And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. (Ezekiel 37: 22b English Standard Version)

At different times in my life, on countless occasions indeed, I have just known that something is right. One such occasion was when I married my wife Naomi; another when I gave my life to Jesus; yet another when I felt God calling me into His full-time service through ordained ministry. And I have to say that when I first heard it mooted that Swanlinbar Group of Parishes and Kildallon Group of Parishes were, amongst other proposals as part of a Diocesan Review, being considered for amalgamation, I just knew that it was right.
Since that time I have genuinely been excited at the way in which things have moved forward, apparently slowly at times, but on reflection, for good reason. I have been excited about all the new possibilities for us in our church family as I have contemplated the many ways in which we can build the kingdom through this amalgamation. Of course I have had times when I have been bitterly, bitterly disappointed – the failure to appoint a curate-assistant to serve in our Group of Parishes is one obvious disappointment and I would be glossing over a natural human reaction if I did not make mention of that. But in the midst of disappointment, God has broken in again and again to confirm to me that this is part of His plan for His Church in this part of His Kingdom. I want to share one occasion when God really did speak to me in this way.
Those Vestry members who were able to make it to our planning meeting for my service of Institution will recall that one of the set readings for that day, Monday 30th April 2007, was Ezekiel 37: 15-28. You may well say, “So what!!” But when we examine this passage and its immediate context it helps us to understand how God is speaking to us through His Word and saying “This is good!”
The prophet Ezekiel was exercising a ministry at a time when Israel and Judah had been separate nations with separate leadership for 350 years. Not since the rule of King Solomon had the nations been united under one king – but the sovereign Lord said that this was to change. No longer were the two to see themselves as separate nations – rather, they should conceive of themselves as one people, united under one King. The kingship spoken of is not an earthly kingship but rather a messianic rule over all the earth – Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The Kingdoms of Israel & Judah	The New Grouped Parishes

I was blown away by the way in which this passage “cropped up” on the 30th of April, the first united vestry meeting of our newly amalgamated Group of Parishes. It tells me many things about how we should conceive of ourselves, our Parish, our Group.
Firstly, the prophet is saying something about identity. Identity is important to all of us. We have a name by which we are known, possibly even a passport or driver’s licence which are means of identification. Our identity is something which is asked for in many situations, for example if travelling with an airline, opening a bank account etc – identity is important. Ezekiel understood the importance of identity to the people, and he understood that their primary source of identity was with the nation. But the prophet was challenging that source of identity and saying that there would be a new leader of both nations and a new identity through the shepherd of the flock, that is the King of kings, Jesus. There is no doubt that we identify very closely with our Parish and our Group, and that is only right and proper. But if our identity begins and ends with a church building and does not see us a belonging to a world-wide family of believers who trust in Jesus then we will not be known to Jesus. It is crucial that we understand this fundamental truth that our identity must be in Christ Jesus. As a newly amalgamated Group of Parishes, we will be doing many things in the coming months which will challenge our traditional understanding of identity. But as we do so, we will not be taking away from the importance of the Parish Church in our lives, but rather understanding that we are part of a much larger family and that the wider family can bless us and we can be a blessing to them.
Secondly, the prophet is saying something about leadership. Leadership is something which is important in any area of life, whether it means a parent exercising leadership in the home or a Prime Minister leading a country! Leadership in God’s church is no less important. The northern and southern kingdoms had experienced a whole range of leaders since the last king of the united kingdoms – some of these kings were good, but in the main they were not, indeed some are recorded as “doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” The nations suffered because the leadership which was being exercised was not under the authority of God. Ezekiel prophesied that the nations would be united under one king “My servant David will be their king and they will have only one shepherd” (Eze 37: 28a). Jesus must be the one who leads in our church and Jesus must be the one we all follow. We need leaders in our church who follow Jesus faithfully, leaders who follow where he leads. We need leaders who learn from Jesus style of leadership and in turn lead like Jesus. We need these kind of leaders in our church so that more and more people might know what it means to be led by Jesus through trusting in Him. We don’t need pop star, celebrity leadership, but we do need Christ-like servant-hood leadership so that God’s kingdom might grow.
Our leadership team at present will be comprised of Geoff, George Browne, George Taylor & Hazel Hicks – the ongoing commitment remains to grow this team, not least through the appointment of a full-time member of staff who will live in Kildallon Rectory. In the meantime, we remain committed to delivering a whole range of Sunday Services, pastoral care and other ministries in the knowledge that we are known by Jesus through faith and have Him as our ultimate leader.