Bath and Wells Diocesan Synod
Presidential Address
12 July 2017
On Monday afternoon the Archbishop of York prorogued the General Synod which had assembled on Friday. It had been a good Synod and the debates were varied, stimulating and generally conducted in good heart. Those new to Synod, however, generally find it confusing at first. For not only do they have to deal with the various complex legalities and procedures and navigate their way through Standing Orders, they discover that Synod has its own language. Proroguing for example is just a posh word for concluding. An extensive Glossary is however provided for new members who soon discover that CHARM, CRAC, CUF and DRACS refer to the Church’s Housing Assistance for Retired Ministry; the Central Advisory Religious Committee, the Church Urban Fund and the snappily entitled Deployment, Remuneration and Conditions of Service Committee.
There are always moments in Synod debates which are particularly inspiring, challenging and humbling and this Synod was no exception. In one of the debates the Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, said that he was trying to ‘evangelise Synod’. He went on to explain that he was referring to the encyclical EvangeliiNuntiandi which was an Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Paul VI in 1975 calling for every Christian to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Evangelization he said is the task of all the baptized and should not be seen only as the work of ordained ministers, priests, and deacons; the religious, or church staff and employees. He clarified that further by saying the spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a service, not a task. It is the calling of the Church to make Christ visible in his world. In a remarkably prophetic way the document emphasized that the modern world emphasized images more than words. As such, the world needs to see witnesses of a new possible way of living in order to be introduced to the Gospel.
Pope John Paul II developed that idea further with a call to each person to deepen their own faith in God, believe in the Gospel’s message, and proclaim the Good News. His call was for all to be evangelized and then to go out to evangelize others. In what was termed The New Evangelization the Pope invited every Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus and his Church. The Church he said needed to give all Christians the strength to make changes in their own life and to receive the gifts which Christ brings – the gifts of faith, hope, and love. This brings us back to the Bishop of Chelmsford’s remarks.
What he was saying to Synod is that none of us are fully evangelized and that we all need to be evangelized each day. Perhaps we can look at both those thoughts for a moment.
What does it mean to say that ‘none of us are fully evangelized’? I think that is clear. It means that the process of conversion – becoming more like Christ – will never be complete in this life. It means that Sanctification, which is the gift of Christ to us by the Spirit, is a life-long journey of repentance, discipleship and prayer. But as well as being a life-long journey, it is also a daily journey. Each day we need to come back to Christ in repentance and in hope, and ask him to fill us afresh with His Holy Spirit for the tasks and the opportunities, the challenges and the joys that each day brings. We probably all do this in different ways and in different places, but it is something we all need to do. This morning my day began in the Bishop’s Chapel where Bishop Ruth and I said Morning Prayer. The opening prayer is ‘The night has passed, and the day lies open before us: let us pray with one heart and mind’ There is then a moment for silence before praying. ‘As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and for ever. Amen’
I can’t think of better words to start the day than praying that God will set our hearts on fire with love for him. That is praying that we may be evangelized in order that God’s love may burn in and through us.
Let me continue my narrative through the words of Pope Francis. He has received world-wide attention and acclaim from people of all sorts of backgrounds. The media, the public, young people, celebrities and the members of the Catholic Church continue to hang on to his words and his actions.
Pope Francis has the amazing knack for preaching while embodying this preaching with his own life. He is a man whose humility and integrity inspires us and whose life is a model of evangelization that we can all learn much from.
In his sermons and addresses he seeks to tell us more and more about how he hopes the Church can evangelize. Let me illustrate that with some of his own words:
He has said that for evangelism to be effective an evangelizer must be joyful
‘An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! … And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ’ (EvangeliiGaudium)
He has said that everyone is meant to evangelize
‘Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love’ (EvangeliiGaudium)
He has said that evangelization starts with our own relationship with Jesus
‘The spread of the Gospel is not guaranteed either by the number of persons, or by the prestige of the institution, or by the quantity of available resources. What counts is to be permeated by the love of Christ, to let oneself be led by the Holy Spirit and to graft one’s own life onto the tree of life, which is the Lord’s Cross’. (Homily, Mass with Seminarians and Novices, July 7, 2013)
He calls us to get out of our Comfort Zone
‘I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures’. (EvangeliiGaudium)
Synod, let us take note.
I conclude by turning first to Scripture and then to prayer.
Writing to the Colossians Paul wrote:
‘Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.’ (Colossians 4: 2 - 6)
As we think about how we can live and tell the story of Jesus, as we seek to put mission and evangelism at the heart of all we do, we need to recognise that it all begins with prayer. ‘Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful’. Let us pray.
The Prayer of Mary Sumner
(Founder of Mothers’ Union)
All this day, O Lord,
let me touch as many lives as possiblefor thee;
and every life I touch,
do thou by thy spirit quicken,
whether through the word I speak,
the prayer I breathe,or the life I live.
Amen
Rt Revd Peter Hancock
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Millfield School, Somerset