Saturday 28 January 2017

Jesus the Teacher

I'm reading an extraordinary book at the moment: Fear, by the explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Really, that man has no right to be alive, given the stories he tells of his life! Even at school (Eton) he was an adventurer and risk-taker, and so he has continued. Makes me realise how sheltered my life has been. Interestingly, even after so many hair-raising adventures he remains afraid of heights and...of spiders! The book explores the psychology of fear, and how to overcome it. It recounts many adventures of his own, but also stories of other people in history or on the contemporary scene who have known fear and triumphed.

One of the stories he tells is of one Fredrick Stanley Arnot, known as 'the little (David) Livingstone'. In the late 19th and early 20th century he was one of that band of intrepid missionaries who went to the African interior, both to explore and to evangelise. His fellow Scot, Livingstone, had been a neighbour and hero of his, and he determined to follow his example. He gained the Gold Medal of  the Royal Geographical Society for his discovery of the true source of the Zambezi River - some miles from where Livingstone believed it to be.

You can read the facts at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Stanley_Arnot, but this doesn't really do justice to the nature of his encounters with African tribesmen. In order to gain the trust of tribal kings, he had to witness the most terrible acts of savagery and brutality, no doubt fearing for his own life. Yet he went on to lead a band of missionaries who established churches, schools and clinics in what we now know as Congo, Angola and Zambia.

We talk a lot about mission these days, but when you read stories of men such as Arnot, you realise the true cost.

Tomorrow, our four churches come together at Christ Church.  The theme is 'Jesus the Teacher', and we look at the parable of the Sower. In so doing, we reflect on the Kingdom of God and what we discover about it from this and other parables. At the service, we will take the opportunity to encourage everyone to take their part in the mission of God. We may not be called to the same acts of heroism as men like Arnot, but it is the same mission. And there is a cost. In particular, with annual meetings on the horizon, we need to remind everyone that governance is a vital part of mission if anything is going to last. The Sower would have had to purchase or otherwise obtain his seed before he could scatter it! The local church needs to manage well its resources for the work of the Kingdom.

Saturday 21 January 2017

Good News!

Yesterday, Les and I completed our 5th Wainwright. Ok, so it was only a baby one - Ling Fell - but still a sense of achievement, and some glorious views from the top on a clear day.

Tomorrow, we take a break from Brian McLaren's book, to conform to the readings the rest of our Mission Community are using, from the Common Lectionary. The Gospel reading actually follows on from last week's very well. From Luke's account of Jesus's encounter in the synagogue at Nazareth, Matthew takes up the story with his move north to Capernaum, and Peter's home.  Here, Jesus goes walkabout, announcing the Kingdom, calling people to repentance, teaching in the synagogues, preaching and healing. Along the way he collects his first disciples.

We see Jesus now doing what he said he had come for in his Manifesto last week.

'Mission' could be described as outside-inside-out.  God's kingdom breaks in 'from above', leading to an inward transformation, which in turn drives the disciples outwards to do what Jesus did - fishing for people. The Good News is just too good to keep to ourselves! And it is demonstrated in practical ways, where darkness is turned to light - fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy about Galilee. Incidentally, I like the Message translation of disease in Matthew 4.23 - the bad effects of their bad lives.

Tomorrow is a special day for the 14 churches of our proposed Mission Community, as we exchange ministries. A preacher, lesson-reader and pray-er go from their own church to another, both to experience a different kind of worship and to offer a different kind of ministry. The object (mainly) to strengthen the bonds of fellowship between us.

Saturday 14 January 2017

Join the Adventure!

It's been a good week, with two particular highlights. On Thursday, our 'Hub Team' (i.e. leadership team for our 4 churches) had a day away together, just catching up on where each church is at and taking time out for prayer. Then today, we had another of our 'Worship4Today' seminars, which I normally lead with a colleague but today was led by one of the authors, Helen Bent - an excellent musician and teacher. The session took us on a journey through the history of church music, and ended with us singing together a variety of music from Anglican chant to one of the latest worship songs. There was a golden thread throughout which joined us with those godly men and women who have gone before us, now offering their worship in music on a farther shore.

I think that tomorrow is especially significant in our preaching series. Having traced the story of God's salvation through the Old Testament to the birth and baptism of Jesus, we arrive at the crucial word 'Today'.  Jesus has gone home to Nazareth (Luke 4.16-30), takes the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and reads the first few verses of chapter 61. Then he begins, 'Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' Not only are the hearers indignant that this carpenter's son is apparently claiming to be Messiah, but his mandate (the Nazareth Manifesto) makes clear he is a compassionate healer and merciful redeemer, not a political activist. He brings good news to the poor, release to captives, sight to the blind, release for the oppressed. In other words, people not like those likely to be found in synagogues! Not surprisingly, Jesus is driven out but escapes (this time) with his life. As John would put it, his time has not yet come.

It makes you wonder what is the mandate of the followers of Jesus today. Are we also wanting to recruit Jesus to our cause, or are we with him? As Abraham Lincoln put it, My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side. I am currently reading a book called Dirty Glory, by Pete Greig, who founded the 24/7 prayer movement some years ago. Some of it makes your hair stand on end as, in response to prayer, present-day disciples of Jesus have found themselves carrying out precisely the same manifesto as Jesus in the most unlikely places from clubbers in Ibiza to pimps and prostitutes in Mexico.

Commenting on this passage from Luke, Pete Greig says The call to justice and mercy is the inevitable consequence of a call to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And he quotes the Emperor Julian who complained bitterly in 362 about Christians' care for the neediest in society: Those impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also...Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity.

To join the Adventure of Jesus is not just about personal salvation; it is also about the salvation of the world. God's ultimate purpose.

Saturday 7 January 2017

Jesus Coming of Age

Already we are a week into 2017. It will be a year of many changes and challenges, and I am excited at all that God is doing among us here.  We have issued a pastoral letter to every member of our four churches, in which we have emphasised the word 'together'. Using the analogy of fell walking, we have likened our churches' journey to that of an organised hike or ramble as distinct from a number of individuals all following different routes.  We don't all have to be moving at the same pace, but we do need to be going in the same direction!

Over the next few months, we hope that the 'conversations' conducted in each church will start to result in some concrete actions, leading us all deeper into fellowship with God and each other, and leading many others to turn to God perhaps for the first time.  I am particularly concerned that we devote ourselves to prayer. I was struck yesterday by Paul's mention of Epaphras, who is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured (Col 4.12)  May we learn to wrestle in prayer, and long to see that particular request fulfilled in each other and many more!

I guess the Eastern mystics whom we remember at this time of year provide a good analogy. We don't know how many 'wise men' there were, but together they followed a star (their vision) which led them to worship. Ultimately, all our endeavours as Christians and churches should lead us to bow the kneel before the One who is Lord of all.

Tomorrow's readings in our series enable us to reflect on Jesus' baptism, which launched him on his public ministry. In a sense, it was his 'coming of age.' The point about this is that he had not yet begun his work, and yet his Father was 'well pleased with him'. McLaren comments, ...in that relationship there was an invitation to us all, because Jesus taught that all of us could enter into that warm and secure parent-child relationship with God (p110).  The trouble is that our default seems to be that somehow we have to earn God's love and approval. Yet, our best prayer and work for God proceeds from that relationship, and deepens it, rather than being a condition of it.