Do we know it's Christmas?

Here's my December article:

By the time you read this article you may already be sick of hearing Christmas songs wherever you go. Just as 'The Chicken Song' parodied summer songs, Peter Kay, as 'Geraldine McQueen', lovingly parodied Christmas songs in 'Once Upon a Christmas Song' singing “It's getting in your head / And if you're not singing it all night, / You'd be telling a lie, / You'll be singing this over and over, and over again.”

Everyone has their own favourite Christmas song (and usually at least one that they hate!) but the chances are that at some point you'll hear at least one version of “Do they know it's Christmas?” It was Christmas Number 1 in 1984 by Band Aid and spawned three cover versions which also went to Number 1. The original was written to raise money for Ethiopia in the wake of the famine there, and is the best selling Christmas song of all time, selling 3.82 million units. This is despite it being generally recognised as having little artistic merit as a song, including by its writers - although as Midge Ure wrote in his autobiography “It was all about generating money... The song didn't matter: the song was secondary, almost irrelevant.”

But to some the song does matter. It has been accused of a patronising view of Western 'civilisations' coming to the rescue of poor Africans. It also is wildly inaccurate, claiming “there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time” (not even on Mount Kilimanjaro or the Atlas mountains?), and that it's a place “where nothing ever grows”(!) and “no rain or rivers flow.” Of course, as the cause of the song was a famine, this might be forgiveable hyperbole, but as the song has been reissued and this line kept it perpetuates a misleading picture of Africa, which in fact has two of the top ten wettest places in the world and two of the top ten longest rivers in the world (including the longest!).

Bob Geldof responded to such analysis of the inaccuracies in the lyrics by saying that its just a pop song not a doctoral thesis. However, the most problematic aspect of the song is the view it has of what Christmas actually means.

It suggest that the reason that Africans might not know it's Christmas is because they won't have parties, snow, presents and food and drink – and this says a lot about what we think Christmas is all about. As African Christians appear in the New Testament, and more Christians live in Africa than any other continent it is unlikely that they don't know it's Christmas! More than that, each year the charity Open Doors published a 'World Watch List' (an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution) and five of the top ten worst countries are in Africa. So not only do Africans know what Christmas is, they are prepared to suffer for their belief in the Jesus whose birth is celebrated at Christmas.

A Somalian woman who was tortured for her faith said “Previously I didn’t have happiness, but now I have joy… I know that until I came to know Jesus, I knew nothing at all.” If this time of year is just about presents and parties, perhaps it's us who don't know it's Christmas.

Is death really nothing at all?

Here is my November article:

Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918) [Source: www.commons.wikimedia.org/]

November is traditionally a month where we recall those who have died, possibly because of All Saints day at the beginning of the month, but more probably because the days are getting darker, the weather is getting worse, the plants around us are dying back. We have a fascination with death, as is demonstrated by the 'going viral' of my friend, Dr Allan Barton's niche YouTube videos on various burial customs, particularly royal ones.

This year we have thought about death quite a lot; there are still the consequences of the pandemic and of course we have had the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The sermon preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Her Late Majesty's funeral has been lauded by many people, and it reminded me of another sermon preached after a monarch's death that is very famous, even if its origin isn't.

At St Paul's Cathedral in May 1910 before the Lying in State of King Edward VII, Canon Henry Scott-Holland delivered a sermon titled “Death, the King of Terrors.” This sermon contained words that have become one of the most frequently used poems at funerals, usually called “Death is nothing at all” which expresses a belief in the continuity of the relationship between the deceased and the mourner. However, this was not the message Scott-Holland was trying to get across in his sermon.

Instead he was contrasting two views of death: “First there is the familiar and instinctive recoil from it as embodying the supreme and irrevocable disaster…Nothing leads up to it, nothing prepares for it. It simply traverses every line on which life runs, cutting across every hope on which life feeds…It makes all we do here meaningless and empty…” This is the view of “the terror of the unknown, the terror of loss, the terror of finality.” The second view is that expressed by “Death is nothing at all”, that talks of “the trick played us by seeming death. It is not death; nobody is dead...Everything that we cared for and loved exists...Nothing that we see in this dead material now laid out under our eyes represents or involves or includes the thing that was or is alive.”

The first view of death is what an honest atheist should have: if we are mere accidents of atomic collisions and chance events then death is final and ultimately makes life meaningless. The second view is that of those who feel that there is more to life than the materialist atheist view, but in the absence of a reasoned religious belief wishfully hopes that what we value continues beyond death.

Scott-Holland contrasts these two approaches to death: “the mood of violent recoil” and “the mood of quiet continuity” and then says “Our task is to deny neither judgement, but to combine both. The contrasted experiences are equally real, equally valid.” We need to avoid the trap of either despair or denial in the face of the the fact of death, as well as acknowledge the truth behind both experiences.

This is only possible through Jesus' death and resurrection, which guarantees both the defeat of the finality of death and the possibility of the continuity of eternal life. But in order for this to happen we must undergo death ourselves; not physical death but putting to death the sins which make us spiritually dead, by repenting and allowing the Holy Spirit to breathe new life into us. As Jesus promises: “Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; and those who live and believe in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26).

Grief and hope at empty tombs

Here's my sermon for this year's Remembrance service at Broughton:

Last Thursday, the Cubs, Scouts and Explorers came to church to think about Remembrance Sunday and created these poppies to decorate the church with for today. We thought about the two minutes silence and how, for some people, in the first minute we recall those who have died in the two world wars, and whose names we hear read out, and in the second minute we think of all those affected by war, through injury, bereavement or loss of homes and livelihoods.

So on these poppies we wrote on the top half a name of someone from Broughton who died in the two world wars, and then on the bottom half people that we pray for during the service, either because they are suffering because of war or because they are trying to make peace. So thank you to the Cubs, Scouts and Explorers for helping us to remember the purpose of Remembrance Sunday – to remember and to pray.

Of course, this two minutes silence happens at our poignant War Memorial: with our soldier deep in thought, remembering his friends who have died and holding in his hand a laurel leaf for peace. Remembering and praying.

There are many war memorials throughout the country – from simple plaques to huge monuments but almost all of them have one thing in common – they are technically cenotaphs. A cenotaph is a monument to someone who has died and whose body is buried elsewhere and I learnt recently that the word 'cenotaph' comes from two Greek words meaning 'empty tomb'. So these cenotaphs are not graves but memorials.

This reminds us that so many of those who went to war never came back, for most not even their bodies came back and for some the location of their bodies is unknown. In the absence of a proper grave, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier represents all those whose bodies never returned, and all our local cenotaphs are testament to the absence in all senses of the word of those who never returned from war.

We gather at an empty tomb to remember those who should be here but aren't. And as we feel the pain of the empty tomb we commit ourselves to praying for all those who suffer because of war and violence, and all those who are working for peace and justice.

But we don't just gather at the cenotaph, we also gather here in church, where the words 'empty tomb' have a different resonance.

In our first reading (Acts 13:26-39) we hear the words of the apostle Paul telling people in a synagogue about Jesus. He tells them that Jesus was unfairly tried and unjustly put to death, but that he was raised from the dead, and that unlike his ancestor, the great King David, his body did not decay. Instead there was an empty tomb. And because of that empty tomb Paul could say for certain that Jesus' death is the way sins can be forgiven, as Jesus himself had said it would. And it's those sins of course which lead to war and violence. Therefore, Paul goes on, everyone who believes and trusts in Jesus is set free from their sins, something that is simply not possible through being a good person doing good things.

That empty tomb is the central belief of Christianity – if it is untrue, as Paul says elsewhere, then our faith is pointless, but if it is true it should change every part of our lives. If Jesus has not been raised to life again then all graves are empty tombs – they all mark people who no longer exist except as dust and ashes and memories – merely names carved on stone. If Jesus has not been raised all grief is without hope – we will never see those we love again. But if Jesus has been raised from the dead then those who believe and trust in him will share eternal life together.

To stand at the empty tomb of Jesus is to celebrate that death is no longer the final word in our lives either personally or as a world. In our second reading (Luke 21:5-19) Jesus teaches his disciples that after his death and resurrection he will return to his Father for a while before he returns to earth again at the end of time. In the meantime there will be suffering, wars and disasters, and his followers will be persecuted. His promise is that those who remain faithful will receive eternal life. But when he returns death and suffering, along with war and disaster, will be got rid of once and for all and justice will be done. Without that empty tomb, death, suffering, wars and disasters will continue, and evil will go unpunished.

So as we gather around the cenotaph, the empty tomb, let us remember those who died and pray for those who suffer and who work for peace. But let us also remember that it is only by gathering by faith around the empty tomb of Jesus that there is the certain hope of an end to injustice, suffering, wars and death.

Harvest Thanksgivings - not just for food

Here's my article for October:

Harvest is a time for thanksgiving - across the country churches and schools will gather for services which focus on being thankful for the world, and especially for the food we eat, those who produce it and also God who is ultimately responsible for it. It is quite right to give thanks to God for the gift of creation and all the ways he blesses us through the natural world. But it's not just the created world that we need to remember to be thankful for, we also need to be thankful for each other.

During the worst months of the pandemic we got used to being thankful for the NHS and other 'key workers' but this year our thankfulness has mainly been focused on one person: Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Earlier in the year we joyfully celebrated her Platinum Jubilee and there were many books, speeches, articles, videos and programmes talking about 'Our Faithful Queen' and giving thanks for her 70 year reign. In our Jubilee celebration service we thanked God “for the example of loving and faithful service which she has shown among us” and prayed that he would help us to “follow her example of dedication and to commit our lives to you and to one another.” We also observed that she herself “follows the example set for her, reminding us that 'God sent his only Son “to serve, not to be served”. He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ.' ” Then, last month, we recalled with thanksgiving her life of dedication and service as we mourned her death.

An important part of many funerals is the eulogy where the life of the deceased is recalled, and there is often a time of reflection where all those present can silently recall their own memories. I usually introduce this time of reflection by suggesting that the congregation thank God for the person who has died and also thank God for the way that God has blessed us through that person. As we mourned the death of Queen Elizabeth, so much was said about the effect that she had, not only on those who met her, but also on the course of world events. An unlike a lot of her predecessors and some world leaders today, she did this not through revolutions, battles and invasions but often with a simple gesture: a handshake, a nod of the head, a laugh.

The simple gestures we make may not have historic, world-changing effects, but they can change the lives of those around us, even in ways we cannot see. The song “Thank You” by Ray Boltz imagines a scene in heaven where someone is shown the effect their life has. Some of the lyrics are: “One by one they came, far as the eyes could see. Each life somehow touched by your generosity. Little things that you had done, sacrifices made, unnoticed on the earth, in heaven now proclaimed.” It's sometimes said that it's a shame we don't hear our eulogies before we die, so perhaps this harvest time we could say thank you to someone who's touched our lives.

Commemoration Service Sermon

Here is the sermon I preached at the parish Commemoration Services marking the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II:

If you've spent any time over the past couple of days watching the news on T.V. or online, or reading the newspapers , or listening to it on the radio, or even looking at social media – you'll have been bombarded with information about the late Queen's life and reign, and stories people tell about meeting her. And of course we have heard a lot of it already this year as we celebrated that historic milestone, the Platinum Jubilee of her reign just a few short months ago. I don't have anything original to add to that huge volume of information, anecdote and commentary (and you can still read my article on the Platinum Jubilee on my blog – please do like, subscribe and share! [you can also read my article on the occasion of her 90th birthday]) - I don't have anything original to say, but I'll keep in line with the tradition of 24hr news coverage, of which someone said “It's full of people with nothing to say, but who insist on saying it!”

As I've been listening over the past few days, two things have struck me: one about her life and one about her death. So firstly about her life. We have a tendency not to want to speak ill of the dead, but in the case of Queen Elizabeth II there seems to be very little to speak ill of her about. Even those who don't agree with the institution of the monarchy, have expressed their admiration and respect for the person of Queen Elizabeth. It seems that everyone that has met her has spoken fondly of their memories, and even those who haven't met her describe her in glowing terms. Words like 'dutiful', 'fun', 'selfless', 'tireless' and 'warm' are often used; and people describe how nervous they'd been to meet her, but how she made them feel relaxed and at ease. Others say how she put the 'Great' into Great Britain, or the 'United' into the United Kingdom. The new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, called her “the rock on which modern Britain was built.”

One aspect that occasionally, but not often, gets mentioned is the deep, profound and living faith that the late Queen had. She was able to be the rock on which modern Britain was built precisely because she built her own life on that of the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ. She would often in her Christmas speeches say how her life was shaped by the example of Jesus and how she was sustained by her relationship with him. She was a faithful Queen – not just faithful in her duty to her people throughout the world but full of faith in the God who called her to her rôle. And that faith shone through her. Gavin Ashenden who was one of her chaplains said “The reason you like her is because you can smell God in her” and that seems to be true whether you met her or not.

He went on to say that her character, all those qualities people mention over and over again, are what Christians call the 'fruit of the Spirit' - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – when someone is full of God's Holy Spirit, this is what they are like.

So her life was a reflection and the consequence of her faith in Jesus. But what about her death?

You've probably seen various pictures or heard poems describing her death. They usually involve either Prince Philip coming to get her, or Paddington Bear leading her to heaven. I'm not sure what the theological significance of Paddington Bear is, but the idea that those who believe and trust in Jesus in this life will be resurrected and join with all those faithful followers of Jesus from throughout the ages in eternal life, is a deep rooted and biblical idea. But as we heard in our reading from John's gospel (John 14:1-6,27), it is Jesus himself that will come to get us so that we will be where he is. And the picture in that reading is of a house with many rooms – something that Queen Elizabeth was very familiar with! And it would not be inaccurate to describe this house as a palace, because it is the house of the King of kings, but in this palace there are no protocols to be followed, there is no ranking, there are no barriers or police cordons between the people and the King. As our first reading (Revelation 21:1-7) tells us God will dwell with us and he will be so close to us that he will be able to wipe away every tear from our eyes.

As a faithful follower of Jesus, this was Queen Elizabeth's confident hope and expectation, that at her death, her King and Saviour Jesus would come to her and take her to live with him forever. And ever so gently she would encourage us who are left to build our lives on the Rock that is Jesus, to turn to him in repentance and faith, that we too might live in that eternal palace, and meet her there, but most 
importantly to meet our Saviour, the Almighty and Eternal King, Jesus.



Here's the link to the service itself:

and here's the Order of Service:

11th September: the day that changed the world forever?

Here's my article for Broughton's September magazine:

It has become this generation's 'JFK' moment: where were you when the World Trade Centre was attacked? I remember I was working at Liverpool Hope University College at the time and we were watching the events unfold on a large screen in the Reception area that was usually used for announcements and PR. Then in the evening I was in a bar celebrating a friend's birthday, whilst the aftermath was playing on the small screens around the room.

Particularly in the USA, 11th September 2001 is often called “the day that changed the world forever.” It is true that many things have changed since those attacks; airport security, the 'War on Terror', attitudes to immigration to name but a few. The attacks also affected the USA psychologically, given the audacity of the attacks and the symbolism of the targets: these were strikes at what the USA prized as its successes: its economic strength (the WTC); its military strength (the Pentagon); and its system of government (the failed attempt on the Capitol).

Although these were attacks on the USA, they were also seen as an attack on the whole of Western civilisation and its reverence for economic and military power, and its governance.   As such there was a brief moment after the attacks when the question was asked: “Why do they hate us so much?” which could have given rise to a humbler view of ourselves as we see that our way is not the only nor the most perfect way of doing things. But quickly thoughts turned to using our economic and military power to punish and avenge, and also try to impose our Western liberal democracy on other cultures.

So it could be argued that 11th September 2001 was the day that changed the world forever. But the same could be argued for many important days in history, and also for little-known days in history. Just as you could argue that the Battle of Waterloo changed the world forever, so too could the day that Napoleon was born, or the day his parents met etc. The things you and I will do today will change the world forever.

But one day truly could be said to be the day the world changed forever: the day Jesus was born. The visible effects of his birth are obvious: our dating of years refers to his birth, the movement he inspired provides the foundation of Western Civilisation – our concepts of justice, human dignity, compassion, as well as science, education and morality. But more importantly, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17) and “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). It is only through Jesus that justice will be done and all the wrongs of the world, which are caused by the sins all of us have, will be put right. His birth was the day that really changed the world forever. And some scholars say Biblical, historical, and astronomical evidence point to that day being in 3 B.C. on Wednesday, 11th September.

Chickens, Earworms and the Good Life

Here's my article for August:

In my article for August 2013 I wrote about holidays saying “it's very hard not to hear that word without thinking of the song by Madonna (and 'The Chicken Song' by Spitting Image – but that's a different article!)”  Well, it's almost ten years on and so I suppose the article on “The Chicken Song” is well overdue!

“The Chicken Song” is a novelty song that topped the charts in 1986.  It is a parody of the summer hits with actions like “Agadoo” and “Do the Conga”, and though the lyrics are mostly nonsensical, they do talk about the all-pervading nature of these types of songs.  Not only will you hear them wherever you go (even Mars!) but as the last chorus says “Now you've heard it once, your brain will spring a leak, and though you hate this song you'll be humming it for weeks.”

This is a trivial example of the ways our 'nature' can be at odds with our 'wills'.  The Apostle Paul wrote “When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway” (Romans 7:19 The Living Bible), or as Jesus put it “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).  As Paul thought about this paradox he saw that no matter how hard we try “there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me” (Romans 7:23 TLB.)  Try as we might we can never live the good life that we want to and that we know we should.

This leaves us with two options.  We could just shrug our shoulders and say that as failure is inevitable we might as well give up and just do the best we can.  We can then absolve ourselves of blame, saying “it may be wrong but it's just the way I am”, or we could even turn the fault into a virtue or source of pride or part of our identity:“I am a short-tempered person, and if you don't like it, that's your problem!”  But this option is ultimately unsatisfactory because it involves constantly suppressing that inner voice of conscience, the voice of God within us, that is telling us what we ought to be doing.

Paul has an alternative option: cry out “Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?” (Romans 7:24 TLB).  But this is not a cry of despair, because Paul already knows the answer - “Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free” (Romans 7:25 TLB) and “destroyed sin’s control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins. So now we can obey God’s laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.” Romans 8:3-4 TLB.)  That doesn't mean that we will never sin again, but that by belonging to Jesus “the power of the life-giving Spirit...has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death” (Romans 8:2 TLB).

So if, like an annoying but catchy tune, you seem to be stuck in a loop of bad choices and actions call out to Jesus for freedom and life.

Fagin and bad religion

After a break of a few years Broughton Primary School are able to do an end of year production again, and this year it's the turn of 'Oliver!' The story is full of memorable characters, and perhaps one of the most memorable is Fagin, the gang leader who trains homeless children to be thieves and pick-pockets.

Unsurprisingly, the musical tones down Fagin's nastiness by making him into a loveable rogue who perhaps even cares for the children. In 'Be Back Soon' he sings “You can go but while you're working this place, I'm pacing round until you're home safe and sound” and “I love you, that's why I say, 'Cheerio' not 'Goodbye'.” And Ron Moody memorably portrays Fagin in the film version of the musical as a clown-like figure. In 2012 Moody told an audience at the British Film Institute that Fagin is “a monster in the book, a corrupter of children” and his portrayal was “all intended to distract from, to push away the monster of Dickens.”

Dickens doesn't hold back in his portrayal of the evilness of Fagin, describing him as very old, shrivelled, villainous-looking with a repulsive face. He is a “loathsome reptile” whose disgusting outward appearance matches his disgusting inward character; avaricious and miserly with no qualms about psychologically manipulating homeless boys to earn him wealth. No wonder he is often referred to as “the old one” which is a popular nick-name for the devil.

Dickens' depiction of Fagin is nightmarish but what is also troubling is the seemingly anti-Semitic influence on his character. Dickens often refers to him simply as “the Jew”, and his character fits with contemporary ethnic stereotypes and prejudices about Jewish people. It is perhaps even influenced by the “blood libels” of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in which English Jews were accused of kidnapping and murdering children, one such being 'Little Saint Hugh' of Lincoln.

In later editions of the book, Dickens took out the references to “the Jew” and his final novel 'Our Mutual Friend' included Mr Riah, a saintly old Jewish man, and so we can probably say that Dickens was not personally anti-Semitic, but unwisely chose to use the popular, deeply anti-Semitic idea of what the personification of evil looked like. Indeed Fagin is not evil because he is Jewish: he eats sausages and refuses to see a rabbi before his execution so he is definitely not a practising Jew! His character has nothing to do with Jewish beliefs and practices.

Often religion gets blamed for terrible events like the Crusades, the Inquisitions, and wars, and in 'Oliver Twist' the Church of England, which maintained the orphanages and workhouses, is criticised for being cruel, inhumane and unforgiving. Bad things can be done in the name of Christianity but that doesn't mean that Christianity itself is at fault, it just means that we're not very good at following the commands of Jesus who said “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) and “Forgive and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).

For another article on Oliver! see: A Fine Life?

God save the Queen!

Here is my article for June:

https://www.theplatinumjubilee.com/gift/

We are living at a momentous time in our history – celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of the Queen, and I think I'm on fairly safe ground to say that there won't be many of us who will be alive to celebrate another 75th Anniversary of a monarch's reign! I think I'm also on fairly safe ground to say that there will be quite a few occasions this month when we will sing the National Anthem.

Our National Anthem is less a triumphalistic declaration of the superiority of our nation over others, and more a prayer for the monarch. On a surface level this prayer is for the long life of the monarch, asking God to protect the monarch from their enemies. Though, as Eddie Izzard declared after noting her huge houses, surrounded by barbed wire and people with guns: “That's one saved queen!”  However, on a deeper level it is a prayer for the spiritual salvation of the monarch, echoing a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer that the monarch may always be led by God's will and walk in his way.

To focus our prayers on one person rather than the nation as a whole seems to be a bit odd for a National Anthem but there is a good reason. In the BCP Holy Communion service we ask God to “so rule the heart of thy chosen servant Elizabeth, our Queen and Governor, that she (knowing whose minister she is) may above all things seek thy honour and glory: and that we and all her subjects (duly considering whose authority she hath) may faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey her, in thee, and for thee, according to thy blessed Word and ordinance.” This means that if the monarch is obeying God and we obey them we will be obeying God too. This connection was more obvious in the days when the monarch was directly involved in the writing of laws, but we can still see echoes of it today.

The celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee are rightly focused on the Queen and her personal dedication to her rôle. In this she provides an example of selfless service to be copied by anyone in leadership, but particularly community leaders at every level. But it is impossible to separate the Queen's sense of duty from her personal faith. In her Christmas message before her coronation she asked the country to “Pray for me … that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him and you, all the days of my life” and on her Ruby Jubilee, she thanked all those who had prayed for her saying those prayers “sustained me through all these years.” She consistently points to “the example of Jesus of Nazareth who, often in circumstances of great adversity, managed to live an outgoing, unselfish and sacrificial life” (2008), and reminding us that “God sent his only Son 'to serve, not to be served'. He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ” (2012).

So God save the Queen, and God save us through faith in the same Jesus Christ that she believes in and follows.

The point of a 'Pointless' festival

Here's my May article:

You may know the TV quiz 'Pointless' in which contestants try to find answers that no-one else can think of. If the question asked people what the major festivals of Christianity are, I would suspect that most people would be able to name Christmas and Easter. A smaller number might name Pentecost or Whit Sunday, but I would be surprised if many said Ascension Day. However Ascension Day commemorates one of the greatest days in Jesus' story, and one which is great news for us.

In Acts 1:3 Luke tells us that after his resurrection Jesus gave many convincing proofs that he was alive and appeared to his disciples over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. Then he commissioned them to be be his witnesses to all the world and “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9). The actual ascension event, though mysterious, is not what is significant about Ascension Day rather it is the implications of Jesus' ascension that give Ascension Day its importance.

But before we can see the significance of Jesus' ascension we need to remind ourselves of his resurrection. Luke tells us that when Jesus appeared to his disciples the evening of the first Easter Day he took great care to prove that he was not a ghost by eating (Luke 24:36-43), and John records Jesus showing Thomas his wounds and inviting him to touch them (John 20:26-27). Jesus was raised physically and had a tangible body – in other words Jesus retained his humanity after his death and resurrection.

Therefore Ascension Day is essentially the opposite of Christmas Day (or more properly nine months before Christmas Day!): on Christmas Day we celebrate the Incarnation, i.e. God coming to earth as a human; and on Ascension Day we celebrate the God-Man returning to the heavenly realm and sitting at the right hand of God the Father. And if we put that together with what we know of Jesus' resurrection we discover something amazing – humanity is present at the very closest proximity to God the Father, and more than that, as Jesus is God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, humanity is now part of the Trinity itself!!

This is amazingly good news! Those who repent and believe in Jesus don't become disembodied spirits (nor angels!) after death and they won't exist separately from God. We will retain our humanity, which will be exalted and united with God. As Graham Kendrick wrote in his worship song 'Meekness and Majesty' “Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly, lifts our humanity to the heights of his throne.” But it's not just good news for the future: Jesus is at the right hand of his Father, praying for us (Romans 8:34) so we can be bold to approach our Father God with our own prayers (Hebrews 4:16).

Ascension Day may be a 'Pointless' festival but it reminds us of what Jesus has done for us, what he is doing for us, and what awaits us in the future!

To be a bee or not to be a bee

Here's my Easter article:

Before I came to these parishes I was curate in Brigg, which for me was a steep learning curve as the Brigg parishes were of a different church tradition than the church I was brought up in. So I got a shock when we were starting to plan the services for my first Easter there, and the vicar said to me that I should do the Exultet – I had no clue what the Exultet was!

The Exultet, also known as the Easter Proclamation, is an ancient hymn traditionally sung before dawn on Easter Sunday, and as I found out to my horror, it is sung unaccompanied and in Gregorian chant! It is a hymn which encourages all of creation to rejoice and praise God for the salvation that Jesus brings by his death and resurrection. And it is usually sung next to the large Easter candle, which symbolises the recurring metaphor of the darkness of sin and death being defeated by the light and life of Jesus. Surprisingly, within this hymn praising God's work, there is a bit of a digression to praise the work of bees!

In recent years the importance of bees has been increasingly recognised as the bee population decreases. Bees can be vital for the growth of a lot of the food that we eat, and so we are being encouraged to grow more flowers, particularly wildflowers. And around the seventh century, when the Exultet was probably written, bees produced honey which was one of the few sources of sweetness, as well as providing wax for light-giving candles. It is in connection with candles that bees are mentioned in the Exultet – the Easter candle is “the work of bees and of your servants’ hands” and “is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.” The candle reminds us of the work of Jesus and so we are to be thankful for bees for their part in providing this.

Bees aren't, however, just useful for what they produce, historically bees have also been held up as examples of how to behave. As Pope Pius XII said in an address to beekeepers in 1948, bees are examples both of hard work and co-operation, where different bees do different jobs and all for the good of the hive rather than for self-centred reasons. There are also lessons that we can learn about true worship from bees being devoted to a single queen, being ready to sacrifice themselves for the queen and giving their best produce (royal jelly) for the queen.

Most importantly, the re-appearance of bees and many other plants and creatures in the spring point us to the resurrection of Jesus. Easter speaks of the re-creation of the world made possible through Jesus' death and resurrection, and that only through that re-creation can the harmonious society, traditionally exemplified by bees, become a reality. And our call as 'bees' in that re-created society is to work and to feast on honey!

No Way Home?

Here's my article for March:

One of my treats over the Christmas holidays was to watch the latest Spider-Man film, No Way Home (don't worry there's no spoilers!!). It was a film I, like many, had been looking forward to, and to misquote Peter Parker's legendary credo “with great hype comes great expectations”! Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed!

The premise of the film is a very interesting one, Peter is faced with a choice – with a number of super-villains in his control he can either allow them to be destroyed in revenge for what they have done, or he can try to help them to change. The choice is not an easy one and Peter struggles with it, especially knowing that to help them will require sacrifice on his part. This is a story about second chances and doing the right thing in difficult circumstances (and perhaps against our own self-interest).

This latest series of Spider-Man films all play on the word and concept of 'home': the first film was Homecoming; the second, Far from Home; and the third, No Way Home, and they also deal with issues of family in the widest sense. Because of this, and because of plotline of this latest film being about whether people deserve a second chance and if 'bad guys' can change, this film reminded me of Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).

That story can perhaps be summarised as: far from home – no way home – homecoming. A young man rejects his family, takes his share of the family wealth and travels far from home. There he spends his wealth on living the life of luxury and excess until his money runs out and he becomes destitute. Having abandoned his family and having been abandoned by those he thought were friends, he feels like there is no way home. However, he decides to return home to offer himself as a slave, “but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (verse 20). His father then threw a homecoming party for his son.

Many who hear that parable would agree with the older brother that the prodigal son does not deserve forgiveness or a second chance, just as some people told Spider-Man that the super-villains deserved to die for their actions. But the Christian message is that all of us are like the prodigal son, all of us reject God our Father and misuse the gifts he gives us for our own selfish desires – this is what we call sin. But the great news is that God is willing to give us a second, third, fourth and more chance.

Tragically sometimes we are like one of the super-villains who tells Peter “We don’t need you to save us! We don’t need to be fixed!” - we can be far from home and not realise it, or worse still, not want to go home. Eventually however, the emptiness of that life will become apparent, and even if you feel there is no way home, see your heavenly Father looking for you, and running towards you with the simple invitation: “Come home!”

The greatest love of all - but not according to Whitney Houston

Here's my article for the February magazine:

Photo by Jenny Dettrick / Getty Images

It's February so that means that love is in the air, or at least tokens of love are being sold in the shops! Given that our western civilisation grew out of, and is therefore saturated with, the biblical world view it is unsurprising that we value love so highly. After all, the Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8), and that he created the world, and made us in his image (Genesis 1 and 2).

When asked how God wants us to live, Jesus replied in terms of love: the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength; and the second is to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mark 12:28-34), meaning “do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). The greatest commandment is usually overlooked in favour of the second, sometimes termed “the Golden Rule”. However, the second commandment is often misquoted as “Love your neighbour as you love yourself” and this radically changes the meaning.

The most obvious consequence of this misquote is to think that in order to love others you need to love yourself first, thus 'self-love' actually becomes the second commandment. We don't need much encouragement to be self-centred, but in misreading Jesus' words this way we manage to make selfishness a moral virtue and a divine command, because if we don't love ourselves we cannot then love others – we are being selfish for the good of others!!

We seem to live in a world where self-love is all around us. For example the popularity of 'selfies' and self-promotion through social media, and it could be argued that fashion, make-up, tattoos and vociferously identifying yourself with a particular group, are also forms of self-love. But as well as being consequences of narcissism they could also be symptoms of the opposite feeling of self-loathing. The desire to control the image that people see of you could be a result of a deep insecurity – we all like to portray the best side of ourselves, and to put on 'masks' perhaps for fear that people will not like the 'true' us.

Loving our neighbour does not require us to first love ourselves, nor does it require us to even like them. Instead it requires us to see them for who they are: people made in the image of God, and treat them as such, which is why Jesus wants us to include even our enemies in the category of 'neighbour' (Matthew 5:43-44). We love them 'as ourselves' because we are also made in the image of God. Self-loathing is a rejection of the God-image within us, but self-love is worshipping the image rather than the God in whose image we are made, so both go against the greatest commandment.

None of us is perfect, but one prayer praises God “who wonderfully created us in your own image and yet more wonderfully restored us through your Son Jesus Christ”. As we look at all the symbols of love around us, let's remember “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11).