Oscar, Bishop of Newala, and Mama Agnes Mnung'a at St Michael & All Angels, Bramhall, 13 iii 2011

HEARTS AND MINDS in Bramhall have travelled far afield today. Japan has been plainly in our sights. There’s something numbing about our outsiders’ view of her terrible – and still terrifying – plight. Bishop Nick Baines articulates the reflections of countless witnesses in these past few days:

Massive catastrophes such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan not only remind the world of (a) the fragility of life, (b) the commonality of human lives and (c) the contingency of all life, but also render as insignificant luxuries many of the preoccupations that drive our energies. (They might also provide an attentiveness smokescreen behind which the unscrupulous will increase their violence while the world and its media are distracted – think ‘Gaddafi‘.)

via Nick Baines’s Blog.

Hearts here have also been with the Bishop, priests and people of the newly created Diocese of Newala in Southern Tanzania with whom our parish established a link on the occasion of its own Centenary Year in 2010. Bishop Oscar’s welcome homily this morning sharpened up our thoughts about significant and insignificant luxuries good and properly. He’s currently living and working 2 hours away from his wife’s home as the bishop’s house is yet to to be completed. It’s especially good, therefore, that we’ve been able to welcome them both to Bramhall for this visit. And to reflect a bit on what Bishop Oscar believes the Church’s resources, the Church’s “arrows” are for:

In Psalm 127 the Psalmist reminds us that the Power of God is available to us for whatever good we want to achieve. He opens the Psalm, though, with a caution – “Unless”. God must be in our plans and in all our efforts used when we are doing anything.

It is not my intention to tell you about the place of God in our lives; but the Psalmist touched my mind with his words in verse 4 of this psalm:

“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior … “

The psalmist draws a picture of a warrior in a battlefield. He is armed with a bow and arrows. The Psalmist speaks of arrows in the hands of a warrior, not of those which are in the quiver.

Arrows which are in the quiver are useless! They have to be in the hand of a warrior, so that they can be used. Arrows which are in the quiver can get rust and lose their sharpness! Arrows – to be weapons – must be taken out of the quiver.

The Church today is blessed with resources which can boost the ministry and spread the Word of God. The Church has personnel and materials which can be used. But unfortunately most of them are still in a quiver, getting rusty and blunt.

Arrows cannot move on their own from a quiver and jump into the hand of a warrior. An effort has to be made. I picture the Church being both, the warrior and the arrows. I picture the faithful ones to be the arrows, I picture the dynamic churches to be warriors. It is a question of coordination. If a person assists the warrior to take his arrows out of a quiver, this warrior will be armed, equipped to stand in a battlefield.

Look at yourself as an arrow. Where do you stand? Are you in a quiver or in the hands? What do you do to help the warrior to have arrows out of the quiver?

It is my hope that, through this friendship between your church and our diocese we can recognise the gifts which we have and do all it takes to make sure that we put them into good use for the Glory of God.

We are those little arrows, in a quiver. Please help us to move and go into the hands, ready to be used. Amin.

Unimagined resources on a colossal scale are going to be required in Japan in the coming years. And a brand new Diocese with extremely limited financial resources is going to need some arrows too. And building the Church in Bramhall still needs steady aim. Where are the arrows? And how can we set them free – wherever in the world, and whatever kind of “arrow” is locally required – to do the job they’re meant to do. What drives our energies?