Apart from the sheer magnificence of the building, the crowning glory of the Abbey is its stained glass, much of which was designed and manufactured by the monks themselves.On the Monday afternoon I set off for a wander as the light was beginning to fade, and as I walked past the end of the Abbey I noticed something odd.
The stained glass window in the North Transept depicts Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth, both women pregnant with unexpected sons. At that time of day the window was almost entirely dark because the chapel wasn’t in use, but there was a solitary light burning inside. The light from that bulb illuminated one small panel with uncanny precision; the one showing the women’s faces close together: loving, contented and united. Their faces stood out in bright colour, against the blackness of the rest of the window.
I stood there for a good ten minutes in the cold, soaking up this lovely image– passers by must have thought I’d lost the plot! - but I knew that God was saying something important to me through it. And what I think he was saying was this – “This is what you were made for. For intimacy, with one another and with me.”
If I could ask one thing for myself and for my church it would be this. To help people draw closer to God and enjoy a deeper and more intimate fellowship with him. For me, this is what the church is for. Everything else we might do, however important or enjoyable, is a distant second to that first priority. Mission, outreach, worship, social action – all these things flow from the ‘spring’ that is our own connection with God.
2 comments:
Last year , I spent some time in the states, in a mega church of 4,500 members. The senior pastor commented that he envied the intimacy I had with my village congregation back in Scotland. I remember the first Sunday back in the pulpit, I could have wept for love of those familiar faces. Intimacy is a huge privelege of ministry.
My friend and colleague up here Matt Canlis has taken that exact viewpoint. Matt's from the States and was lucky enough to study under Eugene Peterson. Peterson's view of ministry is that the pastoral task of being with people is the very heart of what we do, but in practice the 'jobs' of ministry conspire to push that priority from the centre. Too right, Eugene!
Matt chose Methlick because it was small enough to be pastor-able! My reasons for being at St Hacket's are similar. It's great to think that God is calling more and more people not to 'successful' ministries but to 'deep' ones.
Have you read any of Peterson's stuff, Liz? I'm reading the Contemplative Pastor just now (Feckless Boy was reading it before Christmas too), and have been recommended "Under the Unpredictable Plant". I'm wishing these had been compulsory reading while in training..... an absolute breath of fresh air!
Blessings
FBL
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