A small commissioning within the Great Commission

Tomorrow, Sunday 20th July 2014, I'll be making promises in the context of morning worship at Upper Norwood Methodist Church. It's the tradition that Methodist Mission Partners are commissioned for service in the wider World Church, and this is the form of words.

World Church

Representative: 

We joyfully present this servant of God, to be commissioned for service in the World Church.

Leader:                 God's mission is one throughout the world and we thank God that you have responded to God's call to work in the Church overseas. You go to serve the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit. As you live, work and worship with fellow Christians may you grow in mutual respect and love, so strengthening each other. We are one with you in this act of dedication. We will pray for you. Pray for us also.

    Will you share fully in the life of the Pacific Theological College to which you go, and accept       its discipline?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

Leader:                 In the power of the Holy Spirit will you seek in your daily living to demonstrate the love of Christ and proclaim the Good News of God's Kingdom?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

Leader:                 Will you try to stay open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that you may be enabled to take your part in the mission of the Church, according to the opportunities available to you?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

Leader:                 Will you maintain your links with the home Church, receiving its support and sharing your experience with it?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

(The Congregation stands)

Leader:                 Members in Christ, will you support by your prayers, understanding and love this person now being commissioned, together with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the World Church?

All:                         With God's help we will.

(Candidate kneels, the Congregation remain standing)

Leader:                 In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we commission you to serve and to witness in your life and work overseas.

All:                         Amen.

Leader:                 Almighty God, we thank you that you strengthen your Church for mission in all the world; bless this your servant whom you have called to serve in the worldwide Church. Give her insight and adaptability, courage and good judgement. Make her ready to learn as well as to teach, to receive as well as to give, to the Glory of your Name.

All:                         Amen.

Presentation of a Bible.

When we're ordained for ministry, we go public. There's no hiding who we are and what we're about - or there certainly shouldn't be - and so it's right and proper for me to be called to account once more, in a service of public worship, and make solemn commitments before God and God's people about the next stage in ministry. It will be both my duty and delight to do this. My hope though, is that the spotlight which falls on me for a brief moment, extends its rays over everyone in the congregation - indeed over everyone who's ever committed themselves to a life of Christian faith and service. We're all commissioned within the Great Commission. Gifts, graces and geographical locations may differ, but these commitments and promises can surely speak to all our lives. I trust so.

'The Knowledge' about Fiji comes by various routes...

Thanks to everyone who asked me if I'd seen A Cabbie Abroad on BBC 2. It's the series where London cabbie Mason McQueen has a go at taxi driving in different cities of the world, and this week it was the turn of Fiji's capital, Suva. For a programme which is essentially popular entertainment (nothing wrong with that) combined with documentary, it was a useful watch and didn't avoid the big issues. Conversations in and out of the cab ranged around local government, community life, housing, the daily takings of a Suva cabbie (not enough for survival it would appear), and featured insights from iTaukei (indigenous Fijians) and Indo-Fijians. With a media analyst's 'hat' on I'd like to question some of the editing choices - what we were shown and spun and what we were steered away from, but that's so often the case with 'global' documentaries. There were one or two squirm making moments in terms of language and stereotyping but Mason McQueen came across as chirpy, upbeat, thoughtful and appreciative, especially of his host and taxi-driver guide Dhamendra Kumar and family with whom he stayed. Suva, according to the stats wheeled out, has around 5000 taxi cabs - 4 times more per head than in London. Dhamendra rents his cab at 60 Fijian Dollars per day (£20) and needs to spend 80-90FD daily on fuel. So, about £50 to cover costs before any hope of a profit. 17 hour shifts, 7am-1am are not unusual and it's a constant battle to pay the rent. Here's what McQueen says to camera at the end of day one as a Suva cabbie. 

What a day! I'm absolutely shattered. They're crazy shifts, crazy long hours. They can destroy people, them sort of hours, you know, but he just gets on with it. He didn't want to come home tonight - he wanted to carry on working and I'm shattered. He's such an honest, gentle guy, really - his whole family are. They're lovely. Argh (yawning)  - time for some sleep...'

Rejoicing with them that rejoice

Not all focus is on Fiji. It's important to be in the present moment too. Spurgeon's College graduations take place in Croydon Minster and it was great to go along and bathe in others' reflected glory last Saturday. Remi, pictured on the left with Rosemary - wedding shortly to follow graduation - is now a Bachelor of Divinity from the University of Wales, as is Basharat. Both are enthusiastic evangelists and during this year I've much enjoyed meeting with them and my Colombian neighbour Edy for prayer on Tuesday afternoons for an hour or so. 

During those prayer times, God's guidance was often sought around the group as we all faced the 'Where next?' question in mission and ministry. Vocational seeking has led, for me, to the South Pacific as destination. Others still watch, wait and discern and we've promised to keep praying for each other beyond the College walls.

Lydia, best god-daughter ever, has finished her first year reading law at Oriel College, Oxford. While on an intern-ship in London, we met up on the South Bank, watched a bit of Wimbledon on big screen in the Scoop, swopped stories, mused on life, and enjoyed a balmy, lazy Summer evening strolling by the Thames. Lovely. And the tropical humidity (well almost), excellent practice for things to come...