Together on the Journey: A Weekly Blog from Fr. Andrew Sheldon

It is said that change is an event, while transition is a process. Things are about to change at St George’s on-the-Hill and it will look very much like an event. On September 1st, Jessica Dowling will become the new, and latest, Incumbent of this Parish Church. Just like that. And on the 7th, she will preside over her first Sunday Celebration and we will have a welcoming event. Things will have changed.

And the transition will begin. Now transitions occur throughout life and not just at pre-ordained stages. These include relocation, change in marital status, births and deaths of loved ones, change in employment status, going to or leaving school. Any number of events can be a catalyst for transition. The coming of a new Incumbent is just such a transition. And it is a transition both for the congregation and for the new person. It is important to remember this.

So, some things to keep in mind.

Transitions are a time of disorientation, and there is a tendency to look back. Last year, we celebrated 180 years of St George’s presence in this community. And it is perfectly reasonable to look back with gratitude and a measure of pride at all this community of faith has accomplished over these years.

But transitions are also a time of reorientation, and a time to look forward. Indeed, it’s important to realise that the only reason we can look back is because 181 years ago a group of people were looking forward. And the only reason those who will celebrate our 200th will look back is because we looked forward. And that is never so true as right now as we forge a new identity with a new Incumbent. As such, this is a time to resist the temptation to only look back.

It is also the time to resist the temptation to only look in; to only imagine what this new beginning means to us insiders. Because our forbears at St Georges not only looked forward, they also looked out; out at a community, and in each generation assessed the needs of that community and found ways to meet them. Assessed the way things were changing around them and found ways to meet that change.

That is our mandate – to look ahead and to look out. It is not for insiders who ensure the life of the community is centred on their needs, their tastes, and their benefit. Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple noted that ‘the church is the one institution that exists solely for the benefit of those who are not members’. We are to be there for the stranger and the seeker and not merely to be a chaplain for a particular way of doing church, seeing our building as a clubhouse for people whose hobby is Anglicanism.

Our relevance as a Christian church will rest on the extent to which our community understands us as a people who strive to meet the needs of those around us. This transition is an opportunity to recommit to this mission, and to imagine new and improved ways of being faithful partners of God’s mission to this world.

To the extent we understand and embrace this opportunity, to the extent we are open to all who make their way here, to the extent we nurture this place as a place of prayer and healing, to the extent we strive to make this place a place that could imagine containing God, to that extent and that extent only can we also imagine a new chapter in our life together, under our new leader and guide; to that extent and that extent only can we imagine another 181 years.

Andrew+