I celebrated my twenty years in the ordained ministry by wonderfully attending the Diocesan Synod last Thursday, 22^nd June! Brian did all the driving and Hazel and Walter were our keen Parish representatives. We arrived at two, and left at ten! Clare McBrien was driven over for the special evening session with presentations, particularly by the young people, and she even got up to speak, which was terrific. So, bless them all, and thank you for being there.

On the way over I commented that I was hoping to get plenty of sermon material for today. And on the way back, we kind of agreed that, yes there was plenty to report on! But my heart did sink a bit when I first went in. Maybe it’s just me, but I was very tired even before it began, and most of the time I feel as if I’m ninety years of age; sorry, Eva! But there are no easy solutions, for example, on how to mix and blend tradition with contemporary forms of worship, as we all agreed in the car on the way home. I was a bit despondent.

The next day I felt even more disheartened (just five and half hours sleep because of Simon probably didn’t help).

All these clergy, really in to it all! And I began to think that when they get to their twenty years, or some anniversary, they might get a special Prayer Book or guilt-edged Bible. Hewitt got an amazing “case” of a most fabulous selection of wines you could imagine, and I have to tell you it came with a beautifully worded card (It was really Christine who recognised the writing immediately) and on the front of it was a picture of Marilyn Monroe! So, I thought to myself, I have no secrets; my life is an open book! So there were at least two of my vices rolled in to one wonderful presentation on twenty years of ordained ministry last Sunday. I’m not sure what that says about me, or, indeed, any of you for that matter, but I am truly grateful and thank you so much.

Last Thursday at Synod, I heard a lot of words; often noble words, sensible words, often humorous words. There was an acknowledgement of our failures and yet there was celebration. Ills of our own society and community were highlighted, yet there was real striving for change and resolution. The world church and world economy were there; where we have failed and where we are trying to succeed; for example in bringing about fair-trade parishes within the Diocese, and making the whole Diocese eventually a ‘Fair-trade Diocese’. Our failures and where we need to improve are not brushed aside, far from it. But they are always coupled with celebration. In the kind world we live in, with its injustice at home and abroad, its wars and oppression, don’t we desperately need celebration?

We’re in the middle of hosting the Special Olympics, yet, as we’ve discussed before, we’re cutting the budget for educating Special Needs children. Celebration, even when things are difficult.

I find it very easy to be angry with the institutionalised Church. But it’s an easy target. It must never forget to ask the old question that has become almost a catchphrase now, What Would Jesus Do? We all experience the storms of life, as our Gospel reading talks about.

But in amongst it all, there needs to be celebration. If there wasn’t celebration, we would just all give up now, wouldn’t we?

Do you think after twenty years of ministry, would Jesus prefer a gilt-edged Prayer Book, or a case of wine?

If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then maybe we’re getting nearer to what Jesus’ mission was all about.

We haven’t had a Tony Campolo story for ages! For those who may be unenlightened, Campolo is an American Baptist Evangelist Preacher, one time confidant to President Clinton - I know the whole scene doesn’t conjure up a pretty picture, but he tells an amazing story in a way that puts other preachers I have heard in the shade.

He was once invited to a speaking engagement in Honolulu, the fiftieth State of the USA. The time difference was such that at 3.30 in the morning, he was wide awake, hungry and looking for something to eat. He came across a ‘greasy-spoon’ diner, the only place that seemed open. And after he had ordered a coffee and doughnut from a menu board that he was afraid to touch in case he caught something from it, the quietness of the place was shattered when in burst 8 or 9 loud, provocative, boisterous prostitutes. It wasn’t a big place and they seemed to crowd him, and he felt distinctly uncomfortable! One of them shouted, ‘Hey, it’s my birthday tomorrow!’ and the others ridiculed her and asked what they were meant to do about it; throw a party?! Seemingly, she had never had a birthday party in her life. When Campolo heard that, he made a decision. When they eventually left, he suggested to ‘Harry’, the guy behind the counter, that they should throw a party for the girl who was called Agnes tomorrow night, because they always called in around the same time. Harry thought it was a great idea and he volunteered to make the cake! At 2.30 the next morning Campolo got to the diner to decorate the place, and he had with him a big sign which said, ‘Happy Birthday Agnes’. Word must have got around because by 3.15 (in his words) ‘It was wall-to-wall prostitutes…and me!’

You know what happened. Agnes and her crowd came in at 3.30, they all sang ‘Happy Birthday’, she couldn’t believe it, and wept uncontrollably. She blew out the candles (just) and then asked Harry, could she show the cake to those at home; she only lived a couple of doors away. “Sure”, Harry said.

When she left, there was stunned silence and everyone just stood motionless. Not knowing what else to do, Tony Campolo broke the silence by saying, “What do you say we pray?” (Only he could do that!). When he had finished, Harry grabbed him and said, “You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of Church do you belong to?” And in one of those moments when just the right words came, Campolo answered, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3.30 in the morning”. Harry was taken aback for a moment, “No, you don’t”, he said, “I would join a church like that!”

If you look at your Bibles, you will see that that is exactly the kind of Church that Jesus came to create. That even in the mire, even in the storm, there is time for celebration, look at your Bibles, from Shalom to Jubilee to the Great Banquet and the Wedding Feast; it’s all there, and it’s all about the Kingdom. If we don’t know that, then we’re not reading our Bibles properly!