Autumn Pastoral Letter

Dear Friends,

As I write this, it has been two years since Michelle Ireland and I worked together as we held the fort while John Hellyer went off on sabbatical. How quickly those two years have gone by, and here we are at the start of a whole new connexional year having wished John well as he begins a new chapter in his life. We too are about to enter a season of change where Michelle and I are set to work together again for the coming connexional year as co-superintendents of the circuit.

Change can be challenging and even unsettling to be sure and it would be surprising if we weren't a little inclined to cling to what was because, in the face of change, the past often seems to be a much safer place. Certainly from my perspective right now, as we begin the handover, challenged and unsettled seem highly appropriate terms to me.

In truth of course, although it's a bit of a cliché, change is the only thing we can be certain of. Love it or hate it, embrace it or resist it, we each respond in our own way. And depending on the change that's unfolding there may be a good case for either response. The problem comes when the embracing or resisting is self generated that is self with a small 's', or 'ego' generated we might say. In other words when our response is simply a matter of personal preference. I would imagine everyone reading this could point to times when personal preference regarding change in worship style, times of services, pews and their removal thereof, to name but a few instances, have created much tension and conflict which is a great sadness in a community which is based on the call to love above all else.

So is there a better way of approaching change? Pastor Shannon Scott says;

"We need God's guidance whether we are at a certain crossroad, making life changing, path altering decisions, or as we go through the day."

And this to me seems to be the key. We must learn to discern the difference between personal preference and God's guidance.

To do this we have to avoid the tendency to shoot from the hip when our personal preferences seem to be under threat and instead learn to listen, to be still for a while, to contemplate the matter together quietly and intentionally seeking God's guidance. For when it is genuinely sought there will be a response, albeit as a still small voice that is certainly never heard above the din of our ego's fighting their corner.

I pray that as we venture into this new chapter of circuit life we will continue to intentionally seek the still small voice that guides us in the right paths – 'listening with the ear of the heart' as St Benedict calls it – and that we will let go of our personal need to win. Such an approach to change is transforming in every way and is the one most likely to lead us to possibilities that our narrow human perspective could never even dream of.

So we look forward to this new chapter, to the joys and the challenges that lie ahead for the Circuit as we respond as a corporate presence, with love, hope and compassion in this ever changing world.

Every blessing,
Jayne
Rev'd Jayne Webb