Acts 7 - How do you read the Bible?

I enjoyed another evening with the Cotswold Humanists on Wednesday of this week.  Once again they were debating religion and I joined Sharon and a friend at what was a very stimulating and thought-provoking evening.

They showed a DVD of a debate between the late Christopher Hitchens, billed not just as an atheist but as an antitheist and Douglas Wilson, Minister of a Presbyterian Church in Moscow – an American evangelical.

That evening in the Echo was an account of members of PG Wodehouse’s family getting together locally to celebrate the centenary of Jeeves – it was a shared love of PG Wodehouse that broke the ice for Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson.

It was good to see that the two were engaging with each other and sharing their thoughts together, each listening to the other.

The discussion that ensued was good – and good to have an opportunity to share something of my faith with people from the Humanist group in that discussion – in a way that listens to one another.

My biggest frustration in watching a film like that is that Christopher Hitchens describes a version of Christianity he rejects that I too reject and is so very different from my understanding of the faith.  Douglas Wilson was not as I feared he might have been, but again I found his description of the Christian faith not as I would make it.

And that I found was frustrating.

One of the things that Christopher Hitchens kept on coming back to was the ugly side of the Old Testament – the viciousness and utter brutality of some of what was described there.  In his view to be a Christian was to accept the whole view of God from the Old Testament, lock stock and in a disturbing way smoking barrel.

That’s one of the things I simply do not accept.

For me there is a very real sense that the whole of the Old Testament, the Law, the Prophets and the  Writings is fulfilled in Christ.  If we as Christian people are to value the Old Testament as we should then we need to learn to read the Old Testament through the eyes of Jesus.

That, I believe, is one of the things that Jesus shared with his disciples.  Indeed it was the most important thing he shared with the two on the Road to Emmaus and with the disciples in the upper room subsequently as he opened the Scriptures for them and showed how all the Law, all the Prophets and all the Writings find their fulfilment in him.

I have a feeling that what Jesus shared at that time then shaped the way his followers read the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

One of the things that was new about Jesus was the way he offered his followers a way of reading the Bible, the Old Testament, that some people found offensive.

I think it really is important that we grasp that there are ways of reading the Bible that we as Christians need to be aware of if we are to be true to Christ and true to our Christian faith.

How I wanted the opportunity to share those insights in the context of that discussion with Chrsitopher Hitchens.  How important it is.

One of the things I think is interesting to look out for in reading Acts is guidelines it offers for reading the Old Testament.

This comes to a head in what happens in the aftermath of the tensions that had arisen between the Hellenists and the Hebrews among the followers of Jesus.

Hellenists and Hebrews had fallen out.  The widows of the Hellenists were not receiving the support that was their due.  At the prompting of the Apostles the Church in Jerusalem set aside seven to meet those needs – it is no coincidence they were from the Hellenists community – all with Greek names.

One of their number made his mark in a way that has left its mark on the church ever since.

His name was Stephen.

Like Peter and John and others before him he faced a tough time.

He fell out with members of his own community.   The Hellenists were the Jewish people who were quite happy to take on board elements of Hellenistic culture and language.   Indeed they used Greek as their main language.   In Jerusalem there was at least one synagogue which met where people used not Hebrew as the language of prayer, but Greek.  They used the Greek translation of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings as the basis for their worship and the services they shared.

It was some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrneians, Alexandirans and others of those from Cilicia and Asia.

These were Jewish people of the Jewish Diaspora in North Africa and over into Asia minor – Hellenists, Greek speakers they used Greek in their synagogue as they gathered together.

But as Hellenists, greek speaking Jewish people in Jerusalem they were fiercely jealous of the traditions of the Jewish people in Jerusalem and in particular they were passionate about the importance certain things they felt were central to their Jewishness..

 they secretly instigated some men to say, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.’ 12They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council.

The Hellenists set up false witnesses who laid a very specific accusation against Stephen and they bring that before the people of power in Jersualem – the council, made up of the Herodians, the Priests, the Sadduceees – the power people of Jerusalem.

Notice their accusation …

They set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; 14for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.’

It’s exactly the false accusation levelled against Jesus at the trial – that he would destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days – Matthew 26:61.

And all who sat in the council looked intently at Stephen and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Don’t just think ‘angelic face’ ‘a cherub’.  The word ‘angel’ literally means ‘messenger’.   He had about him the feel of one was a messenger – who had a message from God.

It is a wonderful picture of an  inspirational person …

Good standing

Full of the Spirit

And of wisdom

Full of Faith and the Holy Spirit

Full of grace and power

One who recognised he could not do it alone, but who knew he was not alone – he had that sense of the Spirit filling him with that strength that he did not have on his own.

That wisdom, that faith, thar grace and that power are evident in the account Stephen gives of what is at the hearat of his faith.

What’s interesting then is that his speech amounts to a reading of the Old Testatment.  Acts 7 is one of those chapters in the New Testament that sums up the Old Testament.

Stephen’s account of who the people of God are begins with Abraham who obeyed God’s command and entered into that covenant relationship with God that was sealed in circumcision.

Stephen skips through the story of Isaac, Jacob and the twelve sons of Jacob who become the father figures of the twelve tribes of Israel and then Stephen focuses on the story of Joseph, and then Moses and the forty years that passes after his flight to Egypt.

Then Stepehn focuses on the sense of the presence of God that comes to Moses as he encounters the name of God in the burning bush.

Then comes the account of the exodus and the wandering in the wilderness.

And again the focus is on the presence of God that finds its focus in the tabernacle that follows the people on their journey through the wildnernes.

The story turns to Joshua  and the settlement in the land – the story fast forwards to David, the great king and he reaches the point at which Solomon builds a temple.

So far, so good.

This is a reading of the Old Testament that would have pleased the Council and the people of power in Jerusalem.

But then Stephen homes in not on the glory of the temple as they would have expected.  Instead he draws attention to a strand in the Old Testament story that comes in with the prophets that is critical of the decision to build a house for God.

This is very interesting.

But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says,

49 “Heaven is my throne,

   and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

   or what is the place of my rest?

50 Did not my hand make all these things?”

It is at this point that Stephen interrupts his story.

It is as if he has got to the point of what he has to say.

The whole message of the Old Testament is about the presence of God with his people – where the God of creation touches earth and is made real in the presence of the people.

Then instead of tracking through the dominant line – he focuses on the line of the prophets.   He doesn’t recount the kings … but instead focuses on the prophets who stood out against the kings.

‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. 52Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. 53You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.’

Luke has been careful to identify who Stephen is addressing – this now is the council – the power people who keep the Temple running with its exorbitant tax system.  The people Jesus had vented his anger on in exactly the way the prophets of old did – turning the tables of the people who carried out that tax system and saying of them and the Heoridain powers that be – my father’s house should be a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves.

Why does Stephen take this line?

My thought is that this is the kind of way that Jesus had pointed when he had shared with those two on the road to Emmaus and the disciples in the upper room.  This is the way the line of the prophets finds its fulfilment in Jesus.

It is in Jesus that the presence of God is made real.  The veil of the temple is torn in two at the cross.  The presence of God is opened up through Chist.

Those who hear his words and act on them are like the wise man, Solomon, who built his house, the house of God, on the rock.

Paul later would speak of all Christian believers as being the very temple of the Holy Spirit.

This is where God’s presence is let loose – no longer in a specifc location in a house made of stone – but in the hearts of all who follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

This was what the fulfilment of the Scriptures meant in the lives of the followers of Jesus.

And just as the powers that be took offence when Jesus mapped this teaching out and spoke of his own resurrection when he said that the temple would be desttoryed and rebuilt in three days, so too they took offence when Stephen followed that way of reading the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

What happens to Stephen is moving.  I want to finish with that.

But what is going on here is fundamentally  important for us as Christians when it comes to reading the Bible.

We are offered here a way of reading the Bible that doesn’t go with the main line of the kings – but focuses on the prophets who spoke out against the kings.   And sees in Jesus the fulfilment of those prophets.

And sees that in Jesus the very real presence of God is let loose in the world.

I come back to the conversations Christopher Hitchens had with Douglas Wilson – what I would be wanting to share is that actually Jesus offers us a radical new way of reading the bible and that is what we are called to follow.

Like Stephen let us seek to be of Good standing

Let us seek to be Full of the Spirit

Let us seek to be full of wisdom

Full of Faith and the Holy Spirit

Full of grace and power

So that in our reading of the Scriptures we can discover the Christ who brings the very presence of God into our lives.

In the Autumn for our Harvest collection we are going to be thinking of the persecuted church and those who face persecution for their Christian faith in the Middle East at the moment …

The final part of Stephen’s story is an inspiration as he embodies that Spirit of Christ in the manner of his dying, finishing with words of forgiveness that are full of grace.

When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. 55But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ 57But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ 60Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.

Then Luke strikes an ominous note that sets the scene for the next part of our story …

And Saul approved of their killing him.

Acts 6 - Multi-culturalism? Feared or favoured? A look at the infant church in Acts 6

I’ve always focused in Acts 6:1-7 on the fundamental importance of meeting the needs of the poorest.  That’s why that reading was linked with Deuteronomy 15:7-11 which speaks of the need to give to the neediest with an open hand and generous heart and Psalm 46 which speaks of the need to care for the neediest.

But as I turned to this chapter this week my eye fell on the opening verse and I found myself reflecting on big issues around us in the world today.

How do we cope with living in a world with a multiplicity of languages, a multiplicity of ethnicities, a multiplicity of cultures?  Do we hanker after some supposedly long lost time when there was a single culture.  In these islands, speaking as someone who speaks Welsh, we would be hard pressed to find such a time.  Speaking as someone whose elder son is a Yorkshireman even within England there have always been different forms of English.  Indeed the oldest, often shortest, most authentically English words are Angl-Saxon, but come to think of it that language emananates from central Europe.  And then there are so many words brought in from Latin and the Romans and from  French and the Normans.

Maybe, there never has been such a time.

Maybe, we should actually recognise that in every generation there is a multiplicity of peoples, languages and cultures in any land.

 How do we cope with such a multiplicity?

Fear it?  Or grasp it?

It is very easy to read the Gospels and the New Testament in a ‘black and white way’, the way I read them in Sunday School long ago, thinking the Jewish people were the Jews.  Jesus introduced something different and his followers were ‘Christians’, as if there was a single way of being Jewish at the time of Jesus and a single way of being ‘Christian’ at the time of the infant church.

It was a small step to thinking that the Jewish way was based on Law and the followers of Jesus discovered ‘grace’ as if there was no grace in the Old Testament.   I have a feeling those who follow such a path need to look again at the text of the Old Testament!

What’s fascinating is that at the time of Jesus there were many different ways of being Jewish.  Indeed the Jewish world was touched by the different cultures of that time.

The inscription on the cross was in Latin, Greek and Hebrew – maybe Jesus would have understood Latin, spoken Greek, read Hebrew and been very much at home in Aramaic.  Why do we assume he was a mono-linguist, those of us brought up in England?

The different cultures around gave rise to very real tensions.

Those tensions were very much to the fore in the Jewish world in the time leading up to the time of Jesus.  At times the tensions were greater.  At times they were less.

It was about 170 years before the time of Christ that things came to a head.  It was with the spread of Greek thinking and Greek culture that the faith of the Jewish people was put under pressure.

The Seleucid empire centred on Syria was putting pressure on Judea and the Jewish people – so much so that with the accession of Aniochus IV, Epiphanes, someone called Jason became High Priest thanks to his willingness to engage in all sorts of bribery and corruption.

Interviewed by the King he offered 360 talents of silver – a massive sum of money.  And got the job.

What 2 Maccabees tells us gives a glimpse of the way the Jewish people felt threatened by the adoption of too much of the Greek way of life.

2 Maccabees 4:11-17  He set aside the existing royal concessions to the Jews, secured through John the father of Eupolemus, who went on the mission to establish friendship and alliance with the Romans; and he destroyed the lawful ways of living and introduced new customs contrary to the law.  12 He took delight in establishing a gymnasium right under the citadel, and he induced the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat.  13 There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no true high priest,  14 that the priests were no longer intent upon their service at the altar. Despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hurried to take part in the unlawful proceedings in the wrestling arena after the signal for the discus-throwing,  15 disdaining the honors prized by their ancestors and putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige.  16 For this reason heavy disaster overtook them, and those whose ways of living they admired and wished to imitate completely became their enemies and punished them.  17 It is no light thing to show irreverence to the divine laws-- a fact that later events will make clear.

The Maccabean revolt sought to redress the balance.  It did for a while.  But then the Romans came to power.  And the pressures were on once again.

One good barometer was sport.  How sport came to rule the roost.  Ambivalence.  Andy Murray last week, a thrilling finish to the Test this week.  Junior Rugby on a Sunday morning.  Junior Cricket on a  Sunday.  Big pressures.

Let’s bring Christian values into sport – we’ll do things on a different day.  But the Christian values are squeezed out.  Is this right?  Big pressures.

It’s not long once the Romans really come to power that Herod comes to power and the Herodian dynasty is established.  The High Priests are appointed by first Herod the Great, then his son Archelaus has the responsibility before it is then put into the hands of the Roman procurator.

This is a real hellenizing tendency.

Herod has no qualms – a contemporary Jewish historian describes his remarkable building works …

Herod the Great extended his generosity to many cities outside his boundaries.  F or Tripoli, Damascus and Ptolemais he provided gymnasia, for Byublus a wall, for Berytus and Tyre hhalls, colonnades, temples and market-places, for Sidon and Damascus theatres, for the coastal Laodicea an aqueduct and for Ascaoln baths, magnificent fountains, and cloistered quadrangles remarkable for both scale and craftsmanship.

Even Athens and Sparta, Nicopolis and Mysian |Pergamum are full of Herod’s offerings!

But his endowment of Elis was a gift not only to Greece in general but to every corner of the civilised world reached by the fame of the Olympic Games.  Seeing that the games were declining for lack of funds and that the sole relic of ancient Greece was slipping away, he not  only acted as president of the four-yearly meeting held when he happened to be on his way to Rome, but endowed them for all time with an income big enough to ensure that his presidency should never be forgotten.”   (Jewish War: I:422 translated by G.A.Williamson (Penguin Classics)

This all gave rise to big tensions.

We know from earlier on in Acts and for that matter in Luke that Jesus drew followers from all parts of the Jewish world and from beyond as well.  In Jerusalem those who were all in favour of this kind of Hellenisation and thought that these different cultures could be harnessed together who followed Jesus.  They were at home in Greek, satisfied with the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures we know as the Septuagint and they were content.

There were also people who followed Jesus who had no time for this kind of compromise across cultures – their understanding of Jewishness was very much more clear.  No, we must stand out from the world and its culture and not go along with it.

There is a tension between the two groups of people that is keenly felt.  And that tension spills over into the church.

It is very easy to look back at the past through rose tinted spectacles and imagine that the past was a time with few problems, no problems.    But from the word go the church had differences.

Maybe that should come as no surprise.  For Jesus spoke into different cultures.  What he had to offer was for everyone.  He drew Galileans, zealots, Pharisees, experts in the law, Samaritans, Centurions – a whole range of people to follow him.

By the time we reach Acts 6:1 it is highly significant that in the infant church there are Helenists and there are Hebrews.

What is interesting here is how the church community, the followers of Jesus that church in Jerusaelm dealt with the divisions that reared their ugly head.

People from both those tendencies were drawn to Christ.

And they brought into the church the tensions that were around in the Jewish world.

The first of those fracture points comes in the tension between the Hellenists and the Hebrews – those content to be Jewish through the medium of the Greek language and harness the Greek culture, and those who wanted their Jewish to stand out and be different.

Acts 6:1  Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

Clearly there was a falling out.

He Hellenists are convinced the Hebrews are neglecting their widows.

Fascinating glimpse of the way the church worked in that society – a daily distribution of food.  And within that those ancient laws taken seriously that the needs of the most neediest should be uppermost.

What happens is fascinating.

There is quite a specific problem.

Acts 6:2  And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples

This is one of the those moments when we in our Congregational Way of Being the church find our roots in the New Testament.  The apostles call the whole church together.  This is something that needs to be resolved by everyone together.

They share the problem and then suggest a way for the whole church to address the problem …

Acts 6:2-5   2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.  3 Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,  4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word."  5 What they said pleased the whole community,

So there are to be seven people who will serve as deacons – the apostles will devote themselves to prayer and serving the word while the deacons will serve the needs of the community and the most poor.

This is put to the church … and notice that there is a sense in which the whole church come to a mind … the process we seek to follow through in our Church meeting.

5 What they said pleased the whole community,

The whole community choose …

Acts 6:5   5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

Do you notice something?

They all have Greek names!

So the whole community decide that to meet the needs of the widows of Hellenists they will choose people best placed to serve those needs with the same language, the same kind of cultural background from the Hellenists’ community.

At this point there is not the attempt to get everyone into the same way of thinking – to say the Hellenists must all become Hebrews or vice versa, but in the church even at this point there is a willingness to affirm the different communities within the one community of the disciples of Christ.

There is a wonderful conclusion.

Acts 6:6-7  6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.  7 ¶ The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Even the final comment.  The priests.  Were they more of the Hebrews, or were they comfortable to work within the Herodian temple?  Interesting thought.

Isn’t it wonderful that the picture of the early church is actually a picture of a church with a multiplicity of languages, a multiplicity of ethnicities, a multiplicity of approaches to culture and they affirm those differences while harnessing everyone to work together in  Christ.

Maybe this is the key for us today.  To affirm the multiplicity, delight in it and seek to follow Christ in such a way as to enable those differences to live side by side, yet find a oneness in Christ.

It was Jonathan Rowe at our weekend away who drew our attention to the nature of Heavenly glory when it is people from all tribes and peoples and languages who stand before the lamb singing.   It is the essence of God’s glory that the multiplicity of languages is heard.

If you want a foretaste of heaven on earth don’t look for a place with a single culture, a single language, look instead to a High Street where every language under heaven can be heard … for that will be a foretaste of that rich multiplicity there is in heaven!

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’

And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing,

‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom

and thanksgiving and honour

and power and might

be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’ 

Acts 5 - The Gamaliel Principle

It as great welcoming Eric last week … and sharing with him.  It was good to hear the response he shared with us for his grandson Noah, giving an account of the faith that is within him.

I put a summary of the thoughts Eric shared morning and evening up on the web site in the hope that maybe the family would be able to have a look and see some of Eric’s thoughts.

I also put up the video clip I played on Sunday morning in which he told of his invitation to come here to Highbury and of that first meeting at which Dick was present as a Deacon.

It was ? Wright’s sense of vision that caught Eric’s imagination.  Highbury was looking for someone who was prepared to experiment even if the experiment should fail.  With a vision like that Eric thought this was a church worth belonging to.

It’s been great to have such encouragement from Eric and indeed from Lawrence, Eric, hrough Bunyan meeting in Bedford, Clifford, and of course Clifford  Small.

It is an honour and a privilege and humbling to share in ministry.   But the ministry I share as Felicity observed last Sunday is shaped by all of us who belong.  We are part of  one another.

It is easy to forget just how radical Eric’s thinking was as he moved from afternoon Sunday School to Junior Church and all age church with his tremendous emphasis on children, young people and the whole family of the church of every age and every generation.

It was that sense of vision and risk taking that Eric shared as he arrived here – put across in that little book and put into practice here that is very much the spirit of the church as we go forward.

But that  has risks.

How do we know that it is of God?

I think there is much to learn from the book of the  Acts of the Apostles and the experience of the early church.

It’s hard to realise now how radical and different thigns were among the first followers of Jesus.

Something was happening that for them was the fulfilment of all the prophets of old and very much the fulfilment of all it meant to be authrencitally Jewish.

The waiting in fear and expectation, above all in prayer of chapter 1

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in chapter 2 and the devotion they had to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

There was a sense of awe as the healing and loving ministry of Jesus that had seemed to be cut short at crucifixion was now let loose into the world by the unseen yet very real strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit of God.

And so chapter 3 finds Peter and John bringing healing to the lame man at the beautiful gate and going head to head with the authorities.

Something new is happening.

The people are moved.

But it is disconcerting for the powers that be – the priests, the captain o fthe temple, the Sadducees, the Council – the Herodian power base in Jerusalem had been un-nerved by Jesus’ take on what it means to be Jewish … and they were now deeply disturbed that this Jesus thing had not been suppressed but seemed to be catching on like wildfire.

They had Peter and John imprisoned, instructed them to keep quiet.  But with the prayers of the believers they refuse to keep quiet.

There was a sense of the filling of the Holy Spirit and they found they spoke the word of God with boldness.

And they shared.  They lived out a life of love.

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

A real sense of sharing and of community.

This is something new … but how do you know it is authentic?

Ananias and Saphira found out the hard way.  They thought they could play the game their way – holdback some of their possessions.   Their untimely death was seen by the early Christian community as a warning.

The way hurting people were healed was seen by that Christian community as a sign of the presence of God with them.

Here are two indications I think we can draw on today as we test out the authenticity of what it means to be church.

I read the Ananias and Saphira story as a story of consequences.  It is as we depart from the pattern of sharing, of caring of mutual love that consequences happen – divisions creep in, things fall apart and things turn to dust.  It is important in church to reaffirm the basic commitment we have to one another in a community that shares and cares and loves with one another.

And at the heart of what we do we bring healing to hurting pople’s lives.  Not to underestimate the importance of prayer for healing.   It was moving at our Church Meeting on  Thursday when we agreed the new framework for the life of the church, and having already got a Minsitry Leader for children in Carolyn, appointed the second of our Ministry leaders to a job share Ministry Leader for Pastoral Care – Lorraine and Diana.

David and Betty, Phil and Joyce, took on the role of co-ordinating pastoral care from Olga and Joan and said they would do that for five years.  Earlier in the year, they said they wanted to hand over by the end of August.  And it seemed right not just to appoint someone to co-ordinate that work, but to appoint our Ministry Leader for Pastoral Care.

Part of that process involved an interview the main part of which Lorraine and Diana shared at the Church Meeting.  It was moving to hear Diana speak of the way as a student physiotherapist and member of the Christian Union she visited in hospital of a Sunday afternoon and would share a prayer with those she visited.

Moving too to hear Lorraine speaking of her commitment to hospital chaplaincy and the prayer chain that has become so very much part of the prayer life of the church.

It is not just a ministry of pastoral care, it is a ministry of healing as we sahre in that prayer … and that sense of healing is a mark of what church is.

Then the powers that be step in.  It is the herodian dynasty Luke is careful to tell us – The High Priest took action, he and all who were with him (that is the sect of the Sadducees).  This is no the Jews – it is that narrow band of people with power.  Power that had scandalised and deeply offended Jesus’ sense of what it truly means to be Jewish.  Power that stood in the way of Peter and John and the others.

So it is they are brought before the council and questioned by the High Priest.

And then comes a remarkable statement in response to a clear question …

The high priest questioned them, 28saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.’ 29But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.

This statement has been the inspiration of a William Wilberforce, of a Martin Luther King – the grounds of so much authentic Christianity – the willingness to stand over against the powers that be.

30The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.

Luke is very careful – it is not ‘you’ the Jews.  But ‘you’ the power base of the Jerusalem Herodian hierarchy.  This is so important for us to realise!!!

 31God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, so that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.’

If the cap fits, wear it.

And those Herodians when they heard it were enraged and wanted to kill them.

But then it was that someone spoke out.

A Pharisee.

A cursory reading of the NT can make the Pharisees appear to be the baddies.  A careful reading shows that among the Phariseess were some very genuine people, seeking to live out their faith and seeking the truth.

Here we arrive at a key principle.

A key thing to test innovation, change, the kind of experimenting Highbury looked for in Eric, the kind of risk-taking Eric saw to be so important to the church’s vision, the kind of change we are at the moment working through.

But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. 35Then he said to them, ‘Fellow-Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. 36For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. 37After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; 39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!’

It’s what I think you could call, ‘the Gamaliel Principle’

if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; 39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!’

It is by the fruits that people’s faith can be seen and that the church is known to be truly the church.

Into God’s hands.

We do what we can.  We seek out wisdom.  In all our sharing we listen to each other, and then in Chruch meeting we seek the mind of Christ.  And then we act on it.

If it is of  God it will go forward and will be to his glory.  And if not it will fail.

We don’t know.  We need to take the risk and go with it.

Interestingly even the powers that be could not gainsay Gamaliel.

They were convinced by him, 40and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

What was their response?

 41As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name.

And did they obey the authorities and from that time on keep quiet?

Did they water down their message?

Not a bit of it!

42And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.

Worth testing –

1. Seek to be of one mind and not just out for your own
2. Be caring and bring healing where people hurt
3. Stand firm for Christ against the powers that be
4. If it’s of God it will go from strength to strength
5. And most important of all – do not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah
6.  

Acts 4 - In whose name?

I feel a little betwixt and between!

Last Sunday we had our Church weekend away at Brunel Manor and we were joined by Jonathan Rowe whose family has been very much part of the Highbury Church Family for something like 125 years, if not more!

Next Sunday we hope to be joined by Eric Burton who was Minister here at Highbury nearly 50 years ago and we will delight in sharing with him in a celebration of the 60^th anniversary of his Ordination.

And here we are continuing to read the Acts of the Apostles.

Something leaps off the page at me that connects last week and next week here as we read Acts chapter 4.

The first thing that leaps off the page at me is the importance of hearing one another’s stories and the importance of telling the story.  Jonathan last week got us telling in one minute why we are a Christian.   Seeing the way Eric has been preparing his services for next Sunday, Eric will be sharing with us what is important to him about his Christian faith and the last 60 years.

Both Jonathan last week and Eric next week find themselves turning to Peter, whose story is told in these opening chapters of Acts.

It’s fascinating to see how Acts works – it is very much the story of the way the Holy spirit is at work through the followers of Jesus who form the church in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And it begins in Jersualem,

And it is in Jerusalem that Peter is the focus of the story.

He’s the one who speaks for the others on the Day of Pentecost and his sermon is recorded in chapter 2.   He is the one who brings healing to the lame man at the beautiful gate and the sermon he shared is recorded in chapter 3.

And now in chapter 4 we come across a third sermon Peter preaches … this time in response to the challenge he receives from the powers that be in Jerusalem who have him imprisoned.

Put on the spot, Peter is prepared to give an account of the hope that is within him.

Very much later when he writes a round-robin letter to the Christians who have by that time reached out beyond Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth – Peter’s letter speaks of times when Christians will face difficulty, even suffering and persecution and he gives them a challenge.

This is the verse Jonathan made a great deal of last week.

This is the verse that Eric has included in his plans for next Sunday’s servivces.

I feel it is becoming something of a theme!

I like the NIV

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

This is exactly what Peter does here in Jerusalem.

I must make one aside that is really important.

Acts 4 and what goes on in Jerusalem is one of those dangerous parts of the Bible that has been used to justify all manner of awful things particularly to Jewish people, culminating in the horrors of the holocaust.

It’s so easy to read Acts and see the followers of Jesus and the Church as over against Jews and Jewish people.

It’s important to read the text more carefully.

And this is a moment to do that of supreme importance.

Look carefully at the opening verses of chapter 4 of Acts and Luke spells out for us just who Peter and those first followers of Jesus were up against.  It is not Jews as Jews.  It is a particular set of people within the Jewish world of that time.  And it is clear from the way Luke names them and identifies them that they are the set of people who are very much bound up with the Herodian dynasty and all they stand for in working closely with the Roman powers in a way that many Jewish people found abhorrent.

4While Peter and John were speaking to the people,

It is very easy to lose sight of the fact that Peter and John are both Jewish and ‘the people’ are all Jewish at this point.  They are differentiated from the ones that take offence at what Peter and the first followers of Jesus are saying.

the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them,

the priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees are the powerful element in the Jewish aristocracy who control the temple very much in the Herodian way in collaboration with Rome.

2much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.

This was offensive theologically to the Saduccees but also it focused on the point at which Jesus took on the powers that be and offered a very different way of being Jewish from their understanding of it.

 3So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

They are the powerful aristocracy in Jerusalem.

 4But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

These are ‘the people’ and these are all Jewish.

You can see how easy it is to overlook the Jewishness of the first followers of Jesus.

5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, 6with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

As if it wasn’t already clear enough Luke now goes out of his way to name the ones involved and they are all Herodians who are part of the Herodian take over of power in collaboration with the Romans that was so offensive to many, many people in the Jewish world of the time, not least Jesus and his first followers.

Herod the Great had introduced a regime in the temple drawing the High Priests from newly designated families.  When the Romans took over the responsibilities Herod the Great’s son had initially it was the Roman Procurator who appointed the High Priests – so these people who are the ones opposed to the first followers of Jesus are ones very much at the heart of what many Jewish people saw as the Herodian perversion of the Jewish way.

Then comes the response Peter makes.

And this is what I want to focus on.

Explaining the hope that is within you … giving an answer to those who ask is actually scary.

Here it goes without saying – accompanied as it is by persecution, imprisonment and the suffering that went with it.  But it is scary in any situation.

So much easier to duck the issue.

To change the subject.

Indeed, so many places we are in say it is rude socially to talk religion and politics.

It can be scary.

But we are not alone.

Jesus had promised Peter and his followers that the Holy Spirit would give them the right words to say when they were put on the spot.

And that’s the starting point for Peter.

Verse 8.  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them.

Lord, help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that you and I together can’t handle.  The plaque on my wall!

The unseen strengthening of God in the Spirit.

Peter does not focus on what he has done – but immediately looks beyond to Jesus.

That’s so important.  The Christian faith is not measured by the strength of the stories we tell, but by the strength of Jesus Christ.

Yes, we can tell something of our story.

But the most important thing is to turn to Jesus.

The suffering, the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

There is a common thread going through all these summaries of the sermons of the first followers of |Jesus – their focus on Jesus.

The power of the name of Jesus – there is salvation in no one else.

‘Rulers of the people and elders

Not all Jewish people but the rulers and the elders – the powerful ones -

, 9if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, 10let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

The focus on Jesus is all important – not on the things I have done.

 whom you crucified

NOT all Jewish people as over the centuries so many came to read these words – but a particular set of people within the Jewish world – those who had claimed power the Herodian way in collaboration with Rome.  They were the ones who had crucified Jesus.

, whom God raised from the dead. 11This Jesus is

“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;

   it has become the cornerstone.”

12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’

Salvation – health – wholeness – a wonderful play on words in what is going on here.

And the power of the Name of Jesus.

Wonderful response – amazement.  They recognised them as ‘the companions of Jesus’.

Friends of Jesus.

Wonderful thing for people to say of us – that we were companions of Jesus.

Then the powers that be seek to silence Peter.

And Peter and the others will not be silenced.

They must speak out.

They are released.

And the people pray.

Wonderful prayer – spells out the Herodian – Roman alliance

There is an outpouring of the Spirit and they are strengthened to speak the word with boldness.  And the story finishes with them sharing all they have with each other.  Living in community, a community that itself is the message of Christ.

Betwixt and between?

Last week at Brunel Manor, next week all being well with Eric we celebrate being church, being community – most important of all that we are companions with Jesus – the invitation to answer people and give an account of the hope that is within us by turning people to the story of Jesus, not in our own strength but in the strength of God through the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3 - Devoted to the Prayers

Prinknash Abbey have been celebrating a centenary this march.  It is one hundred years since the monastic community on Caldey Island decided to become Roman Catholic and a part of the Subaico Congregation of the Order of St Benedict.  It was a few years later that they moved from Caldey Island to Prinknash.  This year they have been joined by their mother Congregation, the Cassinese Benedictine Congregation, one of whose monoasteries is at Monte Cassino and so are known as the Subiaco-Cassinese Congregation.

Abbot Francis writes movingly of the importance of ‘Being open to the call from God – whatever that might be and wherever it might lead us – and that, he suggests, takes courage and perseverance.  “If we are to  be faithful we need to have complete trust in the one who calls.  This is why St Benedict, right at the beginning of His Holy Rule shows us the importance of developing a listening heart; for it is in the silence of our own hearts that the Holy Spirit communies with us, in ways that are beyond words.

“Discerning God’s will for us on our journey through life is seldom easy – even Jesus would at times go off to a quiet spot, away from his disciples and the crowds, to pray to his Heavenly Father, to gain the strength, the courage and the discernment to carry out his Father’s will perfectly.”

Those words are wonderful – ‘it is in the silence of our own hearts that the Holy Spirit communes with us in ways that are beyond words.”

Hold on to that thought for a moment.

That afternoon I spent an hour with Sylvia Lauder, Artist in Residence at St Luke’s church as we planned an evening we are going to share together a fortnight on Tuesday as part of the Cheltenham Open Studios week.  The talk we are going to share is entitled ‘Finding the Light’.  Last year Sylvia visited Bethlehem to stay in a Convent that once was in the Judean Desert and now is in the shadow of the wall that surrounds Bethlehem.  She was there to ‘write an icon’.  She is going to share her experiences and I am going to reflect on the significance of icons as I have encountered them in three very specific instances.  For 10 years Sylvia has had her studio in an unuseable gallery over the entrance door to St Luke’s church.   She spoke of the importance of the silence in that convent, in her own experience in the church – a silence in which there can be a sense of the presence that is so powerful.

Hold on to that thought for a moment.

Driving from St Luke’s where I had just seen John on his way into surgery, over to Min who has returned home from hospital this week I was listening to the radio news.  Full of the horrific aftermath of the unutterable things that had happened with the murder in Woolwich.

He was speaking with the General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Great Britain – speaking of the need in the aftermath of such terror not to be drawn into the terror and play the terrorist’s game by descending into fear and recrimination among the faith communities.  But rather of the need for the communities of faith to come together and be a support.  The General Secretary of the Muslim Council could not have been more outspoken in his utter abhorrence of what had happened and appealed for a neighbourly love to be shared across the faith communities.

Three images I want to  hold on to for a moment.

Prayer precedes Pentecost.

What’s fascinating as we move on beyond Pentecost is that we see that Prayer proceeds from Pentecost.

I know the verse so well.  And yet as I was preparing for today’s services I saw it afresh.

There are four marks of the church that are noted

The Apostles’ Teaching

Fellowship

Breaking of Bread and Prayer

But I looked that Acts 2:42 verse up again.

And I noticed it said,

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

That’s an interesting expression.

Not ‘prayer’

But ‘the prayers’

The  Day of Pentecost over the next thing that happens is a healing and it is so easy to focus on the healing and then the explanation of the faith that goes with that healing that Peter gives in the rest of Acts 3.

But I want to notice the very opening words of that account.

One day Peter and John were going tup to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

Very interesting glimpse of something they did and something that was important to them.

A reminder of the pattern of prayer that went on in the temple.

It is something you catch a glimpse of in the Book of Daniel – an incredibly powerful book that speaks of the challenge there is to faith in a hostile world and tells of the way in which faith is sustained in the face of a hostile world.

Daniel far away from Jerusalem in the hostile environment of the court of King Darius does something very particular.

He went to his house which had windows in its upper room open towards Jerusalem, and he got down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him just as ever he had done.

A pattern of prayer.

The value of a pattern of prayer – the important of ‘the prayers’.

Here in Jerusalem Peter and John, those close friends, following in the footsteps of Jesus made their way to the Temple and there to share in the prayers.  At the hour of prayer, 3 o’clock in the afternoon they were going there to pray.

St Benedict did what all those who have sought to bring reformation into the church have done – he wanted to go back to the roots of the simplicity of following in the footsteps of Jesus – the communal sharing in community of the early church.  And he too found it valuable to have times of prayer through the day.

The hours of prayer that still that community in Prinknash observe.

That Convent in Bethlehem had its heart the rhythm of a praying community that so moved Sylvia.

And Justin Welby and Ibrahahim Mogra.  I googled the story.  And it was one of those moments I found quite moving.  The Archbhishop of Canterbury had a scheduled visit to Leicester last week – he rearranged things and saw to it that he shared with key members nationally of the Muslim and Christian communities. The press release was moving – and I felt spoke so appropriately into the awfulness of all that had happened.

I recognised the place he made his statement to the press.  It’s on a kind of island where the main Evington Road forks.  On one side is the infant school I attended, Evington Valley infants School.  On the other side is St Philip’s church – now a centre for dialogue between faith communities that is doing remarkable work in building bridges in the community in Leicester and further afield – nurturing the kind of dialogue that is steadfast to one’s one faith while being loving and open towards the faith communities of others.

And on that ‘island’ in the fork between the two roads – a Mosque.

Many of the customs of Islam were drawn from the church of the time – and the centrality of prayer is one of them.  The prayer times through the day.  Important to honour and respect a praying people.

At this kind of time when terror threatens to fracture our society, maybe prayer is the thing we should be committed to.  Praying for the society we are in to be at one with each other.

It’s not quite me to celebrate a birthday.  I was more than a little reluctant.  Thanks to Felicity for getting family together with church family as well – and good to share.  A birthday is a day to think of parents and remember.  And that was the spot where my mother died all of ninenteen years ago.

Moving in a strange way.

How do we respond to the nation’s sense of tragedy in the wake of the murder in Woolwich?

How do we respond to our own sense of tragedy in the wake of such sadnesses?

Maybe we need to go back to the recognition given by Peter and John in the days after Pentecost that it is important to be committed to the prayers. To the hour of prayer.

Cultivate a pattern of prayer.   Five times a day has dwindled to three times on a Sunday and then to twice on a Sunday and then to once.  And what about during the week?  The value of a pattern of prayer.

The thing is that when there is a pattern of prayer it keeps the channels open with God and through those channels the grace of God’s love can be released in all sorts of  healing ways into our lives and into our world.

Acts 2 - Deeds done, Words shared, Lives changed - A Pentecost Sermon

Words are not enough you must have actions as well.

Put it into practice.

Good scriptural warrant as well – faith without works is dead.

You can take that further – I have on my shelves a figure of St Francis holding a bird in his hand – one of those treasured gifts given me by friend Maurice and acquired by him from the Sue Ryder Shop.

The prayer of St Francis was a prayer I learned once and can almost remember now.

Commitment to creation and a passion for the poor have made a powerful impact on me.

And what he said – share the love of God and use words if you have to goes to the heart of something that is very special.

Actions speak louder than words.

So, show your love.

Yes, all wonderful.

It drives the kind of approach to mission we have as a church and have had over the years.  It chimes with the people we are.  We are do-ers.  Helping others.

I think we can look at things another way.  And the Book of Acts encourages us to do that.

As the title suggests this is a book all about actions – things that happen.  Things that are done.

But look more closely at the events of the Day of Pentecost and something interesting emerges that prompts us to think again.

First, comes all the action.  In that upper room suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filed the entire house where they were sitting … then divided tongues as of fire rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

They rush down the steps and on to the street.

People are amazed at wht happens and what they see.

That’s what happened.  That’s the action.

Then comes an explanation of what’s going on, what the significance of the action is.  And fascinatingly, the explanation goes on for a lot longer than the action.  It begins at verse 14 and goes on until verse 36.

Peter gets up and explains what had happened and what it all meant.

He starts by recalling the hopes and fears of the Prophet Joel who had looked to a time when the Spirit of God, that unseen yet very real presence would be let loose in the world and impact on the lives of people of all shapes and sizes.

When sons and saughters would prophesy, young men see visions, old men dream dreams and even slaves, both men and women would speak out forcefully God’s word anas the Spirit was poured out on them.

This was it … this was happening.  This is that long-expected time.

He then goes on to tell the story of Jesus – recalling his deeds of power, the wonders and the signs he did, how he was handed over to the authorities in Jerusalem and crucified .

He tells of the resurrection victory – how it was impossible for him to be held in the power of death, but God raised him up, freeing him from death.

In the line of David, yet so much more than the greatest of the Kings of Israel – these were the days when God’s kingdom was arriving.

Jesus, raised and exalted to be at the right hand of God had let loose this unseen, yet very real power, the Holy Spirit into people’s lives.   The crucified Jesus has become Lord and Messiah.

Pause at this point in the chapter and two things have gone on.  First something has happened – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Second, someone, Peter, has given an account of the significance of what has happened, what has gone on.

It is then that there is a reaction on the part of the onlookers.

They want to know what they can do.

Make a fresh start of things, repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away everyone whome the Lord our God calls to him.

What a wonderful thought.

That’s not the end of it.  Peter continued to testify with many other arguments and appealed them to save themselves from all the sheer awfulness, the horribleness that was going on in the world at that time.

What goes on there mirrors what happened in the life of Jesus.  In Acts 1:1 Luke had recalled his first volume, the  Gospel which had summarised all that Jesus did and taught.  Note the sequence.

Now something had happened – and it was followed by an account of the significance of what had happened.

Peter went on much later to feel this was something that should be a model for all Christian believers, for us as well.

In 1 Peter 3 Peter speaks of the need to be ‘do-ers’  and the need to DO what is right.

It is the Francis of Assisi approach – indeed these are the kind of owords that are the inspiration of the Prayer of St Francis.

Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing. 10For

‘Those who desire life

   and desire to see good days,

let them keep their tongues from evil

   and their lips from speaking deceit;

11 let them turn away from evil and do good;

   let them seek peace and pursue it.

DO GOOD – that is the key to the Christian life.

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.

Such doing good will not always be acclaimed, however.  There will be those who are highly critical.  Peter was writing at a time when doing good in this way could easily result in persecution – awful suffering.

So the doing, the action needs to be followed by words …

Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence.

Add to the actions words.

It is not put your words into action.  It is rather follow your actions with words that give an account of why it is that you do what you do.  Words that give an account of the hope that is in you.

Coming back to the story of Acts 2 – those who welcomed this message were baptized and that day about three thousand persons were added.

Then what they did next are the marks of the Church – marks of the church we too should take very much to heart.

42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

It impacted on the way they lived, and the way they shared together –

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

A remarkable community of sharing – from those according to their means to those according to their need.

46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Deeds done

Words shred

Lives changed

There is a cycle here whereby the faith is communicated and passed on.

And what of us?

Actions of caring and sharing are so important.  In a funny way I think sometimes we are stronger on the actions.  We do the caring, we seek to share and to meet the needs of others.

What we are not so good at is giving an account of the hope that is in us – passing on the faith that is important in our hearts.

It’s the approach of Street Pastors.  You can’t as a Street Pastor go round ‘evangilising’ – you are simply there to help.  But as someone asks you why you are doing what you do, what a Street Pastor is, then you can give an account of the hope that is within you.

It’s the approach of Chaplaincy, as we were welcoming Brenda, our new chaplain to Cheltenham General on Thursday and re-commissioning the chaplaincy team.  A chaplain cannot ‘evangelise’ – they are there to listen and to share.  And it is in response to people’s questioning and seeking that they are to be ready to give an account of the hope that is within them.

Maybe that is the thing we need to develop further – explaining to people the faith that is important to us.  Why it is we do the things we do – why it is the faith we have makes a difference in our lives.

The Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.