#RwandaNotInMyName

Last Sunday morning (12^th June 2022) I listened as usual to the “Sunday” programme on BBC Radio 4. It is a programme that “looks at the ethical and religious issues of the week”.

This edition featured a report on the Government’s plan to deport refugees / asylum seekers to Rwanda. There were two speakers. One a Jewish woman who was opposed to the idea. (I can’t think why a Jewish person would be opposed to the forced deportation of people. It’s not as if it’s ever happened before.) And former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe who is a Roman Catholic.

I was appalled at what Ann Widdecombe had to say. She fiercely defended the government’s policy. On the grounds that it was morally right to stop refugees coming across the English Channel in small boats for their safety. Also, that it would send a strong message to the people traffickers and would ensure they stopped people smuggling.

On Sunday I sent a Tweet to this effect. At the time of writing, it’s been liked by over 9,000 and retweeted by 1,750 people. (See picture above)

The issue of refugees / asylum seekers is hugely complex. I freely admit that I don’t understand all the international law requirements. And yes, I do see the argument that if refuges are in a safe country (usually France) why would they want to come on to this country?

As I understand it though this country has a legal obligation to accept a number of asylum seekers. An obligation under international law.

I fail to see how this measure would stop ruthless criminal gangs. “Sorry mate. We can’t get you to the UK after all as much as we’d like to. They’ll send you on to Rwanda now. That’s not right is it? I can do you France or Germany instead. How’s that suit you?”

There is also the fact that a proportion of those seeking safety here are fleeing countries where the UK has had involvement in war such as Afghanistan.

But what really riled me was Miss Widecombe’s riding rough shod over any morality founded on the Christian faith. It’s a bit of a cliché to say, “What Would Jesus Do?” Nevertheless, there are plenty of Jesus’ teachings that suggest that he would oppose this horrid treatment of asylum seekers.

Matthew 25: 31 – 46 in which Jesus makes clear that when we are caring for the most vulnerable it is as if we are doing it for him.

Luke 10: 25 – 37 – the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

In the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible) there are also examples of caring for the stranger and foreigner. They included provisions for them to be treated equally under the law and to be included in festivals and celebrations of the community.

• Cities of refuge were available to Israelites and foreigners in cases of accidental murder (Numbers 35:15).
• Foreigners were to be included in festivals and celebrations mandated in the Law (Deuteronomy 16:14; 26:11).
• Some of the tithe collected by the priests was to be used to not only feed them and their families, but also to help provide food for foreigners, widows, and orphans (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).
• Also, farmers were instructed to leave the gleanings of their fields for the poor and the foreigner (Leviticus 23:22). And to treat the stranger as they would the poor among the Israelites (Leviticus 25:35)

See the World Vision web site “What does the Bible say about refugees?”

https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/what-does-bible-say-about-refugees#:~:text=Foreigners%20were%20to%20be%20included,14%3A28%2D29

And for me one Bible text above other demonstrates how all believers are to show hospitality to strangers.

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:1-2

The enforced deportation of vulnerable people to Rwanda is immoral. It must be opposed. Something the President of the Methodist Conference Revd Sonia Hicks called for back in April

https://www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/news/latest-news/all-news/response-to-the-government-s-plans-to-offshore-asylum-seekers-in-rwanda/

And I am pleased that in a letter to The Times, today (14^th June 2022) the archbishops of Canterbury and York, plus the other 23 bishops in the House of Lords, said the controversial move “should shame us as a nation”.

Albert Einstein, slowly watched his homeland give in to Adolf Hitler's fascist dictatorship. Einstein wondered if any were going to stand up and oppose Hitler. He said, and I quote, "When Hitlerism came to Germany I expected the Universities to oppose it. Instead they embraced it. I hoped for the press to denounce it, but instead they propagated its teachings. One by one the leaders and institutions which should have opposed the Nazi philosophy bowed meekly to its authority. Only one institution met it with vigorous opposition and that was the Christian Church."

(In actual fact not all the Christian Church in Nazi Germany did stand up to Hitler. It was only part of the church - that came to be known as "the Confessing Church" that had the courage to do so.)

Einstein confessed, "That which I once despised, I now love with a passion I cannot describe." The commitment of the Confessing Church in standing against evil made a profound impression upon Albert Einstein. Those individuals in the 1930s understood the cost associated with their actions, and they did not back down. The Church today can do no less.

#RwandaNotInMyName

Forget the rocking chair and look forward to the prize

This is the text of a sermon I preached at the Circuit farewell service for my colleague and friend Revd Mark Barrett, Bath Road Methodist Church on 12th June 2022

It is a great privilege to be asked to preach at this Circuit Service to acknowledge Mark’s retirement, or as we say in the Methodist Church “His sitting down”. It’s a curious phrase. It suggests being allocated a rocking chair, slippers and a blanket!

No one seems to know where this phrase “sitting down” comes from. The general view is that as Methodist presbyters are mostly itinerant i.e., we move around, sitting down suggests no longer moving, in retirement.

Retirement can mean different things to different people. It may mean working for some, and not working for others. Some may spend their time with grandchildren or travelling, while others enjoy the time they now have serving, or focusing on new career opportunities. For others, retirement may mean caring for a loved one rather than getting to do something that they desire.

Retirement has a profound effect on people's time, health, lifestyle and purpose. We know that the world may view retirement in certain ways. But how is retirement viewed through the lens of scripture?  Is there even such a thing as Retirement in the Bible?

As far as I can tell the only reference in the Bible to a retired, slowed down, life is found in Numbers 8: 23 – 25

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁴ This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upwards they shall begin to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting; ²⁵ and from the age of fifty years they shall retire from the duty of the service and serve no more.

The Levites were called to be priests by God. But this reading makes clear that they are called to what we might think of as “ordained ministry” for 25 years and then they would retire. But this doesn’t mean that at 50 they were given a pension and a rocking chair. No, in verse 26 we are told

²⁶ They may assist their brothers in the tent of meeting in carrying out their duties, but they shall perform no service. Thus you shall deal with the Levites in assigning their duties.

Even though, due to their age, they were compelled to retire from one duty, there were more opportunities ahead.

I’d suggest that outside of this specific scripture reference, retirement isn’t a biblical thing. In fact, all of us, whether at official retirement age or not can, and will, be used by the Lord to serve him, to witness for him and to grow in our discipleship of Jesus Christ. Biblically anyway, there is no theology of retirement. For disciples there is no sitting down in the proverbial rocking chair.

Mark gave me a complete blank piece of paper for this service which meant I could use whatever Bible reading took my fancy.

I did consider using Proverbs 16:31

³¹ Grey hair is a crown of glory;
    it is gained in a righteous life.

But for some reason wasn’t sure it would resonate with Mark! Instead, I was drawn to the passage we’ve heard from Philippians.

In this passage Paul is spelling out what it means to believe in the Gospel. And to believe in the Gospel means to put one’s complete trust in God. Complete trust in God encompasses faith, belief, everything. If we come to put our trust in God, we have to abandon everything else that props us up, Paul is saying.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

It is easy to think of faith in positive terms – acceptance of God’s grace and the forgiveness that grace brings through Christ. But there is more than that. That is the need to renounce.

Before Paul could accept Christ, he had to renounce those things he had previously relied on. This included his Jewish faith. Just as in Matthew 19: 16 – 26 the Rich Young Ruler was told by Jesus to renounce his wealth to follow Jesus, Paul had to renounce the things that were privileges for him. And having set those aside, Paul had to accept the gifts that were now being offered to him in Christ.

Paul as a previously devote Jew, a zealous Jew, had relied on keeping the Law, and all that meant, to be accepted by God. But once confronted by Christ, Paul realises that those things were now worthless, “garbage” in fact.

I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ  Philippians 3:8

Paul renounces these things, not because they were wrong as such - after all they had been given to the Jewish people by God. But rather Paul realised those things belonged to an old era and are now replaced by something far better. A new relationship with God through Christ.

Paul sets out to the Philippians what he now hopes for, through knowing Christ:

¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

That is the prize. That is what is on offer for all who believe in Christ.

But then Paul says that although he knows what the prize is, he hasn’t yet attained it. He keeps pressing on. He keeps aiming for the prize. Paul keeps focused on that which is ahead of him. Like an athlete running a race, he ignores what is behind him and concentrates on the goal ahead.

It’s reminiscent of words of Jesus to one of his would-be followers:

No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ Luke 9:62

We have to forget the past. We must Keep looking ahead. Keep looking forward. Keep your eyes on the prize. Don’t get distracted. Look forward.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul had to put many things behind him and forget.

• He had to forget past guilt. Paul was a murderer, a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church; the deep scar of sin was embedded into his heart.
• He had to forget past grief. Paul had suffered terribly. He had been beaten, shipwrecked, scorned, left for dead, alienated, ostracized by his family.
• He had to forget past glory. As far as the church was concerned Paul was the "toast of the town." He was a spiritual superstar, but he had to forget all of that.
• He had to forget past grudges. Paul had been mistreated, betrayed, lied to and lied about, sold out by family and friends.

 

But Paul knew that to run the race he had to leave all those things behind. He had to travel light and get rid of the “garbage” he was carrying around with him.

An American Methodist minister called James Merritt said this:

You will never sail the ship of your life, into the seas of the future, with joy and peace, if your anchor is stuck in the mud of the past. You cannot move forward if you're always looking backward.

Of course, our memories can be precious. They can give us joy and comfort. But if those memories anchor us down, and prevent us from moving on, we need to let go of them. If those things we’re ashamed of in the past weigh us down, we need to ditch them.

Paul says to the Philippians. “Forget what is behind and look forward.”

·         Forget the wrongs done that can paralyse with guilt and despair.

·         Forget the past so that whether the past is good or bad it will not have any influence on one’s present spiritual growth or conduct.

·         Forget also the things already achieved and attained as a Christian.

Unless we do so, we live our Christian lives in neutral and as if to say, “I have arrived” when we haven’t arrived. We never arrive. We are not perfect in this life. We are to press on towards the goal of perfection in Christ if we are to discover what Christ has next for us. In our personal lies and in the life of the Church.

Instead of looking to the past, and relying on past glories, look forward to the glories to come. The goal of full and complete knowledge of Christ Jesus. The new opportunities we are all presented with to serve Christ and be his disciples. In whatever phase of life we’re in. Remember

God says, I will pour out my Holy Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will have dreams. Acts 2:17

Forget what is behind

Strain forward to what is ahead.

Press on toward the goal to win the prize

The prize for which God has called us all heaven ward – in Christ Jesus. Amen

(The photo at the top of this blog is of Mark and me. It was taken in 2010 when we took part in "The Shirt of Hurt". A charity idea where we were sponsored to wear a rugby shirt we'd not normally be seen dead in. We both preached that day in our churches wearing the shirts.) 

Love - to be taken out and given to others

 

Sunday 30th January 2022

Luke 4: 21 - 30

Last week we looked at Luke 4: 14 - 21. Jesus was in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth and he shared these verses of scripture:

¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ Luke 4: 18 – 19 NRSV

In these verses Jesus was announcing that the Gospel he was bringing, the Good News, was for the poor and oppressed, those at the margins of society. Jesus was announcing that he came to liberate the oppressed from everything thing that oppressed them. He came to release those held captive.

So far so good. Jesus, the local hero has gained some notoriety in other places through the healings he has brought about, and word has reached his hometown. We can imagine the pride can’t we that this son of Joseph and Mary is stood up front reading. But then suddenly it all changes. The local people begin to realise that Jesus is making the point that his Good News isn’t just for the people of Nazareth. It isn’t just for Jewish people. It is Good News for all people who are oppressed, poor, and so on. Jew and Gentile alike.

The local people are expecting him to do some of the works of wonder for them. They want to keep it all for themselves. Surely the people of God, the children of Abraham are deserving of this? Jesus is aware of this and says to them

‘Surely you will quote this proverb to me: “Physician, heal yourself!” And you will tell me, “Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.”’ Luke 4:23

But Jesus tells them this will not happen. He may have done these things amongst the Gentiles in Capernaum but the people listening to him in the synagogue in Nazareth are not worthy of this happening. Jesus reminds them that during a time of famine God sent the prophet Elijah to help a Gentile woman a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon rather than to Jewish widows.

The people of Nazareth like all Jewish people had for years and years understood God in a certain way. They had understood God was their God. They were God’s chosen people and no one else mattered. Suddenly they are confronted with Jesus telling them they have got it wrong. No wonder they are angry and hurt.

Their comfortable world and all its security had been turned upside down by Jesus. His message was dismantling the status quo and bringing in a new world. A new kingdom in fact. A kingdom built on love for everyone.

Our other Bible passage this morning was the well-known passage from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians chapter 13 dealing with love. It has direct relevance to what we are thinking of this time.

Although in this passage in Luke Jesus doesn’t mention love for one’s neighbour that is clearly what he is thinking of. We know don’t we in one of his most famous parables – the parable of the Good Samaritan – he demonstrated how love should be blind, how love can, and must, cross boundaries.

The people of Nazareth were content inside their own synagogue, inside their own little town, in  their own little world. They seemingly cared nothing for those outside, certainly those outside who weren’t Jews. And yet on this occasion Jesus is saying that is what his Good News is about.

David Sanford is professor of journalism at Western Baptist College in America. He has written a paraphrase of 1 Corinthian 13. I’ve given you all a copy of it to take home and reflect on. He has done a very good job I think in putting the underlying message of Paul into a modern context.

It is too long to include here. If you wish to read it go to  

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/love-a-paraphrase-of-1-corinthians-13-1185256.html

But here is a flavour:

If I talk a lot about God and the Bible and the Church, but I fail to ask about your needs and then help you, I'm simply making a lot of empty religious noise.

  Here is what love is like...genuine love. God's kind of love. It's patient. It can wait. It helps others, even if they never find out who did it.  Love doesn't look for greener pastures or dream of how things could be better if I just got rid of all my current commitments. Love doesn't boast. It doesn't try to build itself up to be something it isn't.

  Love comes and sits with you when you're feeling down and finds out what is wrong. It empathizes with you and believes in you. Love knows you'll come through just as God planned, and love sticks right beside you all the way.  Love doesn't give up, or quit, or diminish, or go home.  Love keeps on keeping on, even when everything goes wrong and the feelings leave and the other person doesn't seem as special anymore. Love succeeds 100 percent of the time. That, my friend, is what real love is!

No doubt the people of Nazareth in the synagogue that day would have though “We exhibit that kind of love. So why is he lecturing us?”  Perhaps they did exhibit love amongst themselves. But Jesus’ point to them – and to us – is that his love, the love of the Good News is not just for us, it is not to be kept inside these four walls, it is to be taken out and given to others.

Professor Eli Wiesel was a Romanian born American writer, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor. He wrote 57 books including Night a work based on his experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

In his book, All Rivers Run to The Sea he tells of his family, living in Hungry during the dark days of the WWII. His family was waiting for their time to come, for the Nazis to arrive at their door and take them to the camps.

He tells about a peasant woman by the name of Maria. Maria was almost like a member of the family. She was a Christian. During the early years of the war, she continued to visit them, but eventually non-Jews were no longer allowed entrance to the ghettos. That did not deter Maria. She found her way through the barbed wire, and she came anyway, bringing the Wiesels fruits, vegetables, and cheese.

One day she came knocking at their door. There was a cabin that she had up in the hills. She wanted to take the children, of which Eli was one, and hide them there before the SS came. They decided after much debate to stay together as a family, although they were deeply moved at this gesture. Eli writes of her:

Dear Maria. If other Christians had acted like her, the trains rolling toward the unknown would have been less crowded. If priests and pastors had raised their voices, if the Vatican had broken its silence, the enemy's hand would not have been so free. But most thought only of themselves. A Jewish home was barely emptied of its inhabitants before they descended like vultures.

I think of Maria often, with affection and gratitude, he writes, and with wonder as well. This simple, uneducated woman stood taller than the city's intellectuals, dignitaries and clergy. My father had many acquaintances and even friends in the Christian community, not one of them showed the strength of character of this peasant woman. Of what value was their faith, their education, their social position, if it did not arouse their love. It was a simple and devout Christian woman who saved the town's honour.

Of course, it took great courage to stand up against the might of the Nazi regime. And whilst not excusable, it is understandable that most Christians did nothing. Though equally one must ask if for some of them at least this was down to anti semitism.

The message of the Gospel is that we must be prepared to show love. To leave our places of safety and show the radical love of Jesus to all people but especially those who in the eyes of the world don’t deserve that love.

Post Script

On the evening I'd preached this I watched a television programme "Call the midwife". The particular episode of the drama dealt with child abuse and domestic abuse in a very sensitive way. At the end of each epsode is an epilogue spoken by the person who originally wrote the book the drama is based on. In this epilgoue she said, in relation to a mother who had disicpled her child ie abused them out of 'love', "Love that hurts isn’t love at all".

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me

 

Sunday 23rd January 2022

Matthew Mark and Luke all recount the story of Jesus teaching in the Synagogue of his hometown Nazareth and being rejected by the people. But Luke’s account is more detailed, and unlike in Matthew and Mark, Luke’s version of the story comes at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In Luke, the story comes following Jesus’ baptism and his 40 days of temptation.

An American preacher called Fred Craddock explains:

“Luke places the Nazareth visit first not chronologically but pragmatically. That is to say that this event announces who Jesus is and of what his ministry consists. What his church will be and do and what will be the response to both Jesus and the church.”

We have a pretty good idea of what a service in the synagogue might have looked like. It would start with a recitation of what was called the Shema – two passages of scripture from Deuteronomy and Numbers. Then there would be prayer whilst facing Jerusalem. This was followed by the “amen” response from the gathered congregation. After this there would be reading from the Torah (the laws of Moses) or the Prophets. Then a sermon and a benediction.

Any male could volunteer or be asked to pray or read portions from the Torah or the Prophets. Likewise, any male could be asked to give a sermon.

On this particular Sabbath, Jesus volunteers to read. He would have stood on a special platform as was the custom. He would have been given the scroll that he requested – the scroll of Isaiah. Then he would have unrolled the scroll, found the place and began to read:

¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ Luke 4: 18 – 19 NRSV

Jesus presents these verses from Isaiah as a description of who he is and what he is about. They form his Mission statement, the agenda for his ministry.

In these verses Jesus was announcing that the Gospel he was bringing, the Good News, was for the poor and oppressed, those at the margins of society. Jesus was announcing that he came to liberate the oppressed from everything thing that oppressed them. He came to release those held captive.

And we might think that is about those held in prison. Of course, Jesus wants to set free those kind of prisoners. To set them free from the sins of the crimes they have committed. But freedom for the captives and the oppressed means much more.

In his ministry Jesus released people from all kinds of bondage and oppression. Economic oppression – the poor. Physical oppression – the lame, the crippled, the disabled.  Political oppression - the condemned including let’s not forget one of the prisoners on a cross next to him on Calvary. He brought freedom to those oppressed by demons. And through the forgiveness of sin Jesus released everyone from the bondage sin has on our lives.

We didn’t hear the continuation of the story this morning. But Luke tells us that the people in the synagogue that day, the people Jesus had grown up with in Nazareth, did not like what he had to say. No doubt they thought of themselves as oppressed – they were poor, they no doubt had health needs, they were subject to Roman rule. And yet here is Joseph’s son telling them that not only is Scripture fulfilled through him – yes Joseph the carpenter’s boy – but that they needed to be bringers of Good News too.

For the most part we are not amongst the poor, the marginalised, oppressed or imprisoned. What Jesus is saying should mean that we too should be shocked and outraged by what he is saying. But  because like so many of Christ’s followers in the church in the Western world we are comfortable the message doesn’t shock us. We tick along. Jesus’ words should make us feel uncomfortable. But do they?

In this passage Jesus sets out what OUR mission should be.

His plan of ministry should be our plan of ministry too. If we truly seek to be Christ like, we must try to do as he did, live as he lived, spread the good news in the way that he called us to share the good news.

I’m sure we all try to do these to some extent. We seek to do all the things listed by Isaiah that Jesus shares here. But I must admit my own guilt - my ministry is more comfortable than challenging. Sure, you are a challenging bunch of people!

I'm busy with meetings left and right. Is that bringing anyone Good News? And I ask myself when was the last time I brought the good news to the poor? Perhaps only through the monthly direct debit to a homeless charity I support. Or the extra tins of baked beans I buy and put in the Foodbank collection at the supermarket. Is that what Jesus is getting at? I can't say yes without kidding you and myself. When was the last time I proclaimed release to the captives? When did I help the blind to see? Have I freed those who are oppressed? Who is oppressed today? At best, I have tried to proclaim the year of God's favour - but how can I convince people of God's favour when they are poor, captive, blind, and oppressed?

The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia was assigned to be the guide and "gofer" to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet.

Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you? Mother Teresa looked at him. You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea? she asked.

Yes, he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said. “You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” Mother Teresa understood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor, and she made it hers as well. She knew that they more than anyone else needed good news.

I think there is a real danger in the Church today – certainly in the Church in the comfortable Western world - that we forget what we should really be about. We’re so hung up with our buildings for example that we overlook what we should really be doing. I always feel that John Wesley wouldn’t be the easiest person to get along with. And I think he’d have some harsh things to say to the church that grew out of his ministry were he around today. We all know how his ministry was largely spent meeting the poor and oppressed where they were out in the fields surrounding the coals mines of Kingswood or the fields near the Cornish tin mines.

Wesley’s New Room in Bristol was built not just to be a place of worship but a place where the poor and oppressed could come for education, for healing, for welfare. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s use as a place of worship was ancillary to its prime purpose.

Yet over the almost 250 years since his death, we seem to have lost sight of that purpose, that mission. We get so hung up on jobs that we forget what we should be about. Oh, it’s not just a Methodist problem. It’s a problem of the Church everywhere.

I was talking to a Methodist colleague in another part of the country recently. She told me that one of her churches has realised that the church building they use will need significant money spending on it before too long. The there aren’t enough people willing and able to take on all the jobs.

They have realised that although they are still an active worshipping congregation with a heart for mission, they are being dragged down by a large building. They are actively exploring selling the building and then continuing their mission work and worship elsewhere. It is early days. But they are determined they will continue to meet as people called Methodist, bringing Good News to those who need it but not to be so building focused.

It is a brave and radical step and I wish them well. It is not the solution for every place. And our buildings can be a useful resource for mission. But we all need to think about our priorities.

Jesus says he comes to turn everything upside down and confuse everyone's expectations of how things are supposed to be. Those who are captive find release, even when we still seek to hold them guilty. Those who are oppressed are freed, even when it means we must give up our role too often as oppressors. Those who are poor receive God's good news, even when it means we must share from our abundance, even when we want the good news all for ourselves. Jesus challenges us to a radical ministry that defies the normal order.

 

The question is. Can we do it?

 

Of cheese and wine and office parties

This is an email I sent to Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan on Monday 20th December 2021 following the publication of photographs of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife and number 10 Down Street staff enjoying cheese and wine during lockdown in May 2020 or having a work meeting depending on your view point.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/dec/19/boris-johnson-and-staff-pictured-with-wine-in-downing-street-garden-in-may-2020

Dear Michelle,

 Yesterday I conducted two carol services. The congregations were lower in number than previous years unsurprisingly. Without exception everyone wore a mask unless they were in the choir or reading one of the Bible passages.  We followed the rules, such as they are.

 I would have expected nothing less, as everyone in my churches followed all the rules throughout last year and this year. This meant at Easter 2020 we couldn’t gather for worship. Nor could we gather at Christmas 2020 either. We weren’t happy about this but we followed the rules.

 I conducted several funerals during the lockdown but one sticks in my memory. A lady who had been a church member. She had five adult children and there were numerous grandchildren and other relatives. The funeral took place at a crematorium. A maximum of thirty people at time all socially distanced. All 5 children lived out of the area. After the funeral they were going to drive to a Costa to get takeaway coffee and stand socially distanced in a car park to remember their mother. Horrible. But they followed the rules.

 I know several elderly people who spent Christmas on their own last year. And one of those said to me only last week “Oh well. If we have another lockdown I’m prepared. I’ve got a small chicken in the freezer. It won’t be the same as going to family. But if those are the rules we have to follow them don’t we?”

Yes we must and as Christians we are commanded by Jesus to love our neighbours. One of the ways we can do that is by following the rules put in place to prevent the spread of Omicron / Covid 19 and get vaccinated.

 However, after service yesterday someone said to me “I get annoyed that we follow the rules but they don’t. It’s one rule for them and another for us.” The person was referring to the various Christmas parties held at Downing Street. I agree with that person. I’m annoyed too.

 I am an only child. My elderly parents live 70 miles away. We could not be together last Christmas. But we followed the rules and opened presents together via Zoom.

 Then yesterday evening were the latest revelations of the Prime Minister, his wife and various Downing Street minions enjoying cheese and wine in the garden of Downing Street when the rules clearly prohibited such gatherings. I do not accept for one moment that this was a work meeting. Where were the laptops or iPads? The notebooks? The flipcharts? Once again your Prime Minister considers himself above the rules that the rest of us followed.

 

Regards

 

David Gray

 

Revd David P. Gray LL.B (Hons)

North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit

Salvation IS here

 The Light shines in the darkness

The stories of the first Christmas are full of light. In Luke’s gospel, the night is filled with light as angels bring the news of Jesus’ birth to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks. In Matthew’s gospel, the star of Bethlehem shines in the night sky to guide the magi, the wisemen, to the place of Jesus’ birth.

Nobody knows the day, the month or the season of the year of Jesus’ birth. The date of 25^th December was not decided on until the middle of the 300s AD. Before then Christians celebrated Jesus’ birth at different times – including March, April, May and November. But around 350 AD Pope Julius declared 25^th December as the date. In selecting this date Pope Julius was integrating Jesus’ birth with a Roman winter solstice festival celebrating the “Birth of the Unconquered Sun”.

The image of light in the darkness is central to the Christian celebration of Christmas. Jesus is born in the deepest darkness – in the middle of the night around the winter solstice – the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere.  And as we know “Night” crops up a lot in the words of familiar carols;

Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright

O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.

In the middle of the night, on one of the longest nights of the year, the time of deepest darkness, Jesus is born.

Light is a perfect symbol for humans to relate to. Light as a symbol has been used across cultures and religions for thousands of years. And Light is central to the Christian religion too.

It’s not hard to understand why. We need only imagine how our ancestors experienced night and darkness. It is hard for us to imagine a time before people learned how to domesticate the night with artificial light. Yet in terms of human existence having widespread access to light at night has only happened relatively recently. It is thought that London was the first city to have widespread illumination at night in the 1600s. And illumination in cities and towns only started to become common after the invention of gas lighting in the late 1700s.

Lighting in houses is also relatively recent. Of course, candles and oil lamps have existed for thousands of years. But for ordinary people – most people in other words – oil for lamps or candles were very expensive and would not have been widely used, or at least only used sparingly. Therefore, when night fell, it was dark, very dark. Our ancestors knew darkness in a way we do not.

The writers of the Gospel stories wanted to draw upon the symbolism of light and darkness to help tell the story of Jesus.

They understood that in the dark we cannot see or at least see very well. Thus, night and darkness are associated with blindness and limited vision. For the same reason we can easily get lost in the dark. In the dark we are often afraid, we do not know what danger might lurk in the dark. Night and winter go together. The nights become longer and the days shorter, the earth loses its warmth and becomes cold and unfruitful. Darkness, grief and mourning are associated. Grief is like a dark night, and mourners have worn dark clothing for centuries by association.

With all these things, the writers of the Gospel stories wanted to draw upon the symbolism of Jesus as bringing light into a dark world.

We heard a reading from John’s gospel earlier. John doesn’t start his account of Jesus life with his birth in Bethlehem. Instead, John draws upon symbolism. John calls Jesus the Word.  John writes in Jesus the Word there

. ⁴ … was life, and that life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

And a little later John tells us that Jesus

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

Later on, John tells us that Jesus is “the light of the world”.

Luke’s account gives us the story of Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem. We get the idea of Jesus being born in a stable. In our minds we see the stable lit by a lantern with the Christ child surrounded by a golden glow. Then we have the shepherds who are dazzled by the angels as the Glory of the Lord shone around.

Although Luke’s account seems more factual, the symbolism of light is there. The light created by the Glory of the Lord comes into the world to sweep away the darkness of evil.

In his gospel Matthew also uses the image of light in relation to Jesus’ birth. This time with a star. Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’

The star is clearly an important symbol for Matthew. It doesn’t merely shine in the night sky. It moves. It brings these visitors from the east and then leads them to Bethlehem. And for Matthew the story of the star is a statement about Jesus. Jesus’ birth is the coming of the light that draws people other than Jewish people to Jesus Christ. The Magi are Gentiles, non-Jews. And the light of Christ shines on all people. Then and now.

Sadly, though the light of Christ, the light of the star, can easily be overlooked. It’s ironic that when people light up their houses at Christmas time, all too easily they miss the true light, the light of the world, shining in their darkness. A darkness that is there but which doesn’t overcome the light of Jesus. For Jesus is the light that can transform people’s lives.

On the BBC news yesterday evening a reporter was on Oxford Street in London. She was saying that the shops weren’t very busy shop keepers were worried about profits. She ended her report by saying:

“The shops were hoping Christmas would bring salvation, but it’s not looking very bright”.

I’ve no idea whether her words were coincidental or whether she was saying them ironically. Or whether she was a secretly conveying a Christian message! But of course we believe Christmas IS salvation and the future IS bright.

Once there was a family. Mum and Dad and four children. They had a rule, like many families, that on Christmas Day none of the children could go down to see the gifts under the tree until the rest of the family were awake and they could all go together.

The Christmas the youngest child John was seven, he came bounding into his parents’ bedroom at 4:30 a.m., his face glowing with excitement, his mouth running at about ninety miles an hour. "Daddy! Mummy! Come quick! I saw it!"

As they wiped the sleep from their eyes, both parents knew what had happened. The rule had been broken. John had already discovered the new bicycle that he had been wanting for two years. They felt cheated that he had rushed ahead, and they had missed seeing his discovery. But it was Christmas, after all, and they couldn't scold him for being overly excited.

They climbed out of bed, pulled on their dressing gowns and slippers, woke the rest of the family and John led them downstairs. John led them into the darkened living room toward a window on the eastern side of the house, totally oblivious to the bicycle which sat unnoticed beside the tree. John pointed his finger to the eastern sky and said, "Look! The Star of Bethlehem! I've seen the star!"

 My invitation to you this Christmas is to skip the bicycle and see the star! To let the light of Jesus shine in your life.

Photo credit: Crosswalk

John's bike: https://sermons.com/