It’s generally at this point in an APCM when the vicar or priest would give their assessment on the activity of the church over the last year, reflecting on lessons learned, and setting out a vision or focus for the coming year.  Following what has ended up being a rather momentous 18 months in the life of our church and in the wider world, and with a new chapter in our church’s story about to begin – it felt right that – vicar or no vicar – that we should take a few moments to stop and reflect on what has gone before and to look forward to what God might be calling us to in the future.  

Just before our last interregnum in 2010, a wise friend told me what they called the golden rule for churches during an interregnum: change nothing.  While interregnums can often be a time of growth, as Bishop Graham suggested in a video message to us earlier this year, there’s also a sense that a church’s leadership shouldn’t make any significant changes; it’s a time for letting go and preparing, but not particularly for starting new things – these should wait for when the newly appointed vicar gets to know the community and gets to work.  However, in my 37 years of being here, I reflect that as a church family we’ve probably experienced more concentrated change in the last 18 months than in the rest of my years combined, and arguably more than at any point in our church’s 54 year history.  As we’ve been reminded this evening, we’ve moved out of the building for five months, met at different times, moved back into the building, locked the doors because of a worldwide pandemic, grappled with new technology which has allowed many but not all of us to connect, prised open the doors, shut them and reopened them again… We’ve said farewell to several members of staff who’ve moved on to new vocations elsewhere, and we’ve had to say goodbye to much loved members – founding members – of our family – Ann, Hazel and Roy – and, in the case of both Hazel and Roy, that goodbye has been from a distance and without being able to provide the care and support we would hope to do in normal times.  It’s been a year marked by uncertainty and lament.

Yet, here we are, and despite all the changes we’ve encountered and the challenges we will continue to face on this unpredictable Covid road, we have much to be thankful for.  I’d like to thank you for your patience, for your support for our church in all sorts of ways when there has been so much change and so many restrictions. Thank you for supporting one another in this exceptional year when for many the days have been long, and time spent with friends and family has been limited.  Thank you for phone calls made, Zoom meetings attended, donations given, prayers prayed. At difficult times like these our faith can be tested, and we can sometimes struggle to see God in the midst of the fear, frustration, loss and isolation which has at times perhaps threatened to engulf us.  Yet as we look back I believe it’s clear that God has been and continues to be at work through you, in sustaining, caring for and supporting one another.  

We have a watertight, cleaner, brighter building to be thankful for too.  Much gratitude to all of you who have been a part of fundraising and giving, for those – especially Craig, Dave and the Project Grow team – who have been involved in the practical and financial planning for the building work, and for all those who have project-managed and navigated us through the last year.  Special thanks to Chris, Julie, Ron, Emma and the CY teams for enabling church life to continue in the school, and to Chris and team for getting the building into a fit state for us to return.  Thank you to all those who came to the summer work parties, and especially to Wendy who has been here more or less every day for the last few months and has done a phenomenal job in getting major tasks completed whilst project-managing additional works and for having such attention to detail on so many finishing touches. Getting the building to this point has been a long road, and – in all honesty – not without some struggle and differences of opinion.  Have we ended up with the much-expanded building that was envisioned?  No.  Do we have a building which is clean, dry, with brighter spaces and greater flexibility to enjoy and to make use of in the next chapter of our church life? Absolutely. It’s a beautiful space, and I’m sure like me you can’t wait for the day when it can be fully filled with the sound of joy and singing, of full communion, of eating together and chats over coffee – of being free to be community together again.  Those of you who’ve chosen to come to Sunday worship over the last few weeks will have glimpsed some of this in a limited way, but there is so much unrealised potential, so much hope of a brighter future within the walls, and I’m excited to see how God uses us and the revitalised space he has blessed us with in the future.  I hope you are too.  

So where are we headed?  Given it’s just two and a half weeks before Debs joins us as our fifth incumbent, it really isn’t my place to propose any detail.  But I feel confident enough to suggest three words which I think are going to be key in the coming months: people, prayer and community.  

Firstly, People | Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica urging them to ‘encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are already doing.’  (1 Thess 5:11) For a long time our focus has understandably been on our building – bricks and mortar. There has been lots of brilliant and effective ministry taking place, but it’s also true that rain pouring in onto the carpet, and the consequential fundraising and planning that’s been necessary to revitalise our building has taken up a lot of time and energy for many, perhaps at the expense at times of other important people-focussed ministry.  Like our building, we have all in some way been weathered by recent storms, and need restoring – mentally, spiritually, or physically from the toll of exhaustion, change or illness.  What support and encouragement might you need, and who and how might God want to bless and build up through you?

Secondly, Prayer | To find out what we are to do, individually and as a family, we need to pray – for ourselves and our world – and look and listen for God’s response.  A few verses later in his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” We need to pray for each other and for the world at all times, and with eyes open to see God at work – because He is, even when the world seems dark.  Thank you to all those of you who pray regularly, and to those who rejoice in the good and offer encouragement even when circumstances aren’t ideal or quite what you hope for.  For those who might find prayer difficult, or struggle to rejoice and be thankful in an increasingly bewildering world – (and if that’s you, then be assured you’re most definitely not alone) – then I think the coming months will give us all an opportunity to grow as a people of prayer, our lives built more firmly on prayer and thanksgiving.

Finally, Community | Since the pandemic hit, we’ve been separated and we’ve spent a lot of time being restricted by what we can’t do. And whilst there will be an element of that going forward for the foreseeable future, Debs’ encouragement to the staff team over the last few weeks has been to think and pray about what we can do.  Christmas is just around the corner – it’s going to be very different this year; how can we be creative in sharing the joy of Christ’s birth with those in our local community meaningfully and safely?  In this time of ever-increasing hardship where there is arguably greater need in our community for care, support and provision than ever before, how can we get alongside those in need, within or outside of our four walls? How can we be God’s hands and feet and voice to our neighbours?  Maybe you have ideas – in which case, please do share them! What is clear is that it requires all of us to play our part – quoting Paul again, this time from his first letter to the Corinthians, he wrote: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”  If we’re to take a ‘can do’ attitude towards our ministry going forward, it requires all of us to be involved.  I was struck by Alan Jackson’s talk in our first service back in the building in September when he talked of every member ministry. The work of the local church can’t be dismissed as someone else’s job, it mustn’t be loaded solely onto the vicar, or to ‘someone else’ because they’re better or younger or older or more gifted than us; it doesn’t matter if you’re teacher or a tea-maker, whether you’ve been here for 40 years or 4 months, whether you feel like you’ve lots or little to offer – we need you, we need each other, and we all have a crucial part to play in welcoming and witnessing to God’s love, to friends and strangers alike.  I’m sure that like me you can all recall particular times in our church life where God has been at work and there’s been joy and vibrancy, unity and excitement about seeing lives touched and changed by Him through certain services, events or activities.  My guess is those times might just have been when you’ve been with other people, engaged in ministry together – prayerfully and practically.  

You’ll be relieved that as the interregnum draws to a close you’ll hear much less of me, but before then I’d like to thank the staff team – Brenda, John, Julie, Ron, Dave, Wendy and Emma – for all they have done this year behind the scenes in enabling church life to continue in these strange times.  The challenges presented by the building and by the pandemic have meant I’ve more or less been juggling two full-time jobs since the beginning of July, so I’d also like to thank those people who have supported and encouraged me personally from St Richard’s in what’s been an enjoyable but exhausting time – you know who you are – and also Arul and James from the Church of the Living God, who pray regularly for us a church, have been brilliantly supportive, and with whom I hope we can partner with more closely in the future to bless our local community.

That word, hope.  Our faith is built on a living hope that is built on the resurrection of Jesus – that there is life beyond darkness, that there is life beyond the trials that we face.  And that hope and faith are ours to share, in love, with each other, and with our communities.   So to close, here’s a song written by Graham Kendrick earlier this year as a celebration of communities coming together to bring hope and love in uncertainty. 

Thank you for your time, faith, hope and love which makes St Richard’s a very special place to be.

— Paul Hughes | Thursday 22 October 2020