Our reading from Isaiah is used at the ordination services.

“One of the seraphs flew to me holding a burning coal taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out”. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us”. And I said, “Here am I, Send me.”

The drama of that reading never fails to send a shiver down my spine. The hem of the robe of the Lord – the hem of the robe – fills the Temple. There are seraphs with six wings, two covering their feet, two covering faces and with two flying around the Temple, crying “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God the almighty.” The smoke; the noise; the personal contrition:

Woe is me; for I am a personal of unclean lips and I live in a people of unclean lips.

The intervention of the coal from the altar taking away my guilt, taking away my sin, and the response:

Hear am I, Send me.

But send me where? For what purpose? Into what circumstance? This reading is chosen for ordination services because priests are called to be set amongst communities. It used to be said that priests were to be set aside. But no more. Now we understand our calling to be one of being set amongst a particular community at a particular point at that community’s life, for a purpose and a reason. But what is that purpose and reason? What is the role of a priest within a church congregation? Why am I here? Or, to use clever ontological words: Why am I?

That’s the question I want to explore for a few moments. Here is a brief history lesson (when I have finished you will realise just how brief!). Let’s go back 1500 years to the Reformation: priests were paid to say Mass. That is what we were for. It enabled you to buy your way to heaven: to ensure you had a place at the heavenly banquet. And, if you were really worried about your eternal destination, you could ensure that Mass would be said for the repose of your soul even after your death by giving me a nice juicy legacy.

Moving on to Victorian England (I said it would be brief): priesthood then was the profession of the second son of the landed gentry. In effect they were the squire of their estate. Indeed, sometimes it was more than ‘in effect’, it was more like ‘in fact’. It wasn’t uncommon for priests in those days to hardly ever be in their parish. They would employ curates to have day-to-day responsibility for running the parish. They would have the cure of souls – a phrase we still use today.

That’s the end of the history lesson. And the point of this is: that the nature of priesthood has changed, from the Reformation, to Victorian England. Now we are in the 21st Century. What is it that the Church of England needs from its priests in the 21st Century? That’s the question. Not: what do you want of your priest now; but what does the church need of its priests in the 21st Century.

It would be grand to be able to meet every aspiration that every person has of their priest. You want a mass priest, call me. You want a preacher, call me. You want a teacher, call me. You want a reconciler, call me, You want a forgiver of sins, call me. You want an evangelist, call me. You want a liturgist, call me. You want an administrator, call me. You want an odd job man, call me. You want God’s healing touch, call me. You need a pastor, call me. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could meet all these hopes.

Possibly, though even here I suspect we are looking at this through rose tinted specs, if we go back fifty years or so, maybe that understanding of priesthood was achievable: that priests might have been able to do all those things that the congregation and the community they were serving wanted. But I doubt it.

Sorry to say, “the times they are a-changing”. We here at St Nicolas are running against the tide. Whilst our numbers are increasing, generally numbers are declining. Whilst our giving us up, generally that is not the way that churches are going. Whilst we still have one priest for one church, generally it is not like that any more. On the whole the Church of England has less money in fewer congregations,

Also there is, what is loosely known as, a baby boom of priests. Somewhere in the next fifteen years, about 20% of paid clergy will retire. There are fewer younger women and men offering themselves for priesthood. Priesthood is now seen as (or felt as a calling as) a second career after early retirement, Whilst this is wonderful as those people bring a full understanding of the ‘real world’ which is a great gift to the church, I am afraid to say they are expensive! It costs as much to train someone who will offer ten years of ministry to the church as it does to train someone who can offer thirty years of ministry.

Depressed by theses figures? Well, clergy are. The first detailed study of clergy stress is about to be published. As with any major study for any major institution, many of us who work for the institution are a bit sceptical about the need for such a report. Just come and ask any of us who work ‘at the coal face’ and we’ll tell you the causes of stress:

• there are no boundaries between work and not-work
• there are no clear expectations of what we should do, and constant clashes between what priests feel called to do and what congregations expect them to do without any outside agency providing clarity and focus to that debate
• there is a sense of isolation which can lead to feelings of being beleaguered and embattled
• and there are poor structures in the dioceses to offer pastoral care to clergy

Am I stressed? Sometimes – but it’s of my own making! Am I depressed? No! St Nicolas is a fantastic church and this is a wonderful area to be set amongst. It is an open, warm, loving and loveable place to be. And it’s growing! Which helps, hugely. No matter how open and warm and loving and loveable a community is, if it is shrinking before my very eyes that can be very depressing. And, no matter how hard I try, it is very hard not to take that personally.

So what kind of priesthood does the Church of England need in this new reality: fewer paid priests, each having responsibility for more and more parishes? I suspect that within a generation or less, St Nicolas will be sharing a priest with at least one other church in this area. I hasten to add there are no plans or expectations of that. But within ten or twenty years, I cannot see any other reality for this church and others in Earley. On a personal note, I will be very lucky to ever find another parochial post where I have only one church to serve. They are a vanishing breed, soon to be extinct.

So what’s the good news? There is some (and I’m not talking about the hope of heaven, I’m talking about the diocese of Oxford). The diocese has grasped this nettle. Over the last decade the diocese has been seeking to discern what it wants from its paid parish priests. This is an on-going journey which is focussed on paid parish clergy. This does not undermine the ministry of unpaid parish clergy, nor of paid non-parochial clergy. But the journey has to start somewhere and the diocese has decided to start with paid parish priests. And as this discernment process has developed, it has led the diocese to an understanding of what priests should be, which is “Servant Leaders”. It’s a picture taken from John’s gospel where Jesus, at the Last Supper, takes a towel and a bowl of water and washes his disciples’ feet. And says at the end:

“What I have done for you, you ought to do for one another.”

This isn’t a doctrine. It isn’t a set of rules of how to behave. It is a picture, which I find very helpful. Amidst all the competing calls on my time, the expectation I have of myself, the expectations you have as a community and as individuals of me, there is this overarching theme of “Servant Leadership” helping me to understand what it is I should be about as a parish priest, And there is a quote from Robin K Greenleaf, which puts a bit of flesh on the bones of this theme:

How does my leadership serve the people amongst whom I am set? People are served when they grow as persons, when they become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants. The effect on those in society who are least privileged must also be taken into account: does my leadership benefit them, or, at least, does it not further deprive them?

So after consultation with the Standing Committee and the Church Council, I have signed up for a fairly significant course within the diocese this year, a course which is all about Servant Leadership. And it is hoped that you will want to be part of this course too. Don’t panic. The course doesn’t ask much of you as individuals.

Of me, on the other hand, it asks rather a lot:

• four residential conferences before November
• monthly meeting with a leadership mentor
• three particular outcomes for my work within the parish
• two modules which are part of the course
• and attendance at The Leadership Summit in the summer in Chicago (there’s got to be some perks!)

Of individuals within the parish who feel able to engage with this process, you are asked attend

• a talk on why leadership in churches is important (later this month)
• a talk on leading change in church (in June)
• some of the talks from the Leadership Summit in Bracknell – not Chicago! (in September)

There is a blue sheet around in church (copy attached) which gives more information about the idea of Servant Leadership and gives details of the two Leadership Lectures. If you are interested in this process, and what we are engaged in within the diocese generally, I would hope you would think seriously about coming on the Leadership Lectures.

But this is also your chance to explore what we as the Church of England need of our priests as we enter the 21st century. It’s your chance to influence the kind of priesthood that is influenced with St Nicolas. And also your opportunity to discern your own place within the ministry of the church might be.

So who should take up this opportunity?

Who do we want to respond to this call?

Are there any particular criteria for those who might engage with this understanding of Servant Leadership?

Is it only for people with special responsibilities and roles?

Does the diocese have some kind of hidden agenda about who should be coming to these Lectures?

“One of the seraphs flew to me holding a burning coal taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out”. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us”. And I said …