My dear friends,
Instead of my customary letter for the magazine, I am enclosing below the letter (what is technically called an ad clerum, meaning literally “to the clergy”) that I sent to the diocesan clergy for the Lenten season. This is not simple laziness on my part, but because a number of people have suggested that what I suggested to clergy should be given a wider circulation.
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I rarely make use of the ad clerum for communication with diocesan clergy, but I am doing so at this juncture because I would ask for your cooperation in an exploration that I am asking the parishes (or groups of parishes) in Armagh Diocese to undertake over the weeks of Lent, in whatever way may seem suitable for individual parishes.
I am very aware of the pressures of work which all our clergy inevitably feel, but I believe that what I wish to propose connects with the suggestions I made at the Diocesan Synod last November (in relation to the Inter-Diocesan Learning Experience) and also with useful thinking that has subsequently emerged from our Diocesan Board of Mission and Outreach.
Lent is the season of the Church’s year when we spiritually recall Our Lord fasting for 40 days and nights in the Judean wilderness and the temptations that accompanied this period [Matthew 4.1-11, Mark 1.12-13, Luke 4.1-13, and various allusions also in John’s Gospel]. Two important aspects should grab our attention. The first is that Our Lord was taken outside what was his “comfort zone” – that with which he was familiar and where he could feel safe or secure. The second is that this was necessary if he was to fulfil his ministry. We are told that he was led by the Spirit into a wilderness where he would have to face temptations.
I strongly believe that at this time we are - as a diocese and as individual parishes - being called to step outside our places of security into what may be a deeply uncomfortable place, so that we too may face the world as it truly is, in the name of Jesus Christ.
At our last meeting of the Board of Mission and Outreach, the Dean of Armagh spoke of an experience in ministry during his time in Belfast. A group of young men were running wild around the streets, clearly with no purpose or rationale. It made him realise that this is what the biblical phrase, “sheep without a shepherd”, truly meant in that particular context. This led to him asking of himself and of his parish two questions which we might ask today in our context, wherever and whatever that may be. Looking beyond our own specific interests as parishes to the world beyond our comfort zone, these are the questions –
“What needs to be done?” and “What difference can we make?”
We are all faced with things that need to be done in the name of Christ and differences that we could make, in serving the world that Jesus Christ came to save. It might not add to our congregations and it might not help our finances as parishes. It would be a place in which we felt uncomfortable – a wilderness – and it would also be a place where there would be temptations in plenty, particularly the temptations to take an easy exit from the problems or simply to leave things to others. There will be different things to be done in the variety of settings in which we exist, and the ways in which we can make a difference to the world outside the walls of “the Church” will certainly not be the same. Those of you who were present at Diocesan Synod in November may remember seeing a video that Jonathan Hull, our Communications Officer, had compiled on this whole area. If clergy and parishes might find this video of use to “kick-start” fresh thinking, Jonathan would be more than happy to supply you with a copy. And always remember that even small steps are better than immobility.
But we can make a start by asking those two searching questions highlighted above and finding answers, and what better time to make a start in such a quest than in a season when we are called to concentrate anew on following the Christ who was led into a wilderness by the Spirit so that he could better serve the world he came to save?
In Christ
+Richard Armagh