Serve and protect God's creation

 

Reflection 26^th September 2021

 

I don’t know about you but during this last 18 months I’ve valued time with nature more than ever before. Whether that’s been in the garden watching bees and butterflies, or hearing bird song, robins, blackbirds and even an owl. At dusk watching bats flitting around. And, on those occasions when we’ve ventured further afield, we’ve seen hares and birds such as egrets. Even as I wrote this I am looking out of my window and saw two wonderful spiders’ webs on a bush outside.

These moments with nature have been precious. And they have made me feel more and more strongly of the need for us, as God’s people, to be speaking out more loudly about the need to care for God’s planet. For that is our understanding of this world. God who created this planet has lent it to us to care for and nurture.

In Genesis 2:15 we hear that

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. NIV

But the Hebrew can be translated differently. It could be translated as “God put the man in the Garden of Eden to serve and protect it.” The Contemporary English translation captures this well:

¹⁵ The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. CEV

When we think that way, that we are you to serve and protect this planet on God’s behalf, we get a clear understanding that the Earth is not humankind’s to do with as we please. It is God’s. We are God’s servants, and we are called to look after his creation. Think of it this way. A friend gave you a precious possession to look after. We’d do so, wouldn’t we? Why then have we treated our beautiful planet so differently?

Despite what many people think, our planet is not a commodity. It is God’s precious possession. He’s allowed us to use it. But by exploiting it and damaging it we are hurting God. And we are hurting Christ too.

In Colossians 1:17 we are told that:

¹⁷ Christ himself is before all things, and in^[a] him all things hold together.

The Church has tended to move away from thinking this. There has been an avoidance of wanting to place too much emphasis on nature for fear of worshipping nature itself. But as long as we remember that it is through Christ that everything holds together, we understand the importance of nature and our part to play in caring for it and valuing it. All too often people have done things in isolation without realising the wider consequences. If we damage one thing, we damage everything. All parts and all people, all issues are interconnected. In Christ.

For example. For many years there was no concern expressed about the rain forests being cut down. But gradually there has been a realisation that the vast rain forests provide an important part of keeping our planet habitable by taking CO² out of the atmosphere and releasing oxygen. As well as the rain forest proving habit for all manner of creatures and people. If we destroy the rain forests, we destroy the planet.

If you like me enjoy orchestral music, you’ll understand that in an orchestra all instruments have a part to play. Without them all, the orchestra loses its harmony. In fact, the harmony is destroyed. And it is the same with our planet. It matters that God’s creation is being destroyed. If the harmony of God’s creation is disrupted, then all of nature is not together.

The responsibility to care for the planet belongs to all people. But I feel that as Christians we have a special responsibility. In fact, we should be setting an example. We should be seen to be taking a lead in all we do. Whether that means ensuring our investments are ethical, buying toilet paper made from recycled paper, thinking about using green energy providers at home and in church, lobbying our MPs. There are so many ways in which can demonstrate to the wider world that we care and recognise that in serving God we are tending his planet.

Of course, there are many people outside Church who see this as an important issue. Young people especially. I’m sure many of you will have found that your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren are really into this. And rightly so. It is their future we are talking about. They are looking to us to act. I was watching something on television last week and an advert came on for a green initiative targeted at companies to make them greener. It featured children around the world speaking about their concerns. But the one that touched me was a little American boy saying “I’m six! What can I do to sort it? You need to sort it.” Very true.

Caring for the earth is part of our worship. In caring for God’s planet, we are worshipping him and his precious son Jesus. After all, God made the planet for Jesus too!

In caring for our planet, we worship God, both in our attitudes and our actions regarding creation. You may remember how in the creation story in Genesis 1, God creates human beings and, depending on the Bible translation we read, it says that people will rule over the planet and creatures or have dominion over them. I think that way has led to an attitude of exploitation by much of humanity. I much prefer how The Message puts it “Let us make human beings in our image, reflecting our nature, so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle And, yes, Earth itself, Genesis 1 26 – 28 The Message

We are made in God’s image. So why have human beings not cared for God’s creation? We are supposed to be stewards of HIS planet, yet we’ve exploited it and harmed it. However, we must remember that Jesus promised that through him there was a new creation. Through Jesus we as his followers can hope for things to change. But we must be part of the new creation ourselves.

Why communion is special

 

Reflection 15th August 2021

A significant part of my calling to be a minister is that I felt a strong call to be able to preside at communion as the phrase has it. In other words, to be able to dispense communion. And by definition a Methodist “presbyter” to use the official term, is “A Minister of Word and Sacrament”. In other words, I preach and share the Gospel wherever and whenever I can, and I give communion.

Now before I go on, I should say that a question posed very often to me is “Why is it only ministers can serve communion?” The answer is that for time immemorial in most denominations only those who have been ordained can serve communion.

For me being able to preside at communion is a central part of my calling. And when I entered ministry in 2007, I held this in reverence. I took it very seriously and felt that everyone who received communion should treat communion with reverence too. So, when one of my churches told me that it had been agreed that children could receive communion as long as their parents were happy with that, I was not very pleased. How could a child treat this “solemn memorial” as communion is sometimes described in Methodist doctrine, with reverence? Nevertheless, I agreed – for the moment – to go along with it.

The first Sunday I took communion at that church a family came up to the communion rail. Mum and Dad and three children including a 5-year-old. I went along the rail and placed bread in each of their hands. Then I came to 5-year-old Jenny. Jenny looked into my eyes and gave me a beaming smile as she held her hands out. My heart melted. And at that moment I felt ashamed that I’d had negative thoughts about children at communion.

One of my other churches also had the practice of children receiving communion. After my experience with Jenny, I was fine with this. And duly gave communion to several children there. Several months later, after one communion service in which a small boy had dropped his communion glass spilling the “wine”, an elderly lady came up to me after service. “I don’t know we allow children to receive communion. They don’t understand what is going on!” I replied to her “Tell me Mrs Evans. Do you really know what is going on at communion for I don’t, and I doubt you do either!”

The Methodist Catechism says that

 “In The Lord’s Supper Jesus Christ is present with his worshipping people and gives himself to them as their Lord and Saviour. As hey eat bread and drink the wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit they receive him by faith with thanksgiving. They give thanks with the whole Church for Christ’s sacrifice of himself once and for all on the cross. The Lod’ Supper recalls Christ’s Last Supper with his 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.”

 

The Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion is a sacrament, and as a sacrament it is an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace. In other words, it is just like in baptism. When the water is poured over a person's head or into which a person is submerged, it is a sign that the person has been spiritually changed from the inside out, and they have died with Christ so that they might rise with him. In communion the bread and the wine become for us a sign of what Christ is doing inside us, in our very souls.

American Methodist Minister Will Willimon relates the following story. It was a cold Christmas Eve.  Will Willimon, was rushing his family to get into the car.  They were running late for the communion service.  "Where are my sermon notes?  Where is the pulpit robe?  Don't forget to turn off the lights.  Everybody get in the car and be quiet!"

On the way to the church, rushing through the traffic, their 5-year-old- daughter, Harriet, got car sick and vomited.  "Great!"  Will Willimon thought, "If people only knew what preachers go through."  He wheeled into the church parking lot and jumped out of the car, leaving his wife, Patsy, to clean up the car and get the kids into the church… and he thought, "If people only knew what preachers' spouses go through."

His wife, Patsy, led a still unsteady and pale Harriet into the church.  They sat on the back pew in the darkness just in case Harriet got sick again.  Their son, William junior, aged seven, ran down to the front of the church to sit with his grandparents.  Will Willimon threw on his robe, took a deep breath, and started the service.  He made it through the first part of the service and the sermon.  Then came Holy Communion.  Mrs Willimon came forward to receive the sacrament, but she left Harriet on the back pew.  Harriet was still so pale and so weak and so sick. 

But then something beautiful happened.  Seven-year-old William junior got up and came back to the communion rail.  "What on earth is he doing?" wondered his parents.  "He's already received communion once.  What is he up to?"  They watched him race to the back of the church and scoot down the pew toward his sister.  He opened his hands revealing a small piece of bread.  "Harriet," he said, "This is the body of Christ given for you."  Without hesitation, little Harriet picked the bread out of her brother's hands and plopped it into her mouth and said, "Amen."  And in that moment Holy Communion had never been more holy.  Then 7-year-old William patted his 5-year-old sister Harriet on the head.  He smiled.  She smiled.  And then he turned and ran back down to the front of the church to re-join his grandparents. 

Think of that. 7-year-old brother William thought to include Harriet.  Either because she wasn't being included, or he thought it might help her feel better he reached out to his sister with what really mattered — the body of Christ in the form of communion.  There's a name for that. It's called LOVE! 

 

Let's be mindful of why communion is so special. Let's look upon the sacrament with wonder and awe, and bring our sins, and even our doubts, and behold the very presence of Jesus in the humble sacrament of bread and wine, of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

The royal law - Love your neighbour as yourself

 

Reflection Sunday 5^th September 2021

Chapter 2 of the Book of James starts off with a short illustration:

2 My friends, if you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you won’t treat some people better than others. ² Suppose a rich person wearing fancy clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn-out clothes also comes. ³ You must not give the best seat to the one in fancy clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. ⁴ That is the same as saying that some people are better than others, and you would be acting like a crooked judge. James 2: 1 – 4 Contemporary English Version

James is writing to address a problem within the early church in Jerusalem – that preference is shown to rich people at the expense of the poor.  James is addressing those who claim to profess the faith of Jesus, but do not live up to it. It’s a reminder that preference for the rich, rather than the poor, is a betrayal of God’s law, the law of love.

The behaviour described in James’ story isn’t just confined to a first century church. It is typical of human behaviour on so many occasions. All so often the rich and prosperous – especially if they are well dressed and have the outward trappings of wealth – are welcomed in, and the poor are excluded.

As I was writing this I remembered a film called “Pretty Woman”. If you’ve not seen it, it is a story of how a very wealthy man falls in love with a prostitute – Vivian Ward. He saves her from the gutter as it were and then they live happily ever after. In one scene, after they have just met, he decides that if Vivian is to be his companion she needs to dress more smartly. He gives her his credit card and sends her off to some exclusive shops. However, when Vivian walks in to one shop in her scruffy jeans and t shirt, the swanky shop assistant refuses to serve her kind. Vivian is served in another shop, and she returns – beautifully dressed – to the first shop to point out the costly mistake of the shop assistant.

That is how people often are. Societies all too often treat the rich with worldly honour; meanwhile the poor are addressed with scorn and degradation. 2000 years ago, James was able to identify this behaviour going on in the early church.

James pulls no punches in telling those in the early church who favour the rich over the poor that they have done wrong.

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? James 2:5

These words echo Jesus’ teachings in the Beatitudes Matthew 5:3, or in Luke 6:20

James reminds us that God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in respect of faith. God has promised that the poor are the heirs of his kingdom. The view of society – that the rich should be honoured – is completely at odds with the preaching and teaching of Jesus.

And James reminds us that there is a royal law:

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’^[a] you are doing right.

Christianity always has a special message for the poor and marginalised. The Christian message has consistently been that those who matter to no one else, matter immensely to God.

So often we in church are concerned about dwindling numbers. There are many reasons for the decline. But I cannot help feeling at times that one reason is that what the church says goes so far against the values of the world.  When we have a society that idolises the rich and encourages wealth – seemingly at any cost – then our message:

‘Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.

And

‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’

falls on deaf ears. But our message is truth and we must keep proclaiming it. In our own society when we are all rich when compared to most of the world, then people think they don’t need the Gospel. However we as Christians need to challenge the world. We need to keep proclaiming that:

‘Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.

And

‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’

That means we as Christians must be the voices for those who have no voice. That means for example, instead of tutting at refugees coming across the channel in small boats, we should be questioning why they are fleeing their countries in the first place. I use the word refugee. Sometimes the press talk about “Migrants”. Sometimes about “Asylum seekers”. And those terms have taken on a negative image in the press. But first and foremost these are people. They are human beings. We must remember that.

Maybe if we started to think of refugees and migrants as people needing Christ’s love, our attitudes would change? Maybe if we knew their names, their faces, their ambitions and their fears, their loves, what they fled from, then we’d begin to think of them as our neighbours? Maybe we’d challenge our politicians. Maybe we’d try to help them in some way? And maybe we’d be prepared to offer them sanctuary and help instead of rejection?