The Clergy Letter
Dear Friends,
How do we communicate a passion for God? This question was brought home to me the other week when I had the great privilege of marrying my daughter and afterwards meeting her and her husband’s friends; bright young things, positive, generous, open, honest, questioning and full of life - despite living in a testing uncertain world. They were positive about the future and frankly, exciting to be around, yet all who spoke to me had questions about their ‘spirituality’, in great part I suppose because they found it fascinating that one of their friends had a ‘Dad’ who was a Vicar. However, this line of questioning is something I’ve become used to and seems to happen far more frequently with people of all ages and from all walks of life.
Trying to answer their questions, or perhaps more pertinently trying to say something that connected with who they were and where they were in their lives was a tremendous experience. These are people, some practising Christians, some not, some unsure, who are not fooled by clichéd answers; they are far too sophisticated for that and if truth be known have a deeper sense of spirituality than perhaps the Church in general gives them and their era credit for. If we are to become communicators of the Gospel we have to think through our answers and make them meaningful, but more importantly, we need to ‘live’ them – otherwise we are seen through.
It was a pleasure to socialise with our wedding guests through the evening and into the night. I’m afraid I’m a ‘lightweight’ when it comes to partying so headed off to bed far sooner than the early hours they departed, but I retired, reflecting on how wonderful an experience the wedding and the celebrations had been, but also feeling exhilarated having engaged with people who were genuinely interested in what I had to say about spiritual matters and were looking to understand.
How we communicate with people today, many who do have this real yearning for spiritual sustenance is, I believe, perhaps the biggest test facing the Christian Church in the first part of the 21st Century. If we are to end the dualism between the sacred and secular so that our whole lives can be completely connected to God then we need to focus intelligently and thoughtfully on how we bring the reality of the sacred into the everyday life and culture of the world. As a Church and as individuals we need to go into the world just “… as he was sent into the world” (John 20:21) and proclaim loud and clear what it is and what it means to follow Christ. Failing to do this will let down a whole generation, a generation who will shape the world of the future. What a challenge that is for us all to engage with.
Every blessing,
Andrew