Column: The very Reverend John Dobson, Dean of Ripon monthly reflection - What would you choose?

​What would you choose? So asked Steve, one of our children’s workers, of several hundred Year 6 pupils packed into the cathedral last week. ​They had come with their teachers for the annual Leavers’ Service, planned for those moving on from city and regional Church of England primary schools. It’s always a moving service as people reflect on their early education – all the things learned and all the friends made, and as they anticipate the next big move in September, usually with some nerves and trepidation. The theme this year was ‘Crossroads’. All the chairs in the nave had been rearranged to face each other across the aisle to create a huge cross. Visitors loved it!
By Zoe Drye
Published 21st Jul 2023, 11:00 BST
The Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson. Year 6 leavers are at a crossroads, and will encounter many more, making the right decision at each crossroad would be important. Picture Tony Johnson.The Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson. Year 6 leavers are at a crossroads, and will encounter many more, making the right decision at each crossroad would be important. Picture Tony Johnson.
The Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson. Year 6 leavers are at a crossroads, and will encounter many more, making the right decision at each crossroad would be important. Picture Tony Johnson.

Year 6 leavers are at a crossroads, and will encounter many more, the message went. And making the right decision at each crossroad would be important. Steve tested out their decision making. He asked which they would choose, a holiday somewhere hot, or somewhere cold. They were divided evenly. Then he asked them which they would choose, to go to school every day of the year or never to go to school again. It was a complement to the teachers to see how many would have opted for school every day.

To one question, one boy answered, ‘I will try to choose to be my best self.’ Now, this was impressive, showing wise insight at a young age. Does the whole of society not benefit when people of all ages have retained sufficient integrity and respect for what is good that they continue to attempt to be their best selves?

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I found myself pondering this same theme on Sunday morning when preaching at West Witton. In these summer weeks, I seem to be out in the parishes quite a lot. After recent visits to Holy Trinity, Skipton and Leeds Minster, I was in this Wensleydale pulpit with a challenging text from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, ‘I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…’ Have you ever felt like that, struggling to do what you know to be right? St Paul goes on, ‘I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members, wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?’ Good heavens! So, even if we have the insight to make good and wise choices, we still might not be able to do the right thing. There can be a sort of inner tension, St Paul is suggesting. Isn’t he right? None of us is perfect. One parson asked members of his congregation to stand up if they thought themselves perfect. After a short pause, old Sam at the back of the church pulled himself up to his feet. There was an audible intake of breath from everyone.

The parson looked down from the pulpit and said, ‘Surely, Sam, you don’t think you are perfect, do you?’ Sam responded, ‘Oh, no, Vicar, of course not. I’m just standing proxy for my wife’s first husband.’ I was pleased that the good people of West Witton enjoyed that little story! ‘I do not understand my own actions…’ Perhaps that is sometimes so when we fail to do the good we choose.’ But carrying on attempting to choose and do the right thing matters. I would say this is so for individuals, communities, and nations. St Paul is actually prompting us to be honest and acknowledge we are not perfect. But instead of giving up, he is encouraging us to accept God’s saving grace and then, like our wise Year 6 boy, choose to be the best self we can be.

Related topics:Church of England