There will be no knitting needles visible on the
platform at Assembly this year, to the regret of the many who have
watched, fascinated, as Sheila Maxey has played a full part in complex
meetings while polishing off yet another fashion accessory for a
member of her family. But being a Moderator of Assembly is a serious
business.
a difficult year
The year of anticipation endured by incoming
Assembly Moderators has not been an easy one for Sheila. It was always
going to be strange. A combination of retirement year and preparation
for Moderator, she was looking forward to some sorting out around
house and garden, combined with attending Assembly committees to build
up a picture of what is happening in the Church. Then, around
Christmas, her husband Kees fell ill with heart disease, driving both
retirement and Moderator out of her mind. A heart bypass later she
admits the experience shook her: It puts everything in perspective.
You learn to live for the day.
an ecumenical desert?
Having spent the last 10 years representing the
URC in the complex world of ecumenical relations, I put it to her that
there is a certain irony in the fact that she takes over as Moderator
at a time when the URC seems to be sitting on the sidelines while
others make the pace in terms of unity. With typical hopefulness, she
sees it differently.
The ecumenical movement, in her view, has moved on to a different
place. Many no longer care about the denominational labels; they are
forming new kinds of churches, meeting at different times. There is an
impatience with structural ecumenism and a desire to just get on with
being Christian. But all this, she concludes, is not a failure of
ecumenism, quite the opposite. If Christians are working together in
new ways it is because over the years of the ecumenical movement they
have learned to trust each other and not look first at denominational
labels. It is not something to worry about.
Not worrying seems to be a fairly central part of the Maxey creed and
one to which she readily admits. 'I'm hopeful because of God. If we
are faithful God will honour that. There may be great pain in letting
go of the ways in which we have been church or have understood
discipleship - but in personal terms that happens to people all the
time... As people wrestle with the Bible God will lead them into
answers, one step at a time.
a long line
Trust in God is built into the genes of Sheila
Maxey. She comes from a long line of Church of Scotland ministers -
she is the 9th generation to enter the ministry and her daughter Ruth
the 10th. Sheila's mother was German and her father had been a
missionary to India. Whatever the reason, growing up in Scotland -
something you would not detect from her accent - there was always a
sense that the family were citizens of the world. As a result she has
always felt slightly out of place, wherever she has lived.
Citizen of the world or not, Sheila stayed at home while her sisters
travelled the world. She married an Englishman she met at university
through the Student Christian Movement. After graduation she taught
English literature in a local comprehensive school in Brentwood. Then
followed a family and, when the children went back to school, so did
Sheila.
The call to ministry came to Sheila in her 40s. Looking back she
recalls leading a Junior Church service after which theologian Colin
Gunton, a fellow member, asked her whether she had ever considered
ministry. She trained at Mansfield College in Oxford and, in a
flattering but unusual move, was called to be the minister of the
Brentwood church of which she had been a member for years, together
with a nearby village church at Ingatestone.
changing roles
She enjoyed the experience of having two churches, not least because
'then the local church can't possess you and you are constantly
reminded that there is no "one size fits all" way of being the
church.' Today she thinks it no bad thing that ministers increasingly
are called to more than one church. The role of minister she sees as
that of an enabler, the person who equips others for the work. 'The
trouble is ministers have as their role model others who have been at
the centre of everything, the father of the church. I think it's
strange that we who make so much about the priesthood of all believers
have in some ways been more minister-dominated than many churches
which have priests.' It is all, she thinks, part of the 'shaking' that
needs to take place to release the gifts of the people of God.
'There's a lot of sacrifice for ministers in that new role because you
don't belong, and we have that tradition that ministers belong and
it's much loved and very nice. Maybe its part of the sacrifice that
ministers make when they offer themselves - no longer being the top
person but rather equipping others to do the role.'
In 1993 Sheila was appointed to the post of Secretary for Ecumenical
Affairs. It was a time of transition in the understanding of the post
- indeed the word 'ecumenical' had only just been introduced to the
job title, which had previously been largely concerned with
co-ordinating and caring for personnel from partner churches overseas
who were ministering alongside the URC.
It was job she loved and her ability to understand the ethos of
different traditions and to act as a bridge between them has been
widely admired. There have been frustrations, like the failure of the
ambitious unity scheme in Scotland, with its aptly-named
'maxi-parishes' but there was always a sense that the URC's interests
were in safe hands. But despite the increasing importance of national
ecumenical affairs in her work, she was never more happy than when
meeting and supporting partners from overseas. The demands were often
intensive but the reward was meeting and getting to know such
wonderful people.
a new voice
A year ago, when Sheila thanked Assembly for
electing her as Moderator she pointedly thanked them for giving her
back her voice after 10 years in which, as a 'civil servant' of the
church she has been expected not to take part in public debate. It was
a reminder to those who may never have worked closely with her that
the nice grey-haired lady sitting in the corner of the room knitting
through the meeting has passionate opinions on the future of the
church. The knitting - which can be disconcerting at first - she
adopted precisely because she found it difficult to cope with being
deprived of her voice in Mission Council, of which she had been a
member from the first. Knitting also served to channel the frustration
of having to sit through people saying 'stupid things' or debates
going in what she considered the wrong direction.
Whatever the merits of the system, the church will discover what it
has been missing over the coming year.
Outside of her work in the church, Sheila Maxey rejoices in her role
as part of a large extended family. She has three children (and cared
for the children of a sister who died) and six - going on seven -
grandchildren Her parents lived next door until their deaths Ð her
father lived to be 100. Outside of the family both she and husband
Kees are active members of the Labour party. They 'like to do
energetic things' including walking, climbing mountains or cycling
(especially if it includes a pub lunch). Boats feature large, both
canal boats and a small mirror dinghy which they recently capsized for
the first time in 15 years - 'I got quite cold and very bruised...
Sailing a dinghy is exhilarating but terrifying - but at least when
I'm terrified I can't think about other things.'
looking forward
In the year ahead Sheila Maxey is genuinely eager to see the churches
and learn about their life. The enthusiasm is tempered by a certain
awareness of the need to pace herself over the year, aware that when
she speaks she puts all of herself into it and is drained afterwards.
And then again 'when does one clean the house?'
As she travels she will take with her into local fellowships the
conviction that there is an urgent need for us to engage with
scripture. 'We've got to find God and find Jesus otherwise we can't be
the church. For that we've got to wrestle with the Bible and wait on
God in prayer. I think we might be quite weak there but I'm looking
forward to being proved wrong.'
Sheila Maxey was interviewed by David Lawrence
