 |
| The Church Yard at Cores End URC on the Saturday of our Quiet Day |
As we met in Lent it seemed appropriate to me to focus the day at Cores End upon the
cross.
In our first session I suggested that at various cross roads of his life Jesus deliberately chose the paths that would lead to conflict and suffering – he rejected easier ways.
In our second session, when, as it were, we had already arrived at Calvary, I suggested that even whilst upon the cross the Lord Jesus chose the way of love and forgiveness in the face of hatred and violence.
So, where do the cross roads leads on our third session?
Well, I don’t know! Because that is a question we must answer for ourselves. So, maybe it is better framed as: Where do the cross roads lead me?
We have already quoted Sam Wells today, Vicar of St Martin’s, and in a number of his books he makes the same point again and again – that for him one of the most important things about his faith is a belief not so much in a God who does things ‘for’ us, as the God who is ‘with’ us.
For centuries one of the main ways of looking at the cross has been to see it as that moment when God did something ‘for’ us. And for many that ‘atonement’ understanding of Good Friday is an important one.
Yet, and I think Sam Wells argues this with some conviction in his little book: Hanging by a Thread, the cross – representing so much of the chaos, failure, confusion and suffering of life, is also the place where God is essentially ‘with’ us.
Maybe, after all the words about how we can explain the relationship between a Good God and the presence of evil in the world – the only answer is to talk of the God who shares the suffering.
At St Martins much of the church’s time is spent working alongside homeless people. It’s a church that is famous for its annual Radio 4 Christmas Appeal.
In his book entitled The Nazareth Manifesto, Sam Wells reflects on that demanding and seemingly unending ministry. And once again he makes the point, that the starting place for every helper and worker at St Martin’s isn’t that they are doing something ‘for’ those who are homeless, but they come alongside them and stand ‘with’ them. Of course, they may be offering professional and practical help – but the experience of those who work in the centre next to the church is that they, the workers, receive as well as give.
Years ago now, when I was a young minister and the BBC still had a lent course on telly – (seems like a different age!) – Charles Elliot, Director of Christian Aid presented a series called Sword and Spirit. In one scene he was visiting the dust heaps of a South American shanty town. Children were living on the rubbish heaps, scavenging for food. Where, he asked, is God in all this misery and suffering? The only answer he came up with, which – I think is the best he could have given, is that God is here, in the mess, here in the poverty, here in the pain.
Well, at times it may take some believing. But I believe it is one of the most precious truths this season, so focused on the cross, can offer us. The God who is with us and shares in our sorrows as well as dancing alongside us in our joys.
In our first session I suggested that at various cross roads of his life Jesus deliberately chose the paths that would lead to conflict and suffering – he rejected easier ways.
In our second session, when, as it were, we had already arrived at Calvary, I suggested that even whilst upon the cross the Lord Jesus chose the way of love and forgiveness in the face of hatred and violence.
So, where do the cross roads leads on our third session?
Well, I don’t know! Because that is a question we must answer for ourselves. So, maybe it is better framed as: Where do the cross roads lead me?
We have already quoted Sam Wells today, Vicar of St Martin’s, and in a number of his books he makes the same point again and again – that for him one of the most important things about his faith is a belief not so much in a God who does things ‘for’ us, as the God who is ‘with’ us.
For centuries one of the main ways of looking at the cross has been to see it as that moment when God did something ‘for’ us. And for many that ‘atonement’ understanding of Good Friday is an important one.
Yet, and I think Sam Wells argues this with some conviction in his little book: Hanging by a Thread, the cross – representing so much of the chaos, failure, confusion and suffering of life, is also the place where God is essentially ‘with’ us.
Maybe, after all the words about how we can explain the relationship between a Good God and the presence of evil in the world – the only answer is to talk of the God who shares the suffering.
At St Martins much of the church’s time is spent working alongside homeless people. It’s a church that is famous for its annual Radio 4 Christmas Appeal.
In his book entitled The Nazareth Manifesto, Sam Wells reflects on that demanding and seemingly unending ministry. And once again he makes the point, that the starting place for every helper and worker at St Martin’s isn’t that they are doing something ‘for’ those who are homeless, but they come alongside them and stand ‘with’ them. Of course, they may be offering professional and practical help – but the experience of those who work in the centre next to the church is that they, the workers, receive as well as give.
Years ago now, when I was a young minister and the BBC still had a lent course on telly – (seems like a different age!) – Charles Elliot, Director of Christian Aid presented a series called Sword and Spirit. In one scene he was visiting the dust heaps of a South American shanty town. Children were living on the rubbish heaps, scavenging for food. Where, he asked, is God in all this misery and suffering? The only answer he came up with, which – I think is the best he could have given, is that God is here, in the mess, here in the poverty, here in the pain.
Well, at times it may take some believing. But I believe it is one of the most precious truths this season, so focused on the cross, can offer us. The God who is with us and shares in our sorrows as well as dancing alongside us in our joys.
So, maybe in this final session we will be asking ourselves
where the cross roads lead us. Yet, we
do that with this thought that the cross carrying God always accompanies cross
carrying disciples.
No comments:
Post a Comment