way out west

When does a symbol cease to be a symbol?

Today is Maundy Thursday, today is the day when many rituals take place supposedly pointing back in time to the festival of Pesach (passover), the seven day Jewish festival.  Of course for many of us it points to a specific years celebration, the last Pesach celebrated by Jesus. 

On the news today there is much coverage of the Queen performing the traditional symbolic service... well some of it!  Historically this would have included the Monarch washing the feet of her subjects - a sign of her service to them - but of course this has been abandoned.  One has to question then if this symbol (A symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention.) has been abandoned, why has it?  Of course there will be voices crying "Security" etc. etc. but has it been abandoned because in our world it's message is simply unpalatable?  The idea of the Monarch (or anyone else in power) so visibly declaring an attitude of humility may simply be so counter cultural that it is impossible to even symbolise!?  Our society has been so infected with individualism and ideas about personal security - looking after number 1! - that washing feet is deeply uncomfortable for all of us, not just those with visible power! 
There is one symbol the Queen will do, she will give 84 (her age) bags of money to pensioners - the purpose of the money is of course intended to be 'symbolic' and not to be spent by the recipients, but is it really symbolic?  I'm not sure it is, it is an act which has replaced a real act - the Monarch giving real help to the poorest in society - and as such it represents something which no longer happens, one could even say it assuages tradition but enables the removal of real responsibility to act!  It makes one feel secure in the believe that the act is/has been done but in reality it hasn't.  So in effect it becomes an excuse for the avoidance of the real meaning, not a symbolic representation of an actual truth.  A symbol is not a tradition it is a representation of something real, it points to something bigger, marks it's reality, communicates it.  A symbol ceases to be a symbol when it replaces the thing it is intended to represent, when it becomes the act itself.

Note, though I am not a monarchist this is not specifically a dig at the Royals, it is more a reflection of how we all can use the language of symbolism to hide our avoidance of uncomfortable reality.  Easter is full of symbols, many of them make uncomfortable demands on us; for sacrifice, for humility, for forgiveness, to allow God to do God's work as God intends not as we want, to become imitators of Christ - living for others and giving our life for others, becoming a servant - a living sacrifice!  Not simply making symbolic representations of the above, excusing us from real change, but actually living the reality of Easter.  Referring to my previous post, it seems that the last supper was a far more public act than I previously thought, it wasn't a private, personal act, likewise "religion" is not a private affair, nor simply a weekly symbolic celebration, Easter calls us to live our faith & hope in a certain way but it also calls us to live it openly and in public and for it to make a real and radical difference to the world we live in.

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Liturgy after the Liturgy... some words for tonights "table"

This is part of our worship tonight - along with using our labyrinth and St Patrick's Breastplate.

Liturgy (The Eucharist) is always the entrance into the presence of the triune God and always ends with the community being sent forth in God's name to transform the world in God's image... Mission is concieved, in other words, as the "the liturgy after the liturgy," the natural consequence of entering into the divine presence in worship. - Bevans and Schoeder “Constants in Context”

The liturgy after the liturgy.
There is no breathing out without breathing in,
There is no flow without ebb,
There is no outpouring without drinking deep of life.

We cannot be love for the community without being drawn deeper ourselves into God,
We cannot bring change to the world without our lives being realigned,
We cannot forgive each other without knowing the freedom of forgiveness ourselves.

We ache for the loneliness of the world and are known by a God who is family,
We cry for a world trapped in greed and are loved by a God who gave up everything,
We fight against a world with little justice and are embraced by a God of mercy.

Forgive us Lord for not taking the time to know you more,
Forgive us Lord for not taking the time to know each other more,
Forgive us Lord for not taking the time to know your world more.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.  Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are worshiped.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

You welcome us back with simple open arms, forgiven, restored ready to begin work again
You stand naked, mocked and bleeding with the love of a proud parent on your face,
You move in and amongst us with un-ignorable force, yet tenderly,

This moment is a not the end of the road, it is the beginning of a new stage of the journey,
A party is being prepared to send us back into the world in joy, let’s eat and drink!

Sharing the Bread and the Wine

For God so loved the world - may we naturally follow suit,
That he gave his only son - may we learn the wonder of sacrifice,
That all who believe - may our love for one another be the crucial evidence,
May not perish - may we work to halt the collapse of lives, of communities and of creation,
But have eternal life - may we point to the hope you bring now and for the future.

It is time to walk on, this time we walk together, with each other and with God.
We are one body because we share in one bread and drink from one cup.

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Who is your Priest?

That man who called the community together and held it together; he would not be the one who knew the most theology, the theologian.  He would not be the preacher or the evangelist of the community.  He would not be the prophet.  He would not be the most important member in the community, in the sense of being the one who was to make the most important contributions, of which the community might someday be capable.
But he would be the focal point of the whole community, the one who would enable the community to act, whether in worship or in service.  He would be the animator of the individual members of the community, enabling them to make their various contributions, enabling the preacher to preach and the teacher to teach and the prayer to pray and the prophet to prophesy.  He would be the necessary sign of the power that is in all of them.  He would be the sign of unity that exists among them.  He would be their link with the outside, the sign of their union with the outside, the universal church.  He would be their priest.

Vincent Donovan - Christianity Rediscovered

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The Liturgy after the Liturgy

For a while we've been talking about the two-fold vitality of the communion meal for us (when we use the word vital, we mean both senses i.e. essential  and life-giving)  - vital in drawing and binding us a communion/community before and with God/each other (a process in which we are adopted into a God who is community) and vital in drawing and binding us into mission (a process in which we are adopted into a God who is incarnate and dynamic).  This is something which has arisen for us from our experience as a community rather than some applied theos-knowledge... it is not a strategy we have adopted but a reality we have experienced.  These experiences have moved me to fall in love with the Trinity in a new way, a way which now shapes my glimpses of God and my instinct for Church... the mutuality and the mystery, the love and the living, the forgiveness and the fruitfulness, the compassion and the connections... (this is one of the things I loved about "the Shack", the way God is most glimpse-able in relationship, the way the focus of each person of God wants to direct the eye to the wonder of the other persons etc. and what makes me uncomfortable when we sing things like "It's all about you Jesus")  The communion draws our eye to God incarnate and sacramental, to a sent God and a sacrificial God (was it any harder for the Son to be separated from the Parent than it was for the Parent to be separated from the Son?) A God who creates in community, who redeems in community and who sustains in community - source, word and breath...  I guess then that it is no surprise that I find myself deepest in God when I am in community, when I find myself loving others, forgiving others, seeing God in others, giving myself in surrender to others and significantly (and I guess mystically) breaking bread with others [we are one body because we all share in one bread].  Recently reading Bevans and Schroeder's "Constants in Context" I encountered the Orthodox idea of "The Liturgy after the Liturgy".  Most of us no doubt are familiar with the definition of "Liturgy" as "the works of the people", Bevans and Schroeder reference Orthodox Theologians Stamoolis and Ion Bria when they say,

Liturgy (The Eucharist) is always the entrance into the presence of the triune God and always ends with the community being sent forth in God's name to transform the world in God's image... Mission is concieved, in other words, as the "the liturgy after the liturgy," the natural consequence of entering into the divine presence in worship.

Bria (http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/Bria_en.htm) writes of "the Liturgy after the liturgy" as having four aspects,

1. An ongoing re-affirming of the true Christian identity, fulness and integrity which have to be constantly renewed by the eucharistic communion.

2. To enlarge the space for witness by creating a new Christian milieu, each in his own environment: family, society, office, factory, etc., is not a simple matter of converting the non-Christians in the vicinity of the parishes, but also a concern for finding room where the Christians live and work and where they can publicly exercise their witness and worship.

3. The liturgical life has to nourish the Christian life not only in its private sphere, but also in its public and political realm.  Therefore, the installation in history of a visible Christian fellowship which overcomes human barriers against justice, freedom and unity is a part of that liturgy after the Liturgy.

4. Liturgy means public and collective action and therefore there is a sense in which the Christian is a creator of community; this particular charisma has crucial importance today with the increasing lack of human fellowship in the society. The Christian has to be a continual builder of a true koinonia of love and peace even if he is politically marginal and lives in a hostile surrounding.

I am beginning to think that what these Orthodox Theologians are saying is what we have and are experiencing when we have found ourselves shaping our ecclesiology around the hospitality of the Trinity made manifest in the Communion/Eucharist.  Ian Mobsby introduced me to the phrase "Missio Trinitatis" yesterday.  We have been talking for some years about "Missio Dei" - the idea that Mission is an "attribute of God not an activity of the Church" i.e. God has a/is mission in which we are privileged to participate - but if we then say that if the nature of God is Mission and Community *AND* as Andrew Kirk says that that identity of Church is itself defined by it's participation in God's Mission ("If the Church ceases to be missionary it has not just failed one of it's tasks; it has ceased to being church"!) then how can we not see both our ecclesiology and our missiology as being rooted in community?  We can therefore say that Missio Dei *IS* Missio Trinitatis... God's mission is born and lives in community.  Or as Bevans and Schroeder say of Kirk,

[He] explains that God's mission is based on the very nature of God as such - a community of love and mutuality that overflows into the world in a presence that calls humanity to equality, mercy, mutuality, compassion and justice.

They continue,

The image of the church that resonates most closely with its trinitarian foundation would most likely be that of the people of God.  The church community, participating in God's life, is God's special people, a people living God's life of communion in a covenant of relation and love, a people convinced of it's fundamental equality through it's common baptism in the name of the triune God.  But as communion-in-mission, this image takes on a dynamic meaning as God's people on pilgrimage, God's people chosen not for themselves but for God's purposes, God;s people respectful of the Spirit's workings outside their own boundaries but committed to sharing the full implications of God's covenant with all humanity.

... the sacrament/liturgy of communion, we have found, draws us deeper in to community with each other, in to the God community, and in to community with/for all creation.  I can't help but smile when someone puts into words what we have found through our imperfect practise!

..............................

[update] I found this document from the Reformed Eccumenical Council which says...

A significant shift in theology is the new emphasis on a consistent “trinitarianism” – some even call it a “trinitarian renaissance”: All theological reflection should flow from this basic doctrine on the very being of God. As three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – from all eternity, in his own being, God is relational. This has very important practical implications for our life before God, with one another and in the world. It has implications for the understanding of our participation in the mission of the triune God. To specifically and consistently understand Missio Dei as Missio Trinitatis Dei is to point to the nature of the very life of the triune God, life that is characterized by ecstasies, self-communication, mutuality, relationship, unity and love. The God whose mission is at stake is a God of love and of communion. Mission is the invitation to churches to enter into koinonia with the triune God, constantly inviting others to join and to share in this communion (koinonia). Paramount in the understanding of church and mission is thus the notion of relationality, mutuality, ever sharing in the koinonia with the triune God who once promised “I will be with you always,” and thus sharing a continued koinonia with one another (Venter 2004:5).

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How Deep?

I have a post currently on the Fresh Expressions - Share Blog - Here

Graham Cray told General Synod last week that a crucial factor in the spread of fresh expressions has been 'a new imagination about the form or shape of church'. He is right. We have seen over the last half decade an exploration emerge which concerns not just the stylistic aspects of our gatherings - music, dress, structure, location, etc - but concerns the very substance of what it is to be church. The question is, if this is good, how deep are we willing to go?

At the heart of the matter is how we have sought to be community and how this journey has led us into a new romance with the God who is by nature community. We have had a new encounter with God as Trinity, not a hierarchical Trinity with God the Father as the CEO, Jesus as middle management and the Spirit on the factory floor, but with the Trinity as the root of radically mutual community ... of the meal table, not the boardroom table!

This is changing how we see and do leadership within communities, where we put the emphasis on the flow of gifting rather than the authority of a title or position. Each of us surrenders our gifts to the community and so each of our gifts, rather than being lost becomes animated from use and spreads through the community. When a prophet is willing to give their insight then all our eyes are opened in new ways; when the artist creates, we all find new ways to express ourselves.

So, how deep are we willing to let this change affect us? How much of our systems and structures are we able to challenge? Can we let a 'ground up' shift impact how we think about every part? Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures? Can it change the way we think about leadership, about ordination, about our structures?

A colleague of mine from Lichfield Diocese, Revd Richard Moy, challenged Synod why it 'locked its trainee clergy away for three years in a place full of other Christians'. I agree. We need to reflect on how we train our leaders, but have we got to go deeper? In this changing world, which will force our church to change, is it time to release leadership, to give it back to communities, to create a new way for sustainability which does not rely on a professional body but on equipping and resourcing communities to lead themselves?

After a recent visit from our new bishop, one member of safespace said how great it was to share with him as he was not at all 'bishopy'! Is it time to reflect the shift from hierarchy to community, not only on the ground but can we as a church become a community of communities, where we rely on each other, where we support each other and allow the quietest voices to be as significant as the most powerful ones?

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Support the Robin Hood Tax!

No this isn't a tax on Nottingham Forest Supporters... though now I come to think of it... ;)  No this is a campaign to tax the continuing bonus/risk culture of the banks.  It's no minority political campaign it is supported by organisations such as Christian Aid, Cafod, The Church Urban Fund, Comic Relief, Ekklesia, Unicef, The Salvation Army etc. etc.

http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/

The Robin Hood Tax is a tiny tax on bankers that would raise billions to tackle poverty and climate change, at home and abroad.  By taking an average of 0.05% from speculative banking transactions, hundreds of billions of pounds would be raised every year.  That’s easily enough to stop cuts in crucial public services in the UK, and to help fight global poverty and climate change.  Why now?  Because of the financial crisis, frontline services at home – like the NHS and our schools – are under fire.  At the same time, poor communities and the environment are being hit hard – as aid and green budgets are slashed by rich countries.  So it’s time for the people who caused this mess to pay to clean it up.  Who’s in?  Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel (the German Chancellor) and Nicolas Sarkozy (the French President) have all spoken out in support of a tax on financial transactions.  Plenty of business bigwigs are on-board too. Like Lord Turner (from the Financial Services Authority), George Soros (the philanthropist) and Warren Buffet (US businessman extraordinaire). And then there are the hundreds of economists who have backed the idea, too.  This isn’t some crazy pipedream. It’s a simple and brilliant idea which transcends party politics and which – with your support – can become a reality.

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+Mark visits safespace!

Great to have our new Bishop, +Mark Rylands, with us last night at our community meal/worship - The Table.  It was a good night, I think some were surprised at his openness and relaxed nature.  We were reflecting on 2 Samuel 6 and the idea of what it means to be undignified in a way which does not draw attention to ourselves but rather points to God, how humility could be a strong act of proclamation...  +Mark seemed to enjoy the evening and was a great encouragement to us all and left us with some challenges for our mission.  Some words from his first "pastoral letter"...

In the face of such a challenge what are we to do? The Gospel and example of Jesus compels us not to turn our backs on the poor and vulnerable. So, redouble our efforts, strengthen our cooperation and solidarity. Yes. And as part of that effort what about a new start with an old habit? Prayer.  Many of us struggle to keep a daily discipline of prayer and quiet when we are open to God and the direction of the Holy Spirit. However, if individually and corporately our relationship with God is weak, what do we have to share with the world? I have a feeling that to be better pray-ers we need to learn to be more natural – to simply plonk ourselves down before God and be ourselves; to come as we are with our concerns and those of others on our heart and mind. Somehow we get the idea that to do it properly, we must screw ourselves up and be so neat like the first page in those books. And because we don’t think we can really do it, we don’t try!  God loves his world and his people and the Bible tells us that he has a special place for the marginalised in his affections. Part of our apathy may be that we feel useless faced with so much need and our own weakness and lack of resources. However, as some wise person said: ‘God is not concerned with our ability or our inability but only with our availability’.  The lesson of the feeding of the 5000 is that God can make a lot out of a little. He longs to work through us for his good. So, like the small boy with his picnic by the lake, offer what little you have to God and ask him to make a miracle of it.”

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Ubuntu and community

For a while I've been thinking about the effect individualism has had on western culture - e.g. we have becomes a rights based culture rather than a responsibility based one - and particularly the impact it has had on Western Christianity - e.g. the singular focus on "personal salvation" and the loss of a trinitarian and "kingdom" theology.  Sunday I was lying in bed feeling crap and I found myself watching an interview with ++Desmond Tutu (by Fearn Britten!?) and very good it was too!  The Archbishop spent some time talking about Ubuntu theology...

One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

I am a human because I belong. I participate. I share.

Or as he put it on the programme...

I am because you are

I found myself thinking how fundamentally Trinitarian this idea is and how radical, even revolutionary this seems to Western culture... and specifically western Christianity!  It rocks the foundations of the Existentialism and Individualism, indeed the Modernism which still forms the foundation on which our evaluation and culture is built.  In Politics it seems the measure is still "how does it affect my wallet" or "my choices" , no doubt with a budget looming we will see a panel made up of different social groups assessing whether it is a "good" budget for them based on what difference it will make to their take home pay.  In the Church we find the same tools being used, we talk about "fitting in", we talk about "my Church", we measure our "success" not by impact on culture and communities but on statistics and attendance at our meetings, on the quality of our meetings - the music, the sermons etc... on how many individuals are "saved" out of the world.

As Bill Clinton put it,

If we were the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the most wealthy, the most powerful person - and then found all of a sudden that we were alone on the planet, it wouldn't amount to a hill of beans.

Ubuntu was born in a culture of hospitality. Nelson Mandela said,

A traveler through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?

Can we reshape Western Christianity along the principles of Ubuntu - of community transformation, of real community and of hospitality?  I hope we can, but it does seem it means being counter cultural in 3 dimensions - world AND church!

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New Monasticism and Spiritual Seekers - Paper

As this paper is to be published as a chapter in a book I have removed the link. I will post details of the book as soon as I have them.

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Committing to the journey

This is the last meditation from the week of fasting and reflection.  Yesterday I was speaking at St Paul's Tupsley in Hereford... The Old Testament reading they chose was one of if not my very favourite passages...

With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah Chapter 6)

I love the matter of fact simplicity of the Prophets words, the way it encapsulates our calling, even the ministry of Christ!  It blows away all notion of Religious observance - the sense that there is a right way to worship - and refocuses us on what these days is called a missional dynamic and our willingness to step out WITH our God. 

To act justly - for me means three things 1) to be honest and fair in the way we live our lives - I guess in today's world this means a huge amount, and is very practical!  It means paying our taxes and not doing all we can to minimise (however legally) how much we contribute to society, it means not trying to get as much from others as we can, it means being very very careful about the way we shop and trade - about not just buying a few fair trade items but doing all our business in a way which is and is seen to be rigourously fair and just.  It means allowing others to truly be themselves and taking their concerns and struggles seriously, making time beyond our selfish concern for others, it means stepping back and allowing others to lead when we know they have the gifts - not being in love with power - even creating space for others to contribute equally even if we think we can do it better!  2)  acting in a way which intends to transform injustice in society, standing firm against inequality and abuse - locally and globally.  Yes, this has a political aspect but it also has a relational aspect, it does mean big things - campaigns and charity work - but it also means how we change society by our local actions and involvement... how we act and live as peacemakers where we are!  3)  to give others what they deserve - what they are worth!  I don't think there is some sliding scale or metre for this, it's simple - we treat others as they where made, as creations of God, as made in the image of God.  So, as hard as it may seem we have to begin by looking through what life has made them to see the reflection of the divine which may be deep, deep within... that is not to excuse or condone behaviour but to try to love them as God made them and to demand from others that everyone is treated with the same justice, the same starting point, the same rights, the same respect and the same freedoms.

To love mercy - Whilst we demand justice for all and live justly we are called at all times to act with mercy - not to seek equality or rights for ourselves but to live servant lives, in the way of the Christ - the servant king - and to relish, to love doing it!  It also means that our way needs to be God's way, way of compassion.  As Shakespeare wrote in "The Merchant of Venice" (a play about demanding "justice")

The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath... It is an attribute of God himself; And earthly power doth then show like God's When mercy seasons justice.

So Justice and Mercy go hand in hand - we demand justice for others and put aside our own demands for justice, instead acting with total mercy.  We fight for the rights of others and lay down our own rights. 

walk humbly with your God - First and foremost we are told that God is not some distant Deity who needs appeasement by ritual and observance, no, God is here to be walked with - God is an intimate and immanent God, a God who does not want to dictate to us from "on high" but journey with us on a daily basis.  Walking with God in God's world is not a discipline but a privilege!  1) Belief in God is not a means to an ends or even the end of  a process, rather it is an ongoing relationship - we are always learning, always discovering more about God and the possibility of God.  That relationship is not a located one but a lived one - we don't "go to Church" each week to get our God fix or boost rather it is one port on a 24/7 voyage,  a place to share and  pray with each other about what we have been doing with God the rest of the week... and to thank and honour God for all God has done with us and for us.  Many people today are exploring/discovering how we develop a "rhythm" of worship/prayer that is woven through daily life and living rather than it being focussed on one moment each week. 2) John V Taylor said "Mission is not an activity of the Church but an attribute of God" - God is a God who engages with people, with all aspects of people in the midst of their living - it is God's very nature and passion... thus Evangelism is not calling people to a place to meet God but to open their eyes and recognise that God is right here and closer than they could possible realise!  3)  Doug Goins writes that the Hebrew root of "humbly", "describes a lifestyle that is not proud, not self-willed, and not arrogant"  so a life that is not "self-willed" but given to another will, another purpose.  So life is a journey which is lived according to God's purpose - merged in God's purpose - in a rhythm of humble relationship with God and with others, not a dualism of "spiritual" and "secular" life - church life and work life etc.

This for me is the heart of the pilgrim, the inspiration of Brendan, Aidan, Chad, a man called Jesus who walked the roads of Palestine 2000 odd years ago and of the calling on us to be peacemakers, disciples and children of God.  This, it seems to me is the core of the journey we are committing to take, all the rest is simply how each one of us lives each stage of it.  I guess that's what I pin my hopes and dreams on, and why I commit to walking with God, a God who chose to walk with me, who came to live amongst us and live and die  for us.  Whatever happens, happens! I can do nothing but walk humbly with my God...  may the way be led by your will God, not mine.

We finished the service on Sunday with the Hymn "God is looking for a people" (which I've never heard before) the words of which are as follows...

The God we love is looking for a people,
who will allow his Spirit full control,
within whose hearts the truth will be established,
and fan the flames of worship in the soul.
He looks beyond our calculated duty
for lives alert to all the joys of grace -
may we be found among their honoured number,
a people eager for the warmth of his embrace.

The God we serve is looking for a people,
Who will give due attention to his word,
approaching scripture with a prayerful stillness,
prepared to wait until is voice is heard,
and who will move from hearing into action,
allowing Christ to shape them day by day:
may we be found among their honoured number,
a people who will listen to him and obey.

The we preach is looking for a people,
who will proclaim his kingdom to the poor;
who will not flinch when aced with opposition;
who find the cross to potent to ignore.
They will explain the hope of resurrection,
yet work for justice now for all the earth:
may we be found among their honoured number
and show our neighbours how much Christ says they are worth.

The God we love is looking for a people,
who will be knit as one community;
who will be glad to bear each other's burdens
and whose commitment fuels their unity.
In lives like these the Spirit's gifts are nurtured;
by love and joy and peace their faith is known;
may we be found among their honoured number.
a holy people Christ is pleased to call his own.

Amen

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