A school photo that's got me thinking

 

I was recently sent this photograph by my former history teacher at Cwmcarn Comprehensive School, “Mr Jones”. He’s not sure when it was taken but having shared it on Facebook, with a  group of former students, the feeling is that it might be from June 1979. If so, I was aged 15. I’d be 16 the following October. Several of us in the photo are wearing small yellow badges signifying we’d just been made Prefects. You can’t see my badge  but mine says that I’m Head Boy.

By the way, I’m the one in the middle with the rather strange side parting. (Was I hoping this might develop into a haircut that would later be adopted by 1980s synth pop band a Flock of Seagulls? Or possibly Phil Oakey from Human League? There’s no other explanation for it.)

I recalled most of the names in the photo and Facebook has filled in the blanks. Not everyone in the photo is a prefect and we aren’t all in the same form group – 4R. But most in the photo are from 4R. (The tutor group I’d been with since my second year at secondary school.) Mr Jones was our form tutor at the time.

Through social media I’m in touch with many of the people in this photo but there are some that I’ve lost contact with. Particularly two of the “girls” who were in 4R. (The dark haired girl seated who was Head Girl – note the shield badge -  and the girl on the right behind the then on trend Adidas sports bag.) Some in the photo I’ve met in person  over the years at school reunions, and one took the trouble to come and see me when I was ill; an act of kindness I’ve not forgotten. 

One of the “girls” – “Debbie” - purposely doesn’t do social media but we’ve kept in touch for over 40 years through old fashioned letters and phone calls.  She’s seated at the front.

It is a friendship which means neither of us will speak or be in touch with the other for months, then out of the blue Debbie might send me a card or a letter or vice a versa. Or we might end up having an hour long chat on the phone. 

I don’t usually keep cards and letters but I do have one Debbie sent I think a couple of years ago. Inside the card is a message “So blessed you’re in my life”. And Debbie had written “This card struck me as perfect as you must know how much I value your friendship … my only entire  life thread connection that extends right back to our 12 year old selves. I know you’re in touch with many but you are my only contact from then. I find it very comforting”. Very humbling.

Back to the photo. Looking at it has made me think back.

I expect you’ve come across the idea, perhaps in a newspaper column “What would you say to your younger self”. I’ve been thinking about that, looking at this photo. I know my younger self would be surprised that he’s now a Superintendent Methodist minister. My younger self had dreams of becoming a lawyer. He just about scraped through enough “O” levels and “A” levels to get to further education and get a law degree. After that the wheels came off the legal dream.

I’d certainly tell him that just because they’ve made you Head Boy doesn’t mean you can’t study hard! (See the previous paragraph.) Likewise I’d tell him “Yes you do go to chapel on a Sunday, and you do help with Sunday school, l but that doesn’t mean they will gift you your “O” level RE.” (Yes, the irony that I am a Methodist minister with a degree in theology who failed his “O” level RE.)  I’d definitely say to him (or probably the 14 year old about to select O level options) “If you want to study geology instead of Latin do it. Study the things that interest you. Not the things others tell you you ought to study. ”

I know the 15 year old had a crush on several of the girls in the photo (and others not there) but despite his seemingly out going confident exterior he was always shy underneath and never had the nerve to ask a girl out on a date. Would I tell him to “go for it”? Maybe. Then again, the 18 year old in sixth form and the 21 year old at university  was much the same, apart from somehow getting the courage to ask out the woman who is now my wife.

Thanks for the memories Mr Jones.

 

 

My body given for you my blood shed for you

 Based on a sermon preached 18th August 2024 

There are a number of reasons why I entered ordained ministry. But the most important probably is a sense of wanting to share communion. I can’t pinpoint when I sensed this, but I know that near the time I started the process of offering for ministry, I’d attended a communion service and seen the minister giving communion and felt this is something I wanted to do.

Now inevitably this begs the question “Why is it that only ministers can serve communion?” Or to be precise in the Methodist Church only presbyters. So why is it? It is a good question, and I cannot give you a definitive answer really. Though 2000 years of church history show that within a short time after Jesus’ death, the early church recognised that communion should be led by someone who had been ordained to that role.

The Methodist Church is no different in that sense. Our standing orders make clear that within Methodism there are two distinct types of ministries – Deacons and Presbyters. I am a presbyter, and a presbyter is “a person ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament”.

Communion is important to me both as a presbyter and as a person. Thanks to the plan, I lead a communion service nearly every week. And as such I take communion every week. John Wesley would approve. He celebrated communion at least once a week and if possible, every day. Though for me leading communion, celebrating communion is not the same as being given communion by another minister. That feels very special.

During my sabbatical it seemed to be that of the Sunday services we attended, in different places, everyone was a communion. We experienced a very simple service at Cirencester Baptist Church, and we experienced the full High Church Anglican communion complete with incense at Southwark Cathedral in London. And lots in between. All different but all special for me.

By the way, I tend to say “Communion.” It could be the Lord’s Supper. It could be Eucharist. It could be Mass. It is all the same in essence – setting aside the variations in liturgy depending on church tradition. I say “Communion” for it is a word suggesting a coming together, being in fellowship, a uniting. Communion with one another but most importantly with Jesus.

Today we’ve heard a reading from John’s Gospel. It comes at the end of chapter 6 and in a way the whole of chapter 6 is John’s take on the Last Supper. Unlike the other three Gospels John doesn’t specifically mention the Last Supper. But in this chapter, there are plenty of references to it and also to communion. For example, at the start of the chapter we have John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand. And John tells us:

¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; John 6:11 NIV

Words that are reminiscent of the words in the Last Supper accounts. For example, in Luke 22

¹⁹ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, Luke 22: 19 NIV

For much of the rest of chapter 6 John shows how Jesus then talks about him being the bread of life. Then in the passage we’re thinking about Jesus goes on to say this:

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; John 6: 53 - 54 NIV

It’s worth stopping there for a moment and reflecting on Jesus’ words., “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

We’ve heard these words many times. We know we are not literally eating Christ’s body and drinking his blood. The words are symbolic. They were a reminder to the earliest disciples and us that Jesus went to the cross for us. He gave up his body, his own flesh and shed his own blood, so that if we believe in him, we will have eternal life.

A few years ago, now one of the churches I looked after in Swindon had quite a number of small children. Grandchildren of church members. It was accepted that the children could come up for communion and receive bread and wine if their grandparents were happy with this. On one occasion a little boy – I’ll call him Stephen – came up with his grandma. It was the custom there for the congregation – maybe about 15 in all – to form a semi-circle at the front. I’d take the bread round and once we’d all received, we’d eat it. I gave Stephen the bread and he looked around, couldn’t see anyone eating and so I saw him put it in his pocket.

Afterwards a lady came to me (I'll call her Phyllis) and said it was disgusting what Stephen had done. He shouldn’t be allowed to receive communion as he clearly doesn’t know what’s going on. I said to her “Phyllis. Can you tell me what is going on in communion? I don’t mean the symbolism. What is really going on? The mysticism of it. I can’t.”

So what is going on? Firstly, we have communion to remember Jesus. In one of his 44 sermons The ways of obtaining God’s blessing – the means of grace John Wesley said communion, the Lord’s Supper, is a solemn remembrance.

The celebration of the Lord's supper is a way of commemorating his death in the presence of God and the angels, and mankind, by means of visible symbols. You show that you are solemnly remembering his death until he comes in the clouds of heaven.

But it is much more than that.

A few years ago, the Methodist Church produced small booklet called “The Methodist Catechism”. It contains a summary of what Methodists believe. Our theology. The booklet says:

In the Lord's Supper Jesus Christ is present with his worshipping people and gives himself to them as their Lord and saviour.

As they eat the bread and drink the wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they receive him by faith and with Thanksgiving. They give thanks with the whole Church for Christ’s sacrifice of himself once and for all on the cross.

The Lord's Supper recalls Christ’s Last Supper with the disciples. It proclaims Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, unites the participants with him so that they are a living sacrifice in him, and gives them a foretaste of his heavenly banquet.

So now you know! All that is going on when you receive bread and wine. No wonder Phyllis was for once lost for words when I challenged her!

But in fairness to Phyllis, she did sort of have a valid point. For John Wesley in that sermon I’ve mentioned says that when we come to the communion table we must:

“… firstly, ask ourselves whether we understand the purpose of this ritual, and whether we really want to share in the death of Jesus, before we join in breaking bread.”

Of course do we really understand what's going on? 

Wesley goes on to say that we need to remind ourselves that we are sinners. We aren’t worthy. That we are to die to sin and that also as followers of Christ we are called to take up our own crosses.

Nonetheless despite this Wesley says, we come to the table filled with joy and peace for we know that we are forgiven. And Wesley says.

“The Lord's supper is a way planned by God for us to receive his grace.”

Wesley continues:  The eating of that bread and the drinking of that cup are the outward and visible means by which God pours into our souls all the spiritual grace of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit which were purchased for us by the death of Jesus on the cross. So let all of us who truly desire the grace of God eat that bread and drink from that cup.

Communion, the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, whatever we call it is also a reminder to us that Jesus says;

⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. John 6:56 NIV

Through this bread and this wine, we are made one with Jesus.

More than that; eat the bread, and we live.

⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ John 6: 58 NIV 

Eat this Bread and you will live, he promises. But even more than that, eat this Bread and I will abide with you, and you will abide with me Jesus says.

I like that word abide. Abide is an old-fashioned word but it is a comforting word. It suggests images of home, of dwelling, of staying with, of living in and with, of trusting and being there. To abide is to know that no matter what comes our way, we will not be deserted nor left to face whatever the matter is on our own. Christ comes to live within us, to take up residence in our spirits, and promises not to leave.

Whatever your intellectual, emotional, theological, or spiritual experiences with Holy Communion, I pray this sacrament will continue to be for you a holy, life-giving, mysterious magnet, drawing you ever closer to the love of God. God who sent his son that we might never be hungry nor thirsty; this day, tomorrow, and forever and ever.

 

If we see love we see God

 

One of the questions my director Jeff asks me from time to time is “how are things with you and God?” And I answer truthfully. A bit distant. I feel close to Jesus; from time to time, I sense the Holy Spirit and see the Holy Spirit at work in others. But God? God is distant.

Of the three persons of the Trinity, God is the most distant for me. If we think of the Holy Trinity as a triangle, then it is a very narrow pointy one for me, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit at the bottom corners and God a very distant top one. I’m near those bottom points.

Jeff keeps picking away at this point with me. In fact, I know he'll ask about it when we meet back up in a few weeks.

When over a year ago now I was told I was due another sabbatical, and started to think of a title / objective, I knew it had to be about finding God. But how do we find God? It's a point I raised with Jeff. Between us we agreed that God is everywhere, and God is in all situations. It's just a case of being aware, and perhaps purposely looking for God.

Jeff said to me “Have you ever found yourself in a strange town with a letter to post.  It's a strange area but if you purposely go around looking for a post box you will find one. Therefore, I suggest if you purposely go looking for God, seeing signs of God, you will find him and them.”

Of course this brings up some big questions. How do we see God? How do we know God?

In 1 John 4 we get some really helpful guidance and pointers.

Verse 16

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

The key point of this verse is God is love.

With this in mind I started to get an idea of what I wanted to think about on my sabbatical. Looking for signs of God through a camera lens. In other words, while on my travels looking for examples of God's love in the world. And if possible, capturing that in a photograph.

I didn't need to look too far for the first sign of God's love. I live with a sign of God’s love all the time and have done so for almost 38 years of marriage. In the six weeks we were away, we spent 42 days together that's 1008 hours together all the time. Well not quite all the time - we didn't do everything together!

But my point is we spent a lot of time in each other’s company. And God’s love was there right next to me.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

But what signs of God did I see outside?

I kept remembering Jeff’s post-box analogy. In other words, we'll see God's love if we look for it.

I got a reminder of this in the words of a book I read during sabbatical. Perhaps surprisingly it wasn't some great theological tome. Rather it was in a crime novel I picked up in an Oxfam shop. It was a novel written by Robert Galbraith - the pseudonym of JK Rowling. The book was called “Career of evil.” You may think it would be hard to find words of advice on looking for God in such a book. But in the book the detective - Cormoran Strike – says to himself “You can find beauty nearly anywhere if you stop to look for it.”

I took this to mean that in the beauty we can find anywhere, if we stop to look for it, we will also find God’s love.

One of the first expeditions I made to go and seek signs of God, was to Bath. And I didn't have to wait long. I was sat outside a Costa Coffee near the entrance to the Roman baths. A busker was playing the trumpet and he started to play “What a wonderful world” the song made famous by Louis Armstrong. It is a song I have always liked even from a being a small boy.

A few moments later, as the busker carried on playing, a little girl perhaps three or four came skipping down the street holding the hand of a lady who I assume was grandma. Grandma and the little girl were giggling, and grandma was singing Lou Lou skip to the Lou skip to the Lou my darling. There was a sign of love in the joy of the little girl and in the smile on the grandma's face.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

I have no idea whether grandma and granddaughter know God. Nor the trumpeter for that matter. But God knows them, and God's love is in them as God's love is in us all.

I'd identified certain places I wanted to revisit on our travels as they had some significance for me in my faith journey. Therefore, our itinerary made sure we went to these places.

I believe Yorkshire people refer to their county as God's own country. I've always thought this a bit presumptuous. When we all know that Wales is God's own country. Even so Yorkshire has played a part in my journey of faith. It was at Ripon cathedral I first felt the call to preach back in 1991. My “John Wesley heart being strangely warmed moment” I suppose. We revisited the cathedral this time and I sat roughly where I thought I'd sat that day back in 1991 and said a prayer. A prayer of thanks for being called to this ministry and a prayer asking for God's help as I continue it. But I can't say I felt God's presence particularly strongly in that place.

Earlier that day we'd been to Fountains Abbey. It is a beautiful tranquil place. And thinking of those words said by Cormoran Strike again, “you can find beauty nearly anywhere if you stop to look for it” God was certainly there. But all I could think of as we wandered around the ruins and the beautiful grounds, was how the vision of the 13 monks from Saint Mary's in York who had established this place in 1132, had been lost. They had purposely left the extravagant and rowdy living of the monastery in York, seeking to live a devout and simple lifestyle elsewhere. To be closer to God.

But over time the Abbey became rich off the back of wool production, lead mining cattle rearing horse breeding and quarrying. All from lands given to the Abbey. And although the fortunes of the Abbey were reduced due to the Black Death, and raids from the Scots, money was still found to build the magnificent buildings we see in ruin today.

I couldn't help but feel that those original 13 would have despaired to see how their vision was lost. How God may have become more distant.

But if I did not glimpse God in the buildings of Ripon and Fountains Abbey, I kept glimpsing him at work through people.

In the love shown to us by friends we visited in the Lake District. Friends who took us out for a very nice lunch as their treat. The same friends who were incredibly supportive in all manner of ways as we entered ministry. The same friends who in fact prompted me to offer for ministry - even though it took five or six years for me to answer God’s call.

And we saw signs of God in friends we caught up with in Scotland. Signs of God through the love one shows to the other as he cares for her.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

If I didn’t see signs of God in Ripon Cathedral or Fountains Abbey there were two other places, we visited where I saw signs of God and felt his presence.

Firstly, on Iona. This was the third time I have been there as an adult and as before I found it to be “a thin place” where God is very present. Within half an hour of us being there I had an experience of God’s love that I cannot put into words. I suppose a sense of being humbled but also a sense of being loved and a sense of joy and peace.

And in Iona Abbey on Sunday morning, I had an experience of being part of God’s family like never before as with several hundred others I received communion.

I must say communion featured a number of times during my sabbatical in all kinds of ways, from low church at Cirencester Baptist. to very High Church at Southwark Cathedral. And I sensed God in each one.

And it was at another communion service this time at Malmesbury Abbey that God’s love was shown. The church was busy – there was a large Christening party as well as usual worshippers. Yet before the service one of the priests came over to us and said ”You’re visitors, aren’t you? Welcome”. And during the communion the other priest when giving us the bread and wine said a prayer for us both.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

In small Northumbrian village called Warkworth we went into the pretty parish church of St Lawrence. But I was immediately stuck by God being there and his people following him. They support a foodbank in Newcastle, they’d just been awarded Bronze eco church status no mean feat for such an old church. And from the large poster in the entrance vestibule, they have a very active Messy Church for children.

So, what have I learned? What do I bring back into ministry?

As I was putting these thoughts down on paper the Bible passage from John’s Gospel came to mind particularly these verses:

⁷ If you know me, you will know^[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

⁸ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ ⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

I’ve realised that I have been beating myself up about not knowing God, about not seeing signs of God. I’ve realised that in speaking to Philip, Jesus made it clear – if we know Jesus, if we have “seen Jesus”, if we have experienced his love, then we have “seen God” we have experienced God. For God is love. Love most evident in his son.

Over this last couple of weeks we have seen plenty of hatred directed by racists thugs intent on causing trouble. You may have an opinion on the rights or wrongs of offering homes to refugees and asylum seekers. But I hope you’d agree that the actions of these mobs is wrong. They are trying to get their point over through criminality and terrorism. That is just evil.

Yet  “you can find beauty nearly anywhere if you stop to look for it.” One such moment was a photo I saw of an elderly Muslim gentleman, the morning after a riot, taking tea and biscuits to weary looking police officers.

In Southport people came out the next day to clean up the streets, Builders came and rebuilt the wall of the mosque.

In Middlesborough a man originally from Nigeria, Brendan Nwabichie who is working as a carer while he puts himself from university. Brendan Nwabichie returned from a 12-hour shift to find the car he needed for work and to get to university had been burned out by rioters. He said he "went to the bathroom and cried".

A fundraising page set up by his employer, Clare's Care UK, has raised more than £37,000 for a new car.

In Liverpool a fundraiser launched by a lady called Alex McCormick, to help rebuild the library destroyed by rioters has so far raised over £200,000.

A Scottish Baptist minister called Oswald Chambers said this:

God and love are synonymous. Love is not an attribute of God, it is God; whatever God is, love is. — Oswald Chambers

If we see love, we see God.

UK civil unrest August 2024

 In the images you will find a letter I've written today to the churches in the North Wiltshire Methodist people. 

The Merchant of Venice 1936 / 2024

 

I was first introduced to Shakespeare by my English teacher Mrs Grocott. This was at Cwmcarn Comprehensive back in the late 1970s and for “O” level English literature we studied the Merchant of Venice. I had a difficult relationship with English Literature as a subject. I enjoyed the plays (we also studied An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestly and She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith). But the novels didn’t do much for me (one was The Pearl by John Steinbeck) and as for the poetry. It left me cold. So much so that I failed my O level.

But as I’ve said Mrs Grocott introduced me to Shakespeare and for that I’m grateful.

If you’ve never seen the Merchant of Venice, what follows contains spoilers.

Compared to some Shakespeare plays on the face of it the Merchant is an easy one. The story, or should that be stories, are straightforward. Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont. But he’s squandered all his money. So, he asks his friend Antonio – the Merchant of the title – for a loan. Antonio’s assets are all tidied up in various trading ships. He’s asset rich and cash poor. Nonetheless he agrees to help Bassanio and Antonio goes a to a Jewish money lender – Shylock – for a loan.

But the loan comes with a heavy price. If Antonio defaults Shylock wants from Antonio

an equal pound
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.

Antonio agrees thinking all will be well when his ships come back to port. But they don’t, and Shylock calls in the loan. Antonio and Shylock go to court for Shylock to have his penalty clause enforced. Shylock wants his “pound of flesh” which in reality means Antonio will be killed.

At this point in the play Shakespeare uses one of his tried and tested plot devices – women disguised as men. In this instance Portia, who is now Bassanio’s wife, disguises herself as a lawyer brought in to advise on the law. She concludes that the contract is valid and yes Shylock  is entitled to his pound of flesh. However, she points out that there is nothing in he contract about any of Antonio's blood being shed. Therefore, Shylock can only have his pound of flesh if no blood is spilled in the taking of the pound of flesh.

Bassanio offers Shylock the money for the loan which Shylock reluctantly agrees to (having previously refused and insisted on the pound of flesh.) But Portia also prevents Shylock from doing this, on the ground that he has already refused it "in the open court". She cites a law under which Shylock, as a Jew and therefore an "alien", having attempted to take the life of a citizen, has forfeited his property, half to the government and half to Antonio, leaving his life at the mercy of the Judge. 

Shylock is bankrupted and the play ends happily ever after with Bassanio and Portia happily married and Antonio alive. (OK, there’s more to it than this. DO NOT rely on this blog as an aid to revision.)

For many years the play has come under scrutiny for antisemitism. Certainly, it can be interpreted that way from the way Shylock is treated and referred to. And in some productions Shylock has become a caricature of a Jew. (In Nazi Germany the Merchant of Venice was staged this way.)

However, Shylock can be portrayed in other ways. He can be portrayed as a sympathetic character. A Jew who is persecuted for his faith and is pushed to breaking point by anti-semites because of his faith.

Early on in the play Shylock is challenged about why he wants a pound of flesh from Antonio. Shylock says:

“… it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and
hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses,
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my
bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine
enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew.”

And this brings me to a production of the Merchant of Venice by the Roal Shakespeare Company at Stratford on Avon. It was entitled “The Mercnat of Venice 1936” and the actor and writer Tracy Ann Oberman appeared as Shylock. It was set in the East End of London in 1936 at the time of the rise of Oswald Mosely’s fascist Black Shirts.

Shylock was portrayed as a hard businesswoman. But one who has been pushed to demand his pound of flesh, as revenge for the way Antonio and his Black Shirt wearing friends had treated him and other Jewish people.  (And let’s not forget, was Shylock really expecting he’d get his revenge? What were the chances of all of Antonio’s fortunes being lost at sea?)

Even “fair Portia” was portrayed as antisemitic. Initially, in the way Portia treated Shylock’s daughter Jessica (who had eloped with the Christian Lorenzo taking some of Shylock’s wealth with her.) Then at court. (Portia was portrayed as someone like Lady Diana Mitford - wife of Moseley, and in her own right a fascist and Hitler sympathiser.) In this production by what might be termed “the establishment” joins forces to even deny Shylock justice in a court of law. No separation of powers here. (As an aside, just a few days after seeing this production, the Conservative MP Jacob Rees – Mogg demanded that courts no longer be separate but should be subject to Parliament. https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/popular-conservatives-rees-mogg-attacks-lady-hale-and-calls-for-neutering-of-supreme-court/5118671.article)

I am writing this not a review of the play (which was excellent by the way with Ms Oberman on top form.) But because I was affected by words of Shakespeare said by Shylock.

It is a continuation of the speech I’ve quoted earlier:

Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge.

Words reminding us that all people are the same regardless of their race, their faith, their gender or sexuality. Whether Israeli or Palestinian.

As a sixteen year old this was one of the many quotes from the play we had to memorise and regurgitate. It is one that stuck – though at the time I’m not sure I realised the importance of it. I do now.

This production will transfer to the West End on 15^th February. If you can go and see it.

Where are the prophets?

 

The Book of Deuteronomy is a second giving of the law to Moses. The law is given immediately prior to the crossing of the river Jordan and Israel’s entry into the land promised to its ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a second giving as the first giving was set out in the terms of the covenant concluded between Moses and God on Mount Sinai, on behalf of the people of Israel, immediately after their delivery from slavery in Egypt.

In Deuteronomy Moses is fleshing out the law already given.

One of the themes that emerges from Deuteronomy is that once the people of Israel have finally crossed the Jordan, the leadership of Israel would be made up of four distinct groups – Kings, Judges, Priests and Prophets. And in the next few books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, we see these groups featuring.

But this morning I want us to think about one of those groups, the prophets.

Broadly speaking from this time onwards, and as the people entered the promised land, prophets figured largely. We only have to look at the Hebrew Bible to see them – great prophets such as Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah, then Daniel and Ezekiel; and others who are termed “minor prophets” such as Amos, Hosea and Micah.

Prophets consistently, and regularly, appeared. They were often – though not always – charismatic, eloquent speakers and preachers. To outsiders and opponents, prophets appeared to be self - appointed speakers, but to their followers they were seen as God  - appointed revealers of truth.

Prophets were generally held in high regard because they shared truth from God alone. They presented themselves as the very mouth of God to speak to Israel.

But throughout the time of the prophets there was an important bench mark. And that is what Moses said in Deuteronomy 18:15

¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. Deuteronomy 18: 15

raise up for you a prophet like me

In other words, for a prophet to be regarded as authentic, the prophet needed to be “like Moses”. They had to be native Israelites and the important part being that prophets must be like Moses, meaning that the teaching of a prophet must accord with the words and spirit of Moses.

As Christians of course, we interpret the words spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 15 as a pointer to the coming of Christ. An idea that comes up in Matthew 16:13-20

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Though when Jesus presses Peter

¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

The words of Moses point to Jesus who was greater than a prophet of course.

Though interestingly in his gospel John draws several analogies between Jesus and Moses. But that’s for another time.

What is a prophet?

Chambers dictionary tells us that a prophet is “someone who speaks on behalf of a deity; Someone who proclaims a divine message; an inspired teacher, preacher or poet; Someone who speaks on behalf of a group, movement or doctrine; A foreteller, whether claiming to be inspired or not;”

That’s what a prophet is. But Where are the prophets now? Or did God stop using prophets after Jesus? Well clearly not. We might refer to the likes of Paul as an Apostle but he proclaimed a divine message. And over the centuries countless other Christians have been prophetic too.

The trouble is I feel we tend to associate prophets with the dramatic. And in our age sadly many of those who claim to be prophets are no such things. For example you may have seen some news reports a few weeks ago about Pastor T B Joshua who ran a mega church in Lagos Nigeria. He claimed to be a prophet but his “ministry” involved the sexual abuse of many vulnerable women. 

I like something American minister Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ in a run down area of Chicago said “There ain’t no prophet in the written record who is a pastor of a megachurch”.

It's worth remembering once again those words spoken by Moses

¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me

Prophets must be like Moses. And I would add as Christians, we should expect prophets to share the message and values of Jesus Christ. Being like Moses, or being like Christ, means that a prophet’s words must be like the words and spirit of Moses and Jesus.

Where are the prophets?

I suspect there are few here this morning old enough to remember Simon & Garfunkel’s song “The Sound of Silence”. If you do remember it that song contained a line “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls”. I don’t know what Simon & Garfunkel meant by that line. But for me it has been an indication that we can find words of prophecy in unlikely places and spoken by unlikely people. In other words, God can speak to us in ways we may find unlikely, through people we may find unlikely. After all, he spoke to Moses through a burning bush which is hardly a normal form of communication – even back then!

I would suggest that God can sometimes use people to be prophets even if they don’t know it. You may have views on the climate emergency affecting the world now. But someone like Greta Thunberg I’d suggest is a prophet. She brings a message that is a reminder from God that we as his people are custodians of his planet. Likewise Sir David Attenborough whose Blue Planet programme featuring plastic waste in the oceans did so much to raise this issue.

And talking of the words of the prophets on subway walls, the artist Banksy’s paintings have often said so much. Such as this one in the West Bank of Palestine:

But if we accept that prophets can be unlikely people, in unlikely places and at unlikely times, how do we determine if someone really is bringing us a word from God? A God - given insight?

As Jesus says in Matthew 7

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

We go back to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy God will raise up for you a prophet like me. Is the “prophet” speaking in manner that is compatible with Moses or more importantly compatible with Jesus? That is the test.

The second factor for acknowledging a true prophet, as far as the passage in Deuteronomy is concerned is whether the prophet’s messages should be proved true by the actual outcome of events.

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.

Of course this is rather unhelpful; since prophecies might take the form of warnings, it may be of little assistance to find that such warnings were true when it was too late to heed the message!

Didache, a short book on Christian behaviour and church practice from the 2nd century tell us “The false and the genuine prophet will be known by their ways. If a prophet teaches the truth but does not practise what he teaches, he is a false prophet.”

But what of now? Where are the prophets now?

Antoinette Doolittle 19^th century American writer said: 

“every time has its prophets as guiding stars; They are the burning candles of the Lord to light the spiritual temple on earth, for the time being. When they have sown their work they will pass away; But the candle sticks will remain, and other lights will be placed on them.”

Who replaces the prophetic candles that have burned out? Who takes their place on the prophetic candlesticks?

Where are the prophets? Look around you. Here are the prophets. Each one of us can be prophetic. We can and must speak of Christlike values. We can and must voice our concerns at injustices.

As Christians we are called to be prophetic. To speak into the age we live in. To speak up for the values of Christ and challenge those things and values that aren’t Christ like.

Cardinal Basil Hume Archbishop of Westminster once said:

 “whenever the poor are afflicted or neglected, or whenever human freedom and dignity is not respected, then the church has a duty to sound a prophet’s note, and it must be prepared to be unpopular on matters which concern politicians as well.”

Where are the prophets?

 

Banksy photo: https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art/banksy-in-palestine-a-look-at-the-street-artist-s-work-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank-1.1031618

Yet in the dark streets shineth

 

The Christmas story begins in darkness. There was the darkness of oppression, for God's people were a conquered people. They were a beaten and a defeated people. There was the darkness of persecution. Indeed, it was a despised universal taxation that brought the participants in the story together on that fateful night. There was the darkness of disillusionment. There was an ever-increasing number who felt that violence, not faith, was the most effective path. Yes, on that first Christmas, the mood was one of despair and resignation.

And thus, it was then and thus it is now. We too live in a world of darkness. There are wars and rumours of wars, hunger and unemployment, racism, loneliness, and a sense of emptiness. I don't have to tell any of you about the darkness, because in one form or another, at one time or another, it has touched the life of each person here. We all know about darkness. We might think the Bible would reassure us. But it confirms there is darkness and will be darkness at times in our lives.

But it also tells us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.” John’s Gospel records: The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. So we come together to sing again the words: Yet, in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light.

O little town of Bethlehem was written in 1868 by the Rector of Holy Trinity Church Philadelphia Phillips Brooks. He was inspired to write it following a visit to the Holy Land three years earlier, when, on Christmas Eve he had stood on the traditional spot of the shepherds’ fields and looked out over Bethlehem. Afterwards he’d joined in a five-hour church service and had been captivated by the powerful singing. He wrote:

“I stood in the old church close to the spot where Jesus was born. The whole church was ringing hour after hour with splendid hymns of praise to God. It seemed as if I could hear voices, I knew well telling each other of the wonderful night of the Saviour’s birth.”

The words of the carol capture the Christian truth that Bethlehem became a meeting place for all human longings (“the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”) And God’s response to human concerns is through giving us Jesus (“the wondrous gift”). And yet Earth remains silent and unaware of the enormity of what is happening. It seems that only the stars in the night sky and the angels know what is going on (“O morning stars together proclaim the holy birth”; “we hear the Christmas angels”).

The carol breathes silence and stillness. It asks to be sung in hushed reverential tones. After all we are told most people are sleeping and the streets are silent. But the arrival of God on earth in the person of his son Jesus causes the silent stars to break into song. Jesus, the holy child, the dear Christ – that is our saviour, is the wondrous gift. He is Emmanuel which means God with us.

“O little town of Bethlehem” tries to capture the mystery and meaning of what was happening on that first Christmas. The first Christmas begins in a specific geographical location – Bethlehem. But it ends in a spiritual place – our hearts. “So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven”.

But were Phillips Brooks to visit Bethlehem this year he would find it a very different place. For the Christmas celebrations this year will be muted. There will be no Christmas lights in Bethlehem this year. I’m not sure the old church he spoke of will be ringing hour after hour with splendid hymns of praise to God.

A few weeks ago the Catholic newspaper The Tablet reported that:

“The main churches in Bethlehem have agreed to cancel all non-religious Christmas celebrations this year in protest at the violence in Gaza, where deaths have reportedly passed 11,000.

The town, which lies six miles from Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, will only host religious ceremonies, with the annual nativity scene and Christmas tree deemed “inappropriate”.

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem called upon the faithful to forgo any “unnecessarily festive activities” during the Christmas season this year and to “stand strong” with those facing the afflictions of war.”

Inevitably some have seen this as supporting Hamas. But I think that is wrong. The church leaders in Jerusalem have made it quite clear they are calling for peace. And calling for peace should not be seen as taking sides. The atrocities committed by Hamas in October were horrific. But whatever the right and wrongs of what the Israelis are doing in Gaza, undoubtedly innocent people are being injured and killed.

To remember all those who have died in the Israel/Palestine conflict, Methodist churches across the country were called upon to leave their second Advent candle unlit this year.

The call not to light the candle, which represents peace, on the second Sunday in Advent (10 December) and on subsequent Sundays, follows the news that celebrations to mark Christmas in the Holy Land will be subdued this year.

The Revd David Hardman, Methodist Liaison Officer, Jerusalem, is currently fulfilling his role from the UK and remains in touch with those living in the Middle East.  David explained, “Our Christian colleagues in Bethlehem tell us that this Advent and Christmas the lights that normally adorn the birth place of Jesus will remain unlit in memory of those who have been killed in the current conflict. We are inviting Methodist churches in Britain to leave the second candle of Advent unlit to serve as a reminder that we stand in solidarity with all who are suffering in the Holy Land.”

I had my misgivings about this. I understood fully the need to stand in solidarity. But to me our message is about Christ the Light of the World coming into the darkness.

The good news of Christmas is that in the midst of a deep darkness there came a light, and the darkness was not able to overcome that light. It was not just a temporary flicker. It was an eternal flame. “Yet in the dark street shineth and everlasting light” We need to remember that. There are times, in the events of the world and in the events of our own personal lives, that we feel that the light will be snuffed out. But the Christmas story affirms that whatever happens, the light still shines.

We need to hear these words this Christmas as the families of war-torn Israel both Jewish and Palestinian are overwhelmed with grief. We need to hear these words as the families of Ukraine and Russia are suffering this season. The darkness is real. But because of Christmas, it will never get so dark that you can't see the light. Into the darkness God sent an eternal light.

As you walk outside this evening, notice that the darkness does not intrude upon the light. On the contrary, it is the light that intrudes upon the darkness. Light is always stronger than darkness. And the forces of light are stronger than the forces of darkness.

The greatest need in our mixed up and confused world this day is to let people know that there is hope. That life is worth living no matter what. We should not be discouraged to the point of despair. In Jesus Christ we shall cling to the hope that life overcomes death, that love conquers hate, and that truth will prevail over falsehood. We are the people of light, and we must share that light in a dark and a dreary land.

Why do you think that God chose to use a star to guide the Wisemen to Bethlehem? I am convinced that it was not by accident. It was an eternal reminder to them and to us that in a sea of darkness, it is the light that keeps us going forward. It is the light of hope and the light of Christ that leads the way and dispels the gloom. It is my prayer that the light of Christmas will shine and enlighten the dark corners of your life and that you, too, will discover the pathway to Bethlehem.

 With acknowledgements to Sermons.com for inspiration for this