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 

You never know what you might lose in the Casino

 

As I’ve referred to several times before in this blog, 2^nd September 2016 was the day my world changed thanks to being diagnosed with a “Triple A” (abdominal aortic aneurysm – a phrase I have to Google every time.) For the first two or three years that date always made me feel sad and depressed. Like a reverse birthday. Now, seven years on, I don’t give it much thought.

One of the consequences of what happened was I became disabled. The blood supply to my right leg was interrupted and I had a deep vein thrombosis. The nerves in the right leg became damaged and have never fully recovered. Therefore I am left with limited movement in the right leg. It’s no longer much a of an issue. It was it is.

I now walk with two sticks. Well I should say when I am out and about. Bearing in mind I can’t walk far anyway, outside I use two sticks as it feels safer. I can manage indoors with one stick and this dear reader brings me to the subject of this blog.

We’ve recently been on holiday in France. We were staying in a lovely house on the Normandy coast near the small town of Port Bail.

One evening as I was getting ready for bed, as part of my nightly routine I went to retrieve my walking sticks. You see dear reader at home I get round the house either with one stick, usually (but not always) leaving the spare stick propped up in the hall. However, sometimes I can manage without a stick – think of toddlers learning to walk by moving from one piece of furniture to the other and you get the idea. This then means come bedtime when I need one stick to go upstairs there can be a game of “hunt the other walking stick" if I've not left the spare in the hall.

I got into a similar pattern in France. Therefore, this particular evening heading for bed, I went to retrieve both sticks to take both with me so I knew where they were. But I could only find one. I looked around the house in the places I might have left the other one – the bathroom, the kitchen, on the patio,  - and I couldn’t find it. No problem I must have left it in the car. I remembered helping carrying some shopping from the car that afternoon. I must have left one stick behind so that I had a free hand,

A beautiful late summer morning dawned, and I set off in the car to go the boulangerie to get bread and croissants for breakfast, as you do in France. I opened the car expecting to find the other stick but it wasn’t there. Mysteriuex (or should it be mysterieuse?)

Coming back to the house I realised that I must have left the other stick at the Casino.

Now, before you all clutch your pearls, and have a fit of the vapours at the thought of a Methodist minister being in a Casino, I should explain. The small super market in Port Bail is run by a company called Casino. (I think possibly because it’s a gamble whether you’ll find what you want.) We’d been to the Casino the previous afternoon. I vaguely remembered leaving stick number 2 at the check out propped up as I helped unload the shopping trolley.

To my shame, my French is limited. I didn’t pass O level French. We didn’t speak much with the focus on reading and writing. Consequently I have quite a good vocabulary and can read fairly well. But that’s it. As a result I wasn’t sure of the French for “I think I left my walking stick here yesterday”. Google is our friend and I was told the phrase is “Je pense que j’ai laisse ma canne ici hier”.

On previous visits to the Casino one of the young men on the checkouts spoke pretty good English so of course I was hoping he’d be there when I went back. Non. There was another young chap. Oh well. “Bonjour monsieur. Je pense que j’ai laisse ma canne ici hier” I proclaimed in my best Officer Crabtree French accent. He looked blankly at me. Resisting the urge to explain very loudly in slow English, I tried again. “Je pense que j’ai laisse ma canne ici hier”. Another blank look. Conscious of the queue of bewildered French people behind me, I showed the young man the screen shot of the phrase on my phone. The light dawned. Une epiphanie.

Off he went to hunt for the stick. Firstly searching for it  under a pile of boxes for customers to use for their groceries. Then disappearing into a back office. Both with no luck. Oh well. Comme ci comme ca. “Merci for trying”.

But then. What is this sticking out from a shelf near his checkout? Une canne! Voila! Incroyable!

The young man proudly presents me with the walking stick. Tears swelling in his eyes. The crowd behind me applauding! La Marseillaise playing over the Casino loud speaker system.

I don’t have the heart to tell him – or indeed the French – that this wasn’t my stick. But anyway c’est la vie. Never mind at least I have two sticks. (And the French stick is adjustable like my own. It even looks similar.)

But of course now I feel slightly guilty. What if a French person comes in looking for their stick and I have taken it? Well it is a Casino. It’s the luck of the draw, la chance de tirage au sort as I believe they say.

Two days later my wife is hoovering in the sitting room of the house. She lifts the cover of the sofa and what does she find? My missing stick. Yes dear reader. It wasn’t in the Casino at all. It was hiding beneath the sofa. Sous la canape. (Who knew the French had taken the word we use to describe little tasty bits of food to describe a sofa?)

Now I have three sticks and even more guilt. In my mind I see an old French lady hobbling along la rue using a stale baguette as a stick, accompanied by the music of Jean de Florette.

I must do something. I return to the Casino.

If my French wasn’t up to asking if they’ve found my stick, it certainly isn’t up to explaining “I was here a couple of days ago as I thought I’d lost my stick. You gave me a stick but it wasn’t the right one. Anyway I now have found my stick elsewhere so I am bringing the French stick back.”

I hatch a cunning plan. A ruse du guerre if you will. I will go into the Casino and “accidentally” leave the French stick behind.

I wander in. “Bonjour mesdames et monsieurs” lifting mon chapeau. I casually approach les fruits et legumes section and browse the selection of pommes and pommes de terre, before nonchalantly leaning the French stick up against the counter. I glance around. No one is watching and I wander off, British stick in one hand, French stick left behind and head for the sortie. Mission accomplie.

NB I know some of the French spelling should have accents. But I'm not sure how to access those on my clavier d'ordinateur

Trains and evangelism

 

A few years ago, a friend of ours, Liz, was 50. As part of her celebrations Liz set herself the challenge of walking around the Imber Range Perimeter path on Salisbury Plain. It is 30 miles long. But Liz decided to do it in sections and invited friends to join her to walk a section and then go a for a meal afterwards. On one particular day my wife Anne and I agreed to meet Liz. At last minute Anne couldn’t get out of work so Liz and I set off from Tilshead to Bratton. I have very fond memories of that day. (It proved to be the last occasion I was able to do such a walk due to my subsequent illness.)

Liz and I tramped along chatting about this and that. Stopping every now and again to admire the view or take a photo.

Towards the end of the walk, I stopped and said “Ooh. I can hear a train. It’s a Class 66”. (I need to explain that a Class 66 is a type of engine that pulls freight. And they have a distinctive sound.) Liz smiled and said, “I didn’t realise you liked trains too.”. Since then to Anne’s bemusement, Liz and I occasionally talk trains and model railways. (Though in my defence Liz is more of a train geek than I am*.)

The reason I mention this is that Liz, Anne and I had known each other for quite some time but until that walk, and my (correctly) identifying a Class 66, Liz and I did not know we had this railway thing in common.

I can’t help but wonder how often followers of Jesus don’t talk about their faith to others? To be evangelists?

Evangelism has unfortunately become a dirty word to many people. People know it exists, but they associate it with old fashioned tent revival meetings, street preachers and fundamentalists.

This is unfortunate because at its heart evangelism is the work of those who are the messengers of good news. The word “Evangelist” itself has the same roots as “angel”. And surely if ever there was a time for people needing good news it is now?

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, we read these words:

¹⁴ How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them? ^{15 And} how can anyone tell them without being sent by the Lord? The Scriptures say it is a beautiful sight to see even the feet of someone coming to preach the good news. Romans 10: 14 – 15 CEV

So go on. Be ready to mention your faith. It can’t be half as embarrassing as admitting you’re a train geek!

* The fact that I have a model Class 66 on my bookshelf and Liz recently gave a me a book about Class 66 engines as an early birthday present does not mean I'm a geek.

Leading like Moses

 

Pentecost 2023

We think of Pentecost as the day we think of the coming of the Holy Spirit through a mighty wind, of speaking in tongues, being on fire with energy and love of God or even of acting as if drunk! These are all things we hear in the story of Pentecost in Acts. Consequently, that’s how we tend to think of Spirit filled people behaving or being.

But today I want us to look at a passage from the Book of Numbers Numbers: 11: 24 – 30 as the passage shows us how God’s Spirit can work in other ways too.

In order to get to grips with the passage, we need to look a bit further back in the story.

Moses has led the Israelites from Egypt into the wilderness. They have been there for many years and in chapter 11 of Numbers we are told that the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, Numbers 11:1 God was angry, and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the Lord burned against them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Numbers 11:1

Moses intervened and God’s anger subsided. But people still complained.

⁴  ‘If only we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶ but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’

Once again God became angry. But this time Moses has also had enough. He is at his wits end. He has been faithful to God, he has led the people out of slavery in Egypt, he has been leading them through the wilderness as God directed. But the people still moan and complain.

¹⁰ Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased.

Moses was displeased. What an understatement. He is fed up with the people moaning and groaning. (How many church leaders can relate to this I wonder?) But Moses is also displeased with God.

 ¹¹ So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, “Give us meat to eat!” ¹⁴ I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’

Understanding Moses’ exhaustion, the Lord decides to act. And in doing so God demonstrates to Moses and to us something really important. If we try to respond to the crying of the needs of the world as individuals, we will soon find ourselves in despair.

God tells Moses to choose seventy people among the elders of Israel to help Moses carry the burden of leading the people. God then gives these elders some of the spirit that God has given Moses to enable them to fulfil their leadership roles.

The Holy Spirit means we do not have to carry a burden on our own. The Pentecost experience and the gift of the Holy Spirit mean that we always have a guide willing to lead and always be present in every circumstance. (Church Leaders take note – we do not have to carry everything on our own. Though I accept that’s easier said than done sometimes.)

Having chosen his seventy elders, and the seventy having been touched by the Holy Spirit, Moses can now be assured that he is not on his own. There are others who can help him lead the people of Israel.

Things are looking better.

But then we are told that the Spirit rested upon two men who had remained in the camp

²⁶  one named Eldad, and the other named Medad,

And they too began to prophesy and in so doing take some the weight from Moses.

Fair enough we might say. The Holy Spirit moves where the Holy Spirit moves. However,

 ²⁸  Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men,^[c] said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’

Moses realises that Joshua is driven by jealousy and Moses refuses to do as Joshua said. In fact, Moses says:

Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’

Words that remind me of John Wesley

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
― John Wesley

Of course, Joshua’s jealous reaction is something many of us will have seen in church life. Joshua may well have been motivated by a sense of possessiveness. He didn’t want someone else taking over his turf. Sadly, in the life of the Church how often do people put up barriers to keep others out so that they can keep their own self-importance?

Or perhaps Joshua just didn’t want someone else sharing the limelight with Moses and himself. Joshua was Moses second in command and perhaps had a sense of taking on the role of leader from Moses in due course. And he is protective of his position accordingly. Again, in a church context often people are reluctant to share a leadership role or even give it up so as not to lose the coveted public attention they might receive when being the sole person in charge.

It is noticeable that Moses doesn’t react that way. He doesn’t seem to mind that others are now in leadership positions with him. Nor does he object when God took some of the spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders; 

We could easily interpret this as meaning that Moses gave up some of his authority when some of God’s spirit was taken from him.

It would be a very human reaction. We who have been given much of something want to hold on to it. We do not wish it to be shared. We do not wish to relinquish it. It explains how some nations are more abundant than others. It explains how the rich get richer and the poorer get poorer.

If we apply this understanding to our spiritual resources, we can believe there is only so much to go around and therefore we must protect what we have as we wouldn’t want to lose it all. With this mindset churches become selfishly protective of their resources whether that is financial resources or people.

Moses wasn’t diminished when some of God’s spirit was taken from him. I think a good way of thinking about this is – that the gift of the spirit is like the gift of wisdom. When a person shares wisdom the act of sharing that wisdom take nothing away from the giver. Rather it is a like using one candle to light another candle. The first candle doesn’t lose its light because it shares with a second candle. In fact, the light becomes brighter through the sharing.

In taking his spirit from Moses I think we can see it as God sharing the wisdom and experience Moses has gained with the seventy who in turn will pass this on to others. When leaders share their skills, authority and resources with others, this does not diminish their effectiveness. Rather it enhances it. And in the sharing the community grows in its own wisdom and skills too.

This is a slightly abridged version of a sermon preached at Pentecost 2023 at Central Methodist Chippenham.

I am grateful for the resources of Feasting on the Word which inspired this sermon

"Can you ride tandem?"

 

Back in the 1970s PG Tips tea was advertised on TV using tea drinking chimpanzees. (Different times) If you aren't old enough to know, or if you want to go down memory lane, visit YouTube and you will find them. They were really memorable for example there was one of two removal men moving a piano. "Dad! Dad! Do you know the piano's on my foot?" "You hum it son and I'll play it". But perhaps the most famous was one of a chimp taking part in the Tour de France. 

Our chimp hero falls off his bike and lands at the feet of a female French chimp. Our British chimp says,in a strong Yorkshire accent "Avez vous cuppa?" (It became quite a catch phrase. So much so that during my first French lesson at school in 1975 when our teacher asked if anyone knew any French, our class pretty much in unison said "Avez vous cuppa") 

Back to the advert. The mademoiselle offers the intrepid British chimp a reviving cup of PG Tips. And he says to her at the end "Can you ride tandem?" 

You may be wondering where this blog is leading. But it is the tandem that brought the PG Tips chimps to mind. 

Earlier today I visited my own spiritual director. It's not appropriate to share our discussion here. But in the course of it we discussed how we walk with God and Jesús Christ often without knowing it. And our conversation reminded my director of the following modern parable which I found really helpful and which very much fits my own journey of faith. 

The author is "Unknown". If You know who the author is I'll be happy to credit them.

THE ROAD OF LIFE. 

At first I saw God as my observer, my Judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know if I merited heaven or hell when I died. He was out there, sort of like a President. I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I really didn't know him.

 But later on, when I met Christ, it seemed like life was rather like a bicycle ride, but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed it was Christ on the back, helping me pedal. And I don't know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been at all the same since!

 When I had control, I knew the way. It was rather boring actually –but predictable. It was mostly the shortest distance between two points.

 When He took the lead, He knew delightful "long cuts", up mountains and through rocky places at break-neck speeds, and it was all I could do to hang on! Even though it looked like madness, he said "pedal".

 But I worried and was anxious, and asked, "But where are you taking me?" He laughed but didn't answer - so I was forced to trust. It was then that I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure. And when I'd say: "But I'm scared!” He just leant back and patted my hand.

 He took me to people with gifts I needed - gifts of healing, gifts of acceptance, gifts of joy. They gave me their gifts to take with me on he journey - His and mine - And we were off again.

 Then one day He said to me: "Give the gifts away" and I said, “What?” But He said: "They are extra baggage - too much weight - give them away." So I did. To the people we met, and I found in doing so, that in giving away I received more in return, but the burden of the weight somehow got lighter.

 You know, I didn't trust him at first, in control of my life. I just knew He'd wreck it. But He knows a lot of secrets about bike-riding. He knows how to make it lean into sharp corners, knows how to make it fly to shorten the scary passages. And so I have learned to shut up and pedal. Sometimes in the strangest of places. Now I am beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face, and most of all this person, who pedals on the seat in front of me.

 And when I am sure I just can't journey another foot further, He just smiles, turns back to me and says: "Pedal- Just pedal."

 Author Unknown

I didn't learn to ride a bike until my 30s. I'd tried as a child and never mastered it. When our son came along and started to learn to ride I thought I'd better learn too. I borrowed my wife's bike and taught myself in no time. And I always regretted not learning earlier. I never rode very far but for a while rode to and from work and then around town for pleasure. There is a joy of riding a bike.

I've never ridden a tandem. But if someone said "Can you ride tandem?" I'd answer "Yes"

A church without walls - leaving a place

 

This is the text of the sermon I preached at Christchurch Marlborough on Sunday 8th January 2023 (the final service at the Methodist chapel. The congregation will be joining the congregation at the local Anglican church St Marys.)

I confess that I don’t know the history of Methodism in Marlborough. That said I think we can safely assume that John Wesley on his travels between London and Bristol may well have passed through here. And I gather there has been Methodist worship taking place on this site for over 200 years.

Some of you will have worshipped here for many years. Perhaps you have only ever worshipped here. For others of you your connection with this building won’t be as long. Nonetheless you will all feel some attachment to this place. Therefore, to leave this place is sad and painful. And please note. I’m purposely making a distinction between Place and People. This place is closing but you as Methodist people will be together albeit in a different place.

That said for time immemorial people have needed a sense of place to worship God.

If we look at Genesis 28, we have the story of Jacob having his strange dream

“a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it^[c] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.” 

What was Jacob’s response to this?

¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He called that place Bethel,

The story of Jacob shows us this sense of sacred place. This sense of us wanting to set aside a place where we feel connected to God and where we can worship God.

And that sense of sacred place has been with people of faith for millennia. The anguish of the Jewish people in exile in Babylon came from their separation from Jerusalem and the Temple and hence they felt apart from God. Of course, that wasn’t so. The prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah in particular assured them that God was with them even in their exile.

At the time of Jesus the Jewish people had long returned from exile and once again the Temple figured greatly. Perhaps more so than ever before. It was in the great Temple in Jerusalem that the Jewish people believed God was living, in the Holy of Holies, behind the great curtain.

When we look at the Gospels there are very few references to Jesus being in a synagogue or in The Temple in Jerusalem. He ministered in the open. He prayed outside as far as we are told anyway.

Part of Jesus’ message was that the Jewish people should not be fixated on the Temple. On one occasion when the Pharisees criticised Jesus for allowing his disciples to “work” on the sabbath (after the disciples had picked some grain to eat because they were hungry) Jesus said ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. Matthew 12:6

And Jesus foretold a time when the Temple would be destroyed. In Mark 13 we are told:

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

² “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

In 40 or so years after Jesus his prophecy came true when the Romans destroyed the Temple once and for all.

It seems to me therefore that Jesus was saying that his followers should not become fixated on a certain place to be his body. To be his Church. It’s a theme the apostle Paul picked up on in Acts of the Apostles.

In Acts 17 we find Paul in Athens having a theological debate at a meeting of the Areopagus. A council of learned men. Paul had noticed statues and monuments to various gods dotted around Athens including one marked “To the unknown God”. Paul explained that he knew who the unknown God was and had experienced him through Jesus Christ his son. Paul, then goes on to say:

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 

Paul says these words to challenge these wisemen of Athenians. To point out to them that God and his son our savour Jesus Christ is not worshipped via statues and idol or buildings for God is everywhere. We encounter God in many places and in many ways not just in a building.

Nevertheless, we as people can’t get away from our buildings. Sacred spaces where we can worship and where we can be together as part of the Body of Christ, the Church.

Paul wasn’t saying we should not have buildings. He was just reminding us that being the body of Christ isn’t wholly about a building or a particular place. The Church is its people collectively.

Paul was advocating something that the late Revd David Gamble, a past President of the Methodist Conference of Great Britain, called a church without walls.

What it means to have a church without walls.

In English there are at least two meanings of the word ‘without’.

‘Church without walls’ can use the word without in either sense, either as ‘church outside the walls’ or as ‘church that doesn’t have walls’.

There is a Good Friday hymn that in its original wording started

“There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.”

Most hymn books now render it as “There is a green hill far away OUTSIDE a city wall”

There is something pretty significant for us in the idea that God’s saving, life-transforming act of love in Jesus, took place outside the city wall - on the rubbish dump, where people didn’t want to go, the place for those who were outcast. That tells us a lot I think about where God is at work. Without the church walls. Outside the church walls.

Jesus’ whole ministry was “without”. Outside. Outside the rules of the Pharisees. Outside the Temple. Resurrection is outside the normal expectations of life.

Yet going outside the walls, leaving our comfort zone, not allowing or assuming God to be locked up in a building, is quite a challenge! Meeting people where they are, outside the church walls, is not easy. And yet that is the DNA of the Methodist Church.

John Wesley had to preach standing on his father’s tomb as he was not allowed to preach inside the parish church in his home village of Epworth. And Wesley of course famously preached in the open air on many occasions. To the miners of Cornwall and Kingswood near Bristol. In this sense, clearly, “church without walls” is at the heart of a Methodist way of being church. It’s our history and how we developed. It’s what we did. Very often we Methodists seem to have lost that. Though in conversations I’ve had with some of you over the last couple of years as you’ve come to the decision to move from this particular place, I’ve been told how during the pandemic there was a rekindling of being church without walls through serving other people. By being freed for a time of the challenges of a building. To be church outside these walls.

The second meaning of ‘without’ is ‘not having.’ A Church that doesn’t have walls. ‘Church without walls’ in the sense of a church that doesn’t have walls, whether external or internal.

Walls separate people. Walls treat people differently and keep them apart. Walls protect people from other people and can suggest that ‘You are not welcome in here’. Belfast peace wall Wall in Israel.

It is ironic that the walls of churches can act in such a way. That’s not the intention, but that’s the effect. For those of us who attend church regularly or have been brought up attending church, we think nothing of it. But for those who haven’t been to church for a long time or have never been to church, it is daunting.

What if I don’t know the hymns? When will I know when to stand up or sit down? Where do I sit? What should I wear? Imagine going into a betting shop and you get the idea.

And it is something that has existed in the church from the very start. Not necessarily walls of bricks and mortar but barriers nonetheless. St Paul found this in the church in Ephesus. Where the church was split between those who had been Jews and those who were Gentiles. But in Jesus there are no walls or barriers

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility

Ephesians 2:14

Walls can exist inside churches too. Churches can create walls based on age, or ability, or gender or theological perspective or denomination. A church without walls would have none of these things. A church without walls is a place where people don’t have their separate compartments. A church without walls is a place where there are no, “no-go areas”. The generous hand of friendship being extended by the people of St Marys is a very good indication I feel that Christchurch folk will be moving to a church without walls.

But aren’t walls sometimes a good thing?

Yes, sometimes we do need walls. Church walls can provide a sanctuary; a place where people feel safe. The sense of coming home. But a church with walls that act as barriers to those within, and without, is not a good place.

The challenge for us all then is to be a church without walls. Firstly, a church that goes beyond the walls; a church where you take church out to catch up with Jesus where he is; with his people outside these walls. And secondly a church which has no barriers in it so that all are welcome, and all are called to use their gifts and talents to God’s glory.

I mentioned a moment ago the Jews being taken into exile in Babylon and their feelings of loss as they were separated from their homeland but most of all the Temple in Jerusalem. I could have preached on that but instead decided on the “Church without walls” theme. Nevertheless, I’d like to leave you with two short pieces of scripture to reflect on as you leave this place to pastures new.

They are words spoken by Isaiah and Jeremiah to give hope and consolation:

Firstly Jeremiah 29: 11 – 13

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

And then an assurance from the prophet Isaiah of what God is doing:

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43: 18 - 19

Or as John Wesley put it “Best of all God is with us” Amen.