Thoughts for September

from Revd Canon  Dr Bill Merrington

 

 

Woody Allen said that marriage was like a shark. It has to keep moving forward or else it will die. He also said, ‘I think I have a dead shark on my hands’. In fact, Woody Allen had several dead sharks in his time. But he makes an interesting point, relationships have to keep changing, or else they will die.

 

It's just like our human bodies. There is not a cell in your body that was with you ten years ago. You are not who you were and when your cells stop changing and evolving, it will mean only one thing, you have died.

 

This applies not only to human bodies and relationships but also the church. The church needs to constantly develop or it too will die. Sometimes we can forget why the church exists. The church is to worship God, to become Christlike, to share the good news of Jesus' love and forgiveness, to be an example to the community and to reach out to the young, old and needy.

 

St Paul talked about being renewed in God's spirit and being transformed into his image. All of this is about moving forward and recognising where we need to change. It's strange that people often don't like change; I guess it is because we like to be secure with familiar things around us. Hence we like the church to be as it always was. For good or ill, today's church is nothing like what it was 50,100, 300 or 500 years ago. So let’s not cling to the old, let us push on to what’s ahead, keeping our eyes on what the church is meant to be.

 

We are about to welcome a new Vicar who will inevitably bring his own leadership and style. We need to support him as we move forward as we worship, reach out and care for those in need. At the same time making sure we don't have any dead sharks on our hands.

 

Canon Dr Bill Merrington

(Chaplain of BU & AUCB)