Advent Reflections: Love

A couple of years ago we looked at the four traditional themes of Advent  Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell ('The Four Last Things'). This year we're going to look at another set of Advent themes: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. As the theme of this year's Advent course is Hope (and it was the theme of my November magazine article!), we'll look at the other three. This week it's Love.

To say that Christmas is a time for love seems unnecessary as it's very hard to avoid sentiments of love at Christmas. Love for our nearest and dearest shown by cards and presents, love for our fellow humans shown by charitable giving, Christmas adverts speaking of 'real love'. This is unsurprising as, in the words of Christina Rossetti: “Love came down at Christmas...Love Incarnate, Love Divine.”

This is the acceptably religious side of Christmas: celebrating the birth of someone who had a God-given mission to teach the world that we should love one another; someone who could be said to have been the most loving person that ever lived; who embodied love and practised divine love. But if this is all that we believe about Jesus, we've only grasped a tiny part of the significance of his birth. Yes, he was a loving person, and yes he was the most perfectly loving person there has ever been, but he is so much more than that.

The Bible tells us that God is Love (1 John 4:8), and that in Jesus God became human, he was literally (Divine) Love Incarnate. That's what's so amazing about Christmas! As Paul writes: Jesus although “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7). The worship song writer Matt Redman put it this way, “The voice that said 'Let there be light' is heard within a newborn cry” ('The Name of Emmanuel').  Another worship song writer, Stuart Townend wrote this: “the mighty Prince of Life shelters in a stable. Hands that set each star in place, shaped the earth in darkness, cling now to a mother's breast, vulnerable and helpless” ('Joy has Dawned').  Read those words again to yourself slowly and let the mind-blowing truth sink in!

The miracle of Christmas is the miracle of God becoming human. But he didn't become human just to give us a good example to follow, he came to express his love for us. In his earthly ministry Jesus healed the sick and lifted up the weak and vulnerable, but these demonstrations of his love were limited to that one area of the world at that one time in history. God had bigger plans than that! He wanted to do something that would demonstrate his love for all people, from all times and all places, and what he would do would be achieve the restoration of our relationship with him that has been broken through our sin.

That restoration required reparation for the punishment that we owe because of that sin. We can't pay that price because we are not perfect, but God could because he is perfect. So “God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life” (John 3:16 The Voice Translation). And “[t]his is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10). And “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

So our Advent theme of Love prepares us for the Love that came at Christmas; the Divine Love Incarnate in Jesus, which also reminds us to “Celebrate the cradle to the cross, celebrate the gift, celebrate the cost. For one without the other, the significance is lost. Celebrate the cradle to the cross” (Karl Berg - 'The Cradle to the Cross').  And our response? “Love so amazing, so Divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Advent Reflections: Joy

A couple of years ago we looked at the four traditional themes of Advent: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell ('The Four Last Things'). This year we're going to look at another set of Advent themes: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. As the theme of this year's Advent course is Hope (and it was the theme of my November magazine article!), we'll look at the other three. This week it's Joy.

 At Christmas we are bombarded with images of joy: the joy of children opening their presents, the joy of families and friends getting together, the joy of a few days off work! And we all have an understanding of what joy feels like: it's like happiness only better; it's happiness that wells up from deep within us and bursts out with smiles, shouts and even singing.

The third Sunday of Advent sometimes has the theme of Joy, which is why some churches light a pink rather than a purple candle on this Sunday. Purple is the liturgical colour of Advent (and Lent) because it signifies a season of reflection and repentance. The pink candle reminds us that although we're still in that penitential season, the joy of Christmas cannot help bubbling up and lightening that purple to pink. Therefore the third Sunday of Advent is sometimes called Gaudete Sunday, from the mediaeval Latin hymn made famous by SteeleyeSpan in the 1970s, whose lyrics are “Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus, ex Maria virgine, gaudete!” - “Rejoice, rejoice! Christ has been born out of the Virgin Mary – rejoice!”

But the Christmas joy isn't just the usual joy of a baby being born, nor is it just the birth of a significant person. The angel said to the shepherd “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you” (Luke 2:10-11). The joy of Christmas is the joy of a Saviour being born, and it was this that made the shepherds rush to Bethlehem, leaving their flocks, and after finding Jesus they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20).

Just like the association of Christmas with joy, we tend to associate Jesus with the word 'Saviour', but to get the true Christmas joy we need to really grasp what it means for Jesus to be Saviour and not just the Saviour but our Saviour. We were created to be in relationship with God, but our sin means that we should be eternally separated from God. There is nothing we can do to put this situation right, because none of us can be sinless. Thus we face an eternity separated from the one person, God, who gives our life true meaning and makes us fully human. The angel's announcement of the birth of a Saviour is therefore truly good news that will cause great joy for all the people – it means that now we can live life as we are supposed to live it, with God.

Jesus is the Saviour of the world, but he is also Saviour for each of us personally, because we each need to allow him to be our Saviour. Each of us needs to decide how we respond to the news of the birth of our Saviour, we can either treat it as another Christmas fairy story, or we can take the opportunity to have the joy that comes from knowing our sins have been forgiven and that God will meet our deepest needs.

One more thing: this is not just joyful news for us humans. Jesus would later say that every time a sinner repents there is rejoicing in heaven (Luke 15:1-32). The angels rejoice at the possibility that we can be saved, but more than that God himself rejoices when we turns back to him, because he longs for us more than we can possibly know.

Advent Reflections: Peace

A couple of years ago we looked at the four traditional themes of Advent: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell ('The Four Last Things'). This year we're going to look at another set of Advent themes: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. As the theme of this year's Advent course is Hope (and it was the theme of my November magazine article!), we'll look at the other three. This week it's Peace.

The song that the host of angels sang in the presence of the shepherds is almost inseparable from Christmas. Even in the secular celebrations “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests” (Luke 2:14) rings out, often shortened to “Peace on Earth” on Christmas cards and decorations. The coming of Jesus is the coming of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

We often think about 'peace' as being the absence of war and conflict, but the Hebrew word 'shalom', which we translate as peace has a much deeper meaning than that. In Jesus' day, and still today in Middle Eastern cultures, 'Peace be with you' is a greeting and a blessing. It expresses not just a desire for the absence of strife but a positive desire for the wholeness and well-being of the person you greet. In this sense an engine 'at peace' is not one that is not going but one that is working properly. So 'peace' describes having contentment, completeness, wholeness, well-being and harmony. To say that Jesus is the Prince of Peace is to say that Jesus is the ultimate, and ultimately the only source of contentment and wholeness.

This is a very controversial thing to say. It might possibly be acceptable to say that Jesus is the 'Prince of Peace' because he was a wise teacher who taught people to love each other, but even that might be too exclusive for the non-believing world. However, we only have to look at Jesus' life to see that Jesus didn't necessarily bring peace through his life. He himself said “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Jesus was always a divisive figure: for a while he was popular but in the end he was hated and was so threatening that the only way to deal with him was to kill him.

The message of the angels tells us how peace can be gained: peace will come to those on whom God's favour rests, or as the King James version of the Bible puts it “on earth peace, good will toward men.” It is not, as commonly said, 'peace to people of good will', i.e. if we all get along there will be peace, instead peace has something to do with how God relates to us. St Paul wrote “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1), echoing Isaiah's prophecy “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The peace we really need is the restoration of our relationship with God that has been broken through our sin. Jesus' death was the punishment we deserved so that by faith in him we can be forgiven; God's favour will rest on us; God shows good will towards us. It was not through his life and teaching that Jesus brought peace but through his death.

Advent provides a time for us to think about our sins that separate us from God and to repent of them, so that we too can have that peace which Jesus came into the world to bring us.

O tidings of comfort and joy!

Here is my December article:

The carol “God rest ye merry, gentlemen” is one my favourite carols, and it is for a lot of others too. Partly it's to do with the traditional sounding tune and partly it's because it expresses the emotions of Christmas- “O tidings of comfort and joy!”

Christmas for a lot of people is a time for joy: when you get together with loved ones for feasts and celebrations. Christmas is also a time that is often characterised by images of comfort: the sense of 'hygge' associated with candles, fires and lights shining in the darkness. These are of course all part of Christmas, but the 'tidings of comfort and joy' that Christmas brings go much deeper and are for everyone, including (and perhaps especially for) those who will be lonely, or in pain, or sorrowful this Christmas.

The carol is very clear about why the message of Christmas is one of comfort and joy: “for Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day.” Well, that sounds a very obvious thing to say about Christmas, (although you might struggle to find references to Jesus sometimes!) but it then goes on to remind us why this is good news. He came “to save us all from Satan's power when we had gone astray” and “to free all those who trust in him from Satan's power and might.” The reason Jesus' birth is special is because of his death. Christmas is only worth celebrating because of Easter.

This is truly joyful tidings! Sin is rebellion against God's authority; when we sin we ally ourselves with his arch-rebel, Satan, so we are under Satan's power. Once there, we can do nothing to free ourselves. However although we have rejected God, he never rejects us. So he showed his love to the world by sending his Son, Jesus, so that through his death our sins could be forgiven and we could be freed from Satan's power. For all those who keep trying to be good and failing, Jesus' birth is a reason to be joyful.

These are also comforting tidings, especially for those who feel burdened by guilt. Jesus' death comforts those who mourn as it assures us that God understands what grief is like, but more than that, Jesus' resurrection reminds us that eternal life is offered to the world. However, the comfort that Christmas brings is not just a consoling feeling, as 'comfort' is used in it's original meaning of 'strengthening'. By freeing us from Satan's power, Jesus strengthens us with the knowledge that God thinks we're worth dying for. As we've been freed from Satan's power and influence, with the knowledge of God's opinion of us and the promise of his Holy Spirit to help us, we are strengthened to live as children of God.

It is with these tidings that God will 'rest' (in the original sense of 'keep, or cause to remain') all of us, whether we're gentlemen or not, merry both at Christmas time and throughout the year. So in the name of Jesus, whose birth the angels announced and made shepherds rejoice, I bless you and your loved ones with knowing the true comfort and joy of Christmas.

The uncomfortable truth about 'hate'

Here's my sermon from this morning's Remembrance Sunday service:

Hate is a word that we hear a lot these days. And I don’t just mean when people say they hate sprouts or that they hate getting up early. Nor am I talking about hate speech which is what people tend to call any opinion they don't agree with.  The hate that I'm talking about is the hate that the news and commentators say is responsible for most of the atrocities they report. When someone kills or attempts to kill many people this is often labelled a 'hate crime’. And if we are to believe the media, this 'hate' is on the increase.

To say that these acts are motivated by hate is convenient in a number of ways.  Firstly it means that we don't have to look any deeper for the reasons, as this might mean that we have to face the uncomfortable fact that some ideologies and cultures are incompatible with our values and societal norms.  To say the perpetrators are filled with hate is to destroy the link between their beliefs and their actions.  This has a second benefit that in questioning their mental state, for they claim that no sane person would be that controlled by hate, they become a special category of people that used to be labelled psychopaths. Therefore they can be dismissed as rare exceptions. The third benefit of this is that the rest of us, who are obviously sane and tolerant, can feel comfortable on our moral high ground, satisfied with our superiority over these 'extremists'.

It seems to me, though, that the reality isn't quite so simple and is a lot more uncomfortable.  The root of these actions is not, I don't think, hate but rather seeing other people as less than human, as sub-human.  If people are human they have an inherent dignity but once they are seen as not human they can be treated as disposable objects.  Pope John Paul II said that the opposite of love is not hate it is 'use'.  To use someone like an object for your own purposes is the opposite of loving them, because loving them means treating them with the dignity they deserve. In its most extreme form, loving someone means putting their needs before your own.

Much of 'man's inhumanity to man' has its roots in seeing other humans as being less than human: this was the basis of the slave trade and the Nazi holocaust.  It was also what enabled the soldiers on both sides of the Wars to keep fighting and killing, and also fuelled the efforts of the Home Front.  The purpose of war propaganda is not only to establish the rightness of your cause, but also to portray the enemy as so evil and wicked that they deserve to be wiped out.

If this analysis is correct then what makes it even more disturbing is how easy it is to think in this way.  People who treat others as less than human are not just a few isolated extremists or psychopaths.   They are all around us; they are you and me. Every time we treat someone else as if they didn't have as much worthiness as we do, every time we feel and act as if we are better, we are like those that commit atrocities.

Our Gospel reading comes from the Sermon on the Mount and not long after Jesus said the words we've just heard, he said that the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” includes being angry with someone else, and more than that it includes calling them an idiot, or stupid, or scum.  And that's something we're all guilty of.  That's what makes the standard of living that Jesus sets out in the Beatitudes that we've just heard so difficult.  To be poor in spirit, to be meek, to be merciful, to be peacemakers means that we have to acknowledge that we are imperfect, and more than that that we put the needs and welfare of others before our own.

But this wasn't just wise and difficult teaching that Jesus came to bring.  He lived it himself.  In the most extreme form of love there has ever been, he left the glory of heaven to be born as a human; he lived a perfect life so that he could die as the punishment for our sins and failures. And he rose from the dead so our humanity could be restored.

The peace this world longs for will only become a reality when people have been forgiven and restored by Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and see the rest of humanity as he does.  People made in his image and likeness that are worthy of love and respect.  And that can start with each of us.  Look at the people around you.  They are priceless.  Tell them that.  And when you leave here today, let everyone you meet know that they are priceless too, not only with your words, but in the way you treat them.

My Advent Hope

Here's my magazine article for November:

Starting on 23^rd November our Advent talks have the title “My Advent Hope”. We're blessed to have some senior figures from the Diocese and the Methodist District coming to offer their thoughts on this topic, but I thought I'd throw in my two penn'orth on the subject!!

I went to Liverpool Hope University College and so 'hope' was a much used word. The tagline for the college was taken from a book by Cardinal Suenens: “to hope is not to dream but to turn dreams into reality.” This was a slightly more poetic way of saying 'if you want something you need to work for it'. Apart from the overuse of the word 'hope', there was always something that niggled me about it, and I only realised what that was when I learned more about the Biblical use of the word.

When we use the word 'hope' we tend to mean a vague wish that something will happen, and it is usually uncertain. In contrast when the Biblical writers use the word 'hope', they are often talking about something that is certain. This 'hope' is something that is yet to happen but it definitely will happen and it mostly refers to salvation. So Paul writes about “the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus1:2) and “the hope stored up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:5). God has promised eternal life to all who die trusting in Jesus, and as he can't lie, all those who die trusting in Jesus will receive eternal life. That means that those who have faith in Jesus can put their hope in a certain future and can therefore face death with confidence. So Paul writes “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1Thessalonians 4:13-14).

This certain hope is based not just on the promise of God but also in the fact that Jesus died and rose again. So Peter writes “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” and “Through [Jesus] you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:3,21)

November is traditionally a time when Christians remember the saints - all those who have died in the faith of Jesus, whether well-known or not - who now enjoy the eternal life for which they hoped. The focus for Advent too is on the future; as we prepare to celebrate the first coming of Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem, “we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

Luther, The Reformation and the rejection of superstition

Here's my magazine article for October:

On 31st October 1517, a German monk called Martin Luther nailed a piece of paper to a church door in Wittenburg. So began what has come to be called The Reformation. Luther's petition, although initially against dubious methods of fundraising by the Church, grew into a much wider protest against the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, which lead to the formation of the 'Protestant' churches, including the Church of England. For most people the 500th anniversary of this event will pass unnoticed and unmarked, unlike the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana or the 100th anniversary of Passchendaele. Yet the Reformation had a profound effect not just on the religious beliefs of millions of people but also on the the way the world is today.

It has been argued that without the Reformation, the technological and scientific advances of the Enlightenment would not have occurred. Ironically for some atheists the Reformation's rejection of some of the superstitious religious practices of the Mediaeval world has enabled the modern world to rejection all religion as superstitious. This is often the way that the relationship between religion and science is framed: superstitious religion vs rational science. The truth however is more complicated. Many aspects of Christianity in particular can be verified, and conversely some scientific theory is based more on ideology than fact. But also religion and science are actually on the same side when it comes to superstition.

The philosopher Roger Scruton has recently spoken about religion and science in contrast with the magical worldview of the Harry Potter books. Superstition and magic, Scrutton says, are rooted in the belief that we can control the universe, whereas religion and science acknowledge that we can't. A magical outlook arrogantly asserts that anything is possible if you know the right spell, whereas religion and science humbly admit that there are gaps in our knowledge and abilities. Scrutton argues that although this magical view is alright in fiction, it is a problem when it also becomes the outlook in real life. From a Christian perspective, the magical worldview is not only contrary to reality but also spiritually harmful.

31^st October is associated more these days with Halloween than Martin Luther, and I have written in previous years about the dangers of celebrating Halloween (here and here). Not only does it open people up to attack from malevolent spiritual forces but in normalising witchcraft and magic it perpetuates this magical outlook on life. In a world of magic, Scrutton explains, there is no need for God because we are god: we can control everything. Genesis 3 tells us that Satan tempted Adam and Eve not just to disobey God but to want to be God; that was the original sin and is the defect in all humanity.

Magic promotes the idea that evil can be overcome simply by knowing the right spell. Christianity teaches that evil can only be defeated by God himself: as a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer puts it: “we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves”. What Martin Luther reminded us was that God has defeated evil through Jesus' death and resurrection, all we have to do is receive that salvation as a free gift.

(For more on the Reformation, see the magazine from Church Society)

Thanking God for The Wurzels and Autumn Days

Here's my article for the Septmber magazine:

One of my earworms this summer has been The Combine Harvester Song (Brand New Key) by the Wurzels, which has to be one of the oddest proposals in history! Another, more traditional harvest song that you may hear over the coming months is one of my favourites from school, 'Autumn Days'.

'Autumn Days' like many harvest songs lists things that we like or enjoy (although some of them, like 'jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled' and 'the song the milkman sings' are rather quaint nowadays!) and says “thank you” for them. Thanksgiving is of course one of the main themes of harvest time, and gratitude is a very important habit to cultivate, but it only recently occurred to me that 'Autumn Days' doesn't actually say who we're thanking for these things! This of course makes it an almost perfect song for a multi-cultural, multi-faith society as everyone can sing it together and the singer decides for themselves who they're thanking. For religious people it will be their particular deity, for non-religious people it will be other people.

This non-committal thanksgiving is in contrast with the common exclamation “Thank God!” which is used by those who say they are atheists almost as much as by those who do believe in God. It is often used in situations where the outcome has been something which is beyond human control, or has been unlikely, or as an expression of relief. Militant atheists would no doubt claim that such exclamations are a cultural hangover from the time when most people believed in God, and there is no doubt that often the phrase is used unconsciously, but I think there is a deeper explanation.

Our inclination to be thankful is a deeply ingrained realisation that we cannot do everything by ourselves, that we rely on other people for our continued existence. Being grateful and showing our appreciation to others may be evolutionarily beneficial to us (if we don't say thank you we might not get that help again) but it also satisfies our longing to treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated. It recognises that other people are not a random collection of atoms whose only use is to be of benefit to us, but that they are fellow humans and therefore worthy of respect.

But there is also a recognition that there are things which are out of human control. Psalm 19:1 says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” And Paul writes in Romans 1:20 “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” He says that this knowledge should remind us to thank him for his love for us. We enjoy the fruits of the harvest, but sometimes forget that he has given them to us.

Harvest is a time to thank those, near and far, who help to make our lives better, but most importantly it is a time to think about all the things God blesses us with and to say a heartfelt “Thank God!”

What's in a name?

Here's my article for August:

As any keen pub-quizzer will tell you, the months of July and August are named after two Roman Emperors; Julius Caesar and Augustus respectively. As humans we have a habit of naming things after significant people as a way to commemorate, remember and celebrate them. When I went to New York, I was amused to find that a slipway was named after someone (they obviously weren't important enough to have a whole road named after them!). And at the farewell service for the last Bishop of Lincoln, the Dean relayed some of the great Bishops of Lincoln and the additions they made to the Cathedral. He joked that the major addition that Bishop John oversaw was a new toilet block, suggesting that maybe they should name it after him!

Naming things after people is not always without controversy, especially commemorations we've inherited from previous ages. Colston Hall in Bristol is to be re-named because of the Bristolian slave trader Sir Edward Colston. Oxford University has recently resisted pressure from campaigners to remove statues, paintings and commemorations of Cecil Rhodes and other colonialists. Liverpool also resisted an attempt to re-name all of the streets associated with slave traders, as this would have meant renaming most of Liverpool's most famous streets, including Penny Lane!

This desire to re-name can spring from a laudable desire to recognise the parts of our history that by today's standards are regrettable, but they can also be seen as an attempt to airbrush history. The counter argument is that, as George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Whether we like it or not, our history, both good and bad, makes us who we are and our mistakes should be remembered so that we remember not to repeat them.

Very few people will ever have anything public named after them, which for most of us is a relief! The public scrutiny that comes with public recognition is not something that most of us would like. In our day-to-day lives we can often get away with 'airbrushing' our past and our present, hiding those bits of which we're ashamed or those bits we know others would disapprove of. Both Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle claim the urban legend of sending friends or upright citizens a telegram saying “Flee at once - all is discovered” and some or all of the recipients leaving immediately! The story rings true because all of us have things we'd rather others didn't know about us. And worryingly in this age of social media, our mistakes can become widely known within hours!

Even if we can hide our skeletons from those around us, God knows everything about us and one day we too will see the whole of our lives; the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet the amazing thing is that despite knowing all about us God still loves us! And more than that he wants us to say sorry for the bad things, and in his mind they will be airbrushed out so that we can start again.

A fine life?

Here's my article for this month's Broughton magazine:

As regular readers of this column will know, one of the highlights of my year is to watch the Broughton Primary School's summer musical production, which this year is Oliver!.

Both the musical and Dickens' novel 'Oliver Twist' are rollercoasters of emotion, with memorable characters that we come to love (or hate!). One of the best characters in the story is Nancy, the prostitute and former thief, who acts as a kind of go-between between Fagin and Bill Sikes, who is her pimp and her lover. Nancy plays a pivotal rôle in the ending of the story when she rescues Oliver and delivers him to Mr Brownlow. For this act of kindness, Nancy is brutally murdered by Sikes. Nancy's death is shocking but it was based on a real-life murder of a prostitute called Eliza Grimwood, probably by her pimp and lover, William Hubbard, in 1838.

What makes Nancy such a great character is that she is such a tragic figure. She doesn't seem to have a sense of her own worth so she is trapped in the life she has. In 'It's a fine life' she sings “Not for me, the happy home / Happy husband, happy wife / Tho' it sometimes touches me... / For the likes of such as me... / Mine's a fine...fine... life!”. And in Chapter 46 of the novel she says “I am chained to my old life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leave it. I must have gone too far to turn back,-- and yet I don’t know.” One of the tragedies of her life is that she doesn't seem to believe that redemption is possible for her, that she doesn't deserve anything better than what she has.

However, the thing that touches us most about Nancy is that she loves a man who doesn't love her, and worse than that, a man that abuses her. And though we're screaming at her, she stays loyal to him. Even when helping Oliver, she is careful not to betray Skies. Her loyalty is most obviously seen in the song “As long as he needs me” where Nancy describes how despite what he does to her, she will stay true to him. The song hints that perhaps she sees something loveable in Sikes that we don't see, but the impression we get is that she is deluded or deluding herself about this. The real reason she stays with him is probably that she's lonely and Sikes gives her enough attention and 'needs' her. We know, though Nancy doesn't seem to, that Sikes could quite easily find another woman to do what Nancy does.

Nancy's situation perhaps reflects the thoughts and feelings of many people who face domestic abuse; trapped by a false sense of loyalty and love for their abusers. There may be an answer for those like Nancy in realising that redemption is possible. Throughout the gospels Jesus encountered people who were hope-less, who were rejected by society and thought little of themselves. He showed them that they were precious to God and through that encounter their lives were changed. Redemption is possible for us all; even Nancy, and even Sikes.

Brenda, elections and the Archbishops

Here's my article for the June magazines:

You may agree with Brenda from Bristol, and when thinking about the forthcoming General Election exclaim “Not another one!” But whether we like it or not we are having another election. Brenda's reaction perhaps reflects a more widely held weariness about yet another chance to 'have our say'. That is why the Archbishops of Canterbury and York wrote in their recent letter to the Parishes and Chaplaincies of the Church of England that one of their obligations “at these times is to set aside apathy and cynicism and to participate, and encourage others to do the same.”

It is easy to take for granted the privilege we have to vote in democratic elections but the example of the Suffragettes and the Chartists to name just a couple should remind us that the right to vote was one that had to be fought for. And we only have to look around the world to see places where free and fair elections are not possible. However, that doesn't mean that we can be so naïve as to think that democracy is a perfect system nor as arrogant as to think that we should impose Western style democracy on other nations. But here in this country we do have the right to vote and we should use it.

The Archbishops also say that Christians have the higher obligation to pray for those standing for office, and to continue to pray for those who are elected. They encourage us “to engage prayerfully with the candidates and issues in this election” and to “recognise the enormous responsibilities and the vast complexity of the issues that our political leaders face. We are constantly reminded of the personal costs and burdens carried by those in political life and by their families.” This will involve the criticising of policies for their logical, economic and moral flaws and perhaps holding these policies up for ridicule but in our examination of the issues and policies we should not forget that the politicians are all human beings.

However, importantly, the Archbishops say that “Contemporary politics needs to re-evaluate the importance of religious belief.” This might seem an obvious thing for them to say but their further statements show that this is deeper than saying that religious belief should be respected. They say “Religious belief is the well-spring for the virtues and practices that make for good individuals, strong relationships and flourishing communities” and “The assumptions of secularism are not a reliable guide to the way the world works.” They are reminding us that none of us are neutral or impartial in our outlook, all of our actions and thoughts stem from particular worldviews; some religious, some non-religious. A point of view should not be dismissed merely because it is a religious view. In fact, only religious viewpoints make sense because without a belief in God, concepts like good and bad, and right and wrong cease to have any objective meaning: they simply describe whether we like something or not (see the video "Can you be good without God?" by Andy Bannister).

However you decide to vote, and whatever the result, the Christian prayer to God remains the same “thy kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven.”

Thy Kingdom come

Here's my article for May's magazines:

There's lots of talk about kingdoms at the moment. On TV there's the second series of Bernard Cornwell's 'The Last Kingdom' about the struggle between the Saxons and the Danes, and also the second series of 'Versailles' the drama about the rule of Louis XIV, the Sun King. In the first the kingdoms are won and held by battles and bloodshed, and in the second the kingdom revolves around the whim and will of one person, the king.

This month, however, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has invited us to think about a different kingdom, the Kingdom of God. Under the title 'Thy Kingdom Come' Archbishop Justin has invited Christians around the world during the time between Ascension and Pentecost (24^th May-4^th June), not to fight for a kingdom but to pray for God's Kingdom to come. He has deliberately echoed the words of the Lord's prayer, in which Jesus taught us to pray “thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. And this phrase gives us a clue as to what the coming of God's Kingdom looks like. God's Kingdom is all about God's will being done on earth, but unlike the absolute rule of Louis XIV, God's absolute rule is one of justice and peace to give us all abundant life, not just to please the king.

It also reminds us that the Christian vision of life in God's Kingdom is not really about what happens to us when we die or at some future time, it's about what happens in the here-and-now. God's Kingdom on earth started with Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension so it's something that he invites us to be part of and also to help bring about. And we become part of it by following God's will in our lives.

This is easier said than done, but it starts with having a relationship with Jesus and a living faith in him, so the focus of the time of prayer is not just to pray for people's needs; personally, locally, nationally or internationally but to pray that people will come to know Jesus and that Christians would be empowered to speak about their faith.

As usual on the days before Ascension, we'll be having our 'Rogation Day Blessing Service' where we will be asking God to bless the parish and the midweek services will have a particular focus on praying for God's Kingdom to come, so please feel free to join us as we pray or to send us any requests for prayer.

As Ian Adams has written on www.thykingdomcome.global “To pray 'Thy Kingdom Come' is to pray for a shift in the world around us...But to pray 'Thy Kingdom Come' is first to pray for a shift within ourselves.” Are you brave enough to pray that prayer?

Sherlock and the Resurrection

Here's my magazine article for April:

I really enjoyed the latest series of the BBC drama 'Sherlock' and there was one particularly striking scene in the second episode 'The Lying Detective'. In the previous episode [SPOILER ALERT!] Dr Watson's wife, Mary, had thrown herself in front of Sherlock when he was shot at and she died. Watson recognises that Sherlock blames himself and wants to reassure him. He says “Mary died saving your life. It was her choice. No-one made her do it. No-one could ever make her do anything...but the point is: you did not kill her.” Sherlock then replies quietly “In saving my life, she conferred a value on it...It is a currency I do not know how to spend.” (Thanks to http://arianedevere.livejournal.com/90556.html for the transcript of the words!)

The theme of self-sacrifice is a common one in stories, but Easter gives us the opportunity to focus on the true ultimate sacrifice; Jesus' death on the cross. Just like Mary, Jesus' sacrifice was freely chosen; he said “No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly!” (John 10:18 Contemporary English Version). But more importantly he died to save our lives. The prophet Isaiah foretold the death of Jesus in these words: “it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down... But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed! We—every one of us—have strayed away like sheep! We, who left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us!” (Isaiah 53:4-6 The Living Bible).

The wonderful good news of the cross is that Jesus took the punishment that we deserve because of our sins so that we could be forgiven and be reconciled with God. The wonderful good news of Easter is that Jesus rose from the dead so that we too could have a fresh start. This is the central message of Christianity and if it's true it has huge implications for each one of us.

Sherlock realises that Mary thought that his life was valuable enough to be worth saving. Knowing that Jesus died for us should make us realise that he thinks we are valuable, that he loves us so much that he gave his life to take the punishment we deserve. Society often values people based on their job, wealth, beauty, popularity or usefulness. God loves each of us regardless of what society thinks of us and amazingly he loves us even though we rejected him and were his enemies: “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 TLB). We don't have to be good enough for God to love us, he loves us even though we're never good enough.

Which leaves us with Sherlock's problem: this value on his life is a currency he doesn't know how to spend. He doesn't know how to live in response to Mary's act. If we truly understand what Jesus did for us on the cross we too have to decide how to respond. The great hymn “When I survey the wondrous cross” gives us the answer. The only appropriate response to the love that is so amazing, so divine is to give God 'my soul, my life, my all.' What is your response to the good news of Easter?

Speaking plainly about death

It's approaching the first anniversary of the death of our twins and with last Sunday's Gospel reading and the recent documentary by Rio Ferdinand, death is on my mind.

The reading set for last Sunday was John 11:1-45, and is the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha are close friends of Jesus and when Lazarus falls ill, his sisters naturally call on Jesus to come to help. Jesus doesn't go immediately but waits a couple of days before setting out. In the meantime Lazarus dies, so when Jesus eventually arrives both Mary and Martha greet him with a mixture of grief, anger and accusation: "If only you had been here sooner this would not have happened!" Anger can often be a part of grief, and particularly anger towards God: "Why did you let this happen?" "If only you had done..." Mary and Martha's friendship with Jesus didn't protect them from the sorrows, worries and difficulties of life but it did allow them to be completely honest with him about how they felt, and at the same time to trust that he knew best. The worship sing that we held on to during our grief was Matt Redman's 'Blessed be your name', which talks of trusting God in the good times and in the bad times. It includes words from the Bible often heard at funerals: "You give and take away, my heart will choose to say 'Lord, blessed be your name.'" (Job 1:21)

Something else that struck me from the story of Lazarus was the discussion between Jesus and the disciples.

After [Jesus] had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’ His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead' (verses 11-14)

Jesus talks about Lazarus 'falling asleep' but the disciples misunderstand and assume that Lazarus is in some sort of coma state. So Jesus had to spell it out plainly "Lazarus is dead." This interaction reminded me of the language we often use about death and what that tells us about how we view death.

We use euphemisms such as 'fallen asleep', 'passed on/away/over', 'shuffled off this mortal coil' (I'll resist the temptation to go into Month Python's 'Dead Parrot sketch'!), partly to avoid facing the finality of death. "Lazarus is dead" said Jesus. Full stop. End of. (Well sort of!) One of the reasons Jesus delayed going to Mary and Martha's was to show that Lazarus really was dead. In Rio Ferdinand's recent documentary 'Being Mum and Dad' one of the widowed fathers said how important it was for him to use the words 'death' and 'killed' when talking to his children about their mother. Bereaved children often get confused with abstract language and euphemisms, and saying thing's like “they've gone away” or “they've fallen asleep” may lead to the child being afraid of holidays and bedtime. Children can usually cope a lot better with the 'blunt truth' whereas it's us adults that can't, often because we struggle to come to terms with the loss.

Our reluctance to let go of loved ones who have died also shows itself in beliefs about what happens after death. Aside from the theologically incorrect belief that we become angels after death (see one of my previous blogposts), there are the common beliefs that stars, robins, feathers, crisp packets (as Peter Kay parodies in his 'Live at the Top of the Tower' show) are proof that dead loved ones are watching over us or otherwise with us. Such thoughts are also evident in the poems often read out at funerals. A very popular one 'Do not stand at my grave and weep' says “I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glint on snow...Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there, I did not die!”

These beliefs are not only untrue and fanciful but also deeply unhelpful in the grief process. This seems counter-intuitive as they bring comfort to the bereaved, but in reality they show a reluctance to let go of a dead loved one and a reluctance to admit that they really have gone.

Of course religious belief has a large influence on common attitudes to death. Most religious systems teach some sort of afterlife, although Buddhism is one of the few belief systems that in which the ultimate aim is non-existence, or annihilation. Even secular and humanist funerals tend to shy away from the logical conclusion of their beliefs. It is rare to hear a secular or humanist funeral celebrant stating boldly that the person has died and is now no more than a load of atoms that will eventually become part of something else. Instead, 'humanist' funerals often talk of the person having gone on a journey which usually involves being reunited with previously deceased loved ones.

Christianity too shares some responsibility for these false beliefs, particularly in Western culture, as it proclaims the belief in the resurrection to eternal life. Indeed the raising of Lazarus makes exactly that point. Even though Lazarus will die again, Jesus is demonstrating that death will be defeated by his own resurrection. So how can this circle be squared? How can death be both final and not final?

Well the first thing to remember is that the dead are truly dead, their mortal existence is finished and there is a no interaction between the living and the dead. But Jesus' resurrection proves that death no longer has the final word, life after death is now possible. However, Jesus is also clear that the resurrection to eternal life, although it is available to everyone, will not be the outcome for everyone: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11: 25-26).

This belief in Jesus is not merely believing that he existed, or that he was a holy man or even that he was the Son of God, even the Devil believes that! The belief that Jesus is talking about is the 'true and lively faith' that is the subject of one of the Church of England's official homilies or sermons. It states:

Living faith is not only believing in the articles of the creed. It is also a sure trust and confidence in the mercy of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and a steadfast hope of all good things to be received at God’s hand. And that although we, through infirmity or temptation by our spiritual enemy, do fall from him by sin, yet if we return again to him by true repentance that he will forgive and forget our offences, for the sake of his Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

This true and lively faith is trusting that God will forgive us when we truly repent, because Jesus died to take the punishment we deserve.  (For more on this go to Christianity Explored)

The belief in the resurrection to eternal life is the only true comfort for grief, as St Paul wrote “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). So there are two types of grief: hopeless grief and hopeful grief. For those who die without a true and lively faith in Jesus there is no resurrection to eternal life, but “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Christian funeral service proclaims this good news of the resurrection through belief in Jesus but doesn't say if this promise applies to the person who had died. (Although for some people we can be fairly sure based on a life of true faith or the merciful view of young and unborn children).

This is because we can never know for sure what the status of someone's relationship with God is, we do not know if they died in the faith of Christ or not. This too can be a comfort as until we die it is never too late to turn to God. The thief who hung on a cross next to Jesus was promised life in Paradise after he came to believe in Jesus (Luke 23:39-43). Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) reminds us that those who come to a true and lively faith in Jesus late in life are just as much heirs to the promise of eternal life as those who have had such a faith for the whole of their lives. The great hymn 'To God be the glory' rejoices that "the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives."

Ultimately, what the funeral service reminds us is that although for the person who had died time has run out to respond to the invitation of Jesus to believe in him, our time has not yet run out. Therefore we pray “give us grace to use aright the time that is left to us here on earth to turn to Christ and follow in his footsteps in the way that leads to everlasting life."

So we need to speak plainly about death. We need to acknowledge that the dead person has gone and is only 'with us' through our memories of them and not through stars or breezes or crisp packets. And we need to be clear that eternal life is only given to those who have a true and lively faith in Jesus during their earthly life. If we don't grasp these truths, hard as they may be, then we may live in the false comfort that our loved ones are 'safe' and 'happy' and therefore with the false hope that we too will be safe and happy and reunited with them after our deaths, even if we don't have a true and lively faith in Jesus. And false comfort and false hope are no comfort and no hope at all; and will not lead us to eternal life.  But there is a hope.

Fish tanks and freedom

This is my magazine article for March:

The Christian season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which this year falls on 1^st March (for Welsh readers, St David's day is transferred this year to 28^th February - see http://hybaldsrector.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/where-has-st-david-gone.html). Lent is a time of self-examination and repentance and is often associated with the practice of giving things up. This has recently been joined by, and increasingly replaced by, a call to take up spiritual or charitable practices. Now of course these are worthy and admirable things to do, but I suspect that our preference for 'taking up' rather than 'giving up' has less to do with our spiritual and moral health and more to do with our contemporary dislike of self-denial.

For over half a century now our culture has shifted away from attitudes of respect for and obedience to authority, and has moved towards an attitude of self-assertion and self-centredness. This shift is not totally a bad thing, but it is reaching its logical conclusion in the present attitude that I should be able to have what I want and it is wrong to deny me it. This is usually dressed up in the language of being 'free' or having a 'right' to have or do something. The progression has been from “I do what I am told” to “I do what I like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else” to “I can do what I like whatever effect it has on others (or myself)”.

Jesus, by his death, has set us free the guilt of our sins. But as Paul reminds us “My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love” (Galatians 5:13 Contemporary English Version) and Peter says “You are free, but still you are God’s servants, and you must not use your freedom as an excuse for doing wrong” (1 Peter 2:16 CEV). But in a world where 'freedom' is the battle-cry, the suggestion that we should try to live according to God's laws is not popular.

So how can we be free if we still have to live as God wants us to live? Well, we do not free a fish by taking it out of a fish tank, we only kill it. Similarly, we are only truly free if we live in the way we are intended to live, and the one who tells us what that way is is the one who created us, God. Freedom from God's rules is not freedom to live, it is only freedom to die.

The odd thing is that we know that freedom from constraint is not really freedom because we see it all around us. Unrestrained eating is unhealthy, excessive consumption of alcohol has a detrimental effect on health and society. However, the most shocking example is the 'freedom' of the sexual revolution that has led to increases in STIs, abortions, broken relationships, pornography, sexualisation of children and psychological trauma.

The promises to bring freedom and happiness cannot be fulfilled by a culture that puts personal interests above everything else. Jesus said, “I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest” (John 10:10 CEV). This Lent why not test whether Jesus' promise is true?

Where has St David gone?

The Church calendar is often  a strange thing.  Take tomorrow for instance: millions of proud Welsh people will be celebrating St David's day; millions of people a lot of whom would describe themselves as agnostics or atheists honouring a Christian hero.  But look at the Church calendar and you will not find St David's day marked, at least not this year.

That's because of a technicality.  This year tomorrow (1st March) is Ash Wednesday - a 'Principal Holy Day' which marks the beginning of the church season of Lent, the 40 days (not including Sundays) before Easter.  The technicality is that Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting whereas St David's day is a feast, and you can't feast on a fast day nor fast on a feast day (incidently, this also explains why Sundays aren't included in the 40 days of Lent - Sundays are commemorations of Jesus' resurrection and so are always feast days therefore the Lenten fast doesn't apply on Sundays).  And in the battle of the fast and the feast, the fast of Ash Wednesday trumps all other days, including patron saints.

When special days clash in this way it is usual to transfer the 'losing' day to the nearest available day (i.e. one that doesn't have a more important designation already).  However, this only happens if the day is important enough - if it is not important it just gets dropped, and this is the case with St David's day this year, at least in the Church of England.  Obviously in Wales St David is much more important so the Church in Wales has transferred his feast to today, though this won't stop most Welsh people (or males called David!) celebrating it tomorrow as usual.

Part of the purpose of all this complexity is to ensure that days are given their proper focus and respect (that is, as long as they are important enough). But what would happen if instead we held both of these days in tension, or perhaps bashed them together to see what the effect is? What might it mean to view St David through the prism of Ash Wednesday fasting and to view Ash Wednesday through the prism of celebrating St David?

The first one is quite easy as by all accounts St David was quite into fasting. 'Exciting Holiness' (a book about some of the saints that have special days in the Church of England calendar) describes St David as an “exemplar of the ascetic, spiritual life...He is said to have based his Rule [code] for his monasteries on that of the Egyptian desert monks, with a strong emphasis on hard work, abstinence from alcohol and a refraining from unnecessary speech.” It sounds as if St David spent most days in the same way the most devout Christians spend Ash Wednesday! Indeed Exciting Holiness glosses over some of the details: St David and his fellow monks only drank water and only ate bread and herbs; they had to pull their ploughs themselves and couldn't use animals; they had no personal possessions and were forbidden to describe things as 'my …'! So in some ways Ash Wednesday as a day of fasting is the perfect way of commemorating St David in a way in which he would have approved!

But what about thinking of Ash Wednesday as a day of celebration? St David's final words were a sermon he preached a couple of days before his death. In this sermon he said “Lords, brothers and sisters, Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. And as for me, I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us." St David's life may seem very drab and difficult to us but he obviously considered it to be joyful. The simplicity of his life enabled him to concentrate on what was truly important: his faith and caring for others and this is the way to a joyful life. Christians often only eat one small simple meal (if any) on Ash Wednesday and may also 'fast' from luxuries such as sweets or even T.V. and the internet! This discipline can be quite hard as self-denial is not a natural urge, but the time can be devoted instead to prayer, Bible reading or looking out for others and this can be celebrated. Ash Wednesday gives us the opportunity to concentrate on what is really important in life, the two great commands as Jesus taught us: love God and love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40). And in doing so we will discover what Jesus describes as life in all it's fullness (John 10:10).

So whether you keep St David's day today, tomorrow or not at all; whether you fast or feast or neither; may God in his mercy grant that, following St David's purity of life and zeal for the gospel of Christ, we may with him receive the crown of everlasting life. 

Turning from the crib to the cross

Here's my article for the February magazine:

For many people the Christmas celebrations last until you have to go back to work or school. For some Twelfth Night (6th January), which marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas, is the end of Christmas and the time to put the Christmas decorations away for another year. I always find this a bit sad as in the church calendar the wise men don't arrive until 6th January, which is also called Epiphany, so the crib scene is put away before they've had a chance to get there! In the church year however the season of Christmas lasts until 2nd February (so if you've still got decorations up don't worry!)

This feast is variously known as 'The Purification of the Virgin Mary', 'The Presentation of Christ in the Temple' or 'Candlemas' and comes forty days after Christmas. According to the Jewish law, forty days after the birth of a male child the mother was to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to be ritually 'purified' by offering a sacrifice. This event in Mary's life is recorded in Luke 2:22-40 and we know from this that Mary was poor as she was unable to afford a lamb but instead brought two pigeons for the sacrifice. At the same time the baby Jesus, as Mary's first-born son, was 'presented' at the Temple.

So far, so normal. But while they were there two extraordinary events occurred. Firstly, an old man named Simeon came up to the family, took Jesus in his arms and praised God for him (his song is now known as the 'Nunc Dimittis'). And secondly an elderly prophetess named Anna also gave thanks for Jesus. The reason they reacted as they did was because they recognised that Jesus was no ordinary baby. We are told that the Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that “he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (verse 26) and that Anna “spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (v38), in other words they recognised that Jesus was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament.

Simeon also recognised that Jesus wasn't just good news for the Jewish people, but that he was a light that would reveal God's message to the other nations too. As a reminder of the proclamation of Jesus as the Light of the World, this day also became a day when, in pre-electricity days, the candles for use in the church that year were blessed and people would also bring their domestic candles to be blessed. So it became the festival day (or 'mass') of the candles – Candlemas.

The Presentation also marks the shift in our focus from the crib to the cross. The Messiah whose birth we celebrate will be a Light to the World revealing God's message not just by his teaching and his miracles, but chiefly by his death and resurrection. The Presentation reminds us that you can't truly celebrate Christmas without believing in Easter.