Christian Life

At the outset of this new year of ministry, we meet as those with pastoral responsibility at Wesley Mission and recommit ourselves to the calling which is ours in Jesus Christ.  Such a service is important not only for those who exercise this quite specific ministry, but also for those who work alongside us in delivering effective and meaningful care of others through our congregations.

Tonight we are sharing in a service that marks the beginning of a new ministry for Michael and Lucy Earl, as well as the significance of a new beginning for us all.

It is easy to wander from the heart of that to which God has called us.  Familiarity is dangerous and the longer we engage in ministry the clearer we need to be about our calling and equally strong in our recommitment to the values and purpose that underpin the practice of our ministry in Christ.

We must be clear that, although we consider this a high moment, to countless people in our community what we are about tonight remains irrelevant and meaningless.  A cynic defined a philosopher as a blind man in a dark room, looking for a black cat that isn’t there – and a theologian as the person who finds it.  It is a cruel and unfair definition, but it does remind us of the challenge that lies before us in seeking to exercise ministry in the twenty-first century.

We recognise the gulf that exists between the religious and cultural world of the New Testament and ourselves.  An even greater gap exists between the religious world and the community of faith – and a developed Western world which no longer recognises the presuppositions of faith and community, let alone the language of faith. 

However, we accept the challenge of the New Testament and seek to engage with both the community and the gospel.  We must not underestimate the privilege we have at Wesley Mission where, to a large extent, we work with people who never attend church nor share our religious conviction.  We count it a privilege to engage in the world of community services, welfare provision and compassionate care – and to be taken seriously by many who are in no way connected to the Christian community.

Text:  Mark 3: 13-15
“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.  He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” 

In appointing the Twelve, Jesus chose his first team.  This is not to suggest that they were the only ones who were called, but rather they were selected with the special purpose of being with him in his earthly ministry. 

When Jesus called them to himself, a number of things are clearly to be understood:

• A new phase of the ministry of Jesus had begun.
  
• Jesus, like many others who would follow, turned from the religious establishment of the day to take his message into the open air.
  
• Jesus would begin a ministry that would move apace until it culminated in the Cross.

As in so many areas of life, timing is essential, but nowhere more so than in the launching of Jesus’ public ministry.

Several things strike me as significant about the disciples Jesus first chose to be around him –

• They were ordinary by nature – there was not a priest or a scribe or a Pharisee among them.
  
• They were a mixed bag – just examine the characteristics – impetuous, ambitious, conservative, radical and even melancholy.
  
• Despite differences in temperament, background and personality, it was his chosen team.

As we stand at the beginning of this new church year, we are the team that Jesus wants … and what is more, the mixture and variety of our team is God’s gift to us.

We share a ministry we have chosen to describe as “Christlike Servanthood”.  Phillips Brooks, many years ago, wrote about ministry and witness: “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.”

Our ministry and service is always measured against the One who calls – Jesus Christ.  By that measure, we find ourselves making sense of his message and mission.

This is especially true for those who step out in ministry, but also true for all of us, as we re-examine what our commitment means.

The fact that we have been called by God is our starting point.  I re-affirm the importance of the communion with God which we are called to maintain.  Such a living relationship can only be maintained by worship, prayer and study; by making space to develop our life with God.

German writer, Jurgen Moltmann’s whole theology is bound up in the thought of hope.  This is of particular significance when one considers that his teenage years were spent in his home town of Hamburg in the lead up to and at the outbreak of the Second World War. 

In 1944 he was called up and then arrested in a forest in 1945, spending four years in prisoner-of-war camps.  Eventually, when in Nottingham in England, he came into contact with the YMCA and a young Christian from this organisation gave him Reinhold Niehbuhr’s “The Nature and Destiny of Man”.  This was to begin to change his life.

In “The Church in the Power of the Spirit”, Moltmann understood mission and ministry as –

• Standing for God to the world
  
• Standing for the world before God

Much of my day-to-day ministry is far removed from the context of the local church, but I have no doubts at all in my own mind that whether it is in the struggle for justice, shaping an organisation for the future, or seeking to provide a strong economic base to maintain a large organisation, it is so important that we are able to draw on our spiritual resources.

Archbishop Antony Bloom’s father taught him much about prayer.  His father used to put a note on his door when at prayer – “Don’t go to the trouble of knocking.  I am at home, but I will not open the door.”

Spiritual priorities will be true for us all; how we work out those priorities will vary from one to another.  Next week we shall be meeting together across the whole staff of the Mission and then we shall rededicate ourselves in a quite unique way to a broad basis of mission and ministry.  We recognise that we stand before God in need of inspiration, power and the ‘stickability’ that will make the difference.

We have established the importance of Joined Up Thinking and Practice across Wesley Mission and it would be a powerful witness if those of us involved in ministry led the way and did not see ministry only in terms of our own congregation and personal ministry.

When Jesus sent the disciples out, it was with a sense of thrust and urgency.  Never has this been more important to grasp than today.

Early in the Spring, Bob Dylan visited Sydney … it is hard to think it’s forty years since his distinctive voice was reminding us that “The times they are a-changing”.  The idea, at the time, must have seemed alien to some, but none of us could deny it today!

We stand at this point in history which is critical for both church and world history:

• We are living in an age when quite unprecedented social and cultural shifts taking place.
  
• This is a time of rootlessness, when many have rejected the past as a source of inspiration or example.
  
• It must not be denied that the environmental issues which surface at every turn raise the importance of our concern for the earth as a God-given priority.
  
• All of this is surrounded by an uncertainty about values.  The X-Files used to say “The truth is out there…”  There are many today who are not even sure is there is any truth left!

We are a people who are called to build a community of faith in the midst of our human communities.  Such a calling today means being questioned by others on every side.

Mark’s interpretation of this account allows us to see that the Twelve may have been chosen from a much larger group.  Whilst Matthew 10 does not infer that, Luke 6 can clearly be understood in terms of the call of a greater number from whom the Twelve were chosen and appointed.

I want to commend five basic attributes of ministry which help us to respond to the challenge of exercising our ministry in the year that lies before us. 

We will experience …

Authenticity in all circumstances 

It is a great challenge for all of us to remain authentic in all the different aspects of our ministry.  There is no doubt at all that there is a correlation between our Christian experience and the way we exercise our ministry.

Authenticity means holding to our values, in whatever situation we find ourselves.  I remember getting to know a Christian minister for the first time and feeling almost in awe of the person.  I have come to understand that those involved in ministry are the same as everyone else, save one very important truth – that God has quite uniquely called them to be God’s person in their ministry.

Authenticity requires self-understanding and this is the beginning of a whole raft of attitudes and actions which enable others to enter into the grace we ourselves have discovered in Jesus Christ.

When Jesus called ‘the twelve’ – it was from a mountainside.  This not is an attempt at geographical location, but it does communicate a sense of being in a place which is separate from everyday life and work.  There is a ‘separateness’ about following, but this is not the separateness of pious exclusivism, but rather a place where one discovers what it means to follow.

God is not asking people to be all the same, but for women and men who have found in Jesus Christ a calling in life which uses their distinctive qualities for a God-given purpose.

Vulnerability in the difficult places

Vulnerability in ministry means being honest about your feelings, open with your fears and being able to admit mistakes when they are your responsibility.

This aspect of ministry resonates with two of our Wesley Mission values – namely Unfailing Integrity and Courageous Commitment.

We must not concentrate exclusively on the separate nature of call and the setting aside for a holy purpose.  At the heart of call is the ability to see that we are appointed to a threefold task to which Cranfield and others have helpfully alluded:

• to be with Jesus.
  
• to preach.
  
• to cast out evil spirits.
  

This delineates the concepts of ‘word and deed’ and ‘proclamation and action’ as being rooted in the disciples’ emerging relationship with Jesus.  For Jesus Christ himself this would mean the way of the Cross, the pain of rejection, hurt and suffering.  Our vulnerability may mean similar cost is demanded of us.

Openness to others

Ministry is a team game and it should not be dominated by individuality.  It is a mistake to assume that leadership and giftedness means anything other than contributing to a greater whole.

The reason I commend the importance of working together is not because ‘You’d expect me to do that!’ – or because ‘It is the most effective way to mobilise a large organisation’ – but because I believe it is the most God-honouring way of serving him.  We have to learn that individual adulation and being ‘a dynamic leader’ must be placed into a context in which we are open to our sisters and brothers around us!

Presence alongside people

This does not mean we will be available all of the time.  Ministry requires space and time out.  But we can never make a helpful contribution together without being there.  This is true at all levels of life, let alone in ministry.

Being present means cultivating the skills of ministry – ‘listening’, ‘being alongside’ and ‘being willing to say the difficult thing’.  God’s wonderful lure on our lives leads us to a place where we make time to be with people as they journey in their dilemmas and struggles.  Vocation is hard work – as we share the most precious part of our lives with others on their journey.

Usefulness in purpose and practice 

All leaders, and specifically those involved in Christian ministry, not only require the resources to do the ministry to which they have been called, but they also need to lead by example in making themselves available to whatever God is calling them to do.  Being useful is the most significant contribution you can make.  Far from a merely functional view of ministry – or a ‘kindly deeds’ perception of religion – being useful is allowing God to employ us ‘as we are’.

The call to ministry is a call to know we are God’s people.  We are not asked to be plate-spinners in the circus showground of the church, or merely accident room specialists in handling people, but those who have discerned God’s will, enabling us to think about God, to capture his purpose and to be alongside others in their need.  We are charged to bring meaning and quality to life.

All of us best serve the world around us by embracing our vocation – for ultimately it is a unique gift we can bring. 

None of us has the whole solution, but we do have dreams, desires and loves which enable us to bring about social change, to facilitate meaningful relationships and to nurture a living relationship in the life of the Holy Spirit.

C Melissa Snarr taught Ethics at Vanderbilt University and she has written about challenging our obsession with frugality.  She explains, “Frugality is not a spiritual discipline” – going on to argue, “Within the Christian tradition, the term frugal is wholly absent from the biblical text.”  Generosity is instead the prized theme in the stories of faith.  Faithful generosity is consistent with God’s preference for those normally forgotten by society.

Hugh Anderson in his commentary on Mark makes a valuable point when he refers to the list of the apostles and alludes to the fact that a group of special disciples which begins with Peter, who denied him, and ends with Judas, who betrayed him, makes it abundantly clear that they were not a collection of the immediately perfect!

I conclude with an exhortation that originates in Jesus:
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much will be asked.”  (Luke 12:48)