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The Rector's Christmas Sermon, 2011

Just a little over a year ago, I was heading to a church in commuter land for a Carols service. The prospect was pleasurable: I was preaching and there were no other demands or expectations on me. All the hard graft had been done and was being delivered by the local team of priests and people. I had responsibility for delivering a ten minute sermon and, given that it was for the Deaf, I did not even have to worry about the quality of my signing. An interpreter was on hand.

When I arrived at the church I learned that the priest, a friend from college, had come down with an illness, quite a serious one, as he had to undergo an operation and his recovery took some months. The startling, but not altogether surprising, element, if you know him and other clergy, was the profound sense of failure he felt. He had let his people down. How could he, especially in the lead up to the busy round of Christmas services, not do his bit?

And yet, he could do no other. His task, as the task of many ill people, was to accept his lot for the time being and cooperate with those who would see him better. This giver had to receive. This doer had to be done to. And he indeed was the grateful recipient of much care and concern, from the prayerful to the practical. He was made meals, people shopped for him, they cleaned his house, they kept him in their prayers.

Too often we mistake the idea of taking the initiative for taking all the responsibility in a given situation. This set of events at work, at home, in our club or association, requires me to do my best. Otherwise, the entire project is let down. The other people who rely on me – and that me can be any of us here – have been let down.

Tonight is Christmas. We celebrate an amazing disappointment. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, we are told in Isaiah. But what is this light? A baby. A helpless baby boy, wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. Hardly the powerful changer of events that the people of Israel longed for.

For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

as it says in the ninth chapter of Isaiah.

You’re taking the mic, as they say round here. That’s what they might have thought. Where is the deliverance in this? A boy who needs total care? Some deliverer.

It can be a pious platitude to assert and reassert the importance of God in the Christmas story. To allow God to take the initiative and to see how God’s actions work out in the world around us. But that is the message of Christmas. Too often we like to think that we are in charge, that we are vital to events in the home, school, work, in recreation, instead of seeing what God might be showing us through these very events.

As I say, such talk can run the risk of my becoming one of those useless vicars, so beloved on stage and screen. But some of you may have seen Rev, the BBC television series that is based in and around this area. The series accurately and fairly lovingly captures the tension of parish life: plans, hopes, dreams and disappointments, all that can, if only people will let it happen, point the way to God.

As Leonard Cohen says in his song, Anthem:

Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.

Christmas is about intervention. Not ours, but God’s. But the intervention can seem a disappointment. Even more so when we see that soon this child will become a refugee, his parents seeking to preserve his life by fleeing into exile. He grows and his triumph, the one we celebrate at Easter, is again arguably a disappointment: he is led to slaughter. Isaiah again, chapter 53:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
   and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.
Our expectations of ourselves, of others, of the world around us, can lead us to many disappointments. That can be because of a sense of over inflated self-reliance. We see ourselves as the lynchpin in activity that leads, if only everything goes to plan, to perfection.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has placed this danger at the forefront of Christmas this year. We want everything to go right. We want the right gifts, the best meal, a harmonious occasion. In setting up this ideal of the perfect Christmas, we can only be disappointed.

Our task this Christmas, indeed it is the task of every day, is to see what God has given us. We often want God to do it our way. But we can learn from those for whom Christmas is a painful time – one of isolation, loneliness, sadness, regret and remorse – their situation can humble us.

So here we stand looking at the child in the manger, projecting on to him so much of our need and desires. These can and will be fulfilled but I expect not in the way we want, the way we would like or plan.

Leonard Cohen, in his much covered song, Hallelujah – a Christmas hit a couple of years ago – has a final verse which most versions leave off.

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

We can dare to accept and dare to be thankful. It is about receiving what is given, rather than planning for what we want. In doing this, we can see grace at work. That is to allow God to break through. That way disappointment is transformed.

The poet U.A. Fanthorpe sent a new poem as her Christmas card to her friends from 1974 till her death two years ago. She points to the complications of this extraordinary event – God in human form, but helpless in a manger, with a life ahead that will confound expectations. One of them, The Wicked Fairy at the Manger, captures this essential wonder:

No wife, kids, home;
No money sense. Unemployable.
Friends, yes. But the wrong sort –
The workshy, women, wimps,
Petty infringers of the law, persons
With notifiable diseases,
Poll tax collectors, tarts;
The bottom rung.
His end?
I think we’ll make it
Public, prolonged, painful.
Right, said the baby. That was roughly
What we had in mind.

 

ON BEING RIGHT
A sermon preached by the Rector on Sunday May 29, 2011

While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17.30-31)

I spend a lot of my time – perhaps too much of it – thinking about conflict, disagreements. These can be seen in the world – one country against another, a political grouping seeking domination of another, a part of a community trying to annihilate the other; it can be in the church – the ongoing battles about women as bishops in the church, the openness or otherwise of gay people in the priesthood, the saga of who is allowed to get away with what because of their connections or their patronage; and within myself. I won’t give any public examples but, just to make the point, if I get to casting the proverbial stones later, I am well away of the glass walls of my home.

Paul, the persecutor Saul who turned from being the nasty piece of work he was because he thought he was right, had a massive change of heart. He was fearless and the account in Acts of his speech to the Aeropagus, something of a court of appeal, is where he lays out a concise understanding of the Christian faith. Now, for many people it is Paul, more than Jesus, who is responsible for the establishment of the church. Jesus was the inspiring teacher and preacher, God made man who opened the gate of heaven to us all, but it was Paul who got the message out and got people setting up churches, from the small to the large.

If the epistles are anything to go by, it was not always plain sailing because, even from the early days, people seemed to find things to dispute, disagree about and be nasty to each other. Paul sometimes, when he was called upon to arbitrate on a point of behaviour, church practice or gender politics, could still seem a nasty piece of work. A quote, from someone not too far from where I am standing, might sum it up: ‘I am right; that’s all there is to it. And I am sick of having to apologise for it.’

This insistence on being right, this insistence on maintaining that there is a right and a wrong, is called dualism and, for those who remember meeting Eddie Marsan when he spoke to us about them making of the film, God on Trial, you  will recall his thoughts on what he considered the shortcomings of this way of thinking.

And yet the history of religion and politics and personality is often about drawing of lines. Are you with me or against me? Is he one of us or not? Is she sound on this matter or principle or practicality? Am I right or wrong? The very term the ‘chosen people’ is redolent of this, and the church claims to be the new chosen people. We can resort to barbarism on one level or we can take refuge in our innate sense of superiority on another.

This being in or out is a key plank of Christianity and it is one that is played out time and again. A couple of weeks ago one of the more right wing parts of the Church of England organised a men’s conference and the big draw for the people who seem to think what is between their legs affects their place in the world, was a pastor from a mega-church in Seattle, one Mark Driscoll. Driscoll was quoted as having a pot shot at the Bishop of London for his sermon at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey.

I quote from the Church Times newspaper:
' Mr Driscoll told delegates that he believed that Christians in England often feared man more than God. “If you’re a Christian you’re very much part of a tribe . . . you want your tribe to approve of you and not criticise you; so a lot of your decision-making is determined by fear of tribe.

“The way that showed up in the royal wedding was he didn’t say anything wrong, but he just didn’t say it all. . He didn’t talk about sin, he didn’t talk about repentance, he didn’t talk about the Lordship of Christ. . . He had the largest gospel oppor­tunity of any human being in the history of the world — two billion people were watching — and he didn’t tell the whole truth. And that is British cowardice.'

Now, there is something subtle and slightly sinister in this. Speaking at a tribal event – just check the credentials of those who organised the conference – for heaven’s sake, you had to be a man to be there! – he attacks tribalism. Now this, as I say, is something that happens in politics, business, the church and within ourselves.

The world was supposed to end last Saturday. Well, a pastor of another American church had convinced himself and lots of other that it was. But it didn’t. It did not because too often in the world, in organisations, communities, groups and within individuals, this desire to be right conquers all. And when you think you are right, and others are wrong, you can delude yourself. You lose your sense of proportion.

Religion is about the ultimate sense of proportion. We are beings in eternity with God taking not the long term view, but one that has no end. Repentance, if it means anything, is about putting God before ourselves. And Driscoll has to be right there. But too many of us try to decide what God wants. The thin line of humility and outrageous self-justifying certitude resides in our pronouncements of what God wants.

Repentance is about letting God be in charge. That is what judgment is. That is what the second coming – metaphorical, literal or poetic, it does not matter – the second coming is where, as Paul told his listeners in the Aeropagus, that the raising of Jesus from the dead is that which brings all into the place where God will do as he wills.

Before Paul talked of the end times, he was a bit more gracious. Funny how we like to grab the bits that condemn when we could have the bit that frees. What did he say? ‘Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.’

Our faithful walk is not to pronounce judgment, but to allow ourselves to be judged. Trying to speak like God is dangerous. It is worse than that, it is idolatrous.  To that end, let us meet God as he meets us, open about our shortcomings and failures but aware of his loving power to lead us to that place where, as the priest and poet John Donne put it in his prayer:

Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening
into the house and gate of heaven,
to enter into that gate and dwell in that house,
where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
no noise nor silence, but one equal music;
no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity;
in the habitations of thy glory and dominion,
world without end.

 

St Matthew’s gave over the sermon slot on Sunday February 27, 2011 to a discussion of the proposal to admit women to the Episcopate.

The discussion came after a consideration of the three questions that had been proposed to the diocese by Fr David Houlding.

1. Do you believe that women should now be ordained as bishops in the Church of England?
2. Do you believe that there should in principle be arrangements put in place for those who in conscience would not be able to accept them?
3. Does this draft legislation provide for this to happen?

 

The Rector, Kevin Scully, after consulting members of the PCC, put to the meeting the following:

• the first question was irrelevant as the General Synod had already considered this and had ruled that they should. We also do not believe it is helpful to revisit this.
• the questions were not ‘discussion’ questions as they presumed yes/no answers.

To that end, three questions were put as a lead in to the latter two of Fr Houlding’s questions: The discussion itself was lay led; active serving clergy did not take part in the discussions.

• What has been your experience of women in the ordained ministry in the church?
• How have women in ordained ministry added to the life and work of the church?
• How have women in ordained ministry diminished the life and work of the church?

 

Overall, responses to these were that women had made a significant, positive contribution to the priestly life of the church. Reflections included: some felt more able to relate to women; inclusivity and diversity were made real by women in the priesthood; good pastoral experience.

The congregation was generally in favour of women being made bishops as soon as possible, though there was a significant group who considered that those who do not agree with the measure should be accommodated. Much discussion centred on how this might occur, including the tricky question of how to include those who want to exclude others.

In response to Fr Houlding’s questions, there was a range from the strident to the tolerant:

• Overall the answer was no, with about 20 per cent favouring arrangements being extended to those who objected.
  
  
• This was a complicated issue, as the legislation took no account of those who felt such accommodation was unnecessary. Indeed, there was a strong feeling that such accommodation should be strongly opposed.

 

The following were part of the material that was put before our Annual Parochial Church Meeting on April 10, 2011. The Annual Report and Accounts were also received at that meeting. We publish them so everyone can see how we work at St Matthew's.

Reflections of the year ended December 31, 2010
presented to the Annual Parish Church Meeting of April 10, 2011

PCC SECRETARY'S REPORT
2010 has been an interesting year at St Matthew’s with a number of challenges to keep the PCC busy. The committee continues to have the benefit of a broad range of skills and enthusiasms from its members – ranging from old hands to several new members. The committee has done its best to represent the diversity of St Matthew’s congregation united in our faith.

Necessary building works have been a focus for the committee over the last twelve months. One particular challenge has been getting the restoration works on the tower underway and I am pleased to report that work will commence 2011. The PCC also expresses its gratitude to the bell ringers group who have restored the church bells, allowing St Matthews to mark the anniversary of its rededication with a beautiful peal.  A Fundraising Committee for the work on the tower has also got underway with a number of events, including a successful quiz night at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, and several more planned for the coming months.

With many challenges and changes in the diocese and the wider church community, the PCC has also been keen to engage St Matthew’s congregation in these issues and for their range of opinions to be represented in our response.

In the next twelve months the PCC is looking forward to dedicating more of its energy to contributing to the spiritual mission of the church now that much of the infrastructure and building works are being resolved. As I stand down as secretary I would like to thank my fellow PCC members for their commitment and support over the last twelve months and I look forward to seeing our work for the congregation progress.
- Charlotte Dollard

ELECTORAL ROLL OFFICER'S REPORT
There has been a revision of the electoral roll which took place from January 23 to February 26, 2011.

A total of 17 names were removed from the roll and ten  names were added, taking the total to 69.

A copy of the roll is available for inspection on the table at the back of church. This was two weeks in advance of the scheduled Annual Parish Meeting on April 10, 2011.
- Adey Grummet

DEANERY SYNOD MEMBERS' REPORT
2010 was an unusual year for the Tower Hamlets Deanery without the formal leadership of either an area bishop or an archdeacon. This is then a pivotal time for the Deanery when it considers how it wishes to act in the future and the provisional episcopal oversight from the Bishop of Willesden has undoubtedly been informative in this.

Deanery Synod members played a crucial role in setting the tone of Church of England debate for the next five years by electing members to the General Synod in October. Amongst the many important issues which the General Synod debates and legislates on, the newly elected members will ultimately be making decisions of gravity on the issues of women in the episcopate and the Anglican Covenant during their time in office. These are matters of concern for the Deanery Synod also as they will be handed down to the dioceses for approval, who will in turn seek opinion from the deaneries in 2011.

The Deanery Synod has begun a process of reflecting on how it serves the Deanery. The Synod has asked itself questions to do with how it engages with worshippers in the Deanery and has begun considering how it may seek to interact and align with neighbouring deaneries in future.

The Area Dean and Deanery Synod members would welcome contribution and comment from parish members, who are also welcome to attend (but not vote at) Deanery Synod meeting.
- James Riley & Chris Giff

FABRIC REPORT
The Church
The main focus during the past year has been on the preliminary work for the repairs to the Tower which have become urgent, plus fundraising for the completion of the works.  The work itself should be completed in early Summer, having been overseen by Jon Bolter the church’s architect. The opportunity will also have been taken to carry out work on the clock and on the crucifix. During the year the Middlesex Bell-ringers have raised funds for and completed work on the bells: we are fortunate indeed to have the support of such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable group. Maintenance work to the church has been ongoing throughout the year: improving the security of the building; painting the doors, which happily has discouraged graffiti; painting of all gates and the majority of the fencing. During the coming year we hope the window grills can be re-painted, the windows re-sealed, and the floor to be re-sealed and polished: income from the estate of John Fenton will assist with the costs in one of these areas. We plan also to resolve the major inadequacy of the heating system.

The Parish Hall
The PCC agreed early in the year to look for a tenant for the hall rather than to sell it. By the end of the year, no lease has been agreed: but if negotiations with a tenant can be resolved, the church will benefit from income from the hall for the period of the lease. The condition of the building is quite poor – the roof, windows and internal decoration all being of concern: and any lease agreed will seek a way of apportioning repairs between the church and the tenant, whilst still ensuring  a necessary income stream for the Church.

The Parish Room
This has the U-Turn Project as a long-term tenant: the lease allowed for a lengthy (5 year) rent-free period to enable the building to be put in good repair. Although no income is raised, it has meant that the building has been thoroughly overhauled and is in a good state of repair.  Small meetings (for example, the PCC) are held in the building.

The Watch House
Sebastian Sandys’ tenancy was renewed in September for a further 12 months. Further work is required on the building – particularly draught-proofing for both windows and doors, and some internal decoration, which the parish could ill afford to carry out.  We acknowledge our indebtedness to Sebastian for not pressing for the renewal work at a time when the parish has very limited resources.
- Malcolme Bass and Nicholas Callow (Churchwardens)

RECTOR'S REPORT
2010 has definitely been a buildings busy year. Our hoped for plan to move on to resolving the hall was turned upside down because of needs to raise funds for work to the church tower – see the Fabric Report. This has meant a drive to let people know of our needs and secure funding. I was worried that this might take our eye off mission and worship, which would be a major abandonment of our being here in Bethnal Green. However, initially at least, the profile raised by the Tower Project, has helped us to become more visible in the community. A huge thank you to all those who have supported the Tower Project – English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Wolfson Foundation, the Allchurches Trust Limited, many local businesses and individuals. By the end of the year we were in a position to proceed, albeit £16,000 short. But we are confident we can bridge the gap. Thanks are due to the Fundraising Committee for the identification of a number of trusts and organising of events.

A new PCC was voted in and they have been both energetic and focussed. My thanks to all who have served on the old and new PCCs – we said farewell to Pat Musgrave, whose service spans decades, and Churchwarden Jan Fox, who remained on the council. Some new committees have made life easier: a Buildings Committee and a Fundraising Committee. However, our work did start, as it should, with prayerful reflection, led by The Revd Sr Judith Blackburn SSM.

Much has been done on the fabric of the church under the stewardship of Malcolme Bass: the doors and railings have been painted and many little jobs that have escaped attention for some years have been swept up. He has garnered support from the congregation and community in doing this. Collaboration in many areas of church life is now the key.

Judith came to us unofficially in October after five years as Priest-in-Charge at neighbouring St Peter’s. Her licensing will be in 2011. The Revd Sr Helen Loder SSM officially retired but has indicated that she would still like to be associated with St Matthew’s. We hope to call on her to fill in if necessary.

Our worship was enhanced by a number of initiatives. A child friendly service was launched on the first Sunday of the month at 0900. This had good support initially but numbers dropped to one or two. To that end, we brought it to an end in December. We hope to find a way to revive our child-focussed sermons in the main mass in 2011. Also, we began two other services: one of Quiet and Meditation which is a welcome change – again, attracting small numbers – and a explorers’ group for the Deaf. This latter project had some interest but failed to find its way. We may address this again.

Once again, we welcomed a number of guest preachers – Fr Peter McBride for our Patronal Festival; Fr Graham Buckle and The Revd Lucyann Ashdown in Advent. We hosted the Bethnal Green service for Christian Unity in February, when we welcome ministers and people from other denominations.  Our Lenten sermons were given over to religious consideration of Shakespeare, with Helen speaking on Lady Macbeth, and Kevin on the plays in general, Jacques’s speech from As You Like It and King Lear.

We were lucky to have presentations at church and the PCC from the charities supported by St Matthew’s. James Pender, who works for USPG in Bangladesh, Rio Vella of U-Turn Project and Helen spoke of the Priory’s work. We once again gave ten per cent of Stewardship income to these projects, a grant of £530 to each.

Many singers were recruited for our third Carols by Candlelight Service in December. Sadly it fell in the middle of the big freeze, affecting numbers attending, but quality was higher than ever.  Christopher Maxim, our Director of Music, again provided a new carol, A Little Child There Is Yborn. The Giltspur Singers and a number of extras swelled the ranks of the choir.

Chewing Over the Bible, a Lent group for over the 60s, a young people’s confirmation group and Marriage Preparation took place. The reading of Banns continues to attract many people, for whom marriage preparation is offered. There was no marriage in St Matthew’s in 2010. An Explorers’ Group was held, with one person, Harriet Holmes, going on to Confirmation in a large service at St Paul’s Cathedral. We also repeated the Lenten Prayer Partners exercise, in which church members were paired with two others to pray for each other.

Our bereavement and ministry continues, with the parish clergy officiating at a total of 15 funerals for the year – six in church - brought fee income of £1485 to the church. There is an ongoing trend, reflecting changes to the demographics of the parish, to publish more Banns of Marriage. This occurred eight times, with an attendant fee income of £256. Most of these fees are assigned to the diocese to support my stipend.

Once again, I must thank all of you who serve in public or hidden roles:, my fellow priests Helen Loder and Judith Blackburn , servers, welcomers, PCC and committee members, those who do the glamorous, mundane and dirty jobs.

I trust 2011 will be a fruitful, holy and wonderful year.
- Kevin Scully