Lent and Easter

The onset of spring, lambs, chicks, chocolate eggs, flowers, hot cross buns …. or a crown of thorns, hammer and nails, a splintering cross, a stab in the side, a rolled away stone, a time of confusion …. I sometimes wonder as to what are the most prominent Lent and Easter images, even for those of us in the church. Christmas gets the more prominent press and popular acclaim, yet there too, many have lost the reason for the celebration; but the Good Friday and Easter Day message is at the very centre of our faith. How can we make sure that it is given that place? I have been reading Stephen Cottrell’s little book “Godforsaken”, sub-titled, “The Cross – The Greatest Hope of All”. In so many ways, the sub-title says it all, though the question remains as to whether that is how we really see it. As Cottrell comments, “more words have been written about this death than any other. This death, so Christians believe, is no mere execution, but the unfolding of God’s purposes.” Cottrell also says, “amazingly, and despite its horrors, we worship at the cross. At the cross we see God’s love and the beauty and depths of God’s love in painful detail.” We are people of hope. As I often like to say, we are ‘Easter People’. However, it is useful to note Cottrell’s reminder that, “before we can get to the resurrection, we must stand at the cross.” Standing at the cross is a good reminder of the importance of discipleship. We can, and should, celebrate the sheer wonder of God’s love, but we should also remember that God calls us to be the Body of Christ in the world in which we live. We are to be as the hands, feet, mouth, ears of Christ – and we do that by offering God’s love to those whom we encounter in practical ways. This does not need to be a matter of doing big things all the time. The little things are important and can combine to transform the society in which we live. I wonder what difference we might make if we focussed a little more on hope, if we tried a little harder to respond to others in the kind of way that we can imagine that Jesus did when he was here on earth. I wonder what Jesus wants to ask of us in being his disciples. One approach that can help our reflection on such matters is to imagine ourselves into some of the stories. What would it have been like to be one of the disciples at that upper room meal? What would it have been like to be in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested? What would it have been like to be part of the crowd asked by Pilate what to do? To be in the courtyard noticing Peter getting warm? To be out fishing and seeing Jesus, only you didn’t know it was him, on the beach? To be walking that road to Emmaus? All those things happen in their own way today. What do we do with the situations in which we find ourselves, the circumstances in which God places us? May the God of hope inspire, challenge and encourage you in the discipleship to which you are called!

Spiritual and Faith Development

The National Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church expresses its vision through a series of aspirations. These are not fixed in stone, but form a moving (and capable of being updated) vision statement. I am exploring these in turn in a series of brief articles. This piece reflects on the eighth aspiration which focusses on our commitment to spiritual and faith DEVELOPMENT. The Scottish College (Congregational and United Reformed) offers a dynamic programme for spiritual and faith DEVELOPMENT for anyone wishing to explore Christianity or particular callings in the life of the Church. URC YOUTH and URC CHILDREN are growing youth and children’s organisations within the United Reformed Church offering opportunities for learning and friendship amongst youth and children. The Synod is committed to encouraging people of all ages in faith development in all sorts of ways. This includes looking for opportunities for good intergenerational engagement, recognising that we are all part of the one family of God. We resist any suggestion that children and young people’s importance lies in their being tomorrow’s church. The important thing for the moment is that they are part of today’s church. Doing things together, across the generations, is highly valuable. However, we also recognise that there are times to engage in ways that are focussed on particular groups, such as children, young people, women, men, seniors and others. Discipleship is not limited to particular age groups. We value what everyone can offer, and leadership can be sourced from different age groups. I have valued the thoughts of Max De Pree, an American businessman who lived from 1924 to 2017. His book Leadership Jazz (1992) offer three insights that I have found helpful. First, he says: “The best leaders, like the best music, inspire us to see new possibilities.” I want to expand that to recognise that anyone can do that and to suggest that we should be looking to develop helpful models of discipleship from people of all ages. De Pree also says, “Expectations can really help people reach their potential.” I am reminded of Barnabas’ ministry of encouragement and Jesus’ call is simply that we all do what we can. My third De Pree quote is that “People who never fail have not been trying hard enough.” I find that surprisingly encouraging. I might put it another way and suggest that Jesus does not call us to be successful, nice though that may be when it happens, but to be faithful. For me, another word for development (in this context) is discipleship and finding ways of walking Jesus’ way is at the heart of what we do and are. There are many ways in which we can describe this, but I want to note the definition that Sam Wells offers in his book “Incarnational Ministry: Being with the church” (2017) – “Discipleship is first of all one’s relationship with God – a daily walk of grace, wonder, intimacy, sadness at failure, repentance, renewal, forgiveness, longing, gratitude, and companionship.” I really like that mix. It provides a great starting point from which we can look to be God’s people. Being God’s people is described, as well as anywhere, in Acts 2:47 - “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Another way of describing discipleship is to talk about developing holy habits, and I have used various ways of listing what those might be. One list I like suggests five. The first is to bless. Bless somebody by doing something good for them. The second is to eat. That is about hospitality. The third is to listen, to God and to others. The fourth is to learn, whether from the Bible, or other spiritual sources. The fifth is to be sent. Where does God want us to go now? Whether it is that list or some other, developing a few holy habits can really make a difference.

Julian of Norwich

Janina Ramirez, in her little book “Julian of Norwich” offers an excellent introduction to the fascinating figure of Julian of Norwich. Julian was so much ahead of her time in so many ways, offering challenging but significant insights as to how she experienced her relationship with God. As Ramirez points out: “Julian lived through turbulent times, but her work moves beyond the politics and issues that surrounded her, in search of more eternal truths.” They were certainly challenging times – “Julian lived through the aftermath one of the most extraordinary moments in human history – the Black Death, 1348–9. The effect on the population of England was devastating, with areas of the country unable to recover to pre-plague numbers for many centuries. East Anglia was the county worst hit by the Black Death, because of the constant stream of trading ships, bringing with them infected rats and people. It is estimated that in Norwich 7,000 of the 12,000 inhabitants died.” However, Julian is a person of strong faith, but also one who is thoughtful about her understanding of God. Of particular interest is her understanding of the feminine aspects in the nature of God. As Ramirez comments: “she does not simply introduce the idea of a feminine aspect to God to create emotional impact, as earlier writers do. To her, God is equally male and female: ‘As truly as God is our father, so truly is God our mother.’” She adds: “Julian’s attitudes towards God as mother tie in with her attitudes towards sin. A mother will forgive anything a child does because of the overwhelming sense of love, born from having grown the child inside of herself. This is the love Julian can see in God.” We certainly get hints of much to learn from Julian of Norwich.

50 Years of Preaching

I can't believe I have been preaching for fifty years. Today I preached (on Abram's call to adventure for God and Nicodemus' puzzling over Jesus' cryptic comments) at Bathgate United Reformed Church (commonly known as the EU Church). It is fifty years (and a day) since I preached my first ever sermon in that same church when my Dad was minister there. Fifty years ago I preached on peace with the help of Isaiah 9 and John 14.

Caring for God's Creation

The National Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church expresses its vision through a series of affirmations. These are not fixed in stone, but form a moving (and capable of being updated) vision statement. I am exploring these in turn in a series of brief articles. This piece reflects on the seventh aspiration which focusses on our care for God’s CREATION. As a Synod we are committed to play our part in caring for creation. The Synod expresses its vision through a series of aspirations which describe something of our core aims. We need constantly to be rethinking these, and yet it is good for a maintain commitment to a series of core aims. I have been reflecting on how these aspirations can be part of our life, and this piece considers the seventh which focusses on our concern with and for the environment. We believe we are called to live in balance with the whole of CREATION. Many local churches participate in the Eco-Congregation scheme. Eco-Congregation Scotland provides resources to support churches in keeping climate change and environmental concern on their agendas and in their worship. It provides worship and study material and a multitude of ideas for action. Eco-Congregation awards are an optional, but important, part of the programme, encouraging churches to take seriously their environmental commitment by recognising them for doing so. This critical issue demands the attention – and comment – of today’s church. As Ian Bradley says (in “God Is Green: Christianity and the Environment”, 2020) – “if Christians fail to speak out and act on the most important issue of our time we will not only have lost an enormous missionary and pastoral opportunity but we will have failed the human race and the planet. We will also have failed the triune God.” The creation is vitally important. The Genesis 1 account of it reminds us that God was pleased with the good thing that had been done. We now have the task of looking after that creation which means that we must correct, in any way that we can, the damage that has been done to the planet. There may be much that is past repair, but that cannot be other than a stronger reason for doing all that we can, which is indeed, as Bradley identifies, part of our missionary and pastoral challenge. Alistair McIntosh (in “Riders on the Storm”, 2020) underlines the futility of panic but the equal senselessness of not addressing the climate change issue – “Climate change denial is a waste of time. But climate change alarmism is a theft of time. We have no mandate to collapse the possibilities of the future, to contract and restrict our latitude for agency and action.” Bradley further comments – “We cannot deny that the Bible portrays humans as occupying a unique place and fulfilling a key role in the working out of God’s plan for the whole of creation. Alone among all creatures, humans are fashioned in God’s own image. They are also given a commission by God to exercise dominion over the rest of creation. As we have seen, this is far from being the warrant for domination and exploitation that it has so often been taken to be but it still suggests that there is a special role and responsibility for humans vis-à-vis the rest of creation.” Our commitment to what has now long been called the ‘integrity of creation’ is a vital part of our mission planning, often defined for us in the small things we can do in terms of recycling, green travel, planting trees, energy efficiency, buying local produce and so much more.