Hillside Parishes Magazine

Like many organisations the Church of England does not refrain from indulging in a bit of navel gazing. The question is: Can it emerge wiser when forced to do so? So when occasional questionnaires on ministry circulate, or we have to evaluate parish life at some workshop or conference or whatever, we assess ministry, our ministries, and try to see our parish as far more active than any other parish. The present uncertainty surrounding pastoral re-organisation in the deanery will encourage further searching. This is one reason for introducing the discussion book "Christian Ministry" (p.3 June HPM) even though it gives a rather polished chromium-plated view of ministry along comfortable evangelical lines. What is taught and hoped for in College is not always the sum of the parts in the field! Sadly, such role models often deepen the divide between town and country. We have the will and the way and wherewithal in rural areas, but not resources in sheer numbers to do all these things and still have tidy committees. On top of which many aspects of ministry do happen but are done by non-regular church-goers!!

Perhaps therefore we need to identify, or rather recognise, the heart of our community. For a start we have individual identities as component parishes - this is not made easier by some parishes having daughter churches. This latter fact, though, does deepen the sense of community at individual village level. The energy of individual P.C.Cs may be taken up with maintaining their own fabric. This in itself is their act of witness to the wider community, or the rest of the local village community - that the Church which marks them out, or gives them a name, does stand for something and is active in this 21st Century.

Much of the rest of ministry (serving, loving our neighbour) stems from this quite regardless of church or denominational allegiance. It is not all left to the priest - who could not do it ALL anyway! Rather it is a sharing. Particular aspects, usually the spiritual or sacramental, are left to the priestly representative. I say "representative" because in this day of multi-parish benefices the priest may not be available or even may not exist! Holiday cover is an example. Then again, even a clash of interests when more things are piled onto fewer qualified professionals simply because there are more jobs to do than there are professionals to go round. The establishment makes its demands, yet I would not seek to disestablish the church because, again, it makes room for worship, prayer and thanksgiving within the public expression of everyday public life - usually it is the monarch or some corporation or duty, and often in a cathedral setting. Remembrance Day, however, is a good illustration of this happening outside and away from church portals. It is an expression of witness and often involves many in a wider ministry (sharing and serving).

In some ways what ministry is about happens anyway! The sick are visited, the elderly or housebound are helped, the grieving comforted ....... There is official provision for all this, too, in the form of hospital chaplains and Friends of a hospital, in the system of local carers and a ready awareness of the needs of a neighbour or others in the community. Even clumsy attempts to meet all the needs - in, say community buses - happen. Above this, outside school hours, the community provides activities for its children and hopes that the adolescents who shun church are picked up more as a peer group at college by chaplains and C.U. members. Those at home will attend baptisms, weddings and funerals - each of which makes its own impact - as they occur. Charity also makes its own individual demands and personal choices.

All in all there is a lot of ministry and it is not all priest-generated! It is a community that is alive and healthy that exercises a considerable part of ministry itself. It is further served by a priest, even though the classic norm we would expect no longer exists, and serving many communities and other organisations creates its own tensions and clashes. However, we are getting on with it and we are getting there!

Our hearts go out to Andrew and Mandy Cooke whose vigil beside Claire is now ended. It has been a harrowing time for them, their parents and the boys, yet through it all Claire has spoken volumes about the gift of Life. In her short life she has given so much and enabled so much. On her behalf we must also give thanks for those who have given so much, at Leeds and the Freeman in Newcastle and beyond. I can vouch that one of her smiles was worth a drive of many miles, and the joy on her face on being blown a kiss said so much ...............

I’m sure many have been praying and felt truly tested by it all. Usually our prayers border on the "Thy Will be done". We accept what comes but we hope against hope for the small miracle. In the former we detect God but in the latter we would love to see a real flash of Him, regardless of the difficulty of handling it. "We could jump it if we came to it", sort of approach. It is of note that many, and Mandy and her brother in particular, were sustained by the prayer for a sick child in the B.C.P., Visitation of the Sick. In a similar way it expresses our hopes and fears tempered by our dependence on God and our acceptance of His will. It brings together the components that our faithfulness to God must realise. The goal of life is salvation and the return of the soul to God. Nurture of the soul is important in this life and many parents and children at Knayton School and in K2K will have been caught up in this, not only for their own soul’s development, but also, by proxy so to speak, of Claire’s as recipient of those prayers.

One so young and small has been through so much in a short space of time. Certainly her rest and tranquility is well deserved. Along that road we have learned so much, too, and although Claire will not wait attendance on the Lord in the dimension of this life, she has been an instrument of glory and served faithfully and done good in her generation.
O Lord, Thank You for Claire and hear our prayers for all her family.

Toddy.