When I first started college, a number of us were taken aside by one of the staff and told about one of our fellow students. She was, it seems, terrified of stairs. Since the college’s one lift was prone to be out of order, this was a problem. Those of us let in on the issue were advised that if we should happen across her near the stair well, we should engage her in conversation. Doing so would enable her to move gently up or down the stairs. If we placed her between us and the walls she could overcome her fear for the time taken to get to the floor she needed. Now I describe myself as a pretty poor conversationalist. Indeed perhaps conversation is to me my terrifying staircase, and I often feel sorry for the poor stranger sat next to me at a dinner party. Yet given a purpose, such as helping a fellow creature get through a difficulty of their own, I seem to be able to cope. Perhaps purpose is what I need to have walk between me and the chasm of chit-chat. At any rate, how wonderful it seems to me that our weaknesses may be enablers for others. That surely should help us to recognize the many ways we may go forth to love and serve the Lord in the name of Christ, Amen.
Pulpit abuse can come all too readily, and so here is the sermon I'd like to give but am unlikely ever to have the right or opportunity, since for some people it would be just too close to home. "Reverend Pringle was rector of the small rural benefice of Little Snoring, and he had but two parishes in his cure. These were St Martin the Little, and its neighbour St Edmund the King. "Now despite their names, there was on the face of things hardly anything to distinguish between these two churches. Both had the same small number of church members, and both the same attendance levels. Both had (just about) working PCCs who struggled but always managed to pay their parish share in full and on time. Indeed it is scarcely worth mentioning the only difference on paper, which was that worship at St Martin the Little was predominantly, though not exclusively, Book of Common Prayer in traditional language. At St Edmund the King's, however, they had decided years ago to use modern language Common Worship services of the Word. "One day, Reverend Pringle's rural idyll was smashed by the ringing of his telephone. It was Bishop Pugh of Soddemall, who got straight to the point. 'Pringle, you've known for years that two church buildings and all their services are just not sustainable. You've got until the end of the week to make your choice, and then we're going to implement it'. "Pringle was horrified. As I've said, on paper there was little to choose between the two parishes. He took himself off to his study, where perhaps some prayerful Bible reflection might help. "Pringle's mind then fell upon the story of Solomon's decision in the case of two women both of whom claimed a baby as their own. That seemingly macabre but very intelligent suggestion of Solomon, that the baby be sliced in half, was boon to the false mother who would gladly have half a baby than none at all, but aweful to the true mother who realized that half a baby could never be nurtured and grow and hopefully bear fruit of its own womb. "Then Reverend Pringle reflected on a curious thing. Whenever he had a team service at St Martin's, it was well attended by members of both churches. Yet whenever the team service was held at St Edmund's, the members of St Martin's church were noticeable by their absence: until that is they darkened Pringle's door to suggest, huffily, that they were sure they could have found someone to lead a service at their own church if they'd been allowed. "And so it was that the Reverend Pringle, Rector of Little Snoring, knew that one of his two churches was a clear and rightful mother with every wish to see the Kingdom of God nurtured and grow and bear fruit. He picked up the phone, ready to give his decision to Bishop Pugh. "Now allegory is a fragile thing. If you believe that my little story is a barbed attack on this church, you have one easy means of discrediting it. All you need to do is imagine yourself in the story, with Reverend Pringle asking you when it was that you last attended a team service. Think carefully on what your answer means to the verity of this sorrowful tale".
