Message from Bishop Rachel, 15 February 2022

Published: Tuesday February 15, 2022

Last week at General Synod there was the opportunity to engage with some significant agenda items on what it means for us to ‘be’ the Church, ranging from involvement with issues around modern slavery, church governance, and supporting persecuted Christians across the world. All our discussion around structures, numbers, activity, and finance, is only important if it enables us to impact our world for good as we more boldly join in with God’s kingdom work of transformation.

One of the agenda items on which I was taking a lead was the review of the implementation of the recommendations of the 2017 Setting God’s People Free report. The focus was on how we are growing a Church of disciples of every age and background, living and sharing the good news of Christ in who we are every day of every week. It is about our baptismal calling.

At the end of every service of baptism or confirmation, the candidates are given a candle, and those gathered send them out with the words, ‘Shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father’. It is not about being ‘good’ or pretending life is all hunky-dory: It is about being authentic followers of Christ as we each grow in faith, learning more of how we daily open ourselves to God’s love and the work of the Holy Spirit within us as we go about our everyday lives in different places. I also referred to this in my Bulletin letter of 25 January.

What does it mean to be and share Christ’s light in the school playground, or at home, or in the hospital waiting room, or in a place of employment or volunteering etc etc. – and not only when life feels good but also when life is hard and painful?

In introducing the debate at General Synod, I referred once more to that image of leaving wet baptismal footprints wherever we go.

Bishop RachelWe gather each week as the people of God to ‘do’ church – To be forgiven, give thanks, and to be nourished and blessed; and then we are sent back out to nourish the world and be a blessing in ‘being’ church: ‘May we who share Christ’s body live his risen life … ’

In this diocese, our Life Together has a spotlight on ‘nurturing everyday disciples’. This is about an ongoing discovery of God’s love for us and our identity as followers of Jesus Christ, however young or old we are and wherever we are on our journey of faith.

How is our gathered worship being led and shaped in order to gather people in from the places of their week and then to send people back out ‘in peace to love and serve the Lord’, amid the struggles and joys of the coming week?

At General Synod I underlined that this is about people of all ages – children, young people and adults; and furthermore that wonderful social action we engage in together (e.g. food banks, afterschool clubs, memory cafes etc.) is only one part of what we are talking about in being sent out to ‘live and work to God’s praise and glory’ every hour of every day.

As people arrived at our recent Diocesan Synod on Zoom, they were invited to use the chat function to respond to two questions: ‘Where have you experienced God in everyday life this week?’ and ‘Where might people have experienced Christ’s light in you this week?’. The responses were wide-ranging.

These might be good questions to use in your own gatherings in different contexts in the coming months as we seek that culture shift to grow in ‘being’ the Church, Sunday to Saturday, and how we enter into our gathered worship.

There is a new national online portal that offers prayer and reflections for individual faith journeys, and our diocesan Lent page has some excellent resources to support us all in our everyday faith.

Of course, the paradox here is that this is about each unique child, young person, and adult, called by name and living very different stories, yet it is not about seeing faith as individualistic. We are members together of the Body of Christ, ‘being’ the Church in dispersed and different places for most of each week.

On the train returning from General Synod, I became very aware of the man with the refreshment trolly speaking to passengers with kindness and care as he served them. When he reached me he noticed my attire and quietly asked me if I was the Bishop of Gloucester. When I said yes, his eyes lit up above his face covering and he told me of the Anglican church in Cheltenham of which he is part. For me, the way he was embodying his work was a beautiful illustration of someone shining as a light in the world to the glory of God, and I hope he is prayed for and encouraged in this by those in that worshipping community.

In the weeks ahead may we further explore how we can each support people of every age in our varied worshipping communities, to shine as lights in the world, and find ways of sharing those stories.

With my thanks and prayers as ever,

 

 

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