Advent Four: Happy Christmas

 

Thought for the Day: Radio Christmas: Christmas Eve 2023

Good Morning.

I’m delighted to be at Radio Christmas on Christmas Eve and offer this Thought for the Day on this, the final day of broadcasting for 2023.

On that first Christmas night, which we celebrate today, another form of broadcasting echoed from the skies above Bethlehem as the angels sang the message Glory to God in highest heaven and peace to all on earth.

Ancient words that never grow old – with our prayers for peace in the world central to all our liturgies tonight and tomorrow.

Just like that angelic choir, Radio Christmas has, since the 1st of December this year, been singing God’s praise, broadcasting a message of hope and goodwill.

And for us at Amersham Free Church, it’s been a real privilege to have their studio in our tower room.

Yet, the singing and music of Christmas is just half the story.  For at its centre is the idea that God, in Jesus, came among us and shared life with us.

The funds raised through this year’s Radio Christmas will be used wisely and lovingly in the ongoing ministry of Street Kids Direct in Central America.

Duncan and his colleagues really do live out their faith alongside the young people Street Kids tries to help.  This is love incarnate – a down to earth love with practical compassion, and all of it is a wonderful reflection of God’s down to earth love for us in the gifting to our world that first Christmas night of the Christ Child.

Christmas – a time to sing God’s praise, a moment to share God’s love, in fact it’s a way of life for every day of the year – and thank you Radio Christmas for reminding us of that during these 24 days of inspiring broadcasting.

So, Come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

May God’s blessing and joy be yours this day.

Happy Christmas!

Blog holiday nest week

Advent 3: You're in the right place!

 

You might have noticed that I never miss an opportunity to ‘dine out’ on an experience that comes my way.

Well, on Monday of this week I had some emergency eye surgery for a retinal tear. The day started with a 9.30am appointment at Stoke Mandeville but after countless people had looked into my right eye saying phrases like: ‘Oh, I see’, or ‘Well, it’s a bit bigger than we expected’! I was sent off to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and by 1pm I arrived.

Actually, I got there quicker than my notes, so for a while I was something of an enigma to them.  Having been sent to the walk in eye clinic I found myself in a waiting room bustling with over a hundred patients all being triaged.

I was so taken by the helpful and encouraging receptionist who clearly saw my anxiety that having spent all morning at Stoke Mandeville I might have to start the process all over again at the John Radcliffe.  He words resonated with calm assurance when she said: Don’t worry, you are in the right place…

Sure enough, 30 mins later she found me out, said all the notes had now come through and I was whisked upstairs.  By 5pm I was having surgery and having been picked up by our youngest son, Jonty, was home by 7pm.  I can’t see through the eye yet, it has a gas bubble in it now, but the hope is that in a month or two things will be back to normal.

I received such wonderful and skilled treatment on Monday at both hospitals, and I’m truly thankful.  I’m also very grateful to that receptionist who reassured me that I was in the right place.

What is, I wonder, the right place for us? 

It's difficult to answer such a question at times and maybe we often want to be somewhere else.  Days of bereavement or health issues are not easy places to be.

My right place was only made possible because at that moment when I was very vulnerable, I found myself surrounded by people who cared.

Our right places might have moments of essential solitude, yet often these are so helpfully balanced by other moments when life is tempered by being in community and walking with others in companionship.

So…bringing it back to the stories of Advent and Christmas…I wonder if those shepherds scratched their heads as they arrived at the manger wondering Is this really the right place for us?  Although the gospels don’t say it, we get the impression that something of The Spirit stirred in their hearts as they knelt before the Christ child reassuring them that this was absolutely the right place to be that special night.

Advent Two: Light from the tower

 

It was a great joy to present a show on Radio Christmas this week.  I was well looked after by the production crew and had just a small insight on how hard everyone is working on this year’s project.

Radio Christmas is broadcasting from 1^st to 24^th December, and this year it is from our Tower Room at Amersham Free Church. It’s been a real joy to have Duncan and his team around the place this month and we do hope the station will raise valuable funds for the ongoing work of Street Kids Direct, working in Central America.

Churches have traditionally been built with spiers and towers as a way of, architecturally speaking, pointing to God.  AFC has just a small tower, built in the somewhat austere architecture of the early 1960s.  On its top storey is a boiler room, the one below has, at various times, been used as a Youth ‘Den’ and more recently as a storeroom.  So, how wonderful that during these days of December it has become a vibrant and bustling centre of activity, set up with all the latest technology, enabling a radio station with a Christian foundation, to broadcast.

And all of that seems to me to be wonderfully appropriate.  On the outside I’m always pleased to see out tower has a large cross on it.  Now, on the inside, through Radio Christmas, it is broadcasting the love and light we all need to tune into at this time of year. Enter the studio on any day of the week and you’ll hear laughter, prayerful concern, supportive conversation, and uplifting music.  Indeed, something of God’s love and light is pulsating everyday this Advent from the tower of Amersham Free Church!

Advent 1: A walk rather than a drive

 I don’t know about you but I sometimes drive the car and end up at my destination without any detailed memory of the journey I’ve just done, especially if it’s one I do very often, like driving to church.  It’s as if I’m on automatic pilot.  Maybe I’m listening to the radio as I go along, or perhaps I’m planning next Sunday’s sermon in my mind.  So, I get to my destination, the church car park say, and I’ve barely noticed my journey. I can almost hear Rachel, my wife’s reaction to that confession: Well, that just explains your driving!

When I walk to church it feels so different.  I start off at the Manse and notice the neighbours, I cross the road and go over the railway bridge looking at the tube trains making their way to Baker Street, I’m now outside Tescos Express and if it’s lunchtime 150 students from our local Grammar School will also be there buying lunch, it’s then a walk up the high street, a nod to our neighbouring church of St Michael’s, make my way over the Zebra crossing, trying to always remember to be polite to the car drivers who have stopped, especially if I’m wearing my clerical collar, and then in, via the back door of Amersham Free Church. A ten minute journey in which I’ve probably met, noted and encountered 10 different people or events taking place that have made an impression on me. 

Such a different journey walking to driving, because I’ve noticed so much more.

Advent, these next four weeks is often thought of as a waiting time, and in many ways that’s a good understanding, especially in our impatient society.  Yet, the idea that Advent is primarily about waiting can imply that nothing of too much importance will happen between Advent Sunday and Christmas Day.  Maybe viewed like one of my car drive experiences, just a journey of convenience, no more than just getting me, perhaps rather mindlessly, from A to B.

I’d rather look forward to the gift of these next four weeks and Sundays as a walk, instead of a drive.  A journey when much might, and probably will happen.  And in that sense, I tell myself this morning that Advent is just as much about watching as it is about waiting.  Watching is active.  Watching is being open to the whispers of God.  Watching is about becoming engaged and available.

So, today we start our Advent journey.  And rather than ask Sunday by Sunday ‘Are we nearly there yet’, let’s take time to notice the journey and enjoy the discoveries found round every corner along the way.

Black Friday/Good Friday

The adverts are awash telling us it’s Black Friday at the end of this week. Everywhere I look on the internet there are deals to be had, all pressurising me to buy a product on Friday and save probably at least a quarter on last week’s price!

Apparently Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving in the United States and signals the first day of the Christmas shopping period.  It’s become the day when shops have the biggest footfall and takings of the year, traditionally pushing them from being in the red, to being in the black.  Hence, its name.

I’m conscious of the Sydney Carter hymn we sing to an old American Shaker tune, The Lord of the Dance.  One line goes: I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black. Yet we call it Good Friday.

At the heart of the Christian story the death of Jesus speaks to us of a dreadful day, full of so much injustice and pain, yet one on which love triumphed over hate, light over darkness and goodness over evil.  None of this came about through brutal power but through self-sacrificing love. 

As we approach and prepare for the season of gift giving, maybe even taking advantage of a Black Friday bargain or two, let’s pause and find our greatest inspiration in the message of Good Friday and the greatest gift ever given, of Jesus, who in love, gave us his all.

Encounter

 

One of the great pictures we have of Jesus in the gospels is that of him encountering so many people on his travels and engaging with a significant number one to one. My favourite account is of him meeting up with the Syrophoenician woman who, through their conversation, seems to change his mind.

A characteristic of living in a Liberal Democracy like ours is that everyone seems to have an opinion about everything, and many are not shy in sharing theirs!

Within seconds of browsing the internet anyone can read a thousand and one opinions on everything from the conflict between Hamas and Israel to whether or not different Churches offer to bless or marry same-sex couples.

By and large I’m grateful for the majority of these internet articles and the insights they offer.

However, there is a particular perspective I value more than any other and that is encounter. 

For example, I’m aware that all the views I hold, and most of what I read about, regarding the current crisis in the Middle East are essentially theoretical views rather than personal experiences.  Yet, if I actually lived there, or even if I knew someone who did, I know these theoretical views of mine would be challenged.

The same has been true for many of us in church life when it comes to issues such as women’s ministry or same-sex marriage.  My views on these issues have been formed mostly, I think, not through what I’ve read, but rather by the people I’ve met. Encounter is wonderfully powerful and definitive and, I believe, that’s how it should be.

My hope and prayer is that in meeting another person the space between us might be occupied by God.  A space that makes all the difference in the way we encounter each other in our lives.

A Good News Story

 I suspect I’m not alone in searching for a more positive take on life in the daily stories that pour forth from the media.  For even in the bleakest and most anxious of times, perhaps even especially at such moments, hearing  good news stories helps re-balance life and save it from desperation.

Well, I discovered one this week.  Although it didn’t headline on the BBC news website (in newspaper speak we might have said it appeared below the fold) it was still posted in fourth place that day!

It concerned Marc Gauthier, 63 years of age and from Bordeaux.  As someone with Parkinson’s he knows what it means to have mobility issues, frequently shuffling and even freezing.  For Marc getting into a car or a lift is fraught with difficulties as is general walking.

 I simply can’t fully appreciate the thrill he is currently feeling since his life has been utterly transformed by a team of medical specialists who have given him epidural spinal implants.  These have stimulated nerves, which in turn, can now send messages and signals to make muscles move. 

 Marc can now walk unaided and more smoothly, he’s not even afraid of the stairs and every Sunday does a four miles circuit around a lake.  Just a few years ago we might have described all of this as simply a dream, yet through the wonders and miracles of modern science it’s become a lived reality for Marc.

 He is so happy, and so was I as I read it.  There are indeed times when such advances and achievements seem inspirational and examples of us finding and living out our better selves.

I love the words of Paul in Philippians 4 when he writes:

Whatever things are true, noble, just and pure.
Whatever things are lovely and of good repute.
If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy,
Think on these things.

Marc’s story, and the work of all those scientists and medics who helped it come to pass, are surely wonderful examples of that which is truly praiseworthy and it is indeed good to think on these things. 

Bishop Keith's Funeral

 

On Monday 30^th October 2023 a group of us travelled into central London for the funeral service of a former minister of Amersham Free Church, Bishop Keith Riglin.

Keith’s ecumenical journey took him from his Baptist roots to a period of service with the URC before finding his spiritual home with the Anglican Church.  He served as a college lecturer, a local church minister, a university chaplain and latterly as a bishop within the Scottish Episcopal Church.  All these phases were represented in the congregation of Wesley’s Chapel at which the service took place.

The church on Monday was very full.  There was, possibly, around six to seven hundred people present, so the singing was truly uplifting.  Indeed, the whole service was inspirational and led so well.  The Bishop of London was present, along with three of her episcopal colleagues, as were clergy from Cambridge, Regent’s Park College in Oxford and King’s College in London.  There was a veritable sea of clerical collars!

We heard moving tributes from Keith’s brother and daughters.  They spoke movingly about his love and zest for life and there is no doubt that he leaves behind a family who hold him in high regard. 

 

The Revd Dr Jennifer Smith, Keith’s wife and the Superintendent Minister of Wesley’s Chapel, gave the sermon.  Her moving and courageous words spoke of both the pain of loss she felt, along with the Christian hope that she and Keith shared.  It was very touching to hear that Keith ‘slipped away’ surrounded by his family whilst one of his daughters read to him from C.S.Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Another very profound element of the service was the presence of members of an African Fellowship, of which Keith was patron, who ‘kept guard’ at either end of the coffin, as is their custom, all the way through the service, periodically ‘changing the guard’ and sharing out this duty throughout the service.  It seemed like a great act of love and respect.

All our group felt it was so good to be at the service, in some small way representing AFC and the years Keith served here.

Keith was a man of many parts, whose life had many phases.  What was clear on Monday is that in each of these the one constant was his love for God.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

A Prayer for a Land Called Holy

 

How to start?

Allahu Akbar…

We give thanks to Adonai for his faithfulness…

We come to God the Father, in the name of the Son and through the power of the Spirit.

Our hearts are heavy with grief, confusion, anger and worry. 

We don’t know enough, yet maybe we know enough to pray:

Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy.

Gracious God, your Son walked in this land, attended weddings and funerals, confronted discrimination and experienced religious bigotry.

Our own government, through a treaty, divided up this land.  A British plan that gave one nation a home and made another nation bereaved to have lost so much.

Through the urgings of the old and the energy of the young Hamas took up arms and as October dawned, we witnessed a new and terrible pogrom.

 Slaughter…

Some on the border who lived there deliberately to foster peace and reconciliation, who literally and metaphorically flew kites of hope, were the first to be cut down.

Did they have to die?  O Lord we lament and call out to you with tears…so many have died and we hang our heads and pray..

Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy.

How do we respond?  An eye for an eye?  Evacuation? More deaths? A Presidential visit. 

We listen to thoughtful politicians; we tune in to gracious rabbis and peace loving Imams and our heads swirl…

So many words, all grasping for truth and hope yet all spoken with sadness and fear.

And so we are still…silent before you…








Yet we know we must not stop praying, and longing, and hoping for peace with justice. 

So, we turn to you…whether we call you…

Allah

Yahweh

Or a Trinity of Creator, Redeemer and Sustainor.

 And we pray one more, even a thousand times…

Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy.

The Blog returns on Friday 3rd November 2023

A Morning Parable

 I got up ‘grumpy’ on Tuesday morning!  I had a dental appointment – a root filing – and I’m not the best when it comes to ‘the drill’!

So, rather dreading what was coming, I plodded to the dentist with my head down longing for the next hour to be over.  That was until I say a young lad on his way to school, he could have been no more than 14, and there he was in the middle of the street on his phone.  Nothing unusual about that, apart from the fact that he was taking a picture of the glorious sunrise, first facing one way and then the next; a sunrise that I had completely failed to register.

This boy’s face was transfixed by the stunning beauty of a sunny autumn morning, and he obviously wanted to capture it on his iPhone.

I confess I felt, at one at the same time, chastened and inspired.  Chastened that I was so consumed with my dread of the ‘drill’ that I had missed the beauty of an early October day, and inspired that a member of the younger generation had appreciated it so much that he wanted to capture it on his phone.

Well, I walked over the railway bridge into the centre of town and looked down on the commuters lining up for the 7.49am to Marylebone.  They had their phones out too, but not to take a photo of the sunrise!

I entered the dentist, and the next 30 mins were pain free – what a wimp I had been to let such anxiety take hold.

Later that day I chaired an EcoChurch committee at AFC and I couldn’t help but remember the wonder on the young lad’s face as he greeted the sunrise.  It gave me great encouragement and became a helpful morning parable.

Meeting my Younger Self

This weekend I have the great privilege of preaching at my ‘first’ church; Fuller Baptist Church in Kettering, where I served as Assistant (Curate) Minister from 1987-1992.

During those years I served under The Revd Donald MacKenzie, and they became, for me, such a valuable period of continuing ministerial formation.  Indeed, in the four churches that have followed I have regularly asked myself ‘What would Donald do?’!

So, I think maybe as I enter Fuller once again on Sunday I might well walk through the corridors and feel as if I’m meeting my younger self round a few corners.

In truth Fuller are very generous in asking me back because, I sense, I might not be a natural ‘fit’ for them anymore.  Understandably they have changed (liturgically) since my day, whereas I’ve probably not moved on so much in my views about worship – i.e. I’m still something of a dinosaur! Yet I’m thrilled to hear that the church is in good heart and are currently experiencing a good number of children and young people at morning worship – so, ‘well done’ Fuller!

A church’s story is written in a number of chapters.  Each chapter will have its ups and down.  I was thrilled to have been part of Fuller’s life when it had two vibrant youth groups, a regular morning service of around 300 and an evening congregation that never dipped below 120.  More than the statistics is my memory of a loving church family located in a bustling Midland’s town.  A town centre church with so much going on.  It really was a great opportunity and maybe I learnt more about being a minister in those years than all the ones I spent at theological college.

So, I exited their story in 1992 when we moved to my first solo pastorate in Hitchin.  Since then, many more chapters have been written, both in their story and mine and I believe God has continue to be active.On Sunday I will be treading on holy ground, as a guest preacher at one of my former churches.  As I do so I’ll recall Abraham Lincoln’s words to his hometown as he left to travel to Washington for his Inauguration: The God who goes with me is the God who stays with you… Isn’t that great!

God’s blessing has been experienced at Fuller, Kettering, in all the years that have occurred since I left – on Sunday, for a brief moment, I’ll rejoin them to give thanks for that.

Minister's Letter: Family News: October 2023

 

Church is about many things…

Buildings…Here at AFC as the autumn progresses, we’ll start to see the implementation of some of the schemes we agreed at the July Church Meeting.  At the beginning of the month, we expect the arrival of the new sanctuary chairs and by the middle of October the amplification and Livestreaming systems should be installed.  The new car parking system has achieved what we hoped it might, and we are very grateful to those, who behind the scenes, have fielded many enquiries from the general public; for we know your job hasn’t always been easy.

Projects…We are glad, from time to time, to focus on particular projects and activities.  Recently that’s meant our celebration of Harvest and support for Operation Agri and the Chiltern Food Bank.  This month, on October 18^th, we’ll focus on our annual Bible Teaching Day, this year welcoming The Revd Dr Julian Templeton to lead us through a study of The Psalms.  Then, in November, we are thrilled to be hosting a Come and Sing Day for Advent and Christmas.  An opportunity for singers to gather together under the baton of Hilary Davan Wetton, accompanied by David Goode (organ teacher at Eton, who recently played at Peter Lawson’s Thanksgiving).

People…Of course this aspect of church life is really important.  So, last month it was a great honour for us at AFC to host services of remembrance for both Ray Norris and Peter Lawson.  This month the emphasis will change as we welcome Zoe Ellis and Matthew Green for their wedding on Saturday 21^st October at 1.30pm.  Matthew and Zoe will be delighted to see friends from AFC at their service that day, do come along and share this time in church if you wish.

And then there are the new Elders’ Lists.  Recently you will have been given a copy of the church directory from your Contact Elder.  If you have any questions or comments about church life, do speak to your elder as they are a valuable point of contact between you and the elders’ meeting.  Of course, as you get to know your elder, we hope a bond of friendship will grow between you. We fully understand that you may wish to share some pastoral news with them.  We also hope that, as time goes by, the ministry of the pastoral team will become increasingly helpful and valued among us.  You can ‘access’ the Pastoral Team either through talking to the Ministers, passing on a request for help via your elder, or approaching a member of the Team directly (their names are published weekly on the Notice Sheet).

And finally, under ‘People’, during October we will be speaking a bit about Church Membership during the services.  AFC is a ‘Gathered Church’, which means people deliberately and prayerfully ‘opt in’ to becoming members.  Well, if we are gradually becoming your ‘Spiritual Home’ we’d love to welcome you as an official church member.  Do have a word with Ian if you would like a chat about taking this further.

Of course, our prayer is that in every aspect of our church life the Lord Jesus Christ will be central.

Pubs and Churches

 

Looking through the newsfeeds earlier this week I was struck by one reporting that two pubs will close in England and Wales this week, as they have done now for many months.  Apparently 230 pubs shut up shop in the last quarter, compared to 153 the previous.

So, it appears that life is changing, not just in churches but in High Street shopping patterns, diminishing audiences at classical music concerts and now in the relentless closure of the country’s pubs.

Maybe it’s our shifting concept of community that is behind many of these trends. 

Last Saturday, on the train to Baker Street, I couldn’t help but notice that in our crowded carriage 80% of passengers were looking at their ‘handheld devices’!  Even the boyfriend and girlfriend opposite us stopped interacting with each other by Chorleywood and spent the rest of the journey communing exclusively with their respective phones! There was a slight glimmer of interaction at Harrow on the Hill, but it petered out by Finchley Road!!

Of course, ‘virtual’ community is still real community, and for many of us has been a wonderful blessing.  Yet, I suspect, by and large it’s the lack of necessity for us to physically meet, which has led to a drop in numbers attending pubs, football matches, concerts and, of course, churches.

It's probably one of our biggest challenges now; how to both value and build community.

'It 'aint half hot mum'!

 

Last week’s heatwave broke September records.  Saturday felt similar to a winter’s ‘snow day’; we went out early with the dog and then hunkered down enjoying a cool indoors for the rest of the day.

This summer’s weather has been full of extremes.  We had a blazing June followed by a very soggy July.  And the very week the schools returned the sun came out and blazed away for half the month.

Friends have been telling me that it was upon their return from holiday, sometimes even from the Mediterranean, that they encountered significant heat, walking off the plane into a sultry Heathrow.  It all felt the wrong way round!

We are beginning to realise that Climate Change really does seem to be bringing extremes of weather at both ends of the spectrum; more snow, rain and heat and not necessarily in the months or seasons we’d expect.

Throughout September through to the beginning of October the Church observes and celebrates the Season of Creation.  All of that seems highly appropriate as we also regularly hold our Harvest Festivals at this time of year.

Yet, as well as giving thanks for all the blessings we enjoy living in a world of such bounty and potential, we recognise both the increasing fragility our planet is experiencing, because of manmade warming, alongside the fierceness of the natural world, resulting in devasting events such as the Moroccan earthquake or the Libyan floods. 

Someone gave me a little ditty the other day called The Gardener’s Hymn.  It’s opening lines go…

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.

But what we never mention, though gardeners know it’s true
Is when he made the goodies, He made the baddies too.

The drought that kills the fuchsias, the frost that nips the buds
The rain that drowns the seedlings the blight that hits the buds…

Or as Tennyson once said: Nature’s red in tooth and claw.

In many ways I think Harvest Festivals and the Season of Creation are quite a challenge theologically, ecologically, and sociologically.

Returning to last week’s heatwave, I’m conscious that the Bible was written by those who lived in a hot country.  Hence all those references to the Lord being our shade and protector from the noon day heat.  So, God’s blessing is predominantly expressed using the imagery of flowing water and cool running streams rather than blue sky sunny days.

After this year’s heatwaves in Britain of June and September I’m beginning to feel a new respect and appreciation for our more usual temperate climate.  ‘Good weather’ can also mean cool days with grey cloud and light rain showers, for such days really are a great blessing too!

Hello/Goodbye

My own Induction at AFC

  I don’t usually attend many Induction services       for ministers; but I have been to all of my own!

 Last Saturday I attended such a service and then,   on Sunday, I was present at a minister’s farewell.     On Saturday it was all about ‘hello’, whilst on   Sunday there was a muted atmosphere as a   congregation said ‘farewell’.

 Induction services are full of expectation.  The   truth is that neither minister nor congregation   really know each other at this stage, so there’s   also a bit of anxiety!

 Saturday’s induction was a splendid occasion   with a full church and wonderful music.  The   neighbouring Parish Church was well represented   with choir members and Vicar taking part.  And   there were many present who knew the incoming   minister from previous pastorates.  It was a joy to   be there.

Sunday’s experience, although tinged with a certain sadness, was also a joyful one. There was a busy lunch with cakes being cut and some deeply moving speeches afterwards in the church along with presentations.  It all marked the end of a significant chapter in the church’s life and the beginning of the outgoing minister’s retirement.  The sense of a job ‘well done’.

What struck me on both days is that ministry is never just about one person but the fusion between pastor and congregation.  It’s a partnership and consequently both services were just as much about the church members as the minister. Indeed, in any church the minister is never a permanent member!

So, wasn’t it strange to have these two occasions come side by side last weekend.  Both churches, and ministers, will stay in my thoughts and prayers and it was a real privilege to share in services that said hello/goodbye.

Coffee - part of God's Rescue Plan

 

After Service Coffee at AFC July 2023

Towards the end of last month the news bulletins were full of the dramatic rescue of six children and two adults from a stranded cable car in Pakistan.  The children were on their way to school and often took this one mile journey, 900feet up in the air, thus saving themselves a two hour road trip.  This was the fifth trip of the cable car that morning, before it became perilously dislodged.

Just a week before, whilst on holiday in the Austrian Tirol, we had used cable cars over a dozen times.  They can indeed be thrilling and nerve racking at the same time!

What struck me most about the incident from the Khyber valley in Pakistan is that when the official helicopter rescue ended at dusk, with six people still stranded in the dangling cabin, the locals mounted their own successful operation using zip wires.  One of the passengers, a young boy, seeing the helicopter depart said he thought: well, this has been my last day. Yet to the cheers of the crowd the other side of the mountain, he was safely rescued along the zip wire later that night.  He now, hopefully, has many days stretching out before him.

Those villagers never gave up on the rescue.  They showed a wonderful spirit of hope.  And the result is eight precious lives restored.

The Bible occasionally uses the image of God as Rescuer. Whether from a dark pit or a valley of despair, the idea of that God lifts us up and helps us live another day.

Recently day a friend told me how difficult it was to go through a bereavement just as the Pandemic dawned.  In the days of isolation that followed the usual support and passing words of encouragement that would usually have come from casual encounters just never happened.  And that made it so much tougher.  The ‘rescue’, as it were, didn’t seem to happen.

That’s why I’m always so thrilled to hear the buzz of conversation over coffee in the church hall after morning service.  I sense that such good work is going on at every table as people share news of the week, news of every shade.  And in the sharing, the conversing and the simply ‘being together’, God breaks through and comes among us.  Love touches our lives, and we are made just a little bit more whole.

Just drinking coffee and chatting?  No – it’s much more than that.  It's part of God’s ‘Rescue Plan!  

The Car Park Parable

 

We have recently installed new controls in the church car park, and it’s felt like quite a significant moment in our life together.

The truth is we have been talking of doing this for years, if not decades, and at a recent Church Meeting the time just seemed right to grasp the nettle and give approval for the new scheme.

Our church’s car park is a blessing, and we must not lose sight of that.  I know of more than one congregation that has been forced to close because of a town centre location with no car park.  Yet, the truth is that our car park has been open to abuse.  It’s particularly unfair when some people and businesses pay for yearly permits whilst others, who have no connection with AFC, just take a chance every day to park without making a contribution.

Recently one of our Elders discovered that the only description of our church on a local website was that of being a car park!  That, perhaps, explains part of our problem.

Well, now the cameras have been turned on, the notices erected, and the touch pad installed for user group members to enter their registration numbers.  The Elders have done sterling work sitting by the signing in portal for the last few days, gently encouraging people to enter their details.

In the process of all this we’ve learnt that car parking companies sometimes employ theological terms as they talk about ‘grace’ periods for dropping people off, or ‘forgiving’ a certain number of fines per month!  It’s also been ‘interesting’ to gauge the public’s reaction.  Some people forgot the number of their car because it’s the family’s second vehicle (something of a First World problem there perhaps).

Currently, as we make our way through Matthew’s gospel in the lectionary cycle, we are in the middle of many parable stories told by Jesus.  They are coming thick and fast in these middle chapters.  So, I occasionally wonder how our Lord might have used the Parable of The Car Park?  Maybe it would have carried themes of justice and equality and of trying to be considerate of others who need the spaces after us.  It could become a parable about just how difficult it is to ‘permit’ and ‘not permit’. And I’m sure the themes of grace and forgiveness would find a place in it too.

I love the ‘stories of Jesus’ and it’s not a bad exercise to ponder the type he might have told if he had been teaching in the 21^st century.

The Blog will return in September, hope you have a good summer.

Is unity in disunity possible?

 

The Church of England recently held its summer Synod at which the Archbishop of York made a keynote address.  Although it hit the headlines because he raised the rather well-rehearsed idea that calling God ‘Father’ is not always helpful, the main thrust of his talk was about the growing disunity within The Church of England.

Here's a line from his speech:  We remain stubbornly unreconciled, appear complacent about division, and often also appear all to ready to divide again.  We have got used to disunity.  We think it’s normal when in fact, it is a disgrace, an affront to Christ and all he came to give us.

Well, maybe looking over the fence and commenting on another denomination’s synod may be considered bad form, but I have to say Stephen Cottrell’s words touched me, especially the idea that disunity may even now be considered the norm.

The context of the Archbishop’s message was not so much ecumenical disunity but the strife that is tearing the Anglican Church apart at the moment, cantering especially around issues of sexuality.  The same critique could be made of many Churches, including The Baptist Union which is struggling hard to find a way forward. 

The next few years may see various denominations splitting over this issue.  Perhaps we will not be able to all sign up to one view on sexuality.  The challenge will then be about how we respect our different interpretations of scripture.  If it’s not too confusing a thing to say, I pray for a unity even within our disunity; for there is still so very much that holds us together. 

We’ll see, we haven’t reached the end of the road quite yet, but hard and difficult decisions are before every denomination.

A hymn, by the United Reformed Church minister, John Campbell has an opening line which reads like a wonderful prayer: 

                                    A body made of many parts,
                                    diverse, yet all together,
                                    where each is valued, each required,
                                    and all are one forever.

May it be so.

Wise Words

 

This weekend many of us who followed the Revised Common Lectionary will touch on the theme of ‘Wisdom’ in our sermons.  That’s because, as we follow Matthew’s gospel this year, on Sunday we reach the passage where Jesus talks of God’s wisdom often being found in unexpected places and spoken by unexpected people.

Our neighbours in France are going through turbulent times following the shooting of Nahel.  As with so many issues this one is complex and generates deep emotions.  Following the shooting of this young man we have seen numerous protests and riots on the streets of many French cities, and we have been saddened that the response has generated considerable anguish among so many citizens.

The right to protest is a commonly accepted one in liberal democracies, yet when it escalates into violence and threatens the loss of more life, we long for a word of wisdom to come that will help re-settle society and enable different factions to find more common ground.

With that in mind I was so impressed to hear such wise and proportionate words spoken by the captain of the French Football Team last week, Kylian Mbappe.  He issued a statement, on behalf of all the players, which ended:

…we understand what’s at the core of the anger, but violence does not solve anything, even less when it inevitably turns against those who express it…you are destroying your own properties, your neighbourhoods, your cities.  The time of violence must give way to that of mourning, dialogue, and reconstruction.

What helpful and inspiring words from the players of France’s national team, Les Bleus.  And, perhaps, it appropriately underlines the truth, which Jesus teaches in this week’s Gospel, that often wisdom is, indeed, found in unexpected places.

The nights are drawing in...!

For us northern hemisphere dwellers (and that’s a staggering 90% of the world’s population), we have now had the longest day of the year.  From now on we’ll be going round saying the nights are drawing in!

A minister friend of mine grew up in the far north of Scotland and remembers his father reading the newspaper at midnight.  That phenomenon is shared by many Scandinavian countries, along with Greenland and Alaska.

The tilt of the earth gives us the seasons, yet if you live near the equator the sun rises and sets the same time all year through!

Light is an important idea in the bible.  For a physicist it may be defined as the electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, but for a theologian it represents such concepts as goodness, a directed pathway through life and even happiness and joy.

One of the hymns that always seems to go well at AFC has the catchy refrain Walk, walk in the light. And, of course, we recall that creation command of Let there be light, and Jesus referring to himself as the Light of the World.

Life has a constant rhythm between light and darkness, whether that’s in the hours of the day and night or the passing of the seasons, and God can be found in both. 

So, during these long days of summer we are reminded of the blessings of God’s light, both physical and spiritual as we seek to be a people who walk in that light and are guided by it. 

Goodbye to our Link Missionaries

 

Our BMS Link Missionaries have now left their home in the port of Beira where they have been working alongside the Baptist Convention of Mozambique for the last ten years.

It's been a privilege for us at AFC to have had two visits from Liz, Sergio, Chloe and Joshua Vilela over recent years whilst they have been back in England on Home Assignment.  Sergio has told us about his work training pastors and youth leaders, and Liz has shared with us something of her involvement with pre-school playgroups.  On both occasions it was a delight to meet with such an enthusiastic and committed couple.

The family will first visit Brazil and catch up with Sergio’s folks before settling back in Britain where they will look for new opportunities of service.

The children seem to have loved their life in Mozambique and write about the fact they are leaving such nice schools and sunsets.  When asked what they are looking forward to, they replied: our new house, living near family and the cold!

Liz and Sergio described one of the leaving events they have attended, one that centred around their church family.  The service started at 10.00am and finished at 2.30pm having included five baptisms and two dedications of children.  The leaving lunch then commenced at 3.15pm.  It seems that the Vilela’s are leaving a vibrant Christian community, one in which they have given much and received much in return.

So, we thank God for Liz, Sergio and the family and for this splendid decade of committed service. May God bless and direct them into coming days

The Face of God

After a three-year closure, and a refit costing £35m, the National Portrait Gallery re-opens its doors next week.

London is fortunate in having so many free entrance galleries and this is one of my favourites.

It was originally set up in 1856 and its first portrait was an image of Shakespeare.  It had various homes before permanently moving to the site of St Martin’s Workhouse, next to the National Gallery and opposite Trafalgar Square in 1886.

In the First World War the portraits were taken down and sent to Wales, in the second they ended up at Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire.

So, I’m looking forward to visiting this newly redesigned space which, since 1969, has portraits of people still alive.

Now, to a confession – I once had my portrait done by one of those caricature artists who look for your best feature and emphasise it!  Mine was done on a visit to Florence and now hangs proudly in our downstairs loo!

I suppose much of our reading of scripture has the intention of trying to put together a ‘portrait’ of God in our mind’s eye. 

There are a number of bible verses that lament times when God ‘turns away his face’ away from us.  These are thought of as bleak times when we lack hope or direction.  Moses was told by God that he couldn’t look upon the face of the divine and live. Yet again, and again the psalmist encourages us to ‘seek His face’ continually. And, of course, for Christians there is the idea that we see God in a way we truly can understand and appreciate in ‘the face of Jesus Christ’. 

One of the loveliest of prayers in the bible, found in Numbers 6, has a line that we sometimes recite at really important times in our lives, a line that says: May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

So, next week as I take that first peep into the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery, I’ll give thanks that in the face of Jesus we see something of God’s character, and pray that Lord’s face will continue to shine upon our world, bringing us all his blessing of hope and love.

We stayed to the end!

 Yesterday it was my privilege to lead the monthly Free Church service in the Lady Chapel of St Albans Abbey. 

This church holds a special place in our memories because it was the first venue we visited with a baby.  Our son was just a few weeks old and one Friday afternoon we ventured out for his first outing and drove down to St Albans from Hitchin, stopping off at the Cathedral Refectory before visiting the duck pond in the park. Well, almost thirty years later I was back!

The Abbey is unusual in its ecumenical welcome in that it has regular Free Church and Roman Catholic services in the Lady Chapel as well as Free Church and R.C. chaplains. 

Yesterday I met up with a small group of ladies who were visiting the Abbey to look at the Creation Tapestry Exhibition, which is currently on display.  Huge tapestry boards, of the most vibrant colours, are dotted around the church.  These ladies, however, had slightly gone off route and found themselves amongst the congregation gathering for the 11 o’clock service.  The Free Church chaplain, a friend of mine, swung into action and asked them if they’d like to stay.  There was a discussion about how long the service would last and, the result was that they said they might sit on the back row, stay for a little while and then slip away.  My friend thought this quite a successful outcome!

So, we were both much encouraged as we walked down the aisle after the blessing, to see that this little group of lost ladies, whom we had ‘kidnapped’ from their tapestry tour, was still with us.  One by one they said goodbye to me with a smile on their faces saying ‘see, we made it to the end’!!

Well, it was a lovely moment and a real example of the way Cathedrals and Abbeys – which are often open seven days a week – can be real places of spiritual encounter, offering silence, beauty, or even the possibility of slipping into the back pew and staying to the end of the midweek service, a service you never intended going to but one that became a ‘God moment’ anyway!

Naming the Holy Spirit

The way we describe a person shapes the way we feel about them.  I often think the best of all accolades is to be called kind.

It’s the same with job descriptions; although I suspect these can sometimes be overblown so that maybe the less important the role, the grander the title.

I remember once being part of a planning group for a Seniors’ Church Lunch.  The co-ordinator looked over in my direction and asked what I might like to do as the meal was served.  Rather lamely I replied that I thought I might manage to serve the gravy!  Right, she said, enthusiastically, we’ll put you down as the Gravy Operative!  I was chuffed with my new title!

As we approach the season of Pentecost it’s worth reflecting on some of the titles we give the Holy Spirit.

For centuries this member of the Trinity bore the name Holy Ghost.  Yet that title, with its ambiguous phantom overtones just doesn’t work today.

Greek, the language of the New Testament, often gives us options when it comes to translation.  Two helpful ones come in John 14.26 as Jesus promises the gift of the Holy Spirit for his disciples; the words he uses can be taken either as Comforter or Helper.

Now, if the ministry of the Spirit is to enable us to have some sort of sense that God is alongside us, then both these descriptions are immensely helpful.

God’s comfort isn’t about taking life easy and putting our feet up, rather it’s the reassuring divine companionship we feel when we try to live with kindness and generosity of spirit.  It's always a comfort to have that sort of encouragement in our lives – it keeps us going. The Comforter also draws alongside us when we mess up, helping us to stand up again when we fall over.

And to describe the Spirit as Helper encourages us to face the future with hope, trusting in God’s strength to motivate us. 

Sometimes in church, when we make vows of commitment, we respond with the phrase with God’s help I will. That’s another way of putting our trust in God the Holy Spirit, The Helper, to walk beside us.

Pentecost is a season to celebrate our Alongside God, who is to us a Comforter and Helper.

Blog holiday next week