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Welcome to ST MICHAEL & All ANGELS CHURCH (Church of England) St Michael's
Green, |
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IF YOU WOULD LIKE THE WORDS LARGER, TRY PRESSING Ctrl and
+ at the same time (Ctrl and 0 returns to default size) Sermon given by Rev’d Camilla Walton On Sunday 5 June 2011 7th Sunday after Easter Theme arrival of our
new Curate Cassa Messervy I’d like to share with you some reflections from the residential
incumbents’ conference I attended last week to meet with other Training
incumbents, staff of Ripon college, Cuddesdon and Ordinand’s including Cassa,
the soon to be Beaconsfield Team Curate. However some Bible verses from today I’d like to highlight as
helpful to us as I share with you my thoughts for our role as key
in Cassa’s training and support, - and helpful to her as she begins this new
and momentous development in her life and ministry. The verses are: 1 Peter 5 v 7 ‘cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares
for you’ Acts chapter 1 v 8 “but you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Gospel: John chapter 17 v 11b “Holy Father, protect them in your
name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one” The reason it is appropriate to share with you about our thoughts
is that although the training minister is ultimately responsible for a
curate’s training the church and wider community are also key in this task.
For St Michael’s, which is to be her and the families home church, we have a
deep responsibility for their well being as they adjust to this incredible
change in their lives. Starting out for the first time in public ministry,
under public gaze, changing from private lives to the spotlight of people
knowing who they are often before they know anyone at all. The course helped Cassa & I begin our Curate & incumbent
relationship; good for me to see her in her own context and as a visitor to
remember what it feels like to not know where the loos are or the right place
to be. Also it was good for us as a group to share ideas regarding
expectations and concerns, or what could be named as ‘hopes and fears’. I think it would be really interesting and useful for you to
hear some of these. Hopes and fears from curates : Hope for teamwork, discovering gifts, desire to see people come
to faith, to receive praise, to grow in confidence, to share laughter, prayer
and teamwork. To be able to make mistakes. To do God’s work. Probably more interesting were the concerns from the curates: Loss of identity, time for private prayer (such a change from
college life where it is ordered and predictable unlike real world) …. That they wouldn’t be ready, loneliness, being seen as too
zealous, and the fear of potential conflict. An insight on reflections from the incumbents were Hopes that they could teach and enable the curates to grow and
develop in ministry. To bring them to maturity and be ready for the next even
larger jump into incumbent post of responsibility. Plus hopes for honesty, loyalty, partnership and enjoyment. Our fears were that especially with the greater demand for
assessment and assessments backed up with paper evidence that curate would
find it impossible to have the capacity to meet the expectations placed upon
them by the training schedule together with the practical learning and the
intangible expectations from the parish for who or what a curate does and is.
Let alone have space to try out new things or new gifts. The strongest factor I guess for Curates and incumbents was fear
of the unknown. For curates because they are literally stepping out into the
unknown and for incumbents because the training is different from the past
and presents unknown in both our own time commitments and how we will help
curates chart their path. So I return to the readings. 1 Peter 5 v 7 ‘cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares
for you’ speaks for itself really but it just might be that you will be
the one to remind Cassa or me that we should do just that. and what about any anxiety from the church about receiving
Cassa. Will things change, stop, or slow down? Yes, shouldn’t think so, no more than usual. …… Things always change, they change each time a new member joins
the church, a new member of leadership team comes along or even each time one
of us is away for a holiday. But change need not be frightening. With open
honest relationship, trusting hearts and grace filled lives God will be in
the chance with us and will be inviting us to take part in that change, even
to be the change as we join with Cassa in her learning to be a deacon, a
leader of public worship and community ministry….. I suppose any congregation might be thinking non of this is to
do with me, we are not trained to care for Cassa, and as long as things go
along near enough as usual its not really our problem. But you see at your Baptism it was decided for you that you
would embrace the life of a Christian and follow the path of Christ, at
Confirmation we then agree, confirm for ourselves that this is indeed what we
want to do, to the best of our ability (good and bad days). So we cannot
wriggle out of being Jesus witnesses and we know from past discussion, from
reading the Bible and from our own hearts that being his witnesses is not a
case of standing by and watching, rather one of living as he would live,
speaking as close to his words and to his love as he would speak, encouraging
and supporting others. This we know is hard in our own strength, but Acts chapter 1 v 8 “but you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in By the strength of the Holy spirit we are Jesus’ witnesses and
in the Holy spirit we will nurture and support Cassa as she embarks on this incredible
roller coaster of ordained life. Cassa, Myles, Mia, Roisin, and Caitlin will move into Gospel: John chapter 17 v 11b “Holy Father, protect them in your
name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one” Cassa is a gift to Beaconsfield Team churches, and a special
responsibility of St Michael and All Angels church. We will share with her
confident leadership of services and, if she is normal, awful ones. She will
make mistakes, possibly forget things (unlike her t.m. …) she will be
excitable, keen, and passionate for God and the church. She may do things we
don’t like and she may not do things we think she should. And all will be well. I think of a church and a curate in terms a little like a
marriage. By the end of our time together, not 40 or 50 years but around
3, I hope we will be able to look back at a job well done. A job done in
partnership, us, the team churches and her, where we have grown together in
love, learnt about God, his call for us and our town, and his call our church
growth. Jesus has already prayed to God that we be protected in the name
of Christ, that we will become one with one another and with Christ. May that be our prayer as we receive Cassa into our lives and
into the lives of St Mary and And may we live in love Amen. The Rev'd Camilla Walton Vicar St Michael & All Angels Church, www.stmichaelsbeaconsfield.org.uk
Tel: 01494 673464 Assistant Area Dean for Amersham Deanery 01494 673464 www.amershamdeanery.com |
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