill him for these new challenges and opportunities and may your hand of blessing rest upon to sustain and strengthen him for this new ministry in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Black Gospel Jazz - There Is None Like You.

Lifelong learning

Geoff with his gift of a home communion set

Geoff opening his gifts

Geoff at the Bring & Share lunch to celebrate his priesting

Bring & Share lunch

Geoff's family at the Bring & Share lunch

Those who went to Spring Harvest this year found that the learning sessions were divided up according to different learning styles. Which of these learning styles fits you best?

o Activist – You like the opportunity to generate a lot of ideas and to think on your feet. You like to start things off, have a go and try things out. You're open minded and enthusiastic about new ideas but tend to get bored with the details of implementation. You tend to act first and consider the implications afterwards. You love bouncing ideas off other people and solving problems as part of a team but you also enjoy the limelight! You learn best when you're involved in new experiences, problems and opportunities; when you're working with others and by being thrown in the deep end.

o Reflector – You like to think about details carefully before taking action and you take a thoughtful approach. You enjoy being prepared and the chance to research and evaluate something. You welcome opportunities to rethink and reflect on what you've learned and to consider a situation from different perspectives. You like to make decisions in your own time, you keep a low profile and enjoy observing others and hearing their opinions before offering your own. You learn best by reviewing what's happened and mulling over what you've learned and when you have time to complete tasks without tight deadlines.

o Theorist – You are logical and objective and take a step by step approach to problem solving. You pay attention to the details and can be a perfectionist. You are good at translating what you see around you into theories and you're good at fitting things into an overall understanding. You're detached and analytical, rather than subjective or emotional in your thinking and you like to feel intellectually stretched. You learn best in complex situations where you have to rely on skills and knowledge and when you can question and probe the ideas behind things.

o Pragmatist – You like to see how things work out in practice and you enjoy experimenting. You're a down-to-earth problem solver and you like concepts that can be readily applied to your everyday life. You can get impatient with lengthy conceptual discussions which you regard as impractical because you like to see the relevance of your work and to see a practical advantage from using what you've learned. You learn best when there is an obvious link between the topic and job and when you have the chance to feedback on ideas. You love being shown techniques with obvious advantages (e.g. saving time or money) or when you are shown something you can copy (like a proven technique).

We all have a preference for one or the other of these and learn most easily when learning experiences fit with our preferred style but, in order, to become more rounded people its also good to step out of our comfort zones and stretch ourselves by using the other learning styles as well.

You’ve thought briefly about those different styles in relation to yourself and probably other people too, so now let’s think about them in relation to Jesus and the disciples. When Jesus called his first disciples and they dropped their nets to follow him, the disciples were in Activist mode: acting first and considering the implications afterwards; being thrown in the deep end and trying things out.

But then they spent most of their time doing what disciples of rabbi’s always did, sitting at the rabbi’s feet and listening to the rabbi’s teaching. Then they were in Theorist mode: paying attention; fitting things into an overall understanding; intellectually stretched; questioning and probing the ideas behind things.

Now, in today’s Gospel reading, we see them going into Pragmatist mode by being asked to copy what they have been shown. Jesus sends them out two by two to have a go at doing what he has been doing: teaching and healing. Now they have to see how things work out in practice, apply the techniques that Jesus has taught them and solve problems in practice; like the problem of how to respond when they are rejected.

Later, when they return (and we read about this in Luke rather than Mark) they go into Reflector mode by reviewing with Jesus what happened while they were travelling preachers and healers and mulling over what they had learnt. They come back in great joy having had some great experiences and Jesus then puts what they have seen and done into the context of God’s plan for the world.

So, we can see the way in which the disciples benefited from different learning experiences and different learning styles at different times in their development. What is happening here today at St Johns is part of the same process; one particular disciple is in Pragmatist mode copying what he has been shown and trying something out in practice for the first time as Geoff Eze presides at communion for the first time having been ordained last week as a priest.

This is the culmination of a lengthy process of learning that will continue after today, because learning should be a lifelong experience for all of us and not something that is confined to particular periods in the education system. Geoff has made his own Activist response as he put himself forward for selection to the ordained ministry. There was a lengthy Reflective period as he went through selection followed by two years of primarily Theorist learning at Trinity College before coming here for a period of learning that mainly combines Pragmatism with Reflection.

That combination of Pragmatist with Reflector suits Geoff well, which is one reason why his curacy is proving a positive experience for him and for us, but all the learning styles are involved at different times and, as Jesus did with the disciples, we try to work through a cycle of learning – planning an activity as a Theorist; testing out techniques as a Pragmatist; throwing yourself into the activity as an Activist; and then reviewing the experience as a Reflector before working through the learning cycle all over again.

Now we might say that that is fine for a curate who as everyone knows is in the final stages of training for future roles in ordained ministry (incumbency, chaplaincy and so on) but what does it have to say to us who are not training as ordained ministers?

I’ve tried to indicate answers to that question as we’ve gone along. When he gave his disciples the Great Commission just before his Ascension, Jesus said that they were to go and make disciples. What he was saying is that all of us who follow Jesus are to be disciples and disciples are those who sit at the feet of the rabbi (in our case, Jesus) and learn from him. Just as Jesus took his disciples through a cycle of learning, so he wants to do the same with us. As part of that learning, the disciples were given roles and responsibilities and became leaders in the church – as has also happened for Geoff – but they never ceased to be disciples and always had more to learn.

It is the same for us, as it is for Geoff. It is a little like the process of being ordained first as a deacon and then as a priest. Simply put, a deacon is a servant. We are ordained first as a deacon to remind us that we are servants of Christ and his church first and foremost. When we are ordained as priest, we don’t then stop being a deacon and it doesn’t matter whether we then go on to further ordinations, for example as a bishop, we remain a deacon, a servant, throughout.

It is the same for us, whether we are a Reader or a Church Warden or a Homegroup leader or a Hall Bookings Manager or a Choir Director or whatever role we might play in our church or our workplaces, as a Manager or a Secretary or Director or some other role. Whatever role or responsibility we have we are first and foremost a disciple, a learner, and, as a result, our learning should be lifelong and not only during particular periods of education.

Geoff, because he is in training, can be a visual reminder that we are all in training all the time. We need that reminder regularly because we all face the temptation to think that we have arrived – maybe as Christians, maybe in the role we carry out – when in fact we all have more to learn all the time. Not least, because we are learning from the perfection of Jesus himself and we always fall short of that perfection and therefore always have more to learn.

When we understand ourselves to be disciples, learners, first and foremost then it changes our attitude towards the roles we play. If we know that there is always something more we can learn then we pay attention to others and what they are doing rather than focusing on ourselves, we have a basic curiosity that makes us ask why are you doing that that way, instead of saying “it’s my way or the highway,” we have an underlying humility that recognises that I may have much to learn from your way.

Where are we in relation to these kinds of attitudes? Where are we in our learning cycle with Jesus? Where do we need to be stretched and challenged in our lives and learning styles? Are we inspired by the experience of having someone who is actively learning among us to be active learners ourselves? It is easy for parishes to think that because they are a training parish they have everything to give instead of everything to learn. But the best trainers are those who are aware of always learning themselves.

What are you learning from Jesus at the moment? How is your faith changing and developing your life at the moment? How is your ministry growing in your home, in this church, in our community and in your workplace? These are the questions we need to ask if we are to be those who sit at the feet of Jesus in order to learn from his teaching and practice. These are the questions we need to ask and to answer if we are to be disciples.

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Larry Norman - I Am A Servant.

Not titles but testimonies

Geoff Eze, curate at St Johns Seven Kings, was ordained as a priest during a service held at St Marys Walthamstow on Sunday 28th June. He was one of six ordained as priest by the Bishop of Barking during the service, which was attended by many of the St Johns congregation.

During the ordination service, the Ven. Elwin Cockett, Archdeacon of West Ham, spoke movingly about his father who instead of pursuing positions as a doctor in this country served others abroad through his skills and, as a result, died in his mid-thirties. On the day of his funeral the Ghanaian town where he had served came to a standstill. Elwin concluded that it was not titles but testimonies that are the true measure of a person’s life and service.

Geoff says that: "Serving St John's for the last year has been a privilege and a blessing. My ordination to the priesthood is a testimony to the work of the Lord through His people, especially that of my vicar, Jonathan and the loving and dedicated congregation of St John's. I look forward with intrepidation and excitement to continue working for St John's and the people of Seven Kings in Christ's name."

An ordination is a very special celebration for the whole church. From earliest times Christians have recognized that God has called and gifted every Christian to some sort of ministry. The Bible and early church history suggest our traditional pattern of Bishop, Priest and Deacon as servant leaders of God’s people.

Ordination as priest is the next step that Geoff is taking on an exciting journey through life of being committed to God. We, at St John’s, look forward to all that the next stage on that journey will bring both for him and for us.

Geoff will preside at communion for the first time in the 10.00am service at St Johns Seven Kings on Sunday 5th July. The service will be followed by a bring-and-share lunch to celebrate Geoff’s Priesting. All are welcome.

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Paul Johnson - If We Lose Our Way.

Welcomes & a farewell

Rt. Revd. Isingoma (Bishop of Boga, Democratic Republic of Congo), Revd. Geoff Eze (Curate, St John's Seven Kings), Mme Mugisa Isingoma (Bishop's wife) at St John's Seven Kings

July, for St John's, will be a time for several welcomes and a farewell. The welcomes began at our International Evening on Saturday 5th July when we had the opportunity to welcome Geoff Eze, our new curate into the Parish. Geoff was ordained as a deacon the previous Sunday and had already spent his first week in the Parish by the time of the International Evening, but for most of us that evening was our first opportunity to welcome him.

Also at the International Evening were Bishop and Mrs Isingoma from the Diocese of Boga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are currently visiting our Parish, prior to attending the Lambeth Conference. Bishop Isingoma preached at the 10am service on Sunday 6th July and Mrs Isingoma will speak at a special Mothers’ Union meeting on this evening. We have been looking forward greatly to their visit as it gives us another opportunity to renew our support for the work of Judy Acheson and Agape in Boga.

Next Sunday St John's will welcome Father Ben Rutt-Field from St Paul’s Goodmayes, as he and I will swap churches for that morning and lead each other’s services. As part of the Deanery Vision, neighbouring parishes are being encouraged to look for ways of working together. Father Ben and I are initiating that process for St Paul’s and St John’s by visiting each others churches. In the autumn we hope to take this further by getting our respective Mission committees together to share ideas on ways of working together.

The farewell is to Linda McMurray, the Minister of Seven Kings Methodist, who helped in the leading of the Lent courses held at St John’s this year. Linda and her husband Nigel are moving to Newcastle and Linda’s leaving service will be held on Sunday 20th July from 3pm at Seven Kings Methodist. I have greatly valued Linda’s friendship and prayers together with the opportunity to work ecumenically with her, both here and in Barking.

Our Holiday Club (10.00am – 12.30pm, 29th July to 1st August) will this year be called ‘Champions Challenge’ and will include the usual blend of songs, drama, crafts and games. This year there will also be a Community BBQ (12noon – 2pm, Saturday 2nd August) to which everyone is invited and the Holiday Club service will round the week off at 10am on Sunday 3rd August. After all that we will no doubt collapse in a heap having had a lot of fun and having shared Jesus with those around.

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Delirious? - Inside Outside.

Welcome to Geoff Eze

This is Geoff Eze and I following Geoff's ordination as a Deacon at Chelmsford Cathedral yesterday. Geoff begins his ministry as curate at St John's today and I am greatly looking forward to working with him and his being part of our team at St John's.

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Robert Randolph & The Family Band - Going In The Right Direction.