Betrayal and how to deal with it

Here's my article for February (and my second inspired by The Traitors!!):

Photo by Lance Reis on Unsplash

Again this year we seem to be in the grip of 'Traitors-mania': Celebrity Traitors before Christmas was widely praised and the latest series of the normal format started last month.  As the title suggests, it is all about trust and treachery and although “it's only a gameshow” it involves real people trusting other people and often being really betrayed.

Betrayal is doubly cruel because it not only means that someone has harmed you in some way, but that the person was someone you trusted.  We hear this double pain in the words Shakespeare gives Julius Caesar as he is being assassinated: “Et tu, Brute?”  Caesar would have expected his enemies to want to kill him but not his friend Brutus.  If we love and trust people we risk not only being let down by them, but also being betrayed by them.  Therefore Tennessee Williams said that “We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.”  This is a potential solution, but it's not a world I would like to live in!  So, how can we cope with betrayal, whether that's in a small matter or in a significant matter?

In this season of Lent, our attention is turned towards the events of Jesus' final week before his crucifixion and betrayal is a common theme.  We might initially think of Judas' actions, but Peter also denied knowing Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75) and the rest of the disciples abandoned Jesus when he was arrested (Matthew 26:47-56).  Even the actions of Jesus' opponents in accomplishing his death are also cast as betrayal (Acts 7:52). 

The opposition to Jesus can be quite puzzling if we just see him as being a kind and gentle person who tried to encourage people to love each other.  But when we see Jesus' mission as bringing in the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom that challenges all earthly power and rule, the opposition of those holding earthly power becomes more understandable.  This shouldn't be a surprise if we pay attention to what we heard as we celebrated his birth at Christmas.  Simeon prophesied that “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against” (Luke 2:34). John tells us why this opposition was also a betrayal, using perhaps the most tragic words ever written: “though the world was made through [Jesus], the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:10-11).

Jesus responded to this betrayal on the cross, saying “‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).  He forgave them not just with words but by dying so they could be forgiven.

Jesus' words of forgiveness apply not only to those who crucified him and to those who deserted him; they apply to each of us too, because we also do not receive him when we sin.  The good news is that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It's only by accepting the forgiveness Jesus offers for our betrayal of him that we can have the strength to forgive those who betray us.

Be far more retro!

Here's my article for December:

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Christmas is often a time when we indulge in nostalgia, recalling happy memories of past Christmases with family, friends and loved ones.    And perhaps trying to re-create those memories by carrying on family traditions, listening to the classic Christmas songs, and putting up the same decorations in the same place.  A visit to church for a carol service might also be part of an attempt to re-live those treasured times.  Because nostalgia plays such a big rôle in our experience of Christmas, it is a common theme in Christmas advertising, where companies try to persuade us that buying their products will help us replicate the feelings we cherish.

Fr. Philip Hall, the parish priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church of All Saints of Lincolnshire, Lincoln, wrote in his November newsletter of a current advert trying to persuade us that the “magic of Christmas” is to be found in retro-style decorations. However, he says, “we need to be far more retro”!  If we want the 'magic' of Christmas we need to go back not to our childhood, or even to the idealised Victorian Christmas, but we need to go back 2,000 years to remember the spiritual roots of our celebrations.

One reason we often look back to a 'golden time' of Christmases past is that those celebrations, especially when we were children, were responsibility-free – all we had to do was enjoy the presents, the food, the parties, the people.  We didn't have to worry about arranging them or paying for them; they just magically appeared!  As adults, the necessary but mundane, behind-the-scenes preparations often take the lustre off our enjoyment of the very experiences we work so hard to create.  No wonder we want to feel Christmas like a child again!

What we long for is a re-enchantment of Christmas, and not just of Christmas but of the whole of our lives: we wish it could be Christmas everyday, as long as it's the 'magical' Christmas we remember, not the pressurised adult version!  Fr Philip is right that if we want to re-enchant Christmas and our lives we need to be far more retro and go back to the source: Christmas is 'magical', not in the sense of wizards but in that it reveals to us another realm of reality beyond the mundane, natural universe; it reveals the super-natural to us.

Religions might affirm that the supernatural exists, or even that we might enter the supernatural realm after death, but Christmas tells us something far more wonderful; that the supernatural realm entered our natural realm as the baby Jesus, so that the supernatural could dwell amongst us, and our mundane world could be re-enchanted.  A re-enchanted world is one that has a meaning and a purpose; a naturalistic world, one that exists through blind chance and the laws of physics, has no ultimate meaning or purpose and is dis-enchanted.   Jesus comes to offer us life in all its re-enchanted fullness (John 10:10) that as we live in relationship with him, he lives in us. So if you feel discontented with the mundane, why not come to church and be far more retro?

Where can we find real and lasting community?

Here is the sermon I gave at the 2025 Broughton Town Council Civic Service:

Matthew 10:1-8

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and illness.

 

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

 

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” 8 Heal those who are ill, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.'

Sermon

As well as to asking God to bless us and guide us, our Civic Service is another chance to celebrate all that's good in our community. And so much of what is good in our community is done by volunteers. Alice has just read a poem praising volunteers who willingly give up their time to serve others. That includes many of you who are here today! So it's great that we have this opportunity to give you recognition and praise, which is so richly deserved.

It is always great to celebrate our community and those who work so hard to create that community, but it is perhaps even more necessary these days. Because we live in world where people are increasingly isolated because their attention is being given to online spaces rather than the people around them. This is not just a young person's phenomenon – all of us, whatever age we are, are susceptible to the addictive nature of online content, delivered to us through the handy, ever-present portal of our mobile phones. Community is breaking down because we care less about our neighbour and more about funny things that cats do.

Another downside of spending too much time in the online sphere is that the algorithms filter our content so that we increasing only see content we like and that we agree with. Therefore we are fooled into thinking that the majority of the world thinks like we do, because the majority of the content we see agrees with us – we operate in what are known as echo-chambers. So, people that disagree with us seem to be in a minority, and are often portrayed as ignorant and even dangerous. We saw this particularly with the response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk: some people's feeds portrayed him as the Messiah, other people's feeds said he was a very naughty boy. He was either a perfect saint or an evil sinner, with no nuance at all. With no grace at all.

Our discussions have increasingly also lacked nuance and grace , and instead of listening to other people's opinions and evaluating them fairly, we simply ignore them and, if possible, cancel them so no-one else can hear them. We may still have community but they are often online, mono-cultural and mono-opinioned communities, where no dissenting views are allowed. 

God is a fan of community. God himself is a community of three Persons in one. In Genesis when he created the universe, he created a huge diversity of plants and animals to live in harmony together. And when he created humans, as the pinnacle of his creation, as the only creatures made in his image and likeness, he declared that it was not good for Adam to be alone. And when God the Son became incarnate as Jesus, he gathered around him a community of twelve disciples.

 

We heard in our reading who those twelve men were, and it is easy to think that that list is insignificant; but on closer inspection this list tells us some important things about what true community is like. Most of the names, like Simon, are Hebrew or of Hebrew origin, but some, like Philip are Greek. Although all of the disciples are Jewish, their names probably reflect varying degrees of contact and comfort with non-Jewish people. We don't know much about their occupations but some were fishermen; some were owners of fishing businesses, and one was a tax collector, so there were varied levels of education and wealth.

 

But perhaps the most striking feature of this list is that Matthew was a tax collector and Simon was a zealot. As a tax collector, Matthew not only collaborated with the occupying Romans by collecting taxes on their behalf from his fellow countrymen, but he would have also extorted more tax than was due for his own commission: he was a thief and a traitor. Simon, on the other hand, was a zealot, someone who believed that the occupying Romans, and their collaborators, should be driven out of Israel by armed force. Ordinarily, Matthew and Simon would not have spent time together – these days they would have wanted each other cancelled, and denounced each other as holding views which are unacceptable in modern society.

 

But here they are, together in the community that Jesus brought together. I'm sure there were some animated discussions about how to deal with the Romans, and also what the relationship between the Jews and the non-Jews should be, but they didn't walk away from each other, nor did they expel each other from the group.

 

As humans we naturally want to spend time with like-minded people, and will often divide ourselves according to any number of factors, both trivial and serious. So what made the disciples stick together? The answer has to be the presence of Jesus.

 

Jesus didn't just want students who would learn his teachings and then go out to pass them on to others; he wanted to create a community. Their message wasn't just that the kingdom of heaven had come near because God has come to earth as Jesus; but that the kingdom of heaven had come near because Jesus was forming a kingdom community, people living out what it means to belong to the kingdom of God. So the signs of that kingdom were healings and the driving out of evil: the physical healings were signs of the healing of our fallen, sinful nature and also of the healing of divisions between people; the driving out of demons were the sign of the defeat of the causes of those divisions.

 

And this was all possible only through Jesus: it was by grounding their identity in Jesus that the disciples could rise above the other identities that divided them; it was by working for the higher cause of living the kingdom of God on earth that all other causes became insignificant or found their real fulfilment; it was by Jesus' death that the power of the malevolent forces, and of sin, was broken.

 

We have gathered to celebrate community, even at a time when communities are being splintered by fear, suspicion and ambition. Well done to all of you who work so hard to build that community by serving others, often voluntarily. But if we want real and lasting community, we need to be praying that God's kingdom would come, that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. True and lasting community can only be found by gathering together around Jesus: not just around his teachings but by becoming part of the community that he founded, the fellowship of believers, that brings the kingdom of God near, by living that kingdom now.

On the displaying of flags

 Here's my sermon from this year's Remembrance Service at Broughton:

First Reading (Ephesians 6:10-17)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Second Reading (John 15:9-17)

Jesus said “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.    I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.  This is my command: love each other.”

Sermon

This year we've celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day – commemorating the end of the Second World War.  A common feature of these celebrations is the use of flags, often as bunting and also in parades and on promotional literature.  And today, as every year, we've paraded the Union Jack, and the flags of the Ex-Service Association and the Guiding and Scouting groups.

In recent years, flags have become more common on lamposts and cars and houses; and this use of flags has become the subject of much debate and heat in both the traditional media and on social media.  Much of the discussion being around what it means to fly these flags and if, where and when it is appropriate to do so. 

Flags and banners have always been used to communicate: we think of semaphore and naval flags being directly used to communicate messages.  Flags also signify belonging to a particular group, for example to indicate where a group is on a battlefield or to whom a property belongs.  Sometimes the group is one whose purpose is clear: think for example of the Nazi flag or a pirate flag.  People who display those flags are very clear in what they are communicating about themselves.  

Part of the problem with the contemporary flying of flags, particularly national flags, is that they are flown for many reasons, and the flag itself doesn't convey the motivation.  Therefore people make assumptions about the motive behind the display of the flag, and will often angrily defend or condemn it based on their assumption.  That is not to say that there aren't good and bad reasons to fly a flag, but merely to say that without other evidence it is impossible to know the reasons behind flying a flag.  

So let's think about what might be good and bad motives for flying a flag, without judging which of these motives lie behind any particular flag that's displayed.

Someone might fly a flag to show that they are proud to belong to that group or nation or region, and this is generally a good reason for displaying a flag, assuming, of course, that that the group is not an evil one!  For us, to be proud of being part of our nation is a good thing.  We are a nation grounded in Christian values, and although we are not perfect we are not irredeemably immoral.

Linked to this, the national flag is sometimes a desperate cry from those who are proud of their nation for their nation to take better care of them, and who fear that the values of the nation they love are being eroded.

However, when this spills into an attitude that their nation is far superior to others, the flag becomes a symbol of xenophobia and hatred of people of other nationalities.  Racism is, of course, a bad motivation.

So how should we respond?  Firstly, we need to remember that the motivation behind displaying flags is often unclear.  We need to go beyond what we perceive the message of the flags to be and to give a space to actively listen to the those who put them up.

But secondly, and more importantly, we need to look more closely at the flags themselves.  The Cubs and the Scouts came into church last Thursday and we were thinking about flags and we noted that the Union Jack is made up of three national flags that all have crosses on them: the cross of St George for England; St Andrew for Scotland and St Patrick for Ireland.  We also thought about why the cross is important; because it reminds us of the cross Jesus died on.

There are two aspects of the meaning of Jesus' death that are particularly relevant to the issues we're considering.  Firstly, the issues of national identity; interaction with other nationalities; and class division were all around in Jesus' day, but he didn't take sides on these issues because he knew the problem wasn't really a political one.  He knew, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian church:

our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The real battle is a spiritual battle: there are malevolent spiritual forces that love to stir up division, fear, anger, hatred and pride.  But, as Paul wrote to the Colossian church, Jesus disarmed those forces, triumphing over them on the cross (Colossians 2:15).  However, though Jesus has won the war, there are still battles for us to fight, so we need to stand firm with the armour of God.

On Thursday we also listened to a song we're going to be singing in a few minutes: “When a knight won his spurs”.  This song reminds us that we battle against the dragons of anger and the ogres of greed, which lie behind so much conflict, from personal to international.  But the song also reminds us of the characteristics we need in these spiritual battles: the shield of faith in the victory of Jesus to protect us, but we also need to be gentle and brave, and gallant and bold, with joy and setting free truth.  So to remind us of that the Cubs and Scouts made an English flag and chose four of those words to put one in each quarter of the flag (see the picture above for the results!).

But the second aspect of the cross is that it was the way Jesus showed his love for us (John 3:14-18).  He laid down his life, so our sins, which separate us from God, could be punished and therefore forgiven (Colossians 1:13-23).  If we want to accept his forgiveness we also need to accept his commands ("If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love") and the chief among them is this: “love each other as I have loved you.”  Jesus died for us while we were still sinners, while we were his enemies (Romans 5:6-10) and, in the same way, he calls us to love others, even our enemies – even those who fly flags for a reason we don't agree with.

So as we see those flags flying, let's not rush to a conclusion about why they are there.  Instead let's look at the cross on them, as the Bishop of Blackburn, Philip North, has written:

...each one pointing us to the saving work of Jesus Christ through which we are reconciled to the Father and so to each other.  We listen, we understand, but above all we hold the cross high, for in that symbol is the only true and lasting source of unity.

 

Guys, cancel culture and forgiveness

Here's my November article:

1st Hibaldstow and Scawby Scouting group bonfire 2025

It's been many years since I saw children outside shops asking for a 'penny for the guy.'  Even then it was a dying practice, and if you actually gave them just a penny they scowled at you!  The tradition of lighting bonfires to celebrate the foiling of the treasonous Gunpowder Plot started the same year, 1605.  The earliest records of effigies being burned on them was 1625, although these were effigies of the pope and the devil. An effigy of Guy Fawkes was used at a display in 1647 at Lincoln's Inn Fields. From then onwards, 'guys' have been made and burned on bonfires, sometimes representing Fawkes himself and sometimes representing other, usually contemporary, figures of public anger.

Although the anger directed towards these 'hate figures' can be deeply felt, it doesn't lead to actual violence against the person represented.  In some ways the 'guy' is a way to voice and to vent that anger in a controlled manner.  What is more dangerous is what has been termed 'cancel culture.'  This is when people or groups call for someone who they have deemed to have said or done something unacceptable to be ostracised, boycotted, shunned or fired.  The transgression may be a heinous crime or it could simply be an opinion that the 'cancellers' find offensive or merely disagree with.

Crimes should, of course, be exposed and punished, and the judicial system is the means to achieve that.  And throughout history there has been public dispute over opinions, often involving lambasting and lampooning – freedom of speech, including the freedom to criticise, is important to uphold.  What is different with cancel culture is the vitriol and the all-encompassing extent of the cancelling, which is often fuelled by social media.

The targets are not just cancelled from the time of their offence, but the whole of their previous history and achievements are demanded to be erased. It is a chilling echo of George Orwell's words in his book '1984': 

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.

However, more worringly, the deeming of someone as deserving cancellation results in them being seen as unforgiveable and even to their assasination as being both justified and a cause for celebration.

Because of his words and actions, Jesus was seen as a threat to the interests and power of both the religious and the secular leaders of his day.  They too wanted him cancelled, and they thought they had by crucifying him.  Jesus' response was not anger or vengeance, but forgiveness, both whilst he was dying (Luke 23:34) and when he came back to life again.  Though he was rejected by those he had created, which is the ultimate treason, he accepted death so that they, and we, could be forgiven (Romans 5:8).  We have offended God by our sin, but he doesn't cancel us, instead he offers us forgiveness and eternal life with him.

Attention, desire and character

Here is my article for October:

 Image by kp yamu Jayanath from Pixabay

There are many sayings that connect our choices with the consequences of those choices: how many of us were told as children when pulling a funny face, “if the wind changes your face will stay like that!”; or the slightly more logical “you are what you eat”?  I heard another recently that is much more profound: “what you give attention to, your heart will desire.” It is both a warning and encouragement: the things we fill our minds with will become the things we crave.

There are many benefits to modern media but one of the draw-backs is the constant stream of 'content.' No sooner have you finished one show or video or reel or article than the next one pops up. This means that sometimes we are exposed to a wide variety of materials (although the algorithms eventually narrow that down!) but it also means that we skip past 'uninteresting' content (i.e. normal life!!) trying to find something that gives us a dopamine hit. Thus the ordinary becomes boring and real life becomes drab.

The truth that what we focus on eventually shapes our character is one of the reasons that I maintain that Halloween is never 'harmless fun' but is always dangerous. To surround ourselves with decorations that celebrate and trivialise the forces of evil is to allow them to become influences on our lives. The mixed message of wicked, nasty or violent things being praised and rewarded with sweets is particularly dangerous for the impressionable young minds of children – ordinary life becomes boring compared with the exciting thrill of the darker side of the supernatural. But even for adults giving attention to the sinister forces will lead to an openness to further interaction with them and then a desire for continuing interaction. Hence the interest in witchcraft, Wicca, mediums, psychics, spiritism, ouija boards, tarot cards, horoscopes and other occult practices. All these expose us to forces that want to control our lives, but not for our benefit.

Knowing that what we give attention to our heart will desire, the Apostle Paul encourages us, saying “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things” (Philippians 4:8). However, before we can do that we need “to be made new in the attitude of [y]our minds” (Ephesians 4:23), so we cry out with the Psalmist “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Jesus, who defeated the power of the forces of evil on the cross (Colossians 2:15) and who promises life in all its fullness to those who follow him (John 10:10), offers each of us that fresh start, and as we pay more attention to him and his word, we'll find that he is the one we were desiring all along.

Conkering King

Here's an extended version of my article for September:

Image by Mabel Amber from Pixabay

With Autumn fast approaching, golden brown leaves will be falling to the ground along with various nuts and seeds, and perhaps the most nostalgia-inducing of all is the conker. The shiny mahogany-brown shell can evoke happy memories of childhood games, or even just the joy of collecting as many as you can. The game of conkers, like many traditional games, has many different variants, rules and scoring systems. Often a conker's score increases by defeating another conker, and it's designation reflects that: so, a conker that has beaten one other is called a 'one-er'; then if it defeats another it becomes a 'two-er' and so on. A variant of this is that the victorious conker receives all the victories of the defeated conker: thus a 'four-er' that defeats a 'two-er' becomes a 'six-er' (or sometimes a 'seven-er' if it also gets a point for the victory too – cue many a playground dispute!!).

Sometimes games and sports are seen as practice for, or imitation of, battles or geo-political events. And the system in conkers of ranking based on previous victories, and in particular of absorbing the victories of the defeated conker, has a parallel in ancient history. From the twelfth century BC onwards, it was common in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent for the supreme ruler of the area to be known as the “King of Kings” often because they or their predecessors had defeated the other rulers in the region. Two of the Persian kings mentioned in the Bible, Darius and Xerxes, referred to themselves as the King of Kings, and variations of this title were used by the rulers of the Greek Empire which defeated Persia to become the regional superpower.

For us, the title 'King of Kings' is more usually associated with Jesus, and is often paired with a similar title 'Lord of Lords' – and these words will have many people thinking of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah!!  The visions of the four earthly kingdoms in Daniel chapters 2 and 7 teach how “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever” (Daniel 2:44). Jesus' earliest followers saw that Jesus was the King of that promised kingdom, and therefore the ultimate King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The odd thing about this is that Jesus never had a position of power or authority during his earthly ministry. His death was that of the lowest criminal and the few followers he had at that time deserted him. The inscription on his cross ('Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews') was deeply ironic, as was the crown of thorns and purple robe the guards made him wear before his crucifixion, and Pilate's declaration “Here is your king!” (John 19:14). However, Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that it was because Jesus laid aside his divine majesty, to become human so that he could die to take the punishment we deserve for our sins, that his Father raised him from the dead and “gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.” So we have a choice: either follow earthly authorities who grasp self-interestedly after power which will fade, or follow the One who gave self-sacrificially for us and will rule forever.