It is not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world - Chris Wright, Truth with a Mission
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Why go to church?
A recent Sunday I was on holiday in the north-west and went to the local Anglican church. It happened to be a first rate All Age service with a baptism, communion and some excellent theology.
The greetings reminded us that as we are drawn into God's love we are drawn into all that it good in this world. The whole service then became for me an invitation to live my life for what is good, not least in the service of others. The congregation were warm and welcoming.
I couldn't but help compare this with the car boot sale we passed on our way to church. People gathered round boots of cars waiting for buyers. What is his compared to the community experience of worship with others, whilst enjoined to serve others?
I can remember services of yesteryear when it felt cold and impersonal in church. But this was totally different.
I remember those who have said, I don't need to go to church. I worship God in my garden.
Well, the beautiful countryside of the Peak District has much that reminds of God the creator. But that week in church I knew why God had become man; true worship means touching and being touched by others. That can only happen in community focused on God.
Friday, 6 April 2012
Good Friday Walking
Today, many hundreds will be walking through Harlow Town Centre, following a large wooden cross. This year the cross will be carried by some of the leaders of churches in Harlow, symbolic of our unity in Christ
Why do we walk in witness - as so many will do so today across the world?
For one, it is anticipation of the day when the work of the cross and the resurrection will be completed - when Christ returns and all heaven and earth shall be renewed. We live in anticipation of that day, and as we do so, it brings the day nearer. Nelson Mandela lived towards the future, which enabled the future he hoped for to come.
It also brings us together in unity. I love the recent post by Bishop Nick Baines:
And here we come, I think, to the heart of Christian discipleship, once we have stripped away some of the million things we find with which to complicate it all. The nature of Christian witness is not to be found in our unanimity, but in our unity. That is to say, we are together whether we like it or not, whether we like each other or not, whether we agree with each other or not, and whether we find it comfortable or not. We simply cannot walk away from each other any more than we can walk away from Jesus.
Unity, not unanimity. The world, and we, often bemoan the church's lack of agreement. And, yes, we need to strive towards this. But it cannot be totally achieved this side of a new heaven and a new earth. Our is the unity of a family. Families are always pulling this way and that. It is an important part of family. There are often disagreements, but there can be totally unity.
Finally, we walk that the world may see Christ. A large community needs large symbols. This is self-evident in architecture. I think it is also true of witness. There is real gain in real visibility. Not a visibility for the sake of power, but so that, in the large context, Christ may really be lifted up - and so draw all to himself. Amen.
Why do we walk in witness - as so many will do so today across the world?
For one, it is anticipation of the day when the work of the cross and the resurrection will be completed - when Christ returns and all heaven and earth shall be renewed. We live in anticipation of that day, and as we do so, it brings the day nearer. Nelson Mandela lived towards the future, which enabled the future he hoped for to come.
It also brings us together in unity. I love the recent post by Bishop Nick Baines:
And here we come, I think, to the heart of Christian discipleship, once we have stripped away some of the million things we find with which to complicate it all. The nature of Christian witness is not to be found in our unanimity, but in our unity. That is to say, we are together whether we like it or not, whether we like each other or not, whether we agree with each other or not, and whether we find it comfortable or not. We simply cannot walk away from each other any more than we can walk away from Jesus.
Unity, not unanimity. The world, and we, often bemoan the church's lack of agreement. And, yes, we need to strive towards this. But it cannot be totally achieved this side of a new heaven and a new earth. Our is the unity of a family. Families are always pulling this way and that. It is an important part of family. There are often disagreements, but there can be totally unity.
Finally, we walk that the world may see Christ. A large community needs large symbols. This is self-evident in architecture. I think it is also true of witness. There is real gain in real visibility. Not a visibility for the sake of power, but so that, in the large context, Christ may really be lifted up - and so draw all to himself. Amen.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Nick Baines writes on his latest blog: "Poetry learned and absorbed now gives us a language later when we do experience the things represented in memorable and imaginative language."
This morning I had been struck by Micheal O'Siadhail's 'Hostel'
This morning I had been struck by Micheal O'Siadhail's 'Hostel'
Stations of ease for the broken or frail.
A tear in an ocean. And yet that welcome
At face value, a roof and warmth, a meal.
Vague signs of angeldom.
So little, So short of grand revolution
We'll always want to dream of.
If only dreams could scoop or fill an ocean...
Thimbled gestures of a love...
These words gave me a way of praying and thinking about the day ahead. Nick Baines is right. I realise that the meetings, planned and chance encounters of this day, all the efforts do sometimes seem like tears trying to fill an ocean.
But Holy Week speaks of the significance of the tears. The literal tears that were wept. Then the metaphorical 'tears' trying to fill an ocean: words of bravado by Peter, a towel offered by Jesus, speaking about swords, coins, gambling... All small ways in which people rightly or wrongly tried to mould, find or make significance in the big events swarming around them.
Yet each one, each small tear, finds its place in the story that we tell, in the story that God tells us, in the Good News. Nothing is insignificant. Each act in its own way find redemption as it is caught up in God's plan, whether the players wanted it or not.
This day may all my acts, though they seem like tears compared to the ocean that is needed, be done in loving trust and confidence in the one who is the Master Story Teller and does not overlook anything. It is very easy to be discouraged from shedding tears - literal or metaphorical - through a sense of inutility. ("What use my words or small act for this homeless man when the need is so great?"). For the story of Holy Week and Easter is the story of the Ordinary becoming Extraordinary - all in God's grace to us in Christ.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Into the World
It is a joy to follow my daughter's blog. She is in Nairobi. As Mandy and I learnt so much in India, so Becky is learning much. Now I know something of why those who visit the church abroad are so touched by the wider church.
Into the World: Days 4 & 5
The past few days have been incredibl...: Days 4 & 5 The past few days have been incredible and I have really begun to adjust to the Kenyan lifestyle, including having spiced blac...
Into the World: Days 4 & 5
The past few days have been incredibl...: Days 4 & 5 The past few days have been incredible and I have really begun to adjust to the Kenyan lifestyle, including having spiced blac...
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Marriage on Mothering Sunday
Jesus said, we are
to be as salt, and light. So we should not be surprised when things in the
world around are not as we would wish.
In India I came across Hindu 'gods' as I wandered down the street. But Christians share the good news that God is far more wonderful than any statue can suggest.
In the UK, the wider world is unsure what to do about relationships between man and woman. There is huge confusion.
Here too we have
good news to share.
Down the years Jews, and building on their tradition, Christians, have discovered what we call Christian Marriage - faithful, life-long commitment between a man and a woman. This has grown out our understanding of who God is and his purposes for our lives. Indeed, Jesus went out of his way to bless such a relationship (John 2).
As we have told ourselves the stories about marriage and faithfulness (eg Genesis 1-3, and indeed much of the book, etc.) we have come to see how it expresses something of the very nature of God, how it expresses God's love for us all (Ephesians 5), how it anticipates heaven (Revelation 21:2), and how it can provide a place of security and love for children to grow up. We might say that it is a building block of society.
As with jokes, the old stories are often the best ones. So today we can continue to tell these stories to the world around. And lest it be thought that we are merely nostalgic, let us also live out the stories in the specialness of married life: the security, protection and joy of sacrificial love shared for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse…
Down the years Jews, and building on their tradition, Christians, have discovered what we call Christian Marriage - faithful, life-long commitment between a man and a woman. This has grown out our understanding of who God is and his purposes for our lives. Indeed, Jesus went out of his way to bless such a relationship (John 2).
As we have told ourselves the stories about marriage and faithfulness (eg Genesis 1-3, and indeed much of the book, etc.) we have come to see how it expresses something of the very nature of God, how it expresses God's love for us all (Ephesians 5), how it anticipates heaven (Revelation 21:2), and how it can provide a place of security and love for children to grow up. We might say that it is a building block of society.
As with jokes, the old stories are often the best ones. So today we can continue to tell these stories to the world around. And lest it be thought that we are merely nostalgic, let us also live out the stories in the specialness of married life: the security, protection and joy of sacrificial love shared for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse…
We cannot and should not impose our
will (that would be to deny the democratic freedoms that Christianity has helped forge) – but we can and should point to and live out the ways that are
best, warning of the alternatives.
Deep in the heart of
many, and perhaps most, around us there is a longing for the deeper spiritual
values. Let us not lose our nerve. Let us share the good news, though let us do
so in ways that are gracious and winsome.
And even as
government loses its way, Ian Duncan Smith (Work & Pensions
Secretary) has spoken of how the birth mother and father provide the best
environment for children to grow up in.
Society adopted Christian marriage because it wanted to. Let us make society jealous again by the stories we tell, and the lives we live. Vive la difference!
Christian marriage is distinctive because it draws together the greatest diversity of relationship (man and woman), in the greatest sacrifice (life-long love) for the greater good of society (a foundational institutional). It is also in general the greatest place for children to be nurtured by their birth parents, and it recognises the unique role of a mother in child-rearing. That is (some of) why our language and laws should afford it a special place in society.
And let me add that those who are single have an even more wonderful calling, for their life is in the steps of Christ!
Society adopted Christian marriage because it wanted to. Let us make society jealous again by the stories we tell, and the lives we live. Vive la difference!
Christian marriage is distinctive because it draws together the greatest diversity of relationship (man and woman), in the greatest sacrifice (life-long love) for the greater good of society (a foundational institutional). It is also in general the greatest place for children to be nurtured by their birth parents, and it recognises the unique role of a mother in child-rearing. That is (some of) why our language and laws should afford it a special place in society.
And let me add that those who are single have an even more wonderful calling, for their life is in the steps of Christ!
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Marriage
David Cameron supports gay marriage for the UK. Thousands have signed a petition opposing his views. It has sparked a national debate. It is one that the Christian will have a view on, not because it would be forced on churches (that is not being suggested), but because a Christian's morality is based on what is best for society not just a matter of personal opinion.
Back to the main issue. Marriage is about life-long commitment. Hence why not gay marriage? It seems an open and shut case.
The problem is that marriage is not first of all about something I choose to do. It is something offered to me as a gift. It is a gift of society; it is for the Christian, and many of other faith traditions, a gift from God. Part, a key part, of that gift is the very humanity we share.
Marriage is valued as something that is valuable to society. It is a place of mutual support, it provides security for children, it is a place of education, values are secured for the future. These and other reasons are why society recognises marriage and gives it privileges above other relationships.
In short, it is a key foundation for society.
But why should we not also recognise gay marriage? After all, it can embody much of what I have outlined.
First I would want to say that whatever the rights and wrongs of gay marriage, it is different, and it is appropriate that our language and laws recognise this.
How is it different? For me the key difference lies in the complimentary of the sexes. The essential difference between male and female. This roots in nature itself 'otherness'. "Boy meets girl", woman marries man, the battle of the sexes, the environment a child grows up: at every stage the fact that others are fundamentally different is forced upon us at every angle.
The importance of this cannot be over-stressed. It is fundamental to a morality of love, I believe. Of course, gay couples can express love (sacrificial love) as much as anyone, but that morality has been transmitted by society as a whole. But we are talking about undermining the foundation of that morality.
I could argue this from the fact that God made us this way. I believe that, but it would not cut much ice in public debate. I could argue it from Man and Woman together being made in the image of God, or Christian marriage being symbolic of Christ's relationship withnthe church. Again, I believe these things, but the need is to explain, not to assert.
We have recently been following the story of Abraham in our church studies. Key insights of the story are that God is very concerned about sexual relationships (sex can either reinforce or undermine faithfulness) and that he is very concerned about our children.
Children and marriage are intimately linked and need to be so. Commitment is not enough. We are all frail. We are all made of flesh and blood. Ideally, children should be biologically related to their parents.
(In saying this, I am not undervaluing adoption etc. There are adopting parents who give greater love than good biological parents.)
But the biology of parenthood enables a physical bonding that is not otherwise possible. 'Blood is thicker than water'.
This all emphasises that there is something very special when a couple decide to have children and bring them up together. This is what the name 'marriage' recognises. We change it at our peril.
Back to the main issue. Marriage is about life-long commitment. Hence why not gay marriage? It seems an open and shut case.
The problem is that marriage is not first of all about something I choose to do. It is something offered to me as a gift. It is a gift of society; it is for the Christian, and many of other faith traditions, a gift from God. Part, a key part, of that gift is the very humanity we share.
Marriage is valued as something that is valuable to society. It is a place of mutual support, it provides security for children, it is a place of education, values are secured for the future. These and other reasons are why society recognises marriage and gives it privileges above other relationships.
In short, it is a key foundation for society.
But why should we not also recognise gay marriage? After all, it can embody much of what I have outlined.
First I would want to say that whatever the rights and wrongs of gay marriage, it is different, and it is appropriate that our language and laws recognise this.
How is it different? For me the key difference lies in the complimentary of the sexes. The essential difference between male and female. This roots in nature itself 'otherness'. "Boy meets girl", woman marries man, the battle of the sexes, the environment a child grows up: at every stage the fact that others are fundamentally different is forced upon us at every angle.
The importance of this cannot be over-stressed. It is fundamental to a morality of love, I believe. Of course, gay couples can express love (sacrificial love) as much as anyone, but that morality has been transmitted by society as a whole. But we are talking about undermining the foundation of that morality.
I could argue this from the fact that God made us this way. I believe that, but it would not cut much ice in public debate. I could argue it from Man and Woman together being made in the image of God, or Christian marriage being symbolic of Christ's relationship withnthe church. Again, I believe these things, but the need is to explain, not to assert.
We have recently been following the story of Abraham in our church studies. Key insights of the story are that God is very concerned about sexual relationships (sex can either reinforce or undermine faithfulness) and that he is very concerned about our children.
Children and marriage are intimately linked and need to be so. Commitment is not enough. We are all frail. We are all made of flesh and blood. Ideally, children should be biologically related to their parents.
(In saying this, I am not undervaluing adoption etc. There are adopting parents who give greater love than good biological parents.)
But the biology of parenthood enables a physical bonding that is not otherwise possible. 'Blood is thicker than water'.
This all emphasises that there is something very special when a couple decide to have children and bring them up together. This is what the name 'marriage' recognises. We change it at our peril.
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