Words from 2 Corinthians 12, verse 20:
I fear that when I come, I may find you different from what I want you to be.

Following the Henley by-election David Cameron made a statement to the press. "I think", he said, "what we are seeing is that people who voted for all sorts of different parties are looking to the Conservatives and saying, 'Yes - this is an alternative to the Government that I can believe in'." Whether you agree with him or not, I feel that similar sentiments are beginning to be expressed by people with regards to Christianity. They have explored all kinds of alternative life-styles, but now they are beginning to look more seriously at the Christian faith and show every sign of believing that here is something they can begin to trust.

It wasn't like that when I first began my ministry. Shortly before going up to theological college the American Journal, Time Magazine, had a front page cover which declared 'God is Dead'. The words of course came from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, writing in the 19th Century. But come the 1960s and 1970s they captured a mood. Nietzsche of course had never intended to imply that God was literally dead, but he was pointing to the fact that people would increasingly ignore God as the point of reference for their world. Indeed he believed that people needed to leave God out of the equation if ever they were to come of age. And so it was. Flush with their own success people have increasingly found God to be redundant in their lives. As a consequence much of what we have been engaged in over the last thirty or so years has been apologetics; seeking to persuade people that the Christian faith is both reasonable and relevant and as such deserves to be taken seriously.

But history teaches us that once religion is in decline then first atheism and then secularism invariably raise their ugly heads. And these in turn further pin back the Gospel and demoralise believers. So much so that we have come to believe that the only credible signs of God's activity are to be measured by the numbers in Church or the political influence that religion commands. Yet that is manifestly not true. Churches under persecution display enormous energy, vigour and commitment, demonstrating the truth of St Paul's words that in our weakness is our strength. And we know this to be true, because if the last thirty years have been something of a wilderness experience, they have also been times of excitement and challenge. Frankly it is more energising facing the challenge of sharing the gospel in an alien culture than it is in nurturing the faithful week by week and I've done something of both in my time. It should therefore come as no surprise to us that the churches that are growing today are those whose members are stepping out of the church building and engaging with their local community.

In part this is where it all began for me as my training incumbent insisted that we visit the shops in the High Street on a regular basis. It was a very nerve-wracking experience. But what I did become interested in was helping members of the congregation explore the connections between their faith and their work. We had in our South London suburban parish a significant number of people working in the City of London and as you might expect the links between financial services and the gospel offered many areas for thought and reflection. It was this interest that drew me to Southampton where a post had been advertised combining a parochial responsibility with being a specialist in Health and Social Services. As you may imagine the term 'specialist' was a gross exaggeration for what I did, but then you can be anything if you convince yourself hard enough! In fact I spent a lot of time just talking to people about their work and helping them to make connections, both within the organisation and with the other aspects of their daily lives. Inevitably there was one person who regularly asked me how many converts I had made, but I saw myself more as building people up in the faith and encouraging others to take religion seriously; seriously enough to listen to what it was saying. As Christian people we need to find God in every department of life if he is to be real for us. And therefore going out in support of the laity to help them find God in their place of work is an important part of every ministry. As also is the need for the laity to be inviting us into that world.

Southampton was a team ministry and the fact that in South London I had been in an ecumenical team was another point of connection. In those days Teams and Groups were largely an activity of the clergy, but they began to challenge other parishes to see themselves as also team ministries; albeit teams largely made up of lay people. In those days teams and groups were seen as the answer to every problem facing the Church, which clearly they weren't. Many fell by the wayside and only the most obvious have survived. But they began a movement which has steadily transformed the Church of England so that working as a team and working as a team with lay people is now taken for granted; at least it should be. It mirrors St Paul's teaching on the body with different limbs and organs working together as a whole; picks up on his teaching about being fellow-workers with Christ; and reflects the nature of the Trinity in which the three members of the Godhead operate in support of one another.

After fourteen years of working in Teams I decided I wanted to have my own parish. I applied for a number of jobs, but for ages nothing came up. Then one day my bishop asked to see me. The House of Bishops had identified a problem. They had a lot of Team Ministries, but few people with the experience to lead them. So I wasn't to have my own parish after all. Very quickly after that a job came up, which goes to prove two things: Bishops have their uses and God gets his way in the end. Thus I found myself as Team Rector of Hitchin. It was there that I realised we had some good and godly people, who if they were to be ordained to a local ministry could make a very significant contribution. I put up one name to the Bishop and he said no. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to see how a local ministry could help the parishes in all sorts of ways. Three times I tackled him on the subject, but he remained unconvinced. So when a request came to move to Norfolk and oversee the development of Local Non-Stipendiary Ministry I could hardly say 'no'. It is of course a classic way in which the Spirit operates. Show you a need, get you fired up about it and then put an opportunity in your way. And more often than not that is how OLM works people see a need and respond to it. Certainly local ministry has brought ordination closer to ordinary people.

So to Norwich and the great privilege of working alongside the clergy and laity of the diocese. Perhaps because I have had such an interesting ministry - so far - it makes me even more appreciative of the work you are doing in the parishes. I know it isn't easy and I salute you for your faithfulness in what have been difficult times, your patience, your imagination and your sheer commitment and hard work. And the Cathedral? Well being the Librarian has been wonderful. I enjoy handling books (note I didn't say reading them!) and everyone assumes that as the Librarian you must be terribly intelligent.

It was because of my role as Librarian that I got involved with the exhibition in Rome. Through the contacts I made then, as well as my ongoing involvement with the Community of S. Egidio, I have been made very aware of a growing rapprochement between Orthodoxy and Rome and of how close these two Churches have come in their attempts to heal the ancient division between East and West. This contrasts with somewhat flat approach to ecumenism over here. When I was first ordained Ecumenism had a whole new momentum. But over the years this seems to have stalled. We even seem unable to unite with our Methodist brothers and sisters, despite the fact that we have so much in common. I suspect the momentum has stalled because we have lost a serious commitment to their being only one church and instead have sub-consciously embraced the notion that provided we all get on well together that is sufficient. I don't think it is. In the end the prayer of Jesus is for the Church to be one and if we fail to remember that and work towards it we could find Anglicanism marginalised in the future.

Bishop Graham recently described the Church of England and the Anglican Communion as an experiment. Experiments done on the side enable you to explore new things with a view to the possibility that one day they may become mainstream. Those of you who have read 'Anglicans in Rome' by the Roman Catholic theologian Frederick Bliss, will know something of the influence that Anglican Observers had at the Second Vatican Council. Here was the experience of Anglicanism making a contribution to the wider Church, while present discussions with the Orthodox suggest that Rome may yet embrace a more devolved system of government, something familiar to Anglicans. We have yet to see whether they will embrace the ministry of women. But in our relationships with the Free Churches, Rome and Orthodoxy there is some evidence of convergence and this needs to be sustained. Ultimately progress in the cause of unity depends on our conviction that when Jesus prayed that the Church might be one, he meant just that and there is an urgency to do something about it.

In our second lesson this evening we sensed something of St Paul's concern for the growing disunity in the Corinthian Church and for the fact that the leadership he had put in place had done nothing to address some of the outstanding issues. Worse still they had responded to his criticisms by challenging his apostolic credentials and accusing him of malpractice. Despite the fact that he was the founding father of the Corinthian Church they rejected his authority and continued to do things their own way. Paul tells us that he was very torn, because if he went to Corinth to impose his authority in person, he risked being humiliated by their rejection.

I think our own Archbishop, with his authority being flouted and an humiliating coverage in the press and media, would understand Paul's predicament. Yet I'm sure Archbishop Rowan understands full well that this is all part of what it means to follow Christ; the one to whom all authority is given in heaven and on earth, yet who was himself subjected to humiliation, torture and death. In the end this is part of every ministry as I've been privileged to share with a number of you over the years. "Receive these signs of the authority which God has given you this day", says the Bishop at our ordination, and then when we try to exercise that authority so often it is rejected as other agendas hold sway and people insist we do it their way. Time and again we have to remember that the only authority we have comes from Christ himself and flows directly from living the Christ-like life. Nothing else will work for the life we are called to live is that of the servant rather than the Master and is why authority cannot be imposed from above. In the end the archbishop's authority, however people respond to it, is rooted in the holiness of his life; a holiness that under girds all his words and actions and is the example for all of us to follow, both clergy and laity alike.

I suggested earlier that the last thirty years have been something of a wilderness experience. In the wilderness people become disorientated and lose direction and focus. In this climate faith becomes more difficult and people increasingly identify with the prevailing culture. This was clearly an issue in the Corinthian Church. In his first letter to Corinth St Paul finds it necessary to deal with concerns as to how Christians are to respond in a secular and pagan culture. By the time we get to his second letter it is clear that some of those same members have erred and strayed. Paul was vitally concerned as to how the matter was being handled, for this touched on the eternal salvation of the individuals concerned. The grace of God was freely available to all who repented and returned to the Lord, but if they were not challenged their hope of salvation was put at risk.

Paul had good reason to be concerned for as the prophet Ezekiel makes plain in our first reading, our salvation lies very much in our own hands. We cannot blame it on our parents. We cannot even blame it on cultural conditioning. Instead it lies in our own hands to do something about it. Our salvation is only assured when we respond to God and to that righteousness of life to which he calls each one of us. But while many wait to be told this message, there are many others who know about it yet feel no sense of urgency to do something about it. And while scripture may speak about a journey towards the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, for many people the whole notion of heaven as a place to go to has been eroded; they no longer have a vision to carry them forward.

In part this must be due to the fact that in our western culture people have lost faith in the concept of progress. Thus no longer encouraged to look forward we find ourselves drawn to be looking back. Today people are more interested in their ancestors than in making history themselves and it is easy to get locked in the past and to make the study of the past an end in itself. As an historian I am very interested in looking back, but more to understand where we have come from so we can get some idea as to how we are moving forward. Fortunately I believe you can sense a change and that we are beginning to come out of this period when the past has dominated our lives and curtailed our vision. The time for looking back is over and the need for us as Christians to be looking forward in confidence and hope is now upon us. As I said at the beginning, all the signs are there that our society is beginning to look at Christianity afresh and feel that here is something they can begin to trust once more. We need to have the courage and confidence to get out and share the gospel because people are now ready to listen.

So proclaim the gospel in seasons and out of season; exhort and encourage; build one another up in the faith, and then if you invite me back perhaps I shall find you the people that I wish you to be.
If you have been - thank you for listening.

More sermons, modern and historical, available in Norwich Cathedral Library

Back to Sermons homepage