April Thoughts

April thoughts

The calendar ticks off another day and tomorrow it will be April. This month brings about the joy of Easter. The drama of Holy Week is entered into with devotion. The message of the Good News of Jesus Christ risen from death is proclaimed in our hearts and is spoken to the hearts of the world.

The pandemic restrictions are released, while the infection is still there. The war inflicted upon Ukraine by Russia is still in full anger and intensity. It is abhorrent that war and conflict are preferred to peace.

The importance of faith is vital in the world. Faith is not an ancient, irrelevant way of living but an enlightened message of peace, more it is meaning and truth too. Faith is a proclaiming of the importance of family and values that are eternal. Values such as love, hope, kindness, generosity, wisdom, strength, goodness, reverence for God and one another, gratitude, respect. Faith may be buried in people’s lives because of one thing or another, it is important to dust it off put faith into the very centre of hearts.

Language is important in understanding the Synod process, the church teaching is not at stake, but the way we communicate, the way we love, the way we respect and reverence one another is vital to the process. Listening to the Holy Spirit is not taking the Holy Spirit captive and demanding a ransom of wholesale changes to broker the Spirts release. The Church proclaims a beautiful yet challenging truth. Christ upon the cross killed, the Word made Flesh, Love, the Son of God, willing submitting to death so that sin may be forgiven, and death defeated. Life is eternal, the Holy Spirit encourages us to seek life, to understand the truth in Jesus, not in our desire to control.

The month of April is a month where financially the parish takes a hit. The Insurance is £5200 The Diocesan Quarterly Levy £7500. Add this to rising heating costs and general cost of living, it cuts deep. People in the parish are generous, they give. We all give of ourselves in service, we give to help the upkeep of the parish and we give to others in need. April is a month that hurts financially.

As a priest I want to see a way forward. If I can see the way forward then I can be confident in ministry. The dwindling numbers of clergy is of course a concern. The immediate concern is the priests who are in post at present, parish priests, curates, chaplains, who are looking to see a way forward. Workload is higher than ever, administration, general day to day stuff, finances, pastoral care, spiritual upkeep, chaplaincies, other roles. Our ministry is taking place in the midst of decline, worries about the future take its toll, the weariness of engaging with the pandemic, of looking for positives in a world of bad news is an effort a strain at times. Expectations of what I can do weigh heavy at times too, I see what needs to be done, but energy, motivation, lack of resources and often the indifference of others, to help can be a challenge.

it is debilitating at times to cater for the demands of the lapsed, to offer a treasure and for people to take the bit they want and refuse the rest. Morale crumbles in the face of indifference. We want to see the way forward and then be determined to forge the way towards that.

When I was first ordained the way forward was heaven, reaching its shores safely, that is still the goal still the point of faith the purpose of religion. The structures for achieving these goals are crumbing quickly. If I say I am exhausted no doubt it will be batted back: “we all are!” Just getting on with it is frustrating.

I do so much good and yet I can’t see the way ahead anymore. There are little glimpses of heaven amidst the chaos of ministry while maintaining structures not fit for purpose. If parishes are to reduce how is this to be managed? Is it all reacting to crisis or planning for the future. (The future is now by the way!)

Will I be running two or three parishes soon?  How will the people feel when their parishes change or close because of lack of numbers attending, or taking part, or lack of clergy to administer them, or lack of finance? In the next year how will things look? Will it be just the same, though I will be another year older or a year of fruitful engagement that steadies worried frames and eases anxious hearts with a vision for the immediate support of the frontline workers and a change of mentality towards expectations.

When the bishop comes for confirmation and sixty children are confirmed every year then all is rosy for the future of the church. With the best will in the world and with charity oozing out of me, the question is posed where were they the weeks, months years before and where are they now, even one week/month after being confirmed?

The Sunday benches are still there but are not being polished by the attendance or participation of people baptised and families who received 1^st Holy Communion and are Confirmed. It is not a blame game, but where are they? If they were there, then the church would not be in a decline and I would not be writing this! Its boring families tell me, I agree boredom descends when the heart is not engaged. Faith is not in the home and for generations now. If only I could see a way to encourage faith at home and convince people of the benefits that would come from it! We need help to find ways of getting the hearts engaged in faith again.

So, my action points for April:

Support and bolster the clergy by acknowledging the predicament and start planning for a clearer future. Build upon goodness. The four generations of lapsed are having a negative effect upon the structure of the mission.

Communication, transparency, support, care, love and understanding are Easter gifts we need to open and treasure, if we are to see a clear way forward.