The angel of St Andrew's: May 2008
5 May 2009 - 6:29pm — Sarah Hall
Three years ago this month you and I began our partnership at St Andrew's. I don't know what you think of what's happened since then (and I'd love it if you told me, whether or not your views are complimentary!), but for me the time has flown by: getting to know you; becoming known in the local area; starting to find out something of what God's doing here and how we can join in.
Three years down the line, we're not quite the same as we were three years ago - and I don't just mean by that the material differences: new chairs in the sanctuary, a new church boiler and a new toilet for people with disabilities! The most important changes in St Andrew's have, as ever, been in our church community, as we've said farewell to some longstanding members of our congregation, and as new people and groups have joined us, adding their own skills and stories to our number.
That reminds me of a theologian called Walter Wink, who asked himself what we could understand in our modern world by the angels and demons, the powers and principalities that we read about in the Bible. He reckoned that we could see them in psychological terms as group personalities. Just as every person has their own unique personality, so do groups: every class in a school, every company, even every nation. The personality of any group will depend on the individuals that make it up: quiet and self-effacing; lazy; boisterous; meticulous - you can make up your own list, thinking of the groups you know! And Walter Wink reckoned that every church, too, has its own angel. When I went to a seminar he ran on angels and demons, he asked some people to describe the angel of their church. One answer was ‘an infant-school teacher who won't let her class grow up' - I'm sure you can imagine what it might feel like to be in a church like that! I wonder what you think the angel of St Andrew's is like. Might he be a sober-suited engineer, capable of measuring by eye to a thousandth of an inch and making plans accordingly? Could she be a veteran of ladies' charity luncheons, holding a teapot and a plate of shortbread while shaking hands with a newcomer?
Of course, every time a group alters, its angel changes too: sometimes obviously, sometimes almost imperceptibly. So as people come and go in the life of St Andrew's, our angel will not be quite the same as before. But exactly how it will change - how we will change - depends on each of you, as well as on me as your leader. The more we get to know and appreciate one another, the more our angel will be open-hearted, welcoming others to join us in worshipping and serving God in this place. If, however, we try to stick to who and what we already know, our angel may appear unfriendly and rigid, and others may turn away from us instead.
Every time and every place gives us the opportunity to work with or against God, but these next few years in particular will be crucial for the ongoing life of St Andrew's. So as we value all that is good about what we do now, and plan ahead for new initiatives to come, I would value your prayers for our church: may our angel, our personality as a group, truly become a messenger of God's love in Broomhall.
Three years down the line, we're not quite the same as we were three years ago - and I don't just mean by that the material differences: new chairs in the sanctuary, a new church boiler and a new toilet for people with disabilities! The most important changes in St Andrew's have, as ever, been in our church community, as we've said farewell to some longstanding members of our congregation, and as new people and groups have joined us, adding their own skills and stories to our number.
That reminds me of a theologian called Walter Wink, who asked himself what we could understand in our modern world by the angels and demons, the powers and principalities that we read about in the Bible. He reckoned that we could see them in psychological terms as group personalities. Just as every person has their own unique personality, so do groups: every class in a school, every company, even every nation. The personality of any group will depend on the individuals that make it up: quiet and self-effacing; lazy; boisterous; meticulous - you can make up your own list, thinking of the groups you know! And Walter Wink reckoned that every church, too, has its own angel. When I went to a seminar he ran on angels and demons, he asked some people to describe the angel of their church. One answer was ‘an infant-school teacher who won't let her class grow up' - I'm sure you can imagine what it might feel like to be in a church like that! I wonder what you think the angel of St Andrew's is like. Might he be a sober-suited engineer, capable of measuring by eye to a thousandth of an inch and making plans accordingly? Could she be a veteran of ladies' charity luncheons, holding a teapot and a plate of shortbread while shaking hands with a newcomer?
Of course, every time a group alters, its angel changes too: sometimes obviously, sometimes almost imperceptibly. So as people come and go in the life of St Andrew's, our angel will not be quite the same as before. But exactly how it will change - how we will change - depends on each of you, as well as on me as your leader. The more we get to know and appreciate one another, the more our angel will be open-hearted, welcoming others to join us in worshipping and serving God in this place. If, however, we try to stick to who and what we already know, our angel may appear unfriendly and rigid, and others may turn away from us instead.
Every time and every place gives us the opportunity to work with or against God, but these next few years in particular will be crucial for the ongoing life of St Andrew's. So as we value all that is good about what we do now, and plan ahead for new initiatives to come, I would value your prayers for our church: may our angel, our personality as a group, truly become a messenger of God's love in Broomhall.
