Last Monday I went to St Martin in the Fields in London to
an event celebrating the life and writing of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German pastor and theologian, who during
the Second World War was a leading light in what was known as the Confessing
Church. This was a group of German
Evangelical Christians who opposed the Hitler regime. Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 for being
part of a plot to assassinate Hitler and 70 years ago this month, at the age of
39, he was hanged at Flossenburg in the dying days of the Hitler regime. The world was robbed of a brilliant mind and
who knows how he might have helped shape Christian thinking had he lived. He was asking the questions about how we
integrate faith and life, how we take seriously the intellectual questions and
challenges of our day. He asked what it
means to be a follower of Christ and his writings have inspired students of
theology since, including me. His works
were part of my degree course 30 years ago, so I went to brush up my Bonhoeffer
and was reminded just what influence the thinking forged in the crucible of
stark conflict and oppression brings. Sadly
this crucible is a feature of the Christian church throughout the centuries and
we are seeing it today.
Bonhoeffer was a pacifist, but he felt he was dealing with
such an extreme regime that
extreme action was called for. If a maniac is running down the street and
murdering, we have a duty to intervene.
That is how he saw Hitler. For
him we have no choice but to take seriously where we are and enter the waters
of human affairs. These are murky and
compromised; there is never perfect vision at the time. We will face a backlash from those who
disagree and if they are the regime with coercive power there could be life and
death consequences. That has been the
case for two millennia and it is the case in parts of the world today. Being authentic and faithful to our convictions
is impressive. The Archbishop of
Canterbury told mourners at a funeral in Africa recently, who gathered to pray
and to praise Christ just days after a massacre, that their witness in the face
of a great atrocity, which was costly and dangerous, was nonetheless an
inspiration to those of us in much less violent places. This is why we display ‘We are N’ outside
this church – the ‘N’ standing for people of the Nazarene because it is daubed
on churches and houses in Syria to mark them out for persecution. ‘N’ is our badge of honour because we share
in the name of Jesus. We identify with
our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith – ancient
churches, in the case of Syria who still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. We are reminded in doing this that faith can
cost because it matters so much to us.
Location is one of the ‘L’s that I gave last year at this
meeting; taking where we are seriously.
We are not anywhere else. This
church sits in the city centre and our mission ground is around us. This brings tremendous opportunities which we
only scratch the surface of. Having the
personnel to do this is always our challenge.
Others will move in and do and we don’t always share the same outlook as
them. I told some Christian rappers
yesterday that they were being too loud and they were surprised when I told
them that we are here all the time and the businesses and people who live in
the city centre are our neighbours. We
have a calling to be the public face of the church in the public square of this
city and proclaim the love of God in Christ, in the spirit of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer taking the intellectual challenges and the political and social
issues of our day and place seriously. We
do not have exclusive rights over this, but we are here all the time and that
brings responsibilities and challenges with the opportunities. How we pick those up is always a challenging
question. But we do far more than many
realise.
We were only able to host the event because I brought in
stewards from the cathedral. Without
them we would not have been able to run the event, we just didn’t have the
personnel from within the church. We
needed them because they ‘sat on’ one or two of the more militant hecklers and
brought some restraint, even if they were not able to silence them and I would
not have wanted people to be completely silent.
Politics needs passion because the issues matter. But it needs respect too. The problems with stewarding events has been
a recurring theme this last year. Our
administrators have had difficulty staffing some events and we have not
accepted some bookings due to this. That
impacts on our income, but it also impacts on how much reach we are able to
have in this place and from this place.
One of the opportunities that we have here is to be a beacon
of hope in the city centre. It is
important that we remember what this place is for: it is much more than a
location for the arts and culture.
Bonhoeffer was clear that everything he said and wrote, everything the
church does has to be rooted and grounded in prayer. It is the powerhouse of the church, the place
from which we draw our sustenance and if we do not do this, if we are not
people of prayer, we have nothing to offer the world. These are words easily said and I hear them
in many church circles, but we know when they are real and when they are just
pious padding. Prayer changes people. It gives focus, it brings a
stilled-attentiveness and it proclaims our place in the bigger picture that
comes from God. We are not here by
accident. This church was put here
because Abbot Genge of Peterborough Abbey knew the people needed a church in
their market square, as a stilled centre around which the busyness of trading
and living takes place, so he moved it from its former location on the site of
Bishop Creighton Academy today. We still
have that vocation and it is our primary one.
So in all the activity, being here, and being here means more than just
taking up space – being prayerfully here – is transformative. There is a confidence in God’s Kingdom and
God’s saving love which comes from the centuries these stones have been here
and housed prayer, and we continue to keep that beacon shining. Prayer also has a way of leading to action
and setting the course of travel. We are
not left undisturbed by the Holy Spirit who calls and challenges with living
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and making that known afresh to our generation.
This has been year of changes and disruption. We have suffered from a lack of stability in
the church office. For reasons all
particular to the individuals concerned we have had three administrators during
the year and our fourth started on Thursday.
Every change takes us back to the beginning as they need to find their
feet and make the job their own. Stephen
George, our new administrator, is excited about working here and has a good
understanding of churches and the Church of England in particular. As before if there is anything that you think
is not being done, it needs to be focused through me because I am his line
manager. With such a rapid turnover
there will inevitably be things that I think I have mentioned but will actually
have told one of his predecessors. It
may be it is just taking time for him to get to grips with everything that
needs to be done. The Administrator role
is a key and complex one for how this church functions. Without it we could not function in our basic
administration, financial processing and recording, and in how we coordinate
the events that take place here. This is
a busy church and some events come at us with little notice and without
adequate planning or thinking through on the part of the organisers. It is the administrator’s key task to sort
this out and bring clarity so that the event runs well to everyone’s
enjoyment. We’ve learnt a few lessons
the hard way here.
We have also welcomed Ashley as our caretaker; another key
job, after Gordon Little retired last August.
The churches sparkle and he takes great care over his duties. He is also cleaning St Luke’s and we have found
things have been done without asking, which is the sign of someone who is
taking the job very seriously and cares.
Judy line manages Ashley, so everything needs to be fed through her so
that she can support and manage his time.
It is important that people know who they report problems to and who
will give them direction on what needs to be done, otherwise messages get mixed
and confusion reigns.
The faculty has been granted to repair the organ so we can
now tell potential funders, with confidence, exactly what we intend to do. The fund raising now needs to start with
gusto and more will follow on this. We
will need to raise around £120,000 so it will not be easy. There is expertise we can tap both from
within the church community and with the fundraising department at the
cathedral. The organ is used by a number
of students and it helps to be able to say that it is used for educational
purposes.
Another project that is coming to fruition is the Book of
Remembrance, which will be located in a new cabinet in the Lady Chapel. The book is currently with a calligrapher and
I will soon be putting out a sheet with details of how names can be
entered. I know this is something a
number of people have wanted to see for many years.
The Lady Chapel curtains and the curtains screening the
organ area are being replaced. Judy has
these and we can expect them to appear any moment. A new altar frontal is also being
commissioned from leading church textile artist Juliet Hemingray in Derby. New ‘white’ vestments were dedicated last
Sunday. We also have been given Joyce
Ellery’s piano and need to work out the best place for it to live. Children have become more visible with one of
the new noticeboards being dedicated to displays produced by the Sunday School
– well part of it. This visibility means
that we send out a message that children are welcome and have a place
here. That is noticed and people comment
on it. The other board improves out
ability to communicate and let people know what is going on; to show the
vibrancy of this community and the arts and cultural events we host. We are not standing still.
Earlier this year I took over the responsibility of Rural
Dean. I have two assistants to share the
load – and there is more to this than meets the eye. There are layers of governance and
conversations taking place with neighbouring dioceses that I am being drawn
into. Some of this is a natural role for
the Vicar of Peterborough because our location naturally brings us into contact
with those wider questions. Diary
management is proving to be a challenge.
There are times when I just have to draw stumps. Recognising this Rob Deans will be licensed
by Bishop John as Associate Priest on a house for duty basis on 14th
June.
There are many people who do a considerable amount to
sustain what we do now. When I read
recent reports on what churches should do to grow, to be vibrant, we can tick a
lot of those boxes. And there are people
taking on leadership roles at this meeting who a few years ago were not in the
congregation. That is a sign of health
and vibrancy. This is not a static community. I am grateful to those who do so much to
sustain and develop our mission and ministry.
There is much to be thankful for in this house of prayer,
this house of vibrant action inspired by prayer. We make a difference to the city centre, not
by just occupying space, but through so many ways: the arts and cultural
activities, services and special occasions to mark city civic occasions,
through being a place of quiet and sanctuary, through hospitality and
stimulating the public space, through finding ways to tells the story of Christ
which is what guides everything we do.
We have contact with a number of schools and colleges, with a variety of
groups. There is a lot of quiet caring
goes on too.
Today is a day to celebrate the life of this church community. And I for one rejoice in what we have.
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