Not-so-new-minister Lou has been with us for a year now. She’s asked: ‘What sort of church we should be?’ and ‘What should my part be in it?’
Some of my earliest memories are in church – the Sunday morning ‘Breaking of Bread’ service, attending Sunday School… I’ve attended church all my life, I haven’t ‘wandered from the faith’. I’ve been involved in church leadership, held traditional Christian beliefs, done Christian activities, sought to live by Christian principles.
Sixteen years ago I retired from teaching. To re-examine this faith I’d lived with all my life I signed up for a Bible College course and spent four years studying. I pulled my faith apart and reassembled it. Faith was less comfortable, involved more questions, but became deeper and more authentic.
In the last ten years there have been tough times. Church life’s been difficult, family members have died, friends have suffered with family traumas and personal grief. My reassembled faith has been challenged…
Joanna Jepson was brought up in a strict, loving Christian home. Questioning her faith and understanding of ‘church’ she says: ‘I wanted to be part of something that says Yes to all the bruised, broken, flawed bits of our humanity and clothes those vulnerabilities in love, not rejection and judgment.’
Having trained for Christian ministry, Joanna describes serving in her first church: ‘It was a community of people prepared to be open to their failings and fallibility as much as a place where hope was offered to those who were struggling… I sat with people who were bereaved, guilty, abused, flailing, trying, desiring or depressed…
I warm to Joanna’s vision and experience… remembering Jesus’ words: ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…’
For many years I’ve identified with the healthy doctor, seeking to enable the sick to become healthy. Today I identify more with the sick, coming with others who are sick and suffering to the one who can provide presence and healing. Answering Lou’s questions? That’s the start.
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