Talk given by the Rector on 7 December 2008Readings: Isaiah 30:15-18 and Matthew 9:35-10:1
On this the church's 'birthday' or patronal festival of St Nicolas, I'm afraid there isn't much documentary evidence about him at all. In fact there's so little that, back in 1969, Pope Paul VI ordered his feast day to be removed from the official calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. We can have a party if we want to. But, actually, there's no historical evidence that he ever even existed! What St Nicolas himself thinks about this we don't know. But perhaps he has appreciated the opportunity to have a bit of a rest... Over the years Nicolas has been the patron saint of Russia, Greece, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sicily. At various times he has also been patron saint of fishermen, sailors, bakers, tailors, coopers, weavers, pharmacists, grocers, bankers, virgins, students, merchants, pawnbrokers, the downtrodden and the desperate, and even thieves and murderers. Back in the Middle Ages he was the foremost saint in Europe - which perhaps explains why the good people of Newbury decided to dedicate this building to him and adopt him as their patron saint. Why was this? Well, perhaps the most famous of the stories about him helps to explain his popularity. A rich young man was walking one day through the streets of his native town, when he heard sounds of lamentation from the house of a nobleman who had lost all his money was now living on the verge of starvation with his three daughers. The young man listened and he heard a girl's voice say: "Father, let us go into the streets and beg, for it is hard to starve". The father answered, "Not yet. Let us wait one more night. I will again pray that God will save my children from such disgace". The young man, whose name, in case you haven't guessed, was Nicolas, hurried home. Among the treasures he had inherited from his father were three bars of solid gold. He took one of these bars at night to the house of the poor man, and finding an open window, which he could just reach by standing on tiptoe, he thrust in the bar of gold and left without being seen. He came the following night and left the second bar, again without being seen. On the third night he came and left the third bar. But on this third occasion he was discovered and the father, who believed that the gold had come from heaven itself, knelt at his feet. Nicolas lifted him up and said: "No, no, give thanks to God, for it was he who sent me to you". It was God who sent me to you. It's this aspect of God - the idea that he is the God who sends in order to rescue - that gives our gathering together today the notes of celebration and challenge. Celebration for all that he has sent and we have received. And challenge for all that he has sent and invites us to share with others. I've asked a number of people to say something about a) what they have seen God doing over the last year through the life of the church and b) what they're passionate about for the future. [Paul Udry, Rosie Davis and Christine Indge] I want to conclude by saying something about the ongoing work of the SPEAR team. I'm very grateful to the members of the team, who have been working with me during the last year or so, and also to everyone else who has prayed, thought and contributed to the process. There is clearly a great deal to be thankful for and much to encourage us in the life of the church. But there is also plenty of scope for growth and development and we are beginning to discern a number of specific areas to focus on in the coming years. SPEAR stand for 'Strategic Planning, Evaluation And Review', a phrase which, I know, manages to delight some and horrify others! I think I can best explain it like this. If you look under the sink, you've probably got a few household cleaning products that come in spray bottles. Some of them have three settings on the nozzle. There's 'off', there's something like 'spray or mist' and there's something like 'jet or beam'. SPEAR is about helping us move from 'spray' to 'jet'. In all the welter of busy activity, it's about helping us discern what really matters to us and work out how best to concentrate on that. Today's gospel reading sets out the unchanging context of the world in which the church has expressed her life right from the very start. Listen again. 'When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.' At the heart of what we at St Nicolas are about is the desire, first, to deepen our own relationship with the Good Shepherd and, secondly, to introduce others into his fold. The headline which has helped me bring that into focus is 'Transformed and Transforming'. We want St Nicolas to be a Christian community within which the lives of people of all ages are transformed as they come to know God for themselves through understanding and accepting the good news of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Lives that are transformed become transforming - and so we want to become more effective in sharing the life of Jesus with those around us, so that more and more people in our town and across the world come to 'give thanks to the God who sends us to them'. God's clear intention is to change us so that we can be his agents of change in others. It's expressed in a number of ways. Church is about 1) knowing Christ and 2) making Christ known. The Jesus who says 'Come... to me' is also the Jesus who says 'Go... into all the world'. The Great Commandment - you're to love God with everything you've got and your neighbour as yourself - goes alongside the Great Commission - you're to help others to do the same. So, earlier in the year, we thought about five markers of health in the life of a church, five things which show we're on the right track. 1. A healthy church helps people connect with God and become Christians.
2. A healthy church helps people to worship God and place him at the centre of their lives.
3. A healthy church helps people to belong and play their full part in the Christian community.
4. A healthy church helps people to grow and become mature in their faith.
5. A healthy church helps people to serve by using their God-given gifts for the benefit of others, wherever in the world God calls them. In the light of all this, I want to suggest a goal for the next year which is, in the language of those who talk like this, big, hairy and audacious. It's the goal of effectively doubling church attendance (including children and young people) by the end of 2009. By the end of next year we want twice as many people to be committed to being transformed and transforming by the love of Christ through St Nicolas. Of course, church attendance is not by any means the only - or even the best - indicator of church health but it has the benefit of being clear and measurable. We'll be able to tell whether or not we get there. If we're to fulfil a goal like that, our task then is to identify and deal with barriers to growth. What prevents at least twice as many people being here as are there are at the moment? What do you think? Let me outline two of three of the barriers to growth which we're working on... 1. First, I believe we need to address issues of unhappiness and tension which stem from the decision to change our morning service pattern nearly two years ago. Feedback from the congregation shows that this is continuing to drain our energy and vitality and to take the edge off what we do. I don't know what the solution is but I have invited Janet Russell, the parish development adviser for our area, to work with us in finding an answer. A meeting is being planned for those who would like to contribute to this process, probably on a Saturday morning early in the New Year. 2. Secondly, I believe we need to address the issue of how we set people free to lead. We have a structure of teams in place which was working four or five years ago but isn't working properly now. There's a mismatch between the structures we have on paper and the excellent leadership that is actually taking place in practice. There's a need for greater clarity and support in our leadership structures which the PCC is going to be invited to address as a matter of urgency. 3. Thirdly, I believe we need to address the issue of welcome and integration. I heard recently of an occasion when Nicky Gumbel, now vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, was asked how many weeks they leave it before inviting someone new to contribute in some positive way to the life of the church. "Oh," he said, "we don't wait at all - we ask them straight away". I think we need that sort of attitude here. Isn't the best sort of church to belong to one that asks at least as much as it offers. My old school motto was 'To each his need, from each his power' which was, rather daringly perhaps, derived from the Communist Manifesto when the school was founded in 1936! To each his need. Yes - but also 'From each his power'. Transformed and transforming. Sarah Alexander is going to be heading up a team working on how we welcome and integrate newcomers more effectively. I'm sure there are plenty of other obstacles we shall need to tackle if we are to achieve the goal of doubling our congregation in a year! But they'll keep us going for now... We end with the words of Nicolas to the nobleman in that story I told earlier. "Give thanks to God, for it was he who sent me to you". For each of us, to whom is God sending us? And to do what? Today is about celebration for all that God has sent and that we have received. And challenge for all that God has sent and invites us to share with others. May we do so more and more to his praise and glory. Amen. © 2008 David Stone | 