Approaching leave taking (2)

Here's the sermon that I shared this morning at St Andrew’s Wickford:

In May I spoke about ways to approach leave taking, a topic that is on our mind at present because our much-loved Revd Sue Wise is soon to retire. The prompt for doing so was Jesus’ statement that his disciples would do greater things once he had ascended to his Father. Our Old Testament passage today (2 Kings 2:1-14) gives us another way of thinking about and preparing for leave taking.

Elisha asked to inherit a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, when he knew Elijah was to be taken from him to ascend to God in heaven. Elijah said that, although a difficult ask, Elisha’s request would be granted if Elisha saw Elijah at the point of his leaving.

We can ask for something similar in relation to Sue’s retirement. We have all benefited from Sue’s ministry over the 11 years that she has been in the parish and can inherit from her a double portion of her spirit as she leaves us.

That involves looking at the person she is that the gifts and interests she has shared in order that we learn from these and continue to use ourselves those things that she has shared with us.

Wellbeing has been a major focus of Sue’s ministry, whether utilising and sharing learning, skills and approaches from Acorn Christian Healing Foundation’s listening and pastoral attentiveness training or leading a number of Kintsugi Hope Wellbeing Groups. The former helped people grow in compassionate, attentive care through a combination of listening, healing, and reconciliation. The latter create a safe and supportive space where, through a structured yet flexible programme, people can accept themselves, understand their value and worth, and grow towards a more resilient and hopeful future.

Care for creation has been another of Sue’s particular interests and enthusiasms. Under her direction all of our churches have obtained the Eco-Church Silver award with this meaning that we have together looked at: Worship and teaching; Buildings and energy; Land and nature; Community and global engagement; and Lifestyle. She has also ensured that we understand creation-care in the context of the Five Marks of Mission where TREASURE involves striving to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth. This fifth mark of mission articulates the ecological dimension of mission, widening the circle of responsibility to its furthest extent. This mark reflects a mature theological understanding that God’s redemptive plan is cosmic in scope. It calls human beings to their divinely appointed role as stewards of the earth, presenting environmental care not as a secular agenda but as an integral component of faithfulness to the Creator God.

Additionally, Sue has helped us embed this understanding within the church calendar. We now keep Creationtide, when churches and congregations are called to pay special attention to the responsibility of humanity for the Earth and for all that lives upon it and take part in Churches Count on Nature, when Wickford Wildlife Association identify wildlife in our churchyards.

These are two of Sue’s many interests and areas of ministry where she has invested time with commitment and imagination. There are many others. We need to look at what she has been and done if we are to inherit a double portion of her spirit.

Jesus said that his followers would do greater things by doing more and different things than he could do within his own ministry. This is how we approach leave taking by doing more of the same in the spirit of the one who has gone. Elijah promised a double portion of his spirit to Elisha if he saw Elijah as he left. We can have a double portion of Sue’s spirit if we all take what we have learnt from her and apply in our own lives and ministries. Then the impact of her ministry will be doubled.

We will miss Sue greatly when she leaves but we will honour her time among us best if we take what she has shared with us and use it in new ways within our parish. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Iona - Beyond These Shores.

Approaching leave taking

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

Our two readings today (Acts 20.28-end and John 17.11-19) are both about leave taking. Jesus prays for his disciples as he will soon be leaving them when he ascends to be with God the Father, while St Paul gives his final messages to the Ephesian Elders before leaving them. They kneel, pray and embrace together with tears being shed. Leave taking is always hard, as we will experience at the end of June when we say goodbye to Revd Sue Wise and Simon and thank them for all they have done and been in this Parish. Let us use these passages to reflect on how we should approach that leave taking and what, under God, Sue and Simon will be praying for us.

Jesus prayed that his disciples would know God’s protection, be sanctified and be united. Paul asked the Ephesian Elders to keep watch over the congregation in Ephesus and commended them to God and to the message of his grace, a message that was able to build them up and to give them the inheritance among all who are sanctified. Both were aware that there would be difficult challenges ahead for those they were leaving but trusted that, in God’s hands, they would endure.

In his farewell discourses to his disciples, Jesus said something amazing because he said that those who follow him would do greater things than him and would be led into all truth. When you think how amazing Jesus’ own actions were, it is hard to imagine how people like us could do greater things than that, and, when you think how profound his teaching was, how could we be led into deeper or greater truth than that?

But Jesus was articulating something that all good teachers think and feel; the sense that all the time he had spent with them and invested in them was not so they would be clones of him, simply repeating the things he did and said, but instead he had equipped, empowered and enabled his followers to follow him by using their own gifts and abilities and initiative which would inevitably mean that they would do and say different things from him but still with his Spirit and based on all they had learnt from him.

He was saying that each one of us is a unique combination of personality, abilities and potential and, therefore, each of us can make a unique mark on the world. His followers can do greater things than Jesus because they will do different things from him in his name and Spirit – things that only they can do for him because they are that unique package of personality, ability and potential.

That is also what we, the ministry team here, wish for you. That you will use what you have learnt here and the abilities you have developed here to make your own mark on the world and to continue learning, particularly about the meaning of life itself.

What that mark will be we can’t predict, but please don’t make the mistake of thinking that making your mark on the world and doing great things means becoming famous or making pots of money. Many of the most significant things that people do in the course of their lives don’t make the headlines and don’t build our bank balances! For example, forming faithful, committed relationships is one of the most challenging but meaningful things we can do in life but that won’t feature in the press and media or usually impact on our bank balance. Some of us have become parents (others have brought many children into the world) and know the joys and struggles of supporting children in their development and growth. That is one of the most significant things we can do over the course of our lives; something that is both extraordinary and profoundly ordinary at one and the same time.

Our prayer for you is what Jesus prayed for his disciples that you will know God’s protection, be sanctified, be united, be built up, be given the inheritance among all who are sanctified, and go on to do greater things than us by making your unique mark on the world and go ever deeper into truth by continuing to learn throughout your life.

Let us pray for God’s blessing on our experiences of leave taking, our doing, and our learning:

We thank you, Lord, for each one of these your people - for their unique combination of personality, abilities and potential, for all they have learnt here and for all the friendships they have formed. We pray for your blessing on us and pray for your guidance as we continue to seek to make our mark on the world by using all we have learnt here together with our unique combination of personality, abilities and potential. We pray that we might do great things, things that we cannot do alone and cannot yet predict. We pray the blessing of committed, sustained friendships and relationships and the blessing of ongoing, lifelong learning. Most of all we pray that the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit will rest upon and remain with each one of us now and forever. Amen.

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Low - One Special Gift.