AGM and Mothering Sunday
1992 (Year C) 29 March / Lent 4
St Peter de Beauvoir Town
I make no apologies for standing here today but I do offer two reasons. The first is that this Sunday is important for us as a church – it’s the time when we review our own year and begin to look and plan new directions. So it seems more appropriate to have one of our own clergy standing here. The second is that after the experiences of the last few weeks it seems quite clear to me that the only way you can get anybody to preach for between ten and fifteen minutes is to do it yourself.
The church has always encouraged us as individuals to make review of our own lives, some form of self-assessment. Traditionally it would be at confession or maybe at the end of each day. If it’s right to do so as individuals, and I think it is, then it’s only proper that the church undertakes the same kind of exercise. It means we have to do it cooperatively. Today provides that opportunity as we go to the crypt after the service to elect churchwardens and members of the P.C.C. and listen to reports about the last year.
And what a momentous year it’s been. As I’ve reviewed it, in preparation for today, I’ve been almost overwhelmed by all that has happened. We’ve finished re-decorating the church. We raised all the money and managed to find time to have a Stewardship Campaign. The sound system – I hope in the end – for good has been installed. We exhausted ourselves at St Peter’s day. People went to Bicester, Hayling Island, Ely, Vienna and Norfolk. We’ve begun ‘Growing in Prayer’ and will continue until November at least. We continued Step-by Step. We finally got the money for the Refugee Project in the Crypt. That’s in addition to all the usual things that happen regularly here.
The congregation has continued to grow. In 1991 there were 4993 communicants. In 1992, with fewer services, there have been 5669. In 1991 there were an average of 82.4 communicants on a Sunday, in 1992 the average figure had risen to 88.75. If you want more sense of the growth in 1983 the average Sunday figure was 52.6. We’ve been growing steadily for years now, in 1972 the total communicant figure was 2322. Last year it was a bit more than usual. And this is at a time when we’re told that the church as a whole continues to contract.
Yet figures provide only one indicator of development, and arguably not the best one at that. There are other ways. They’re a bit harder and a bit more vague, but we can make some kind of assessment of how the spiritual life of the church is developing, or how effective our ministry is as a whole in the communities which are represented here. Do we communicate the wonder and love of God well to people in this area?
It seems clear to me that this church continues to grow towards God in a prayerful, loving way. That doesn’t mean that we get it all right all the time. Some people will not be treated as God would wish. There will’ve been times when the Kingdom of God came close and we failed hopelessly to recognise it.
In the Old Testament there is a truly wonderful story of encounter between God and Moses. The Lord said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.’
It seems to me as I’ve looked back over this year I’ve seen God’s back many many times. As Emmie died and was received by God into the eternal Kingdom people were aware that there was God in action. As we worked together at St Peter’s day last year, managing to keep our tempers – encouraging each other to participate – there was God. In Open Door retreats people have been fired with enthusiasms at new discoveries and awed at the presence of God – there was God. In the joy of celebrating the November vote in Synod here in this church on that Friday – there was God. In the care and love that each of us receives even if we’re not always aware of it – we have seen God. We might not have seen his face – but as he retreats we can say that he has been there. It is enough. Thanks be to God.
And the future? The task is to keep the rumour of God alive. To treasure these stories – and reflect on our own – so that we are able to point to God as he disappears round the rock and say, ‘There he is!’ You never know one day we might be so skilled at it that we can do it before he disappears – then we will find ourselves in his presence, and that will be more than enough. AMEN