Sermons & Reflections

Christian hope does not deny the darkness. It declares that darkness does not have the final word. The light of Christ meets us in ordinary places, among ordinary people, and asks us to become bearers of that light for one another.

The invitation of Jesus is simple: come and see. St Mary’s exists to make room for that encounter—with God, with the story of faith, and with neighbours who can walk alongside us.

**Where are we going?**

Not merely, “How do we keep things going?”
Not merely, “How do we pay the bills?”
Not even, “How do we preserve this beautiful building?”

But:

**What is God calling His Church to be, here and now?**

The Church has always lived between two things: **inheritance and calling**.

We inherit something precious. We inherit the Gospel. We inherit Scripture. We inherit worship, prayer, sacrament, tradition and the witness of generations who came before us.

In a church such as ours, that inheritance is visible all around us. The stones themselves speak of generations who worshipped here, were baptised here, married here, mourned here, prayed here and placed their hope in Jesus Christ.

We should treasure that inheritance.

But we must never confuse **treasuring the past** with **living in the past**.

God says through Isaiah:

> “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”

That does not mean that the past is unimportant. It means that God is not finished.

The Christian faith is not a museum exhibit.

The Church is not a monument to what God once did.

It is the living Body of Christ.

And if Christ is alive, then His Church must also be alive.

## What are we here for?

Sometimes churches can become consumed by survival.

Will we have enough money?

Will enough people come?

Can we repair the roof?

Can we keep the heating on?

Who will do the jobs that need doing?

These are real questions. They cannot simply be ignored.

But survival cannot be the mission of the Church.

Jesus did not say:

“Go into all the world and maintain your buildings.”

He said:

> “Go and make disciples.”

The building exists to serve the mission.

The committees exist to serve the mission.

The finances exist to serve the mission.

The traditions exist to serve the mission.

And the mission is ultimately very simple:

**To make Jesus Christ known.**

That begins here, in our own community.

There are people living only a few streets from churches all over this country who would never dream of walking through the door.

Some believe church is not for them.

Some think Christianity has nothing to say to modern life.

Some have been hurt.

Some are simply indifferent.

Some are lonely.

Some are frightened.

Some are grieving.

Some are searching for meaning without even knowing that they are searching.

And that is why the future of the Church cannot simply be about asking people to come to us.

We must also go to them.

## A church at the centre of its community

Jesus said:

> “You are the light of the world.”

A light is useful because it can be seen.

Christian faith was never intended to be hidden away.

A healthy church should be woven into the life of its community.

People should know that the Church is there.

They should know what it stands for.

They should know that its doors are open.

They should know that if life collapses around them, somebody there will listen.

They should know that Christianity is not simply ceremonies, old buildings and Sunday mornings.

It is hope.

It is forgiveness.

It is truth.

It is compassion.

It is courage.

And above all, it is Jesus Christ.

That may require us to communicate in ways previous generations never imagined.

A noticeboard once carried the whole message of a parish.

Today the church door also exists on a telephone screen.

Our website, social media, community events, personal invitations and everyday conversations are all ways of saying:

**You are welcome. Come and see.**

There is nothing unspiritual about using modern tools to proclaim an ancient Gospel.

Saint Paul travelled Roman roads because Roman roads were how people travelled.

The early Christians wrote letters because letters were how ideas travelled.

If they were alive today, I suspect they would use every honest means available to them.

The message does not change.

The methods sometimes must.

## We need every generation

There is another question facing many churches.

Where are the younger people?

It is tempting to blame the young.

But perhaps the better question is:

**What are we doing to reach them?**

Young families are busy.

People work irregular hours.

Sunday morning is no longer protected in the way it once was.

Children grow up surrounded by voices competing for their attention.

The Church cannot simply wait and complain that the world has changed.

We must show people why Christ still matters in the world as it is.

We must create opportunities for families to belong before expecting them to understand everything we believe.

We must listen as well as speak.

We must welcome questions rather than fear them.

And older Christians have an extraordinary role to play in that.

Age should never be regarded as a weakness in the Church.

An older Christian carries something our culture desperately needs:

**experience, memory and perspective.**

Someone who has lived through joy, disappointment, illness, bereavement, failure and recovery can speak about faith with a depth that no fashionable slogan can reproduce.

The Church needs the energy of the young.

But it also needs the wisdom of the old.

And somewhere between the two, community is created.

## The danger of becoming comfortable

There is, however, a danger for every congregation.

We can become comfortable with one another.

We know where we sit.

We know who does what.

We know the hymns.

We know the routines.

We know how things have always been done.

And without meaning to, we can create a church which works perfectly well for those already inside it but appears almost impenetrable to somebody standing outside.

So from time to time we must ask:

If somebody walked through our door for the first time, what would they experience?

Would they feel noticed?

Would somebody speak to them?

Would they understand what was happening?

Would they sense joy?

Would they sense faith?

Would they sense that Christ mattered to us?

Because welcome is not an administrative task.

It is a Christian ministry.

## The building and the mission

And then there is the building.

Church buildings matter.

They are part of the spiritual memory of our nation.

Some have stood through wars, plagues, revolutions and generations of human life.

To preserve them is worthwhile.

But perhaps the strongest case for preserving a church is not simply that it has survived for centuries.

It is that **it still has work to do.**

A repaired roof over an empty church would be a tragedy.

A repaired roof over a living, praying, serving, welcoming church is an investment in the future.

So when we think about restoration, fundraising and stewardship, the question should always be larger than the building itself.

What will happen beneath that roof?

Prayer.

Worship.

Music.

Baptisms.

Weddings.

Funerals.

Friendship.

Children learning the stories of Christ.

People finding faith.

People finding comfort.

People discovering that they are not alone.

That is what we are preserving.

Not merely stones.

**A place where God may continue to meet people.**

## Everyone has a part

Acts tells us that the early Church devoted itself to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer.

But it also shows ordinary people using what they had.

Some preached.

Some served.

Some gave.

Some welcomed.

Some organised.

Some cared for the poor.

The Church flourishes when people stop asking:

“Who is going to do something?”

and begin asking:

**“What can I do?”**

Not everyone must preach.

Not everyone must sit on a committee.

Not everyone must lead.

But everyone has something to offer.

Time.

Experience.

Professional skills.

Hospitality.

Prayer.

Encouragement.

Generosity.

Ideas.

A telephone call.

A conversation with a neighbour.

A willingness simply to turn up.

God has always built His Church through ordinary people who made themselves available.

## So what direction should the Church take?

Perhaps the answer is both ancient and new.

**Back to Christ.
And forward into the world.**

Back to prayer.

Back to Scripture.

Back to confidence in the Gospel.

Back to understanding that we are not merely caretakers of an institution.

And then forward.

Forward in courage.

Forward in hospitality.

Forward in communication.

Forward in service.

Forward in imagination.

Forward in faith.

There may be things we try which do not work.

That is all right.

The first disciples made mistakes.

The early Church argued.

Saint Peter got things wrong spectacularly.

Yet God continued to work through them.

The greater danger is not trying something and failing.

The greater danger is becoming so frightened of change that we cease to move at all.

## A final thought

Perhaps in fifty or a hundred years, another congregation will worship here.

They may look back at photographs of us.

They may read our names in old minutes and parish records.

They may know that there was a moment when this church faced difficult decisions about its future.

And I wonder what we would want them to say about us.

Perhaps this:

**They did not simply preserve what they inherited.
They passed it on alive.**

They repaired what needed repairing.

They changed what needed changing.

They protected what mattered.

They welcomed new people.

They served their community.

And above all, they kept Christ at the centre.

That is surely a direction worthy of any church.

Not backwards.

Not recklessly forwards.

But faithfully onwards.

Following the One who said:

> “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

May God give us wisdom to know what must be preserved, courage to change what must change, humility to listen to one another, and faith to follow wherever Christ leads.

**Amen.**