Staff dedication and Thanksgiving service

7 December 2008

Text: Mark 1:1

As we continue through Advent and draw closer to Christmas – here in Australia we are ready to greet the heat of summer, which brings with it a sense of the end of the year. We gather in the Wesley Theatre with a spirit of reflection as we consider the past year which, as always, has been multi-faceted: –

We have begun to see our strategic thinking impact upon our work with fresh and enduring implications.
We have begun to rise to the challenge of economic reality in beginning a process of delineating priorities and raising with decision-makers the difficulties of more and more people who are turning to us in need.
We have recognised the blessing of God in so many of our areas of work and witness. Some of this has been seen by the many, but much is quiet, unobtrusive, compassionate commitment to people in need.
We have observed a growing sense of partnership across our work, which is helping us to see new possibilities … although we have more to do in this area.

Mark begins his gospel with a simple but bold assertion – “The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ.” (Mark 1:1)

This is the underlying premise upon which the whole gospel is both written and expounded. It lays the foundation upon which we must frame our work day by day. As I look at this text, I want to capture something of the work of Wesley Mission as we continue to wrestle with its truth in relation to an effective application and the delivery of care today.

I commend these thoughts to you as defining who we are and the cause for thanksgiving as we offer our year to the Lord.

We are a community of 'new beginnings'

In seeking to help people’s understanding of the message, some translations say, “This is the good news”. Although it might appear helpful, it misses the vital link with the first book of the Bible … “In the beginning …” Mark is seeking to establish the fact that God is bringing a new start – it is a great leap forward in the story of the human race. This has many things to say to us this evening in relation to who we are.

Something occurred in Christ which demands our attention

In Advent we anticipate the gift of One who will change our way of doing things, our way of looking at the world, and clear the way for our understanding the ‘new creation’ of lives in Jesus Christ.

The painter, Lundwig Richter, tells in his memoirs of how he and three friends set out to paint the same landscape. They each were committed to produce as accurately as possible what they saw. Nevertheless, the result was four different pictures, as different as the four personalities of the artists.

The same thing happened when four well known artists painted a portrait of the United Nations hostess Maria Lani. Each of them knew her personally and saw her from a different perspective, and the result was four remarkably different portraits.

It should not surprise us, therefore, that the four gospels are written from varying perspectives and yet each gives a unique insight into Jesus Christ that you do not get from the others.

Mark gives us the perspective that is perhaps the most popular. Wycliffe Bible Translators have made Mark the most translated book in the world. There is no other book in so many languages. It is short, fast-moving and presents One who deserves our attention.

This gospel reminds us that:-

We are called to be alert to the things that are happening in the world around us … a world which changes so fast. During the year I made a number of trips to Canberra, but I think of the contrasting contexts of the 2020 Summit and this recent Church Providers Summit with Government!
We are encouraged to be alive to the possibilities of what we can offer in response ... we need to change the culture of who we are – to understand we are not just receiving from others, but shapers of the future.
We are required to be agile in our response, so that we do not become landlocked in our own circumstances, rendering ourselves unable to demonstrate an adequate response to human need.

The case for social inclusion in Australia was generally understood to have been framed at a time when people were talking about unprecedented levels of prosperity. However, even eighteen months ago we were beginning to see increased demands from mid-stream earners, property owners and so on. The issue of social inclusion is now so obviously relevant.

As we talk about a new beginning in Jesus Christ, we affirm its efficacy for all people!

We are called to bring ‘new beginnings’ into the life of our community

Not only did God act in Jesus Christ, but his coming brings about the possibility of new beginnings through the involvement of faithful people. We recognise that, for us, this is done through people whose loyalty has been proven over many years, but also by the new folks who have become part of our Wesley Mission family.

Mark introduces John the Baptist to us with a quotation from the Old Testament. This is not entirely in character for Mark, unlike Matthew which is full of Old Testament quotations. But Mark, here, is keen to affirm that, although what God is doing is exciting, it is the fulfilment of all that has gone before. In the same way, we build on what has gone before and create helpful building blocks for those who follow us.

This ‘new beginning’ needs to be embodied in our words, actions and the delivery of our services

Across the huge number of operations, partnerships and support systems that constitute Wesley Mission, we are continually seeking to bring a new beginning. The fresh and invigorating start becomes possible because we seek to reach into the whole of a person’s life experience – and not just one particular aspect of it.

What Mark is setting out to tell us is centred upon Jesus Christ. This is not just a message – it is an all-embracing mission. In the way we hold together ‘Word and Deed’ we have taken this a step further – in talking about our work in a manner which sees everything we do as part of the mission of Jesus Christ. Equally true is the fact that we must be able to find ways of ‘naming the Name’.

At the present time, we are doing some deeper thinking about the theological model within which we operate – and it is clear that we need to be able to talk about our mission at different levels … and see its profound Christian roots.

We are always looking for 'good news'

This is far more important than being ‘optimistic’ or ‘half glass full’ people. Discovering ‘good news’ is not an ‘episodic happening’ … it is the very proposition and purpose of our lives. Somehow we need to see the negative things around us – such as disadvantage – and understand it in terms of how it prevents people living full and wholesome lives – then find the way to change things. Now this ‘good news’ spreads across all our work.

It is the in-breaking of God’s kingdom

After hundreds of years of prophetic silence, there is a voice; after people have been longing for one to bring renewing power, there is a Saviour; and after the relentless lack of purpose in people’s lives, there is a Lord who calls for action and a new way of living.

If we were to examine the opening verses of Mark, we could describe it as beginning with a voice off stage, reading from the scripture. Then, as if from the wings, come two central characters – John and Jesus. David Garland wrote, “This story is the beginning of the good news, but every beginning is a consequence.”

We can’t get away from the fact that when Jesus came into the Galilee, preaching the message of good news, it broke into people’s lives with freshness and power. Likewise we are called not just to raise the prospect of compassion, but to be more precise in seeing such compassion actually making a difference … coming into situations and breaking the cycle of despair – to really care for people.

It empowers us to be authentic and counter-cultural

Later in the same passage, John the Baptist’s message is described as one ‘preaching a baptism of repentance’. Just a few weeks ago, we received a strange letter from a former employee of Wesley Mission and it had in it a cheque for $25, with the explanation that the person regretted something they had done in their employment which was to their own advantage. This sort of thing happens when people recognise a better way. I see this as a sign of the authenticity of God’s people … who demonstrate this better way.

The good news calls us to discover an alternative way. The Wesley Mission way will always pull together motifs that we tend to separate – but, when together, bring a power which is altogether counter-cultural.

Justice with generosity
Redemption alongside renewal
Sacrifice growing out of love

Nothing could be more important in these difficult days than such dynamic headline principles.

It will bring to people our greatest gift – ‘hope’

The widespread perception of Wesley Mission has invariably been that we work with people in brokenness, sinfulness and selfishness … our compassion, service and prophetic edge resonate with this, but there is more … for we are on a journey to God’s wholeness … and then offering that wholeness to others. People are endowed with dignity and worth, and are of inestimable value to God. We are called to bring life to people – but we must resist the temptation to be paternalistic about this. Human potential lies latent in the lives of those to whom we minister.

Two weeks ago, I was invited to meet Joe Kline who was brought to Australia to share his story of success in leading the great Education Department in New York City. He has been considered controversial in demanding that we improve numeracy and literacy as keys to improving levels of social deprivation. He recalls his time with a group of teachers, one of whom was a nun and head of a school who banged on the table, saying, “Schools are about children.” In the same way, we have to be sure that we are about bringing hope to those who clearly lack it. Such people will always be more than clients!

We see new beginnings located in Jesus Christ

At Wesley Mission this evening we look back … and we also look into the future with excitement. On the large canvas that lies before us, our vision is far more than that which scientific and economic eyes can perceive. We see the coming of Jesus as God’s ultimate gift for the world and we long to see it established in the wholesomeness of people’s lives. As people receive the gift of life in Christ, so it opens up the possibility of ‘whole and productive’ living.

John 10:10 sums up the ministry of Jesus succinctly when Jesus is recorded as saying, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

It is a ‘longed-for’ moment

When God came – and indeed comes in Jesus Christ – it is to breathe new life and purpose into the hearts of people. The moment occurs at a point in time, but it had been long-awaited.

A number of times in my ministry, when I have introduced someone into a living relationship with Jesus Christ, a person has concluded, “It is as if everything in my life was preparing me for this moment!” John Wesley described this as ‘Prevenient Grace’ – the grace that goes before. This grace then breaks into our lives.

We stand alongside people, bringing meaning and purpose

One experience I shall never forget as a prison chaplain was being in the visiting area. Parents had applied for passes to visit their son and were disappointed when a prison guard returned to the visitors’ room with the news, “Sorry, your son says he doesn’t want to see you.”

The same parents gathered their goods together and left the prison, but would return again – and, despite being rejected continually, they would persist in their faithfulness. The unwillingness to receive friendship and love is the most painful of experiences. This unrequited love is seen in the broken lives of so many of the people we try to help. But I am always encouraged by the enormous fortitude and faithfulness of our people.

It is as we continue to care for people, when they are deeply hurt and refusing the arms of concern, that we see our greatest victories. I followed the debate about public funding after the Olympics in China earlier this year. The estimated cost is $37 million for each gold medal. I think it is a helpful reminder that when we are able to help people and see a change, we are only a small (albeit significant) part of the way in which God brings about this change.

It remains at the heart of everything

For a period of time in my ministry, I was involved in facilitating conversations around the UK on the question of the place of children at Holy Communion. I have always believed that children have far more perception than we ever give them credit for.

In the course of these deliberations, invariably during a conversation someone would ask, “But do you think children are old enough to understand its meaning?” I often asked, “What meaning?” and followed it up with, “What is it about Holy Communion that you understand that a child is unable to understand?”

What all of us can understand is the fact that people know when they are included … and this is at the heart of the good news and throbs though every fibre of this Mission.

At the beginning of the twentieth century there were many learned people from all disciplines of academia who were predicting the death of Christianity. They foresaw not only the death of Christianity, but also doing away with religion in society altogether. They claimed that God and belief in God would soon be a silly notion of the past.

Paul Johnson, a biblical scholar, says in his book The Quest for God, “The most extraordinary thing about the twentieth century was the failure of God to die. The collapse of mass religious belief, especially among the educated … had been widely and confidently predicted. It did not take place.”

Some of my fellow leaders of large welfare and social providers look at organisations like Wesley Mission and talk about an inexorable march to a separated Christian mission and practical deed. To us it remains our core business and God-given purpose to hold them together!

Christian Life