Community of St Chad – 4th March 2017
Come, follow Christ in the footsteps of St Chad
The host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.
‘How embarrassing’ - can’t you hear everybody saying around that table in 1st century Palestine?
‘How embarrassing’ –don’t we feel ourselves saying that, or others saying that about us, when we think of some of the things that have happened in our lives – you know what I mean, but I don’t want to spoil your morning by dredging up memories.
‘How embarrassing’ – can’t you hear people saying that around the hearths of 7th century England about the story of Chad ‘ - or maybe they are saying ‘oferscamlic’ (maybe not).
Consider this – Chad, out of obedience, allowed himself to be consecrated bishop of York, by dodgy Welsh bishops among others but then the forceful Wilfred arrives, with a proper de luxe consecration direct from Gaul, and all the latest French ecclesiastica (there is a shop in Rome called Eurocleric which doubtless he would have patronised). Wilfred complains to the Archbishop of Canterbury- the Archbishop of Canterbury ! That really is oferscamlic.
But Chad, Bede tells us, was not troubled by this – with gracious humility, he withdraws back to his monastery at Lastingham and takes the lower place - and then the parable repeats itself with Chad in a different role. He is bidden, ‘Friend, come up higher’: he is appointed Bishop of the Mercian people; he comes here to Lichfield, hooray! He baptises the pagan Mercians at the well outside this church, the holy place which we will visit soon.
What do we learn from all this, from Jesus’ parable and Chad’s life and our experience? We learn that nothing can stand in the way of God’s call in our lives, not even that most paralysing of threats for English people: the fear of embarrassment, of saying the wrong thing, of looking silly. This is such a barrier in our society, and a barrier built right within our consciousness. But in Chad, we see a clarity of response to God’s call that cuts through every barrier. This is why we say ‘Come, follow Christ in the footsteps of St Chad’ – disregarding every discouragement, every whisper of oferscamlic, ‘how embarrassing’, every fear of ridicule, failure or shame, we answer Christ’s call into our lives. We can only achieve that clarity if, like Chad, our lives are grounded in prayer, because prayer keeps us close to Jesus so we can hear what God is saying to us.
‘Come, follow Christ in the footsteps of St Chad’ – that is an invitation to which, I hope, the Diocese of Lichfield will be responding in a new direction of travel. We can only respond with clarity and purpose if as a diocese all we do is bathed in prayer; I look to this Community of St Chad to be a deep well of prayer, not only for yourselves, but for churches, priests and people across this diocese as we travel on this journey together. Please, please pray for me, for my brother bishops, for all our people and communities as we travel together, following Christ in the footsteps of St Chad.
What does that journey involve? It involves everything, really, but three things stand out for me, and I hope they do for you and for all in this diocese: discipleship, vocation, evangelism.
First for Chad, and always first for us, is discipleship. Before anything else, we are called to follow Jesus. There is much talk in the Church of England today about leadership, and that has its place – but all Christian leadership is nothing if it is not grounded in Christian followership. Being a disciple means following, and that involves travelling – we are summoned to move, to engage on a journey as Chad did, walking the length and breadth of Mercia, and crossing boundaries as he did. Our society is deeply divided, and our call as disciples is to move beyond our comfort zones, building companionships of kindness and care as we do. Nor is this limited to our own part of England –we welcome here people from all over the world, and we also share in journeying with Christians around the world. Next summer (2018), I hope that we can renew our commitment to partnership with Christians in SE Asia, and as we do that focus on the theme of intentional discipleship; and I look to this community to play a major part in that.
Then discipleship finds particular expression in vocation – the recognition by each of us of a call from God to commit ourselves to some particular ministry in Christ’s church. Unlike the summons to discipleship, which is clear, unambiguous and the same for all, vocations are very different for different people, and it can take years to discern what exactly each is called to. Some are called to ordained ministry, some to a range of lay ministries. Chad’s primary vocation was to the monastic life, and after that to be a bishop. You are called, among other things, to participation in this Community of St Chad. Whatever the fruits of our discernment, my hope is that we can experience vocational renewal across our diocese, so that in all our glorious diversity we become a royal priesthood ministering to the Mercian people of our day as Chad did to his.
And from discipleship also flows evangelism – a word which puts off many people in our society and scares many Christians. But it shouldn’t – never mind the word, it’s just about telling the wonderful story of God’s love in Jesus, his care for each of us and all of us, and the promise of His Kingdom. We tell that to everybody as we travel on our pilgrimage, just as Chad did. We tell them the story of God’s love and we invite them to join us on the journey. May Chad’s prayers support this community as you follow Christ in his footsteps and may your prayers support all our diocese.
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