Why is Jesus so difficult?

Jesus is so difficult to follow. The problem with him is that just when you want him to conveniently approve of something you do he says just the opposite.

So just as America – “one nation under God” – celebrates the death of Osama Bin Laden the words of Jesus, uttered on a middle-Eastern hillside and recorded in Luke’s Gospel in the Bible come back to haunt them.

²⁷ But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

    ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you.

    ²⁹ If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.

    ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

    ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

    ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.

    ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that.

    ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, expecting to be repaid in full.

    ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

    ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

That’s just not in the US rhetoric now, at least not in the public rhetoric.

“Rot in hell,” says the he

adline.

“It’s a good day for America,” says President Obama.

“Obama 1, Osama 0,” said one banner.

But Jesus won’t let it go; the Bible won’t let it go. As Brian McLaren says on his blog: ‘Joyfully celebrating the killing of a killer who joyfully celebrated killing carries an irony that I hope will not be lost on us. Are we learning anything, or simply spinning harder in the cycle of violence?’

I remember reading Barack Obama’s first book with a rising sense of hope that here was a leader who would be different; who would be a man of moral purpose. Now as I hear him utter the same things previous world leaders have said – including past and present British Prime Ministers – my heart sinks.

Where is the change I hoped for, and would have voted for if I was American?

And then a little voice whispers in my ear as I sit comfortably in a British coffee shop – well, ironically an American coffee shop in Britain! ‘Do you remember what the church in Corinth was told?’

1 Corinthians 10

Warnings From Israel’s History

 ¹ For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.

    ² They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

    ³ They all ate the same spiritual food

    ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

    ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.

    ⁶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

    ⁷ Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.

    ⁸ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did— and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.

    ⁹ We should not test the Lord, as some of them did— and were killed by snakes.

    ¹⁰ And do not grumble, as some of them did— and were killed by the destroying angel.

    ¹¹ These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come.

    ¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

It can be so easy to point the finger from the comfort of my coffee. I am still uneasy – more than uneasy, I am deeply disturbed by the kind of triumphal scenes being paraded at the death of Bin Laden.

I also know, however, that it’s too easy to point a finger and claim to be prophetic and at the same time be on the brink of an equally-catastrophic failure of my own. I may not have ordered anyone’s killing but I don’t have the weight of the Western world on my shoulders each day.

It is the duty of every follower of Christ to speak out against injustice and to remind the world that the crucified carpenter would not let violence be the answer. But we also have to guard our own hearts. As someone used to remind me – every time we point our finger at someone, three others point back at ourselves.

Sunday sun shrine

A Sunday on the French Riviera and what to do? Our friendly neighbours told us that there was a morning market in Port Grimaud – just a 10-minute walk from the campsite – so we headed off to take a look.

Certainly no sign of anyone heading off to church although there had been some Twitter chat about appropriate hymns for the England team’s failure to beat America in the World Cup. How about “Draw me close to you” especially after goalkeeper Robert Green’s unfortunate Hand of Clod episode – the next line is “never let me go”.

Anyway, soccer musings aside, we walked into the millionaire’s playground to see how people spent a sunny morning here. Port Grimaud is like Venice – once you get past the security barriers. In fairness they only keep out unsavoury drivers; almost anyone can walk in, including us!!

Crossing the first bridge takes you into a square which is transformed into a market, slightly upmarket as you would expect. It was the first French market I’ve ever been to, for example, without a single Morrocan selling Bob Marley towels.

The next bridge, deeper into Port Grimaud, reveals the first glimpse of the boats and yachts to come and then another square of stalls. If you look closely you can see something of the Med’s past. One or two of the stallholders have that permanently-glazed look from the flower power days, one still had her hair held in place by a bootlace-thin strand of leather; another wrapped what looked suspiciously like a kaftan round her.

On to the harbour where some of the super yachts waited at the sort of shrine that’s reserved for the very few – the very, very rich. The kind who can afford to click a couple of fingers and send someone out to buy whatever they want whenever they feel like it. As we gawped, four Dutch girls persuaded someone else to take their photo posing alongside a yacht called Chocolat registered in London. As they studied the digital image they looked at each other, shrieked something in Dutch which had one recognisable phrase: “something from Sex and the City”.

The irony was that these extraordinary displays of super-wealth, six yachts backed up against the harbour like some defensive wall of overpaid footballers anticipating a thunderous free kick from out in the bay, were no more than 10 feet from the doors of the community’s ecumenical church.

The building that represents a man who had nothing but the clothes he stood up in opens its doors in defiant welcome to the obscenely rich and the desperately poor. In that place Jesus says to them ‘however you arrived here, and however much you carried with you, makes no difference.’

At this Sunday sun shrine, where we couldn’t even have bought the inflatable boat that sat on the top of the super yacht – see Joy’s optimistic posing next to it! – there was that wonderfully disruptive invasion of the Gospel that said: ‘I’m still here and I’m not going away.’

Reality on the menu please

The sun has reappeared after 24 hours of rain – God’s timing spot on as always because the blue skies returned just in time for Sunday lunchtime’s street party here at Le Pas Opton in the Vendee.

It’s something of a tradition now at Spring Harvest Holidays for the main entrance to be blocked off by tables and chairs and a bank of red-hot barbecues as families join in with their picnics. You see the people who have cooked pasta or made salads sitting next to those who have shot into the site’s shop and bought a pack of saucissons – and those who’ve just brought along a baguette!

But the great thing is that people who’ve never before spoken to each other sit side by side and chat like long-lost friends. As a former minister of mine used to say “well if I’m going to spend eternity with you I ought to find out something about you.”

Food was really important to Jesus, of course. He made sure the disciples caught enough fish after a fruitless night at sea because they needed to be able to feed themselves and sell some to make money; he feed 5,000 men (plus women and children) with a packed lunch; he enjoyed parties – especially with the wrong kind of people; he loved the conversations that came out of sitting at a meal with people.

And of course, on the night before he died – the night people were plotting to do away with him – he took bread and wine and turned a simple meal into a profound encounter. He took bread and broke it and declared it to be his body. He lifted up the wine and said it was his blood – a new covenant for the world for the forgiveness of sins.

As church we need to learn to a

ppreciate food for its own sake; that it’s good just to eat and be together. You don’t need an ulterior motive – ooh, perhaps if I make a really good cassoulet it may convince my next door neighbour that they ought to try Family Service on Sunday. Or perhaps they may just get to like you a bit!

Of course we want people to come to faith and discover Jesus for themselves but surely because they realise that the people who are in the church are Good News people in every way?

The ‘how much more’ God

We are beginning almost a month in France as I come towards the end of a Sabbatical –  a gift from the Methodist Church.

It’s a chance to do a number of things and here all the cliches could come out: recharge the batteries; rest from the fight; find yourself; do something different. In a way they are all true and all wrong.

A sabbatical can be a glorious waste of time – and that may be just what you should do. I know of at least one friend who decided that he would spend the time reintroducing himself to his family because he spent so long away from them working that he believed, rightly, that he owed them the best gift: time.

For me, two months into the three, I’m beginning to hear something clear from God. Whether it will translate into anything usable for work I don’t know but I do know that I can sense him speaking in the place where we are now.

We’ve begun our time in France at Spring Harvest’s holiday Park Le Pas Opton. It’s our fourth visit and this time we’ve brought our little caravan to the Vendee at the beginning of a trip around six different caravan sites from the West coast to St Tropez, via St Etienne.

This morning, Christophe the site manager, was speaking at the morning worship and talked about logic, or rather the illogicality of God choosing to work with people like us to share his love in the world. He quoted Jesus (always a good idea, I find!) who, in Matthew’s Gospel, encourages people not to worry:

^{Matthew 7:}

⁷“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Christophe went on to talk about the logic of asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and having something open but what struck me was the ‘how much more’ God. In this conversation where we can expect the obvious to happen – so doors open when you knock – comes a Father who surpasses the ordinary and works on the ‘how much more’ level.

I’m excited to explore more of this as the final sabbatical goes on. What does it mean to follow a ‘how much more’ God. How does it change expectations? What does it mean for ministry, for church, for the way church works?

Sing Christmas – a village in harmony

The community of Tregony defied the icy roads to join BBC radio’s massive interactive carol service and to Sing Christmas in fine style.

The village, on the Roseland Peninsula just outside Truro in Cornwall, UK, was one of the places that hooked up with the service that the Beeb broadcast across its stations in Cornwall, Devon and the Channel Islands as well as streaming on the Internet.

Between 60 and 70 people were at the King’s Arms, Tregony, and others had telephoned Darren, the landlord, to say that they would have been there except for the icy roads. They sang carols, built up a nativity scene, wrote prayers on star-shaped Post-It Notes and heard about the real message of Christmas from a range of snapshot interviews.

Before the service, reporter Denis Nightingale did some live on-air interview with parish church member Jenny Deal, who is a regular at the Sunday night pub quiz; Gwen Booth, who was a member in the village Methodist Church before it shut; myself; Penny Mergler, who chairs the governors at the Roseland School and also is a leading member of the Clockhouse Players (the panto society); and Steve Bowyer, who runs a holiday business in the area and plays the cowardly lion in next year’s panto The Wizard of Oz.

The reaction after the service was incredibly positive. Landlord Darren wanted to book for 2010 straight away!

To those who feel that churches ought not to be in pubs, here was the proof that they should. Most of the people in the King’s Arms would never go to church, even for a carol service, but they heard a Gospel message last night in a setting that was comfortable, welcoming and fun.

Christmas letter 2009

A man decided to buy his wife a really special Christmas gift and visited a posh department store. The assistant showed him a bottle of perfume for £150. ‘I’m not paying that,’ he spluttered. ‘Have you got a smaller bottle?’

After rejecting the £75, £35 and tiny £10 bottles of the same brand he demanded to know the cheapest thing they had in the store.

The assistant reached under the counter and handed him a small mirror. She said: ‘I believe if you look in there, sir, you’ll see the cheapest thing we have in the shop.’

The Bible says that when Jesus came in the stable at Bethlehem he came as the ‘exact representation of God’s being’ … God’s mirror image, if you like. Our prayer is that you find time this Christmas to find the real Christmas in the middle of all the other great things that go on.

Joy and Gareth Well, we’ve had an amazing year. Not just getting used to being in our new home and Gareth’s new job, but three family weddings to enjoy and another one in the planning!

Siân and Damien married at the end of May (more of that below) but also both of Gareth’s sisters got married – and neither of those were expected when we wrote last year’s letter!

The first was Claire who married in St Ives at the end of March. She and new husband Dave Walter now live in Braunton, Devon. Youngest daughter Sarah is with them while Rachel and Hannah are in St Ives with their father.

Then Betsan married Steve at the start of August. She managed to begin the day as Miss Hill and ended it as Mrs Hill! Steve is a Methodist minister and within very few days Bee, Steve and Chloe had moved to Crosby near Liverpool where Steve is the Superintendent Minister of a Methodist Circuit. Gareth was thrilled to be asked to conduct the service.

The weddings meant that both Gareth’s sisters moved out of Cornwall within a few months of each other – he wondered whether it was something he said! – and contact is now through Facebook, text messages, phone calls and the occasional visits.

But we all work hard at keeping in touch and, during a holiday trip to Merseyside, also saw Gareth’s brother Mike and his family.

Gareth has had some preaching invitations this year including at Llanyrafon Methodist Church, which his parents helped to build, and at Park Road Methodist Church, Hastings, which meant that we could spend the weekend with Joy’s brother Pete and his family. That included the obligatory dip in the hot tub!

For Joy, the highlight of the year was her 50th birthday which featured a 70s disco. It was lovely to see friends from her childhood and from recent years coming together for the evening.

It also brought her back in touch with Lynny (pictured below), her best friend through the 70s, and they’ve been in virtually daily contact since through Facebook, despite Lynny spending many weeks out of the country.

In April we celebrated our Pearl (30th) wedding anniversary and went to London to see Les Miserables - an amazing show.

Next year Gareth has a sabbatical, the gift from the Methodist Church of three months paid leave. He’s aiming to do some more hymn writing and to try to build a book around some of the hymns he’s already written (you can find them on www.cybervicar.com). We’re also looking forward to taking our ageing caravan to France for an extended break.

Before that there’s still plenty to do at work. Joy is into her 11th year on the children’s unit at Treliske Hospital, Truro; battling with a new system for serving food.

There’s also more involvement in village life. We’re firmly established in the Clockhouse Players and rehearsing for next year’s panto with Gareth in the title role as The Wizard of Oz. And there’s pub quiz on Sunday nights.

Both of these are a key part of Gareth’s work – doing church for people who don’t do church – and led up to the pub hosting a link-up with the BBC in the South West for a interactive carol service in Christmas week.

We also now have a LIFE group that meets at our house twice a month and are looking at how to develop contemporary worship in the area. A very successful Alpha group has just finished in a pub in St mawes.It’s been a year of major change for our children in all sorts of ways.

Siân and Damien The end of May brought Siân and Damien’s big day.

They were married at Llanyrafon Methodist Church on the most perfect sunny day. Gareth had been asked to write a hymn for the day.

They had already made the decision to move back to Cornwall after their jobs in Wales ended around Christmas last year – but while they were with us for the holiday were both offered their old posts back!

So Damien is now Head Chef at The Pickwick in St Issey, near Padstow and in the final six competitors for the Great British Pub food awards 2010. Siân is working on the reception team at The Metropole in Padstow.

They now live in a mobile home in the grounds of The Pickwick.

Andrew and Rose It’s also been a momentous year, one way or another, for Andrew, Rose and the boys.

This time last year Andrew was effectively the number 2 at a kitchen design and suply company on the edge of Plymouth but it was becoming increasingly clear that there were money problems in the company – particularly when Andrew didn’t get paid!

Eventually, Andrew made the brave decision to go and it proved to be wise. Soon afterwards the company went bust.

After a while looking at what he wanted to do he decided to try his hand at his Dad’s old career and is now a reporter at the Cornish Times in Liskeard. He covers Callington but also writes for the West Country Sunday paper The Sunday Independent, which is published from the same office.

Rose is continuing her degree studies in Child Development and also working part-time for the NHS – we don’t know where she gets the energy!

They have booked their wedding for August next year and we are really excited about that!

Rhys is six next March and has been doing really well at school, regularly bringing home certificates for his spelling and being congratulated for his behaviour.

He is having swimming lessons in the same pool that Tom Daley started in – and is eyeing the diving board rather too keenly!Matthew looks frightenly like Rhys did at the same age and loves calling his Nanny and Papa on the phone; especially leaving messages: “Hello! Hello! Hello! Bye!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light up, light up …

Telling people that they make a difference just by breathing could be seen as a bit presumptuous but that was the long and short of it when the crowds followed Jesus up a mountain all those centuries ago.

The young Rabbi was brilliant at leaving memorable pictures in his audience’s mind and that day he chose something that has echoed throughout the rest of human history.

You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

Re-reading his words in what is now called the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew’s Gospel in the New Testament of The Bible) it’s easy to forget how shocking it would have been for his listeners. The Jews were under occupation by Rome. At every turn columns of soldiers trooped past; taxation was heavy and oppression was evident in all sorts of ways.

It was a very dark time but here Jesus tells a hillside stuffed with the poor, the young and powerless women: ‘You are the light of the world’ … go on and change things.

It reminded me of being back in my home, the Eastern Valley of South Wales, and going on what is now a tourist’s visit to the Big Pit mining museum at Blaenafon (left). You put on a miner’s helmet, step into the cage and drop 90 metres down the shaft into the depths. Then, when everyone is ready to begin walking towards the pit face, the lights are turned off leaving everyone in absolute darkness.

Today, when it is impossible to escape from some form of light, the experience of being totally without it is astonishing.

How many people live lives of slow, crumbling darkness? Broken and unable to see any prospect of light at the end of their tunnel?

In Jesus’ day most households relied on the feeble, fragile light from small oil lamps barely 8cm across (right) and just able to throw some light about three feet. But when darkness fell it was this that enabled people to work, read and write.

And Jesus said: ‘You are the light of the world.’

He didn’t say that we might be if we try hard enough … or that some of us may be chosen one day … or that the richest or prettiest or tallest might be allowed to …

He looked at a hillside full of people – anyone who had chosen to turn up that day – and said: ‘You are …’. No opt-out clauses and no qualifying exams. As Snow Patrol put it in their magnificent track Run: ‘Light up, light up, as if you have a choice.’