Michael Hollings

I recently read “Press On!” a book about Michael Hollings, his life and witness, which caught my eye in one of Hay-on-Wye’s many bookshops, when we were on holiday there earlier this year. Michael (1921-1997) was a remarkable man, a Roman Catholic priest for most of his life, after wartime service with the Coldstream Guards. He served in Soho, then as university chaplain in, first, London, and then Oxford, and then as parish priest in, first, Southall, and then Bayswater, that last from 1978 to 1997. He was particularly known for his availability to people, both through his firm open house lifestyle and his spiritual direction and letters, and also for his writing. The book, written by a number of friends and colleagues, commemorates his life by telling his story. The book reflects his wisdom and the wonderful way in which he pointed folk to God. For example, in a letter to his cousin Jock Dalrymple, when Jock was studying for the priesthood, he writes: “So long as you're striving after God, and fearing you're not getting anywhere, you are doing all right. Don't panic and don't over push; just keep going. It is when we sit back and get self-contented that we are slipping back and danger signals are showing.” Joan McCrimmon, for many years his publisher, speaks of how he demonstrated the Christian life: “Prayer for him was not only about making requests to God, it was about sharing our feelings, our fears, our guilt, our sadness, loss, anger and frustration. It was about coping with life situations. Nor was it all doom and gloom - far from it. Prayer was very clearly also about celebrating life's joys and achievements, and giving thanks.” Needless to say, I never met him, but I was certainly aware of him, especially in my early ministry, and three of his books – all of which I still have – were important and helpful to me – “I Will Be There”, a series of reflections on the ‘I am’ sayings in John’s Gospel; “Day By Day”, reflections on prayer; and, most especially “Living Priesthood”, in which he explores ministry and its various dimensions.

Celebrating Life

I recently read Jonathan Sacks' "Celebrating Life" in which he dips into all sorts of themes looking for, and finding, the positive. The book reflects its sub-title "Finding Happiness in Unexpected Places". Just a couple examples of the book's themes. One is faith. Sacks writes: "Faith is not certainty. It is the courage to live with uncertainty. It is not knowing all the answers. It is often the strength to live with the questions. It is not a sense of invulnerability. It is the knowledge that we are utterly vulnerable, but that it is precisely in our vulnerability that we reach out to God, and through this learn to reach out to others, able to understand their fears and doubts. We learn to share, and in sharing discover the road to freedom. It is only because we are not gods that we are able to discover God.” He also writes about change, something which we all seem to find challenging. “Change is not threatening, so long as we keep firm hold of the values by and for which we live. We can travel with confidence so long as we have a map. We can jump with safety knowing there is someone to catch us as we fall. It is when we lose these things that change creates anxiety. It is when we think that, because technology is changing, our values too must change that we create problems we cannot solve, fear we cannot confront.”

Defenceless Flower

I have just re-read Carlos Mesters’ “Defenceless Flower”, which has been on my bookshelf for many years, though it is also many years since I read it. Mesters explores the use of the Bible from a liberationist perspective in a highly engaging way, recognising the value of scholarship and traditional and academic techniques of interpretation, but juxtaposing these with, and recognising the equal value, of the Bible as the mirror of the people’s lives. Mesters says this: “The great majority of people in the basic ecclesial communities are poor or, more exactly, impoverished by the oppressive capitalist system; they are farmers, workers, people from the outskirts of the big cities, farmhands, day-labourers, occasional workers, migrants, domestic servants, laundry-women, squatters, and so forth. When these people deal with the Bible their attitude is not (yet) secularised. For them the Bible is the word of God giving them God's message today. ……. When they discuss a text the people at the same time discuss their own situation, without making much of a distinction, either on the level of methodology or content. Biblical history, without ceasing to be history, becomes a symbol or a mirror of the present situation as the people experience it in their community. Life and Bible mix. There is both mutual interference and illumination.” He also says: “In the people's eyes the Bible and life are connected. When they open the Bible they want to find in it things directly related to their lives, and in their lives they want to find events and meanings that parallel those in the Bible. Spontaneously they use the Bible as an image, symbol or mirror of what is happening to them here and now.” Here is a timely reminder to allow the Bible to engage appropriately with each and every context.

Revisiting 'The Shack'

I recently read C Baxter Kruger’s “The Shack Revisited.” It’s a while now since I read William Paul Young’s “The Shack”, his fascinating ‘story’ of relating to God. This was a timely reminder that it deserves another reading, but also an opportunity to delve into some of the theological themes and ideas that underpin ‘The Shack’, as that is Kruger’s purpose in his volume. In summary, perhaps inevitably, but certainly importantly, ‘The Shack’ is concerned with God’s amazing love. As Kruger says, “We are known, loved and delighted in by the Father, Son, and Spirit, just as we are, whether we believe in God or not. The truth is we have already been embraced by Jesus’ Papa and by the Spirit. That is what the coming of Jesus was all about. The blessed Trinity has already met us in our shacks. In Jesus they have pitched their tents inside our garbage cans. We belong to the Father, Son, and Spirit. We always have, and always will; Jesus has seen to that personally.” The gospel point is that God wants to connect with us. Kruger again – “The stunning truth is that this triune God, in amazing and lavish love, determined to open the circle and share the trinitarian life with others.” How fantastic is that!

Interpreting Mark

I decided to re-read some of the books that have been on my shelf a long time. First up on this particular project has been “A Poor Man Called Jesus” by José Cárdenas Pallares, sub-titled “Reflections on the Gospel of Mark.” The book is very much reflections, rather than commentary, but I enjoyed the insights of Pallares’ liberationist perspective. He clearly identifies Jesus’ ‘poverty’ and aligns him with those struggling and marginalised. As he states: “The cause of Jesus is the cause of a God who is inseparably united with all the exploited. The God of Jesus, and Jesus himself, are, before all else, liberation, measureless love, hope, and life.” There is a strong emphasis on poverty - “Jesus was a poor person, and he was committed to the poorest of the poor from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. He spoke the language of the poor. He felt the sorrows and joys of the poor, and he met death in a manner reserved for the poor.” What I really liked about the book was the way in which it challenges us with what I might call real gospel stuff. The church is not in an easy place, but it is God’s church. As Pallares says, referring to Peter and indeed the whole incarnation story - “With Peter’s denial Mark shows us a church of sinners. of cowards and one which is not ashamed to admit it. The church Mark presents to us is a community well aware that it is never safe and secure, not even in its most selfless and disinterested members, and that the only thing it has to rely on is the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He shows us a church that can switch from denial to repentance thanks only to a Christ crushed and tortured. Christ grants to this church a partial expense of his own pain and sorrow. The risen Christ gathers together cowards, renegades, and traitors to fill them with the indestructible force of his love.”

Maktub

I have been reading Paulo Coelho’s “Maktub”, a collection of sayings, stories, parables, bits of wisdom. There’s a lot that provokes reflection, much of it inspiring and/or challenging. I was particularly struck by one entry: “A novice asked Abbot Nisteros in the Scetis monastery: “What should I do in order to please God?” The abbot responded: “Abraham welcomed strangers, and God was pleased. Elijah disliked strangers, and God was pleased. David was proud of what he did, and God was pleased. The tax collector in the temple felt ashamed of what he did, and God was pleased. John the Baptist went into the wilderness, and God was pleased. Jonah went to the great city of Nineveh, and God was pleased. Ask your soul what it wants to do. When our soul is in agreement with its dreams, that fills God with joy.””

Cancer and the Cross

Chris Kemshell’s “Cancer and the Cross” is a powerful and inspirational read. I found it intensely moving but that is, at least in part, because I have shared some of the journey with Chris and his wife, Lucy. I was the Synod Moderator when Chris was ordained in 2013, and so presided at his ordination, and held that role until the end of 2020 so shared something of the original trauma of the diagnosis and have watched Chris as he has dealt with what this has thrown at him. Of course, Chris has struggled, but I am incredibly impressed with how he has coped, and the book is very reflective of the Chris I know. I am so glad that he can say, as he does relatively near the beginning: “My weakness is almost becoming my strength in that I am becoming increasingly dependent on God due to my diagnosis. In a bizarre way, I am thankful for my situation and can relate completely to Paul’s claim in 2 Corinthians 12:10: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”” Chris cites a lot of Scripture as he writes, but that’s no bad thing. What comes through is his trust in God. I was on a long plane journey, but it is still unusual for me to read a book from start to finish without putting it down, but that’s how it grabbed my attention.