Sabbatical Day 18 - Thursday

Some thoughts and reflections on ministry.

In the rural areas, society I presume is fairly stable and almost of not totally self-sufficient. I would guess that the role of ministry is one of evangelism and teaching in the basics of the faith, not least living a Christian moral life. The work of the catechist would seem very appropriate, with sacramental ministry being offered around once a month. In UK history I sense sometime of the early Methodist ministry.

In the towns and cities life is much more complex, and in this respect more akin to what we experience in Europe. There moral issues are more complex, the moral pressures to do wrong all the greater as people are cut off from roots and family.

Perhaps I see together two patterns of lifestyle and hence ministry needs that in the UK are separated, in broad terms, by hundreds of years.

Over 6000 baptisms in the Madras Diocese last year, and there have been increases every year for several years. Around 60 churches founded last year in the Diocese, and again there have been increases every year for several years. There is a conscious encouragement of evangelism (focused I think towards the villages), church members being encouraged to prepare the way evangelistically for the 125 paid evangelists who subsequently visit.

Yesterday we shared in the joy of a wonderful wedding. At the church, the style of service and church - I think this link shows it - was not unlike that you might expect for a large wedding in the UK, with necessary adaptations eg the blessing of the tali (by all the pastors present) not the rings, electric fans and church windows that open. Though in Tamil I was able to follow the flow of the service (in effect, a wedding liturgy followed by Evening Prayer).

Afterwards we went to the reception. This is where everything changed. There were I am told 10,000 guests. We have nothing like it in the UK. I understand this was a large wedding. More normal ones have 1-2000. The photos do not show the full extent of the gathering but hopefully give a flavour. (The two photos of hall areas are NOT different views of the same area, though the man serving is in the eating area shown in the photo above.) There were three eating areas not shown, including a large buffet area.)

Apparently Christian wedding receptions are large scale, an opportunity for the church to gather to celebrate. Many churches we represented, the family being well-known. Hindu weddings are more family affairs I gather, sounding more like UK size (- this ties in with my experience of attending a Hindu wedding in the UK many years ago.)

Sabbatical Day 11

Heathrow airport is a meeting of the nations. Ephesians 1.10 speaks of God bringing all things together in Christ. All nations made one, a reverse of Babel. (May we have a wonderful foretaste at Praise in the Park in July coinciding with the opening weekend of the Olympics.)

Just as in Christ there are no denominations but rather rich variation, so also in Christ God makes us one people with boundless and wonderful diversity. How wonderful and glorious is our creator God. As a boy I grew up expecting everyone to be somewhat like me; but God has changed that in me and continues to change it. How blessed I am by that!

The inflight film I go for is The Tree of Life. It begins with Job 38.4,7: Where we're you when I laid the foundation of the earth...?

The way of nature and the way of grace: there are two approaches to life. We have to choose, whatever comes. But what does this mean in the loss of a child? The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. An act of nature; how does grace respond?

In the film, through a death of a son the whole world is seen in a different light, through the lens of memory and loss. What are we to you Lord in the vast universe of your creation? In the film images of deep space and the grandeur of this world, replace the poetic images in Job of creation. We are taken to volcanoes, echoing perhaps Job which speaks of God as creator of the depths of the earth.

As the film flashbacks through episodes of life bringing up family, attempts to be in control of one's own destiny through discipline and hard work are rendered useless by the vastness of God's ways (as loss of work, loss of home and loss of life intervene). 'Where we're you when I made the world?' Though we may kick against life, yet it is bigger than we are.

Yet it is a film of exuberance. Through loss, life is valued afresh, enjoyed, delighted in. What remains is wonderful, a fabulous gift from God, something to be overwhelmed by, with thankfulness.

I am being opened to the vastness of God's world, not only its diversity but it's incomprehensibility. My Sabbatical supervisor suggested I allow myself to be overwhelmed by my experiences. To be baptised by them perhaps is one way of putting it. I understand that. In visiting my mother towards the end of her life, the daily experience was of being overwhelmed, but there, day by day it seemed, I found, or better, was found by, God's grace. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I note too a theme of this Sabbatical, the revisiting of loss (of my parents) where I know there is work to be done. In our baptism in Christ is our deliverance.