Reflecting on John's Gospel

I enjoyed reading Peter Brain's "The Knowable God", which he sub-titles as 'a fresh look at the Fourth Gospel'. In the book hge reflects on various aspects and themes in the gospel and I found it fascinating to follow his exploration.

One thing that I found of particular interest was his comment that "in contrast to the Synoptics there are hardly any brief encounters with passing strangers in John. Each episode here is a set-piece, with time to do some character-drawing which allows the reader to become involved and reflect on what the story might mean for them and their life choices." Immediately, one thinks of the likes of the encounter with Nicodemus or that with the Samaritan woman by the well. These are story that say so much when we reflect on them. Brain adds: "There are hardly any brisk parables and healings."  He also points out: "And throiughout it all there are the twelve, loyal yet fearful, those closest to Jesus but who, like the others in the unfolding drama, need to believe in the identity of their leader."

I found the book a helpful reminder of the depths of John's Gospel, and it left me wanting to explore more despite the fact that I think I know its contents well. There is certainly a lot to contribute to thinking about discipleship.

Black Box Thinking

I am intrigued and encouraged by the concept of "Black Box Thinking", as explained in Matthew Syed's book with that title. Syed emphasises the important place of failure in the scheme of things, whatever the 'things' may be. If we use our failings to help us learn, then they can contribute a tremendous amount. As Syed says: "To spatk the imagination and take our insights to their fullest expression, we should not insulate ourselves from failure; rather we should engage with it."

Syed points out that many areas of life try to disguise failure, and refuse to admit it - with disastrous consequences. Of course, things go wrong sometimes, but the best thing to do with that is to learn from it. If we refuse to learn, often by avoiding admitting it, then the likelihood of repetition is high, and we are certainly not taking the opportunity to learn from what has gone wrong. Syed again: "We have to conceptualise (failure) not as dirty and embarrassing, but as bracing and educative. This is the notion we need to instil in our children: that failure is a part of life and learning, and that the desire to avoid it leads to stagnation."

The title - and the concept - comes from the black box in an aeroplane which is designed to record exactly what has happened, so that we may understand what has gone wrong and learn from it. "Failure is inevitable in a complex world. This is precisely why learning from mistakes is so imperative."

The idea can be applied almost anywhere - but that does, of course, include our understanding of our call to be God's people. We are not going to be perfect, despite Jesus' call to us to make that our aim, but we can do our best, and we can learn from those things that we get wrong.

"Errors can be thought of as the gap between what we hoped would happen, and what actually did happen. Cutting-edge organisations are always seeking to close this gap, but in order to do so they have to have a system geared up to take advantage of these learning opportunities."

Visiting Vellore - Anbu Illam

Anbu Illam is a great place. It was one of our early visits the first time I came to Vellore and I was so pleased when I discovered that it was going to be the same this time.

Anbu Illam is the school run by the diocese for children affected by cerebral palsy. The children are aged from 5 to 18 and they currently look after 39. We joined them for Assembly at which we were each presented with a garland. After assembly they went off to their various places and it was extremely moving to see them crawling or using rather less sophisticated mobility aids than would be available in the UK. We then had light refreshments - cake, biscuits, coffee - before going to see round the school. There are three sections - physical, occupational and education and they spend time in each. First, we went to the gym where several children were engaged in exercise. Equipment is relatively basic but usable and used. The staff are very good at encouraging them to push themselves.  We then went to the occupational room, where a number were involved in a variety of activities and we saw some of the things that they have made. Some were colouring, while others were making paper flowers, necklaces and envelopes. It was great to see how they are encouraged to use the abilities that they have and to adapt them to do a variety of things.  We then went and looked at some classrooms, including one where lessons were in progress. They are able to teach the children in very small groups which helps their progress. Abu Illam was a very moving experience as we saw how limited resources are stretched and the way in which dedicated teachers help those with serious handicaps to achieve something worthwhile.

#JesusMovement

It is now a couple of weeks since I went to hear Bishop Michael Curry speak – St. Paul’s Cathedral on 3^rd October – and I am just getting to writing a few notes. It was certainly an energetic and challenging address. His mantra is that we are part of the Jesus Movement and that is the message we need to communicate. People don’t get church, but they do get Jesus. We need to live out his life of love, opening ourselves to others. ‘The opposite of love isn’t hatred. It’s self-centredness. The way of love runs counter to selfish instincts.’

I was particularly struck by his response to a question around the political chaos in the UK, in which he noted that we are not alone, as it seems to be a common phenomenon at the moment, and not least shared in the USA. Asked what he thought God would say, he responded by saying that he thought that God wants to tell us that ‘we can do better’.

Another very key quote was around Jesus’ inclusivity – ‘If bigotry is your game, don’t call about Jesus.’ That was a timely and telling reminder, and one to remember.

He also reminded us, ‘Jesus ain’t dead. He’s still in business!’ and commented, ‘He makes me a better me.’ The address was a great reminder that the Jesus Movement is alive and well and has lots to offer to a society that too often chooses to ignore it.

Visiting Vellore - Christian Medical Centre and Karigiri Hospital

The Christian Medical Centre in Vellore, the hospital founded by Ida Scudder, has a reputation that goes far and wide. Doctors who have worked at Vellore are found around the world and the name is known widely. 

The story of how it all began is stark and well known. One night a Brahmin gentleman knocked on the door and begged her to come and help his wife who was struggling in childbirth. She did not have the skills, and asked him to get her doctor father to attend, but the response was that a man could not possibly attend his wife. The same night two other men came with the same request and the same result. The following morning she was devastated to learn that all three women and their babies had died. She resolved to do something to address the situation and went to the United States to train as a doctor, returning to India, qualified, in 1900.

She started with a tiny clinic, interestingly in the premises now occupied by the Christian Counselling Centre, and we saw the room in which she began her work when we visited there. It was just one bed through which medicines were dispensed. Things moved on quickly. In 1902 she opened a forty-bed hospital in Vellore and, alongside that, cared for the rural population by going out to the villages in a bullock cart, with nurses and medicines. She knew that the real need was to care for the women, and so she began training women in 1909 and founded a school of nursing in 1918. It was not until 1947 that men were admitted to the course and, even today, it is required that the majority of students be women.

Our tour of the hospital started in the history centre and with the story of Dr. Ida, clearly a remarkable woman who died, in Vellore, aged 89, in 1960.

But how amazing that from such beginnings the large and busy hospital that is today’s Christian Medical Centre grew. It seemed chaotic, but it is clearly organised chaos. We visited the labs, paediatrics, maternity, the wards, outpatients, the private wing, the laundry, the chapel, amongst other things. We saw people queuing to pay, but heard how the private segment subsidises what is offered to those who can’t afford medical care. The fans and air-conditioning and private or semi-private rooms offer a more comfortable environment, but it was emphasised that the standard of medical care is the same, regardless of in which part of the hospital the patient is situation. It was remarkable to see the numbers of patients and staff and the large footprint of an extremely busy hospital. It was an important reminder of a hugely beneficial element in the missionary legacy.

Interestingly, a trio of us had started that day worshipping in the chapel at Karigiri Hospital. We were staying, as our main base, in the guestrooms belonging to the hospital and situated in its grounds. We arrived early, though worried that we were late, as we were not sure exactly when the service began. Around 7.30 am people began to arrive, and at 7.40 a period of worship, singing, began. That continued until 8 when the bus arrived with some of the congregation. The biggest part of the congregation was a group of around a couple of dozen trainee nurses, all female and all in white, who sat on mats on the floor in the central part of the chapel, though there were chairs at the back which others used. In the gap between the pre-service worship and the service, several of these young women came over to greet us, making us feel very welcome. The service was led by the Chaplain and most of the singing was in English, though prayers and other elements were in Tamil. The address was brought by one of our number, Fiona, with a Tamil summary by the Chaplain after she had spoken.

After the service we spoke with the Director and the Chairman of the Board, both of whom were present, the latter for a board meeting. The conversation with the Board Chairman was interesting as he was very keen to express appreciation of the care and identity for the Dalit community that had been brought by the missionaries. He said that he saw that as an important expression of a theology of liberation. I found that a fascinating and important insight. I have, in many ways rightly, worked against a background of seeing the British Empire as a damaging imposition on other cultures and peoples. There is no doubt that our colonial past did a great deal of harm and we, with no right to do so, claimed ‘ownership’ of large parts of the globe as the world map was painted red. However, there is another side, and it was moving to hearing it named so specifically and carefully by one of our Indian hosts. I have no doubt that even the missionaries did things that were not entirely good, but their contribution to health, education and recognised the value of the marginalised, and probably a few other things, does have a lot to commend it – and is a useful reminder that this twinning link is about mutual support and learning.

Visiting Vellore - Christian Counselling Centre

One place that I found to be of great interest was the Christian Counselling Centre. This is not run by the Church of South India, but there are very strong links, particularly with the Diocese of Vellore, where it is situated. When we arrived, we were met by the Director, Dr B J Prashantham, who gave us a tour of the complex and told us of its history and current practice. The main house was originally built by the East India Company as a factory and so is spacious and solid. The Centre hosts a wide variety of students from across India and beyond and Dr Prashantham told us something of the different ways in which those who come to the Centre are enabled to consider the theories of counselling in different contexts and with different needs and to engage in its practice. The importance of the placement and its part in understanding how counselling can make a difference is key. Dr Prashantham also talked of the students having three laboratories, the lab of the classroom, the lab of the practical (placement), and the lab of their engagement with each other. He himself has served the Centre for a long time, having originally been appointed by Bishop Lesslie Newbigin, when Bishop of Madras. Trained in counselling in a “western” context, he spoke of the need to be culturally appropriate. The paradigm needed to be shifted from, ‘I think, therefore I am’, to the far more appropriate, ‘I belong, therefore I am’. Founded in 1970, the Centre continues to do important work offering careful leadership in the field of counselling. I was interested that their publicity leaflet quoted my former New Testament teacher from my days in Glasgow, Professor William Barclay – “Even when we are in the mud, we are haunted by the stars.” One interesting room had the walls covered by the evaluations of courses offered by participants – they are encouraged to draw a picture by way of evaluation. There were some fascinating illustrations as participants engaged in the challenge of presenting growth through their course pictorially.

Pay Heed to the People You Meet

This was my brief reflection that was part of the closing worship of the Eastern Synod meeting today (12/10/19). It followed the reading of Mark 6:53-56.

Alastair, I may have remembered the name wrongly, but that doesn’t matter, came into the church in Islington of which I was then minister.  I assumed he had come to “borrow” money, as that was why he usually came, and I hadn’t seen him for a while, and I began to consider whether I would be generous, or whether I ought to be resistant – as he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out, and here I definitely can’t remember, 20, 30 pounds – saying: I have come to repay you, and so he did.  In that inner city location, I often had people coming asking for money or food, but only once was I repaid, one encounter that I didn’t expect to work out as it did.

But move on a few years, and we are in Panama.  We lived in a very interesting street.  We lived next door to the church of which I was minister, a Methodist Church, so that was there.  But it was also one of the main drug dealing streets of Panama City and home to some very interesting characters, quite a few of whom would knock the door from time to time, or, actually, more often, yell from the gate which we usually kept locked.  I remember the day a police shoot out ended up outside our house and damaged our gates.  I have often wished that I had kept the bullet casing that I found in our garden the following day.  Anyhow, these characters would yell to attract my attention, and I got to know a few of them a bit, and would give them, usually, just a bit of coinage.  But, on the day in question, my wife and I were going out in the car and had just got a little way down the street when this rather dishevelled looking character loomed up in front of the car, waving me down.  My wife wondered what on earth was going on.  But I didn’t really, because I knew him.  He was one of my regulars, and I assumed he wanted a little money.  But actually he didn’t.  He just wanted to say hello.  I was somebody who did help him from time to time, and he simply wanted to greet me.   Another encounter that didn’t quite turn out how I initially expected.

I wonder what the people who are mentioned in the last few verses of Mark 6 expected?  What, if anything, were they looking for?  It is interesting that the stress seems to be not on the fact that Jesus healed, though that’s there, but on the large numbers that came looking for him.  His reputation was getting around.  And so, there were those who rushed round the area grabbing those who needed Jesus’ transforming, healing touch. 

And so, I want to just ask three questions: first, are we ready to be surprised by some of the encounters that we have, and especially when we think we have got it clearly worked out what people will do?  Second, what’s our reputation?  What are we known for?  And third, how much effort do we put in – are we willing to put in – to get those whom we know to need Jesus to have the chance of some contact with him?