Dear Friends
Living our Mission
A few nights ago I was invited to dinner with a family who
have joined the Parish recently. It was a wonderful evening in which I was
immersed in the challenges of their working lives as they shared stories of
their experiences in tertiary education and the criminal justice system. The
essence of much of our conversation revolved around the challenges of living
good lives in the workspace, questioning nonsensical decisions, calling others
to lives of excellence. We also touched on the exhaustion that comes from doing
a job well, and the increasing expectations that this generates.
This family has recently felt the need to realign their
lives with the Church, but their lives have not lacked Faith, and the goodness
of God has been operating in them and through them. This realignment reflects a
choice to become more conscious of God’s presence and call, and a decision to
actively seek God’s strength and help in living their already value-centred
lives.
As I reflect on our dinner together, enhanced by other
friends – also Parishioners – I am struck by the importance of our mission at
Corpus Christi: to be role models and responsible risk-takers for Christ where
we live, work and worship. Our mission reflects the Benedictine call to find
balance, to ensure that our lives are not over-burdened in any direction, that
there is space for prayer, study, work, recreation and relaxation. We need – I need
– to stop on occasion and reflect that if we are role models for Christ, what
are we modelling? I will never forget the comment of one of our younger Parishioners
who worked on a Sunday in the bookshop of a local mega-church: she was
consistently amazed at how members of that community would come directly from
worship into the bookshop and treat her and other staff with irritation and
impatience. I often wonder how the cashiers at Woolworths in Serene Street experience
Anglicans on a Sunday after our services of worship? I must admit to being a
little nervous to ask …
We live in a consumerist culture where work is often the
dominating feature of our lives. How does one begin to find life-balance when
traffic and work consume so much of our time? And work always demands that
extra bit of flesh from our lives? I am aware that for many at Corpus Christi
Monday to Friday is dominated by work and traffic, and there is little
meaningful time available for family interaction and community involvement. Weekends
are dominated by those things previous generations fitted into their week,
which smaller, more rural communities still do. I am hugely appreciative of many
who commit to Sunday mornings being Church-focused, willing to spend time in
worship and fellowship with fellow participators in the family of God. I am
understanding, too, of those whose hobbies and sport draw them away on a
regular basis. Interestingly, in a recent study in the USA, regular Church
attendance is defined as being present in worship on a monthly basis; a
generation ago it was weekly.
Living our mission cannot be something we do separate from
the rest of our lives. It needs to be an intrinsic part of the fullness of
life, where we live, work and worship: traffic, work, home, family, friendship,
gym, church and community. The family I had dinner with may not be aware that
they are living out our mission, but as I listened and interacted I heard much
about God’s presence in their lives, and while work was a dominating feature of
the conversation and the “spiritual” discussion took place as I climbed into my
car to leave, I am in no doubt that they model their Faith in what they do, and
I am thankful that God’s Spirit is drawing them into a greater consciousness of
his place in their lives.
Blessings
Mark
