True Fatherhood

Here's my June article:

This month there is what Bert the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins might call a “fortuitious circumstance”: Father's Day falls on Trinity Sunday. Even if you believe that Father's Day is a made-up cynical ploy to get us to spend more money, perhaps it's good to be reminded to be grateful to people who have a positive impact on our lives.

Of course not all fathers do have a positive impact on their children's lives; tragically for far too many people their fathers (whether by their presence or their absence) cause mental, physical and emotional damage.   And so we need to be aware, as we do on Mothering Sunday, that Father's Day is not a day of celebration for everyone – many people do not want to celebrate their fathers, and other men may have had children who died or may have never been able to have children despite wanting them.

Trinity Sunday is the day that Christians remember that throughout the Bible God reveals himself to be 'Trinity', i.e. One God yet Three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each Person is distinct from the others (unlike water/ice/steam that can only be in one state at a time) but there are not three parts of one God (unlike a three-leaf clover). The doctrine of the Trinity is more fully expressed in the Athanasian Creed, which you can read either in its traditional form or in a modern version, you can also watch the teaching on the Trinity here from our current Discipleship Service series looking at the Apostles Creed.  This is a complicated doctrine to get our heads around, though we shouldn't expect the infinite God to be easily understood by our finite minds! The important thing to remember about the doctrine of the Trinity is that it wasn't a result of philosophical thinking about God, but instead was the fruit of experiencing the divinity of the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, alongside the revelation in the Bible of their divinity and also the one-ness of God.

The relevance of this for Father's Day is that some would argue that because some people experience earthly fathers as destructive and abusive, and emblematic of an 'oppressive patriarchy', then we should not refer to God as Father. In other words, for some the Trinity is 'triggering'.  However, it is precisely because our earthly fathers (and we ourselves if we are fathers) are fallible that we need to hold on to the Fatherhood of God.

The doctrine of the Trinity reminds us that God the Father is eternally Father - he is the original prototype of fatherhood. He didn't look around for metaphor to describe himself and choose 'father', instead he shaped human society so that earthly fathers might give us a glimpse of him. So our experience of earthly fathers, whether positive or negative, should propel us to seek out our perfect heavenly Father.

So however Father's Day makes you feel, seek out the Father who loves you with a perfect love. To do that, come to the Son, Jesus, who said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Our imaginary God?

Here's my June magazine article:

What do you imagine when you hear the word 'God'?  Even if you don't believe in God, you will have an idea of who the God is that you don't believe in (and perhaps as Pastor Timothy Keller wrote “Describe the God you’ve rejected. Describe the God you don’t believe in. Maybe I don’t believe in that God either.” !)  This is not an academic question because our image of God (or our non-belief in God) is a major influence on the way we live our lives and the way we view ourselves, others and the world.

Having realised what our image of God is, the next question is where we get that image from.  For example the Greeks and Romans imagined their gods to be just super versions of humans, thus sharing our characteristics of selfishness, pride and ambition.  And different cultures have come up with different representations of the divine leading to different moral teachings. So if God does exist, is there any way of knowing what he is like?

If we try to imagine what God is like by ourselves we will inevitably create a God that is in our own image: venerating the things we like, and denouncing the things we dislike.  As Christians we believe that we can know what God is like but only because God has chosen to reveal himself to us.  He has done this through his Word, the Bible.  The Creation account in Genesis shows us a God who wants to be known by humanity and wants a personal relationship with humanity, even walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3).  The Old Testament is full of accounts of God revealing his character and his will to people, but it is in the New Testament that God's self-revelation finds its apex.

There we find that Jesus is the image of the invisible God in whom all the fulness of God dwells (Colossians  1:15,19) and that he is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3).  Jesus himself said that anyone who sees him has seen the Father (John 14:9).  So if we want to know what God is like, we need to look at Jesus.  The disciples' experience of the divinity of Jesus, distinct from both the divinity of the Father and the divinity of the Holy Spirit, lead them to the doctrine that is known as the Trinity: “God is one divine Being eternally existing in three divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (“To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism” Qu. 38). This doctrine is particularly recalled on Trinity Sunday, which this year is 4th June.

This complicated doctrine is not one that would be invented, but could only come in response to God revealing himself to us.  And it is no surprise that our finite minds struggle to comprehend an infinite being – as St Augustine said “If you understood him, it would not be God”!  But if we look at Jesus we will get a glimpse of the God who longs for us to know him.

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!

Advent Reflections 2020: Isaiah's Titles for Jesus - 1: Wonderful Counsellor

 

For our Advent reflections this year we're going to look at the titles Jesus is given in Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

The first title that Isaiah foretells for Jesus is 'Wonderful Counsellor'. Jesus is wonderful in the sense that he arouses in us a sense of wonder and awe and marvel. Unfortunately, we are so familiar with the events of Jesus' life that they lose something of that sense of wonder, but as we read the gospels we are constantly told how the reaction of the crowds to Jesus was one of amazement, not just at his miracles, but also at his teaching (e.g. Mark 1:27). It is the same as we approach Christmas; familiarity blind us to the amazing events surrounding Jesus' birth, like the angels, the star and the virgin birth itself. Similarly, we need to recover our wonder at the very coming of Jesus, how “...within a manger lies / he who built the starry skies” “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8). The most wonderful thing about Jesus is that he came to earth from his glory in heaven so that he could die to redeem us from our sins.

The title 'Counsellor' helps us to see in greater detail what Jesus does. It firstly reminds us of Jesus' place in the Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are a communion of Persons in perfect unity. The idea of them taking counsel together is a really difficult one to comprehend because we humans take counsel in order to fill in gaps in our knowledge, but God has no such lack of knowledge. The Divine 'consultation' (which we see for example in Genesis 1:26) is more a reminder that each Person of the Trinity acts freely to fulfil the Divine will. So in the Philippians quote we saw that Jesus was obedient to the Father, and in John 16:13 Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit “will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears [from the Father and the Son]” - in both cases there is the inference that the Son and the Spirit choose to act in that way. This contradicts the argument of atheists like Richard Dawkins who say that the Father commits child-abuse by sending Jesus to die for our sins. The crucifixion was the eternal plan of the Trinity for the atonement of human sin – Jesus went to his death willingly because it was his plan from before Creation! This is reflected in another way the phrase 'Wonderful Counsellor' can be translated: “Wonder-working Planner”.

Jesus' rôle as Counsellor also tells us about his relationship to us – he imparts wisdom and truth to us. But he is not just one more voice among many, he is not someone whose teachings have the same value as any other speaker – only he has the words of eternal life (John 6:68), because only he is Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24) and Truth (John 14:6). Despite this, Jesus' words do not come to us as a divine diktat, but as an invitation to life in all its fullness and a sign that he is concerned with our welfare – whoever obeys his words will never see death (John 8:51). In these uncertain and frightening times, who better to turn to than our Wonderful Counsellor?

COVID reflections

From the start of lockdown with the suspension of public worship, alongside our online services (which you can find here) the interim Methodist minister, Rev. Enid, and I alternated to post reflections on Facebook each Sunday, and every day in Holy Week.

Sunday 29^th March 2020: Lent 5

It goes without saying that we are at a time of crisis – and I'm not just talking about the lack of toilet roll! A virus that can strike down anyone, including Prime Ministers and that has no cure as yet, can be a terrifying thing. And we see the scenes from other countries of rows and rows of coffins, with the ominous warning that we may only be four weeks or so from a similar situation. The result is a growing sense of fear.

The famous Psalm 23 (“The Lord's my Shepherd") speaks of confidence in a God who loves us and provides for us and was probably written when King David faced a time of crisis of his own. But rather than give in to fear he says “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (verse 4). Belief in God doesn't protect us from trouble, hardship or suffering but we can be confident that if we ask he will give us the spiritual and mental resources we need to get us through even the darkest of valleys.

As we start to think about the events of Holy Week and Easter, we're reminded that God doesn't look upon our suffering from afar, but came to us in Jesus to share our life and ultimately to die. But Easter also reminds us that that isn't the end of the story – Jesus was raised to life and death has been defeated – we have nothing to fear!! He now invites each of us to believe and trust in him so that we can dwell in his house for ever.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, our ever-present help in trouble, our fortress and our God: calm the anxious fears of all who turn to you; give strength and healing to those who are sick, and courage and skill to those who care for them; grant wisdom and clarity to those in authority; and humble us all to call upon you that we may be saved not only in this life, but also for that which is to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Monday 6th April 2020: Monday of Holy Week

On the Monday of Holy Week Jesus went back into Jerusalem (having stayed the night at Mary, Martha and Lazarus' house in the village of Bethany) and went into the Temple courts. The Temple had four basic parts: the outermost part was the Court of the Gentiles. Entry to the other parts of the Temple was restricted to certain people, but this was where anyone could come to pray, and this was also where people could buy animals to sacrifice in the Temple and exchange their money into the Temple Shekel.

It was this outer court that Jesus entered and he “began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.” (Mark 11:15-16). This is not the 'gentle Jesus meek and mild' of popular imagination. This is a Jesus who rails not just against the corrupt and exploitative practices there, but more importantly against those who stopped it being a 'house of prayer for all nations'.

In these days when our 'houses of prayer' are locked to all of us, it is good to remind ourselves of how important Jesus considered worship and prayer to be. But we can also rejoice that we no longer need Temple or Church to worship God (John 4:21) – not just because we can gather online – but because Jesus is the one in whom we worship and he is available to all of us wherever we are. It is important for us to gather together to worship, but it is essential that we continue to worship even when we cannot gather.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, on the Monday you overthrew the market tables in the Temple. Give us the courage to challenge situations of injustice, and to worship you at all times and in all places. Lord, by your cross and passion, save us and help us. Amen.

Wednesday 8th April 2020: Wednesday of Holy Week

The Bible doesn't tell us what Jesus did on the Wednesday of Holy Week, so it is generally assumed that he and the disciples spent time with his closest friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  He had had a busy couple of days full of drama, confrontation and noise, so perhaps he needed a day to rest amongst those he loved in preparation for what lay ahead – this was possibly his last night's sleep before his death.

So the message of Holy Wednesday would usually be: don't forget to take time out of your busy life to spend with family and friends and God.  However, at the moment the government is enforcing such rest on many of us!  Some people are longing to get back to the chaos and rush of normal life.  Others are longing to see loved ones who live at a distance.  Rather than being a time of rest and refreshment, to many this is a time of frustration and worry.  So what can Holy Wednesday say to us if that is how we are feeling?

The frustration comes from this rest being enforced and 'until further notice', however it should not stop us having a renewed appreciation of God's wisdom in commanding a Sabbath rest.  This doesn't necessarily need to be a Sunday (although that will leave you free to come to church!!) but we should all aim for an uninterrupted 24 hour rest period each week as far as possible.  Jesus knew he needed to rest if he was to be able to fulfil his mission the cross, and we need to rest otherwise we will be 'neither use nor ornament.' But this is also a time to reassess our priorities: in the rush to get back to normality we might want to think about what parts of normality are worth rushing back to.

To our key workers who would love to have this rest; thank you! To the rest of us, whether this time is a joy or an irritation, let us use it to listen to what God might be saying to us about the way we live our lives.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, on the Wednesday you spent time with your friends. We pray for our own families, friends and loved ones whether they are too close or too far away.  We pray for all who feel lonely and all those who need a rest. Lord, by your cross and passion, save us and help us. Amen.

Saturday 11th April 2020: Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is another day that the Bible doesn't tell us about, but it is easy for us to imagine.  Jesus was dead and buried.  The religious leaders and the Roman authorities were breathing a sigh of relief that the troublemaker was gone.  The crowds looked for the next person they could hail as Messiah. But what about Jesus' disciples?

We know that on Easter Sunday they were in the upper room where they had celebrated Passover a couple of nights before, with the doors locked because they were afraid of the religious leaders (John 20:19).  And they had good reason to be afraid: Jesus was put to death partly because he had threatened the power and status of the  Jewish and Roman authorities, so it would be logical that his followers would be arrested for the same reason. But in addition to that fear, and probably overwhelming it, would be an immense sense of grief and loss; not just of a Master and a friend, but also of their hopes and dreams.  They had given up jobs and left behind families to follow Jesus three years earlier; they believed him when he said that he was the Messiah and that the kingdom of God was at hand; they thought that they would be significant players in the new kingdom.  But now all their hopes and dreams were shattered.  They had left everything and now they had lost everything.

COVID-19 has had a similar effect on people.  Some have lost loved ones.  Some have lost livelihoods.  Some have seen their plans for the future torn apart.  And everyone has seen their normal lives turned upside down, with little or no sense of when or if 'normality' will return.

In these circumstances it's easy to skip over Holy Saturday in a rush to get to Easter Sunday – and we do need to focus on hope for the future, as the Queen put it: “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”  But perhaps we could take today to focus on the desolation the disciples felt and the desolation of many people in the face of this virus.

Maybe take some time to read through the Psalms – you'll be surprised at how honestly some of the despair is described, or perhaps read Lamentations 3.  The fact that God allowed these prayers of anguish into the Bible reminds us that we needn't fear telling God exactly how we feel.

Prayer: In the depths of our isolation we cry to you, Lord God: give light in our darkness and bring us out of the prison of our despair; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Sunday 12th April 2020: Easter Sunday

As Jesus bursts from the tomb on Easter Sunday, so joy should burst from us as we celebrate his resurrection.  It is the greatest day in history: it changed the whole of creation forever.  Why? Because death has been defeated! We Christians sometimes say that too easily, and those who don't believe dismiss it too easily.  But think of the implications of that truth.  Death is defeated.  It is no longer a threat. It is no longer the end.  As the hymn says “Jesus lives; thy terrors now / can, O death, no more appal us.”

We live in a world that fears death: in normal times millions is spent on products that rejuvenate, or at least hide the effects of ageing. Diets and exercise plans are great when used for a healthy lifestyle, but too often are vain attempts to put off death.  And one thing that COVID-19 has shown us is that we still fear death.  Now I'm not suggesting that we ignore government advice, but I am encouraging you to think about how you personally feel about the possibility that you could die.  Not to think about how it would affect your loved ones but how you face your own death.

The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, says that whoever believes and trusts in Jesus as their Saviour shall not perish, but have eternal life. That is why St Paul could write “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  He knew that neither death nor life could separate him from God's love that is in Jesus (Romans 8:38), and so he, like many Christian throughout the centuries, was willing to suffer and die for his faith.  For those who believe in him, Jesus' resurrection brings “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”

Without the resurrection, life is meaningless: we will be forgotten in just a few generations, and few of us will leave a legacy that lasts beyond that - ultimately the world will be destroyed and everything humanity has achieved will disappear.  But with the resurrection, we can spend eternity in the presence of the God who delights in us and all our achievements, however small.

Jesus lives! Death (and COVID-19) is defeated! And in the words of another hymn: “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone; because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives!”

Prayer: Our God and Father, in whose great mercy we have been given new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: strengthen us with that solid hope and calm our anxious thoughts and fears in the midst of the dangers we now face, that we who often stagger in desperate times may rejoice and be satisfied with him whose painful anguish of soul brought us the light of life. For we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Thursday 23rd April 2020: St George's Day

Although this wasn't part of the pattern, I did a special reflection for St George's day.

St George, soldier and martyr – and that's pretty much all we know about him! According to tradition he was tortured and beheaded c.304 at Lydda, Palestine, and according to legend he killed a dragon. As a patron saint against plagues it is perhaps particularly appropriate that his feast day falls during a lockdown caused by a virus!

Although the story of George and the dragon is a legend, it perhaps reminds us that there is someone more powerful than those 'dragons' we face, whether they're viruses; uncertainty about the future; grief; broken relationships or anything else. In the legend George went into battle knowing God was with him, just like David did against the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17), and God invites us to trust him and let him face our dragons with us.

And by being a martyr, by being willing to be put to death for his faith in Jesus, George reminds us about what we have just celebrated at Easter: that death holds no fear for those who trust in Jesus: “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 4:14).

Prayer: God of hosts, who so kindled the flame of love in the heart of your servant George that he bore witness to the risen Lord by his life and by his death: give us the same faith and power of love that we who rejoice in his triumphs may come to share with him the fullness of the resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, Amen.

Sunday 26th April 2020: Easter 3

For this Sunday I shared a link to Bear Grylls' reflections on Easter: https://youtu.be/pJmAMlU-wNU

Sunday 10th May 2020: Easter 5

The Coronavirus is a global crisis; it reminds us of the interconnectedness of our world – a virus starts in Asia and spreads over the whole world in a matter of a few weeks.  We are also constantly looking at how other countries are responding to the crisis and comparing their statistics with ours.  But it also makes us suspicious of other countries and makes us look after ourselves first.

This week is Christian Aid Week, an annual chance to remember that no matter how bad things are for us, usually our problems are small compared with others throughout the world.  COVID-19 is spreading across the world’s poorest countries, putting people living in poverty at great risk.  These people are already facing a lack of water, food and healthcare.  Some are homeless or refugees.  Some are living with underlying health issues.  Some are also suffering from floods, famines, droughts, war and other disasters.

This week we have the chance to help not just our physical (but socially distanced!) neighbours but also our global neighbours.  If you'd like to help this week, or any time, go to https://www.christianaid.org.uk/

Prayer: God of heaven and earth, in these times of isolation, apart from loved ones, distant from friends, away from neighbours, thank you that there is nothing in all of creation, not even  coronavirus, that is able to separate us from your love. And may your love that never fails continue to be shared through the kindness of strangers looking out for each other, for neighbours near and far all recognising our shared vulnerability, each of us grateful for every breath, and willing everyone to know the gift of a full and healthy life. Keep us all in your care. Amen.

Sunday 24th May 2020: Easter 7

As we navigate when and how we ease out of lockdown there is a lot of anxiety about a second wave of COVID-19.  In the Church year today is the Sunday after Ascension Day, and in some way marks the second wave of grief for the disciples.

After Jesus' death the disciples were devastated and despairing, but their grief was short-lived as it turned through confusion to amazement to rejoicing as the news of Jesus' resurrection filtered through.  He then spent forty days with the disciples; eating with them, teaching them and commissioning them to go out and tell people about him.  Then, as we remembered last Thursday, he  was taken up to heaven, where he was made ruler of all things (Ephesians 1:20-23).  We are told that the disciples stayed in Jerusalem – what might they have felt? This second wave of grief would not have been as bad as the first wave because they knew that Jesus was alive, and more importantly why he had had to die.  But they still faced a separation from him, he would no longer be physically present with them as he had been before.  And now they had this commission to go out into all the world and tell people about Jesus.

They must have wondered how a dozen or so people could achieve this, particularly as they faced possible arrest and execution if they tried.  The answer was to be found in Jesus' cryptic promise that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on them (more on that next week from Enid!).  However even before they received the Holy Spirit, they had the resources they needed.

The difference between the pre- and post-resurrection griefs is illustrated in Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians: the church there had been rocked by the the deaths of some of their members, but Paul did not want them to “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” (4:13-14).  Before the resurrection the disciples grieved without hope, but after it they had confidence that death was no longer final; more than that, because they saw Jesus keeping his promise to come back to life, they could also be confident that he would keep his promise to be with them always.

So what keeps you going through this pandemic? Is it a vague, fingers-crossed hope that things will turn out OK, or is it a trust in the never-failing one who promises “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, our ever-present help in trouble, our fortress and our God: calm the anxious fears of all who turn to you; give strength and healing to those who are sick; and humble us all to call upon you that we may be saved not only in this life, but also for that which is to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Sunday 7th June 2020: Trinity Sunday

Today is Trinity Sunday, the day when we particularly remember that God has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; as the Athanasian Creed says: God is “one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the divine Being...not three Gods but one God...all three Persons are co-eternal with each other and co-equal.”  Not the easiest concept to get our heads around, but that is who God tells us he is in the Bible.

And this helps us understand another easier-to-grasp definition God gives us of himself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).  Love cannot exist alone, the one who loves has to have someone to love.  God existed before there was anything else so the only way he can be love is if he has always existed as a communion of co-eternal persons.

The Trinity is not an abstract theological concept, it is a description of how God reveals himself in the Bible and how he has been experienced by millions of people throughout history.  But it also has practical consequences for us humans too.

At the moment people all around the world are rightly concerned about racial justice, and the slogan 'Black Lives Matter' is all over the news and social media.  For many people it seems incredible that still in the 21st Century people from BAME communities face prejudice and discrimination from individuals and organisations because of their race.  The question is frequently asked “Why does racism still exist?”

The answer is that racism is rooted in the sin of pride – thinking of ourselves as better than others, and it will only be solved when all of us admit to our own sinfulness, repent and ask God to forgive us and fill us with his Holy Spirit so that we will be more like him.  And part of God's nature as Trinity is being one in essence yet three distinct Persons and “in this Trinity there is...no greater or less”.  Unity yet diversity; equality yet difference.  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit model for us the only way we as humanity can truly live in harmony, and the only way racism and other forms of discrimination will be no more.

Prayer: Almighty God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit; you exist in a perfect communion of Persons, forgive us our pride in thinking of ourselves as better than others, and help us to live as you live, in a perfect unity of love in difference. Amen.

Sunday  June 2020: Trinity 2

In today's Gospel reading (Matthew 10:24–39) Jesus warns his disciples that being a Christian will not be easy, in fact it will be very dangerous.  And according to tradition, all but two of the original twelve were put to death for their faith in Jesus.  The early Christians were put to death in an attempt to silence the message about Jesus and we often think that such actions belong to the un-Enlightened past, but recent events have proved that wrong.

The pulling down or vandalising of statues of figures from the past, some actions of whose we now regard as wrong, is a symptom of what has become known as the 'cancel culture'.  People or views with which we disagree are no longer argued against, they are simply silenced and erased.  There is no room for reason or debate, suppression is the only answer to things we don't like.  Truth, context, logic and even science can all be set aside if someone shouts loud enough or can portray themselves as a victim.  And ironically this is usually justified by doing it the name of 'tolerance', 'equality' and 'diversity'!

The reality is that only some things are tolerated; some are more equal than others; and only certain types of diversity are welcome.  J. K. Rowling has recently found this out when she dared suggest that women's rights were being overlooked in favour of (some) trans rights, and received vitriol and hatred as a result.

The faults of a society, however, reflect the faults of us as individuals.  All of us would like to airbrush out those parts of our past that we regret, and all of us would prefer not to hear opinions that we disagree with or that make us uncomfortable.  It was this human tendency to silence inconvenient truths that led the authorities to crucify Jesus.  But ironically it was Jesus' death that makes it possible for our past mistakes and disturbing truths to be forgiven and forgotten, at least by God.

Prayer: Holy Lord Jesus, you know the depths of our hearts, yet you still love us.  Thank you for coming to take the punishment we deserve and for sending the Holy Spirit to make us more like you. Amen.

Sunday 5th July 2020: Trinity 4

Yesterday was 4th July when the USA celebrated being released from the shackles of British rule, and when England celebrated being released from (some of) the shackles of lockdown.  This easing of lockdown has caused great relief and rejoicing in some people, and renewed horror and fear in others.  Many businesses are able to resume trading; many employees are more confident about their financial future; and many people are able to be reunited with loved ones.  However, the new freedoms also increase the risk of a resurgence of the virus, as Leicester knows only too well.

A couple of weeks ago we thought about the dangers of trying to airbrush our history, and this week we're reminded again of the need to learn from the more recent past and not simply to carry on as if the virus never happened.  Our reading today from the gospel of Matthew (11:16-30) carries a similar warning about not learning from history.

Jesus criticized the people of some of the towns where he had performed miracles because they hadn't repented: they were more interested in being entertained than listening to the message Jesus was bringing.  The miracles were signs that God's kingdom was breaking into this world and bringing healing, renewal and restoration – and that included the restoration of the relationship between us and God which was broken because of our sin.  But people weren't listening.  So Jesus warns them that on the Day of Judgement notoriously evil places like Sodom would fare better because if they had seen those miracles they would have repented and not been destroyed!  This should make us think too.  We have the privilege of having the whole of God's word revealed to us in the Bible, so we will have not have the excuse on Judgement Day that we didn't get the chance to hear Jesus' message.

The point of this is not that we have a massive guilt-trip, but that we repent and are renewed.  So Jesus' invitation in verse 28 is for all who are weighed down with sin or worry or pain: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Prayer: Eternal God, comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken, lead us to repent of our sins and to bring our worries and needs to you, that you may fill us with your peace that is beyond our understanding.  Amen.

What's Whit?

Here's my article for the May magazine:

Pentecost is one of those Christian festivals that people have often heard about but know little about. It's more commonly known by its old name Whitsun or Whit Sunday and is often associated with school half-term or with local events or traditions.

Pentecost is fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead at Easter and ten days after he ascended into heaven (Acts 1:1-11). It is the day when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and started to tell others about Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-41), so it is often called the birthday of the Church. But the Holy Spirit didn't just appear at Pentecost. Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is not just a way of describing the power of God, but that “Within the unity of the Godhead there are three persons who are of one substance, power and eternity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” (The Articles of Religion in modern form - An English Prayer Book [Church Society:1994]). This belief in 'one God in three persons' is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost, which is Trinity Sunday. So the Holy Spirit is eternal and we see him at work throughout the Bible, although his work changes.

Before Jesus, the Holy Spirit was involved with creation, especially of humans (Genesis 1:2 and 2:7). He was given to particular people, at particular times, for particular tasks (for example: to Bezalel to be an artist [Exodus31:1-5]; to Gideon to lead [Judges 6:14-16, 34]; and to Isaiah to prophesy [Isaiah 61:1-3]). But the Holy Spirit was also promised to be eventually for all believers, all of the time (Joel 2:28-29).

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), and the Holy Spirit came on Jesus at his baptism (Luke 3:21-22) and empowered his ministry (Acts 10:38). Jesus also promised that his disciples would receive the Holy Spirit too (Acts 1:4-5).

So at Pentecost we see the fulfilment of the Old Testament promise and Jesus' promise. But that promise was not just for Jesus' first disciples. Peter reminded the crowd on that day that if we repent and believe in Jesus we too will receive the Holy Spirit as “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39).

This is something really worth celebrating: the same Holy Spirit that brought the universe into being; that gave humanity its soul; that empowered Jesus to do all his miracles – that same Holy Spirit is available to each and every one of us that repents and believes in Jesus!! The Holy Spirit enables us to do many things, and the New Testament is clear that without the Holy Spirit you cannot be called a Christian – but all you have to do is ask (Luke 11:9-13)!