A touching surprise

 As you might expect my brother Steve has been much on my mind. Talking with his son, my nephew Tim, has been one of the pluses in our sadness. As a busy film producer he lives a demanding life and our conversations have been few through the years. He told me that when Steve went into the care home very recently, his father requested that he bring his favourite picture from his home to hang in his room.  Apparently it had been a constant friend through his life and he needed it in his new strange situation. For some visual people pictures can become friends!

Anyway, I cannot overstate my surprise when I discovered this favourite picture was one I painted over 60 years ago. It is a pallet knife oil painting of the market square in Saffron Walden. 

I was probably 16 or 17 when I first sketched this scene - an empty market with an emphasis on the skyline. I loved painting with oils, including slapping on thick paint with a knife and this picture emerged. Wondering about why this was my brother's favourite I remember that our first visit to Saffron Walden as a family was a particularly happy one.  We stayed in a hotel - probably our first time as a family.  Near the hotel were intriguing gardens named Jubilee gardens with a maze, sunken garden and remnants of an estate with walls, archways, a circular staircase to a viewing platform, and summerhouse, all set in fascinating scenery and sunshine.  On one occasion my father had stolen out of the hotel earlier to place clever clues (at least they seemed clever to us!) which gave us enormous fun. Such was innocent pleasure in pre-social media days. I wish I'd been able to ask Steve why he liked this particular daub. Maybe it was nothing to do with that day in the sunshine.  But I am truly touched that it mattered so much to Steve and apparently to Tim also, who has already allocated a hanging space in his home. Yes, a touching surprise at a sad time.

Sunday afternoons

When I returned from the US eight years ago I began a Sunday afternoon ritual.  After Songs of Praise on BBC TV I would call my younger brother, Steve, for a weekly conversation.  During those years his wife's health deteriorated leading to her placement in a care home and he himself struggled with mobility. On his own in the family home, with his beloved cat for company, our phone call generally began with comments on the Songs of Praise programme.  Always shrewd and to-the-point Steve was never short of an opinion.

But after this usual starting point (though viewpoints were anything but predictable)  the conversation took off in any one of several highly unpredictable directions. An avid reader of unusual books (bought from his local charity shop) he could plunge into Britain's social history in the nineteenth century, or the story of the Romany people, or a particular period of Russian history. Well, almost anything though he was especially interested in social history. His politics were left of centre and stridently expressed. Conversation sparkled with wit and clarity.

Yet, at other times he was reflective especially about our family life growing up and his own life as a Baptist minister. Yes, we were both born in a Baptist minister's family and I for one was absolutely determined not to follow in my father's footsteps.  Steve was also reluctant. How we both ended up in ministry is one of those God surprises!  He served several churches with faithfulness and love and was chaplain to a drug rehabilitation centre.  It seemed to me that his pastoral care for people with his deep commitment to intercessory prayer proved central strengths of his ministry.  

Always there was concern for my own family which showed in his careful attention to detail - always following up the next time we spoke.  He assured me that his daily prayers always included my family's needs and I knew he meant it.

Very sadly, these conversations have now ceased. Steve died on 3rd January, four days after his 76th birthday.  He had declined in health these last weeks after an extended stay in hospital with sepsis, pneumonia and covid all complicating underlying health conditions.  At first I could converse with him in hospital - still in conversation full of sparkle and personality.  His faith was undiminished in spite of pain and confusion. His son told me how at the end he was longing to go to heaven.

I miss him and feel a strange loss. Strange because it became clear many weeks ago that he was at the last stage of his life, yet the cold fact that he died 7:08 pm Friday night shocked with its harsh reality. Yet, I know the greater reality is a spiritual one. His conviction, and mine, are grounded in the gift of eternal life promised by Jesus and blazingly vindicated by his resurrection.  My prayers are for his widow Brenda and his son Tim for whom the loss is close and personal. Thank you for reading this. Many will know exactly how I am feeling and its helped to express a little in this post.

And us, right now

And the second question: Is the Jesus way working with us in his local church today? In the real world now, with its secular headlines squeezing God out of the picture, how effectively is God changing us within our neighbourhoods?  How evident are those qualities of the quiet Kingdom of God (growing like a mustard seed) power of kindness, building trust in a positive environment, setting clear expectations, humble, slowing down to listen more deeply and appreciate others more? 

We who believe that God changes the world in Jesus, who have experienced his gift of love and belonging should be shaped and growing into a group of people seeking to live out Jesus’ different way together. That all the glorious promises of Christmas moving towards the crowning point on the cross where Jesus, Son of God, gives himself utterly on the cross, truly mean new creation. Right here in my local church. .We belong to Jesus’ kingdom, a new way of living and being. In the real world of unanswered whys, of suffering and unkindness, Jesus' way is working.

I know this sets a high bar. I remember preaching once in my Cambridge church about how we are to be a people whose different Christly way of living, behaving and relating is obvious by the way we treat each other. At the end of the service I met this severe looking lady who was clearly angry. She rounded on me that she had come the previous Sunday, having just moved to the city, but at coffee time after the service had been totally ignored, even though she was obviously alone. (Honestly, I did feel looking at her face that I could understand people passing by!) But the truth is that we so often fail at being the best welcomers and friends for Jesus' sake.  And to finish this story she did become one of the very best hospitality givers in the church family! Really.

To help in the business of not failing, one of the pictures of Jesus that means so much to me is the awesome truth that in power, he is praying for me/us right now. He is interceding. Jesus always lives to intercede for believers (Heb 7:25) As the Message puts it Jesus is always on the job ready to  speak up for us.  Rom 8:34 Jesus at the righthand of God and is also interceding for us. Again, the Message: Jesus is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. It doesn’t seem possible, partly because of the sheer complexity of how Jesus could possibly interact with billions of people. I cannot begin to understand Ai and all its amassing of information. Yet that's artificial intelligence.  What about divine intelligence?  But, mostly, it doesn't seem possible because I really don’t deserve Jesus praying for me, ready to speak up for me, sticking up for me, when I’m not very good at praying with him. Yet, he promises in his grace to keep doing it. Remembering that this claim is spiritual reality profoundly strengthens me. Jesus is helping me to work with him in my local church. Wow.

Oh, as I finish, an endnote about this business of how much Jesus counts in the real world. Google Herod the Great (though I hope he's not the main person on your mind) and you will see the record stands. Herod the Great, born 73 BC. Now that's some date!    

 

How can the Jesus way work?

Matthew ends the Christmas story in this real world which God made and loves, yet which tragically is a fallen world where humankind has freedom to act in the worst of ways as well as doing so much good. Jesus is plunged into our scarey violent world.  It looks like the worst start. Grim in the darkest of ways. Why is life like this? Why does God allow this monster Herod to be so cruel. Why are there Hitlers, Assads, and Herods? We are given no answers. This real world means living with many unknowables, so many unanswered questions.  We're human needing to live with unanswered why questions. We're human! And Jesus is human too. 

This is vital for maturing faith to be built on rock. My faith isn’t going to be solid enough unless my Lord and Saviour lives for real.  For his big claims about love, peace, kindness, forgiveness to work, to have any value he has to demonstrate them. For Jesus to change the world he’s got to be in the world as it is.  He’s not shielded in some religious bubble, enjoying comfort when world in misery, an easy life when the world suffers.  To be Immanuel, God with us, he has to be with us. One of us, so no one can say he hasn’t been where I am, hasn’t faced what I face, hasn’t suffered what I suffer.

This raises two questions for me: 1) How can Jesus’ way of love and peace work in this real world.  Read Matthew 2 and you cannot escape the contrast between a raging powerful Herod in the headlines and this refugee baby with nobody parents in exile, returning to a nobody town. What hope is there for the Christmas promise of peace on earth and goodwill among people? For this heralded Prince of Peace whose Kingdom will know no end? Honestly, what chance does Jesus have of changing this world? 

How’s it going to work?   That's a good question. It goes to the heart of the gospel with its good news that God's justice, mercy and love works in a completely different way from this harsh world. Jesus is Lord of a different kind of kingdom . As Jesus develops his ministry he doesn’t answer all the why questions.  Rather he shows us who God is as a Father who loves human beings so much he has sent his Son to show a completely different way of behaving as children in his family. We see Jesus with the crowds, hear his teaching, see his love, compassion and strength all the way to his world-changing sacrifice of the cross. 

I was intrigued by a book that's just been published by Graham Allcott. He begins by telling how in his twenties he became personal assistant to the chief executive of a major charity. Later a new boss arrived and on her first day in the post laughed about making one of the company directors cry. Three quarters of the senior management team left in 6 months. She was a remorseless bully.  He sees this so often that he calls 'ruthlessness and aggression' king in this world. Yet, he argues for another way. His book is called: Kind: The Quiet power of kindness at work.  He reckons that kindness gets a bad press because it’s often confused with being nice. Many assume nice means telling people what they want to hear. No. Being kind is about telling people what they need to hear.  It’s about building trust in a positive environment, setting clear expectations, being humble, slowing down to listen more deeply, appreciate more, memorize connections and gain more understanding. 

By it's title, I thought it was a Christian book. It isn't. It's a business leadership book but, of course, its message about the quiet power of kindness is the best way to lead in business - after all, it's God's way. Looking at those qualities he lists raises my second question.....

A two Parter.

This morning's worship service was designed in two parts because I wanted the congregation first to focus on the adoration of the Magi and enjoy more of the Christmas story. We read Matt 2:1-12 which introduced us not only to the Magi though paranoid King Herod is also mentioned.  Sadly, we often rush too quickly from revelling in the good news of Christ's coming. So first, joy and thanksgiving.

But in part two I confessed that I was dealing with a text I had managed to avoid on my previous 52 Christmas preaches. After I read the text (Matt 2: 13-23) I asked the congregation why I had omitted it. It was pretty obvious!. Because it is so downright depressing. It smashes up the feelgood Christmas vibe. This is the great time of celebration when churches are full and we want to share good news. And there is so much good news. So, let the Magi get away safely and leave Herod as some threatening pantomime figure. But no, Joseph is warned in a dream (by the way God can really work through dreams today as well) to get up, take child and mother,  right then and there in the night. To escape to Egypt to south of Gaza (we've heard of that) because Herod is looking for Jesus to kill him. How utterly brutal, terrifying. They have become refugees overnight. This is a bleak unbearable picture, full of violence and fear.  No wonder I have managed to avoid preaching it these past year. But the more I reflect on it the more I realize -  Matthew takes us to a necessary deep place. And surprisingly it is good news. How can that be? 

We need Jesus to live in the real world where you and I live.  We need Jesus to be real in this world. Two people have told me in the last few days that they have stopped looking at the news. They cannot bear its sadness, the grief in Gaza, those underground cells in Syria  so many stories of misery. I heard some mothers on radio talking about county lines drugs on their estate where their children, as young as 8 are trapped.' It’s a horrific world' said one mother. And for millions of people today the word horrific sums up their experience of this world. 

And this world of the baby Jesus is horrific. A world of such cruelty and suffering where people are imaginably vicious. Why are there people like Herod in this world. Individuals who can act so cruelly?  Called Herod the Great, he did impressive things, was a great builder who brought economic stability to the nation.  A powerful strongman leader, but whose rage, paranoia and cruelty meant he thought nothing of killing anyone who threatened him. He killed his wife, her mother, two sons, and many others including ordering the death of leaders to time with his death so that there would be mourning. Herod is not some kind of pantomime figure. No way. We don’t know how many toddlers were slaughtered in Bethlehem. It's horrific. And when Herod dies Joseph is encouraged to return but is still frightened because Archaelaus, son of Herod, is dangerous too and they have to live in an out-of-the-way place in Galilee called Nazareth, for safety.  And you see this family living in fear and think, why doesn’t God organize an easier path.  But this is the real world where you and I live and we need Jesus to live in it.

(more to come...)

A joy-ful Christmas to you

I wish I could be more personal in wishing you a joy-ful Christmas but this is the best I can do on a blog. Actually, I have been so behind in sending out greetings this year - it's dispiriting when every drop of cards through the letter box (I'm in the UK!) has me scrambling to keep up the pace.  But, especially because it is such a season of goodwill and good news, I keep hoping for understanding friends. 

We had a Taize service at our local church on Sunday, with a choir leading us through Taize music. Included in the programme was a meditation by the gifted writer and painter, Eddie Askew. Surprisingly, it challenged covering up the rough edges of the coming of Jesus with any sentimental, sweeter rewriting. He begins:

Some peasant women in Nicaragua were discussing the Nativity scene set up in church. One said, 'Mary wouldn't have been wearing those beautiful blue and white clothes. She'd have been dressed like the poor, like us.' Another said 'And she had rough hands like ours.  

Meditating on Mary and Joseph's rough hands he continues;

As the baby grew, the hand of God was rough in Jesus' life. From wilderness experience to the life of a wandering teacher, it wasn't easy being God's son. He had to face the doubt, the questionings, the growing hatred, and the rejection of the establishment. And finally the cross. And there the soldiers' hands were rough, calloused and callous, and so was the wood. No Softness there. But through the roughness, love was let loose into the world. And because of the roughness, the suffering and the pain in Jesus' life, the poor of Nicaragua can recognize God-with-us and identify with him. If the hand of God had been only gentle he would have been less relevant, easier to ignore.

The Christmas story is glorious. It does fill with joy. But it should also push us more deeply to meditate on the cost and significance of Immanuel, God with us.  May you have a deep Joy-filled Christmas.

An omission

My record keeping is spotty as is my filing. One of my bulging box files of past talks and sermons is marked ADVENT.  Over 52 solid years the material ranges far and wide, including special services and events. Whenever I open it (not difficult as contents fight to escape the flimsy catch) I often pause to remember where and when these events occurred. And, truth be told, sometimes I look back as an old preacher to see if my previous work on a particular text provides fresh inspiration for a new sermon.. 

So it was a shock to open the box and discover that the text I feel drawn to preach on in a couple of weeks' time is missing altogether.  How could I have never preached on Matt. 2:13-23?  But, when I look at it and remember the context of joyful Christmas services with all their evangelistic possibilities I can understand why I omitted it. It's such a dark passage.  Why would you want to spoil the Christmas mood?

One of the sheets of paper that fell out when I opened the file was a talk for a group of sixth formers. It was held in the famous Round Church, Cambridge, (when it was still used for worship). Not dated it must have been in the mid-80's. What hit me was the title that they gave me.  I am one of those preachers who really appreciates being given a title/theme when an organization invites me, especially when they have prayed over it!  The title was: CHRISTMAS IS FOR GROWN UPS TOO.  It's true that so much of Christmas, its build-up, parties, trappings, presents seems particularly aimed at children. Their excitement is contagious. But these sixth formers were asking for something deeper, because the miracle of the incarnation should never be dumbed down. It remains the stupendous foundation of Christian faith.

I realize that Matthew 2:13-23 does go deeper. I must prepare carefully for grown-ups in a couple of weeks' time.