20 January 2021

Rev. Irene writes:

I woke up with good intentions this morning, an update on Amos in Morning Prayer then settle down with a coffee and a reading of the Church Council papers for tonight’s PCC meeting!

Things often do not go to plan instead I have spent the first hour of the day battling to try and get someone to come out to a boiler that is not working. Unfortunately, my requests did not fit into the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ that the machine understood so a battle in hand. After many redirections and frustrations, I eventually spoke to a very nice person who is sending the engineer later in the day, so until then an extra layer of clothing and Amos here I come!

Amos was a prophet in the 7th century BC. His name means “Burden-Bearer” and the topics of his writing reflect this: Judgement, Righteousness and Justice. Not easy subjects to talk about to people who think everything is just fine. He earned his living from the flock and the sycamore fig grove at a time when both the Northern and Southern Territories were prospering. The long period of good living led to complacency and Israel became corrupt, behaved immorally, worshipped idols – you could say ‘smug’ about what they had and consequently they oppressed the poor and needy. This is remarkably like the parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12 who thought he had made the big time. However, God called him a Fool and said that his life would be taken that night and of what help would his riches be in that situation. As we know God requires us to act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him. Amos had a battle to try to make the people believe his message from God. If you get the opportunity during this lockdown, why not have a look at the story of Amos and see the power of the Lord at work.

Robin Alden, one of our churchwardens, who updated us on bellringing a few weeks ago now tells us about being a Churchwarden at Hull Minster:

But what does a Churchwarden do?

The Canons (laws) of the Church of England say of Churchwardens that their most important role is that of representing the laity, cooperating with the incumbent (the vicar); to endeavour by example and precept to encourage the parishioners in the practice of true religion and to promote unity and peace among them.

At a simpler level I think it is about a couple of things: keeping the lights on and the water out; and seeing that our clergy can do their work of ministry. Keeping the lights on today might only require the flick of a switch but seeing that the lights can come on tomorrow (and in three months, one year, five years), takes much strategic work. Enabling incumbent clergy to minister in a warm dry building is not a challenge but finding clergy to minister in time of vacancy or in parishes which share clergy with several others can be a real challenge for some churchwardens and seeing that a church is (relatively) warm and (relatively) dry is probably a challenge for most. Working to ensure that a warm dry available church building will remain so in the longer term can be a struggle and will involve a range of challenges – financial, regulatory, and spiritual.

Hull Minster is so big and so important to us, why do we struggle to make ends meet?

At Hull Minster we have huge resources working for us and yet we are not certain of keeping the lights on in a two or three-year timescale. Although that sounds like a dire position to be in, that is where we were three years ago, and three years before that, and three years before, etc. Our diocese and our bishop know who and what we are and see the potential we have. They continue to support us in many ways, but they cannot pay our bills for either capital works such as roof repairs or operational costs such as the gas bill.

Our development trust has led the raising of funds for the capital projects we have seen over the last few years: opening the churchyard onto Trinity Square; reordering the nave and pews and installing under-floor heating; repairing the main nave roof. Currently you can see the North nave aisle roof also being repaired.

Thanks to a capital grant from Highways England as part of the A63 upgrade project, in the coming months we will see repairs and refurbishment to the vestry block and then the creation of the new Trinity Room extension and new toilets.

And yet we will still struggle to keep the lights on, and the gas bill paid, and we struggle to understand and to explain how these things can happen at the same time.

To attempt an explanation of the financial, we have tactical and strategic plans, and capital and operational finance.
‘Tactical’ means short term, what we do with what we have now.

‘Strategic’ means longer term, bigger picture, what do we need next year and in 5 and 25 years, and what do we do over those periods to achieve it.

‘Capital’ is one-off big expenditure, such as fixing a roof or building an extension. For almost all congregations, the raising of money for capital expenditure is beyond our own resources and we must look to external charities and trusts or to public appeals to raise the money.

‘Operational’ is regular outgoings such as the gas and electric bills, most staff wages, maintenance contracts, security systems, insurance. We know, from advice and from experience, that there are no external charities or trusts that will help with these ongoing expenses. We must meet these costs from our own resources, that is from the regular recurring income of what we give weekly and monthly as a congregation and what our visitors give when they come to see us, plus anything we can make from our own commercial activity such as shop, café, & events.

These large capital projects are being undertaken as part of our strategic plan to get us to a position where we have increased our regular recurring income to a point that it exceeds our operational outgoings. At that point, we will be able to both build our financial reserves for the future and invest in the future of others.

So, are we here to keep the lights on? We are not!

“The Church exists primarily for the sake of those who are still outside it”, said Archbishop William Temple.

“The most important decision any person can ever make is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. It’s the best thing anyone can do”, said Archbishop Justin Welby.

Keeping the lights on is essential but not sufficient. We were asked recently “what about prayer?”. Prayer is essential to the planning and running of the church and must be the foundation of every step we take. Without prayer, none of the above enables us to do God’s work. Prayer is a major and vital part of what we do but alone it is not sufficient. We must pray and we must plan, work, pray, and we must build our church in prayer and in people and in bricks so that we can do our part in full.

Robin Alden, Churchwarden.

Irene concludes with:

JANUARY OPENING

As everyone will be aware, we are now in a third lockdown. The guidance does allow public worship to continue, therefore there will continue to be open for Wednesday 12:30pm Holy Communion and Sunday 10:30am Holy Communion. Please click here to book in.

The 3:30 Sunday Praise Service this week will be via zoom so if you would like to join please click here for the link.

All other public services are cancelled at the present time.

PLEASE NOTE The Minster will be open for personal prayer each Saturday 12-3pm, starting on 23rd January.

Confirmation Preparation New course beginning Wednesday 3rd February via zoom at 7pm. Please email Rev Dominic if you would like to sign up, or for more information, dominic.black@hullminster.org

READINGS: THIRD SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY

COLLECT FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY

God of all mercy, your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,

release to the captives,

and freedom to the oppressed;

anoint us with your Holy Spirit

and set all your people free

to praise you in Christ our Lord