Discovering Church
at St Bart’s
The Revd Julie Baker, Chaplaincy Manager
As we approach the end of the season of Easter and celebrate the feast of Pentecost, I have been pondering what it means to be a church. Pentecost is often described at the birth of the Church. Although not everyone agrees on the usefulness of this image, the sense of the church beginning to form in a recognizable way through the gift of the Holy Spirit is undeniably powerful.
The word church describes both buildings and communities of people. Churches are signs of God’s love for humanity and places where broken people can gather to receive grace without judgement. Usually, we imagine this Holy work of God occurring in spaces set aside for this purpose and meetings involve hymn singing, scripture reading and eloquent prayers and homilies. Inspirational places and communities sharing God’s love by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But in my ponderings, I have been reminded that St Bart’s meets many of the criteria of a church, even when it doesn’t intend to. We have the off traditional liturgy here and there, for communion in our aged care centre and memorials to say farewell to those residents who have died, but rarely do you hear hymn singing in our hallways or sermons preached in our meeting rooms. We don’t have a space set aside for sacred work, every square metre is needed for practical purposes and shared between staff and services to offer the best possible support to our clients.
What we do have, though, is a community of people, imperfect and broken, who have found their way into our care. Those people, when they arrive, are met by staff who have the heart, patience and training to listen to their story, understand their challenges and help them to imagine and navigate a future filled with the hope of new possibilities.
The people we serve are not given a list of demands that they must meet before they are deemed worthy to be offered support, rather they are brought in, just as they are, and valued simply as themselves. Staff and volunteers build this community of grace through acts of service, radical acceptance and a refusal to give up on anyone.
That’s grace, that’s an outworking of God’s love right there. I witness it every day in St Bart’s along with the healing and growth which comes from experiencing forgiveness, sometimes over and over again, when traumatic experiences manifest as unhealthy behaviours. Some might not recognise it as church, but I don’t know quite what else to call it. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are daily displayed in our work at St Bart’s. All of us as Christians are called to share God’s love with those in need.
If you believe St Bart’s might be a place where you can live out your calling through chaplaincy, pastoral care or volunteering to assist with activities, please don’t hesitate to be in touch, we’d love to have you at our church! stbarts.org.au/get-involved/volunteer-with-st-barts/