A Celebration of Ecumenical Ministry
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral 13th September 2007

Surrounded by so many friends and colleagues, this has the feel of preaching at my own funeral!

 
And in a way it is – it is a moment of letting go:
of letting go of the role, but not of the vision;
of letting go of the office, but not of the dream;
of letting go of 40 years of travelling as one of Mr Wesley’s preachers, but not letting go of the calling to be faithful in proclaiming the good news of salvation.

 
In Methodist terms I “sit down” – but as the prophet Micah put it, to “sit down under my own vine and under my own fig tree” and in peace to contemplate the word and work of God.

 
Methodist sermons traditionally have 3 points and are based on a scriptural text. This sermon has 5 points and is based on a picture. There’s ecumenism for you!

 
This is the last time I shall wear the Ecumenical Officer’s stole. There are 3 pictures on it. I suspect that I am the only Methodist minister to have regularly worn a stole with logos of two Cathedrals on – neither of them Methodist, of course. I have worn the stole with a sense of joy over its design and purpose, and with a sense of heaviness over the demands it lays upon the wearer. It carries the sense of being, like Hope Street, one who can be a pathway between the strands of Christian heritage or a bridge between our different traditions. An Ecumenical Officer quickly discovers that streets are to be trampled on and bridges to be walked over.

 
But it is the third picture which I want us to reflect upon most of all – the ecumenical logo. For those who cannot see it very clearly, here’s one I made earlier:

 
What do you see there?

1 The first thing some people see is a boat adrift on the open sea – the Marie Celeste, perhaps. No sign of life, no activity, no sense of purpose. And, say some, that’s a good image for ecumenism today! It’s true that, outwardly, some of the steam has gone out of the ecumenical movement and that the ecumaniacs are not so vocal as once they were. But we have moved beyond making a fuss about ecumenical partnership – it is taken increasingly for granted, especially at local level, that we are partners in discipleship. Perhaps Marie Celeste is the right ecumenical image for us – heavenly Mary. A couple of years ago the statement Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ was published by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. I have a sneaking suspicion that this could turn out to be a significant document in ecumenical relations – I think it scratches where not only Anglicans, but many free churches, are beginning to itch – the understanding that Mary, the mother of our Lord, can help us to focus more clearly upon her son. And if anything comes of it, wouldn’t it be marvellous for any of us when we get to the gate of heaven and are asked by the Lord why we think we should be allowed in, if we come up with the clinching argument: “But Jesus, I’m a friend of your mother.” Marie Celeste!

2 Some people will look at this logo and say: How do expect this ship to get anywhere? – it’s got no power – it’s lost its sails – no wonder it’s becalmed. Certainly the, at times frantic, ecumenical activity of the third quarter of the last century has diminished. The burgeoning of Local Ecumenical Partnerships and Churches Together groups has given way to a less frenetic kind of partnership working. But that doesn’t mean that it’s all over – perhaps it means that we’ve come to the end of the honeymoon period. Perhaps the passion has given way to quiet contemplation and the joy of working quietly to build up the relationship. For you notice that, although there are no sails, the mast is the Cross – and that is the motive power; that is the driving force of ecumenical partnership. At Golgotha, after the hammering of the nails, there was a stillness as the disciples, and a group of women, and the gawpers from the town, contemplated the mystery of the Lord opening up the new world. If the ecumenical ship ever ceases to have the Cross as its driving force, it will simply go round in ever-decreasing circles until it is lost without trace.

3 But then some will look at this logo and point to the choppy seas and say: Yes – now the ecumenical movement is going through turbulent times - it’s rough weather out there. And for sure, some of us have felt a bit sea-sick at times over these last years. It’s not all been plain sailing! No wonder that many of the denominations, not only in this country but in many parts of the world, appear to have gone back to their home ports to explore their roots. After all, journeying through the gales in the ecumenical ocean can be a titanic struggle – and we all know what happened to the Titanic! Yes, choppy waters there are, storms there will be, gales come upon us. But they are there to be faced up to, not hidden from. I recall a very powerful word from Graham Cook, the previous URC Moderator, who pointed out that the scriptures remind us that our calling is not to build a bridge over troubled waters, but to have enough faith to walk on the waters – we shall only sink if our faith fails.

4 Others will look at this logo and will simply see a ship on a journey – it’s at sea so it must be going somewhere. But where? There is no land in sight. But this is a positive angle on our ecumenical journey. We know where we start from – but we don’t know where we shall end up. The ecumenical journey is an exploration in faith. This Archdiocese, as it looks to shape the church to meet the challenges of the next decade, has taken its cue from St Paul’s final journey and engaged in a project called “Leaving Safe Harbours”. Any journey of faith is a risky journey, but unless you’re prepared to make yourself, your church, your denomination, vulnerable you’ll not discover the joy of the grace which comes from above, opening up new worlds beyond our imagining. Perhaps the patron saint of the ecumenical movement should be Abraham, who “left his own country without knowing where he was going” (Heb 11.8) because God had made him a promise. He left the security of the past for the uncertainty of the future because he had faith in God and obeyed his call.

5 But then there will be those who look at this logo and point to the shell which forms the frame. For the scallop shell is the symbol of the pilgrim. Our ecumenical partnership is not merely a voyage – more importantly it is a pilgrimage. And the purpose of a pilgrimage is not merely to reach a destination and to engage in various acts of devotion there. The value of a pilgrimage lies as much in the nature of the journey itself as in the destination. Pilgrims walk and talk together. Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims told each other stories, all, in differing ways, illuminating the human condition. Our ecumenical pilgrimage changes us as we journey – in walking and talking together, we learn more about each other, our traditions, our hopes and fears, we learn more about ourselves, we learn more about our God. Not everyone’s ecumenical pilgrim journey will be the same. Some will be centred on mission and action; others will focus on prayer and spirituality; yet others will be shaped by a theological exploration. But if we have not been changed on the journey, then it has not been a true pilgrimage. If opening ourselves up to one another has not enlarged our vision and enriched our faith and enhanced our hope, then it has not been a genuine ecumenical journey. Pilgrimages are not to be undertaken lightly, for they are journeys when God is working miracles of grace.

For me it has been a great privilege to have exercised ministry as Ecumenical Officer for the Churches of the Merseyside Region. I thank God for anything good that has come from it; and I ask forgiveness for those areas wherein I have fallen short. I have been changed – I have grown, if not in wisdom, at least in understanding – and I end with words which I often quote, from Cardinal John Henry Newman: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

 
And now I lay down this stole, ready to be handed on to another, who will have the privilege of pursuing the ecumenical vision – the vision of the whole church proclaiming the whole gospel to the whole world.  

Pilgrim prayer
 

Lord God, we thank you for calling us into the company
of those who trust in Christ and seek to obey his will.
May your Spirit guide and strengthen us
in mission and service in your world;
for we are strangers no longer
but pilgrims together on the way to your Kingdom.
Amen.