The date 3 September 1989 still rings bells with me, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. It is not just that it was 50 years since the declaration of war by the British Government on Nazi Germany, but it was also the day when the first non-dictatorial regime had come to office in Poland since 1939. The back story was interesting as it emerged that the change of regime started in the church, which had been praying for the government for some time. It was as they committed their cause into the hands of God that they found their release.
For us, I had been preparing this contribution to the magazine and website thinking that it would be my last as Priest-in-Charge and like the rest of us wondering what would come next. Well, now we know, at least for the next 12 months, during which Bishop Kevin will retire (end of August) and the process of choosing a new bishop will commence.
We do not know how long this will take. But I believe that the same principles of praying for those above us and neighbours to us in the church will continue to apply. I also believe that the needs of the church are great and that these start with seeking the Lord on their behalf. He knows their needs and He has His priorities for each charge and congregation, and for their ordained and lay leaders. And yes, what applies to our neighbouring congregations also applies to the diocese and to the whole of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Not all their views and attitudes will necessarily be to our taste but the point is not to judge but to commend so that the Lord’s will may be done among them.
There is a further point to look at, for the day after I received word of the extension of my license as Priest-in-Charge at All Saints, my personal devotions took me to Luke 13: 6-9. It is the parable of the unfruitful fig tree. In it the gardener also pleaded for a year’s grace during which he would tend the tree, which was then under threat of being felled. Ouch!
We may not be great in numbers but we know that the prayers of only a few can move mountains. That is why I am calling us to our prayers and in them to support not only the needs of All Saints but also to commend to the Lord the needs of our neighbouring churches, the diocese during its vacancy, and the SEC as a whole. As the Lord has heard our prayers for our congregation, so He will hear them as we pray for the needs of others in the church.
This may not be the stuff of bold initiatives or glamorous presentations. It will be a hidden work, forming part of our own prayers and studies. But then the One whose attention we seek is not particularly impressed by cultic or media extravaganzas, but looks to the heart anyway. Here we have an equal standing.
And yes, we have a new kind of confidence. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.’ (Zechariah 4: 6) Part of our approach has been to commend our needs into the hands of God, and to trust in His provision, but without prescribing what that would be.
At this season of Pentecost we recall how the disciples, now 120 of them, were waiting for the gift promised by Jesus. They were gathering together with one mind and one purpose. It was a unity of faith and expectation as they recalled what Jesus has said and done among them. It drew them together after the trauma of Jesus’ Passion and death, and the exhilaration of His resurrection, His time among them and then His Ascension. We also should be finding ways of drawing together in faith and confidence, strengthening what is already there and open to new things as well.
I believe that it is as we give the Lord most room to move among us that He does so, so it might mean letting go of some of our expectations, and looking forward to what is yet to come.
Just a few thoughts. Every blessing,
Sydney Maitland
