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May 2010 The Rector writes: Dear Friends, On 25th September 1994 in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, I was ordained to the priesthood. In the service, I read this gospel passage: - When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were closed for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Subsequently, whenever I have come across it, I am reminded of that special day. Besides this significance, it has also been a Bible reading on which I have reflected particularly. Mission is at its heart. ‘Being sent as Jesus was sent’ means vulnerability, victory and dependence on the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a rich seam to mine here as we consider our mission as a church in 2010. Yet, I want to focus on the picture of the crucified, risen Jesus presenting his wounds to his disciples. Initially, it may seem that Jesus is, simply helping them to identify that it is indeed him. “It’s me. See I’ve been crucified.” Rather like what you might write in the old passports under “distinguishing features.” He is, after all, the only one who has undergone crucifixion and been raised from the dead. The wounds of the nails and his pierced side are, uniquely, distinctive marks. There is, also, a much deeper truth being communicated; something about the nature of resurrection and the path to renewal. From this encounter, we see that Resurrection is not about wiping out the past. It is not a magical undoing of what difficult and hurtful experiences have done to us, so we are returned to some kind of pristine condition, ‘like a new born baby.’ Resurrection is radically different. God raises us, and all the experiences that have shaped us, into a new and abundant life. Nothing is lost. Nothing is wasted. Every success, every failure, our joys and our sorrow, our celebrations and our wounds, are all incorporated into a risen life. As Christians, we participate in the dying and rising of Jesus. Resurrection is an integral aspect to our discipleship. A deeper renewal comes as we learn to offer all we are to God. By giving our hopes and fears, our longings and our regrets, our sin and our love, into God’s hands, we are drawn further into God’s eternal life. For the disciples, the wounds on the body of the risen Jesus gave rise to a profound hope. Not only could their inability to pray with Jesus in Gethsemane, their desertion, and their denials, be forgiven but they could also be the means to a deeper and richer life. Their wounds could be transfigured. A rich, deeper discipleship could arise out of the bitterness of the cross. As we approach a General Election and listen to the political rhetoric, may our prayer be that our society will discover through the prayers and life of God’s church, what is desperately needed, renewal. Insomuch as we surrender ourselves to God, we come to resemble, more closely, the crucified and risen Jesus. This will be good news for us and for our world: “They rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” With love
December 2009/ January 2010 letter
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