Dear Reader...

 Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading this Blog over the years.  I know some of you have done that with a faithfulness that I have found very touching.

Over the next three years, as I head towards retirement, I've decided to put my energy into preaching through the Lectionary Cycle one last time.

So, the blog now comes to a close to enable me to give my best mind to preparing these sermons.  They will be published week by week on the AFC website - if you are interested!

Since 2011 it has been my joy to publish 737 Blogs. My thanks to you for reading some of them!

May you know and sense God's blessing in coming days.

With my very best wishes,

Ian

Good News - not easy news

 

Recently the newspapers have reported that some MPs have been demanding ‘good news’ to counteract some of the gloom and doom that seems to have settled upon current affairs.

Of course, the danger of such a request is that governments ‘spin’ their announcements to make them more positive than they truly are.

For Christians the very term Good News is filled with meaning because it’s a somewhat coded phrase encapsulating the essence of the message that Jesus preached.

Perhaps even we, in the Church, sometimes cry out for Good News.  Yet, if by that we mean words that only comfort, then we might have misunderstood the true message of the gospel.

For, in a way, the sermons of our Lord would have been supressed by most publicists.  What advertising agency would ever have let Jesus preach using phrases such as Take up you cross and follow me, or Enter in through the narrow gate?  This is God’s Good News, but it isn’t easy news.  At the centre of the gospel is the idea of sacrificial service and loving faithfulness, and that’s often a tough call.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it The Cost of Discipleship.

Yet, I think deep down we know it’s true.  How often have we heard people say this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, but it was also the best thing I’ve ever done.

I’d like to say that about the journey of faith we are on; it may not be easy, but it is certainly good, and Jesus shows us the way.

Learning from the young and old

 

This week my teachers have been a child from Year 1 of a local Primary School and a 90-year-old lady in a residential home.

After hosting a school visit last Wednesday, this week we received the drawings they made on their return to class.  Almost all the children seemed impressed by the number of chairs we had, so these figured highly in their artwork.  One student, however, when focussing on the Chancel area had drawn the Communion Table with the Bible on it, and in the Bible had written, in smallest of letters the word g o d.  I was so touched by that, and by their insight.  That God was part of all that is going on at the front of the church.  Perhaps it was juvenile theology, yet I thought it profound in its own way.  To see that a child had written g o d over the bible resting on the Lord’s Table made we glad.

And then, today, at the end of a monthly service in a residential home a lovely lady introduced herself to me and said as I was about to go A little faith fills a big hole. I smiled at her and said that was a lovely thought, beautifully put, stating I’ve never heard that before.  No, she said with a twinkle in her eye, that’s because I’ve only just thought of it! She repeated it one more time, putting both hands over her heart as she did so, as if to say it’s true for me. I came away feeling truly blessed for such a privileged conversation.

Our teachers come in all shapes and sizes, and all ages.  And through them, praise God, we hear the Whisper of the Spirit, and our hearts are glad.

I hope you enjoy the summer.  The Blog will return in the middle of September – after my Jury Service!  

What a difference a week makes

Looking at the pictures of Britain’s new Prime Minister visiting the President of the United States at the White House yesterday was a reminder of what a difference a week can make in someone’s life.  This time last Wednesday Sir Kier Starmer was on the campaign trail, this Wednesday there was a seat waiting for him in the Oval Office. Life can change very quickly!

Of course, the same is true in reverse for all who are no longer in office because of last week’s vote.  Salaries, titles, cars and staff have all been surrendered as their lives have moved on too.

This quick turnover is also apparent in the daily headlines.  Today’s news can often sit just briefly on the frontpage before being knocked off by something more interesting or scintillating tomorrow.

Looking back on a few headlines from July in years gone by brings back memories.

Some have been long remembered such as 30th July 1966 when England won the World Cup.  Others perhaps not so much such, like York Minister’s South Transept burning down after the cathedral was struck by lightening on 9th July 1984.

Of course, in the old days, yesterday’s newspapers were used for nothing more than to wrap today’s fish and chips!

Perhaps we experience something similar in our own lives too.  At the time a particular crisis or challenge can be all consuming.  Yet, given the passage of time, as life moves on, its significance can diminish; we might even end up years later wondering why we worried so much about it.

Of course, there are some headlines and some issues whose importance and relevance stays the course of time. I suspect that the headline for 21st July 1969 with a picture of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon will never fade.

And I feel that about the stories and teachings of Jesus; that they have a relevance that transcends generations.  It’s amazing in our fast-changing world that the bible stories we’ll hear in church this July in the time of Charles III were being listened to by church goers in the time of Charles I. Our task, whether we are a preacher, listener or reader, is to take these Bible Headlines and apply them to our contemporary life.

I used to sing in Sunday School Tell me the old, old story. It’s a story that I believe is ever new and worthy of our attention. 

Choose you this day...

 

After a long campaign Election Day has dawned and by Friday the result of the only poll that ever mattered will be known.

For all its faults it’s surely a cause for thanksgiving that government changes hands peacefully in the United Kingdom.

At my school we had our own Student Parliament and I stood (and won!) in the 4th Year Elections.  However, my career in politics did not last long as I gave it all a miss by the 5th Form!

Elections, during the Edwardian years at least, were never covered impartially by the Baptist Times. There was never any doubt in those days that the only party the Baptist Union supported was the Liberal Party.  All the personal failings of Lloyd George and Asquith were forgotten as ministers such as The Revd Dr John Clifford of Paddington urged the readers of the denominational journal to mobilise and fight for the return of a Liberal government.  By the middle of the 20th century such partisan reporting ceased, and the Baptist Times became a tamer and more neutral publication.

Pictures from South Africa in the 1990’s showing the first election in which citizens of every colour had the right to vote probably stick in all our minds.  Archbishop Tutu danced as he waited in line to vote, whilst many shed tears of joy that such a day had come in their lifetime.

Ministers, from both the Baptist and URC traditions, know from personal experience what it feels like to be on the other side of an election because we are chosen by ballot by the congregation, rather than imposed upon them.

Joshua challenged the people to choose you this day who you will serve…Today many of us will exercise a civic duty to make a different sort of choice.  To choose a person or a party that we hope merits our cross beside their name.  Perhaps too, as we make our mark, we will also remember that scriptural injunction to pray for those in authority over us whoever they are.

Yes...No...Maybe

 

In the current book being read by the AFC Book Discussion Group, Walk Humbly, the Vicar of St Martin in the Fields, Sam Wells writes there are always three answers to every question: Yes…No…and Maybe.  And usually, the best one is number three.

That may frustrate us if we tend to look for those binary choices of yes or no.  Yet life is rarely that straightforward, and neither is faith. 

Most answers do have to factor in Maybe.  The maybes of life have to take into account you, me, others, events, history; the list is endless because context is so important.

It's because binary choices are so rarely available that law making is so complex and religious thought is always evolving. 

In one of the recent TV Election debates I was horrified to see that candidates were only given 45 seconds to answer the question.  Tik Tock has a lot to answer for!  As a society we really do have to become more serious as we wrestle with the big issues that are never clear cut.

During his ministry Jesus so often challenged his hearers to think outside the box and reject the standard answers of the day.  He lost his life because he was so radical in challenging the status quo.  Part of being a disciple of Jesus today is to seek to be a thinker; someone who looks for answers that are longer than 45 seconds, answers that may be Yes or No, but will probably more often be Maybe.

Crucial to that process is always seeking to factor in God’s love, justice, mercy and kindness to the issues that are before us, because the character of God is always part of the answer to any question we might ask.

So, keep asking the questions and in the struggle may you hear the whisper of God helping you through.

Experiencing Christian and Hindu funeral rites

 

Yesterday we had the great privilege of hosting a multi-cultural/religious funeral for the husband of one of our members.  The family, with Sri Lankan roots, wanted to honour the Christian heritage of their mother alongside the Hindu traditions of their father.

So, in our church hall, a service of Christian prayers was held before the Hindu funeral rites were performed.

I think all of the folk from AFC who helped out behind the scenes felt it was such a special and worthwhile occasion.

One of the most profoundly moving things I learnt preparing for yesterday is the Hindu tradition that on the day of the funeral the family make financial provision for food to be distributed to the needy from a local temple.  Also, that since the day of her husband’s passing until his funeral the family haven’t needed to cook, because members of the Sri Lankan community have called every evening with freshly cooked meals.

I was so impressed by the generosity of heart behind both of these wonderful traditions.  Customs based on love.

In the blending of cultures and rituals we witnessed yesterday it was this sense of love that united us.  It was palpable and crossed the divide of language and culture.  As we bade farewell to a much-loved family member, a spirit of love infused both the Christian and Hindu rites.