Fr Brian’s Last Instalment

Freshly ordained as a Deacon in Chichester Cathedral in June 1982, I arrived in my curacy parish, St Leonard, Seaford, East Sussex, to be put in my place by my training incumbent ‘Remember that clergy come and go, but the people remain’. Well, forgive me if I have outstayed my welcome in the parish of St Luke and Christ Church, Chelsea, but 19 years later I am finally going- into retirement! And, thank God, the people remain.

The word in the New Testament which gives us the English term laity, in fact doesn’t mean laity as we use it- no, it means everyone. The ‘laos’ are the whole people of God, whether living and ministering as priest or as bankers, cleaners, nurses, shop staff, whether young or old, whatever our social or educational background whatever our ethnicity or political persuasion. Together we are the people of God, those who have seen and tasted of truth, hope and justice in this Jesus of Nazareth and have, however unsatisfactorily, responded to the sense of relationship with God, drawing us into an ever deeper engagement with God’s world, God’s people and ultimately with that God who is at the heart of all things.

So, in many ways, retirement from being Rector of this parish won’t change me at all. I’ll still be attempting to be a follower of Jesus Christ, still adhering, insufficiently, to that vision of love which we find in Christ’s willingness to be spent entirely for God’s unconquerable love, which even death on a cross cannot quench. On the other hand, life will be very different indeed. I’ll have to learn, after 43 years, what it feels like to sit in the pew, to be a volunteer in a parish’s life, to be a regular recipient of word and sacrament rather than a conduit through which these gifts are channelled.

But it also means leaving a house and home of 19 years and this, I think, is even more difficult for a clergy spouse and family. We’ve been so lucky to make our home among you at 64A Flood Street. We have met and got to know each other in church, in school, in social life, at the Café Portico and through your commitment to Christian Aid and Glass Door. Moving on for Ramani will bring its very particular losses. So please remember her too. Through the kindness of Lord Cadogan, we shall not be moving far, but church etiquette asks us to move out of the parish itself in order to make room for my successor.

The tangible things are hard enough, so it makes the intangible things even more important to cherish and foster. Friendship, commitment, engagement, faith, belonging are at the heart of the Christian journey. It is through these, in worship and service that all people of faith truly find their home in God. So Ramani and I thank you for all the kindnesses, the friendship, the laughter and the shared experiences we have had in Chelsea, conscious also of the darker times and the difficult days. But we take huge joy in the insight of the prophet Micah (6:8), when he asks

‘What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?’.

We’ve tried our best to do that with you all here in St Luke and Christ Church, Chelsea. So, thank you for your walking with us over 19 years and even though our steps will diverge onto different paths after 31st May, we know that we are, together, the ‘laos’, the people of God, committing ourselves every day to his love.

Fr Brian Leathard