Words from Bede Circuit

Dear Friends,

I just about managed to survive a day at Chester-le-Street Riverside cricket ground yesterday on the hottest day ever recorded in the UK. It was probably the first time ever in this country that queues at the water stations were longer than those for the bar! Fortunately I wasn’t sitting in the full sun until after 4pm – I’m not sure how those who had been exposed to the sun since before 1pm managed to cope. As for the players running around out on the pitch, no wonder the drinks breaks seemed to happen every few overs; I especially felt sorry for Jonny Bairstow, who spent much of the hottest part of the day when England were fielding running from one side of the ground to the other every time the South African batsmen scored a single. And he still managed to score 60 when he came on to bat – which was a lot better than most of the England batsmen.

The day was notable too for being Ben Stokes (a Durham player of course) last game in the one day 50 over England team. After having played such a big part in winning the World Cup in 2019 he’d decided that he needed to step back from this element of England cricket so he could focus better on the Test side, of which he is captain, and the 20-over side. It was a great moment when he left the pitch after making a paltry 5 runs and received a standing ovation from his home fans, then handed his England cap to a young lad in the crowd.

But his decision to step down made me reflect on our own lives and especially the life of our churches. How easy do we find it to step down from things in our lives – to recognise the need to make room for something, or someone, else by letting go of a role, of an activity, of a responsibility? I have known people cling on to roles in churches for some years after they were really capable of fulfilling them properly. But sometimes we can feel called to take on something new, be part of something God is doing in our church or community (yes, amazingly, God is working outside the church as well as in it!!), but turn the opportunity down because we’re too busy. If that’s the case we have to ask ourselves what’s more important?

And churches are in my experience notoriously slow to recognise when something – a meeting, an activity, even perhaps a worship service - has had its day and is no longer fit for the purpose it was intended for in the first place. We’re much better at taking on new things than we are at letting go of old, worn out things, so we end up doing lots of things not very effectively, rather than a few things with energy and enthusiasm.

I love this definition of mission ‘Discerning what God is doing and joining in’. Our first task in our own lives and in the lives of our churches is to ask ourselves what does God want of us, where does God want us to focus our energies and time? Once we’ve discerned that, observing where in our lives and the lives of our churches and communities God’s Spirit is at work and moving, we then need to ask ourselves ‘What do we need to stop doing in order to make way for that work or that person to develop and flourish?’

With my love and prayers,

Rev Paul Worsnop
On behalf of Bede Circuit ministry team