91st Anniversary Communion Service Sunday 13th July – led by Revd David Aplin
A rather hot and sticky morning for an Anniversary Service, but we had the Aeolian Singers in the choir and the Wainwrights (John & Sue) in the audience to share it with us.
David’s theme was going to be about looking forward, so he lit the second candle for a faithful band of disciples journeying a century plus – and by that I think he meant us, church members and friends past, present, and future. And speaking for those of the present – “we are here and we ain’t going anywhere”.
The teaching from Colossians was that this church wasn’t just valued because it was a collection of people. It was valued as somewhere where each of us could come to our Lord; valued because it was part of our personal discipleship, our faith. It was through faith that we followed Jesus Christ to the Father’s house.
Before the first Anthem, David told us that he could remember coming to our church whilst he was still with his own church and sitting and marvelling at the choir. He was sure he was going to do so again today!
David’s Sermon drew on the Colossians reading but also on a conversation with a fellow dog-walker, Stephenie – a lapsed-catholic lady beekeeper with whom he had shared some of his spiritual experiences (a lot to take in during a dog walk, but he hoped it was the Spirit calling Stephanie back to God!)
Stephanie had been worried about the state of the world and all the awful things which occurred in it. She had wondered how God could allow what was happening in Gaza and in Ukraine. And David had explained that God does not choose to control the world, and particularly the actions of men and women as he didn’t want obedient drones (so a non-interventionist God).
The were appalling atrocities, but he sensed a tendency by people to ration their caring to people like themselves. He felt we should care for the whole world and suffering people within it.
We tended to judge the state of Christianity by our own experiences, and our memories might suggest a church in decline. Would our church run out of money or people first? Would another religious group take over our lovely building, or would it be razed to the ground to build flats and care homes thus adding the proceeds of the sale to the huge pot of money held by the URC Thames North Trust? That was not how it ought to be, and our challenge was both to hang on for as long as possible but also to look for new opportunities to cover running costs. And he cited the case of Wheathampstead Church (and Jane Deller) who had leased space to a commercial/community organisation (a gym) to save their church from closure and had now seen a modest but encouraging increase in worshippers. Phoenix really could rise from ashes!
And that what was what happened with churches. They regenerated. And maybe they didn’t always regenerate in the same place or in the same way. It took freshness.
So we shouldn’t be concerned about church decline and better days in the past. Each of us had been rescued by Christ from the darkness. We were personally assured of redemption and forgiveness of our sins. The power of our Church did not come from us it came from God – but we were important to God. The Spirit worked within our church and the message was not just, ”Don’t give up in the face of declining numbers”. It was to be stubborn, determined, and regardless of adversity. To believe that God was with us and that we could win out.
Potters Bar United Reformed Church 