Prayer for a New Incumbent (Whose Job?)
Sermon Preached by Reverend Stuart Langshaw on Sunday, 26 May 2024.
We know this prayer really well these days. It’s in our Anglican Prayer Book for Australia, on page 212, prayer #36. “Bountiful God, give to his parish a faithful pastor who will faithfully speak your word and minister your sacraments; an encourager who will equip your people for ministry and enable us to fulfil our calling. Give to those who will choose, wisdom, discernment and patience, and to us give warm and generous hearts, for Christ’s sake. Amen.”
It will be a good thing really to have a look at this prayer, to see what it says, what it means, and how it applies to us.
1 We pray to God that, in our new incumbent, we may receive a faithful pastor. An incumbent is not an encumbrance. They may be homophones, but we hope they will be antonyms. An incumbent who is an encumbrance is a complete pain! And the very sad thing is that some parishes, and some other organisations have that experience – an incumbent who is an encumbrance. The best picture we have of a faithful pastor is Jesus’ teaching about the good shepherd in John chapter 10. In that passage Jesus talks about the relationship between the sheep and the shepherd – they know each other; the shepherd rescues lost sheep; the shepherd acts as the door to the sheepfold and protects the sheep; When we translate all that from shepherd and sheep into the relationship between a parish priest and the congregation, we get the picture of a person who knows, who cares for, who seeks the best for, who rescues and comforts, and who is always “there” for the congregation.
There is a wonderful passage in Winnie the Pooh about faithful pastoring.
It occurred to Pooh and Piglet that they hadn’t heard from Eeyore for several days, so they put on their hats and coats and trotted across the Hundred Acre Wood to Eeyore’s stick house. Inside the house was Eeyore.
“Hello Eeyore,” said Pooh.
“Hello Pooh. Hello Piglet,” said Eeyore, in a Glum Sounding Voice.
“We just thought we’d check in on you,” said Piglet, “because we hadn’t heard from you, and so we wanted to know if you were okay.”
Eeyore was silent for a moment. “Am I okay?” he asked, eventually. “Well, I don’t know, to be honest. Are any of us really okay? That’s what I ask myself. All I can tell you, Pooh and Piglet, is that right now I feel really rather Sad, and Alone, and Not Much Fun To Be Around At All. Which is why I haven’t bothered you. Because you wouldn’t want to waste your time hanging out with someone who is Sad, and Alone, and Not Much Fun To Be Around At All, would you now.”
Pooh glanced at Piglet, and Piglet glanced at Pooh, and they both settled, one on each side of Eeyore in his twig abode.
Eeyore looked at them in surprise. “What are you doing?”
“We’re sitting here with you,” said Pooh, “because we are your friends. And true friends don’t care if someone is feeling Sad, or Alone, or Not Much Fun To Be Around At All. True friends are there for you anyway. And so here we are.”
“Oh,” said Eeyore. “Oh.” And the three of them sat there in silence, and while Pooh and Piglet said nothing at all; somehow, almost imperceptibly, Eeyore started to feel a very tiny little bit better.
Because Pooh and Piglet were There.
No more; no less.
(A.A. Milne, E.H. Shepard)
In the ordination service for priests in our Prayer Book, the bishop gives them this instruction:- “Be a pastor after the pattern of Christ the great Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep.” (APBA Ordination of Priests page 793). And in the service where a new Rector is commissioned, the Bishop says to the new Rector, “You are to love and serve the people among whom you work.” Faithful pastoring. (644)
It’s not just the job of the Rector. It’s the job of each of us. To care for and look after each other as friends, as colleagues. We say on the cover of our pew sheet that St Andrews is a Christ-oriented community … oriented towards pastoral care and concern as Christ was. And praise God that it is done so well here. In our congregation we do notice when people are not ticking along at their best. Helpful and caring phone calls and texts and emails and cards and letters are sent – and we know that we are noticed and cared for. Christ-oriented … Good Shepherd oriented … caring for each other and caring for our Rector.
2In the Prayer for a new incumbent we pray that he or she may be a person who will faithfully speak God’s word. Sermons play an important part in our congregational life. We look to the preacher to help us to understand a bit more about the Bible’s text and words, and help us to understand how to put it into practice in our lives. Sermons are not lectures that are all “up there” and “out there” and have nothing to do with anything ”in here.” But notice that our prayer for a new incumbent doesn’t actually mention preaching. It says, “… will faithfully speak your word…:” Speak – – – we pray for a person whose conversations and whose counselling and whose interviews, and whose chairing of meetings will also “speak God’s word.” Some clergy are jokers, we know that – and some clergy are very serious – we know that – and some clergy a quite quiet and reserved – we know that too. But whatever their personality type, clergypersons need to have God’s word in their speech and talk and daily lives also.
It’s not just the job of the Rector. It’s the job of each of us. To faithfully speak God’s word in our speech and words and lives. We say on the cover of our pew sheet that St Andrews is a thinking community … thinking about how God’s word fits into our lives and relationships. May God be in our mouth and in our speaking.
3In the Prayer for a new incumbent we pray that he or she may be a person who will minster your sacraments – not just speak the words of the service and perform the ceremony of the sacraments – but minister the feeling, the “vibe” of the service – be a channel – a “conduit” – of the sacraments. Anyone can say the words that have to be said. They’re in the book. But the sacraments are far more than words, far more than ceremony. Within us the sacraments can engender a real spiritual “jolt.” I have to say that at the baptism last Sunday, you could sense, you could feel much more going on than just words and washing. There was a real spirit, a real presence, it was a real spiritual experience. And in the Holy Communion, there are words and there is ceremony certainly, but we experience so much more than at a mere academic and physical level – we sense something spiritual and real and mysterious and gracious and helpful. The celebrant – whoever he or she is – must seek to be the minister, the channel, the conduit of that deeper-than-words experience, and fade into the background as that deeper-than-words experience is felt by members of the congregation.
4In the Prayer for a new incumbent we pray that he or she may be a person who will be an encourager. This is such an important part of parish ministry – to be an encourager, to let people know that they can do this, to lead not from the front but from the middle of the pack, to encourage, to thank, to work with, to help everyone pull together. Part of this is to equip the people for ministry and enable us to fulfil our calling. The Rector can’t do it all. Woe betide the Rector who thinks he CAN do it all. But by encouraging words, by rolling up sleeves, by a positive attitude, and with a face that carries an expression of determined encouragement, a leader can encourage people to fulfil their roles … THEIR roles and THEIR callings with happiness and satisfaction, rather than out of a feeling of teeth-grinding duty. Jesus encouraged his disciples to go out and do their mission, two by two. And they fulfilled their calling to be his witnesses and carers of the infant churches.
In the ordination service for priests in our Prayer Book, the bishop gives them this instruction:- “You are to encourage and build up the body of Christ …”(APBA Ordination of Priests page 793). And in the service where a new Rector is commissioned, the Bishop says to the new Rector, “you are to encourage each one in their vocation and ministry.”
It’s not just the job of the Rector. It’s the job of each of us. To encourage one another, to build each other up, to believe what’s possible. We say on the cover of our pew sheet that St Andrews is an inclusive community, encompassing a wide range of abilities, talents and gifts – each one fulfilling their calling. The ministry of encouragement is vital for a parish’s health.
The prayer for a new incumbent and for the Patronage Committee is a ministry that we all have in the process of finding someone to come to St Andrews to be our Rector. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of”, wrote Alfred Lord Tennison. And he is correct. As we pray, as the Patronage Committee works, and as the Lord calls, so we shall receive and give thanks for the next Rector of St Andrew’s Walkerville.(1617)