So that's it - all over for another year! How was your Christmas? 'Quiet', is so often the response to that question, which leaves me wondering whether that is code for 'disappointing.' The anticipation, the house-decorating, the present-buying, the food-cooking somehow makes for an anti-climax. This is why a heart set on welcoming the Christ-child is key to the whole experience. Christmas in the heart, Christmas every day could be our intention.
The family laugh at me on Christmas Day, because once presents are distributed I tend to wait while everyone opens their gifts. I get a real pleasure from seeing the reactions of different family members: whoops of joy, genuine surprise and hugs all round. There is definitely joy in giving as well as receiving. Next Friday (6th) we celebrate Epiphany, which commemorates the visit of the wise men to the infant Jesus. Their gifts are mysteriously inappropriate, it would seem - and costly. You couldn't imagine any child being overjoyed at receiving such gifts, which is why one has to ask 'what do they mean?' Traditionally, we think of gold for a king, incense for a priest, and myrrh for burial: all aspects of Jesus' life and identity.
But the main point of the visit is surely that these are foreigners, Gentiles, miraculously led to offer their gifts and their worship to a child whose identity they could surely only vaguely comprehend. Yet their gifts are (we understand) gratefully received. A lamb (we imagine) from local shepherds, and expensive gifts from foreign powers are equally worthy offerings. We discern, therefore, that there is no discrimination where God's Son is concerned. The significance is more in the offering than in the gift.
So we infer from this story the supreme importance of generosity. It is more blessed to give than to receive are words attributed to Jesus by St Paul and the people of God by definition need to be good givers. On the other hand, we need a generosity of spirit towards others - for example, those of another faith tradition - making us humble enough to receive what they may want to give us, including and especially those who are different from ourselves.
As a New Year begins, we reflect on how much the current world climate could be changed if there could be such generosity. May we who follow Jesus discover the gifts of our tradition and share them generously, and may we joyfully receive the gifts that others bring as well. (McLaren p104)
To all: a happy, fruitful, and blessed New Year!
Saturday 31 December 2016
Saturday 24 December 2016
The Light has Come
I'm coming to the end of Christmas Eve. It's been busy, of course, but I have tried to maintain times of stillness to stay centred on the presence of Christ in our midst. The gift of Hope. I even managed a bit of a sleep after lunch: necessary as I have both a midnight communion and an 8am tomorrow morning.
All our Christmas services seem to have gone really well. The Christingle here in Broughton this evening was a full house again - 175 crammed into our small church building! We put the whole service up on the screen, so much easier than having books and paper with lighted candles.
I think the highlight of the day, though, was a single home communion I took earlier this evening. The lady concerned has been ill for as long as I have known her - over a year - and she has been having a terrible time of late. She has just returned from another spell in hospital. We shared communion together and then, knowing that she has been a committed Christian for many years, and worshipped in church at many Christmases, I asked if she would like me to read John 1 - the Christmas Gospel which usually comes as the climax to a carol service. Up to that point, she had not been very responsive, though she had tried to join in with the prayers. Now, her face lit up with a beautiful smile of recognition and she said, 'Yes, I would.' As I read those familiar words In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...she gazed intently at me as if taking it all in. When I had finished, I gently reminded her that to those who receive Jesus, he gives the right to be called God's children. I hope this was some comfort to her in her continuing pain and distress.
Today, as Christmas dawns, we remember it is not just that the Light has come, but that we may receive that light. We welcome Jesus into our very lives. Let our hearts glow with that light, that was in him....Your heart and mine can become the little town, the stable, the manger...(McLaren p99)
All our Christmas services seem to have gone really well. The Christingle here in Broughton this evening was a full house again - 175 crammed into our small church building! We put the whole service up on the screen, so much easier than having books and paper with lighted candles.
I think the highlight of the day, though, was a single home communion I took earlier this evening. The lady concerned has been ill for as long as I have known her - over a year - and she has been having a terrible time of late. She has just returned from another spell in hospital. We shared communion together and then, knowing that she has been a committed Christian for many years, and worshipped in church at many Christmases, I asked if she would like me to read John 1 - the Christmas Gospel which usually comes as the climax to a carol service. Up to that point, she had not been very responsive, though she had tried to join in with the prayers. Now, her face lit up with a beautiful smile of recognition and she said, 'Yes, I would.' As I read those familiar words In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...she gazed intently at me as if taking it all in. When I had finished, I gently reminded her that to those who receive Jesus, he gives the right to be called God's children. I hope this was some comfort to her in her continuing pain and distress.
Today, as Christmas dawns, we remember it is not just that the Light has come, but that we may receive that light. We welcome Jesus into our very lives. Let our hearts glow with that light, that was in him....Your heart and mine can become the little town, the stable, the manger...(McLaren p99)
Monday 19 December 2016
Surprising People
I didn't get around to blogging over the weekend: too much going on. On Saturday, we entertained about 25 people from our village. Some of them were church members; others were people we have got to know over the past 18 months as neigbours, including those next door and opposite to us. We called it a 'drop in', expecting that (at this time of year) people wouldn't be able to stay too long. In the event, most came and stayed all evening! It was a great time of conversation and laughter, with some light refreshments which Les and I had spent part of the day making.
Yesterday, I had 3 services, all in different churches. Two of them were carol services, one after the other in the evening. I don't think I'll be doing that again! Though very enjoyable and appreciated, they were actually quite stressful and time-consuming to prepare. The turnout was great - up on last year - and there was a real sense of worship at both of them. At All Saints, we formed a 'scratch' choir who rehearsed for an hour before the service, sang a couple of choral items, and produced some soaring descants. The choir was conducted by one of our neighbours, a professional musician, who was at our party the night before. You see how it all links up!
So to today's theme, which I preached about in the morning. There should be equal stress on each word in 'surprising people': otherwise, if you stress the first word, it sounds like you're trying to shock them! This week, it is about the genealogies of Jesus Christ in Matthew's and Luke's Gospels. They are similar but not the same. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forward to Jesus, concerned to demonstrate that Jesus is 'the real deal' for his Jewish readers; whereas Luke starts with Jesus and works all the way back to Adam. As an historian, he wants to show his Gentile readers that Jesus has ancestry dating back to the very beginning of time, and that God himself began the family line.
Among the two lists, though, are some 'surprising people' like Rahab the prostitute, and Bathsheba, who had an adulterous relationship with King David - himself no paragon of virtue either. Then there is a multitude of people of whom we know absolutely nothing, and who would have been amazed had they known that Jesus Christ, Messiah, would be a descendant of theirs. And of course, there are Joseph and Mary, about whom we know virtually nothing except that they were parents to Jesus. These people are all both surprised and surprising.
Which is precisely the point. Jesus Christ was truly 'one of us', sharing our humanity with all its imperfections, but raising it to the heights of his divinity.
Yesterday, I had 3 services, all in different churches. Two of them were carol services, one after the other in the evening. I don't think I'll be doing that again! Though very enjoyable and appreciated, they were actually quite stressful and time-consuming to prepare. The turnout was great - up on last year - and there was a real sense of worship at both of them. At All Saints, we formed a 'scratch' choir who rehearsed for an hour before the service, sang a couple of choral items, and produced some soaring descants. The choir was conducted by one of our neighbours, a professional musician, who was at our party the night before. You see how it all links up!
So to today's theme, which I preached about in the morning. There should be equal stress on each word in 'surprising people': otherwise, if you stress the first word, it sounds like you're trying to shock them! This week, it is about the genealogies of Jesus Christ in Matthew's and Luke's Gospels. They are similar but not the same. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forward to Jesus, concerned to demonstrate that Jesus is 'the real deal' for his Jewish readers; whereas Luke starts with Jesus and works all the way back to Adam. As an historian, he wants to show his Gentile readers that Jesus has ancestry dating back to the very beginning of time, and that God himself began the family line.
Among the two lists, though, are some 'surprising people' like Rahab the prostitute, and Bathsheba, who had an adulterous relationship with King David - himself no paragon of virtue either. Then there is a multitude of people of whom we know absolutely nothing, and who would have been amazed had they known that Jesus Christ, Messiah, would be a descendant of theirs. And of course, there are Joseph and Mary, about whom we know virtually nothing except that they were parents to Jesus. These people are all both surprised and surprising.
Which is precisely the point. Jesus Christ was truly 'one of us', sharing our humanity with all its imperfections, but raising it to the heights of his divinity.
Sunday 11 December 2016
Keep Herod in Christmas
This rather unusual title for the next chapter in Brian McLaren's book, We Make the Road by Walking, is intended to get us thinking! The Church keeps December 28 as 'Holy Innocents Day' but of course, because it falls within the Christmas holiday, it is rarely observed. Perhaps it is natural that we should want to bury uncomfortable news away somewhere, just as tyrants like Herod go to great lengths to conceal their atrocities. But the truth is that following the visit of the Wise Men, King Herod launches a massacre on all new-born baby boys, in an attempt to destroy a potential rival to his throne. As a Roman puppet king of Judaea, and a non-Jewish ruler of the Jews he has a real identity crisis and is desperately insecure. He has already murdered his wife and his sons, fearing they are plotting against him. What's a few more expendable lives, to secure his position?
Herod's presence in the story - and the fact that he remains undefeated here, unlike the baddie in the pantomime - is significant. It prevents us becoming too sugary about Christmas, and reminds us that Jesus was a real person born in real time, with just us much danger and brutality as in the present. We are reminded that children always suffer most in times of war, becoming pawns in the power games played by grown-ups. So today, we continue to mourn for today's child-victims. To be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to face at every turn the destructive reality of violence. (McLaren p90)
I am also struck by the contrast between Herod and Joseph. Whereas one is cruel, tyrannical and self-interested, the other is kind, generous and selfless; where one is godless and vain, the other is believing and obedient. And above and beyond the protectiveness of Joseph there is the divine protection of the Father for his infant Son, reminding us that in the care of children and vulnerable people we are exhibiting the very nature of God.
I told this story in church this morning using clip-art pictures from this website: http://www.freebibleimages.org/. There is some marvellous material here for sermons, school assemblies and classrooms. I recommend it!
Herod's presence in the story - and the fact that he remains undefeated here, unlike the baddie in the pantomime - is significant. It prevents us becoming too sugary about Christmas, and reminds us that Jesus was a real person born in real time, with just us much danger and brutality as in the present. We are reminded that children always suffer most in times of war, becoming pawns in the power games played by grown-ups. So today, we continue to mourn for today's child-victims. To be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to face at every turn the destructive reality of violence. (McLaren p90)
I am also struck by the contrast between Herod and Joseph. Whereas one is cruel, tyrannical and self-interested, the other is kind, generous and selfless; where one is godless and vain, the other is believing and obedient. And above and beyond the protectiveness of Joseph there is the divine protection of the Father for his infant Son, reminding us that in the care of children and vulnerable people we are exhibiting the very nature of God.
I told this story in church this morning using clip-art pictures from this website: http://www.freebibleimages.org/. There is some marvellous material here for sermons, school assemblies and classrooms. I recommend it!
Saturday 3 December 2016
Women on the Edge
As we hoped, prayed and planned, last Sunday's service at the Methodist church was utterly memorable for all the right reasons: full house (overflowing!), great singing, excellent sermon (Judge Mark Hedley from Liverpool), moving eucharistic fellowship. In the end, 3 denominations sharing communion together seemed utterly natural. What took us so long?! People are still talking about it, and those who gave it a miss wish they'd been there. Joy!
And joy is around this week as we consider the theme of 'women on the edge' - in particular, Elizabeth and Mary. Both of them are miraculously pregnant: Elizabeth in her old age, never having had children before; and Mary, young and a virgin. Both are filled with the Holy Spirit: Mary literally, as she conceives Jesus the Messiah; and both of them as they burst into songs of joy. (Though for some reason, Elizabeth's song has never been acknowledged as such by commentators.) Our author comments that It is through what proud men call 'the weaker sex' that God's true power enters and changes the world!
It is true, isn't it, that women make things happen at the social and family level. When a couple come to talk about the wedding, it is always the bride who is doing most of the arranging; and at a party, how many women are up on the dance floor compared with men? And for longer too, usually! So we should not be surprised that our churches have more female than male members, though we long for more men to respond to Christ's call, as the first disciples did. Women's intuition, their emotional responses, their desire for social networking inevitably make them better at 'doing church' then men, very often - not that one can manage without the other. I guess this is just a plea for men to be more honouring of women - especially Christian women - than has sometimes been the case historically.
But there is more to this story, which has nothing to do with gender. To quote our author again, Let us dare to believe the impossible by surrendering ourselves to God, courageously cooperating with God's creative, pregnant power...If we do then we, like Mary, will become pregnant with holy aliveness. What makes the incarnation possible is Mary's Let it be to me according to your will. What makes the growth of the Kingdom of God possible today, as always, is the exact same response to God of every man, woman and child.
I have made another video, which will appear on our website tomorrow. I am encouraging every church member to invite a non-churchgoing friend, neighbour or relative to come to church with them at Christmas. After all, it's the time of year when people are most likely to go to church - and most likely to accept an invitation to do so. As a well-known atheist said on the radio recently, the Christmas story is the most beautiful story ever told.
And joy is around this week as we consider the theme of 'women on the edge' - in particular, Elizabeth and Mary. Both of them are miraculously pregnant: Elizabeth in her old age, never having had children before; and Mary, young and a virgin. Both are filled with the Holy Spirit: Mary literally, as she conceives Jesus the Messiah; and both of them as they burst into songs of joy. (Though for some reason, Elizabeth's song has never been acknowledged as such by commentators.) Our author comments that It is through what proud men call 'the weaker sex' that God's true power enters and changes the world!
It is true, isn't it, that women make things happen at the social and family level. When a couple come to talk about the wedding, it is always the bride who is doing most of the arranging; and at a party, how many women are up on the dance floor compared with men? And for longer too, usually! So we should not be surprised that our churches have more female than male members, though we long for more men to respond to Christ's call, as the first disciples did. Women's intuition, their emotional responses, their desire for social networking inevitably make them better at 'doing church' then men, very often - not that one can manage without the other. I guess this is just a plea for men to be more honouring of women - especially Christian women - than has sometimes been the case historically.
But there is more to this story, which has nothing to do with gender. To quote our author again, Let us dare to believe the impossible by surrendering ourselves to God, courageously cooperating with God's creative, pregnant power...If we do then we, like Mary, will become pregnant with holy aliveness. What makes the incarnation possible is Mary's Let it be to me according to your will. What makes the growth of the Kingdom of God possible today, as always, is the exact same response to God of every man, woman and child.
I have made another video, which will appear on our website tomorrow. I am encouraging every church member to invite a non-churchgoing friend, neighbour or relative to come to church with them at Christmas. After all, it's the time of year when people are most likely to go to church - and most likely to accept an invitation to do so. As a well-known atheist said on the radio recently, the Christmas story is the most beautiful story ever told.
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