Celebration of New Ministry – 4th Nov. 2023
Family, friends, and members of the many churches at which he preaches came to celebrate New Ministry at Potters Bar URC and Christ Church Hatfield URC with the appointment of Revd. David Aplin as our Interim Minister. And as David said, the Moderator of Thames North Synod, Revd. George Watt, was there to keep us all in order, just in case we were naughty.
Pitched as a Celebration not a Service, it was indeed a balanced combination of both, with the history of both churches recalled by John Cobley (Hatfield) and Tony Corfe (Potters Bar), some light comedy provided by Jean Morse, a reading by Anne Walton, and 4 Anthems from our choir, boosted for the occasion by friends from King Charles the Martyr, with Simon Worley playing the organ for the day.
David has been with us since 2000 as worship leader, church member, then Elder, now Interim Minister, and his calling – reflected on during the Service – has been made manifest in the many Services he’s led for us.
It was the first time most of us had heard the Moderator preach – thankfully, he said, with a brief to talk for 5 minutes, not the half hour asked for by another church.
He’d chosen the reading from Isaiah 6, appropriate for the occasion. He felt there were three messages for us from the reading:
First of all, it was an amazing picture of worship (it reminded him a bit of Harry Potter with all the flying creatures), conjuring up a wonderful image of worship in the temple. He wondered what happens in our churches on a Sunday.
David’s calling is to lift people up in their worship of the living God. He might not be able to secure all the flying creatures but can still instil in people that sense of coming into God’s presence and worshipping him.
Then to the congregation. Worship leaders do a lot of preparing for the Service, but what do we do? Do we just saunter in and expect to be led and fed, or do we come having prayed and being expectant of what might happen in the time of worship. George encourages us to prepare for worship – and then there’s that sense of being in God’s very presence.
To David, some churches have a message in the pulpit, “We would see Jesus”, encouraging the preacher to preach in such a way that we’d see something of Jesus in him. George would broaden that to include God (the creator), and the Holy Spirit (the enabler). So David’s calling is that when he preaches, we’d see in him something of God and his love.
But then the congregation has the responsibility to have ears, eyes and hearts open to receive what God has to offer. It’s a two-way thing.
The third message is “who shall I send?” Calling is an important part of Christian discipleship and David has often spoken of his calling. He was to hold on to that sense of calling, as that is what God has spoken to him to do and be. And it’s a challenge that God extends to all of us, because we are all ministers – not just those with the ‘ring of confidence’ (the dog collar).
Isaiah had his excuses, and there are aways excuses we can make not to answer God’s call. George prays that just as David has heard God’s call for his Interim Ministry, each one of us will hear God’s call on our lives , that we might be messengers of Good News, that we might be faithful in our discipleship.
George brought us greetings from our Synods, wishing David and our two congregations God’s blessing as we journey onwards together.
George is coming to preach at Potters Bar on 10th December and he’d like to preach at Hatfield as well. He suggested they judge his performance before they decide.
All we can say is we are very much looking forward to the 10th!
David described himself as a bit of a maverick – certainly unconventional – so the conga he led around the church to the hymn “we are marching in the light of God” provided a novel move towards closing the Celebration – as well as a test of his stamina!
Our director of Music, Stephen Jones, played a Prelude by Bach on the piano. Two organists was one too many he said! We closed with an organ recital by Simon Worley (also Bach) whilst the ladies did final preparations for the buffet.
With the buffet ready we rounded off the day with good food, cake cutting, and a final toast, “To David and to a bright future for our two churches”.
There were thanks to the ladies who had prepared the buffet, and thse who had made all the cakes, to all who had contributed to the Celebratory Service – and of course all those from the other churches who had come to celebrate with David and make the afternoon a success.
Potters Bar United Reformed Church 