I don’t know if you had chance to watch the BBC series ‘Broken’ on television? Written by Jimmy McGovern, it tells the story of a Catholic priest who battles his own personal demons as he ministers within a parish that is battling low unemployment and is poverty-ridden. What makes McGovern’s work unique is the grace and gentleness in which he treats the central character, played by Sean Bean. Rather than taking the lazy option of presenting Roman Catholicism as an ancient and crumbling historic tradition, or as a hotbed from which nothing but sexual abuse arises, McGovern presents us with a priest who has been abused in the past, tries to be loyal to his sense of call, but experiences post-traumatic stress. This intensifies whenever he stands in front of the congregation and recites Jesus’ words over the bread and the wine. As he stands in this most holy of places his mind is interrupted by flashbacks, and he battles to finish the liturgy. As the story unfolds, McGovern sensitively demonstrates how the priest’s ministry is filled with extraordinary pastoral demand and no-win situations. The priest is wracked with guilt; for the time when he did not answer the phone because he was too tired, giving way to a string of events where a young man was shot by the police; when he could do little to prevent a suicide; when, despite his best efforts to address the homophobic abuse suffered by a neighbour, he faced the wrath of a gay man who was deeply critical of the Church and everything it stood for. Ultimately, the priest believes that he is unfit to hold office and is ready to resign, until the point that he leads his own mother’s funeral. However, in the closing episode, knowing that the priest is struggling, members of the Church address his insecurities by responding, ‘Amen, you wonderful priest’, as he distributes the bread at the Eucharist. It is a poignant, tear-jerking scene which marks what is truly holy – one’s devotion to discipleship – whilst accepting that life often presents us with no-win situations in which we do our best.
This speaks volumes to me, but what might this mean to our churches? The wonderful thing about McGovern’s writing is that we can all be just like the priest, trying to do the best in sometimes very difficult circumstances. And what releases us from our struggles is the ability of others who are around us to recognise that we are struggling, and who then offer simple words of encouragement that shake us to the core and wake us from our doldrums. Who have you done that to recently? Is there anyone who you feel needs to be encouraged? If so, do it. At our time when Circuits and churches have been called upon by Conference to encourage acts of personal evangelism, we would do well to remember that this can begin with the simplest words of encouragement that lead people to feel recognised, acknowledged and valued. Remember how Jesus said that people would know that we are His disciples by the way that we love one another.
Another aspect of McGovern’s writing is how he builds so much around the simplicity of certain actions that are repeated at times of confession or prayer; ‘We light a candle to remind us that Jesus is present amidst our suffering.’ Our faith is not a complex affair, it is simple, but at the same time, it is profound. It is the simple things that can sustain us when we are challenged. What are the simple things that you do, which remind you of the presence of God? God does not so much expect us to read great theological tomes, or to pray though the night for a week, or to castigate ourselves for our failings. He simply invites us to remember that he is present, and to not lose faith when everything around us appears uncertain.
As I reflect on how we have journeyed as a circuit I am encouraged by how we have both discerned the Lord’s will for us, and refused to panic when challenges have surfaced. I see this when I think about how we have recruited new paid staff, or become anxious about the need for us to fill offices. The age-old lesson from experience would seem to be that to have faith in God is to also have faith in God’s timing. Our task is to hold on to the basics of our faith, and the vision that God has given us, rather than lose our bottle because we cannot see a way ahead ourselves, or we grow tired of waiting. Christ is always there, present among us. And whilst I acknowledge there is some logic in not continually knocking on doors until our knuckles bleed, the gospel still urges us to knock, and keep on knocking, until God says ‘no’ or points us in a slightly different direction. ‘Right route, wrong door’ one might say. I suspect that many a Christian initiative throughout history has collapsed because believers have lost sight of the basics – they have yearned for a level of certainty about what the future will hold so they end up living by circumstance rather than by faith, or have simply bottled it.
Praise God for all he is doing among us!