Comment (November 2009)
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Bishop’s Letter
with Bishop Paul Richardson
Ask people to compile a list of their heroes and they are often stuck for an answer. Sports men and women usually make the list. In the North East Sir Bobby Robson and Alan Shearer are usually at the top. Politicians rarely make the grade with the exception of Nelson Mandela.
Maybe we know too much to believe in heroes. The press is good at debunking prominent people and cutting them down to size. It used to be said that 'No man is a hero to his valet'. Now we usually end up knowing as much as the valets as they rush to spill the beans in exchange for payments from the media.
One of the problems with modern cynicism is that it can lead us to conclude there is no point in struggling to make the world a better place. Heroes can serve as models and sources of encouragement - but if heroes have feet of clay what hope is there for anyone else? Heroes can be a nuisance. They challenge us to make more of our lives, to struggle to overcome injustice and improve the lot of others. A world without heroes can seem a much more peaceful place.
Saints are sometimes spoken of as 'heroes of the faith' but in one important respect they are unlike heroes: all their achievements depend not on their own strength and ability but on their readiness to open their lives to God's grace. Saints are allowed to fail because their failures reveal the forgiveness of God. As one theologian has put it, 'saints are small characters in a story that is fundamentally about God'.
Saints are imperfect. It is not hard to find their blind spots or their weaknesses. But this means we cannot use our own failings as an excuse for failing to follow them. Accounts of character flaws in the biography of a saint should not make us cynical but lead to the realisation that God can work through all of us, no matter how weak we may be, if we open our lives to his grace.
As well as the recognised saints of the church there are the many unrecognised saints we meet in our daily life. Two people, in particular, have encouraged me and given me a vision of holiness. One was the first Geordie I ever met, Br Alfred Taylor SSF. As a Franciscan friar in Papua New Guinea he lived a life of total simplicity and poverty alongside the Papua New Guinean brothers. He shared their diet and worked alongside them in the garden. He chewed beetle nut and joined with the local people in the dancing, dressing as they did. As one disapproving elderly woman missionary said to me, he was so sunburnt you could not tell he was a European when he was dancing until he turned around and you saw his white bottom!
The other was Charles Waters, a distinguished civil servant whose only son died in World War II. In order not to become bitter, Dr Waters threw himself into church work, gaining a doctorate of music and working with choirs in run-down inner city parishes. He came to help me with a choir in South London. The boys could be rough and rowdy but Dr Waters won their affection by his care for them and by his own personal sanctity. By then he was well in his 70s. All he did was based on his daily attendance at the Eucharist and his disciplined spiritual life.
All of us are called to be saints. We should not let feelings of unworthiness prevent us from trying to rise to the challenge. As I prepare to leave the diocese, I thank all of you for your help and support and for the encouragement you have given me in my own pilgrimage of faith. The North East has a rich spiritual patrimony but God is still at work among us and the Spirit continues to reap a harvest.
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How would Jesus welcome young people?
by Andrew Shipton
It always surprises me how many adults are afraid of younger people.
Our church has a long and positive tradition in working with young people that goes back
hundreds of years but today it seems especially challenging today for 'older' people to encounter and befriend young people in their areas.
An article that has helped me think through a simple strategy was written by Steve Mallon, Associate secretary for Education and Nurture in the Church of Scotland. He points to the encounter Jesus has with two of his followers on the Road to Emmaus, following the events in Jerusalem. First the story shows that Jesus encounters the men on the journey they were already taking.
They didn't have to go somewhere special to meet Jesus, he joined them on their road. This is a clear challenge to us to try to meet young people where they are. Any positive conversation with a young person on a street corner or even outside a church is youth work!
Secondly, it shows us that Jesus is interested in the conversation they are having. He asks what they are talking about. He doesn't come in, stop them on the road and then preach them a sermon. Conversation is at the heart of every encounter with Jesus and it is at the heart of youth work. We need to have a conversational ministry with young people but we need to start with the conversations they are already having.
Thirdly, this story shows us the importance of using familiar symbols. Jesus breaks bread with his friends and in doing that they can see as though for the first time. In using symbols that are familiar to young people today we can help them see too.
Finally this story shows us the need for us to spend time with young people. Jesus waits for and accepts their invitation to join them for a meal and this is the point at which everything changes. We need to give time to young people and wait for their invitation to be on their journeys, to join in on their conversations and to work with them to make sense and meaning of their symbols.
Youth work is not difficult if we are interested in young people for their own sakes. The most important thing we can do is take an interest, listen and be patient.
So, put fear aside.
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