The readings for today are different in the Missal which we use at St Mark’s and the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) used at St Gabriel’s. For that reason, there will be a different paragraph which corresponds with the Gospel being read at that particular church. Each of the paragraphs have been highlighted in bold and labelled.
One of the things that a parish priest is called to do, is to identify the gifts and talents that people in their congregations may have, and to encourage people to use those gifts and talents in the service of God and his Church.
Sometimes this is expressed as ‘fostering vocations’ but I think that really limits what a parish priest is called to do in this respect, at least in the minds of many people. When we speak about vocations in the Church, we’re usually talking about a calling to the ordained ministry and so ‘fostering vocations’ is often seen as encouraging people to offer themselves for ordination. But whilst that is a very important part of a priest’s duty with regard to identifying and encouraging people to use their gifts and talents in the Church, it’s only part of it. The ordained ministry is just one particular calling, or vocation, from within the general calling or vocation of all Christian people. The ordained priest is someone who has received a call to that particular vocation within the many that exist in general vocation of the universal priesthood of all Christian people.
So there’s much more to ‘fostering vocations’ than simply looking for likely candidates for ordination and encouraging those people to put themselves forward for it. I think we find a much better way of expressing what a priest is called to do in terms of fostering vocations, or at least a more comprehensive way of expressing it, in the words that the Bishop uses during the institution of a priest as the incumbent of a parish or benefice. Towards the end of the address to the congregation in which the Bishop sets out what a parish priest is expected to do, we find these words:
“Guided by the Holy Spirit, they (the priest) are to discern and foster the gifts of all God’s people, that the whole Church may be built up in unity and faith.”
I think that makes it very clear that a priest’s duty to foster vocations, is about much more than simply looking for and encouraging potential priests.
One of the problems I’ve found in fulfilling this duty of fostering vocations though, is that people are often very reluctant to use their gifts and talents for the Church. That’s sometimes because they’re worried about the level of commitment that’s involved in what’s being asked of them, but more often, it’s because people simply don’t recognise their own gifts.
One of the best examples of that, in my experience, was a conversation I had with a group of people not long after I’d offered myself for ordination. We were talking about vocations and I suggested to them that it wasn’t only me who had a vocation in the Church, they did too. But they didn’t see it that way. Now all of these people were on the PCC, and they all did other things in the Church and for the Church too. Most of them were in the Church Choir. Most of them were on the Parish Social Committee. Some of them were Altar Servers. Some of them were licensed Eucharistic Ministers. Some of them had an authorised ministry in the parish as Lay Pastoral Assistants. And yet they didn’t see any of that as fulfilling a calling to God’s service or as a vocation. And when I asked them what they did see it as then, they just looked at each other and eventually one of them said,
“It’s just what we do. It’s not a vocation.”
But then I don’t suppose I was any different myself at one time. I’d never given a moment’s thought to the possibility that I might have a vocation to the ordained priesthood until the parish clergy and a few other people in the parish said that they thought I did, and ought to give it some thought!
We’re sometimes not very good at seeing in ourselves what others see in us are we? Whether that’s the good or the bad. But if that’s how we are, we’re not alone and we can find lots of examples in the Scriptures of people who were just like us in that respect.
This morning we heard about the call of Samuel. God called Samuel three times, but he didn’t answer because he didn’t realise God was calling him. In the end, it was Eli who understood that God was calling Samuel and told Samuel how to answer when God’s call came again.
(The following paragraph will be read at St Mark’s)
And in our Gospel reading, it was John who recognised Jesus and pointed him out to two of his own disciples. Jesus asked them both to follow him, but it was only Andrew who answered the call, and the first thing he did the very next day was to go and find his brother, Simon, so that he could hear Jesus’ call too. And when Jesus saw Peter, he recognised Simon’s gifts, his potential to be Cephas, Peter, the ‘Rock’ on which to build the Church.
(The following paragraph will be read at St Gabriel’s)
And in our Gospel reading, Jesus calls Philip, who hears and answers. We know that because the next thing we’re told Philip does is that he goes to find Nathaniel so that he can hear Jesus’ call too. And when Jesus sees Nathaniel, he recognises Nathaniel’s gifts, his honesty and integrity, and his potential to be one of the twelve people to whom he’ll entrust the carrying of the Gospel into the world for the building up of the Church.
So our reading today are all about hearing and answering God when he calls us. But in addition to that, they’re also about listening to others when they see and recognise things that we haven’t or don’t see or recognise. They’re about listening to others when they see that God is calling us when we haven’t or don’t recognise God’s call. They’re about listening to others when they recognise gifts, talents and potential in us that we haven’t or don’t see. They’re about listening and then acting on what we hear by using our gifts and talents in answer to God’s call. And they’re about doing this for the building up of the Church, the Body of Christ, as St Paul calls it.
All these things have always been important to the Church, especially for building up the Church because we all have a part to play in that. St Paul’s analogy of the Church as the Body of Christ is a very good one in this sense because a body functions best if all it’s members are fully functioning. And it is becoming more important than ever in these difficult times for the Church, that everyone in the Church does play their part by hearing and answering God’s call, and to do that by using their gifts and talents for the Church, to the best of their ability.
As you all know, there are some major changes being proposed to the way the Church operates in the diocese of Manchester. I’ve spoken about this both in church and at PCC meetings in the past, and these changes are due to start being implemented in the second half of this year. Although there is still some consultation going on, what these changes are expected to mean is that, by 2025, the number of stipendiary clergy, that’s full-time, paid clergy, in the diocese will have been reduced from just over 200, as it is now, to 160. The existing Deaneries will be formed into 7, larger Deaneries, each under the oversight of a full-time Area Dean. And each Deanery will be split into a number of Mission Communities, each under a Missional Leader, who will work with a team of stipendiary clergy and other ‘named focal leaders’ such as lay leaders, licensed readers and self-supporting ordained ministers, to minister to the parishes in their own Mission Community.
As I understand things, what this will mean for St Mark’s and St Gabriel’s, is that, by 2025, we will be in a Mission Community of 7 parishes, covered by 3 stipendiary clergy. To cope with the reduction in clergy numbers, it is a requirement of these plans that there will be an increase in lay ministry and lay leadership in parishes, so that, as the Briefing Document on the Proposals for Mission Communities puts it,
“Between them, the lay and ordained, paid and unpaid members of the team, will cover all the necessary roles and functions – liturgy, mission, social action, administration, buildings, links with schools – working across generations with children and adults of all ages.”
In other words, whilst we’re assured that there will be training and on-going support provided for everyone who takes on a role or function, the laity will have to take on more roles and functions, and more responsibilities, to cover for the reduction in clergy numbers.
How all this will work out, only time will tell. But these changes are coming, and this is the way the Church is going to operate in this diocese. So the role of fostering vocations has perhaps never been so important as it is now and will become in the future. But not only for the parish priest. In these changing times it’s important for all of us to foster vocations. It’s important for all of us to recognise the gifts and talents we have, both the gifts and talents of others and our own gifts and talents, and then to be attentive to God’s call so that we can use them in the best possible way, both in his service, and in the service of his Church.
Amen.
The Propers for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Epiphany 2) can be found here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 