A message from our Rector, Revd. Danny Marshall
Last Wednesday, at our midweek communion service, the Gospel reading was Luke 9:1–6: Jesus sending out the disciples with authority to do the two things he had been doing all along, proclaim the kingdom and heal. These are the same twelve who, a few chapters later, are still arguing about who is the greatest; who fall asleep in the garden; who scatter when things get difficult. This is not a commissioning of people who, on the surface, seem ready. Jesus gives them authority before they are.
For those who follow the liturgical calendar, it was also Ember Day. One of the quarterly occasions set aside to pray for the Church, for Christian ministry, ordained and lay, and for vocations.
That naturally sent me back over my own vocational journey and the people who nurtured and encouraged me towards it. I was seventeen when I first sensed that I was called to ordained ministry. I was in church in Lancaster, listening to the then vicar, Peter Guinness. I cannot remember what he said, but something that day simply imprinted itself on me. Five years later, others encouraged me to explore that calling, but something did not feel right, not because the calling was absent, but because the timing was wrong. It was almost another ten years before a pesky curate at our home church in Nottingham edged up to me during our post-PCC pint (the PPCCP) and asked, quite bluntly, "Should you not be considering ordination?" And there it was again: the thing I had buried, bubbling back up. I did not want to leave my career, the money, the comfort, any of it. But God's call reached me in a particular way.
And that same pattern extends beyond ordained ministry. God calls each of us before we feel fully ready, inviting us into his work and mission through recognised lay vocations and through the many other ways we serve.
Looking around our church, we see people serving in more areas than we could list without fear of missing someone out. It's a blessing to have a big staff team, but much of what we do would not be possible without those who respond to that call in the life of this church.
Two of those people deserve a mention this week. We have welcomed Ben Jones, our new verger, and I have no doubt that you will make him feel at home. Earlier this month, Pat Mercer handed over the last of the areas he had been managing for the parish. For years, he has cared for our finances and managed the unseen operational matters, including payroll. Significantly, he also oversaw all the finances for the Reawakening Project, a substantial responsibility that required him to respond to real financial challenges throughout. We are deeply grateful for his service and for the legacy he leaves behind.
Which brings me back to those twelve, still arguing, still falling asleep, still scattering when it mattered. Calling isn't a reward for having your act together. It's given to ordinary, unfinished, occasionally clueless people. Which is, frankly, a relief because I promise you I did not have my act together at seventeen, and I'm not sure I do now.
There remain many areas in the life of our church where we need more support. Some people are carrying loads that need easing; others are entering a season of laying things down. My prayer is that each of us will discern where God may be leading us to serve, in whatever form that takes. If you sense something stirring, however small or uncertain, I'd love to talk it through with you, not as a commitment, but as an invitation to discern together. Buy me a pint and I promise it won't always turn into a recruitment drive, though, given how that worked out for me once before, I make no guarantees. The needs here are real, and with the right hands these areas won't merely be sustained; they will flourish.
And if discerning a call to serve isn't where you are right now, there is still one thing every single one of us can do: pray. Pray for those who serve. Pray for those discerning. Pray that this church, in all its ordinary, unfinished people, keeps saying yes to God’s invitation.
Revd Danny Marshall
Rector, St Mary Magdalene with St Leonard, Newark