My September article for our Parish Magazine

See www.beaconsfieldparishmag.org.uk for the full magazine...

September… new schools; new uniforms; new sports kits - new labels to be sewn (or glued) on.  Even if the name remains the same, it is the external labels which change: Nursery, Primary, Secondary and then perhaps 6^th Form and University.  And then what - do we ever stop learning and maturing?

As a curate, I’m in a recognised training role.  I need to provide evidence towards 46 learning outcomes during my 3+ years here.  This follows the three years at theological college, but that will not be the end of my study - all Anglican clergy are involved in regular reviews and “Continuing Ministerial Development”.  Indeed, during our ordination we are asked, “Will you be diligent in prayer, in reading Holy Scripture, and in all studies that will deepen your faith and fit you to bear witness to the truth of the gospel?”  We answer “By the help of God, I will”.  As someone who is not naturally ‘bookish’, it is reassuring to know that God helps me – indeed, his mission is my motivation.

Such promises ought not to be limited to the clergy.  I would hope that all Christians would want to deepen their faith so that we may witness to the truth of the gospel.  There are many ways to do this, including:

1)      For those who are relatively new to the faith, the Alpha Course provides a safe environment to explore the questions of life and some of the answers that Christianity provides.  We will be hosting a small group this autumn.

2)      For the more experienced, Cursillo provides “a short course in Christian Living” during a residential weekend at Douai Abbey and a method to continue in a life of prayer, study and action.  I would describe this as a course for the heart as much as the head.  See www.oxfordcursillo.co.uk for more information, including the next weekend from the evening of Thurs 30^th October to Sunday 2^nd November.

3)      We have a wide variety of house groups providing fellowship, support, learning, prayer and deepening faith.  I would encourage all church members to join an existing group or add your name to a waiting list for a new group.

If you would like to discuss where you are on your spiritual journey and what your next step might be, then I’d love to help.  But whatever you do, don’t stop learning!

Pause to Pray:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Romans 12:2)

Lord God,

open our minds to the light of your truth,

that mystery may unfold before us,

that knowledge may

shine around us

and that understanding may grow within us

in Jesus Christ our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

(Collect for Education - the Church in Wales)

A PCC trustee guide for F1 fans

“The function of the PCC includes complete co-operation with the incumbent” says a helpful Parish website for anyone who is interested.  At the same time, all members are primarily responsible as individual trustees under the prevailing charity law.  Are we acting as individuals or as a corporate body and are these two in conflict?  Well, it all depends on what you understand by “co-operate”.

The first definition means “to work together for the same end”.  When more than one person is needed to achieve a task, e.g. a pitstop as seen in F1, then they are all co-operating.  If one of the pitcrew notices a problem, it is his [or, if you prefer NASCAR, her!] duty to flag it up before releasing the car otherwise the wheels might fall off and the mission fails...

In this case, the black flag signalled the disqualification because someone failed in their individual responsibility: the whole team suffers, because they are in breach of the governing law.  Similarly, individual trustees of charities must not neglect their personal responsibilities.

As we approach Pentecost, think what Paul may have said (in 1 Cor 12:12-31): "there is one pitcrew, but many team members ...and we can't all be the lollipop man, otherwise who is going to operate the jack?"

The other meaning of co-operation seems to have more to do with coercion: the Google dictionary uses the example: "his captor threatened to kill him if he didn't cooperate".  This model is not recommended for a PCC!

Why Resurrection?

I was somewhat amused at the news reports last week that eating more fruit and vegetables “would reduce the risk of death”.  Somehow I think the risk is still 100% certainty, and it won’t go down to 99.99% no matter how much fruit and veg you eat!

Eating at least seven portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day was linked to a 42% lower risk of death from all causes. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

  As Benjamin Franklin observed: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes".  But what of the other world, the Kingdom over which Jesus presides?  What does this week’s gospel reading, the death and rising of life of Jesus’ friend Lazarus have to do with us?

The thing that most struck me is that Lazarus death and “reawakening” doesn’t seem to be as a result of Jesus’ love for his friend but for bringing glory to God.  I would like to think that Jesus hugged his newly-restored friend Lazarus at some point, but we are not told this.  Of course, Lazarus would die again - if I was Lazarus, I might have been a bit disappointed that I had awoken to the same life as before, rather than the eternal life that is promised.  Indeed, this whole episode wasn’t really for his benefit at all.  I’m sure he wasn’t ungrateful for his new lease of life, as people who have faced death often seem to have a greater capacity not to waste their remaining time – perhaps he even enjoyed being a local celebrity that the bigwigs from Jerusalem came to see so that he could testify what Jesus had done for him.

But Lazarus was not the main player in this drama.  Instead, this all happened as Jesus had originally said: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  Jesus knew that Lazarus would die but it would not be a definitive death.  It was to reveal God’s glory in his Son.

If Lazarus' resurrection reveals God’s glory in Christ Jesus, then our resurrection will too.  Whilst I’m sure that God’s offer of salvation is motivated by love (because it says so in John 3:16), have you ever considered that God might want to give you a resurrection body and eternal life because it rewards our faith by glorifying his Son?  In the same way as the original creation was good, maybe our re-creation is as pleasing to God, if not more so.  If we doubt that we are worthy of eternal life, then consider that God wants to do it anyway for his own joy and pleasure as a response to our faith in Jesus.  Your resurrection, my resurrection, the resurrection of the person who may come to him through our witness, all these resurrections will delight the Father because in doing so his Son is glorified.

Jesus doesn’t want us to have a vague hope for eternal life, perhaps as a disembodied soul or ghost.  Even though we all die, Jesus tells us that this is not the end.  We don’t know the nature of Lazarus’ life-threatening condition, but whatever it was, Jesus can say, “This sickness will not end in death.”  So, it is with whatever conditions threaten us: “This cancer will not end in death”; “this heart attack will not end in death.”  Whatever it will say as the cause of death on our death certificate, Jesus’ response is to tear it up and say, “This will not end in death”.

Instead, he says: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”  As he asked Martha, so he asks us: “Do you believe this?” and, if we still need further motivation: “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  Being selfish, eternal life has always been immensely attractive, but to know that my resurrection will glorify Jesus seems like a stronger reason for God to make it happen!

My funeral address evolves...

Given my incumbent’s knowledge of funeral ministry, (see Heaven’s Morning Breaks) my address at my early funerals tended to follow his words on John 14, including a brief explanation of what it means for Jesus to be “the way, the truth and the life” in the context of the journey we all have to take at the end of our earthly existence.  My second year of ministry has included the funerals of two of the spouses of those whose funerals I took last year, people I had accompanied through their own grieving process with the inevitable deep discussions.  On a practical level, this meant that I couldn’t just repeat the same sermon, and on a personal level, also offered the opportunity to tailor it for these people.

For the couple who enjoyed sailing, the way or journey became a “voyage” and the need for a vessel to carry us, a reliable navigator to guide us and a port to call home lent itself as a suitable metaphor for Jesus help in our journey through death.  So, how could this sermon evolve?

The popular poem “What is Dying” - Attributed to Bishop Brent, suggests the positive metaphor of a ship vanishing over the horizon for the departure of a loved one:

A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon

and someone at my side says, ’She is gone!’

Gone where?

Gone from my sight, that is all.

She is just as large now as when I last saw her.

Her diminished size and total loss from my sight is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,

’She is gone’, there are others who are watching her coming over their horizon,

and other voices take up a glad shout,

’There she comes!’

That is what dying is.

An horizon and just the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further

The famous "Flat Earth" Flammarion engraving 1888

But, this falls short of the Christian message of hope.  Jesus didn’t just sail off over the horizon out of sight.  He came back!

A better metaphor for a sailor would be the proof that the first circumnavigation of the world would have offered.  I was going to use Magellan as my example, but apparently he died on the journey leaving Elcano to finish the voyage, along with just 17 others.  But the point is they came back.  By the middle ages, few believed that the Earth was flat, and so they knew in their hearts that they wouldn’t just fall off the edge.  But it remained a theoretical hope that they could sail off into the east and return from the west, until someone actually did it.

And so it was the same for the disciples.  The hope of resurrection was held by the Pharisees, and Jesus corrected the Sadducees who argued against it.  But it would remain a hope until Jesus returned from the dead.  For some, this would be proof.  But, as Jesus predicted, even that proof wouldn’t be enough for others (at the end of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus).

But a funeral is not really the place for apologetics, so the sermon included just this: “Jesus doesn’t leave us with a vague hope of life after death.  He has gone ahead to show us that resurrection is real, that there is a new land over the horizon.  Jesus has explored beyond the edge of our known world and tells us what lies beyond.  Seafarers no longer fear that they might sail off and fall over the edge of the world, because someone sailed right round and came back again.  That is what Jesus has done with death, so we too can face that journey with hope.”

Risk Takers, Speed Freaks & Christianity

Today we watched the film “Rush”, telling the story of the intense rivalry and bravery of Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the era that I first became a fan of motor racing – was I really only 11?  Attitudes have certainly changed as to the value of human life, and the film shows the difference between the calculating mind of Lauda who accepted a “20% risk” and Hunt, who was much more carefree and from the old school where risk was measured by WW2 fighter pilot standards of bravery and glory.

Meanwhile, we still pray and await the outcome of Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident.  After giving up racing cars, he was injured when racing a motorbike - a much higher risk activity than F1.  It seems that the adrenaline rush is part of his being.  As Ayrton Senna said “Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else.”  Some people can’t live without it – even to the point that they accept the risk of death with it.

We all need an element of risk in our lives but we have different optimal levels.  My wife reckons there’s a gene on my side of the family that means we arrive late, but I prefer to call it “cutting it fine”, so there’s invariably a race against the clock giving some stress for her and some excitement for me.  The enjoyment of watching a film shows that it is possible to get this 2^nd hand through living the experience of others - another example that springs to mind is “Speed with Guy Martin” where he tries to break various speed records, whilst managing the risks that these entail.  However, this is nothing compared to the real thing, which is why I love karting, sledging and exploring the handling limits of an old car (although always within the speed limits, Officer!)

So, is there an outlet for the risk-takers in church?  There certainly was in Jesus day – his followers weren’t promised an easy life (e.g. Mt 5:11, Lk 21:12, John 15:20).  Indeed, the experience of Christians in many parts of the world is one of extreme risk, and often the church seems to be growing as a result.  One of the criticisms of our own church is that it is risk-averse, but hopefully this is changing under our new ABC Justin.  For those up for a dangerous mission, perhaps you should consider joining us?  We follow the ultimate risk taker…