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