In June we completed our Sunday Bible Study on Ephesians. In Ephesians, St Paul, calls the congregation "the saints". If Paul were writing to us today, he would almost certainly begin 'Dear Saints' rather than 'Dear brothers and sisters in Christ'. What does it mean - to be saints? In the New Testament, the words for 'saint' and 'holy' are linked. Saints are people set apart for God's service, and given grace by God to be able to serve as God wishes. 'Holy' means set apart and dedicated to the service of God. Both words describe us as Christians. God sees us, not as the failed beings that we are without Christ, but as saints and as holy, because that is what he has called us to be and therefore what we are 'in Christ'. Because we still live in this world, and are still 'of this world', our behaviour is usually more worldly than it is saintly. So, saints and holy also describes what we are called to become 'in Christ', even though it may take some time before we get there.
If Jesus is the 'Good Shepherd' (N.B. 'pastor' is just another word for shepherd), then we must be the sheep. If we are his sheep (rather than simply sheepish!) then we must also be 'saintly sheep'. The odd thing though about Christian (= saintly) sheep, is that the sheep are supposed to turn into shepherds. "And he gave.some to be shepherds and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, for building the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God; a complete person, measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ. [Ephesians 4:11-13] If we are all to measure up to the fullness of Christ, then we will all start to be shepherds like him.
So our church is made up of sheep and shepherds. But that does not mean two groups: a smaller number of shepherds, who look after a larger number of sheep. It does mean that all of us, clergy or laity, are sheep with just one shepherd: Jesus. It also means that all the saintly sheep are apprentice shepherds. Some of the apprentice shepherds are complete novices, some have been apprentices for some time, and, of course, some of the sheep have yet to realise that they are supposed to become shepherds.
As I write, The Summer Event is already over and Sam's ordination service in St Ursula's is very close, and by the time you read this, that also will be behind us. Sam will then have passed one of his apprenticeship stages. That does not mean the rest of us can then relax because now Sam can do much more. Rather it means that now Sam will be encouraging us all to think about how our own apprenticeship as shepherds is going.
There were plenty of 'saintly' helpers for The Summer Event in the end, and an enjoyable 'fun raising day' was had by all concerned (and it was quite successful as a fund raising day as well). Many thanks to Sue Higson and all her helpers, all of whom had 'welcome badges', thanks to a special machine. However, there were times when people with badges seemed to be in the majority. To put it another way, there were more shepherds than sheep on the day. Perhaps, next year we should try something simpler, involving fewer shepherds, or more sheep!
One of our saintly assistant shepherds, Karen See, is leaving us. She is following her husband to Vienna, where he has started a new job. Karen, who worships with the English-speaking congregation at Bruder Klaus Kirche, was a volunteer worker in our office for over a year, before starting her work with Sharon as Administrative Assistant. Please pray, for Karen as she and Stefan start a new life together in Austria; for capable volunteers to assist Sharon in the next month or two; and for an eventual successor to Karen. [N.B. Wendy also needs volunteers to help print the magazine.]
Richard Pamplin
P.S. (1) To accommodate all the visitors expected for Sam's ordination, the church interior has been rearranged. As mentioned previously, this is a temporary arrangement, in the sense that everything could be returned to its old position. However, if we find that some of the changes are beneficial for ordinary use, we could decide to make them permanent. Please let me know what you think.
P.S. (2) The 'history corner' did not materialise in time for the Summer Event, despite a valiant effort by Hans Pfyffer, who supplied a selection of photographs and some old magazines. However, with our 100th Anniversary coming up in 2006, there is time to build on what we have ready for that occasion. If you have any mementoes of St Ursula's (or Thun or Neuchâtel), or if you could record a recollection of a significant event ('The Fire', John Le Carré, anything!) please let me know.
P.S. (3) We are still looking for more musicians (who should be saintly too) for our Sunday worship, especially for some organists,or even just one organist. Please pray harder!