Learning from John's Gospel

I really enjoyed reading Ian Galloway's Called To Be Friends: Unlocking the Heart of John's Gospel, and found his approach both refreshing and fascinating. He conjures up a sense of excitement at what Jesus does - "Jesus loves people. He is irrepressible. You can’t turn a page in the Gospel without meeting someone experiencing a life-changing encounter with Jesus."

The matter of how we can relate to Jesus is central to Galloway's concern. He puts it like this - "Discovering that Jesus knows you is a very exciting moment. Suddenly, nothing is hidden. He can see around the corners of your heart. He can see the good that sits inside you. He can see the potential that is in you, which others have not yet seen. He can also see where things have gone horribly wrong. No one enjoys that sort of stuff coming out into the light, but Jesus has a gentle way of insisting that it does. He is able to create the safe spaces where our past failures can get not just painfully re-examined but also resolved and healed."

I love the way in which he explores the stories and incidents that John records, how they relate to each other, and how we might link them with stories in what we usually call the Old Testament. But I particularly like the way in which he brings us in as participants. So, for example, he writes of the story that we would likely name as the feeding of the five thousand - "Imagine being part of that. Imagine being given half a loaf and five hundred plus people to feed. How would you handle that? How much would you give to start with? Imagine the strange and fearful joy of seeing that bread in your hand never diminish, no matter how much you break it. In the prayer of Jesus and the hands of Jesus and his disciples, the breaking of bread is the multiplying of bread. What Is the Outcome? (6:12–13) An abundance. A shortage is turned into a massive surplus. People take it home with them for tomorrow’s lunch."

And I do like his reflections on leadership and the way in which he links those to the end of Jesus' earthly life - "Making mistakes is part of leadership development in Jesus’ world. Failure is not the problem. It is what you do next that counts. If you are a leader already, try not to get too big-headed about it. You are only following Jesus, just the same as everyone else. There are two men in this final story. One is invited into a very high-profile leadership role. The other is invited to look after Jesus’ mum. You can make your own mind up about whether one is more significant than the other."

Riders On The Storm

Alastair MacIntosh's Riders on the Storm: The Climate Crisis and the Survival of Being is a rightly challenging read, but worth it. He makes clear that climate change is a major issue way beyond others things that are happening - "The pandemic and climate change are not comparable. While the solutions for controlling the virus are simple and short term, those for getting to grips with climate change comprise a deeply entangled ‘wicked problem’: one for which there are no short, sharp shock fixes sitting on the horizon." 

However, he also recognises the value of a realistically positive approach - "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." 

And he adds: "What if we were to take climate change not just as a threat, but as an opportunity to deepen our humanity? What if we, who might be of the countries that historically have done the most to cause climate change, were to find it in ourselves to welcome climate refugees? And to do so not just as cheap labour, but as friends and fellow citizens? If we treat others like ourselves, they’ll come into the family. Who knows what gifts the welcomed stranger bears."

Climate change needs to be taken hugely seriously - and that means doing what we can.

COP 26

COP 26 is undoubtedly one of the most important global events ever and it has been fascinating to see just a little of the impact on Glasgow. I have been pleased to be at the Interfaith Prayer Vigil, organised by Interfaith Glasgow and Interfaith Scotland, which took place in George Square on the afternoon of Sunday 31st October. This was an important faith marker and prayers were led by representatives of nine different faiths. It was followed by a reception in the City Chambers, hosted by the Lord Provost.

I was also pleased to have a small part in the ecumenical service at Glasgow Cathedral on 7th November. The issue of climate change remains a huge challenge, and will. It is important that people of faith speak up and speak out. It was encouraging to see such a wide spectrum of Christians at the cathedral for this service. Let's each do what we can. It may seem small, but it's all important.

 

Interfaith Summit

It was a great privilege yesterday to be part of the annual Interfaith Scotland summit here in Scotland, and on Zoom on this occasion when faith leaders from a wide range of religious communities had the opportunity to meet with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and a couple of her key colleagues, Mairi McAllan MSP, the Minister for Environment and Land Reform, Shona Robison MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government. All three spoke well and clearly value their links with faith communities. They had listened carefully to those who spoke on our behalf, including Christian, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish and Bahai'i representatives. Time was short, just one hour, and presentations and conversation largely focussed on the effects of the pandemic and the importance of COP 26. It was good to see politics and faith in touch. 

The City Is My Monastery

Recently read, Richard Carter’s The City is my Monastery offered some interesting and helpful insights, not least the value of slowing down and being aware of God’s presence. The trouble is that we over-estimate our importance and think things will collapse if we step back, while that actually can make a positive contribution, not least to our being able to sustain what we do. As Carter says, “although I loved so much of what I did, I felt that if I slowed down, all the plates I was trying to spin at the same time would come crashing down around me. What I was missing was the experience of being attentive to the love of God, and being recharged by it. I was no longer awake to a world alive with miracles.”

He reminds us of the importance of making space for the good stuff, the creative stuff. “One of the rules of life of our community is each week to make space or the time for a creative encounter. Perhaps as simple as a visit to see a painting or exhibition, or a church you have not yet visited. Or maybe it will be sitting down and listening to a piece of music that needs time to hear. Or perhaps reading a book that has been recommended and is waiting to be read. You will know what is life-giving for you. Perhaps music or theatre or dance or birdsong or painting or knitting, or running or walking or cooking or libraries or buildings or art. Take time to look carefully at what you see. Take time to focus on what you love doing. These encounters feed us. They can replenish our spirit and help us discover and deepen the relationship between ourselves and our world. They awaken our wonder. Put these times into your diary. They are as essential as recharging your mobile. More so, they can recharge your soul.”

And we need to something, indeed a great deal, to contribute. “The greatest poverty is to believe you cannot help another, and it is a real truth that those who believe they have least in fact often have the grace to give the most. We all have the opportunity to be the Good Samaritan.”

Monk in the Marketplace

Bowthorpe Church

Ray Simpson, and the Community of St Aidan and St Hilda, of which he was one of the founders, have become one of the obvious places to look these days when considering what we can learn from and experience with Celtic spirituality. Ray has written widely and his recently published autobiography, Monk in the Marketplace, is a fascinating account of his life and ministry, but with many insights from Celtic spirituality. Though by no means the only places he has worked, a lot of the book focusses on his ministry in Bowthorpe, Norwich, and the founding of a ground-breaking ecumenical partnership there, and his subsequent ministry in and from Holy Island (Lindsifarne).

I was particularly interested in the Bowthorpe reflections, as that was part of my ‘patch’ as Moderator of the Eastern Synod of the URC, and I have preached there a few times. We also once had a great holiday on Holy Island, so reading something of the spiritual perspective of Ray and his colleagues was fascinating.

He reflects perceptively on what we need to do to be church today in a relevant way. “In a twenty-four-hour society, people relate better to seven days a week churches. In a multi-choice society people look to churches that offer facilities for a range of temperaments, cultures and ages. In the cafe society churches are eating places as well as praying places. In a visual, sound-byte age people resort to churches that use different media – poetry as well as pulpits, storytelling as well as sermons. In an age of mass travel, when people look for B&Bs and hostels that they can relate to, churches provide accommodation – in their grounds, or on their websites. They once again link up with hostel and guest house movements. In a multi-ethnic society people expect to find within the wider church services that are culturally Muslim or Sikh in style. In an orphaned society, when mentors, life coaches and growth buddies are in demand in the worlds of business, fitness and AIDS care, people seek out spiritual homes where they can find soul friends and mentors. In a packaged, pressured society, suffering from data overload and stressful bureaucracy, people make a bee line for churches where they can chill out, be themselves, have space. In a world where equality of regard is written into statutes few people under forty any longer wish to be defined by a protest movement of 450 years ago called the Reformation, but are drawn to churches that are transcending the Protestant or Catholic label.”

He is clear that we need to find space for God, and so we do. “If we never get off the treadmill of life we may become prisoners of the treadmill. Generally, I have felt drawn to pilgrim places where nobodies became somebodies because they lived for God and loved people.”

One final point of note for me was his connection with Ash Barker and Winson Green. I was minister of Winson Green URC for four years in the nineties and am fascinated by the interesting work that Ash is doing, including the church in a yurt to which Ray refers – “I also maintained contacts with Ash Barker and friends who, following years living in Bangkok slums, developed in his revolutionary new ministry at Newbigin House, Birmingham, near the prison. He leads a Fresh Expression of Church in a yurt in the garden. His wife Anji heads up the multiple activities of Newbigin Community Trust, and they oversee the School for Urban Leadership. He invited me back to give a Celtic blessing on the yurt. This was it: May each person who enters this yurt Receive from You a big spurt To fight for right and overcome wrong To laugh and dance and sing your song.”

Lesslie Newbigin, left, me, centre, and others signing an agreement between the Church of England and the United Reformed Church at Winson Green

Walk Tall, Walk Well, Walk Safe, Walk Free

A recently enjoyed read is Graham Usher’s The Way Under Our Feet: A Spirituality of Walking. Graham is now Bishop of Norwich, and so was an ecumenical colleague during the latter part of my time as Moderator of Eastern Synod. Graham clearly has a great love of walking and frequently enjoys it as a spiritual experience. He writes: “Walking refreshes me and slows me down. The gentle movement relaxes my body, while the rhythm gives me time to think, so that those complex thoughts and worries that spin around my mind are sieved and sifted, memories are filed and my head becomes somewhat clearer,” adding, “Walking helps me to pray and leads me to encounter God: it’s as if I have a companion at my side, or up in front leading me on, or whispering from behind, encouraging me to take the step I dare not, but need to take.”

Usher recognises the value of walking in all sorts of ways, not least as he sees the model that Jesus offers and the challenge that he brings. “Jesus entrusted a small community that he had shaped to go out and walk his message. Those disciples’ walk would change the world as that message ‘gained legs’. Within a few years of his death, the words of Jesus would be walked to the ends of the known world, and as people were baptised, so the wet footprints of the totally immersed could be seen going in every direction! Acknowledging this, St Paul echoed a phrase of the prophet Isaiah ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ (Rom. 10.15). He could see the power of walking in telling the story of what God has done for the whole world in the birth and life, passion and death, resurrection and ascension of his son, Jesus Christ.”

Walking can certainly play a helpful role. “We may be heartened by this prayer from South Africa: Walk tall, walk well, walk safe, walk free and may harm never come to thee. Walk wise, walk good, walk proud, walk true and may the sun always smile on you. Walk prayer, walk hope, walk faith, walk light, and may peace always guide you right. Walk joy, walk brave, walk love, walk strong and may life always give you song.”