Rectors Review by fr. Azariah France-Williams Year Book 2022

We have experienced a lot of change and transition over the last year.  We are still emerging from the pandemic, the impact of Brexit is ongoing, and now a brutal war in Ukraine brings pain, as we see so many who are needlessly suffering and perishing. It is a world where there is more shouting than listening, more bitterness than gentleness.   A world where discrimination of a variety of forms takes place at the institutional level, and can be expressed though the individuals who serve those organisations.  

In my view sin is the issue. When you hear the word sin, where does your mind travel? For starters let us use a quote by the white American pastor Rick Warren, he said: 

“the heart of the issue is the issue of the heart, And that’s why I’m a pastor, not a politician. Because I think only – only God can change hearts. And only God can take the evil out. I don’t think you can legislate the evil out of people.”

It is a view, but in my view, he statement is incomplete.  An African-American pastor from a couple decades before him said:

“It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless.”

That quote was from MLK Jr.  We need both. Both a rescue of souls in parallel with a reformation  of society.  And not just souls, but souls housed in skeletons, with sinews, wrapped in skin. Or perhaps our souls hold our bodies? Embodied bodies, whole souls, be they black or brown, female, queer, divergent, or non-conforming. People live in contexts. Some have bank balances which are healthy, for others their resources are shrinking. Maybe some are in communities where that group of people in that place is experiencing grief. So much of God’s world is in need of transformation, harm reduction, and health promotion. 

That is why we are developing this model of gathered life for service and solidarity. Sanctuary on Sunday is one of the congregations here at Ascension Church Hulme. Sanctuary on Thursday is another.  They are the most familiar of the congregations but not the only ways we choose to meet and be. There is the Lugandan Fellowship which has been taking place on a monthly for the last seven years, this is also familiar to some. Then there are the designated groups like the parochial church council. This gathering holds a legal responsibility to safeguard the vulnerable, underwrite the values, and work towards a vision of a flourishing parish. They are trustees and although not personally liable,  they nevertheless hold a brief with me for equipping Ascension Church Hulme to preserve and express the best of our Christian heritage, steward our resources, create positive life-giving cultures for staff and volunteers, relate well to and with the Diocese and local clergy and parishes. 

Then we have a Fire and Gold a weekly gathering this was inspired by the idea of Nazareth Community which emerged from St Martin in the Fields. There are our monthly points of focus be they Parable, true life storytelling, or Exiles with music, poetry, and faith.  These are the beginnings of opportunities for us to be shaped by those who come to engage with us and us with them. 

Let’s look at the Gospel Reading for this fourth Sunday of Easter which is when our APCM is happening. 

John 10.22-30

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.’

Remember when it says ‘the Jews’ it means the religious leaders, the authorities. The leaders are asking if he is the Messiah he should make it plain… like some politicians who say: ‘let me be clear’ it is a trap if Jesus claims the title, the version of Messiah they have is revolutionary warrior. These interrogators maybe complicit with empire so Jesus is a problem as he disturbs the status quo. If they are asking sincerely and are looking for a champion of the downtrodden, this is also a problem because once the floodgates are opened and the dispossessed, and distressed arrive, it will lead to carnage as they find themselves fodder to an unwinnable war. 

People often ask me what kind of church we are.  Are we champions of the downtrodden, the maligned and the marginalised? Sounds good, and worthy even. However this pathway leads to saviourism, where we seek to live other peoples lives for them, and we become burnt out in the attempt. Or are we well behaved Anglicans? By this I mean aligning with the powerful, focussing on management and money. More of a focus on having a profit, than being prophets. More supporting the bottom line, and less supporting those who line the bottom. 

Jesus response is take a look at what I am doing, judge the lives changed, not the labels rearranged. He is not all about the branding, he is about the belonging, of all. I would like this church to be one, not where we are championing the downtrodden, the maligned and the marginalised. Because in effect we would be saying we are the strong ones the able ones and they are the weak ones, the wounded ones who needed our help. But rather we are saying they are the champions. It may not look or feel like it for some of us but we are all made in God’s image. We can all transmit God’s love and life into our worlds regardless of our sense of ability or agency. They, you, me, we are the survivors engaging in the struggle for liberation on all fronts, sometimes simply by waking up each day flooded with worry and fear, but getting up and doing with we can with what we have. 

Employment norms, education criteria, excludes so many from its ranks because they do not fit in.  Those society reinforces as the  privileged and the strong have to realise we do not know best for others and own our powerlessness has to be embraced. Can those defined as strong empty ourselves and together, acknowledge our shared wounding, our collective weakness, and collective strength in Christ with our siblings who come from different worlds to the ones, which fashioned us?

So we move to remove the barriers which hide the  greatness and capacity of those in our communities. The passage ends with Jesus saying he is one with the father. He is under pressure, but he is in relationship, and that’s what matters. How can we be one with one another? I want us to be a church where there is no Us and Them. It is just us. Justice, Peace, Kindness, and Redemption being hallmarks of our posture in the world. This is in part made possible by the funding provided by the Church of England though the Church Commissioners, the Diocese of Manchester with the support offered by the  HeartEdge movement. For this we are grateful, and look with anticipation as to how God might enable us to provide and support the mission and ministry which is growing here, through the coming years. Amen