The catalogue of Paul's sufferings as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ in 2 Corinthians 11 makes astonishing reading:
Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11v24-28 - RSV).
Imagine going through all that for the sake of the gospel.
Being on the pay-roll of an older denomination facing financial challenges does pose difficulties for contemporary Anglican clergy (cc recently received an unconfirmed report of one vicar being responsible for an amalgamation of 18 parishes). There is also the cultural perception of clergy as at best eccentric and at worst sinister, compounded by the fairly routine rudeness that church people feel free to inflict on their ministers of Word and Sacrament.
But Paul's sufferings put such contemporary clerical problems in perspective.
Certainly, 40 lashes minus one times five, three birchings, one stoning, three shipwrecks, 24 hours adrift at sea, and persistent exposure to physical danger and deprivation are Apostle-sized sufferings. But all authentic ministers should cop flak and experience weakness. If we do not, we are bogus.
Cranmer's Curate is blogging off for March to concentrate on new communications' initiatives in the parish, including a parish-wide, full-colour magazine, a redesigned church website and a link that has just been formed between our church and St Luke's Cathedral Church in the Anglican Diocese of Jos, Nigeria.
Many thanks to Canon Chris Sugden, executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream, for enabling us to cement this link. Thanks also to Archbishop Ben Kwashi for his enthusiasm, encouragement and leadership by example.
The prayers of the youth group for these initiatives - that they would be truly Christ-honouring - are greatly appreciated.
Normal cc service will resume, God willing, in April.
The curate leaves the youth group with last Sunday's BCP Collect:
O Lord God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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