A Pentecost letter from Fr. Alan Dennis

My Dear friends:

“Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts

Of flight; how to get from shore to food and back again. For most

Gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though,

It was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else

Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.”

                                                                                                         Jonathan Livingston Seagull

                                                                                                         by Richard Bach

Reading this book again, after many years, not only captured my imagination, it also encouraged me to want to fly!

We continue to live in turbulent times. Our world, our nation, and our church face challenges we’ve never faced before. At best this creates much uncertainty, inner pain and confusion. The ministry challenges we encounter in our church at this present time are indeed in unchartered waters. However uncharted though it be, it may very well be an opportunity to move out of survival mode into an experience of learning to “fly” again in our endeavor to thrive.

There is indeed more to life than maintenance. Jonathan Livingston Seagull accepted the challenge to go beyond getting from “shore to food.”

As an Easter people, as well as people of Pentecost, and as the Church of Peter, we are called to have the courage under the fires of our day to want to fly!

I recall numerous occasions in horrendously turbulent times during the apartheid years in South Africa, when many of us wanted to give up and go “from shore to food.” We knew that we had to “rise above,” “see the light,” and “search for hope,” even when all around seemed utterly hopeless. The flight to freedom was painful and not without suffering and death. However, the resolve to engage in a road less travelled, with courage and perseverance was the victor at the end of the day!

As the Church of Peter, I believe that we are called to move from Maintenance to Mission, as we fly the banner of the Gospel of Jesus, in our endeavor to be a missional church in our diocese and the world.

As you take time over these summer months to enjoy rest and refreshment, return with a keen resolve, to “fly,” as we move from Maintenance to mission, with intention to work tirelessly for justice, peace and reconciliation.

Blessings of Hope and grace,

The Reverend Canon Alan G. Dennis