AD CLERUM - March 2003

My Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The book, "Letters from the Heart," is a collection of letters written by John Main to the Friends of their Benedictine Priory in Montreal, Canada. Though the letters are chatty and newsy, they are filled with gems of spiritual wisdom, and it is a few of these that I want to focus on this month.

We have just met in Synod where we unanimously committed ourselves to a "Year of Implementation of the Vision". This, as I said in my Charge, involves a shift of perspective for all of us; from listening to God to doing what God requires of us, from talking about God's purposes to acting upon it. It requires of us a willingness not simply to hear, but also to obey.

And so this year is a year of action, a year of planning and putting into effect those plans. And it is into our plans that John Main speaks: -

"I spoke to two groups at their Mother House . . . In the course of these talks I suggested how careful we had to be of working for a merely religious renewal at the level of structure and image. There would be no effective renewal in the church despite all the energy expended on courses, meeting, and reorganization if there was not a radical renewal in spirit."

We believe that our vision is of God, and have committed ourselves to make that vision real in our lives to the glory God. But for that to happen there must be a radical renewal of our lives. "Religious renewal, says John Main, "comes down to a renewal in prayer."

In another letter, written some years later, he tell of a meeting with Bede Griffiths who spent much of his life as a missionary in India. John comments: -

"To the vast majority of Indians, he told us, the Church in India is seen as a wonderful worker in the social field, but it has not been to the Church that they go to be led into the life of the spirit. The thousands of young Westerners who travel to the East go seeking a living experience of the mystery of God they could not find in the Church in the West. . . . It is clear that these young people do not reject God. Why have they then rejected the Christian religious structures of the West?

Perhaps the reason is that we in the West have become too religious rather than truly spiritual. What so many today are seeking is a humble yet authoritative witness to the absolute. Our call . . . is always a call to the experience of God in Christ. This experience has to be personal if it is to be real."

The message in both letters is the same. It is not religious renewal we need, but spiritual transformation. Our vision must not be reduced to innovative programmes, but must be about each person meeting and experiencing God in Christ in a way that changes their lives. To meet with Christ is to be changed; one cannot come into the presence of the living God and not be changed. Each time we truly encounter God, both in personal prayer and public worship, we are drawn into Kingdom life. In each encounter we are filled with a longing to do something for God, filled with love for others, and filled with a desire to grow deeper in our relationship with God and others. In short, each time we truly meet with God our vision is realized. And it is our task, as leaders, to bring our people to that place where such encounters are possible.

In worship we come into the presence of God and are changed. If our people leave Church on Sunday unchanged, they have not worshipped for we cannot come into God's presence and remain unchanged. And so, the question I leave with you as we begin our year of implementation is this, "Are our people being changed week by week? Are our Sunday services truly a life-changing meeting with God? And how do we equip our people through our teaching and our worship to continue in Christ's presence throughout the following week?

May God bless you as you journey together through Lent.

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