These were the words of Bartimaeus, the blind man of Jericho, who heard that Jesus was passing his way. Jesus called him to Himself and said, ‘What do you want from me?’ ‘Master’, he replied, ‘I want to see’ (Mk 10:51). Sight is an incredible gift, filling us with light, opening life up to us, and helping us to orientate our life. Just as a person can lose their sight, it is also possible for a community or church, to become blind and find itself fumbling in the darkness, overtaken by fear, and closed off to the world around us. This is why we need vision; again and again we need to learn to see again. As the writer of the Book of Proverbs writes, ‘A people without vision perishes’ (Prov. 29:18).

Last year, our parish began a series of meetings in each of our churches, to respond to the Pope’s call to participate in the Synod. As we sought to embark upon this journey, we took the opportunity to explore ways to understand the Church in West Cumbria, the culture around us, and how we can respond to it with new courage, offering the world around us the hope of the Gospel. We looked at the strengths of our parish, tried to be honest about our weaknesses, and identified the opportunities and threats ahead, and began to dream dreams of what we would like to be (Joel 2:28).

Following from these meetings, Fr Philip brought together a team from different parts of the parish and with different gifts. This team has been meeting more or less fortnightly over the past nine months for prayer and discussion and working on a vision for the parish. Before the challenges ahead, and recognising the limited choices, time, space and resources that we have, we wanted to reflect upon what is central to the life of our parish and its mission so that we know what to say ‘No’ to and what to say ‘Yes’ to.

A vision is a God-given picture of a future that brings hope and passion in people. It comprises a number of elements:

• The articulation of a clear picture, easy to communicate, and which captures hearts and gets others excited.

• It involves positive change, moving from a place of discontent, moving forward.

• It is focussed upon the future, influencing the direction ahead.

• It originates from God (hence the need for prayer and careful discernment, what is the Lord calling us to be, what is the mission God is placing upon our hearts).

• It is challenging, at times pushing us beyond our comfort zones, but achievable.

In time vision is woven into everything that we do, the lodestar by which we orientate the whole life of our parish. We hope that our efforts will be a solid response to Pope Francis’s call for a ‘missionary option’, initiating a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that, in his words, ‘the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelisation of today’s world rather than for her own self-preservation’ (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium).

The small team working with Fr Philip set out on a journey to pray and ask for inspiration in creating a vision for our parish. The pictures below are not meant to be works of art but show how four different people came up with four very different ways of expressing what was on their heart.

• Fr Philip’s image centred around Noah’s Ark, how the Lord had made a covenant with His people, how God is with us, that in building the ark people thought Noah was crazy, but how in time all became clear, how the doors of this great ark were wide open for all, how the experience of the journey changed those aboard, and finally, how the ark was powered by billowing sails, full of the Holy Spirit.

• Alan Woowat’s picture picked up the theme of the open door, open to all people, and the light of the paschal candle, and how the light and the image of a fan spreading the sparks of the Gospel, would illuminate the whole of West Cumbria and further afield, transforming the life of the parish from within.

• Shirelle Cooper was inspired by the idea of Christ as Priest, Prophet and King, and the idea of how our baptism empowers us to use our gifts, reach out to others, share and teach, and respond to people’s needs.

• Paul Briers’s image was centred around the image of a baptismal font and the Eucharist, the two great sacraments, which draw us into a life of love with Christ, and which nourish the whole person on the way of salvation. The sense is one of being filled with faith, which overflows with joy: when people experience this love in action, they desire to know more and live it more deeply.

The above snapshots provide an impression of a God-given image, written on our hearts, of a future which inspires passion and hope for our parish. Distilling this a bit further, we came to four vision themes:

1. Today is the Day, rise up, now is the time.

2. The presence of the Holy Spirit, fanning the flames

3. Opening of doors to gather the nations but also to send people outwards

4. Empowering us to be disciples and to make disciples.

Over the past three weeks these ideas have been presented in each of the churches of our parish, and those who attended were asked two questions, what enthuses them from the developing vision, and, if lived out, how did they think that parish life would change?

The vision team will continue its work to finetune the vision and begin the work to bring it into everything that we do: the way in which we welcome people to the parish, how we help our young people to grow in their faith, how we develop gifts and charisms, how we serve others in the wider community. The forthcoming parish mission run by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in October will be a great opportunity for us to go deeper, that we may rise up and walk, and learn to see again.

Come Holy Spirit!

Give us the grace today to rise up,

To open wide the doors,

To go out of ourselves so as to draw others to Christ,

To be disciples and to make disciples,

That we may walk in your ways joyfully and build up your Church across West Cumbria.

We make this prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.