What are Archdeacons For?
Collation of the Revd Janet Tait as Archdeacon of Belmont : 7 October 2012
Lamentations 3:21-26
, Matthew 13:34-35,44-53
Father Hugh Bowron, 2012That the Shepherds of the sheep are parish priests as they relate to the laity, most Anglicans would understand. That the Shepherd of the shepherds is the Bishop as he relates to the clergy, those with a little more knowledge of Anglican Church culture would get. But it would take a quite bit more insider knowledge to offer an informed opinion as to what Archdeacons are for.
It is a peculiarly Anglican institution, and one that differs in different parts of the Anglican world. In the Church of England it is a full time position of considerable administrative clout. Devoted followers of the recent TV comedy "Rev" will recall the evil Archdeacon who makes life so difficult for the hapless Adam, the newly installed rector of St Saviour in the Marshes, in the diocese of London. But here it is a part time position, usually carried out in tandem with another priestly role, and sometimes it is not altogether clear what the job description is.
Is the Archdeacon the eyes and ears of the Bishop keeping him informed as to what is going on in that particular part of the diocese, and relaying the desires and intentions of the Bishop to the ministry units therein? Well partly, but if that is all the Archdeacon did then she might become distanced from the affections and trust of those to whom she ministers.
Is the Archdeacon a kind of shop steward who gathers up and acts as an advocate for the concerns of those in her charge? Well, to some extent, but less so than the other role, and if she majored in that too much she would become a lightning rod for whatever grumpiness was around.
The Archdeacon is in an in between space between the Bishop and the clergy, and as such finds herself on the raw edge of a not altogether wonderful aspect of clergy culture as it relates to protestant denominations. By that I mean that clergy often find it hard to trust each other, to like each other, and to relate to one another with warmth and openness. They tend to be competitive with, and suspicious of, one another. It stems I suspect from the highly individualised style of ministry we have inherited from the past, in which once you are installed as Vicar of a parish, you can take an "I’m the King of the castle" approach to all that surrounds you.
The end result of this is that Archdeaconry meetings can become, as one Archdeacon bluntly put it, "bitching and bragging sessions." As clergy sit around in a circle receiving news from the nervous centre, as David Moxon puts it, and are then invited to share, "what’s going on for you Hugh," they can oh so easily fall victim to the temptation to dominate the airwaves with their complaints, or to exalt their achievements in a masterly display of clerical spin doctoring. Whichever mode of discourse is adopted, the underlying dynamics are an unattractive display of narcissism, self-pity and egoism.
Of course, I do understand that things aren’t like that in this Archdeaconry, which is just what I would expect given Damon Plimmer’s winsome combination of social skills and intimacy skills. They were evident even back in the days when he was a teacher at Hornby High, when I officiated at Damon and Raewyn’s wedding. From reports I have received it is apparent that a variety of different kinds of clergy gathering have been employed to overcome the kind of dynamics I have been describing. So Janet’s ministry will be building on the good foundations of a successful ministry.
But the challenge remains, for the dynamics I have mentioned are an ever-present emerging possibility given our fallen nature. And the Archdeacon’s role as encourager of clergy mutual trust, high morale and cordial relationships matters because the clergy need to model the rich New Testament mystery of Koinonia to the laity. Koinonia is an almost untranslatable word that refers to the rich and overlapping layers of fellowship and mutual belonging that can and ought to occur in a Christian assembly. It is a depth of human communal relating that can only occur in the Church, based as it is on a sharing in the deep things of God. Generating this depth of Christian community is a continually precarious achievement, and it is something more caught than taught. Which is why it matters that clergy do not relate to one another with suspicion, contempt, schadenfreude, and a gossipy delight in hearing ill spoken of one another. They should model amongst themselves what they wish to see occurring in their parishes.
I have noticed that clergy tend to behave better when they are on task, doing something together that is part of the bread and butter routine of their weekly routine. I think of a group I belonged to once that met regularly to look at the readings for the coming Sunday, to take turns at a presentation from available commentaries on the passages concerned, and that then discussed how they would preach off these passages. And I think of recent Archdeaconry meetings I have experienced where we met to say evening prayer together, and then adjourned for drinks and finger food in the adjacent Vicarage. It was interesting to discover those churches where they didn’t have New Zealand prayer books, and weren’t used to the daily office. And I couldn’t help noticing that clergy tend to be rather more self-disclosing and warmly relating with a drink in one hand, and something tasty in the other.
Bishop Victoria Matthews says that New Zealand clergy just climb in to the pulpit and talk about whatever is on their minds, with little or no reference to the Scriptures of the day. Since Janet chose these readings, and they are precious to her, I will try to avoid that failing.
That wonderful passage from Lamentations is a reminder that if you aspire to be an encourager of the clergy you need also at times to be an agent of consolation and compassion. Spiritual leaders with high standards are vulnerable to the frustrations and heartbreaks that come from ministering in the midst of indifference and lowest common denominator Christianity. And who of us has enough emotional intelligence to avoid all the pitfalls that come from ministering in the midst of complex pastoral situations. And each of us has our own particular woundedness to contend with. So to stand alongside shepherds who are discouraged, or lonely, or hurting, is to discover what Paul meant when he wrote at the beginning of the second letter to the Corinthians, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, a gentle Father and the God of all consolation, who comfort us in all our sorrows, so that we can offer others, in their sorrows, the consolation that we have received from God ourselves."
And those Matthean parables that tell us of the rich treasures that the Scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom has to offer are a reminder of why all this priestly activity matters so much - that the joy of the gospel and the privilege of being authorised to minister to others is worth making major sacrifices for in order to allow it to happen, and to make sure that we do it to the best of our ability. To support and encourage others in their ministries is to point them again and again to the need to be richly resourced by loving God with their minds, and through becoming acquainted with the full richness of the Church’s theological tradition. As Deutero-Isaiah put it is about, "mining the treasures hidden in darkness." Christian community and Christian ministry is based around sharing in the deep things of God, and that means a commitment to the Church being a theologically reflecting community. So as priests and deacons meet together regularly they can help each other to learn more about the Triune persons whom it is our privilege to serve, and in whose company we shall spend all eternity. An Archdeacon can I think be an encourager and an enabler of that bringing out of the church’s treasure of theological wisdom "what is new and what is old."
One of the things I know about Janet is that she writes poetry, religious poetry, so I am going to finish with a poem. Lorna Fowler calls it "the Middle Time:"
Between the exhilaration of Beginning
And the satisfaction of Concluding
Is the Middle Time
Of Enduring .. Changing .. Trying
Despairing.. Continuing .. Becoming.
Jesus Christ was the Person of God’s Middle Time
Between Creation and .. accomplishment.
Through Him God said of Creation,
"Without mistake"
And of Accomplishment,
"Without doubt"
And we in our Middle Times
Of Wondering and Waiting,
Hurrying and Hesitating,
Regretting and Revising -
We who have begun many things ..
And seen but few completed -
We who are becoming more .. and less -
Through the evidence of God’s Middle time
Have a stabilising hint
That we are not mistakes,
That we are Irreplaceable,
That our Being is of interest,
And our Doing is of purpose,
That our Being and our Doing
Are surrounded by Amen
Jesus Christ is the Completer
Of unfinished people
with unfinished work
in unfinished times.
May he keep us from sinking, from ceasing,
From wasting, from solidifying,
That we may be for Him
Experimenters, Enablers, Encouragers,
And Associates in Accomplishment
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