Sermon #53 (19th September 2021 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)
Earlier in the year, following the retirement of our minister, we decided to start a new venture – a Pastoral Network – in hope of being a bit more intentional about sharing out the responsibility for pastoral care in the congregation, during this time of transition, and hopefully for the long-term too. This isn’t something we’ve done before, and though we did our homework, and sought advice, being eager to learn about how this sort of thing works in other churches, it also got us reflecting on our own prior experiences of giving and receiving support – that is, the seven of us who are currently involved in running the Pastoral Network: me, Jeannene, Chloë, Sonya, Pat, Marianne, and Michaela – over the summer we got into an important conversation together about the relationship between ‘the helper’ and ‘the helped’ and how, in the end, we are all a bit of both. Some days we’re more aware of our struggles and needs, and we’re the one crying for help, other days we’re more aware of our strengths and gifts, and we’re in a position to respond to others’ cries. Perhaps most days we might find ourselves a mixture, somewhere in the middle.
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