Do Not be Afraid

 

Earlier this week I attended a carol service at All Hallows by The Tower of London.  It was a lovely occasion, and I went at the kind invitation of a church member.  It was put on by three of the City Guilds, one of which she is a member.  I was thrilled because The Company of Watermen and Lightermen were present and in recent months we’ve discovered that my 8x grandfather was a waterman on the Thames, based at Southwark, and my 7x grandfather a lighterman.

During the service I listened to the traditional Christmas readings and was struck afresh by a phrase describing Herod as he heard from the Wise Men of the birth of Jesus that he was ‘sore afraid’!  Such a contrast to the message of the angels to the shepherds to ‘be not afraid’.

I wonder why we so often live in fear?

It often comes our way when sense we are losing control, influence, or power.  Our very identity seems to float away from us when, say: our children start making their own decisions, we retire, our bodies grow older, or we find ourselves in a pandemic. 

I suspect we are all prone, sometimes with good reason, not only to be afraid of the ‘worst case scenario’, but actually to live it, even though it hasn’t arrived.

Maybe an antidote to fear is a greater trust in the God of Surprises. 

Perhaps the worst case will come our way, yet even in extremis we can find ourselves wonderfully, and comfortingly, surprised by the help, strength and new possibilities that come our way at the bleakest of moments.

The God of Surprises comes to us in many a guise and often through people.  I especially love that hymn line, ‘I will hold the Christ-light for you, in the night-time of your fear’, hinting that friends, family and neighbours might be God's gift to us in our darkest moments. 

So, as this is the last blog of 2021, may I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as we remember, with faith in our hearts, that ancient message of the Bethlehem angels, ‘Do not be afraid’.

Differentness into Oneness

 

There seems to be two, polarised, reactions when encountering ‘otherness’.  For the eager traveller, or the cook who is constantly searching for new flavours, ‘otherness’ is a joy.  Yet for those who feel confused or undermined by differences in race, colour, language, and culture, ‘otherness’ becomes a threat.  After all, it’s the easiest thing in the world to view mine as the ‘standard’ context or the ‘normal’ way of being.

Last Saturday, whilst on a family history detective walk, we came across this school mural in Paddington.  We both, it seems, have past relatives who lived near there, next to Little Venice with its wonderful canals and waterways.  We had lunch outside the church at which my relatives got married one day in 1904, and Rachel’s the next.  There they are, one after the other, in the marriage register.  But…I digress!

Whilst exploring we stumbled upon this picture which greets primary school children in Paddington every day.  A picture displaying a diverse, multi-ethnic group of youngsters and one that probably reflects the school’s demographic.  This is a picture, and I suspect this is also a school, that celebrates ‘different-ness’ even as it values ‘common-ness’.  Because, surely, one can grow into the other.

I remember one evening at home, during my teenage years, having dinner around the family table.  I mentioned that I’d run into a friend of my parents whilst at the dentist.  When asked if we’d had a conversation I replied, with more than a tad of youthful arrogance, that we hadn’t talked much because it was clear we had different interests.  Well, my father, quite rightly, couldn’t let that pass and said that, maybe if I’d been more willing to have a chat, I might have discovered we had more in common that I realised.  It was a good and important lesson.  I wasn’t grateful for it at the time, but my father’s words mysteriously seem to have got wiser, as I have grown older!!

‘Different-ness’ may be the starting place and is regularly worth celebrating, yet scratch below the surface, listen, talk, explore stories together, and what we end up valuing is the ‘commonality’ that truly binds us together.

In the Christmas story which beckons us forward during these December days, both the shepherds and the Wise Men represent ‘different-ness’.  Yet, at the manger, kneeling before the Love that holds the universe together, we see a common humanity which, thankfully, draws us all in.

‘Different-ness’ leading to ‘Common-ness’.  A precious and necessary process in life and found in the story of that first Christmas.

Radio Christmas Talk

Radio Christmas studio this morning

For me, one of the joys of currently living with fewer restrictions is the almost weekly opportunity, on my day off, of going into London and attending Great Sacred Music at St Martin in the Fields.  It’s a thirty-five minute sequence of hymns and anthems, sung by St Martins Voices, with introductions and reflections offered in between each one from The Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of this world famous church on the edge of Trafalgar Square.  It’s a precious well-spring and I’m immensely grateful for it.

Last week I had a little time to spare before Great Sacred Music began so I spent it in the National Gallery, turning left at the top of the stairs and heading to the Medieval section, full of church art.  These particular galleries contain numerous paintings, often from Italian churches, which have remained as inspiringly vibrant and colourful as when painted centuries ago.

Apart from the beauty of these images the thing that struck me most was their date.  Many came from the 14^th century.  This wasn’t an idyllic age, but one dominated by bubonic plaque, the Black Death.   I’m amazed that in a day and age when fear and anxiety hung heavy in the air, that artists could lift their horizons and paint with such hope.  It’s as if, in the face of death, they choose deliberately and purposefully to believe in hope.  I came away from the gallery thankful not simply for these stunning paintings but also for those who painted them with such insight.

A year ago yesterday the first vaccine was approved here in the UK.  In the midst of our despair came a great moment of hope and a different day began to dawn. 

Indeed, throughout recent months we have been surrounded by hope, expressed through the wonders of science, the provision of government, the companionship of people and the deep security which faith in God can bring.

In these early days of Advent, even with a dusting of snow over Amersham yesterday, we are invited once more, whatever the backdrop of our lives, to place our trust anew in the One who came as light and hope for our world.  For generations people of faith have learnt that no matter what our challenges, be it war or plague, God walks alongside us even on the bleakest of days and holds us.  We stand on the shoulders of giants, those who have gone before and kept trusting, kept believing and kept hoping.  Let’s not drop the baton now but once again place our hope in the One who once said: I am with you till the end of the age.

May God’s hope fill our lives, today and always.

Christian Aid

 

Our local Christian Aid Action Group has sent us this link as we plan out gift giving this Advent:

https://giving.give-star.com/online/christian-aid/amersham-and-chesham-bois-ca-group-christmas-2021-no-more-impossible-choices

Open for Nominations

 

AFC Church Meeting 21.11.21

In the early 1980’s I was elected, in my early 20’s, as Treasurer of Locks Heath Free Church, Southampton and it was the quickest election I’ve experienced in church life.

Locks Heath was a new church, combining an existing URC congregation and newly formed Baptist one, under the leadership of a minister (Home Mission funded) who had left Chorleywood Free Church to serve alongside us in Southampton.

So, one summer’s evening we all gathered in the Manse sitting room (as there weren’t too many of us at that time) to elect a Church Secretary and Treasurer.  As I worked for the Midland Bank, and people mistakenly thought I knew a thing or two about maths and money, the treasurer’s job came my way; all within ten minutes of it being declared vacant!

Fortunately I didn’t hold it very long, as soon afterwards a Bank Manager joined the new church and I was pushed in another direction, that of training for ordination.

All churches are dependent on the good people who fill roles such as secretary and treasurer.  It’s no good just having a congregation as churches are required, by law, to have ‘office holders’ too.  As a Free Church we may be independent of Bishops, but not of The Charity Commission!

So, as Janet comes to the end of seven years of exemplary service as our secretary, and Bob embarks upon his seventh and final year as treasurer, we are now actively looking for their replacements.

On Sunday, at our Church Meeting, we accepted the job description for the new Secretary or Joint-Secretaries.  So, after lots of thought and meetings, we have a document.  All we need now is a person or people to fill the role!

A few years ago The Revd Dr Nigel Wright, then Principal of my old theological college in South London, Spurgeon’s, wrote a book about church leadership.  He gave a scholarly introduction about the names we give leaders, such as: elders, deacons, ministers, pastors, priests, moderators, bishops.

He concluded that, in the end the important thing was never what you called the ‘office’ but WHO filled it.

I think he has a point.

 So, as a congregation we are praying and planning for the future, hoping that someone, or more than one, will hear God’s call and respond, ‘Here I am Lord’.

We are open for nominations!

A Vulnerable God?

 

The liturgical Church Year (the Year of Mark) comes to an end this Sunday with the Feast of Christ the King; so, many churches will be singing Crown Him with Many Crowns.

‘Christ the King’ came about just before World War Two when the Pope, conscious of the growing totalitarian regimes then flourishing in Europe, instituted a Sunday when Christians would do well to think of God as a different sort of king; one who is just.

Of course, it’s always a bit of a ‘fool’s errand’ attempting to describe God in human terms at all.  The Jewish Scriptures were surely wise invoking that divine title of I am who I am.

On Wednesday this week I had the joy of leading a small evening study group at church.  In one of the side rooms, as we were serenaded by a Community Choir giving it their all in The Sanctuary across the corridor, we looked at the passage from Mark’s gospel where James and John request a seat at the top table in heaven.  Themes of ‘power’ and ‘control ‘were before us as all this was challenged by Jesus who declares I did not come to be served but to serve and give my life…

If we believe Jesus shows us the character of God, then surely ‘service’ is a core component of that character.

I love the parable story often called The Lost Son which could easily be labelled The Loving Father. This is the picture of a parent who is vulnerable in their longing and their waiting.  A parent whose love is never manipulative.  When the Prodigal does appear on the horizon this parent runs to greet him with open arms.

Over recent weeks we have begun to appreciate that our own Queen is becoming more vulnerable.  She has served us with exemplary faithfulness and I suspect our love and respect for her is not diminished as she now enters into years that are calmer and less busy.

Kingship obviously has elements of power intrinsic to it, yet the bible also describes God, seen through the prism of Jesus, in terms of loving, even vulnerable, service.

Graham Kendrick was, I think, much inspired when he wrote of the Lord Jesus Christ: Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered.

The Blessings of Technology

 

I took this photo of the telly at the Manse as I tuned in to a recording on YouTube of last Sunday’s service from AFC.  I think it’s wonderful that for well over a year now every Sunday service at AFC has been made available on the internet by about mid-afternoon on the same day.  It’s our way of trying to enable those who do not yet feel able to return to ‘in Person’ worship to still feel part of us.

Technology really has been a blessing over recent months and, as someone who is rather ‘technologically challenged’, I’m grateful for it.

Last evening I took part in the Zoom presentation sponsored by COTHA looking at Climate Change and I was thrilled to hear that last year we in Britain produced more power from ‘renewables’ than from carbon based production.  This progress has been as swift as it is welcome in being part of the answer to the combating the disastrous warming of our planet, and technology has made it possible.

And then at lunchtime today we concluded two days of Convocation for The Order for Baptist Ministry, of which I’m a member (see photo opposite).  Alas we were unable to meet in person but, once again by the wonders of technology, we gathered over Zoom and enjoyed reflection, fellowship and challenge together.

Our God is not only the great creator behind the beautiful falling autumn leaves but also the microchips that drive our phones, computers and factory equipment.  And obviously God approves of technology – after all His Son must have been good with tools in that carpenter’s workshop!