Mary Magdalene Patronal Short address
One year a man made the rather disastrous mistake of forgetting his wife’s birthday – When she challenged him about it, he reacted quickly and said, ‘how do you expect me to remember your birthday when you never look a day older…’
Today we celebrate the Patronal Festival of this Church, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. It is, in effect, the birthday of the Church, and a birthday seems a good time to reflect upon what the Church means to us, and this evening I want to think briefly of 3 things which are an important feature of any Church.
The first is that we are to be the Body of Christ on earth. We are to be Jesus in our communities and in the world today. We are to try to be like him in all that we think, all that we do and all that we say. As the Church this means trying to mirror the actions of Christ in a way that is visible to everyone.
And this need to be as Christ must be something that overrides any other concerns we as a Church must ever have – So often we get distracted by things which seem important at the time, but when we reflect on them in the overall scheme of things, they can look pretty trivial…
One measure of the Church today is to look at how we are perceived by those outside – to be seen as the Body of Christ surely means to be seen as welcoming, loving, inviting, and courageous in our proclamation of the gospel message.
The second quality of the Church is that we are a family. The danger with many Churches is that people come and go to services and to different events and so on, but miss out on the fact that we are a family… one of the most important things the Church does is care – to provide a place where people can come and know that there are people who love them…
As members of the Church we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and that means that we are to be people who are involved in each other’s lives – like most families there will be imperfections and people who we find it more difficult to get on with than others, but as a family we will be there for each other, we will be there to share in joys and in sadness…
And the final quality of the Church that I want to think about is that it is a place for growth… it is a place where we are helped to become the people God wants us to be… In all kinds of different ways we grow as members of the Church – as individuals we consider our relationship with God. Through prayer, through our knowledge of the Bible and through fellowship, we seek to get closer to him…
As a family, united in fellowship and love, we grow closer to each other… And as part of the Church we grow and find more confidence to use the gifts and the talents that God gives us, for his glory, and to help build his kingdom…
This Church has been part of the community in this area for over 750 years – we can never completely know what changes have taken place in that time… we can follow the history, we can study the people and the characteristics of the community as it has changed over the years, but even then we will not find all the life stories of people who have worshipped here… people whose lives have been shaped perhaps by being part of the Body of Christ on earth, of being part of the family of the Church, here and throughout the world, and people who have grown to be more like the people God wanted them to be, before they were perfected in his glorious and eternal kingdom…
Today as a Church may we be ready to recognise the signs of God all around us, and respond to those signs so that we may be used for his glory, and so that his Church may reflect that glory for centuries to come… AMEN
Today we celebrate the Patronal Festival of this Church, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. It is, in effect, the birthday of the Church, and a birthday seems a good time to reflect upon what the Church means to us, and this evening I want to think briefly of 3 things which are an important feature of any Church.
The first is that we are to be the Body of Christ on earth. We are to be Jesus in our communities and in the world today. We are to try to be like him in all that we think, all that we do and all that we say. As the Church this means trying to mirror the actions of Christ in a way that is visible to everyone.
And this need to be as Christ must be something that overrides any other concerns we as a Church must ever have – So often we get distracted by things which seem important at the time, but when we reflect on them in the overall scheme of things, they can look pretty trivial…
One measure of the Church today is to look at how we are perceived by those outside – to be seen as the Body of Christ surely means to be seen as welcoming, loving, inviting, and courageous in our proclamation of the gospel message.
The second quality of the Church is that we are a family. The danger with many Churches is that people come and go to services and to different events and so on, but miss out on the fact that we are a family… one of the most important things the Church does is care – to provide a place where people can come and know that there are people who love them…
As members of the Church we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and that means that we are to be people who are involved in each other’s lives – like most families there will be imperfections and people who we find it more difficult to get on with than others, but as a family we will be there for each other, we will be there to share in joys and in sadness…
And the final quality of the Church that I want to think about is that it is a place for growth… it is a place where we are helped to become the people God wants us to be… In all kinds of different ways we grow as members of the Church – as individuals we consider our relationship with God. Through prayer, through our knowledge of the Bible and through fellowship, we seek to get closer to him…
As a family, united in fellowship and love, we grow closer to each other… And as part of the Church we grow and find more confidence to use the gifts and the talents that God gives us, for his glory, and to help build his kingdom…
This Church has been part of the community in this area for over 750 years – we can never completely know what changes have taken place in that time… we can follow the history, we can study the people and the characteristics of the community as it has changed over the years, but even then we will not find all the life stories of people who have worshipped here… people whose lives have been shaped perhaps by being part of the Body of Christ on earth, of being part of the family of the Church, here and throughout the world, and people who have grown to be more like the people God wanted them to be, before they were perfected in his glorious and eternal kingdom…
Today as a Church may we be ready to recognise the signs of God all around us, and respond to those signs so that we may be used for his glory, and so that his Church may reflect that glory for centuries to come… AMEN
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