The last Sunday of October sees the sad closure of one of my chapels in the Ripon and Lower Dales Circuit at Kirkby Malzeard.
This Sunday, we end a long chapter of our story as the people called Methodist serving the community of Kirkby Malzeard as we sadly let go of our building, for similar reasons Ashington closed: a building we cannot afford to keep going, financial worries and a lack of people who can commit themselves to hold office and be there every Sunday.
The congregation will be gathering on Sunday with many emotions. Some will no doubt be thinking of those saints who have gone before them who are part of the chapel’s story, people who loved the place and lived out their faith from it, others may be thinking of special family occasions, baptisms, weddings, funerals that have happened, or times of rich fellowship and togetherness shared together over the years, and those who have come to us more recently will be thinking of the warm welcome they received walking through the door which made them stay with us. Kirkby chapel has had an important part to play in the story of God’s love, without it, many people would not have come to know Jesus.
On Sunday afternoon, people can come and see pictures and memorabilia that tell something of the Kirkby Methodist story.
It’s been a story of sharing God’s providence, leading people to Christ through faithful service and community. I hope folk will take time to say thank you for this special place, laugh a lot, cry a bit, and take time to remember.
However, the closing of our building is not failure, or the end, but a pause, a full stop of the chapter of our first 142 years. A new chapter will open for us. I look forward to leading our people writing the first words of a new chapter, free from worries about money and fabric, and who is going to open the church and now instead open to what God might want of us as we do things a bit differently.
“Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.
You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Saviour,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.”
(Psalm 65)
It’s not been an easy decision to make to cease to meet, but I write again this is not failure, and we must open ourselves, freed from some burdens and responsibilities to where God might be calling his Methodist people to be now. Wasn’t it Churchill who said “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It might though be the end of the beginning.”
Moving isn’t easy. Standing still in God’s plan though is never an option. To stand still or try and avoid movement is to become stale and we will eventually die. “To grow is to change, and to become perfect is to have changed often.”
Some changes are easier to deal with than others. And this Sunday will be hard for the Kirkby congregation and I want to thank them for their devotion and energy over the last few years which haven’t been easy for them.
What has been the message of our holy place? And any holy place? Well, when people came in to Kirkby chapel, they came in under the words “Ebenezer 1880.”
Remember when Israel defeated the Philistines, Samuel built a monument in the place it happened. He called it Ebenezer, “stone of help”. Those who built any chapel, like Samuel, built it because they wanted people to remember God’s very present help in trouble. As the hymn said “here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’ve come.” A chapel can be a sign of the reliable help of God. Not the only sign but a reminder as people pass that God is about. I find it sad that when a church closes, people who don’t come tell me it is so sad and we should have done more to keep it open. They never came! We all have a church or chapel we want there but today keeping things there needs commitment. There was an event close to my smallest church the other month. I was told “we must keep the chapel open.” I told those who said this I needed them to start coming to it then.
The help Ebenezer states is there is seen most clearly in Jesus, so those coming into Kirkby chapel will have been reminded of this in these words in front of the chapel on the wall: “Great is our God, Jesus Christ is Lord.” That Jesus has been shared faithfully is a cause for rejoicing and celebration. We are called to plant seeds and we might never see how faith growed in those we taught. I bet there are many memories of Sunday School of old shared on Sunday!
I, being the minister of the church at Kirkby, so wanted to be there on Sunday to lead the services, but that is not to be. I will be thinking of everyone. It will be hard not to be with them. Devastating, actually.
I pray my good people at Kirkby Malzeard, like any other little Methodist society that is challenged about its future, find new life having decided bravely to let go. The church after all is not a building but the living moving, vibrant people of God. I’m thinking about other places I’ve served which have since closed. Millbrook and Tame Valley in my first appointment, Whissendine and Somerby from my second, Auckland Park from my third, Ashington in my fourth, and Tydd St Giles in my sixth. All the churches I served in Hastings, my fifth appointment are still going, two have moved from rickety unsustainable church buildings into community centres but they still meet every week.
With Kirkby, who knows, we might grow again doing church in a new way. I do not believe God has finished with us yet… so when people ask me how many churches do I have, I shall still answer eight as while I might soon only have seven buildings, I still have eight communities - it’s important to say that.
The society at Kirkby Malzeard moves on. This is not the end. On December 11 we shall hold a carol service in the afternoon at the mechanics institute in the village and then from January, there will be a Methodist service on the last Sunday of the month at St Andrew’s C of E. We are grateful to the Rev Ian Kitchen and the PCC for their kind ecumenical welcome. We also hope to meet together as a church for fellowship when we can. On behalf of the local congregation in Kirkby I ask, please pray for us.
In the words of Dag Hammarskjold: “For all that has been — Thanks. For all that shall be — Yes.”
