VICAR'S LETTER
17
Sundon Road
Streatley
February 2007
Dear
All
This Year's Parish Retreat went back to basics. It focused on Jesus of Nazareth. In particular, it focused on his attempt to inaugurate a step-change in human attitudes and behaviour, lifting people out of selfishness and up to selflessness. It used for this purpose an imaginary work - The Testament of Christ.
The Testament of Christ appears to have been written by Jesus himself in the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension. The Resurrection had left the disciples highly confused. They had thought he was the Messiah sent to liberate Israel. The crucifixion had put an end to that idea. But now God had raised him from the dead. They no longer knew what to make of it. The Testament was written to resolve that confusion. In it, Jesus offers a simple and systematic account of his ministry and its purpose.
The addresses at the Retreat consisted of readings from this Testament. We heard of the influences that prompted Jesus to his mission and that gave him its basic content. We heard of the debates he held with himself as he tried to work out how to put his mission into practice. We watched as he began his ministry. We watched as he ran into an obstacle that threatened to destroy that ministry. We watched the steps he had to take to overcome that obstacle. We saw something of where he was trying to lead us. We listened as he prepared his disciples for their work.
The addresses told the story of Jesus' mission. The reflections and prayers that Followed then tried to build a bridge between his journey and our own; between his efforts to inaugurate a step-change in the world and our individual efforts to make that game step-change in our own lives. We remembered the people and events that first aspired us with the ideal of making such a change. We reflected on the nature of our own vocation. We gave thanks for the joy to be found in serving others. We acknowledged the obstacle that stands in our own path and the steps that have to be taken to surmount it. We looked ahead at what it would mean to reach our goal.
The addresses and the reflections will be printed in Proclamation over the coming months so that those who could not be there can at least share in the portable part of the Retreat experience. (Editor's note: click the links below to read them now.) Hopefully they will prove of some assistance as, through the coming Spring we follow in Church the journey of Jesus childhood, through ministry, to the cross, the Resurrection, and the Ascension.
All best wishes,
Roger