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.

Tinker...Preacher...Author

 

Recently I’ve enjoyed becoming reacquainted with Pilgrim’s Progress in preparation for a talk I’m giving this coming Tuesday at LunchBreak.

Amersham is just on the edge of John Bunyan country as we back on to Bedfordshire.  Indeed, the Delectable Mountains in the book are thought to be based on the Chiltern Hills!

The 1600’s were years of religious turmoil in Britain, and it was all tied up with the country becoming a brief Republic under Cromwell and then resorting back to Monarchy under Charles II.  Throughout this period the Puritans were either guiding events or suffering from them.

Bunyan, the Tinker Preacher, was a Puritan Christian who was arrested because he preached outside the jurisdiction of the Church of England.  For that he was imprisoned in Bedford Goal for twelve years.

Yet, and I find this wonderfully ironic, it was during these years that he found a voice that would turn out to be greater than any sermon he could ever have given, because it was whilst in prison that he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, published in 1678.

Today no one remembers the name of the priest who reported his illegal preaching, or the judge who sentenced him.  Yet Bunyan’s magnum opus has never been out of print and is today translated into 200 languages.

It’s often strange how things work out; and I’d say that even when he lost his freedom John Bunyan found a different sort of voice and used it for God!

Given a voice

Over the last couple of days, either side of the Channel, we have been commemorating the bravery and sacrifice of thousands of young soldiers during the D Day campaign of June 1944. Although world leaders have attended and made speeches it’s the voices of the survivors, or the written words of those who took part, that have meant so much. 

Voices from the past are precious and we are richer for hearing them.

There can be no doubt that those who have been blessed with life after D Day are full of gratitude for these years and immensely conscious of their mates for whom such a future was so cruelly denied because of the tragedy of war.

Whilst watching some of the coverage my mind went back to a conversation I once had with a much respected member of AFC, a lady who died a fortnight ago.  She lived with such open-hearted principles and rose to become a Head Teacher.  On one occasion when we ate together at a Tuesday LunchBreak, she told me how, in her young adult years, she had gone over to Europe every summer on camps specifically designed to rebuild a fractured continent, both emotionally and physically.  She spoke with such conviction of the place those camps still had in her heart.  Not only had she enjoyed being able to help with the physical rebuilding of Europe, she had also relished the opportunity to work alongside young people her own age from every country – on either side – who were now building friendships across the divide and establishing a different future.

This week I give thanks for all who gave their lives for our freedom and for all who have worked so hard to make the most of these years of freedom since 1945. This, so called, Silent Generation, have been given a voice this week, and we are profoundly grateful for their words.