The beginning and the end
I am reading a book by a cognitive neuroscientist who believes that what we see is not reality but just an interface, like icons on a computer screen, that represent some underlying reality forever hidden from us. From that perception, the question Pontius Pilate asks Jesus in St John’s gospel seems a fair one: what is truth? That is a question many people would ask today, if we start to talk about the truth of God.
What is your perception of God? What is mine? What is the truth about God? Pilate had difficulty in understanding how the Jesus before him could be both a poor, rejected Jewish preacher and also a king. Perhaps we have that same difficulty with the idea of God being above us but also with us? In the reading from the Old Testament, we hear how the prophet Daniel’s heavenly vision was of one that was ancient of days, a term referring to the most primary source of creation. At the very end of the Bible, we hear from the book of Revelation the Lord God saying: I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. This is a picture of an eternal God who is above and beyond all creation, a transcendent God. But, as Pilate no doubt felt, this is a very different matter to a man, like Jesus, that we can meet and have a conversation with. It is the apparent paradox at the heart of our Christian faith; a God who is involved in the creation, sustaining and end of the universe, but who also lived among us and is available to us in prayer. The doctrine of the Trinity is our attempt to explain this. So, as we celebrate this festival of Christ the King, we recall that he is King in a way that Pilate could never have understood and that we still struggle to understand. King of all that ever has and ever will exist, above all but also in all, through all and with all. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Steve Chandler - Reader God our help and hope
It seems too easy to ‘buy stuff’ these days with online shopping covering everything, from the smallest items to the ‘designer brands’ coveted by many. Sometimes it seems like there is more loyalty to those shops and brand names than there is to God; The God of creation, the God we love, and know we can trust.
In Psalm 16 we hear a Psalm of David which centres on trusting God and finding joy in his presence. In the message translation of the Bible I have found a really interesting way of describing that loyalty which David talks about in verse 4: ‘Don’t just go shopping for a god, Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names, my choice is you, GOD first and only.’ Whilst looking through a book of WW1 poetry, written by those serving in the forces at the time, for something I might use in the remembrance service, it struck me that many of the poems mentioned God and faith in him in some way or another. There was loyalty and trust, and remarkably, given the circumstances they found themselves in, a sense of joy in knowing and loving Jesus. As I watch the news and see the many problems in our world today I can’t help but think that the words David used in the Old Testament are just as true for us today – Do we ever learn? We won’t find happiness or refuge in being loyal to the wrong things. Is this a time for ‘turning back to God’ – the meaning of repentance- To get back to that loyalty and trust in God instead of thinking that the answers lie elsewhere..... Many of us are likely to be singing the words written by Isaac Watts in the well known hymn for Remembrance Sunday ‘O God our help in ages past’ this weekend and the words give that same sentiment. Despite everything, God is ‘our hope for years to come’ and in the person of Jesus he shows us how he is a ‘shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home.’ Sherri - Reader No COPping out?
“You know what you must do, so now go and do it!” This in a nutshell might be the message we want our world leaders to hear and act on, even though in view of the complexity of the issues we may fear less than radical decisiveness and solutions from Glasgow as we wait in the “last chance saloon.” It is a human tendency to seek to hide from, avoid and find reasons (excuses?) for kicking the can down the road instead of facing up to tough action or disagreeable tasks. In the Scriptures, we see this exemplified very early on when Adam and Eve have rebelled against God’s very specific instructions for harmonious living in their delightful environment and instead go and skulk in the undergrowth when they hear God coming (Gen. 3.9). But God comes calling (“where are you?”) not to check up and wag the finger so much as out of concern for the pinnacle of his creation with whom he seeks to work in mature, responsible and fruitful relationship.
In the story of Jonah (OT lesson for Sunday) we see another typical response when Jonah senses he is being called to a task he dreads. Earlier in the story he thinks distance will solve the problem and escape from God’s sphere of influence. He buys a sea ticket to Tarshish, about as remote as you could get in the ancient world. He quickly learns the hard way that God is bigger than his image of him, and that God is not going to let go. So Jonah, chastened by his appalling near-death experience, does what he was originally called to do...and hey presto! The people of Nineveh listen and respond and change their behaviour and way of life and so avoid the disaster God (via Jonah) tells them is coming otherwise. This is a good story to point us to the optimum response when we sense God calling: a listening, thoughtful, active response to that call. All of us are called by God, and although we frequently do the equivalent of skulking in the undergrowth or buying a ticket to Tarshish, God is kind and persistent. Let us pray for strength to now go and do and live faithfully. David Frith, Reader Following the Rules
Over the past 18 months, we have had to adapt and adjust to lots of rule and law changes to help steer us through the Covid-19 pandemic. We have gone from total lockdown, to tiers, to red, amber, and green. We’ve gone from meeting no one outside our household, to having bubbles, to six in a garden, to no restrictions as to who we can see. To mask or not to mask? And are we now heading to “Plan B”? It’s all quite confusing to keep up. We want to do what we can for our neighbours, hoping the regulations are based on the best medical evidence in this changing situation.
In our reading from Mark today, Jesus is asked by the teachers which are the most important laws. It was supposed to be a trick question as by this time there were hundreds of laws Jews had to abide by. Some had categorised them into major and minor laws, while others felt all the laws to be important. Jesus distilled them into two succinct commandments: “Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbour as yourself”. These commandments are so fundamental to our faith, and it is strange to think the teachers of the law were expecting any other answer! Jesus cuts through the complexity, to get to the heart of how we should live. But is it that simple? Of course not. We are imperfect beings, who get things wrong all the time. Like a moth to the flame, we are drawn to the next flashy thing which takes our attention away from God. We struggle to love our neighbour who says/does/believes differently to us. We can’t do this alone. We need Jesus’ forgiveness and encouragement to live as he wants us to. Our journey of faith is to strive to live as the commandments instruct us, and to pick ourselves up and to try and try again when we inevitably fail. Let’s hope we have some clarity over the Covid rules so we can continue to protect our neighbour. Pam Curtis – Informal Worship Group Leader and servant
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! I have written a number of these reflections on the stages of our vacancy and selecting a new priest for our Benefice; now it is complete. We welcomed the Revd. Steve Godsell and his wife Debbie at a wonderful, joyful, service last Sunday when Steve was licensed by Bishop Robert and installed by Archdeacon Hilary. You will read more about Steve’s background elsewhere, but I want to reflect now on the significance of the priestly leadership we now have, in relation to the reading from Hebrews.
I suggest you start reading from chapter 7, verse 17: Thou are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. The significance of Melchizedek is that this was something new, untainted by the past (see also Genesis 14 and Psalm 110). The reading goes on to make clear that Jesus became the true high priest, unstained and sinless, replacing forever the fallible Jewish high priests. Today, our priests in the Christian church are ordained by bishops, in in a line of succession from St Peter, who was appointed as head of his Church by Christ himself. So, although Revd. Steve would probably be the first to admit he is not infallible, he is our priest, appointed to represent Christ among us. He is a new beginning for us. I was led to think about all this by some conversations I had after the service. I knew one of Steve’s previous parishioners, who told me she was a bit overwhelmed by the Anglican clerical hierarchy on display in the service. I was also asked if our coloured hoods show our seniority (they don’t). I realized that we need to be careful here. Our priest represents Christ among us, as head of his Church, but don’t expect him to do everything! As Archdeacon Hilary pointed out, even Christ sent 70 people to do his work. Hierarchy is not the issue, but a spirit of service is. We are all ministers of the Word, but we all have different jobs, and we are all servants of the servants of God. Steve Chandler - Reader Our new Priest-in-Charge
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