While we wait

St Paul’s Church, Ipswich
Easter 6B
5 May 2024

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Waiting can be a difficult time.

“Are we there yet?” may only be expressed by the children, but the adults know the feeling all too well.

“How long, O Lord?” is a cry of despair within the Scriptures themselves.

How long indeed!

It has already been several months since Selina left Ipswich to begin her new ministry at the Cathedral.

It took a while for the Bishop to find a locum and another month before he finally got here.

But here I am and here we are.

We are in that space between what lies behind and what is yet to come.

And we still do not know how long it will be until the new Rector arrives.

No, good people, we are not there yet.

I am not your new Priest.

But I am the person assigned by the Bishop to lead this community of Jesus people at St Paul’s Church—and support you through this time of transition, whether it is a short time or a longer time.

This week I join the waiting community at St Paul’s Church partway through the Great Fifty Days of Easter. Five weeks of the 50 days are behind us, and just 2 weeks remain.

In the story line of the New Testament, the fledgling Jesus community in Jerusalem was about to enter the most challenging part of their waiting time.

As Luke tells the story in the Acts of the Apostles, and as John tells the story in the fourth gospel, and also as Matthew told the story in his revised and enlarged edition of Mark’s gospel, something new was about to happen. The disciples needed to wait, but Jesus would be with them as they waited and also when the new thing began to happen.

John has Jesus repeatedly telling this to the disciples before Easter. We had one example of that in this morning’s Gospel:

I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. [John 15:15–16]

In Matthew we read this version of the tradition:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:16­20]

And in Acts—just before the Ascension (which we observe this coming Thursday)—we find these words:

While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:4–8]

So, two themes come through these texts: God is about to do something new, and we need to wait for it to begin.

There was no time frame on this new thing happening. Indeed, in Acts we find Jesus saying that it is not for us to know the times or the seasons. That makes it all the more interesting that the invitation from Bishop Cam was for me to serve as locum here, quote, “for a season.”

That season may be until the end of the year. It may end sooner if we find the new priest before then. It may even be a slightly longer season. Who knows?

In this in-between time we wait, and we prepare.

We do not prepare best for the new priest by keeping everything exactly the same as it was during the past 5 or 6 years, or even longer.

We certainly do not prepare for the new priest by doing everything my way in the meantime.

But we do prepare best for the new priest by deepening our own faith and consolidating our faithfulness as disciples of Jesus.

Some things will remain the same, some things will be refreshed, and some new things will happen as we seek to discern the best ways for us to be disciples of Jesus in the heart of Ipswich, as we have been ever since 1859.

Central to that process of reimagination and renewal is our mission action plan that was adopted by Parish Council this past week.

You will hear more about that in the coming weeks.

I did not remember to ask Sue to update the front page of this week’s bulletin, but you will see some changes already on the website and for sure in the bulletin next week.

We have simplified our vision statement so that it now reads:

an inclusive Anglican presence in the heart of the Ipswich community

Nothing there is new, I hope, but it is expressed more directly and will serve as the litmus test for every action that comes to PC for approval. 

Over and over we shall be asking ourselves, does this proposal help us be more inclusive, more authentically Anglican, more connected with our local community here in Ipswich?

As we ask those questions, I hope we might also keep in mind the powerful words spoken by Pope Francis last Thursday when meeting in Rome with Anglican Primates from around the world:

Only a love that becomes gratuitous service, only the love that Jesus taught and embodies, will bring separated Christians closer to one another. Only that love, which does not appeal to the past in order to remain aloof or to point a finger, only that love which in God’s name puts our brothers and sisters before the ironclad defence of our own religious structures, only that love will unite us. First our brothers and sisters, the structures later.

That is true for the relationship between Anglicans and Romans, but also for relationships between all the churches in this city, and indeed for the inner spiritual dynamic of St Paul’s Church.

We are not here to protect the past but to engage with the future.

And while we wait, we practise authentic love for each other.