Dear Friends
I thought I would write a few lines about transition and growth. Most of you will have heard that I will be finishing as vicar of Burley in September and that our family will move from the village to start a new chapter of work, life and ministry in Keighley.
Summer is often a time of transition. Children finish school years and start new ones, often moving schools or going onto College or University. Summer is also a time to take stock so that the new academic year can be fresh and dynamic. However, it is often the case that the wealthier we become the more we try and control life so that we are not confronted with the challenge that change brings. Change for some is terrifying because the old ‘usual’ ways of doing things are challenged and our fragility is exposed. For many in our world that sort of change is merely ‘normal’ and other coping mechanisms are in place instead. Jesus calls his friends into a life that is far more dynamic than most of us realise or are willing to entertain. Jesus challenges us not to put our trust in earthly things, worldly systems, and even questions us about the priorities we have for our nuclear families. In Church over the last few weeks we have been delving a little deeper into the life of the fledgeling Church and reading about how they shared extravagantly, lived constantly on a limb, relying on the power and purpose of the Holy Spirit as they sought to continue to follow Jesus into the unknown.
Abraham of course is established as the exemplar for the early Church. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “By faith Abraham made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents…For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Hebrews 11.9-10.
The life of faith, unlike the life of control that we are seduced into yearning for in the west, is the willingness to step out and go and be different.
For my family, moving from Wharfedale to Airedale feels a big and sometimes scary step; very different multi-cultural communities and significant deprivation. We are not unfamiliar to deprivation having started ministry on the challenging urban estate of Holme Wood in Bradford. Living amongst people of other cultural background was my daily experience when working in the Middle East and South Asia. Nevertheless, life will be different and we won’t be able to rely solely on our experiences of life in Burley. We will be confronted with many whose life is anything but comfortable.
A number of parishioners have asked, “do you have to move house?” Few professionals working in deprived areas choose to live in the area they work in, but for the Christian Church it is an important aspect of mission to have her clergy in the place they serve. It is the incarnation principle that seeks to imitate Jesus. As Paul succinctly puts it, “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8.9). We are very fortunate to be moving to a very nice house overlooking Keighley, just down the road from our good friend from Burley, Gail Boole!
As we step out in faith as a family I know we will be met with Jesus, who says to each of us, ‘my grace is sufficient for you.’ That doesn’t mean we won’t have turbulent times ahead; moving always has stressful aspects and it pushes our love and patience to the limit. However, I have a firm conviction that when God makes it clear that it is time to move on, then he opens the door to the next chapter of life. God is no one’s debtor, a missionary couple once said to me. God uses the challenges of life to grow us up and to help us to rely on his daily bread rather than our superficial abundance. Do pray for me, Sara, Barnaby, Benji and Charlie, that God will protect our hearts and give us courage as we embrace the transition that is ahead.
God bless you, especially if you are also encountering change and transformation.
Alastair