The Archdeacon S Charge

A R C H D E A C O N R Y O F O A K H A M

THE ARCHDEACON’S CHARGE

CHURCHWARDENS

2017

At least some of you who have been in office for a number of years, if asked to name the real Archdeacon of Oakham might be inclined to reply: David Painter, and to regard the character standing before you now as something of an upstart or interloper. I often rather share that view myself – imposter syndrome is a well known condition - and it is quite endearing to sometimes be called David in error. I rejoice in all the good relationships which David formed across the archdeaconry, and all the goodwill that he engendered, which it has been my privilege to inherit and, I trust, to build upon and not to abuse.

Yet the fact is that, all other things being equal, I am now approximately half-way through my own term of office as Archdeacon. If I retire on my 68th birthday, which is the age to which the clergy pension scheme is now geared, and beyond which I think I might be a bit past my sell by date, then this will be the 6th of the 11 series of admission services that I will conduct and charges that I will deliver.

In view of that half-way point, Bishop Donald has agreed to me taking a period of sabbatical leave in the autumn. In the course of that sabbatical, I hope to refresh my ministry by walking in some of the footsteps of Jesus in Galilee and Jerusalem, in some of the footsteps of Paul, as he carried the good news about Jesus from Jerusalem to Rome, and finally in some of the footsteps of Augustine, our first Archbishop, as he travelled from Rome to these shores, and settled in Canterbury, the city in which, as a student, I experienced my own calling firstly to become an Anglican and secondly to offer for ordination.

Whilst I am away, Archdeacon Richard in Northampton will deal with statutory archidiaconal matters, such as issuing List B permission, and Bishop John of Brixworth will oversee any clergy appointments that need to be made in that time, though I am seeking to do as much as I can before my departure to minimise what has to be done in my absence.

Tonight offers many of you the opportunity to put a face to a name and to meet Chel, who took over from Pat as my personal assistant last summer. Chel will be in the office as usual during my absence and will be able to process things appropriately and to pass them to others to deal with as necessary.

It has been a delight to work with Chel over these past 10 months. The fact that she came to me directly from working in the bishops’ office meant that she already knew a number of us well and she has been able to swiftly implement changes to our systems, so that the two archdeacons’ offices now work much more in tandem with one another.

I thank you for your forbearance as we have switched to greater reliance on email than on post, which I know has come to a number of you as a joy and delight and to others as a bit of a nuisance, but we are keen to keep costs to a minimum and operate as efficiently as possible, and you will find, for instance, that this charge will be available to you electronically rather than in paper form once the various services have taken place.

Being potentially at something of a mid-point in my ministry as Archdeacon, I have returned to where I started, and have drawn tonight on some of the hymns and readings that I choose just over five years ago for the collation service within which I was appointed to this role.

As you will recall, it was the Bishop’s wish that the holder of my post should carry responsibility for the spiritual oversight of financial matters, including parish share issues across the diocese. In seeking inspiration for this aspect of my role, I choose the calling of Matthew as one of the readings at my collation, and have done so again tonight.

Tax collectors, as we know, were regarded in New Testament times as comprised figures. They were agents, directly or indirectly, of the occupying Roman authorities. They were collaborators. They also had a reputation for corruption, lining their own pockets with more than they were entitled to. Matthew was perhaps not the worst of them. We are not made aware of him being loathed in the same way as was Zacchaeus, for example, with whom Jesus chose to dine, as he did with Matthew and his friends.

It is strange that Matthew the money man was not entrusted with keeping the common purse for Jesus and the other disciples. That duty fell to Judas Iscariot, who went on to betray Jesus with a kiss. I wonder how Matthew felt about not being the obvious choice for treasurer. Perhaps he felt the way that we can be inclined to feel when someone else is chosen for a task for which we regard ourselves as much more suitable and far better qualified.

Matthew had to learn, as we all have to learn, again and again, that following Jesus requires humility.

St Paul has words to say to those of us who may be tempted by virtue of our office, as an Archdeacon or as a churchwarden, to consider ourselves as in some way superior to others. The first reading I chose for my collation service five years ago, and from which I quoted at the start of our service tonight, was of verses from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi, a city I hope to visit on my sabbatical. To them, and to us, Paul says:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus who emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.

We who exercise roles in the church are challenged to recognise ourselves as being called to be the servants of those who do not exercise such roles, and indeed servants of one another, as well as servants of Our Lord. Most difficult of all, perhaps, for many of us, we are called to have the humility to allow others to serve and minister to us.

The spiritual oversight of financial matters has occupied much of my attention over the past few months, as the challenge of seeking to grow and not to decline as a diocese has required us to dig deep, and that has been keenly felt in the parish share system. The letter which the Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance and I sent out to parishes at the beginning of Lent generated a variety of reactions, yet the upturn in parish share payments this year by contrast with the end of last year has been tremendously encouraging.

As some of you will be only too aware, we have found that clergy vacancies in several cases have lasted far longer than we would have wished, because of the national shortage of clergy, and we have been seeking to play our part as a diocese in encouraging more vocations.

Ordinands and curates cost money, and this is the area of our budget which has seen the greatest growth in recent years. We have perhaps passed the high point of that growth, and there are likely to be slightly fewer ordinations to stipendiary ministry over the next few years than there have been in the recent past but I’m delighted to say that ordinations to self-supporting ministry are now set to increase, having experienced something of a lull in recent years.

The God who has called us and who has brought us thus far, who from our mother’s arms has blessed us on our way, continues to challenge us to embrace new ways of working, new expressions of church, new patterns of ministry, that the life and mission of his church might be appropriate to the times in which we find ourselves.

In the offices which we exercise, may we continue to play our part to the full in enabling the church to be ever more responsive to its calling to make disciples, to grow, to proclaim, by word and deed, the good news of God’s love for the people of this age.

Just as Jesus sat down with Matthew and his friends to demonstrate that they too had seats in the kingdom, may we continue to reach out to all members of the communities in which we are set with that same message of abundant welcome and inclusion.

May God bless you and all with whom you will serve in the year ahead.