Diocesan News14 Oct 08

Bishop of Limerick's First Synod Presidential Address

Bishop of Limerick’s First Synod Presidential Address Urges Moving Forward ‘Together In Christ’

The Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, the Right Revd Trevor Williams, gave his first presidential address at the Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert Diocesan Synod held at Villiers School, Limerick on Saturday 11th October 2008.

The main transcript of the bishop’s address is provided:

Welcome to the Synod of the United Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert. As you know I am just in the door, so I will refrain from making wide generalisations about the Dioceses and confine myself mainly to what I have experienced since I became your Bishop on 11th July, three months ago.

What Joyce and I have experienced is a warm sense of welcome. The Consecration in Christ Church Cathedral was a profoundly moving service. I had an unexpected sense of peace on that occasion. That was due, I am in no doubt, to many of you who had been praying in church services but also in your private prayers. Continue to pray for me that I may be given, wisdom, courage, and sensitivity – that I may serve you in the name of Jesus Christ, as we discover together what it means to live out the Good News of Jesus Christ, loving God and our neighbour as ourselves.

First of all I want to thank Bishop Michael Mayes and Beth for their kindness, support and practical help. Anything which will be achieved during the time of my Episcopate here, will be because we have been able to build on the good work he and previous Bishops have done. I am very conscious of the valuable inheritance that has been left for us as a resource for the future.

The esteem for the Church of Ireland and for our United Diocese was demonstrated by the presence at my Consecration of not only Her Excellency Mary McAleese, President of Ireland and her husband Dr Martin McAleese, but also the presence of local political leaders including the Mayor of Limerick, Councillor John Gilligan; the Mayor of County Clare, Councillor Madeleine Taylor Quinn; and the Mayor of Tralee, Councillor Ted Fitzgerald at the various installations and services of welcome. It is an honour to know that the Church of Ireland contribution is valued throughout the Dioceses.
May I thank sincerely the Deans of Limerick and Killaloe and the Rector of  Tralee, their organists, choirs and Select Vestries, and no doubt many others who contributed to the services of Enthronement and Liturgical Welcome in each of our Dioceses.

‘Together in Jesus Christ’ is a theme I would like to offer to the United Dioceses. These words have been crystallized for me from my experience in Northern Ireland. Reconciliation – how to turn enemies into friends – has been the most obvious need during the long decades of the troubles. Even after the violence, reconciliation is still the greatest need in the North. But not just there. Look at our world. Between rich and poor, the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, those with differing abilities, differing races, differing cultures – wherever there are differences there is the likelihood that competition and rivalry will exist which may in some cases escalate into violence. But there is an alternative. That way was shown to us by Jesus Christ. He crossed the greatest barrier, and bridged the greatest difference in becoming one of us. The eternal word became flesh as St John put it. He crossed the divide to bring us back into relationship with God.  But not only did Jesus Christ make possible the restoration of our relationship with our Creator, he made possible the reconciliation between us and our neighbours, even between us and our enemies.  The way of Jesus is the way of love -doing good for the ‘other’. 

Jesus summed up God’s rule of life as loving God, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourself. This has been the heart of the Church of Ireland’s ‘Hard Gospel’ Project and I am delighted that Philip McKinley, with your permission, will be speaking to us later this afternoon.  The heart of the Good News of Jesus is that establishing a relationship of loving concern with others is what matters above all else. Valuing one another as God values each of us, is the secret of abundant life.

As Christians, following the way of Jesus we have such Good News for the world. In a world where free market forces, once thought to be the engine which would empower prosperity for all, is grinding to a halt, with terrible global consequences. The current world financial systems are failing. The immediate reaction is to find someone to blame, the banks, the financial traders, the developers – each of us could compose our individual hate list. But blaming others is futile, because it insinuates that they have to put it right.  The truth behind this financial crisis is that we all have to put it right. And putting it right means paying attention to the building of good relationships. Good relationships between producer and consumer, between lender and borrower, between rich and poor and good relationships across all those divides which difference creates between us. And Jesus said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Luke 12.15.  And let’s be truthful we are part and parcel of an entire society which aspires to an abundance of possessions as a way to find meaning in life.  The truth is, as Jesus told us, the value of our personal, social, national and global life is to be measured in the quality of our relationships, rather than the abundance of our possessions. 

The Church, and that part of Christ’s Church to which we belong is called to be a light in the darkness, a sign of hope in despair, a model which reveals to the world the values of the Kingdom of God. The church is nothing if not an expression of Christian Community; where people matter more than things; where each person is valued; where the gifts of each are actively engaged for the good of all; where fulfilment is found in serving those in need. This is the Jesus challenge for each parish in our Dioceses: ‘Each parish, strengthened by its worship and fellowship, will find its meaning and purpose in serving its local community’.

Together in Jesus Christ we can make a difference. Jesus entrusted God’s world mission to just 12 inexperienced, ill equipped followers. God chooses to work in his world today, in precisely the same way. He has chosen us to be his ambassadors. Not because of our size (thankfully enough), not because of our influence, but because following Jesus, relying on the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, is more than all the resources we need.

We are just back from our Clergy Conference in Dingle. I said then and I say again, I thank God for being called to join such a team.  We have a great team of clergy with real vision and gifts to develop the ministry of our Church within our United Diocese. Pray for us as we seek to be your servants in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

The Revd Tom Gordon pointed us to the marks of a Healthy Church from a report of that name by ‘another’ Robert Warren.  It may be instructive just to list them now.

• Energised by Faith (rather than trying to survive)
• Outward looking (‘whole-life versus ‘parish-life’)
• Seeking what God wants (Discernment rather than cultural conformity)
• Prepared for Costly change (as opposed to fear of failure)
• A real community (rather than a club)
• Inclusive (rather than exclusive)
• Doing few things well  (focus, not panic)

Following what proved to be a very useful couple of days, we have decided to do a few things well. In fact we decided to do two things.

Commitments from the Clergy Conference

To Nurture Spirituality
The first was to resource our exploration of our faith and our spirituality. Ways of prayer, Celtic Christianity, Pilgrimage, Labyrinth may well be part of the process. But what is intended is to find ways to nurture our spiritual lives. So much of this is left to the individual, but this is a chance to do it together. Together, in my mind is the best way.  This will start with the clergy, but the clear intention is to broaden the resources and events, so that all of us can be involved.

Parishes in Partnership
The second is called PIP or Parishes in Partnership. We are small and we are scattered.  And at the conference there was a clear feeling that there could be real benefit if parishes at times did things together, supported one another, combined resources. This is not about doing away with the individual parish or to push parishes together into ever bigger groupings, it is about working together, collaboration, being Together in Jesus Christ.  The Ministry Committee has been asked to look at this and report back.
These decisions are 3 days old, so they are new born. But we are committed to develop them and have made them a priority for our work together in the coming year.

Bishops Mission Statement
What I have been saying is very much in accord with the recently published Mission Statement issued by the House of Bishops of the Church of Ireland.

There are three priorities:

1. Worship and Spiritual Growth
   which points to the centrality of worship, how in putting God first, all else falls into place
   
   
2. Unity and Dialogue
   God’s work is reconciliation ‘bringing all things together in Christ’. So through our life as individuals and as a Christian Community we model respectful relations with others and the whole created order.
   
   
3. Living God’s Kingdom and Serving the World
   John 13. 14-15:    So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

We are channels that God wishes to use in the proclamation of his Kingdom.

Theological Institute
The Church of Ireland is well on the way to establishing a Theological Institute. This will be a major resource to every aspect of the Churches life. It will provide training for those entering the Stipendary and Non Stipendary Ministry, but also it will be a major resource for courses for lay members of the Church of Ireland.  And it will be working in close collaboration with other Churches and their theological education establishments. 
The whole idea is to see ministry as something which every member of the Church engages in. Each of us has gifts, differing gifts, but all are valuable in the work and witness of the Church. Having an educational resource such as the Theological Institute will mean that those gifts can be developed and skills attained and each member will be able to make their contribution fully.

Companion Dioceses
You will have seen in the book of reports that the Diocesan Companion Dioceses Committee set up at last year’s Diocesan Synod should set up a new partnership. The Committee has done a good job and found two. The Lutheran Diocese of Anhalt in Germany and the Diocese of Saldahna Bay in South Africa.  I just want to mention this here as it is another dimension of our theme – Together in Jesus Christ, the togetherness is not just about our parish and our local community, it is not just about our Diocese, or even our United Dioceses or the Church of Ireland or the Anglican Communion, we are called together in Jesus Christ with all who follow him for the sake of God’s work to bring all things, in heaven and earth, together in Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 1.10

Lambeth Conference
My ordination as Bishop was brought forward to July so that I could attend the Lambeth Conference. This meeting of the Anglican Bishops from around the world only takes place every 10 years. It was the most marvellous occasion to meet, experience and be part of a meeting of the world wide Church. What a treasure we have in the Anglican Communion – yet it is probably something that many of us are hardly aware of. About 670 Bishops attended and over 200 chose not to attend. The divisive point was differing views on human sexuality and in relation to that, who should be ordained to the episcopate.

However, it would be wrong to think that the issue of homosexuality dominated the conference. The Bishops started with a three-day Retreat by Archbishop Roman Williams, held in Canterbury Cathedral on the theme of ‘God’s Mission and a Bishop’s Discipleship’.

The Topics we covered were wide ranging:

• Mission and Evangelism
• Human and Social Justice
• Environment
• Ecumenism
• Relations with other World Religions
• Strengthening Anglican Identity
• Human Sexuality
• The Scriptures
• The Anglican Covenant
  (how a Covenant may provide a firmer structure for holding the Anglican Communion together)
• The Windsor Process
  (how we deal in the short term with the conflict over homosexuality within the Communion)

For everyone I spoke to the Bible Study Groups were the most powerful experience of the conference. We met for almost 3 weeks with the same people, from different cultures and contexts. In my Bible Study Group there were Bishops from The Cameroon and Ghana, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, England and Ireland. We talked about what the Bible passage meant for our culture. The passages for study were based upon the I am sayings of Jesus in St John’s Gospel, I am the Good Shepherd,  I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, I am the Light of the World, and so on. It was a unique experience as our relationships developed and trust grew we were able not only to share our differences of opinion, but we began to see why the other person held that view. Real understanding, and real communion was experienced by all who took part.

The second aspect was the worship. There was a common structure, some prayers unchanged but in every case the recognisable structure of Anglican worship was presented with a rich cultural influence of the country from which it came.  It was a wonderful example of unity and diversity.

The third thing I brought away was the sense of belonging to a worldwide family.  I made friends with people from all over the world. It was a wonderful experience.

The chief rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks spoke of how much he owed the Church of England through its schooling. He also spoke of the example of the Anglican Communion as a world wide body which held such diversity in unity.  He said it had been an inspiration of hope.

The unity of the Anglican Community is under strain. It seems there are those who are willing to separate. This is sad. Much is being done to try to prevent such a split. If we put our relationships first, love for God and love for our neighbour, we will find the way forward. The division we face within the Church is no greater than the division which the early Church experienced when the early Church after great debate included both Jews and Gentiles. What we need is obedience to our Lord’s prayer that we may be one. We are called to express our diversity in Unity. That is the glory of the Gospel and the challenge for our Church in our day.

Let us pray that it may not come to this. If we believe that God’s plan is to unite all things in Jesus Christ, let us pray that the Anglican Communion may not go the way of the world into division and conflict, but may remain a signpost to the future as God planned it, where all things, in heaven and earth are reconciled in Jesus Christ.

I offer you some words for thought, prayer and action. ‘Together in Jesus Christ’ Amen.