Giving and Vision
A couple of weeks ago a small crane arrived at St John’s to lift up the millennium slate plinth which stands outside the entrance. The plinth had become loose and its foundation needed resetting. The stonemason also gave it a good clean to remove the remains of some graffiti. Paying more attention, and not being put off by the red paint which used to cling to it, I’ve been struck afresh by its inscription, a quotation from St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians (4:5), which reads ‘Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves your servants for his sake.’ The text beautifully captures two of the gifts with which I think God has particularly blessed St John’s and is a reminder of the vocation of our church.
The first part of the text, ‘Christ Jesus as Lord,’ reminds me of the confidence we have about our faith and our Anglican tradition. It’s a sense of security that enables us to question things, yet not feel that we need to re-invent our faith each week and build it up from scratch again. It’s also a sense of security in our Anglican tradition and a conviction about what our tradition has to offer. This confidence allows us to be both generous and innovative in what we offer to others, so that we can extend a welcome to them and see how our tradition can grow and be relevant in their lives. The Bible tells us that faith is a gift rather than a state of moral or intellectual achievement and that this is a gift which is to be celebrated and shared with others. In the next year and beyond we’ll be working to consolidate and extend our work with families and children to be sure that this gift is fully shared, and that people of all ages and backgrounds are enabled to worship and belong.
The second half of that text reads, ‘ourselves as your servants for his sake’ and captures the profound sense of service that exists in our church. You see those acts of service in the many ways in which we care for each other within our congregation. But it extends much further than that as people seek to serve others in the public sphere, and as they give a huge amount of time, energy and gifts to charities and other organisations working in Sheffield and beyond. Deepening the connections between our faith and our service, as well as helping to organise our internal life better, are key parts of what we are hoping for in the year ahead.
Part of both of these is about making space: space for others to explore the breadth of our faith tradition, and space within our building for us to offer hospitality to and share fellowship with them. Having already carved out a space for children, we’ll next be reviewing how we use the rest of our physical space, looking especially at new lighting and meeting areas.
As we begin to reflect together on our planned giving over the coming month, I’d like to urge you to consider how, as an act of gratitude for what God has already given, you can support this mission when renewing or making a new pledge for the coming year. There is much to give thanks for in the faith tradition which we confidently embrace together, and there is much to be done, in service to others, in our mission to our community and to our world.
James
Grenfell
james.grenfell@stjohnsranmoor.org.uk