40 years ago on 15th October 1977 I was ordained to the Christian Ministry and inducted to the pastorate of Harden Congregational Church, Cheltenham.
It was great to have a weekend of celebrations with the church family here at Highbury and with friends and representatives of churches Felicity and I have been part of in those 40 years of shared ministry.
On Saturday evening we had a Messy Church Celebration, with a wonderful meal served to our Messy Church regulars and friends and our Sunday congregations too. It was great to have everyone together enjoying crafts inspired by some of my interests with quizzes, Romans, geology and astronomy too. Joy Howell, our Area Youth and Children's co-ordinator, led a celebration in church that was wonderful.
You can get a flavour of that celebration here! A Messy Church Celebration
On Sunday morning the celebration continued as I entered into conversation with Roy Jenkins, Minister of the church I belonged to in Bangor as a student, David Waters who had spent a gap year with us here at Highbury 20 years ago and Yvonne Campbell, General Secretary of the Congregational Federation.
Click here for a recording of that service. Please note the service begins 23 minutes into the recording. The conversation with Roy, David and Yvonne starts at 47 minutes.
Text of the
Week: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Hebrews 13:8
Welcome to our services
today and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. It’s
particularly good to welcome all those who have come to share in a special celebration
of the 40th anniversary of my ordination. It’s really a double
celebration for Felicity and me as a month ago we celebrated our Ruby Wedding
anniversary and for the last 40 years we have very much shared in ministry
first at Harden, just outside Bradford, then in Minsterley and Pontesbury and
now here at Highbury. In looking back 40 years one of the chief things I recall
is the passion we shared then for the Kingdom, for the Gospel, for Christ, for
His Church and for the world around us. And I am just as passionate today! So
in our celebrations today we are not going to look to the past. We are going to look to the present and to
the future and share together the vision we have for today and for the future
ahead of us. I’ve invited three people to join in conversation with me this
morning to reflect with us all on our vision for today and for the future: the
Rev Roy Jenkins who as Minister of the church I belonged to in Bangor,
Pen’rallt Baptist Church, took part in my ordination 40 years ago today; David
Waters, who 20 years ago spent a year with us at Highbury as a volunteer; and
Yvonne Campbell who is currently the General Secretary of our Congregational
Federation and who is a member of Wavertree Congregational church and a little
while ago completed our CF course.
Welcome
and Call to Worship
HTC
31: Give to our God immortal praise
Prayer
and the Lord’s Prayer
Jesus
Christ the same … yesterday, today
and
forever
Get
the children to come to the front … or mix of adults … a tape measure I made 37
years ago and it’s really special – I’ve kept ever since.
Let’s
see how tall everyone is.
It’s
a stretchy tape measure – and that’s no good – you need a tape measure that
doesn’t change then you can really know how you are growing …
Jesus
is the same yesterday, today and forever …
A
great reading
Reading:
Hebrews 13: 7-8
Remember your
leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their
way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and for ever.
That
reading means the world to me and the first of those verses has been in the
front of my Bible whichever Bible I have had for the last 37 years – my father
had died … and I found that very difficult to cope with … and very hard to get
back to taking services. The first service – I came up with that story – and I
linked it to the measures in Bradford City centre because still in 1977 the
Wool trade worldwide had its headquarters in the Wool Exchange in Bradford and
there were measures set into the city square to settle arguments
I
could remember the words – but just before the service began in the vestry I
couldn’t remember where they came from – I looked them up in an index – I found
them and went into the service – did the stunt, read the passage and thought
nothing more of it.
I
did the service on automatic pilot – and then got home and it was Felicity who
said – that was a great service, really important – and it had said nothing to
me. I read the passage again – and it was the verse before – that caught my
attention …
Remember
your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of
their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and for ever.
A
Hy-Spirit song
We’ve been a team
together so I’ll ask Felicity to see our prayer before the youngsters go to
have some more fun!
Prayer
by Felicity
Activities
for all over 3
What’s
your vision for today and for the
future?
In
conversation
So
what do you do when your wife lands you in it and you celebrate the 40th
anniversary of your ordination? You can’t help but remember – friends who were
there at the ordination – Euros and Geraint are celebrating 40 years on as
well. Other friends too, Alan Argent this very weekend. 40 years ago Tudur, the
principal of the college where I had trained preached his vision for the church
and my father, who was also a minister preached a sermon challenging me – the
text I remember was from 1 Timothy – where Paul writes ‘to Timothy, my son’.
All
moving stuff.
But
I don’t want to go down memory lane.
Instead
one thing I do remember from 40 years ago that we all of us shared a passion to
change the world, to make a difference and to change people’s hearts. I may by
next year be ready to retire as ‘the minister of a church’ but I am still as
passsionte as ever about the cause, the kingdom, the gospel.
So
want I want to do is to reflect on the vision there is for today and for what’s
ahead – the vision for the church – how we can have a vision. And to do that I
have invited three people from the last 40 years to join me.
It’s
great to welcome Roy and Liz Jenkins, David and Lisa Waters and the boys and
Yvonne and Dave Campbell and Poppy. So .. Roy, Yvonne and David if you would
like to come and join us.
Roy
was minister of the church I attended in Bangor, Pen’rallt Baptist Church – and
because my father had been minister of the church I grew up in and I have been
minister for the last 40 years – the only person to have been ‘my minister’ and
it’s great to know Roy and Liz are there on the other end of a phone and good
to get together albeit very, very infrequently!!!
First
Roy, when you left school you went into journalism. I want to take you back to
28th June 1960 – you were from Abertillery in South Wales a very,
very young pup reporter, I believe when you found yourself responding to a news story that shook the
nation.
Six
Bells – 45 men and boys killed
Six
years later there was another major disaster at Aberfan – when the coal tip
slid down the mountain and 116
children and 28 adults were killed.
For
many people they would have abandoned their faith in God – why didn’t God do
something about it?
But
you didn’t – you gave up journalism and had a call to ministry – so that 8
years later by the time I arrived as a student in Bangor.
What
was it that drove you to faith? And to have a vision for Christ and the
kingdom?
You
were in Pen’rallt and then moved on to Ararat in Cardiff – and you became
passionate about Amnesty International and set up an organization Chrsitians
Against Torture – why did you home in on that particular cause?
From
Arrarat it was to the BBC – and All things considered – 9-00 and on BBC
i-player
Of
all your guests who has been the most inspirational?
I
want to bring in David at this point.
Started
out life as a little one here in Highbury, went off to the wilds of Cheshire
and then 20 years ago this year you took a yuear out having finished school to
join us as a volunteer. And it was quite some year – joining forces with Sandra
Dehn another Time for God Volunteer who next Saturday is getting married – and
Jean and Roger and June and Mary are going to the wedding – to take our love!
It was the height of The Ocracy – our alternative worship Saturday evening
worship time – and you were out fly posting posters and we were getting in
trouble for encouraging you to do that and for the sound levels in the church.
What
happened next?
Durham
for theology
Then
a job with the BBC
Songs
of Praise
Blue
Peter
Documentary
series on the mircales
And
a year in Canterbury Cathedral
The
Saturday morning football programme
And
now you have been head hunted to return to Songs of Praise as a Producer.
Tell
us what’s going to be happening with Songs of Praise?
Of
all the people you have interviewed who has inspired you most?
And
now the third of our guests – Yvonne Campbell. I think we go back a long way –
one of our first CF Youth conferences was at Wavertree in Liverpool – and
that’s your home church.
Tell
us a little of your Christian story …
Our
CF has been going through some turbulent times and you have become General
Secretary with a different kind of brief to visit ans support churches – tell
us a bit about what you are doing.
In
visiting all those churches – what has inspired you most?
How
you can help Highbury as we move on and the church looks for a minister?
What’s
your vision for the future?
David
– what’s your vision for the future?
Roy,
a slightly different question for you …
We
go back 43 years – we shared all sorts of passions then about changing people,
changing the world –
And
we have seen things change – we campaigned against apartheid and apartheid has
finished. Through the cold war we prayed for the persecuted church behind the
iron curtain – I remember we supported in Yorkshire days Micahel and Jo Pollard
who visited churches behind the iron curtain each summer and reported back to
our Bible Society Action group on their travels – then came to Pontesbury – and
then the Iron Curtain came down – John and Joan’s son was there – as the wall
came down. I remember getting Irina
Ratushinskia, a dissident Christian poet from Russia to sign her authobiography
at the literature festival – and as I stood in front of her – said, lamely, we
had been praying for her … and she wrote in the fly leaf – It works!
Back
in 77 – the Northern Ireland troubles
The
Millennium moment – full of hope – our Passion Play taking the story of Jesus
on to the streets of our time.
Even
in the context of torture – under President Obama things seemed to be changing.
And
then everything seems to have gone wrong – since 9/11, Afghaistan, the war in
Iraq, Libya, Syria – is it 2,000 and more people our drone pilots have killed
in the last three or four years – and where we had supposed we could bomb over
there with impunity we are coming to terms with the fact that bombing is going
to be a reality for us maybe for a generation.
So
many hopes dashed.
How
do you hold on to that sense of vision?
What
is your vision.
I
want to come back to a vision that has a focus –
The
collier at six bells colliery head is holding his hands out in a particular
way. But it’s reminiscent of another sculpture – in Llandaff Cathedral – by
Jacob Epstein – of Jesus – with his hands out in the same way.
Christ
is there in the mess of the world. With us in that mess. Accomnpanbying us
through the mess – and our task is to keep at it – love for God, love for
neighbvour, love for enemy – the ministry of reconciliation – with the
inspiration of Jesus at our heart.
A
song – that for me captures that sense of call …
251
I the Lord of sea and sky
A
reading that caught my imagination in the sixth form – Ruth represents Harden
who send their love but have a busy weekend of meetings yesterday and today
Reading:
Romans 12:1-2 & 9-21
Great
to have friends from Minsterley and Pontesbury with us – Ian is going to lead
our prayers of concern.
Prayers
of Concern
510
Jesus calls us here to meet him
The
Lord’s Supper
Communion
Offering & Dedication
Communion
Collection for Langley House Trust and the Knole – the home locally that works
with ex-offenders
167
Guide me O thou great Jehovah
Words
of Blessing
Retiring
Collection
No comments:
Post a Comment