The New Year is underway, and I am standing in for Bishop Richard while he is on sabbatical. He has given us themes for recent years: Prayer, Faith, and now it’s Engagement – with Celebration to come! There’s a lovely sense of flow between them, I think. Let me say what I mean…
Our church is rooted in Christ, and our relationship with him in prayer is where it all begins. Without the roots, nothing else will grow. St John loves to use the word “Abiding” for this relationship – one of peace and permanence, of being where we belong. “Abide in me as I abide in you.” (John 15.4) When we find our place, we find our peace and become people of peace. We are seeing a global increase in anxiety, and “We are Farming Minds” has shown how that is true locally, too. If we can be people of peace and offer places of peace, we can make a difference in real, local lives.
Out of the roots of prayer come shoots of faith: “I am the vine; you are the branches.” (John 15.5) As we abide in Christ, so we come to trust him more as the well-spring of our life. We seek security in all sorts of things, some good, some less so; but also realise that what they offer is limited and sometimes deceptive. I sensed this Christmas afresh how fundamental the Christmas presence of Christ was compared with any of the presents life can bring, right here, in a broken world of lost homes and lives. I have friends on my heart for whom Christmas brought bad news not good, and my longing for them is that they will know Christ’s presence in their predicaments.
Then, the shoots of faith lead to the fruits of engagement, as lives are touched and changed for the better. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” (John 15.5) It may well be that the need to find peace and solace in a disastrous world first draws us to the church. But as Christ grows in us and we in him, we realise that the church is not an escape craft from the world but a landing craft into it. God’s great desire is that the whole world should be saved. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3,16) And that is worth a Year of Engagement in God’s mission with the world around us now, and a Year of Celebration when it comes!