APCM Vicar’s Address 2010

This morning my Address is in two halves: the first part looks at our Bible Reading from Acts 2 and what we can learn from it today to help enrich our community life here – this will conclude with an brief exercise for you all to do; then the second part reviews the past year and looks forward to some of the challenges facing us this year!

So, to begin with, let’s turn to Acts 2 (p1094). This passage this morning gives us an insight into the beginnings of the Christian Church and the ways in which people’s lives were so radically transformed, all because of Jesus. And this life transformation was a transformation that affected every part of their lives and every moment of their lives – in other words, they lived and breathed their newfound faith 24/7.

The good news is that Acts 2 helps us to understand how their faith in the risen Jesus was lived out in practical ways – practical ways that we too, can practise and integrate into our lives. Today we’re going to focus briefly on 3 of these ways.

First, we learn that the people devoted themselves to learning – in verse 42 we read They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.
Today, if we want to train in any discipline, we know it will take work, hard work and application. Likewise, whilst learning about God will not, most probably, be the only discipline most people will engage in, it is still a discipline that we all need to take seriously, because it is only through applying ourselves that we can grow in our knowledge and experience of all that Jesus has done for us. So first, we are called to develop lives that want to learn.

Secondly, the people loved. In verse 42 we read: ‘They devoted themselves [not only] to the apostles’ teaching, [but also] to the fellowship.’ Now there are 2 characteristics to this fellowship: first, it describes the wonderful fellowship that we as Christians enjoy with God – remembering of course that this is a ‘Trinitarian’ experience – our sharing in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And second, it expresses what we share in together – both in terms of what we give and what we receive. In this context, Luke the author continues to tell us, (from verse 44) that ‘All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.’

Whilst these verses over the centuries have proved to be challenging in their practical application, what this passage does teach us is that as Christians we should be generous in the way we use what we have. When we see a need among us and know that we can help, we should act – because this is what loving our neighbour is all about – this is what being a loving church is all about.

What is important to grasp is that God calls each one of us to give as we are able to give – in other words, our response will differ to others. And, when we are obedient to God’s leading, then we will see the lives of those around us transformed.

If we look again at Acts 2:45 we know that there was need – and the loving response of the church was to give to meet those needs. What is so exciting, is that later on in Acts 4:34 we are told, that as a response of the generosity, there were no needy persons among them. Imagine that – a church that had managed to meet all their needs – wow, what a picture!

This is what being a Spirit-filled Christian is all about – this is what being a loving Church is all about – this is what you and I are called to do too!
As someone once said: Christian fellowship is Christian caring, and Christian caring is Christian sharing. So, we are called to learn and we are called to love.

Thirdly, the people were called to be a living and worshipping community. Verse 42 we read ‘They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and to prayer…(v46) Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising God.’

Every day they continued to meet together. In the excitement of their newfound faith, these new believers desired to worship God together – they desired to praise His name and thank Him for all that He had done for them – and this they did by meeting together every day! Verse 46 tells us that they met in both the Temple Courts and in their homes, and this is significant for us to learn from.

Here we have the early church model of larger corporate, more formalised gatherings (like our Sunday services) hand in hand with smaller, more personal and informal gatherings - two different kinds of gatherings, serving different purposes, but both essential in building a community a faith.
You cannot have one without the other, because in practice, they need each other if true community is to be established.

How many of you want to be part of a community like this? Well, the good news is the fact that you’re here this morning, you’re half way there. The question is do you want to go all the way? Well, first you need to do something.

When you came in this morning, you were given a sheet headed LIFE groups. I want you to take this sheet now and look at it. This sheet is your ticket, this sheet is your passport to be part of a small group where you can commit yourself to learning, loving and living for Jesus. Here at St Mary’s we’re calling these L.I.F.E. Groups and to begin with we will be running them on both Wednesday and Thursday nights and Thursday morning during the week.

Now, some of you I know will want to sign up straight away – that’s great – please tick option 1 and whatever time or times you’re available. But some of you will be sitting there thinking I really want someone to talk it over with to help me make up my mind – if this is you, tick option 2 and we’ll get together with you soon.

Then there’ll be some of you that feel for whatever reason, you don’t feel able to join a group at this time – if this is the case please tick option 3. If this is you, please do remember you can join a group any time in the future – all you need to do is to ask us.

The challenge for all of us is if we are to recapture the heart of what it means to be a church living in community; if we are to recapture the heart of what it means to be a church that loves; if we are to recapture the heart of what it means to be a church that learns, then we need to encourage each other to find that time to meet together, so that together, we continue to grow into the community Jesus is calling us to be.

So that’s the first half – now comes the second part as we look back on all that God has done here at St Mary’s over the past year, as well as looking forward to some of the challenges in store for us.

First, there’s the Buildings and Fabric Developments that have made the biggest impact in refreshing the church’s interior, most notably the chairs (I hope you’re not asleep in them); the multipurpose platform (space which can now be used flexibly to meet the different needs of all our services and which has also enabled us to use the Lady Chapel once again) and 2 cleaning initiatives which have helped to get on top of the dust ‘n grime.

Then there are the new children’s tables and chairs, and the extra tables for the various events we hold. The church heating system has been cleaned out and I’m sure you will notice the difference next winter! And there are many other things that have been done – to all those who have been part of making these things happen – Thank-you!

When it comes to developments and challenges, the list is endless (as the Buildings and Fabric Team knows well). Coming soon is a new spectacular Altar Frontal which having been to view its progress recently, is going to look absolutely stunning. In a few months we will be introducing a new Oak cabinet in the rear corner of the Nave that will house the current and future PA and Projection systems.

Then there’s the organ refurbishment programme, which we’re currently waiting for a Diocesan report before we take it to the tendering process. At the same time we need to seriously look at upgrading our PA system and install a Projection system that will enable us to give Multi-media presentations.

Furthermore at our last PCC meeting, the PCC identified the need to be able to provide better catering facilities to help our ever growing events and community outreach (which could be met through the addition of a small commercial grade kitchen in the church hall); and the need to maximise our existing space and make better use of it – for example the Vicar’s Vestry; the Tower Area etc.

The challenge is that because most of our existing developments have come from either legacies or one-off gifts, the reality is that we don’t have the financial infrastructure in place yet to tackle these projects even on a rolling basis. Yes there are restricted funds (i.e. legacies) in place to help with projects like the Organ refurbishment programme and Projection system, but more resources are still required to complete even these - resources that I believe God has given each of us – all we need to do is to release them for his glory!

Second and linked to this is the challenge of Finance. Now many of you will remember that last year, we were forecasting a monthly shortfall of around £1000, which equated to around a £12,000 shortfall for the year – well, the good news is that we made a surplus of around £577 (this figure is lower that what was previously forecast but was due to changing the way our accounts are presented – John can explain later if you want)

The point is God provided us with what we need – and this year is no different in that we need to find a similar increase if we are to meet all that we have committed to as a church. And what have we committed ourselves to?

• The ministry of your leadership, in this community and in our Diocese.

• Increasing our Mission giving to the Biblical mandate of 10% (and can I encourage you to take the opportunity to view the 5 Mission Partners that we are now supporting: 2 in the UK and 3 overseas).

• The appointment of a part-time Church Administrator to help rescue me from the paperwork mountain I’m being drowned by (and I’m pleased to say that Joanne Rickwood has survived 2 weeks)

• The appointment of a new part-time organist called Andrew Hickson who will direct the music at our 9am service and who begins formally this week!

And there are many other commitments – the question is, do you like what God is doing in the life of the church – if so, there is still so much more we could do, but we need your help! Over the next 5 years we need to seriously look at how we can expand our leadership team to include a Children’s and Youth Worker amongst other workers. The impact this alone would have in the life of the church is huge and would I believe be a huge blessing to this community!

Third – and continuing the theme of our children is our Children and Youth
This year we have seen incredible growth in the Light Factory with on average 25-30 children meeting weekly (my thanks to all involved with this work). Occasionally it can be pushing 40!

The key challenge here is lack of space and we’re already using the church hall; and the vicarage living room, dining room and study. As such there is an urgent need to provide more space if we are going to grow this work more.

In addition we have recently started:
1. A monthly Friday night children’s programme
2. A monthly coffee morning for Light Factory parents and carers
3. A fortnightly Sunday morning programme for Year 7+
4. And a bi-monthly Saturday night programme for Year 7+

There’s always the need too for more helpers and co-leaders to join the team. So, a thought - is God calling you this morning to join this team?

Fourth – there’s our Musical Life
This year has seen both the 9am and 10.30am music teams face various challenges and we’ve seen them develop in so many ways. Since the addition of the platform, we have been experimenting with different ways in which we can use the space and today is yet another configuration that we’re trying!

At Christmas this space proved very versatile with the combined music teams at the Carol service, and we hope there will be many more opportunities to combine the musical resources in the future. As ever both groups welcome new people to join them any time.

One of the ongoing challenges facing the music groups is that as a church we need to invest in a better music sound system that can cope with the range of demands from choral to contemporary music. Again this is going to take ‘capital investment’ – would any of you like to invest in this project?

Finally, there’s our Outreach
Today I want to offer my heart-felt thanks to all the various people who help co-ordinate the huge range of events and outreach opportunities we have engaged in over the past year.

Compared to the number of events 3 years ago, this in itself has nearly become a full-time job for some. It is these that have contributed enormously to making this a more loving and more welcoming place.

Whether it’s the yearly BBQ; the Christmas or Easter Lunches; the Alpha courses; the Marriage Preparation Course and so on, all of these contribute to making St Mary’s Eaton Socon a place where people want to be, a place where people enjoy themselves, a place where people see the difference that following Jesus makes … and it’s attractive.

The challenge that we need to ask ourselves is, are we going to sign up to all that’s happening and grow into a community like that of Acts 2 – the choice is yours – my prayer is that you say YES!