The Servant

He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. ‘Had I completely forgotten that Christ was the PRINCE OF PEACE!?’ he yelled with saliva heading in my direction on each P. I hadn’t, but I also hadn’t forgotten that Jesus said ‘blessed are the peacemakers’, so I stood and listened as five minutes of vitriol was poured out upon me. Me, a vicar in the Church of England (yes, for some reason I was wearing a clerical collar that morning) allowing skateboarders in a 12^th century abbey, which should rightly be silent. SILENT! I wanted to say his theology was pretty hopeless and that Christ was the Prince of Peace not the Prince of Quietness; that the shalom of Jesus was the reconciliation of humanity to God, not a quiet nap in front of a fire. I wanted to ask how many empty silent cold churches God needed that day in North Wiltshire to reach the lost; I estimated that we had provided about 40-50 and thought that that was probably enough. But instead I asked if he would object to the noise of a symphony orchestra playing Handel’s Messiah in the Abbey. He said he would, conversation over, pass the straight jacket.

I liked it. I liked it a lot. It wasn’t just that over 500 young people were at home and enjoyed themselves in the Church of England. It wasn’t just that families that don’t say grace at mealtimes had prayer at the start of skate sessions; ‘this is Your skatepark, we will rejoice and be glad on it.’ It wasn’t just the joy of a young person giving their life to Christ or some seriously tattooed Tetbury skaters hanging out in the Abbey with their new Christian mates. Our partnership with Christian Skaters UK has born so much fruit over 5 years, and this year was no exception. For me the compelling vision was of the body of Christ, the church, serving. Sometimes the church is blinded to the fact that our acts of service are simply ones keeping the show on the road, essentially serving ourselves. To see over 100 volunteers giving their time and energy and peace of mind (did I mention how NOISY! the abbey was?) to serve others really looked like church. ‘After that Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him.’ (John 13:5)

To all that served in Malmesbury Abbey Skate 2013 in whatever capacity, administrator or manual labourer, IT or H&S, café or intercessor, my sincere thanks. As you served, we looked like Christ.