Godbothering

Yesterday I listened to one of the sessions at this year's, necessarily online, Hay-on-Wye Book Festival. The speaker was Rhidian Brook, promoting his recent book, Godbothering: Thoughts, 2000-2020 - As heard on 'Thought for the Day' on BBC Radio 4. It was a fascinating conversation and, having begun to read the book, it is full of useful thoughts and insights.

Thought for the Day is limited to less than three minutes, ideally two minutes forty five seconds, so, in around five hundred words, something useful, topical and faith-linked is to be said. I have to admit that I don't often hear Thought for the Day, and certainly don't ever remembering hearing Rhidian Brook, but I am enjoying the read and the insights. I also find it interesting that though these thoughts were invariably topical for the moment, there are a lot of enduring thoughts in there. I don't feel that I am simply reading reflections on events of up to two decades ago.

Just a couple of comments that have particularly struck me in the early 'thoughts' -

"Jesus encouraged us to be real in our communication with God, to share what’s on our hearts and minds, rather than get all pious about what we should be praying for. What’s the point in praying for world peace if we’re not able to pray for peace in our own lives, the debts we have, our failing relationships, our sick neighbour? Our prayers don’t have to be long and complex. ‘Oh God, Please help!’ is as real a prayer as any."

"The problem with the word saint is that it has lost something of its true meaning. These days a saint is either an archaic, aloof fanatic or an impossibly good person doing things people like you and me can never do. A saint is a member of an elite club that we are barred from entering, yet to be a saint is to be the very opposite of superior or elite. Nor is a saint someone who is impossibly good. A saint is really an ordinary person made exceptional by the transforming power of God."

Living with the Psalms

I recently finished John Bell’s Living with the Psalms, a much enjoyed, if at times challenging, read. It is not intended to be a comprehensive working through the psalms, but rather explores key themes which impact on our lives just as much as they did on that of the psalmist so long ago. Bell recognises that “the Psalms are the common property of a faith community keen to record the ways in which God and believers interact. They are not primarily pious texts for purely personal devotions.”

He picks out a few psalms for a more in-depth exploration, weaving that into his examining key and relevant themes which includes prolific quoting from the psalms, usually linking brief quotations from a range of different psalms.

I especially liked the three chapters in which he considered more carefully a specific psalm, these being 23, 88 and 137. I was most struck by his engagement with the difficult emotions expressed so strongly in Psalm 88. It is not a psalm to which most people, and I include myself, are likely to turn. Bell describes it as “one of the bleakest psalms in the collection” with “no trace of reassurance or respite.” However, as he points out – “what we need when we feel that nobody knows, nobody understand and nobody cares is not an instant answer, but a deep hearing” and he cites instances of when folk, in a moment of deep despair, have found that in this psalm.

I also found some of the broad points that he made to be of considerable interest, but in a way that got me thinking as to what that might say to me. So, for example, he notes that “almost half of the Psalms deal with life gone wrong.” He also makes the point that “of the 150 psalms, forty-three deal in one way or another with the destructive power of the tongue when it lies or spreads misinformation.”

He wants to emphasise the impact and breadth of the psalms – “the Psalms are not composed primarily of poems for personal devotion. Rather, rising out of concrete political and social realities, they have the ability to address the injustices in society at the same time as they proclaim the just rule of God.”

He also notes, surely significantly, the place that they must have had for Jesus – “I believe that Jesus’ spirituality was rooted in the Psalms. In their words he celebrated the culture and history of his people, acknowledged the magnificence of the created universe, learned from the experience of ancient poets and entered into communion with his co-religionists by sharing these well-loved texts.” He further comments – “I believe that in the Psalms Jesus would have found a vocabulary for prayer that would come alive for him in a host of situations, such as when confronted with malicious gossip, when appalled by the avarice of the wealthy, when looking for words of assurance and when gloriously aware of the joy of being among other believers.”

In many ways, the psalms are unique amongst the writing that forms the Bible. Bell certainly renewed my interest in the psalms and helped me to see a little more of what they can contribute to me. Perhaps not least, I was impressed by his expansive knowledge of the psalms which has led me to wonder whether I ought to spend a little more time with them.

Jesus as Politician

Some people say that the church should stay out of politics. Let's just say this: those people have not read their Bibles. The Bible is packed with concern for the oppressed and the marginalised. The Bible stresses the importance of justice and peace, the need to treat all people as equals in the great human family. Jesus demonstrated this in many ways in his life and ministry; and so should we. It's often not easy, but if we, as a church, have nothing to say on the issues that are really crucial to people's lives, then they will see us as irrelevant to their lives.

Jesus and what he says about priorities

Jesus said a lot about priorities, both in saying what needs to be said and in doing what needs to be done. In many ways this gives us the key to Jesus' message. As an example, Jesus' encounter with the rich young 'ruler' (Mark 10:17-22) is not essentially about money, but about priorities. The young man lacked one thing, but the essential thing he lacked was not poverty, but the ability to make God the first priority in his life.

Later in the same chapter Jesus discovers that the disciples need to learn the same lesson as they are arguing about who is the greatest. Jesus so often reverses our priorities. We want revenge on our enemies, and he tells us to love them. We want to avoid even the first mile, and he tells us to go the second. He tells us that many of the things that are important to us are actually quite unimportant - and vice versa. So, it goes on. He breaks rules, though only for the benefit of people in need. The key to it all is getting your priorities right. He spends more time talking about the Kingdom than anything.

God's priority is the poor, and we are challenged to have the same priority. God gives priority to the poor as a way of trying to ensure that all people will get a fair share of the goodies. Some people gain an advantage through their wealth, their work, or their family. Some people, the poor, only gain even a rightful place through God's love. The church has to continue this bias to the poor as part of its following in the way of Christ.

We need to work at our priorities and do what we can to make them as close as possible to God's priorities.

Jesus as a Champion

Jesus so often took the side of the downtrodden. This is important. Think of some of the people with whom we find him in conversation - Zacchaeus the hated tax-collector, the Samaritan woman at the well, blind Bartimaeus, and so on. None of these would be regarded as very suitable companions by respectable society. But aslso look how he champions the rights and position of the downtrodden. He refuses to condemn the woman caught in adultery. He forgives the sin of the paralysed man whose friends got him to Jesus through the roof. He points to a child as the example of how to follow God's way.

Isn't it true that there is a very real challenge for us here as to how to live? Whose rights are you championing? Who really matters to you? Who should?

Jesus as an Ambulance

Jesus did a lot of emergency work, and he also spoke about it. He healed people in all sorts of situations. He told the story of the 'good' Samaritan. Sometimes we think that the church should not be doing ambulance work. We should have moved on past that. Someone once said, and there is a certain validity in their implied criticism, 'The church should be an army on the march; instead it is a hospital full of wounded soldiers.' That may well be so. However, it is also the case that if you have been bearen up, you want an ambulance. You want a hospital. There are many examples of valuable ambulance work that the church has done, just as such things played a big part in the earthly ministry of Jesus.

I believe they need to continue to be a big part of the ministry of the Body of Christ here on earth today. So, in my early ministry in Scotland I was involved in work with unemployed people. In London, and again in Birmingham, I was involved in work with refugees. In Panama City I got involved with a community that had been displaced at the time of the US bombing that ousted Noriega and his regime.

Of course, we should not just bandage the injuries of the wounded and leave them to it. The 'good' Samaritan also took the wounded traveller to an inn, paid for his keep and promised to check on him at a later date. Thank God that many Christians respond when God calls them to do some important ambulance work!

Jesus as a Presence

The incarnation - to use the theological term - is central to all that Jesus is and did. Jesus came to be with us, to be alongside us, to be part of us. To speak of the incarnation is the theological way of saying that God became human. Jesus was present with the first disciples. Jesus was present with the crowds to whom he preached. Jesus was present with those whom he healed, those to whom he chatted, those whom he inspired, those whom he challenged. To be present with somebody is a very special thing. I can chat with you on the phone. I can write you a letter. I can send a message through a mutual friend. I can communicate through a whole range of social media. But (as we are discovering far more strongly in these strange days) none of it is the same, or as good as, being able to meet with you. Jesus is present with us - and encourages us to do all we can (these days in as creative and innovative ways as possible) to be present with those who need the good news, just as he was in his day.

"I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b)

"And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

The Jesus We Follow

Who are we in Christ? It's a big question, well worth pondering. We, who try to follow Jesus, have good reason for doing so, but it is worth reflecting on what kind of person it is that we are trying to follow. What are some of the things he did? How might we copy them? How close to, or far away from, the things for which he stood are we? As his disciples, surely we want to follow his example.

What are the characteristics of Jesus? What are the typical events at which he was present? What are the ways in which he provoked action and reaction? Of course, there are countless ways in which we can approach this subject. One good one would be to read a gospel, any gospel, and we might keep that in mind. For this week, I want to take six quick looks, one on each of the next six days, at things we might say about what Jesus did, and ho we, today, can take up the call to follow his example, and so be his Body, here on earth.

Vision and Action

I have just finished Tom Wright's For All God's Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church. I enjoyed what Wright says about worship, and worshipping as we should, but also inspired, and challenged, by what he goes on to say about the church's calling. We need vision; but we also need action, and the two need to interact and balance each other. "Vision without action would indeed be escapism; action without vision is blundering folly. We have a fair amount of both in the church and the world at the moment,"

It all too easy to put too much emphasis on one, and it might be either, with the results that Wright identifies.

He also reminds us, and this is another important that God uses us as we are. The Bible is full of stories of reluctant responders, and we may well be in that category, but it doesn't mean that we are not called - "That’s the great joke of the gospel. The minute you think you’re good enough for God, God says, ‘I’m not interested in people who are good enough for me.’ And the minute you think you’re too bad for God, God says, ‘It’s you I’ve come for.’"

As Wright also says: "The ground is level at the foot of the cross; the only people who are excluded from the party are those who exclude themselves, by supposing they don’t need the cross, don’t need God’s forgiveness, don’t need the free love of Jesus, in the first place."