Forty Fulfilling Years as a Priest

A Conversation with Father Colin...

As the St James Church community, we recently celebrated with joy – and cake – the 40th anniversary of Father Colin’s ordination to the priesthood. Here he shares some of his insights and stories …

You were ordained on 29th June 1985, Father Colin. What is the significance of that date in the (annual) Church´s calendar?

Well, ordinations take place every year on the Sunday nearest to that date because it is the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Not only were they ‘sent’ by the Risen Christ to

proclaim the Good News to everyone everywhere, but they also offer a model of ministry to inspire and encourage us, and to meditate on.

What do we learn from their example?

The amazing thing that the Apostles Peter and Paul found – and we follow in their footsteps – is that they were not just carriers of a message. You see, the Risen Lord is always there, before us. We help people to discover where God is already and make connections around what they already sense in their own experience of the Divine.

That sounds deeply respectful and inviting …

Yes, it’s not down to the ordained person, but to God. You need to be a still centre around which people may gather. It’s often enough that you are there, and God uses that as a catalyst.

What other qualities do the two great Apostles demonstrate?

The other thing they teach us is that God chooses the unlikely! They were not well equipped for much of what they were asked to undertake. Peter`s instinct was to act quickly, while Paul was reflective and considered his actions. In their letters, which we can read in the New Testament, we see that they leaned on Christ. It’s still the same – in ministry, you learn that in many situations you don’t have all the answers! You may not be skilled at management tasks, but need to find a way to do them anyway. It means having to depend on God to see you through.

How else would you describe the call to be ordained?

Although there’s a pattern to follow, how you fulfil that is personal and individual. You’ve

been chosen. It’s important to be honest about who you are, not behave in ways that are not true to you. At the same time, it’s a shock, spiritually, psychologically, and socially, being ordained, because you don’t feel different, but other people see you differently. To bring these strands together: you inherit a situation in ministry, a parish, say, with a shape, character, and direction, but you must explore it freely. It feels like you’ve been given something too big for you, like an oversized suit, bulky and ill-fitting, but over time, you grow into it.

What changes have you observed in ministry over the past 40 years?

It’s become even more relational and collaborative. There’s a collegiality among clergy

nowadays because there are fewer of us. I was ordained in 1985 with a host of other men – I say men because, of course, it was before women were allowed to test their vocations.

Training methods have diversified. Personally, I found residential theological college,

a good preparation for navigating relationships from which you can’t escape! Of course, God calls all of us human beings to be corporate and interdependent. The ordination of women as priests was a good development of tradition, though it is important to remember that ordination is a vocation and a gift, not a right. We’re to participate in Christ’s priesthood, to reveal what Christ is doing. The letter to the Hebrews

shows us that Christ is interceding for the world, its healing, and re-creation. So, our purpose as priests is to pray in Christ, which may also imply action. And as God can hear the prayer of all who speak to him, regardless of gender, it’s not logical to exclude women from this ministry in Christ.

Are there any funny stories you’re comfortable to share?

I quickly learnt that people may believe everything they tell you, but it’s not necessarily the whole truth! In the early days, I’d head for the hospital, at a parishioner’s family’s request, ready for a worst-case scenario, only to be greeted with the patient’s ‘Do they think I’m dying? Well, I’m not!’ This happened many times. Then there was the time a very young couple, when I led them to the high altar for a nuptial blessing after they’d signed the registry. Overcome by the occasion, both fainted over the altar rail. The church warden revived them with smelling salts…

The exchange of rings is legally necessary in the marriage service. Once, when a best

man forgot the ring, he had to borrow one from a member of the congregation. Then, he dropped that one – despite my warning! – down a Victorian grating in the aisle. A third ring had to be found, so that the couple´s wedding could continue – but they had to return after the honeymoon to have their actual rings blessed and exchanged.

And poignant moments?

Funerals are profound and heartfelt acts, because I believe there is a duty, in Christian terms, to ensure that the last part of a person’s earthly pilgrimage has dignity and is enfolded in prayer and care. In one parish, I was attached to a city cemetery as an occasional duty minister. One day, I was asked to conduct the burial of a man who had no family, because he’d been living in a refuge. Resisting some impatience from the undertaker, I said the whole funeral service, a little more slowly than I might otherwise have done – and as the coffin was about to be lowered, three people from the refuge arrived by bus, because they had not wanted the dead man to do this last thing alone! I said the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 again and invited the three companions to say something. The point being, not to evaluate anyone on secular terms.

If you had to encapsulate your 40 years’ experience as a priest in a few words, Father Colin?

My teenage godson once asked me if I enjoy what I do, and I answered: ‘Enjoy isn’t quite the right word, but I find it deeply fulfilling.’ The writer and mystic Evelyn Underhill once wrote to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘the interesting thing about religion is God’. Christianity is attractive! It’s felt right to me to be a priest, to convey the story of God that people find beautiful. The gentle irony is, in an age in which we tend to focus less on God and more on ourselves, I’ve found the Christian journey the surest way of becoming myself.