June 2008 In My View

Dear Friends,
We have now entered that long season of the Church Year which is called Ordinary time. The colours of the church hangings and the clergy stoles have turned to green and we are now into the season called Pentecost. There are many ways of thinking about this season. Some see it as "ordinary", others see the green vestments as a sign of growth in faith and in the church, and others talk about this season as the season of the Spirit where we live our lives in the Spirit given at Pentecost.

All these themes are, in fact, woven together for we live our Christian lives in ordinary time - in the ebb and flow of each day where we encounter God and God's world and seek to find that place where the Holy Spirit embraces us and so transforms the ordinary, making every day "extra - ordinary"! There is also a very contemporary way of thinking about this season as we find ourselves surrounded with talk of "Going Green". There is a new ecological consciousness that is dominating politics and finding expression in the personal lives of many people in many places. It is the deepening awareness that we live in an interconnected world and how we live, affects everything. The language of "carbon footprint" has entered our everyday life, and individuals and congregations are examining how our lives, our choices and our buildings have an impact on others and on the planet. Members of our diocese have been giving leadership to congregations and indeed to the church in the province about how our places of worship might become "greener" and I am grateful for their dedication and work.

This is not simply a trend. It is indeed a spiritual matter connected to that place where our faith, our lives, our choices, our values, and our understanding of God and the world all interface. It is also about how we understand the role of the Church and our lives as Christians within the Church. More than 25 years ago the Mission and Evangelism Commission of the Anglican Communion identified the Five Marks of Mission for our Church and they have formed the basis for much of our work as we have engaged in a renewed understanding of mission. Those Five Marks are:

1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
2. To teach, baptize and nurture new believers
3. To respond to human need with loving service
4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

In my view "Going Green" is neither simply a change of colour in the sanctuary, nor a current social trend. It is deeply rooted in our life of faith, in God's work in the world, and a necessary part of our ordinary Christian lives as we live faithfully day-by-day.

May you each have a wonderful and green summer and may God bless you in these ordinary days, which with God's presence are indeed made extraordinary!

Faithfully, +John