tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89371529563537348192024-03-18T19:29:02.169+00:00Baptist BookwormSimon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.comBlogger671125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-58803914834001535152024-03-11T15:31:00.002+00:002024-03-11T15:31:14.490+00:00The End Times?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">A sermon for</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"> Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</span></b></span></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">17th March 2024</span></b></div></b><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-IRKTsf9yoOzi_-JnxYn9MHeRN28j4BfUM_CORugmKNSJrNlTj4EFZZepmoTFe9YJszTIxjWqDCFEU9X1GBxO2yv1-_dp0gTvH0IcOWThGcOD0o_7sYIEYQiUQ1IfXUf1MN_9gPwpe4O3-Di8eAbFjo9EmOcE7iXSpdLVPlT5WuiOdm3BfpKKTs_et0-l/s540/end%20times.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="540" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-IRKTsf9yoOzi_-JnxYn9MHeRN28j4BfUM_CORugmKNSJrNlTj4EFZZepmoTFe9YJszTIxjWqDCFEU9X1GBxO2yv1-_dp0gTvH0IcOWThGcOD0o_7sYIEYQiUQ1IfXUf1MN_9gPwpe4O3-Di8eAbFjo9EmOcE7iXSpdLVPlT5WuiOdm3BfpKKTs_et0-l/w400-h241/end%20times.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Mark 13.1-8, 24-37</span></i></div></i><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Don’t misunderstand me when I say this,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but I
genuinely believe that we are living in ‘the last days’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let me be clear.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I emphatically do <b>not</b>
mean,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that the
current wars around the world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or indeed
the growing effects of global warming,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> are signs
from God that the world is coming to an imminent end.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Humans have faced times of war, famine, disease, and
disaster</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> many times
in our history,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and just because these are the signs of our times,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> doesn’t
make us in some way specially chosen by God</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as the
final generation of humanity.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The question of where God is to be found in the midst of
suffering and death</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is not a
new question,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but it is our question, for our world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as it is
the question for each generation of the faithful.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One way or another, the world will keep turning,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> nations may
rise and fall,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> societies
and empires come and go,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but short of total nuclear annihilation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or runaway
global warming to the point where the planet is uninhabitable,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a new generation will come,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and they
will adapt, and build their world in their time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is not to minimise the seriousness of the present situation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or the
challenges we face.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But it is to offer a sense of historical perspective.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We’ve been here, or somewhere like here, before,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it’s
awful, and it’s horrible, and heart-rending, and tragic,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but it’s
not the end of the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So what do I mean when I say</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that I still
believe we are living in ‘the last days’?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Our Bible reading for this morning</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is from the
so-called <i>mini apocalypse</i> from Mark’s
gospel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and to understand its end-times, last-days language,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> we need to
understand something of the context of the first century.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s likely that Mark’s gospel was written right at the end
of the 60s,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which was a
time of ever-increasing political tension in the land of Israel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">as Jewish revolutionaries gathered their forces,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in
expectation of a great battle with the forces of Rome.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Their mission was simple:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> liberate
Jerusalem,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> throw
out the Romans,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and re-establish
the Jewish state</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as
a religiously and politically autonomous entity;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or die
trying.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And for the community Mark was writing for,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the
temptation to join these revolutionaries was great.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So in his gospel he tells events from the life of Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> some thirty
years earlier,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">not as abstract stories for use in Sunday school lessons,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but to
directly address the question,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">of whether it is appropriate for his congregation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to join the
Jewish rebels in the coming battle against Rome.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From Mark’s perspective,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which he
believes is a perspective grounded in the life and teaching of Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the really
important battle isn’t actually against Rome;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and so for his people to take up swords and fight for their
political freedom</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> would be
selling their souls to the self-same forces of violence</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that already
lie at the heart of empire of Rome.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They might win the battle for their city,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but if the
cost was complicity in violence,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> they
would have lost their souls,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and would
in the end simply reinvent</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the
same oppressive powers under a different name.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For Mark, as for Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the true revolution
is not about taking up swords</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> against
an earthly enemy,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but is
rather a new and nonviolent way</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of
people drawing near to God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of
discovering what it means to live in peace with one another.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And this revolution, the revolution of the Kingdom of
Heaven,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> will
achieved not by swords, but through suffering,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as people of
faith do battle with the forces of violence</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> not
by overthrowing them,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but by unmasking their evil, by absorbing the violence,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and leaving
them nowhere to go but deeper into their own depravity.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the way of the cross,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> this is
what it means for Jesus and his disciples to draw near to Jerusalem,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">for Jesus to take his stand</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> against the
religious system of the Temple,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> (which
he denounces for its oppression of those who are poor),</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and against
the political ideology of nationalism,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> (which
he denounces for its inherent violence).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The only way through this, for Jesus</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> will be the
way of the cross,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the way of
suffering and death.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And Mark wants his readers to understand, in their context,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that dying
in the cause of the kingdom of God</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is not defeat at the hands of the
enemy,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but is
rather the path</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> through
which the new world of Jesus comes into being.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mark wants his community to know that the cross is not
defeat,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but is
rather the moment of the unveiling of the glory of God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From a historical perspective,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the Jewish
rebels continued their rebellion,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and the Romans fought back, with a massacre taking place in
Jerusalem,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and with
the destruction of the temple in the year 70,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> just a year
or two after Mark’s gospel was written.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But what Mark offers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in this
strange ‘end-times’ chapter that we have before us this morning,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is a
theological perspective on the events of history.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is Mark inviting us to consider where God is</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> when the
evidence of history seems to be denying God’s presence.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And here I want to offer a very clear statement</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> about how
we might read Mark chapter 13,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and other
passages like it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">These are not prophecies or predictions</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> about some
future world-ending cataclysm,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and to read them as if they are,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is to miss
the deep wisdom that they offer.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Rather, these strange apocalyptic images,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> are a way
of understanding</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> how
God is at work in the very real events of human history,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
specifically in the crucifixion of Jesus</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as
the inauguration of God’s new kingdom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Once we grasp what God is doing</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in and
through Jesus’ journey towards the cross,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">we are better equipped to understand what God is doing</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in the
difficult and traumatic experiences of our own lives.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is what Mark wants for his readers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he wants
them to understand the significance of the cross,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> so that
they can better understand their own context.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the same is true for those of us who read this gospel in
later centuries:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> if we can
understand the cross as victory, and not defeat,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> if we can
understand the death of Jesus as the revelation of God’s glory,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">then we too will be able to understand</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> how the
kingdom of God is coming to us in our world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So this is what I mean when I say</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that I
believe we are living in the ‘last days’:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">ever since the moment of Jesus’ crucifixion,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the world as
we experience it,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> a
world dominated by powers of violence and oppression</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> has been
under divine judgement.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And whenever and wherever the people of Christ</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> offer their
faithful witness to the power of the cross,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the new world, that is forever breaking into this old world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is made
more real</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">as people are liberated from the twin powers of sin and
death.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As we’ve seen with other passages from Mark’s gospel</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> on our
journey through it this year,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the shadow of the cross intentionally falls over the whole narrative.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We see this particularly in the last few verses</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of our
reading for this morning:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Therefore, keep awake--</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> for you do not know
when the master of the house will come,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> in the evening, or at
midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. (13.35-36)</i></div></i></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This instruction to ‘keep awake’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is the same
request that Jesus made to his disciples in Gethsemane;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and the reminder that God is the master of the house</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is an
important reassurance that other earthly powers</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> do not hold
ultimate power over people’s eternal souls.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mark even gives us four time-markers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of evening,
midnight, cock crow, and dawn,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">to point us straight to the last night of Jesus before his
crucifixion.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The evening is a reference to the last supper,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which Jesus
celebrated with his disciples</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> on the
night before he was betrayed (14.17).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Midnight is a reference to the long dark night of
Gethsemane,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> when the
disciples slept as Jesus prayed in anguish (13.32).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The cockcrow is a reference to Peter’s denial of Jesus
(14.30, 68, 72),</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the
dawn is when Jesus is handed over to Pilate to be crucified (15.1).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just as the disciples slept through Gethsemane,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> even as
Jesus told them to keep awake,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">so Jesus leans out of the pages of Mark’s gospel</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to tell
each of us who reads it</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">that we must keep awake and ever alert</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the
changing of the times</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">as the old world passes, and the new world comes.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The master of the house is coming,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and his
presence can be felt by those of us</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who are
watching faithfully for the signs of his in-breaking kingdom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We are the citizens of a new world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that offers
a new way of being human before God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a new way of relating to one another,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> a new way
of peace in the midst of chaos.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But what will this new world look like, when it comes?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Will the
old powers of violence and oppression reassert themselves?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They always crouch at the gate, waiting to pounce.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As the people of God in this time</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> we share
with Mark’s readers</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the task of
building a different, a better world;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and we do this not by embracing violent revolution,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> nor by
playing the world at its own game, seeking power over others,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but by living out in our own lives</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> what it
means to offer sacrificial love for one another.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We too are gathered in Gethsemane,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and we need
to keep awake.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Like Mark’s first readers, and the disciples of Jesus before
them,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> we too have
to discover that the meeting place of God and humans,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the
place of the ultimate revelation of God’s glory,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is encountered
in the cross of Christ.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where people die, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Where
people suffer, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where people live in fear, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Where
people are victimised, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where people are faithless, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Where
people doubt, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where people betray, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Where
people repent, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where people love one another, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Where
people make sacrifices for others, God is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where people risk their safety for the lives of others, God
is.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Because God
is love.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the love of God is made known in and through the death
of Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> God’s son,
our saviour.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so we take another step towards the cross,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as we
journey together towards Easter.</span></div>
</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><br /></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-30738562683106059072024-03-08T12:25:00.002+00:002024-03-08T12:25:16.318+00:00Love of God, Love of Neighbour<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></div><b style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>10th March 2024</b></div></b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WOjrUkTG7kextjbnfgI0McK4o0Lne4FzVgClpw8TQ4pgiCycoVEKAK95dC-iGtmO4EQPQi6Y2c2U8nsGeRUwGQeNrYKKmtrCMOgzP1EkfBqtr2m6QIpA9iZxShCuCNwzwZ2qBr2dP4o7gZnyDZWpLBEsbEKTQJdE27rVs1saADjlBuYefs4Y3KtLy2Lc/s506/LOVE%20OF%20NEIGHBOUR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="506" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WOjrUkTG7kextjbnfgI0McK4o0Lne4FzVgClpw8TQ4pgiCycoVEKAK95dC-iGtmO4EQPQi6Y2c2U8nsGeRUwGQeNrYKKmtrCMOgzP1EkfBqtr2m6QIpA9iZxShCuCNwzwZ2qBr2dP4o7gZnyDZWpLBEsbEKTQJdE27rVs1saADjlBuYefs4Y3KtLy2Lc/w400-h391/LOVE%20OF%20NEIGHBOUR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><i style="font-family: arial;">Mark 12.28-34</i><br /><i style="font-family: arial;"><span lang="EN-US">Deuteronomy 6.3-6 </span><span lang="EN-US"> </span> </i><br /><i style="font-family: arial;">Leviticus 19.9-18 </i><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;">In
our story this morning from Mark’s gospel this morning,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a Jewish scribe tries to get Jesus
to answer a question</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">that he and his fellow scribes had clearly
spent a long time debating:</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
the question is this:<br /> ‘Which command lies at the heart of
following God?’<br /> <br />In
his reply, Jesus starts with the orthodox answer,<br /> the answer that the scribe would
have expected,<br />which
is that the heart of discipleship<br /> is the love of God.<br /> <br />In
his answer, Jesus quotes the verse known as ‘the Shema’,<br /> from the book of Deuteronomy.<br /> <br />'Hear,
O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;<br /> you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,<br /> and with all your soul, and with all
your mind,<br /> and with all your strength’<br /> <br />And
really, who could argue with that?<br /> <br />The
whole revelation of God through scriptures and prophets,<br /> from Genesis, to Abraham,
to Moses, to Jesus himself<br /> is consistently that God is God,<br /> and that humans are creatures<br /> who find their true
fullness of life<br /> when God is central to
their lives.<br /> <br />Scripture
also repeatedly warns, that when humans act in ways<br /> that displace God from the centre of
their world,<br />by
seeking instead to prioritise and worship<br /> idols and constructs of their own
making,<br />then
the door is opened for hell on earth.<br /> <br />So,
who could argue with the central command<br /> being one of wholehearted devotion
to the Lord God,<br />to
the exclusion of all other claims on human allegiance.<br /> <br />But
what’s interesting in Jesus’ reply is that he doesn’t stop here.<br /> <br />He goes
on to couple the basic command<br /> to love God above all else,<br />with
a command from the book of Leviticus (19.18),<br /> to love one’s neighbour as oneself.<br /> <br />For
Jesus, it seems that simply loving God isn’t, actually, enough.<br /> The way of discipleship must also
involve love of neighbour.<br /> <br />Indeed,
you might say<br /> that there <i>is</i> no love of God,<br /> except in the love of neighbour.<br /> <br />You
might say<br /> that for the hope of heaven to have
any meaning,<br /> heaven must come to earth.<br /> <br />You
might even say, as Jesus himself said,<br /> that for the kingdom of God to offer
any meaningful hope,<br /> the kingdom of God must come on
earth, as it is in heaven.<br /> <br />And
so the fact that Jesus combines Deuteronomy with Leviticus in this way<br /> is very interesting, and worth
thinking about a bit further.<br /> <br />The
Deuteronomic tradition within Judaism<br /> found in the book of Deuteronomy and
a few others,<br />was
a religious tradition primarily concerned<br /> with ensuring faithfulness to the
Jewish God Yahweh,<br />and
it was centred around this command<br /> to worship no other gods, except the
Lord God of Israel.<br /> <br />This
Deuteronomic worldview, as it’s known,<br /> was one where the worshipping of
other gods<br /> would always lead to sure and
certain disaster,<br />whilst
the way to a good, prosperous, and Godly life<br /> lay in avoiding the temptations of
idolatry,<br />and
in remaining faithful<br /> to the covenant relationship with
Yahweh.<br /> <br />By
contract, the Levitical tradition<br /> that Jesus combines with the Shema
from Deuteronomy<br />brings
a different, additional, perspective:<br /> It defines godliness in terms of
love of neighbour,<br /> and particularly in terms of <i>non-exploitation</i>
of one’s neighbour.<br /> <br />The
verse that Jesus cites from Leviticus<br /> is, as we heard, the culmination to
a list of commands<br />prohibiting
the oppression and exploitation<br /> of Israel’s weak and poor (Lev
19.9-17).<br /> <br />This
is a list which includes:<br /> caring for the impoverished
immigrants,<br /> not
stealing or dealing falsely with others,<br /> not oppressing one’s neighbour,<br /> not exploiting
employees,<br /> not discriminating against the
disabled,<br /> not
showing partiality or injustice,<br /> and not slandering or bearing false
witness.<br /> <br />The
scribes were the heirs to the Deuteronomic tradition,<br /> and so, the one asking Jesus the
question in today’s reading<br /> would
have been right there with him<br /> when he cited the shema, the command
to love God above all else,<br /> because this was at the
heart of their religious practice.<br /> <br />But,
according to Mark’s gospel,<br /> these same scribes were complicit in
many practices<br /> which exploited and oppressed the
weak and the poor.<br /> <br />For
these scribes, the desire to love their God<br /> had overwhelmed the obligation to
love their neighbour.<br /> <br />Their
commitment to the religious institutions of the Temple system,<br /> had led to their complicity in
systemic practices of exploitation,<br /> where the vulnerable were oppressed
even as God was worshipped.<br /> <br />It
remains tragically true even today<br /> that the church maintains an uneasy
relationship<br /> with those movements which agitate
for social change.<br /> <br />This
has particularly been the case<br /> when churches have sought to align
themselves closely<br /> with the structures of
secular power,<br /> often with the intent of seeking to
sanctify those structures,<br /> but also with the intent
of securing their own ability<br /> to worship God with
impunity.<br /> <br />In
the eighteenth century,<br /> the established church all too
readily sanctioned the slave trade,<br /> whilst distancing itself from those
Christians<br /> who were agitating for
emancipation.<br /> <br />And
in the present day,<br /> the silence of the church on
progressive social change,<br /> or even its opposition
to it,<br /> reflects something of this same
tension<br /> between establishment
interests and cultural transformation.<br /> <br />It’s
significant that even though the scribe who came to Jesus<br /> appeared to agree in theory<br /> with
Jesus’ agenda for social change,<br /> and even though he cited Hosea (6.6)<br /> in agreement with what
Jesus has said,<br /> Jesus still stopped short of
embracing him,<br /> simply telling him that
he was ‘not far’ from the kingdom of God.<br /> <br />This
man had the theory,<br /> but he didn’t have the practice,<br />and
so, whilst he was close to the kingdom,<br /> he nonetheless remained beyond it.<br /> <br />The
sovereignty of God, it seems,<br /> demands more than orthodoxy,<br /> more than intellectual agreement
with the principle<br /> of ‘love God and love
neighbour’.<br /> <br />There
must also, always, be the <i>practice</i> of
justice<br /> if the worship of God is to have any
meaning.<br /> <br />For
too many years, in our western Christian tradition,<br /> there has been a division between
those Christians<br /> who have prioritised the
love of God<br /> and those who have prioritised the
love of neighbour<br /> <br />Back
in the day, whenever the day was,<br /> this was often characterised as a
division<br /> between the so-called
evangelical churches<br /> and the so-called
social-gospel churches<br /> <br />The
evangelical churches<br /> often looked down on the
social-gospel churches,<br /> who they felt didn’t give sufficient
emphasis<br /> to the transformation of
the individual,<br /> that is brought about<br /> by an encounter with the living spirit of Christ.<br /> <br />Meanwhile,
the social-gospel churches<br /> often looked down on the
evangelical churches,<br /> who <i>they</i> felt didn’t give sufficient emphasis<br /> to the transformation of
the world,<br /> that the spirit of Christ is seeking to bring about<br /> through those who name Christ as their Lord.<br /> <br />This
is the nub of the question:<br /> Is it more important to love your God,<br /> with
all that this entails?<br /> Or is it more important to love your
neighbour,<br /> with
all that this implies?<br /> <br />And
so we’re back to the question<br /> asked of Jesus by the scribe.<br /> <br />And
into this division<br /> echoes the voice of Jesus,<br />who
sets the two side by side, alongside each other,<br /> and says, very clearly,<br /> that, like a horse and carriage,<br /> you can’t have the one without the
other!<br /> <br />It
seems that for Jesus,<br /> love of God is inseparable<br /> from right treatment of neighbour.<br /> <br />The
right worship of God<br /> requires practical works of justice
and mercy.<br /> <br />To
put it another way,<br /> Deuteronomy needs Leviticus,<br /> every bit as much as Leviticus needs
Deuteronomy.<br /> <br />This
isn’t about winning salvation by good deeds,<br /> it is about the transformation of
human relationships,<br /> across boundaries of power, and
divisions of economics.<br /> <br />Which
brings us to how this might apply to us<br /> in our world,<br /> in our communities, our city,<br /> and in our church.<br /> <br />I
do hope you have etched Thursday 25 April into your diaries,<br /> because this is the day of the
London Citizens Mayoral Assembly,<br />when
we will be engaging with the next mayor of London<br /> on key issues that matter very much
to the future of our city.<br /> <br />This
will be a great opportunity for us to turn our faith into action,<br /> to fulfil the command to love our
neighbours<br /> by working with others of good faith<br />to
shape a city that benefits the vulnerable not just the wealthy.<br /> <br />If
you get the weekly News Email,<br /> you will already have received the
Citizens Manifesto,<br />and
if you’ve had a chance to read it<br /> you will see that we’ll be asking
the next Mayor<br /> to make some very specific
commitments,<br />which
have the capacity to improve the lives<br /> of some of the most disadvantaged
people in our city.<br /> <br />From
issues relating to work and wages,<br /> such as the Living Wage and Living
Hours campaigns;<br />to
commitments on refugees and asylum seekers<br /> such as improved access<br /> to English language lessons and
public transport;<br />to ambitious
asks on affordable housing,<br /> bad landlords, and repairs to social
homes.<br /> <br />All
of these are areas where our action, inspired by our faith,<br /> can make love of neighbour a reality<br /> for those who are literally our
neighbours.<br /> <br />And
we don’t do this alone,<br /> because on that same day,<br />we
will be hosting an interfaith event here at Bloomsbury<br /> where people from the Christian,
Jewish,<br /> and Muslim communities of London,<br />will
be coming together to say that our faith in God<br /> unites us in action for the benefit
of the poor and the needs,<br />more
than the differences of our theology divide us.<br /> <br />Friends,
this is faith in action,<br /> this is love of God, and love of neighbour,
taking shape in our world,<br />and
we, as the community of this church,<br /> have our part to play at the heart
of it.<br /> <br />So
please, put the date in your diary now,<br /> sign up for your tickets on the link
in the email,<br />and
let’s make sure that our faith in God and our trust in Jesus,<br /> is good news not just for us,<br /> but for all those who hunger for justice
in our city.<br /> <br />And
so we’re back to the scribe who met Jesus.<br /> He was, I am sure, a very religious person,<br /> with a sophisticated and caring
theology.<br /> <br />But
the system he was a part of<br /> was a system that had turned its
back<br /> on issues of financial justice for
the poor and vulnerable.<br /> <br />Worse
than this, it was a system that was actually complicit<br /> in their ongoing oppression.<br /> <br />This
was why Jesus told the good scribe<br /> that he was only <i>near</i> the Kingdom of God<br /> rather than part of it.<br /> <br />If
we are serious about living our lives<br /> as citizens of the inbreaking
kingdom of God<br />then
we too need to continue to take seriously<br /> issues of systemic injustice,<br /> both within our own
world<br /> and within the systems
of which we are a part.<br /> <br />There
are many issues<br /> where we as churches can be a
prophetic voice,<br /> calling the world to account for
exploitative and oppressive practices.<br /> <br />Whether
it’s the living wage, or affordable housing,<br /> whether it’s challenging exploitative
lending<br /> or investing in ways that poorer
communities,<br />we
have a role to play<br /> in the kingdom of God coming on
earth, as in heaven.<br /> <br />And
it starts, for us, with the naming of Jesus as Lord,<br /> but it doesn’t stop there.<br /> <br />So
as we reflect on the encounter between Jesus and the scribe,<br /> we are reminded of the importance<br />of
not just believing in the values of the Kingdom of God,<br /> but also living them out in our
daily lives.<br /> <br />The
scribe, despite his religious devotion and good intentions,<br /> was part of a system that
perpetuated injustice and oppression.<br />This
should serve as a wake-up call for us as well,<br /> to examine our own complicity in
systems of inequality<br /> and to take action to bring about
change.<br /> <br />It
is not enough to simply profess our faith in Jesus as Lord;<br /> we must also follow his example<br /> of challenging the status quo and
advocating for the marginalized.<br /> <br />As
citizens of the inbreaking kingdom of God,<br /> we have a responsibility to work
towards<br /> a more just and equitable world.<br /> <br />This
means taking a stand on issues<br /> of justice and righteousness in our
world.<br /> <br />We
cannot be content to sit on the sidelines while others suffer.<br /> <br />We
must be willing to speak out against systemic injustice<br /> and use our voices to call for
change.<br />This
requires courage, conviction,<br /> and a willingness to challenge the
powers that be,<br /> just as Jesus did.<br /> <br />But
it is not enough to simply speak out; we must also take action.<br /> <br />This
means getting involved in our communities,<br /> supporting organizations that are
working for justice,<br /> and using our resources to make a
difference.<br /> <br />It
means being willing to sacrifice<br /> our own comfort and privilege for
the sake of others.<br /> <br />As
we strive to live out the values of the Kingdom of God,<br /> let us remember that the journey
towards justice is not always easy.<br /> There will be obstacles and setbacks
along the way.<br /> <br />But
we can take heart in knowing that we are not alone.<br /> We are part of a larger movement of
people<br /> who are working towards
a better world,<br /> inspired by the love and compassion
of Jesus.<br /> <br />So
let us go from this place today with courage and conviction,<br /> knowing that the work we do is not
in vain.<br /> <br />Let
us be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world,<br /> working to bring about the Kingdom
of God,<br /> on earth as it is in heaven.<br /> </span></p>
Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-53348914718511707502024-03-05T08:56:00.002+00:002024-03-05T08:56:38.662+00:00Flipping Tables<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial;"> A Sermon for the Commemoration of Benefactors Service</b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Robinson College, Cambridge: 3 March 2023</i></b></div><b><o:p> </o:p></b></span></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99r1vFkyfxidiOZkdNpPTRDNGbjWxZTAreRRYgAyJfYQMB1OhXDT085yQmnlFzuOUyg8ihXPmWGYMsT0ABoOeHyuveoU3UMLcgOFqQFRavUD24pUC09W_x8EHqYkGaKS8w5BYYYlYx49Q2wWMbh7MCkinvDpNeLpjv0IRG7SU51Y8eII5SETD9VhjhP7i/s960/Robinson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99r1vFkyfxidiOZkdNpPTRDNGbjWxZTAreRRYgAyJfYQMB1OhXDT085yQmnlFzuOUyg8ihXPmWGYMsT0ABoOeHyuveoU3UMLcgOFqQFRavUD24pUC09W_x8EHqYkGaKS8w5BYYYlYx49Q2wWMbh7MCkinvDpNeLpjv0IRG7SU51Y8eII5SETD9VhjhP7i/w300-h400/Robinson.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><b><o:p> </o:p></b><br /><b>John 2.13-22</b><br />The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem.<br /> 14 In the temple he
found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at
their tables.<br /> 15 Making a whip of
cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.
He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.<br /> 16 He told those who
were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my
Father's house a marketplace!"<br /> 17 His disciples
remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume
me."<br /> 18 The Jews then said
to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"<br /> 19 Jesus answered
them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."<br /> 20 The Jews then
said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and
will you raise it up in three days?"<br /> 21 But he was
speaking of the temple of his body.<br /> 22 After he was
raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they
believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.<br /> <br /><br /> <br />A popular internet meme, in Christian circles at least,<br /> involves an
artistic depiction of the cleansing of the Temple.<br /> <br />The text that accompanies it reads:<br /> <br />“The next time someone asks you ‘What Would Jesus Do?’<br /> Remind them
that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip<br /> is within
the realm of possibilities.”<br /> <br />It’s funny, it’s snappy, and it nicely punctures the façade<br /> of Charles
Wesley’s ‘Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild’.<br /> <br />The subtext is clear:<br /> Christians <i>might</i> be all, ‘turn the other cheeky’…<br /> but
don’t count on it!<br /> Sometimes
they can get shouty and punchy too.<br /> <br />But I have to say that I find this rather disturbing,<br /> and the
reason it disturbs me,<br /> is to do
with a podcast I’ve been listening to,<br />about the rise and fall of Mars Hill church in Seattle,<br /> whose pastor
Mark Driscoll notoriously promoted<br /> what
he described as a more aggressive form of Christianity.<br /> <br />His critique of mainstream churches was that they promoted a
weak, passive faith,<br /> and that if
people who lived<br /> in
what he called the ‘real world’ were to experience God,<br /> then they
needed to meet a Christ<br /> who
could hold his own under any circumstances.<br /> <br />In other words, they needed a Christ<br /> who could
flip tables and chase people with a whip.<br /> <br />In support of this macho, cage-fighter Jesus,<br /> Driscoll
turned to the book of Revelation,<br /> a text
almost certainly known to the author of John’s gospel.<br /> <br />Driscoll says:<br /> ‘In
Revelation (the last book of the New Testament),<br /> Jesus
is a prize-fighter with a tattoo down His leg,<br /> a
sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed.<br /> That is the
guy I can worship.<br /> I
cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ<br /> because
I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.’<br /> <br />Similarly, in his sermon on the cleansing of the temple,<br /> delivered
against a backdrop image of a large whip,<br />Driscoll says the following:<br /> <br /> “Here comes
Jesus and he is furious, he is angry…<br /> Now some of
you will be very surprised to hear that Jesus got angry<br /> because
you have wrongly perceived<br /> that
Christianity just means that you be nice.”<br /> <br />What may <i>not</i>
surprise you, hearing this,<br /> is that his
15,000 strong church closed down in 2014,<br />over accusations that its pastor engaged in persistent
bullying,<br /> both of
staff members and of people from the congregation.<br /> <br />Now, I need to be careful here,<br /> because I
am very aware that only one who is without sin<br /> should cast
a stone at another for their sin,<br />and so I don’t want to get too drawn into a direct critique
of Mark Driscoll,<br /> who I’m
sure has many redeeming qualities.<br /> <br />Rather, my critique is of the attempt to shape Christianity,<br /> as a
religion of hyper-masculine aggression;<br />because this is a project which, I think,<br /> fundamentally
undermines the witness of Jesus,<br /> as the one
who’s life, death, and resurrection bring an end to violence.<br /> <br />What is at stake here, as far as I’m concerned, is something
that really matters,<br /> because it
takes us right to the heart<br /> of what it
means to be a Christian.<br /> <br />At my church in London we have long taken the view that we
are a ‘peace church’:<br /> we have our
peace candle lit each week,<br /> we sell
white poppies in the run up to Remembrance Sunday,<br /> and we hear
sermons on the importance of taking nonviolent direct action.<br /> <br />Of course, not all Christians agree with this stance,<br /> with many drawing
on Augustine’s Just War Theory,<br />to argue that there are circumstances where it is entirely
appropriate<br /> for a
Christian to engage in violence and warfare.<br /> <br />Indeed, many of the early Baptists took this position,<br /> and fought
on the side of Cromwell in the wars of the seventeenth century;<br />similarly many from our churches<br /> fought in
the two world wars of the twentieth century,<br />and many of us will know, love, and respect people<br /> who serve
in the armed forces today.<br /> <br />So, to suggest that we worship a nonviolent God,<br /> made known
in the person of a nonviolent Jesus,<br /><i>and</i> that this
means those who follow that revelation,<br /> should also
be nonviolent people,<br />is not an uncontroversial statement.<br /> <br />And it strikes me that any attempt to argue for Christian
nonviolence<br /> must
grapple with what is going on<br /> in the
cleansing of the temple,<br />which is the single event in the ministry of Jesus,<br /> where he
gets anywhere near an act of violence.<br /> <br />So just what was it that got Jesus so worked up,<br /> that he
took a whip in his hand, in the Temple courtyard in first century Jerusalem?<br /> <br />The Hebrew Bible was clear that the Temple<br /> <i>should</i> have been the place of divine
encounter,<br /> it <i>should</i> have been the place where God’s
blessing was made available for all,<br />and it should also have been the place that defended justice
for the weak,<br /> the place where
the vulnerable could come for sanctuary.<br /> <br />But the Temple had become a place where the wealthy could
gain easy access to God,<br /> while the
poor faced often insurmountable costs to purchase their sacrifices.<br />The Temple was not a place where God was available to all,<br /> it was a
place of benefit for the few, not the many.<br /> <br />There is something important here that the author of the
gospel wants us to grasp,<br /> about the
revelation of God in the person, life, and ministry of Jesus:<br />and this is that God will not be contained or constrained<br /> within religious
institutions;<br />the blessings of God are not to be the exclusive preserve of
the elite.<br /> <br />It’s noteworthy that what Jesus said as he enacted this
visual parable,<br /> is
different in John’s account compared to the other three gospels.<br /> <br />In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus declares,<br /> “It is
written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’;<br /> but you have
made it a den of robbers." (Matt. 21.13; Mar. 11.17; Lk. 19.46)<br /> <br />In the fourth gospel, by contrast,<br /> Jesus makes
no mention of either prayer or robbers.<br />Instead he cries:<br /> ‘Take these
things out of here!<br /> Stop making
my Father's house a marketplace!’ (Jn. 2:16)<br /> <br />John’s version of this story isn’t a critique of corrupt
mismanagement,<br /> but rather a
critique of the entire financial system<br /> that
had grown up around the presence of God;<br />it is a condemnation of the very principle<br /> of buying divine
grace and favour.<br /> <br />It was the Temple institution itself that came under Jesus’
condemnation,<br /> because the
blessings of a restored relationship with God<br /> had become contained and constrained
within an economic system<br /> which privileged the wealthy, and
disadvantaged the vulnerable.<br /> <br />When Jesus says, ‘Stop making my Father's house a
marketplace’,<br /> the Greek
word used here is <i>emporion,</i><br /> from which we get our word
‘emporium’<br /> meaning a ‘centre of commerce’ or a ‘place
of trading’.<br /> <br />The trigger for Jesus’ action in flipping tables and
grabbing a whip,<br /> was not
sinful behaviour on the part of those trading in the temple,<br /> but the very economic and religious system<br /> that
required their presence in the first place.<br /> <br />So when we look at who, or what, is under judgment here,<br /> we find
that it’s not individual people being whipped for their corruption.<br /> <br />This wasn’t Jesus taking an action of anger<br /> against
acts of personal sinfulness.<br /> <br />Rather, it was an act of condemnation against a societal
system<br /> that had
turned the free and abundant grace of God<br /> into an
economic transaction that generated profit for the powerful,<br /> advantage
for the wealthy,<br /> and
which kept the poor far from God’s grace.<br /> <br />It would be very easy at this point<br /> to find
ourselves making analogies with Martin Luther,<br /> railing against the selling of
indulgences;<br /> but where
we need to depart from Luther,<br /> is
in the alignment he made between corrupt Catholicism<br /> and
what he regarded as Jewish legalism.<br /> <br />Jesus was not here condemning Judaism,<br /> he was
restoring it,<br />bringing it back to what it was always supposed to be;<br /> which is a
religion of grace,<br /> founded on
the free gift of God’s presence.<br /> <br />What was judged was not Judaism,<br /> it was the religious
system;<br />which had turned the gracious gift of the covenant<br /> into a
transactional system for the benefit of the privileged.<br /> <br />This condemnation of the Temple becomes even clearer<br /> in the
exchange which follows,<br />where Jesus makes a parallel between the Temple and his own
body.<br /> <br />It’s important for us to realise<br /> that Jesus
is not here casting himself as a temple-destroyer.<br /> <br />He does not say that he will violently destroy the temple.<br /> Rather, he
says to the priests:<br /> ‘destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’;<br />and we are invited, as enlightened readers of this gospel,<br /> to realise
that Jesus is speaking not about the Jerusalem Temple at all,<br /> but of his
own body, the new revelation of God’s presence on earth.<br /> <br />The Temple had become a system of violence,<br /> a system of
oppression,<br />and the original readers of John’s gospel would have known<br /> that the
Jerusalem Temple was, in fact, destroyed by the Romans,<br /> some thirty
years after the death of Jesus.<br /> <br />The author of this gospel, written towards the end of the
first century<br /> is inviting
his readers to make a comparison<br />between the violent end of the Temple,<br /> and the
violent death of Jesus on the cross.<br /> <br />The oppressive system of religious exclusion<br /> that had
grown up around the presence of God in the Temple<br /> met its end
at the hands of the Romans in 70CE;<br />and although the body of Jesus,<br /> also had
its moment of violence<br /> at the
hands of the Romans on Good Friday,<br />the testimony of the faithful was that in this case,<br /> violence
was not the end of the story<br /> <br />The cleansing of the temple is therefore to be understood<br /> as an
enacted parable of the crucifixion,<br /> as a sign
of the new way that God is present with people.<br /> <br />Jesus is the nonviolent revelation of God’s abundant grace
for all,<br /> <br />No longer is God to be made known through exclusive
institutions,<br /> no longer
is God to be sold for profit,<br /> no longer
will God be complicit in systems of exploitation<br /> <br />And the people of God, the church of Christ,<br /> continually
need to re-hear and re-learn<br /> the
lesson of the cleansing of the Temple,<br /> if we are
to remain faithful to the revelation of God in Jesus.<br /> <br />It is too easy, I think, for us to become focussed<br /> on the conservation
of our institutions,<br />too easy for us to seek the preservation of our Temples,<br /> too easy
for us to fall into the trap<br /> of
monetising that which God would give freely to all.<br /> <br />And whilst I recognise that we are here today<br /> to mark the
generous benefaction of Sir David Robinson,<br /> and the others
who founded and funded this wonderful College,<br /> we must keep before
us the profound truth<br /> that the
wealthy do not get more privileged access<br /> to God than
the less wealthy.<br /> <br />So as we consider Jesus’ enacted parable of judgment<br /> against the
Temple in Jerusalem,<br />we need to ask ourselves honestly<br /> whether
there are barriers of power and privilege<br /> that creep
into our institutional life?<br /> <br />We need to keep ourselves honest about, for example,<br /> our
attitudes towards wealth and educational opportunity,<br />particularly as these intersect with ethnicity, gender, and
sexuality.<br /> <br />This is an invitation for us to consider our own situation,<br /> and to
identify those barriers<br /> that
we construct or perpetuate within our own communities;<br /> barriers of
access which keep people from grace,<br /> the
negotiating of which turns places intended for the benefit for all,<br /> into
a free market economy of privileged access and powerful elitism.<br /> <br />And it is an invitation for us to think once again<br /> about what
it means for us to be followers of Jesus,<br />the one who absorbs the violence of the cross<br /> turning the
certainty of death into the possibility of new life for all.<br /> <br />It is an invitation for us to consider what it means for us
to be a people of peace<br /> who nonetheless
take nonviolent action<br /> to
challenge those systems of domination<br /> that embody
oppression and exploitation<br /> in
our society and in our world.<br /> <br />If the blessing of life in all its fullness,<br /> is not
experienced abundantly by all, without exception,<br /> (and I’m
afraid it is not),<br />then, my friends, we still have a task before us<br /> as together
we embody the good news of Jesus Christ<br /> in a world
of inequality and injustice.<br /> <br />So, who’s up for overturning a few tables?</span><p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-16023865879273128092024-02-20T08:46:00.040+00:002024-02-20T10:26:27.255+00:00Patriarchy, Paternalism and Patronage<p class="MsoNormal"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>A sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Sunday 25th February 2024</b></div></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UPQDC7kQkrLLViA_mcNBVRgshh6VifRv91VGgmzvmLlM20kPaTmkA1yGVzI_ZM_99x6i9QqQkA2ARHfqyadMXBDpWSRwdSYwgP0W6pHv7TJ6akDD0GcZf5gahKONyUAjmLiGNOdG94zkFn0x1C3FaR7CoiE0oWm6S1x3Z2Mnel6ScWiWP6e8z5-Mdgvi/s540/female-3285623_1920.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="540" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UPQDC7kQkrLLViA_mcNBVRgshh6VifRv91VGgmzvmLlM20kPaTmkA1yGVzI_ZM_99x6i9QqQkA2ARHfqyadMXBDpWSRwdSYwgP0W6pHv7TJ6akDD0GcZf5gahKONyUAjmLiGNOdG94zkFn0x1C3FaR7CoiE0oWm6S1x3Z2Mnel6ScWiWP6e8z5-Mdgvi/s320/female-3285623_1920.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><i>Mark 10.32-52</i><br /><br />The Baptist Union, or ‘<i>Baptists Together’</i> as we’re
supposed to call it these days,<br /> has
recently been undertaking a significant research project,<br /> called ‘Project
Violet’ <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span><br /> <br />It is named after Violet Hedger,<br /> the first
Baptist woman to be college-trained for ordination,<br />and it has investigated women’s experiences in ministry.<br /> <br />Project Violet will help us understand more fully<br /> the
theological, missional, and structural obstacles<br /> women
ministers face in the Baptist community in Great Britain<br />as well as identifying ways forward.<br /> <br />Whilst the findings from this project will be released in
May,<br /> as a precursor,
they are releasing a podcast,<br />and I was invited to be a guest on the first episode,<br /> which
explores the history of women in Baptist ministry.<br /> <br />I think I was invited because, a few years ago,<br /> I wrote a
small book on the history of Baptist women in ministry. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span><br /> <br />Anyway, you can listen to the episode from the Project Violet
website,<br /> and the
link will be in the News and Views email. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span><br /> <br />Actually, this was the second Podcast I’ve been on this
year,<br /> as I was
also a guest on a Leadership Podcast<br /> discussion
my philosophy and practice of leadership. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span><br /> <br />I mention these two podcasts, one on women in ministry, and
one on leadership,<br /> because they
raise the issue that we’ll be exploring in today’s sermon:<br /> which is the
question of who has authority, and on what basis?<br /> <br />In our journey through Mark’s Gospel,<br /> we have seen
again and again<br />how Jesus challenges and removes<br /> the
barriers to social inclusion<br /> that hold
the vulnerable, the weak, and the marginalised<br /> in
positions of exclusion.<br /> <br />We’ve seen Jesus casting out spirits of uncleanness,<br /> declaring
women acceptable and equal,<br /> removing
the stigma of poor mental health,<br /> and
welcoming the powerless to the very centre of his circle.<br /> <br />And Mark tells these stories,<br /> not just to
educate his readers about the life of Jesus,<br />but because he wants those who follow Jesus<br /> to actually
create communities where these values are made real.<br /> <br />So to help his readers realise what kind of disciples they
are to be,<br /> Mark offers
us the disciples gathered around Jesus,<br /> as a kind
of object lesson in how to get it badly wrong.<br /> <br />We saw this last week,<br /> with the
argument about which disciple was the greatest,<br />and we meet it again this week<br /> in the
story of James and John vying for positions of power.<br /> <br />The key issue here is one of leadership,<br /> and of what
kind of person should be a leader<br /> within the
group of Jesus’ disciples.<br /> <br />Now, I have to confess a certain level of vested interest in
this question.<br /> <br />After all, for the last twenty-five years, in various
capacities,<br /> nearly half
of them here at Bloomsbury,<br />I’ve been involved in the task of leadership within
Christian communities.<br /> <br />I was talking about this with my Spiritual Director,<br /> and he
asked me how I would describe myself and my role,<br />and my answer was clear:<br /> I’m a
minister.<br /> <br />I’m not an academic,<br /> although I
have some academic skills that I use in the task of ministry.<br />I’m not a musician,<br /> although I
have some musical skills.<br />I’m not even a pastor,<br /> although I do
a lot of pastoral work.<br />I’m a minister.<br /> <br />And the key thing here is that the word ‘minister’<br /> comes from
the Latin word for ‘servant’.<br /> <br />The leadership that I offer to Bloomsbury, and within the wider
Christian world,<br /> is - or at
least should be - a leadership that is grounded in serving others.<br /> <br />It is not a leadership founded on status, or domination, or
power.<br /> And yes, sometimes,
I know that I need to remind myself of this,<br />but I can think of other ministers who might need reminding
of it too,<br /> not just
church ministers but, of course,<br />but also those servants of the people<br /> who serve
as ministers in government.<br /> <br />So, what kind of a person should be a leader<br /> within the community
of Jesus’ disciples?<br /> <br />I need to note here that for many centuries,<br /> and
indeed still in many churches today,<br /> the prime
criteria for Christian leadership<br /> is
that you need to be a man.<br /> <br />Even in these enlightened times, and within our own Baptist
family,<br /> ordained
ministry is still overwhelmingly male,<br />and within many churches there remains strong resistance<br /> to women
preaching or serving in roles such as deacon or elder.<br /> <br />And yet I could point you to Dorothy Hazzard,<br /> who is
recognised as a pioneer church planter:<br /> she started
Broadmead Baptist Church in Bristol in 1640.<br /> <br />I could point you to Anne Steele,<br /> who was a
prolific Baptist hymn writer,<br /> with
her works being included in almost all hymnals<br /> published
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. <br /> <br />I could point you to Hannah Marshman,<br /> who is
considered to be the first Baptist woman to be a missionary.<br />In 1799, Hannah and her family set sail for India<br /> landing at the
Dutch colony of Serampore.<br />Within a year, she had opened two boarding schools.<br /> <br />I could point you to Edith Gates,<br /> who became
the first female minister<br /> in pastoral
charge of a Baptist Church in 1918, aged 35.<br /> <br />And of course I could point you to Violet Hedger,<br /> who was the
first woman to train at a Baptist College,<br /> and
was called to her first pastorate<br /> at
Littleover Baptist Church, Derbyshire in 1926. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span><br /> <br />I could point you to many women<br /> who today
serve as ministers across our Baptist family of churches,<br />including our General Secretary Lynn Green,<br /> and the
women we’ve had as ministers here at Bloomsbury,<br /> from
Barbara, to Ruth, to Dawn.<br /> <br />Bloomsbury has a long and proud history<br /> of
recognising and affirming the ministry of women.<br /> <br />But still, these stories are a minority,<br /> and
Bloomsbury is a minority;<br />and part of the problem is that leadership in our world more
generally<br /> is still predicated
on systems<br /> that we
have inherited from the ancient world,<br />systems which we might call: patriarchy, paternalism, and
patronage.<br /> <br />The world in which Jesus lived was one where leadership was
male,<br /> and where, from
the Emperor downwards, power in Roman society<br /> flowed
through deeply entrenched systems of male privilege.<br /> <br />Every man had a master,<br /> and every
master had people who were dependent on him.<br /> <br />Your status within society was determined<br /> by how high
you managed to climb in this social pyramid of preferment.<br /> <br />This client-patron relationship system was called patronage<br /> and it determined
most of the social and cultural infrastructure<br /> of the
Roman Empire.<br /> <br />Patronage was not just confined<br /> to the
military, economic, and political aspects of the Roman lifestyle,<br />it was also linked with public displays of status, social
ranking,<br /> the legal
system, and even the arts. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span></span><br /> <br />To this day, we call a person who gives money<br /> to a
theatre or cultural project in exchange for recognition<br /> a <i>patron of the arts</i>.<br /> <br />Roman mythology told that Romulus, the founder of Rome,<br /> had
appointed 100 men to serve as senators.<br /> <br />These men were known as ‘Patricians’, from the Roman word
for ‘father’,<br /> and the
idea was that Roman society<br /> should
mirror the power structure of the Roman home,<br /> where the
father was the head of the household.<br /> <br />Lower class Roman men would be the clients<br /> of these upper-class
patricians, or patrons,<br />who would bestow status and power on those that served them,<br /> like a
father giving special gifts to his most loyal and faithful sons.<br /> <br />Women, children, and slaves were excluded from this system:<br /> they had no
power, and no way of gaining any.<br /> <br />So, it was something of an ideological bombshell<br /> for Jesus
to say that within the community of his followers:<br /> <br />‘Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your
servant,<br /> and whoever
wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.’ (10.43-44).<br /> <br />This was not the way ancient society worked at all!<br /> <br />Certainly, it wasn’t the way<br /> that James
and John the sons of Zebedee thought it would work.<br /> <br />The brothers’ petition to Jesus,<br /> to be
allowed to sit at his right hand and his left,<br />demonstrates that they have completely misunderstood<br /> everything
that Jesus has been saying to them<br /> about why
he is going to Jerusalem.<br /> <br />They clearly seem to think that they are part of some kind
of messianic coup,<br /> a regime
change where the Jews finally get their autonomy back from the Romans,<br />and here in Mark’s gospel we see them lobbying for, in
effect,<br /> the
positions of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary<br /> in Jesus’
new government, when it comes into power.<br /> <br />There was then, and still is today,<br /> an
expectation that a newly powerful leader<br /> would
reward their most faithful followers with positions of power.<br /> <br />We have seen this in some of the appointments within our own
government,<br /> and it was
the same back then.<br /> <br />The rule of client-patron obligation<br /> meant that
loyalty paid.<br /> <br />It’s worth our while noting that this system of patronage<br /> didn’t die
with the end of the Roman empire,<br />it just moved over into the medieval European societies of
the tenth century<br /> through
systems of feudalism,<br />and then segued into the Middle Ages<br /> in terms of
courtly power,<br />then merged into the class structures<br /> of the
European imperial powers,<br />before entrenching itself in our education system.<br /> <br />It is still with us today in the patterns of preferment<br /> that we see
in government<br /> and other
powerful institutions in our society.<br /> <br />It remains as true today as it was in the first century,<br /> that the
best way to get money and power<br />is to be part of a wealthy family, to go to a powerful
school,<br /> and to make
influential friends.<br /> <br />So for James and John,<br /> mistakenly
expecting Jesus to be the next king of Israel,<br />the request to sit at his right hand and his left hand was a
perfectly sensible,<br /> if rather
self-serving,<br />request to be those with power and influence<br /> in the new
world of Jesus’ kingdom.<br /> <br />In exasperation, Jesus throws the question back at them,<br /> using the
sacramental language of baptism and cup.<br /> <br />‘Are you able to drink the cup that I drink,<br /> or be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ (10.38).<br /> <br />Baptism, of course, harks back to the beginning of the
story,<br /> where it
all began;<br />and for Mark’s readers at least, if not yet for James and
John in the story,<br /> the cup
anticipates the end,<br />the shared cup of the last supper<br /> and the shed
blood of Jesus on the cross.<br /> <br />In effect, Jesus is asking them if they truly can walk ‘the
way’,<br /> the path
that he is going to walk,<br />which won’t be one of power and glory<br /> but of
suffering and death.<br /> <br />James and John, the gung-ho sons of thunder, of course say
‘of course’,<br /> but as
Jesus points out to them,<br />they don’t really know what they are asking for, or indeed saying
yes to.<br /> <br />They never get an answer to their original question,<br /> you may
notice.<br />Jesus just says that such positions of preferment<br /> are not for
him to grant.<br /> <br />But those of us who read on through the gospel<br /> will get to
see the answer in due course,<br />as the next time two men appear at the left and right hands
of Jesus,<br /> it is the
criminals crucified next to him (15.27).<br /> <br />Jesus doesn’t repudiate the vocation of leadership,<br /> rather, he
insists that in his kingdom, in contrast to the Empire of Rome,<br /> it is not
transferred through patronage.<br /> <br />Leadership amongst the disciples, leadership in the Kingdom
of God,<br /> can belong
only to those who learn to follow ‘the way’ of nonviolence,<br />and who are prepared to not dominate,<br /> but rather to
serve and suffer at Jesus’ side.<br /> <br />These are tough words to hear for those of us who are
leaders,<br /> and they
are a reminder to us<br /> that
we are here to serve a cause<br /> that
goes way beyond our personal needs.<br /> <br />So please, don’t forget to pray for your minister<br /> and for your
deacons and for your officers.<br /> <br />We are very fortunate here at Bloomsbury<br /> to have a
wonderful group of leaders,<br />but they need the support of the congregation<br /> if they are
to serve well.<br /> <br />Anyway, back to Mark’s story,<br /> and perhaps
predictably things start to escalate<br /> as the
other disciples get indignant.<br /> <br />It starts to look as though the whole community of disciples<br /> are part of
this great struggle for power.<br /> <br />So Jesus ramps up his language,<br /> and
compares the disciples to the Roman power structures<br /> that
oppress and dominate his society,<br /> whilst
telling them that this is not the way it should be amongst them!<br /> <br />The very powers that will kill Jesus<br /> are the
Roman administrators<br />those who practice the philosophy of
leadership-as-domination<br /> that Jesus
has laboriously taught against.<br /> <br />Roman power structures demanded that the Romans ‘Lord over’
their subjects,<br /> and
tyrannise their people;<br />and, like the Herods and the Pharisees,<br /> the
disciples are getting sucked into these systems of domination,<br /> and are
enacting them in their own community.<br /> <br />Which raises the questions for us to consider,<br /> of where we
encounter dominating power in our society?<br /> And where
we encounter it in our own Christian community?<br /> <br />As I’ve said, our world runs along similar lines to the
first century world,<br /> with
systems of patronage<br /> that
privilege the powerful and disadvantage the weak,<br />and the temptation for the church<br /> is that we
end up mirroring or, worse, emulating<br /> those
systems in our own community.<br /> <br />So, let me put it clearly…<br /> <br />Whenever a church excludes someone<br /> on the
basis of their powerlessness or minority status,<br />we emulate patronage.<br /> <br />Whenever a church denies or restricts the ministry of women,<br /> or those
who are LGBTQ+, or those who are Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic,<br />we emulate patronage.<br /> <br />Whenever a church prefers those who are powerful or wealthy,<br /> we emulate
patronage.<br /> <br />Whenever a church does a deal with power<br /> to gain
influence in society,<br />we emulate patronage.<br /> <br />Whenever a church justifies violence,<br /> we emulate
patronage.<br /> <br />The path of Christ is a path of peace, a path of inclusion,<br /> a path of
service, of putting others ahead of ourselves.<br /> <br />And Jesus identifies himself as the embodiment of the way of
nonviolence,<br /> saying that
he came to serve, and to give his life;<br />not to dominate or to take the lives of others.<br /> <br />Last week I started with a quote that,<br /> despite
often being attributed to Ghandi, wasn’t actually said by him.<br />However, here I’d like to share a quote that was:<br /> <br />Ghandi said that the way of nonviolence<br /> will not
prevail on account of words or argument,<br />but that ‘it shall be proved by persons living it in their
lives<br /> with utter
disregard of the consequences to themselves.’ (1948).<br /> <br />I can’t help but feel that Ghandi understood Jesus rather better<br /> than his
disciples did!<br /> <br />The path to great leadership lies not in eloquence or power,<br /> but in a
shared commitment to non-violently resisting<br /> the power
structures that keep some down and raise others up.<br /> <br />The path to great leadership lies in centring the
marginalised,<br /> in casting
out spirits of uncleanness that exclude and oppress,<br />and in taking decisive action to restore people<br /> to right
relationships with each other and with God.<br /> <br />So let’s go back to the issue of women in church life.<br /> <br />And in these thoughts that follow I should acknowledge my
debt<br /> to the
wonderful commentary on Mark’s gospel by Ched Myers. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span><br /> <br />Consistently on our journey through the gospel,<br /> we have
seen Mark critiquing the systems of power<br /> that are at
work in society.<br /> <br />He’s addressed political domination, patriarchy, and the
family system.<br /> And we
should pay attention to the fact<br /> that
all three of these are domination systems<br /> based
on the subjugation of women by men.<br /> <br />Mark has already argued that women<br /> should have
equal rights in the marriage contract,<br /> by
rewriting the Pharisees’ regulations on divorce (10.11-12);<br />and further on in the gospel he will defend women<br /> against the
ideology of patriarchy,<br /> by
ridiculing the Sadducees’ argument about Levirate marriage (12.18f).<br /> <br />It’s also noticeable that married couples<br /> are almost
entirely absent from the stage of Mark’s gospel,<br />with the only two minor exceptions<br /> being
Jairus and his wife (5.40)<br /> and the
illegitimate marriage of Herod to his brother’s wife (6.17).<br /> <br />More to the point, apart from these two exceptions,<br /> women always
appear in Mark <i>without</i> husbands.<br /> <br />In a world where the patriarchal system<br /> considered
women as second class citizens,<br /> and <i>unmarried</i> women as third class citizens,<br />this is a truly subversive narrative strategy.<br /> <br />So why does Mark do this?<br /> <br />Mark seems to go out of his way to discredit the male
disciples,<br /> especially
regarding their aspirations to leadership and power (9.34; 10.35ff).<br /> <br />In contrast, Jesus advocates and embodies<br /> a vocation
of leadership predicated upon an ideology of service.<br /> <br />The only other characters in Mark, beyond Jesus,<br /> who are
shown to have a vocation of service are women.<br /> <br />From the beginning of the story where Simon’s mother in law<br /> served the
disciples after being healed (1.31),<br />to the end of the story where the women minister to Jesus
and the disciples<br /> as they go
up to Jerusalem (15.41).<br /> <br />We need to be careful here not to take Mark’s positive role
models<br /> of women
embodying servant leadership,<br />and turn them into a model of femininity based on service to
men!<br /> <br />There are strands of Christianity<br /> which would
require a faithful woman<br /> to be
obedient and subservient to men<br /> both in the
home and in church life.<br /> <br />To which I would just observe that patriarchy is very
effective<br /> at turning
women’s emancipation against them.<br /> <br />Interestingly, if the word ‘minister’ comes from the Latin
word for service,<br /> did you
know that ‘deacon’ comes from the Greek word for service?<br /> <br />Our models of leadership, whether male or female,<br /> should be
deeply rooted in serving others.<br /> <br />But the disparity between Mark’s portrait of male and female
disciples<br /> is
intensified in his conclusion:<br />whereas the men desert Jesus<br /> at the very
point at which their following becomes politically risky,<br />the women stay with him to the cross and after.<br /> <br />Consequently it is the women who are the witnesses to the
resurrection,<br /> not the
men.<br /> <br />I don’t think it’s too much to suggest<br /> that the
model of leadership which Jesus teaches,<br />where the leader must be the slave and servant of others,<br /> is a model
which was primarily fulfilled in Mark’s gospel<br /> by women
rather than by men.<br /> <br />The male disciples are constantly jockeying for position,<br /> taking the
patriarchal, paternalistic models of patronage<br /> and
emulating them in their desire for power.<br /> <br />In contrast, it is the women who serve,<br /> and who therefore
are the models for servant leadership.<br /> <br />By this reading, Mark is suggesting<br /> that in a
thoroughly patriarchal socio-cultural order,<br /> women alone
are fit to act as servant leaders.<br /> <br />This would help explain the appearance<br /> of various
‘independent’ women in the gospel,<br />who appear without reference to their husbands.<br /> <br />It’s not that Mark is rejecting the vocation of marriage,<br /> any more
than he would reject the vocation of leadership.<br /> <br />However, he understands that the whole social system of
patriarchy,<br /> which
renders tyrants strong in the world<br /> and women
subject in the home,<br /> must
be overturned.<br /> <br />So the first concrete step in the ‘last as first’ revolution<br /> is to bring
women into leadership,<br />and in order to do that<br /> the rigid
definitions of their traditional social roles,<br /> as
wives and child-bearers only,<br /> must itself
be undermined.<br /> <br />In our world, we have more nuanced understandings<br /> of gender
and gender roles,<br />and we no longer have a pattern in our society<br /> where women
can only occupy servant roles,<br />but Mark’s challenge,<br /> that the
least and the last will be the first and the greatest,<br />still echoes down to our world,<br /> challenging
us to notice those places<br /> where women
are still marginalised, oppressed, and violated,<br />and to take action to bring equality<br /> not only by
raising up the weak and the vulnerable<br />but by undermining the structures and patterns of leadership<br /> that
perpetuate dysfunctional and abusive gender roles.<br /> <br />Patriarchy, paternalism and patronage<br /> have no
place in Christian communities.<br /> <br />And, like Bartimaeus,<br /> we need
Christ to give us the gift of clear sight<br />if we are to follow faithfully the path of discipleship<br /> where the
last are the first, and the first are the last.<br /><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/363245/Project_Violet.aspx">https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/363245/Project_Violet.aspx</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://www.baptist.org.uk/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=304877">https://www.baptist.org.uk/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=304877</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/415114/Podcasts.aspx">https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/415114/Podcasts.aspx</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chris-waters11/episodes/In-Discussion-With---Revd-Dr-Simon-Woodman-Minister-of-Bloomsbury-Central-Baptist-Church-e2eo05d/a-aasck1o">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chris-waters11/episodes/In-Discussion-With---Revd-Dr-Simon-Woodman-Minister-of-Bloomsbury-Central-Baptist-Church-e2eo05d/a-aasck1o</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/310743/100_years_of.aspx">https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/310743/100_years_of.aspx</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://sites.psu.edu/romanpatronagegroupdcams101/societal-patronage/">https://sites.psu.edu/romanpatronagegroupdcams101/societal-patronage/</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span> Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man, 280-281.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
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</div></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-52415379472427830782024-02-12T16:55:00.001+00:002024-02-12T16:55:00.244+00:00Giving it up for Lent<!--[if !mso]>
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<![endif]--><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b>A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, </b></span></span><br /><b>18 February 2024</b><br /><b>Mark 9.30-37; 10.17-31</b><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAiCEXjbn7hXjPXu-g5d_4m67ZCYaIBPh3IZAvPuRsGoI5SG8l-_K9GcsHXvR2PK1EnvA3EWjidClojDLX2jUvKetzj0wO87LPETWzpj9o33TamSBV1yga6HDwnCyD7Po-Tv-hBL-tk5rbcyl4BsBc4Ai9s1ZKPvIU9o08qd9xFyAqGpcdzpzP1iHt4O7S/s480/circle%20of%20friends.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAiCEXjbn7hXjPXu-g5d_4m67ZCYaIBPh3IZAvPuRsGoI5SG8l-_K9GcsHXvR2PK1EnvA3EWjidClojDLX2jUvKetzj0wO87LPETWzpj9o33TamSBV1yga6HDwnCyD7Po-Tv-hBL-tk5rbcyl4BsBc4Ai9s1ZKPvIU9o08qd9xFyAqGpcdzpzP1iHt4O7S/w400-h300/circle%20of%20friends.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Apparently, despite a million memes to the contrary,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Mahatma
Gandhi <i>didn’t</i> actually say that,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘The
true measure of any society can be found</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in
how it treats its most vulnerable members’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But it doesn’t have to be a quote from Gandhi,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to still be
a valid point!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so I find myself worrying that the current trajectory of
British society</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is towards
the promotion of self-advancement</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
self-improvement of the already-capable,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> at the
expense of those whose capacity to achieve is more restricted.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I suspect the rhetoric in the local and national elections this
year</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> will laud
people in so-called ‘hard working families’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> while vilifying
those who are deemed to be ‘benefits scroungers’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The changes to the benefits system in recent years,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> have left
many vulnerable people without access to support;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and a National Audit Office survey</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> found that a
significant number of suicides</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> could be
linked to problems with benefit claims.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dr Chris Allen, a Consultant clinical psychologist</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with the
Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> wrote that:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">When worth is increasingly defined by ability to be economically
productive, and mental health issues are discounted as a reason to not be in
the workforce, the underlying message is that you are a burden and that you
don’t belong.</span></i></div></i><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He continues,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">A compassionate society would care for people experiencing difficulty,
recognise that contributions can be made outside work, and facilitate this,
rather than communicate a sense that if you cannot work you may as well be on
the scrapheap, or even not here at all.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></b></span></span></span></i></div></i><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To take this train of thought a bit further,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in our
society, even caring for the victim or siding with the weak</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is sometimes
viewed as being a somehow ‘suspect’ endeavour.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Indeed, a headline from the Daily Mail a few years ago,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> suggested
that ‘<i>Nobody likes a do-gooder</i>’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that ‘<i>selfless behaviour is 'alienating'</i>’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The unnamed ‘Daily Mail Reporter’ explained:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>They probably think their selfless behaviour makes them popular</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>but the truth about 'do-gooders' is nobody really likes them.</i><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></div></i></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Far better, clearly, at least in the Daily Mail’s eyes, to
get on, and get ahead.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> While those
who fall behind,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as
Johnny Depp says in <i>Pirates of the
Caribbean</i>,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> get
left behind.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, in our first reading for this morning, from Mark’s
gospel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> we met the
disciples having an argument about which of them was the greatest,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and in response to their quarrel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Jesus
offered one of the most powerful and challenging</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> re-envisionings
of human power dynamics</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
has ever been uttered.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><b><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Verse 35: ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of
all.’</span></i></b></div></b><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And this week, as we begin that period of the Christian
calendar known as Lent,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> when people
traditionally focus on self-denial</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as a
preparation for the journey towards the Cross,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the invitation here is for us to join with the early
disciples,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in
re-thinking the basis of our self-worth,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and in
reconsidering where we will place our priorities.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The disciples in Mark’s gospel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> quarrelling
about who was the greatest,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">were stuck in a mind-set of personal and individual
advancement,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with
delusions of grandeur and achievement dominating their self-worth.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’m a huge fan of the musical ‘<i>Jesus Christ Superstar</i>’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the
lyrics of one of the songs</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> brilliantly
captures something of this hubris on the part of the disciples.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They sing:</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Always hoped that I'd be an apostle.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Knew that I would make it if I tried.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Then when we retire, we can write the Gospels,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>So they'll still talk about us when we've died.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></b></span></span></i></div></i></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This culture of personal advancement and spiritual
achievement</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is still
something which haunts disciples of Jesus in our own time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many of us have been nurtured in our faith</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in contexts
which emphasised the following of Jesus</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as a
personal decision which each of us must make for ourselves.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And whilst I don’t fundamentally disagree with this:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> - there is
always an element of personal choice involved -</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">it can all too quickly take us</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to an
individualised understanding of the gospel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where
the good news, is good news for <i>me</i>,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and where
what matters most</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is <i>my</i> personal relationship with Jesus.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many of the songs we sing</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> speak of
Jesus and God in highly personalised language:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘My
Jesus, my saviour’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘Be
thou my vision’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘O
Lord my God’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And whilst I like, and choose, all of these songs,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> we need to
be alert to the temptation of falling into an individualised gospel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because the
temptation to pride is always before us.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is only a short step from knowing that we are special to
God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to thinking
we’re somehow more special than others,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or possibly
more worthy of God’s love than some others.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There’s a wonderful quote from C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape
Letters,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where the
senior demon Screwtape is writing to his nephew Wormwood,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> offering
this junior demon advice on how to tempt his first human subject.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Screwtape says:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Your patient has become humble; have you drawn their attention to the
fact?</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> All virtues are less
formidable to us</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> once a person is aware
that they have them,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> but this is specially
true of humility.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Catch your patient at the moment when they are really poor in spirit</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> and smuggle into their
mind the gratifying reflection,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> “By jove!
I’m being humble,”</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> and almost immediately
pride – pride at their own humility – will appear.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>If they awake to the danger and try to smother this new form of pride,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> make them proud of this
attempt – and so on,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> through as many stages
as you please.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>But don’t try this too long, for fear you awake their sense of humour
and proportion,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> in which case they
will merely laugh at you and go to bed.</i></div></i></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What the disciples, arguing about who was the greatest,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> needed to
learn from Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">was that he had called them to be part of a very different
kind of community,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where
greatness and humility were measured in substantively different ways.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And Jesus teaches them this through a kind of enacted
parable,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> involving a
small child.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s a highly dramatized scene,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as Jesus draws
the little child into the centre of the group.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve mentioned before that it’s always worth paying
attention in Mark</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the geographical
clues he gives us about where events take place,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and the setting here is in the midst of a group of people,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in a house,
in the town of Capernaum.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This isn’t happening out on some isolated hillside
somewhere,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it’s taking
place right at the centre of community and family life.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the thing is, normally, a child would have been excluded
from such a setting.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Children,
and other powerless members of society,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> would never have been welcomed into
the centre of a social circle;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> they
would have been kept outside, unseen and unheard.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In fact, more sinister than this,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the normal
pretext for drawing a powerless person into the middle of circle</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> would have
been as a precursor to stoning them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let’s never forget that the scapegoating of the vulnerable</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> isn’t
something we only find in the ire of the Daily Mail and its ilk.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But Jesus subverts all of these power structures,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> by drawing
a small, weak, powerless child</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> into the
centre of the circle of power;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and he takes the child in his arms</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
embraces it with love, and welcome, and inclusion, and acceptance.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The most powerful person in the place</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> honours the
least powerful and least deserving.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As object lessons go, this one packs a punch;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> particularly
given that it is Jesus’ answer</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the
argument about which of the disciples is the greatest.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus says to them, and by extension to us,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that the
greatest is the weakest,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that
the last shall be first.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And I wonder how we can hear this challenge</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in our
world, in our context, in our church.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Who has power in this room?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> And who
doesn’t?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And where do we locate our estimation of value?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You see, the community of Jesus’ disciples, both then and
now,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is to be a
place where the weak and the vulnerable are valued,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where the helpless are nurtured,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and were
personal prowess</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is
secondary to the service of others.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a topsy-turvy view of power dynamics,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where those
whom society would normally side-line or scapegoat</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> are brought
into the centre, and honoured and valued.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But here’s the thing,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Jesus
doesn’t welcome the child and tell his disciples to do likewise</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because
it’s a <i>nice</i> thing to do;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or to earn
approval from God and society;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or
to make himself and the disciples feel like better people;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or to enact
some kind of first century equivalent</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to
politicians kissing babies on the campaign trail;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or to set
up a community of ‘do gooders’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who
make the rest of the world feel guilty and resentful…</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although, I have to note, Christians have a pretty poor
track record</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of doing
all of these things with enthusiasm...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But rather, the <i>Jesus-community</i>, which is you and me
in our generation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is
instructed to do good to the weak and the powerless;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">because this is the antidote</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the
envy, jealousy, greed, and resentment</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that keep some down in the gutter</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> whilst
raising others to the stars.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In first-century society, just as today,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> so much of
societal advancement</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> was
built on some achieving greatness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> whilst
others were trampled along the way.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And if you look around you today and see a society creaking
at the seams,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with a
rising number of vulnerable people falling through the cracks,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and if you find yourself thinking, <i>there has to be a better way</i>,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> then the
good news is that there is,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
it is here in this enacted parable</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of Jesus bringing a little child
into the heart of the community.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus invites his followers to create communities,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where the
rich, the powerful, the educated, and the articulate</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> set
aside their privilege and their advantage,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> learning
that these do not add to a person’s worth before God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He invites his followers instead to become communities</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where the
vulnerable and excluded are welcomed in,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
placed in positions of honour</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as
their worth is restored to them in God’s name.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As the rich man in our second reading discovered,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it would be
so much easier</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> if it was
just a matter of keeping the basic commandments.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here we have a guy who seems on the surface to be getting it
all right,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he’s not
killing people, he’s not cheating on his wife,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he’s
not stealing, or lying, or defrauding,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and he’s
still doing very nicely too,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> thank
you very much.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the kind of guy who is, as some might put it today,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> #winningatlife.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But he knows that something isn’t ringing true,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that despite
all his success, and all his efforts,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> his life lacks vitality,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it’s
missing the deeper significance that Jesus calls ‘life eternal’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And Jesus offers him a prescription for what ails him,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which is
that he needs to let go of his money.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is not easy for us to hear, in London in 2024,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where
almost all of us are richer than two thirds of the world’s population.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Challenges about money are never easy to hear,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
invitations to give it away are always problematic.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thankfully, Jesus knows this;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he says
that it is hard for those who have wealth</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to
enter the Kingdom of God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that it
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> than
for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve heard people engage in all kinds of exegetical squirming</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to get out
of this.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the commonly asserted get-outs in the armoury of
well-heeled preachers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is that
there was an ‘eye of the needle’ gate in the wall in Jerusalem,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which
was narrow and low,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that
the only way a camel could get through it would be on its knees;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> concluding,
of course, that the way a rich person</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> can
get into the Kingdom of God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is
on their knees in prayer.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The only problem with this is that there is absolutely no
indication</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that such a
gate ever existed.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s a completely invented story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Others have claimed that ‘camel’ is a mis-spelling,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that instead
of ‘kamelos’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it
should be the similar sounding word ‘kamilos’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which means rope or cable.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But again, there isn’t any textual variation in the
manuscripts to support this.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The problem is that there isn’t really any way out of the
fact</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that Jesus
basically says it is impossible for those who have wealth</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to find
their way into God’s kingdom on merit.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And, speaking as someone with, in global terms, a certain
level of wealth,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I don’t
know why any of us are surprised at this.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Those of us who have bank accounts, and savings,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
pensions, and houses,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">will know from our own experience</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that these
things can weigh heavy on our souls.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The temptations to selfishness, to pride, to greed,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to envy, to
gluttony, and to laziness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">are all amplified by wealth,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and by the
privilege and power that comes with it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">None of us can resist these on our own,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and for
some, the corrosive effect of wealth</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> may indeed
mean that the call of Jesus is to give it away.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But I don’t actually think that it is responsible exegesis
here</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to take the
encounter between Jesus as the rich young man</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
extrapolate from there to an ideology</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where
all of us should give everything away;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> any more
than it would be responsible exegesis to suggest</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
the young man was rich in the first place</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because
God had rewarded him with wealth</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in return for his diligence in
keeping the commandments,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as
some prosperity gospel preachers have suggested!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Rather, the message for each of us to hear</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is a
challenge about our attitude towards our possessions,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it is a
question about the extent to which</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> they
influence and determine our sense of self,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and a
demand that we reject any patterns of worth and value</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> based
on money, power, and status.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is also a challenge here, I think, about how we handle
our giving,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the
attitude with which we give.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I have said before that giving to God through the people of
God</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is not the
same thing as giving to a charity that we want to support;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and nor should it be one of the good works that we do</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to assuage
our consciences and discipline our wallets.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Our giving to God should be a sacrificial offering,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which we
surrender to the <i>people</i> of God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">so that together we can discern what God would have this
community do</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to bring
the kingdom of God into being in and through this place.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I don’t preach tithing as something binding on all
Christians,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
arguments about pre-tax or post-tax tithing seem entirely misplaced.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But for what it’s worth, I’ve found that a starting point</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of giving
ten percent of my disposable income</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to God
through my church,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">has been a good discipline to remind me that I do not truly
own that which I have,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that I
don’t want to get into a situation where what I have owns me.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For those of us with money, this is a difficult calling, but
it is not impossible,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> at least
not for God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As Jesus reminded the disciples,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘for God,
all things are possible’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I also think it’s worth our while paying attention</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the
language Jesus uses here</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> when
he speaks of the ‘kingdom of God’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in response
to the rich man’s question</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> about
what he must do to inherit ‘eternal life’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Both these terms, ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘eternal life’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> can become
conflated with the idea of heaven</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as the
place souls go after death if they have been deemed good enough.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Within the cosmology of ancient Judaism, the ‘heavens’ were
literally ‘up there’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as the
place where birds flew and clouds gathered,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and they believed that God lived up there, above the sky,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> seated on a
throne with his heavenly hosts around him.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you could find a tall enough mountain, or jump high
enough,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> you could
theoretically get there yourself,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and in the apocalyptic tradition they imagined the heavens</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and described
going there in mystical visions</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to gain
other-worldly knowledge.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The idea of heaven being where you go when you die,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is only a
very late addition to the Jewish theology of the afterlife,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and many
Jews at the time of Jesus didn’t believe this at all.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So when Jesus says that it is hard for a rich person to
enter the kingdom of heaven,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and when
the rich man asks what he must do to inherit eternal life,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the issue they are discussing</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is not one
of whether a person goes to heaven or hell</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for reward
or punishment when they die.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is all about how people should live in the present,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in the here
and now.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is about living a quality of life that has eternal value,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and through
which God’s kingdom is manifest and made known.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If we can start to model, in our midst,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the
systemic reversal of the world’s consensus</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> about where
power, prestige, and status lie;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">if we can live into being a community where the value
assigned to a life</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is based not
on achievement, or wealth, or some other metric of greatness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but on the
inherent value of each created being,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">then we are at least part of the way</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> towards the
fulfilment of that for which we pray,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that the
kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But valuing the weak and the powerless is only part of the
story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Raising up
others is not enough.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We also have to take a long and considered look at our own
values;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> our
addictions to money, power, and status;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> our sense
of our own self-worth and self-importance;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and we too have to learn for ourselves, and not just for
others,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that the
value of a life</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is measured
only in terms of God’s love.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All the other foundations and walls</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that we
have used to define our sense of self</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">are more of a hindrance than a help</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to our
journey into God’s love.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The reason Jesus welcomed a child into the midst of the
disciples,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is because
a child does not need to earn the love of a parent;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or
at least, a child should not have to learn to earn love.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A baby is loved for who it is, not for what it does,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the
move towards conditional love</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
many of us have experienced,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is a move
away from God’s absolute acceptance and delight in our being.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many of us have forgotten that we are loved for who we are,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and we have
taken deep into ourselves</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the destructive lesson that we are what we do,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> what we
have, what we achieve.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We convince ourselves that God and others</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> will only
respect us or admire us</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for our
possessions, or some other metric of greatness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and we confuse this with God’s love,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which is
never conditional.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We become, in other words, the rich young man,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> keeping the
commandments to earn God’s love,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but discovering that this has created a successful exterior,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with a
hollow centre.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the challenge to us as we enter this season of Lenten
discipline</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is
the same as it was to him:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Can we give
up our addictions to money, power, and status?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Can
we give away our false estimations of our value?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Can we move
beyond striving to be good,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> into
a place where goodness flows from us,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> not because
of the good we endeavour to achieve in the world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because
we have learned to place the weak and the vulnerable</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> at
the centre of our value system?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As Jesus says,</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><div style="text-align: left;"><b> ‘many who are first will be last,</b></div></b><b><div style="text-align: left;"><b> and the last will be first’ (10.31)</b></div></b></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/07/dwp-benefit-related-suicide-numbers-not-true-figure-says-watchdog-nao</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/10/welfare-system-fails-to-protect-vulnerable-people</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1305716/Nobody-likes-gooder-Study-confirms-selfless-behaviour-alienating.html</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://youtu.be/lcE1u2fAkRY</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
‘The Last Supper’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://youtu.be/yxd0RBEXGWg?t=69">https://youtu.be/yxd0RBEXGWg?t=69</a></span></div></div>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-15564352159670465502024-02-05T13:09:00.013+00:002024-02-06T12:24:56.552+00:00Losing one's 'self' to find oneself<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">11/2/24<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mark 8.27-9.8</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve always loved optical illusions,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
particularly the kind where you can see two different images,<br /> depending
on which part of the picture you’re focussing on.<br /> <br />Do you know this one, which originated in the nineteenth
century,<br /> but became
famous after it was published in the satirical magazine <i>Puck</i>,<br /> with the
title, ‘My Wife and My Mother in Law’?<br /> <br />Depending on how you look at it,<br /> you will
either see a beautiful woman looking away from you,<br /> or an old
woman looking towards you.<br /> <br />I did contemplate scrapping the sermon altogether,<br /> and for us
to just have fun looking at optical illusions together on the big screens,<br /> but then I
figured you can waste plenty of time<br /> on
that at home without my assistance.<br /> <br />But I wanted to make the point<br /> that
sometimes we need to learn to see things differently.<br /> <br /><i>[Stop displaying the slide now]</i><br /> <br />Not everything is as it seems,<br /> and not
everything can only be seen one way.<br /> <br />Which is kind of the theme of our readings this morning,<br /> from the
gospel of Mark.<br /> <br />Today is the day in the Christian calendar known as
Transfiguration Sunday,<br /> which is
usually celebrated on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.<br />And so, as we are continuing working our way through the
gospel of Mark,<br /> we
conveniently find ourselves at the story of the Transfiguration.<br /> (it’s
almost as if someone planned it!)<br /> <br />And what I want to suggest this morning<br /> is that the
Transfiguration story is an invitation to see things differently,<br /> to learn to
see things in a new way.<br /> <br />I’ll come back to that in a bit,<br /> but first
I’d like us to consider the story that Mark gives us<br /> just before the bright lights<br /> and
mystical mythical characters on the mountain:<br /> the
confession of Jesus by Peter at Caeserea Philippi.<br /> <br />This story, which we had in our first reading<br /> touches on
some of the key philosophical issues<br /> of what it
means to be human.<br /> <br />Here we encounter<br /> the problem
of suffering,<br /> the
mysteries of life, death, and resurrection,<br /> the nature
of evil,<br /> and the question of ultimate authority.<br /> <br />So, buckle up, friends! We’re going deep…<br /> <br />I’ve mentioned before that in Mark’s gospel,<br /> none of the
geography happens by accident.<br /> <br />Mark often gives his readers little clues about where things
are happening,<br /> and it’s
always worth paying attention to them.<br /> <br />In fact, his whole gospel has a careful geographical
structure:<br /> starting in
the North in the region of Galilee,<br /> and then
moving South to Jerusalem in the second half of the gospel.<br /> <br />Here, in our story for today, at the half-way point in the
gospel,<br /> the
narrative is about to start heading south.<br />But not quite yet – because today we’re in the town of
Caesarea Philippi,<br /> an ancient
Roman city located at the southwestern base of Mount Hermon,<br /> which is about
as far North as the gospel gets.<br /> <br />Caesarea Philippi was adjacent to a spring, with a grotto,<br /> and some shrines
dedicated to the Greek god Pan.<br /> <br />The city that existed at the time of Jesus had been built by
Herod the Great,<br /> just a few
decades before<br /> and he had erected
at large white temple ther;<br />but then it had been further developed by Herod’s son
Philip,<br /> who named
it Caesarea in honour of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus,<br /> and
Philippi, in honour of himself - a typical Herodian touch.<br /> <br />So its name – Caesarea Philippi – was highly symbolic:<br /> speaking of
Roman power,<br /> of
Jewish religious authority,<br /> of the
pagan mystery religions,<br /> and of the might of the Jewish Herodian
dynasty.<br /> <br />It is therefore no accident that Mark takes us to Caesarea Philippi<br /> to address
the question<br /> that has
been haunting the gospel up until this point.<br /> <br />And this question is very simple: Who is Jesus?<br /> <br />Of course, Mark has already given away <i>his</i> answer to
this question,<br /> in the very
first verse of the gospel;<br />so as his readers <i>we</i> already know<br /> that he
thinks Jesus is ‘the Christ, the son of God’ (1.1),<br />and we’ve had this confirmed to us<br /> as we
listened in to the voice of God declaring to Jesus at his Baptism<br /> that ‘You
are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’ (1.11)<br /> <br />But for the characters <i>in</i>
the story Mark is telling,<br /> the
question of who Jesus is, has been much more mysterious.<br /> <br />They’ve witnessed him casting out spirits of uncleanness,<br /> they’ve
seen him healing people<br /> and
restoring them to right relationships with others and with God,<br /> and they’ve
heard a bit, but not a lot, of his teaching.<br /> <br />But have they worked out who he is?<br /> This is
what Jesus asks Peter at Caesarea Philippi.<br /> <br />And the initial response isn’t all that promising,<br /> as Peter
reports back that some people are saying<br /> Jesus
is the ancient prophet Elijah returned to the earth,<br /> while
others are thinking that he is John the Baptist,<br /> come
back from the grave.<br /> <br />And this raises an interesting question for us, today,<br /> in terms of
the variety of views and opinions<br /> that exist
about Jesus in our world.<br /> <br />I wouldn’t mind betting if we went out onto Shaftesbury
Avenue,<br /> and asked
those walking past the question,<br /> ‘Who
do you think Jesus is?’<br /> we’d get
some pretty interesting answers…<br /> <br />The response of those around him in the first century,
interestingly,<br /> pretty much
mirrors the typical responses<br /> you are
likely to get to this question today.<br /> <br />Some would say he’s a religious leader:<br /> a spiritual
reformer and a caller-to-repentance,<br /> like
John the Baptist had been.<br /> <br />While others would say he’s a prophetic figure:<br /> offering a
social and political critique,<br /> in
the style of a modern-day Elijah.<br /> <br />It may be that there are some of us here this morning,<br /> who would
put Jesus into these kinds of categories.<br /> <br />But Jesus pushes further, and asks Peter who <i>he</i> thinks that Jesus is;<br /> and here we
get to the heart of the matter,<br /> as
Peter has one of is rare moments of lucidity,<br /> as he gives
the answer that the gospel has been building up to:<br /> he
says that he thinks Jesus is the Messiah.<br /> <br />And honestly, it would be hard to imagine a more
inflammatory thing to say<br /> in the city
of Caesarea Philippi.<br /> <br />The word ‘Messiah’ is a Hebrew word meaning ‘anointed one’,<br /> and it
translates into Greek as ‘Christ’.<br /> <br />But in the Jewish tradition,<br /> the only
people who were <i>anointed</i>, the only <i>Messiahs</i>
allowed<br /> were the
High Priest, and the King himself.<br /> <br />So to declare Jesus as the Messiah was a direct challenge<br /> to the very
heart of the Jewish power system,<br />it was striking at the root of both religious and royal
power,<br /> not to
mention the implications for relations with the Romans<br /> of
proclaiming someone King<br /> in
a town literally named after the Roman god-emperor.<br /> <br />This isn’t so much a revelation as it is a revolution,<br /> and the
possibility of it all getting very bloody, very quickly,<br /> is right
there in the text.<br /> <br />We don’t know whether impetuous Peter,<br /> quick with
his sword and his words,<br /> if not
always with his brain,<br />was gearing up for an armed march on Jerusalem<br /> to re-take
the city from the Romans.<br /> <br />But certainly, if he was,<br /> it would
explain what happened next…<br /> <br />Because firstly Jesus told Peter and the others not to say
anything to anyone:<br /> there was
to be no rabble rousing at Caesarea Philippi.<br /> <br />And then he started to teach them<br /> about how
the Son of Man must undergo great suffering,<br /> and
be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,<br /> and be
killed, and after three days rise again.<br /> …
to quote from verse 31.<br /> <br />And you can understand why Peter is confused.<br /> <br />He needs to learn the lesson<br /> that
sometimes we need to see things differently.<br /> <br />Not everything is as it seems,<br /> and not
everything can only be seen one way.<br /> <br />Because if Jesus <i>is</i> the Messiah, the anointed one,<br /> if he is
the personification of royal power,<br /> and the
embodiment of religious power,<br />then he doesn’t look like the kind of king or priest<br /> that Peter
or anyone else was hoping for.<br /> <br />If this is Jesus making his great bid to become the heir of
David,<br /> the king
who was also a priest,<br />then something is going wrong.<br /> <br />If this is Jesus challenging the power of Caesar, Rome, and
the Herodian dynasty,<br /> then it’s
not going to work if he goes to his death.<br /> <br />But sometimes we need to see things differently:<br /> because not
everything is always as it seems.<br /> <br />Closer attention to what Jesus is saying<br /> reveals
Mark here is making a deliberate point:<br />In his choice of words he is consciously aligning Jesus<br /> with the
trajectory of the Suffering Servant from the book of Isaiah,<br /> who faced
suffering and death for the sins of the world.<br /> <br />At the time the book of Isaiah was written,<br /> the Suffering
Servant was a personification of the nation of Israel,<br /> suffering the indignity of the exile<br /> at the hands of sinful nations who
rejected God, and God’s people.<br /> <br />And Jesus is indicating<br /> that just
as the suffering servant Israel had to face pain,<br /> so the same
will be true of him.<br /> <br />But why does Jesus do this?<br /> And why
does he say<br /> that the
Son of Man ‘MUST’ undergo great suffering…?<br /> <br />It’s a big question:<br /> Why does
Jesus ‘HAVE’ to die?<br /> <br />Some Christians will say that Jesus had to suffer and die,<br /> because it
was the only way<br /> that
the wrath of God against human sin could be satisfied,<br /> and that if
the wages of sin is death,<br /> then
divine righteousness demands the sacrifice of an innocent victim<br /> in
place of the those sinners whom God longs to spare.<br /> <br />This kind of thinking is known as <i>substitutionary atonement</i> theory,<br /> and
thankfully it isn’t the only game in town.<br /> <br />Sometimes we need to learn to see things differently.<br /> Not
everything is as it seems,<br /> and not
everything can only be seen one way.<br /> <br />I’d like to suggest an alternative,<br /> which is that
Jesus had to suffer and die,<br /> not because God is wrathful,<br /> but because humans are sinful.<br /> <br />It’s an important distinction:<br /> If Jesus is
God made flesh, drawing near to humans in love,<br /> then sin is
human resistance to that work of grace.<br /> <br />If Jesus is inaugurating God’s new reign of love,<br /> then sin is
human resistance to that in-breaking kingdom.<br /> <br />To put it another way:<br /> Sin is the
human will which fights to the death<br /> to
stop God being God,<br /> because
deep down we want God to be more like us,<br /> and
less like God.<br /> <br />So Jesus says that he must suffer and die,<br /> not to keep
sinners from the hands of an angry God, <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span><br />but because he knows that he must remain true to his mission<br /> of bringing
God’s offensively inclusive love to all,<br />and that humans, at least some of them,<br /> will resist
him to the bitter end.<br /> <br />And because people still caught in sin<br /> will always
fight to stop God drawing near to them,<br />Jesus says that the Son of Man must suffer,<br /> must be
rejected by those who should know better,<br /> must die, and must rise again.<br /> <br />If the Suffering Servant Israel in the book of Isaiah<br /> faced exile
and destruction<br /> at the hands of those who rejected
God and God’s people,<br /> in order to
bring salvation to the nations who denied God’s love;<br />then the same is true of Jesus,<br /> who
embodies the hope of God’s people in all times and places<br />and who must therefore suffer and die<br /> in order to
unmask the violence of human sinfulness once-and-for-all.<br /> <br />The death of the Messiah at the hands of sinners<br /> will be a
cataclysmic event from which there is no going back.<br />There will be no undoing this moment of scapegoating,<br /> where the
one dies because of the sins of the many.<br /> <br />It’s no wonder Peter is confused and upset,<br /> but it’s
also not the end of the story.<br /> <br />And the good news here, which Jesus speaks but Peter misses,<br /> is that the
death of the Messiah must be followed by resurrection.<br /> <br />One way of thinking about resurrection which I find helpful,<br /> is that it
is God’s ‘no’ to human rejection,<br />and that it speaks of the deep truth,<br /> that God’s
ultimate will<br /> is for life,
and not death, to get the final word.<br /> <br />Every time humans draw back from God,<br /> and resist
God’s attempt to draw near to them,<br />every time we make choices<br /> that bring
death and pain and suffering to humanity,<br />God answers back with a divine ‘no’,<br /> persistently
calling life back into being<br /> from the
darkness of the tombs we create.<br /> <br />This is why the son of man must suffer and die,<br /> because
without confronting the awful consequences of human sin,<br /> the path to
life remains stubbornly blocked.<br /> <br />So what is this resurrection to life,<br /> that is so
wonderful<br /> that it is
worth suffering and death to find it?<br /> <br />And again – there are those Christians who will say<br /> that the
life that Jesus brings is a life beyond death:<br /> the afterlife, heaven,<br /> eternity
on a cloud with a harp,<br /> however you
like to think of it.<br /> <br />I’m not going to try and deconstruct the classical theology
of heaven this morning,<br /> that’s a
sermon for another day,<br />but I do wonder if there is a shift of perspective here,<br /> that might
also help us understand what Jesus is getting at.<br /> <br />Sometimes, as I’ve said, we need to learn to see things
differently,<br /> and not
everything can only be seen one way.<br /> <br />The Greek word that’s used here for ‘life’<br /> isn’t <i>zōē</i>, which would typically describe the
physical life<br /> characterised
by hearts pumping and lungs expanding.<br /> Rather it
is <i>psuchē</i>, which describes the life
spiritual<br /> the
life of the soul, the heart, and the mind.<br /> <br />So when Jesus says that those who want to save their life
will lose it,<br /> and that those
who lose their life for his sake will save it,<br />he is talking about the life spiritual - not the life
physical,<br /> the loss
and gain in view here is the essence, the vitality of a person,<br /> not their
biological existence.<br /> <br />So <b>the finding of
true, eternal, spiritual life</b><br /><b> involves losing of one’s ‘self’</b><br /><b> in something greater than oneself.</b><br /> <br />Those who lose their life, their ‘self’ in Jesus,<br /> and in the
gospel he proclaims,<br />find this sacrifice restores to them their true self,<br /> their true
quality of life.<br /> <br />Just as Jesus must suffer and die, and lose his life,<br /> in order
that the new life of resurrection may be unleashed;<br />so wherever new life in Jesus is found,<br /> wherever
those who lose their ‘self’ and find it again in him:<br />this is where resurrection occurs.<br /> <br />The giving up of ones-self in order to find life,<br /> becomes the
aligning of our life with that which is greater than we are,<br /> and this is
the new life, the new vitality, that Christ provides.<br /> <br />And so we come to the moment of transfiguration,<br /> with Jesus,
Peter, James and John<br /> making
their pilgrimage up Mount Hermon from Caesarea Philippi.<br /> <br />Here we find ourselves sharing with them in the ultimate
‘mountain top experience’,<br /> the moment
of supreme revelation in the gospel,<br />where the key group of disciples hear the answer<br /> to the
question of who Jesus is;<br />and they hear it from none other than the voice of God!<br /> <br />This is where Mark’s assertion in the first verse of the
gospel,<br /> and Peter’s
confession at Caesarea Philippi,<br /> get their
divine authorisation.<br /> <br />Jesus is the Son of God.<br /> In Jesus,
all the fullness of God is made known.<br />In Jesus, God draws near to sinful humans in an act of love,<br /> identifying
with us in all our sinfulness<br /> in order to
fan into flame the spark of true life<br /> that lies
dormant in each human soul.<br /> <br /><b>In Christ, God is
drawing our souls to life,</b><br /><b> gifting us resurrection,</b><br /><b> and showing us a new way of seeing,
and being, and doing</b>.<br /> <br />The moment of transfiguration is God’s gift to each of us,<br /> showing
that we can share in, and experience,<br /> the
life-giving, life-affirming, life-renewing resurrection of Christ.<br /> <br />The question for us, as for the disciples on the mountain
top,<br /> is whether
we can accept and inhabit this new perspective.<br /> <br />Peter, of course, gets it wrong again…<br /> Having
already denied what Jesus had said<br /> about
the need for the Messiah to be crucified;<br /> he next
offered to build huts for Jesus<br /> and
the two Old Testament characters<br /> who
had mysteriously appeared with him on the mountain.<br /> <br />Just as an aside, it is sometimes suggested<br /> that Moses
and Elijah appear at this point<br /> to
demonstrate that Jesus is the fulfilment<br /> of
the law (personified by Moses),<br /> and
the prophets (personified by Elijah);<br />but it is more likely that they are here<br /> at the
point where heaven opens to reveal the identity of Jesus<br /> because of
their role in the Jewish apocalyptic tradition.<br /> <br />Both of them have slightly ambiguous death-traditions,<br /> and this
meant that within Jewish apocalyptic texts<br /> they
often featured as kind-of tour guides to heaven,<br /> showing
people around in their visions of the heavenly realm.<br /> <br />Their appearance with Jesus at his transfiguration<br /> is an
indication that this is an apocalyptic moment,<br /> a
moment of the unveiling of truth,<br /> when the
boundary between God’s realm and the earthly realm is breached.<br /> <br />Such moments don’t last forever, of course,<br /> as you’ll
know if you’ve ever had your own ‘mountaintop experience’<br /> of the
overwhelming and inescapable presence of God.<br /> <br />None of us can stay on the mountaintop for ever,<br /> we have to
get back to real life,<br /> to the daily
grind of living out the truth that has been revealed to us.<br /> <br />So Peter is mistaken, but understandably so,<br /> in his
desire to perpetuate the heavenly moment.<br /> <br />However, the revelation of Jesus’ identity doesn’t leave
him,<br /> and his
perspective is forever changed<br /> by his
encounter with Jesus on the mountain.<br /> <br />The hot-headed impetuous Peter<br /> ends up as
the rock on which the church is built. (Mt. 16.18)<br /> <br />And the same can be true for us,<br /> in our
encounter with the transfigured Christ.<br /> <br />I wonder if this morning, on Transfiguration Sunday<br /> we can see,
in a new way, what it means to believe<br /> that in
Jesus, God is drawing near to us?<br /> <br />The change of perspective that this truth gives us<br /> can deeply
affect the way we live in the world.<br /> <br />This is no cost-neutral paradigm shift,<br /> it’s going
to bring transformation<br /> to anyone
who opens their heart to it.<br /> <br />The Transfiguration story ends, with the voice from Heaven<br /> declaring
that Jesus is God’s son,<br /> echoing the
words spoken from Heaven at Jesus’ baptism.<br /> <br />But there is a significant difference too.<br /> At the
Baptism, the declaration was for Jesus to hear,<br /> and
addresses him directly:<br /> "You
are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." (1.11),<br /> whereas at
the Transfiguration the declaration is for the disciples of Jesus,<br /> it
is for each of us to hear:<br /> "This
is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" (9.7).<br /> <br />The change of perspective here is not just about who Jesus
is,<br /> but what we
are to do about it.<br /> <br />It’s not enough to accept that Jesus is God’s son:<br /> that knowledge
has to go somewhere…<br /> <br />Those who have seen the transfiguration,<br /> who have
received the revelation of Jesus’ identity,<br />now need to learn to listen to the voice of Jesus.<br /> <br />There are so many voices clamouring for our attention,<br /> so many
calls on our loyalty, allegiance, and resources.<br /> <br />And so, in the midst of it all, can we learn to listen to
the voice of Jesus?<br /> Can we hear
him challenging all those powers that might seek to own us?<br />Can we receive and respond to his invitation to a new
quality of life,<br /> where we
lose our selves in him<br /> in order to
be found by the one who truly loves us?<br /><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinners_in_the_Hands_of_an_Angry_God">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinners_in_the_Hands_of_an_Angry_God</a></span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-9906106674182489582024-01-22T09:17:00.032+00:002024-01-22T09:24:45.900+00:00Reach out and touch faith<div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>28 January 2024</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><br /></i></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfyPhghTnfcYgvBcuNyw6ll5FIBA6xTRe7IaX8Ziw4tQ8a0_4qpRh7iKe-Usq7jVfYK1q9vESJNPXG7iKjznTAEKB_r1mCUFY1vqB5Yzt45lh99XXnuDKvu5w5yEzRVF4lmBLvtw-1dn7w585tMdC_DKo1ObmvK79gbd3GuHOXNOpgHvFw_FNB2oh0riH/s480/healing%20of%20woman%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfyPhghTnfcYgvBcuNyw6ll5FIBA6xTRe7IaX8Ziw4tQ8a0_4qpRh7iKe-Usq7jVfYK1q9vESJNPXG7iKjznTAEKB_r1mCUFY1vqB5Yzt45lh99XXnuDKvu5w5yEzRVF4lmBLvtw-1dn7w585tMdC_DKo1ObmvK79gbd3GuHOXNOpgHvFw_FNB2oh0riH/w400-h300/healing%20of%20woman%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><br /><i>Mark 5.21-43</i><br /><br />The #MeToo movement,<br /> an awareness movement around the issue of sexual
harassment<br /> and sexual abuse of women in the workplace,<br />grew to prominence in 2017<br /> in response to news reports of sexual abuse<br /> by American film producer Harvey Weinstein. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span><br /> <br />And whilst it has done much
good in raising awareness and giving voice to survivors,<br /> and has led to sweeping cultural and workplace changes,<br />I’m afraid we’re a long way
from a world<br /> where such behaviours have been banished to history.<br /> <br />Donald Trump, after all, is
on record<br /> for saying that if a man has enough power,<br /> he can do what he wants with a woman,<br /> groping and sexually assaulting without consent. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span><br /> <br />As the stories of #MeToo have
emerged,<br /> it is clear that such behaviour is rife,<br />and that there is something
deeply wrong<br /> with our society’s construction of what it means to be
male and female<br /> which has normalised assault.<br /> <br />The rise of Incel culture,
with its horrific misogyny,<br /> continues seemingly unabated,<br />and the arrest last year of
Andrew Tate has done little to stem the tide. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span><br /> <br />And my concern is that changing
the law, or arresting the ringleaders,<br /> won’t solve the problem.<br /> <br />What is needed is a new
construction, or possibly a deconstruction, of masculinity,<br /> which offers men a better way of being themselves.<br /> <br />In Grayson Perry’s book, ‘The
Descent of Man’,<br /> he critiques what he calls ‘The Department of
Masculinity’<br /> which tells men what they must be like in order to be
real men.<br /> <br />He observes,<br /> <br />‘On
average, two women a week in England and Wales<br /> are killed by a violent partner or
ex-partner.<br />This
constitutes nearly 40 per cent of all female homicide victims.’ <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <br />And goes on to add:<br />‘Violence
is not something young men just learn in gangs, or even in school;<br /> at a deep level they learn it at
home.<br />Governments
agonize over housing estates scarred by crime, football hooliganism,<br /> city centres blighted by
alcohol-fuelled violence.<br />They
put in schemes to lessen binge-drinking<br /> or fund safe houses for ex-gang
members,<br />while
all the time little boys learn that violence is a way of solving problems.<br />Every
time they are slapped, intimidated or humiliated as a child,<br /> every time they see their father
throwing his weight around,<br />every
time they succeed in getting what they want by force<br /> they are learning to be violent.’ <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span><br /> <br />And what I noticed, as I was
reading through our passage for this morning,<br /> was quite how touch-heavy the narrative is.<br /> <br />The woman is healed through
touch,<br /> the crowd are pressing round Jesus and touching him,<br /> he takes the girl’s hand to raise her from death.<br /> <br />And, as we shall discover,
the first century Jewish world<br /> had very strong laws about who could touch whom, and
when;<br />and in the course of today’s
passage,<br /> Jesus breaks most of those rules.<br /> <br />So as we spend time with
these stories of two women<br /> and their encounters with Jesus,<br />my invitation is for us to
hold in our minds,<br /> the tension between touch, and law, and masculinity.<br /> <br />Jeffrey John observes that
Jesus had<br /> a ‘startlingly inclusive’ attitude to women throughout
the gospels,<br /> regularly acting in ways that equalised their power with
men.<br /> <br />This counter-cultural
behaviour was almost unheard of in the first century<br /> where women were regarded as second- or third- rate
citizens.<br /> <br />And the story of the
haemorrhaging woman,<br /> which sits as the a kind of filler in the sandwich<br /> of the story of the raising of Jairus’ daughter,<br />takes us right to the heart
of the issue<br /> of the purity legislation that dominated Jewish society
in this period.<br /> <br />We’ve seen over the last few
weeks<br /> that Jesus keeps opposing the purity rules<br /> which declared some people clean, and other unclean.<br /> <br />So he casts out an unclean
spirit from a man in the synagogue, (1.23-27)<br /> and a whole legion of them from a man living among the
tombs (5.1-20)<br />he heals one man rendered
unclean by his skin condition,<br /> and another rendered unclean by his physical impairment.<br /> <br />And in today’s passage, Jesus
stops healing men,<br /> and starts healing women.<br /> <br />And whilst I wouldn’t want to
make too much of this,<br /> I think that there is something significant in the
observation,<br />that if we are to address
violence by men against women,<br /> our starting point might need to be with men,<br /> because it is them who need to change.<br /> <br />Having challenged his
society’s shortcomings<br /> in terms of its construction of masculinity,<br /> with its coded divisions of ‘in’ and ‘out’,<br /> where powerful male scribes got to write the
rules and enforce them,<br /> while those who couldn’t or didn’t fit were excluded
and scapegoated;<br />Jesus now turns to the women<br /> who, time after time, generation after generation,<br /> are required to bear the psychological and
physical scars<br /> of dysfunctional masculinity.<br /> <br />And so we meet the
haemorrhaging woman,<br /> and we have to start speaking about things that might
make us feel awkward.<br /> <br />It is interesting for me to
observe that, as a man,<br /> I find it socially uncomfortable to talk in public<br /> about female menstruation.<br /> <br />Somewhere lurking deep inside
me<br /> is the child who attended an all-boys grammar school<br /> and was told by other boys that girls were
‘dirty’,<br /> whilst also discovering that they were the object of my
sexual desire.<br /> <br />The Bible, by contrast, is
not so reticent,<br /> and as we read it,<br />we discover that we are in
fact not so far from the world of the first century,<br /> and that our taboos about power, gender, and the functioning
of the human body,<br /> are every bit as dysfunctional<br /> as those that were operative in the crowd around Jesus.<br /> <br />In a first century Jewish
context, menstruation was seen as God’s curse on Eve,<br /> based on a particular reading of Genesis 3.16.<br /> <br />This meant that a woman on
her period<br /> was deemed unclean by the Levitical law code,<br />not only for the time of the
period itself,<br /> but also for an additional seven days afterwards.<br /> <br />This meant that for two weeks
out of each month,<br /> women were excluded from public worship.<br />and had to live with
restricted engagement in normal social life,<br /> because of the rules around proxy contamination,<br /> whereby if they touched something, such as a
pot or a chair,<br /> that thing was then unclean<br /> and would make anyone else who touched
it also unclean.<br /> <br />In this context, it is surely
highly significant,<br /> that the woman rendered unclean<br /> by an uncontrolled flow of menstrual blood<br /> should find a path to healing through touch,<br /> something which had been denied her for
twelve years.<br /> <br />So, what are we to make of
this strange idea<br /> that when the woman touched Jesus,<br /> he felt the power go out of him and into her,<br /> in a way that brought about her healing?<br /> <br />I mean, it all sounds a bit
Sci-Fi!<br /> <br />If you’ve seen the Star Wars
film, <i>The Rise of Skywalker</i>,<br /> there are a couple of examples in there<br /> where someone who is ‘strong in the force’<br /> transfers some of their life energy to
someone who is dying,<br /> healing their wounds and bringing them back from the
point of death.<br /> <br />In this classic Sci-Fi trope,<br /> for which I could have given many other examples,<br />the person laying their hands
on the sick or injured character<br /> always feels a sense of pain or dangerous weakness<br /> as they give up their power to save another.<br /> <br />So, is this what’s going on
here?<br /> Well, partly, yes it is!<br /> <br />There is nothing new under
the sun,<br /> and the idea of the powerful healer<br /> is as old as humanity.<br /> <br />But in the case of Jesus and
the haemorrhaging woman<br /> there is another layer of meaning<br /> that Mark offers to us, for us to unpack.<br /> <br />Everything this woman has
touched, for the last 12 years,<br /> has been rendered unclean;<br />from people, to pots and
pans,<br /> and this has been the source of her isolation and
distress.<br /> <br />And yet, when she reaches out
to touch Jesus,<br /> the flow of uncleanness is stemmed,<br /> both in her body and in her interactions with another.<br /> <br />For the first time in 12
years, the flow has gone the other way.<br /> Rather than her touch making others unclean,<br /> the touch of another has made her clean.<br /> <br />The taboo that has condemned
this woman to a life as an outcast<br /> is broken as she touches Jesus<br /> and discovers not legalistic exclusion,<br /> but relationship and welcome.<br /> <br />And lest we think that we are
so far removed<br /> from this strange world of menstrual taboo and
touch-contamination,<br />some of us will remember the
great taboo<br /> that surrounded the early years of the AIDS epidemic.<br /> <br />Myths abounded that you could
be contaminated by touch,<br /> and others called AIDS God’s curse on gay men.<br /> <br />In 1987 Princess Diana
famously opened the UKs first purpose built HIV/Aids unit<br /> that exclusively cared for patients infected with the
virus,<br /> at London Middlesex Hospital.<br /> <br />In front of the world's
media,<br /> Princess Diana shook the hand of a man suffering with the
illness,<br /> and did so without gloves,<br /> publicly challenging the notion that HIV/Aids<br /> was passed from person to person by touch. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span></span><br /> <br />It is not an understatement
to say that this single act of touching<br /> changed the public perception of those suffering with
HIV/AIDS.<br /> <br />Taboos about touch are also
at the heart of the story<br /> of the healing of Jairus’ daughter.<br /> <br />It’s not without significance
that she is said to be twelve years old (5.42).<br /> Not only does the length of her life match<br /> the period of suffering of the haemorrhaging
woman,<br /> further tying the two stories together,<br /> but also it meant that in Jewish society of that time<br /> she was of marriageable age.<br /> <br />A rabbi like Jesus could play
innocently with a child,<br /> and we have stories elsewhere of Jesus opening his arms<br /> to welcome the little children;<br />but Jairus’ daughter was
already a woman according to first-century society,<br /> and so for Jesus to take her hand<br /> was a huge breach of the rules<br /> that governed social interaction between men
and women.<br /> <br />But of course, her being a
woman was nowhere near as problematic,<br /> from a purity-law perspective,<br /> as was the fact that she was dead!<br /> <br />It might have been
inappropriate for a rabbi to touch a woman,<br /> but it was absolutely forbidden for him to touch a dead
body!<br /> <br />This was far worse than his
physical contact with the haemorrhaging woman!<br /> <br />And it takes us into one of
the deep underlying themes of the gospel of Mark,<br /> which is that Jesus consistently acts in ways that
explode taboos.<br /> <br />From breaking prohibitions on
touch,<br /> to casting out spirits of uncleanness,<br /> to disregarding Sabbath laws,<br /> to defeating the great final taboo of death itself.<br /> <br />There is, it seems, nowhere
that Jesus won’t go<br /> in his mission to bring good news<br /> to people enslaved and diminished by the
narratives<br /> of exclusion and uncleanness<br /> that dominated every aspect of his society.<br /> <br />The ultimate demonstration of
Jesus’ challenge<br /> to the great taboo of death comes, of course,<br /> at the end of the gospel,<br /> in the story of the cross and the empty tomb.<br /> <br />But here, much earlier in the
story,<br /> we are shown that Jesus is willing to break all the rules<br /> if the end result is the gift of life.<br /> <br />Of course, Jairus’ daughter,
like Lazarus in John’s gospel,<br /> is raised to life rather than resurrected to eternal life;<br /> one day they will both die again<br /> and their experiences of life eternal<br /> will be of the same quality as that
experienced by any of us.<br /> <br />The point here is not, so
much, that the girl is raised from the dead;<br /> as it is that Jesus brings life and healing and wholeness<br /> by wilfully going and doing<br /> what no other rabbi would or could.<br /> <br />It’s worth us thinking for a
minute here<br /> about the role of ‘faith’ in these two healings.<br /> <br />As Jesus sends the woman away
in peace,<br /> he tells her that it is her <i>faith</i> that has made her well;<br />and Jesus says to Jairus,<br /> when the news comes that his daughter has died,<br /> that he should not fear, but only have <i>faith</i><br />- it’s the same word.<br /> <br />So are we back again in the
world of magical healing?<br /> Where some mechanistic relationship<br /> between a person of power and a person of
faith<br /> unlocks physical healing?<br /> <br />Or is something else going
on?<br /> <br />Well, as I said earlier,
partly the answer is that yes, this is exactly the world we’re in;<br /> or at least, it was the world Mark was writing his gospel
in!<br /> <br />The ancient world was full of
stories of miraculous power,<br /> and we certainly get echoes of these<br /> in the way the stories of Jesus are told by the gospel
writers.<br /> <br />For example, it is only a
chapter later (6.56)<br /> that we hear of people in the crowd around Jesus<br /> being healed by touching the hem of his cloak;<br />and in the book of Acts there
are stories of people being healed<br /> as Peter’s shadow fell on them (Acts 5.15),<br /> or by touching Paul’s handkerchiefs or aprons (Acts
19.12).<br /> <br />So we are right to be
suspicious of such stories<br /> as they circulated around Jesus<br /> and filtered the way the gospel writers recorded his
ministry.<br /> <br />But does this mean we can
dismiss them entirely?<br /> I don’t think so.<br /> <br />After all, Mark tells these
stories this way for a reason,<br /> and his intent is far more significant<br />than simply wanting to assert
that Jesus can do ‘healing magic’<br /> just as well as any other faith healer.<br /> <br />Jeffrey John points to the
fact that in classical Greek<br /> the word for ‘heal’ is the same as the word for ‘save’. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span><br /> <br />So when Jesus says to the haemorrhaging
woman that her faith has <i>healed</i> her,<br /> he is also saying that her faith has <i>saved</i> her.<br /> <br />For her, salvation and
healing are the same thing,<br /> and the key to both is faith.<br /> <br />What’s going on here?<br /> <br />It’s surely significant that
Jesus calls her ‘daughter’ (5.34) rather than ‘woman’.<br /> She is no longer a stranger to him,<br /> she is part of his new family of faith.<br /> <br />And here we are back at the
taboos of faith that Jesus is overturning.<br /> <br />This isn’t a story to show
that healing is triggered by faith,<br /> if only you have enough of it.<br /> <br />Rather, this story is told to
demonstrate<br /> that the faith which Jesus draws from people<br /> is a faith that breaks down barriers of exclusion,<br /> to include the unclean and declare them
clean;<br /> thereby bringing the healing of salvation<br /> to those who have previously been denied it.<br /> <br />The haemorrhaging woman is
the one person<br /> in the whole crowd around Jesus<br /> who, in faith, is able to access his true power.<br /> <br />It is only the victim of 12
years’ exclusion<br /> who can see Jesus with the eyes of faith.<br /> <br />It is the ritual and economic
outcast from society<br /> who has the faith to step into the new way of being human<br /> that Jesus is embodying and inaugurating,<br /> where there are no constraints on compassion,<br /> and the excluded are welcomed as members of
the family.<br /> <br />For her, stepping out of the
crowd was an act of faith,<br /> defying the conspiracy of conventions<br /> that would have kept her the perpetually silenced victim.<br /> <br />This, for her, was a step of
faith<br /> matched by those any age, including our own,<br />who have taken a step forward<br /> to hold their world to account for its victimisation<br /> of them and their kind.<br /> <br />And what she encounters in
Jesus<br /> is a different kind of masculinity<br /> to the toxic hatred of the purity religionists.<br /> <br />Those who would perpetuate
the abusive system,<br /> and then blame her
for its existence,<br />are challenged when Jesus
meets her faith and courage<br /> with a healing of both body and soul.<br /> <br />What she discovered was that
the step out of the conspiracy of violence<br /> was the step of healing.<br /> <br />As one commentator puts it,<br /> ‘inside the conspiracy [of masculine violence],<br /> the woman is constantly covered in blood;<br /> when she leaves it, the bleeding stops.’ <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span></span><br /> <br />And here’s the thing.<br /> <br />The new humanity that is
coming into being in Christ<br /> is the place where the bleeding stops.<br /> <br />Faith in Jesus is a step away
from a world<br /> dominated by violence, scapegoating, bloodshed,<br /> oppression, discrimination,<br /> separation, and toxic
masculinity,<br /> into the new world that is dawning<br /> where the death-defeating, resurrecting,<br /> inclusive, peaceful love of God
for all people<br /> brings healing and salvation.<br /> <br />It is a matter of great shame
that Christian congregations<br /> have themselves become bastions of exclusion and
segregation,<br />from the denial of ordination
to women and those who are LGBTQI,<br /> to the scriptural justification of gender stereotypes<br /> that distort men and oppress women,<br /> to the collusion with society in the scapegoating of
others<br /> on the grounds of socio-economic standing,
ethnicity,<br /> or other innate characteristics.<br /> <br />The current hostility towards
those who are Transgender<br /> both in society and in church life<br /> is a particularly invidious manifestation of this trend.<br /> <br />And, echoing the message of
the #MeToo movement,<br /> this has to stop.<br /> <br />Congregations like Bloomsbury
are, or at least should be,<br /> on the front line of bringing the new world into being,<br />through our courageous
enacting of the faith<br /> that highlights oppression<br /> and brings salvation and healing to each of us, whoever
we are.<br /> <br />I need this, and you need
this,<br /> because we each of us carry within ourselves<br /> both the legacy of, and capacity for, oppression.<br /> <br />And each of us needs to take
the step of faith,<br /> to reach out and touch Jesus,<br />to challenge the taboos that
keep us from wholeness,<br /> and to receive the healing, loving, renewing, refreshing
power<br /> that flows from our saviour to our souls.<br /> <br />Our Church vision statement
sets out our purpose<br /> as that of, ‘Provoking faith in the heart of London’,<br />and if we are to fulfil this
vision,<br /> we will need to step into the faith<br /> that brings healing to both us and to others.<br /> <br /><br /></span><br /><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Me-Too-movement<br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/07/donald-trump-leaked-recording-women<br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64125045<br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Perry, Grayson. The Descent of Man (p. 77).<br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Perry, Grayson. The Descent of Man (p. 77).<br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-39490507/how-princess-diana-changed-attitudes-to-aids<br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Jeffrey John, <i>The Meaning in the Miracles</i><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Robert Hammerton Kelley, <i>The Gospel and
the </i>Sacred, p.95</span><!--[if !mso]>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-58173657717690241782024-01-08T09:09:00.022+00:002024-01-18T15:14:41.770+00:00Church growth, naturally.<div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>14 January 2024</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkJ8EiDV5OKHXDLG_37dClnGg7ORhXgdGrSOC6LpyI6mGZk9Lg3sjRrVGow56NvLxBmEa_sQxFinAaf8_MZeypM_Khfr_wkfXR62UGpsaqds0BXB8LWxbnqseuu3jEAWsM8JoutDkAa5Bssf7dJ6T5lnYw6draiCpwG4RyOcs-ZtBSZpskRR_C4VqzCKV/s480/sower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkJ8EiDV5OKHXDLG_37dClnGg7ORhXgdGrSOC6LpyI6mGZk9Lg3sjRrVGow56NvLxBmEa_sQxFinAaf8_MZeypM_Khfr_wkfXR62UGpsaqds0BXB8LWxbnqseuu3jEAWsM8JoutDkAa5Bssf7dJ6T5lnYw6draiCpwG4RyOcs-ZtBSZpskRR_C4VqzCKV/w400-h300/sower.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Mark 4.1-34</span></b><br /><br />One of the slightly odd things about Mark’s gospel,<br /> is that
Jesus is often described as a teacher,<br /> but doesn’t
actually do much teaching.<br /> <br />Indeed, scholars suggest that this is one of the main
motivations<br /> behind
Matthew and Luke’s re-writings of Marks gospel<br /> -
to add in the missing teaching.<br /> <br />But Mark is not <i>entirely</i>
devoid of Jesus’ teaching,<br /> and in
today’s readings we meet some of his most famous parables:<br /> the
sower, the lamp,<br /> the
scattered seed, and the mustard seed.<br /> <br />However, we also get the rather strange saying,<br /> which is
actually a quote from the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 6.9-10),<br />where Jesus says that he uses parables<br /> not in
order to explain the kingdom of heaven,<br /> but to
conceal and confuse it.<br /> <br />And this is very interesting,<br /> because it
seems that Jesus <i>didn’t</i> see his use
of parables<br /> as the answer to the question<br /> of how best to communicate his
message<br /> <br />Jesus didn’t see parables<br /> as the solution
to the problem<br /> of a world
which doesn’t want to hear his message.<br /> <br />And, contrary to what some of us were told in Sunday School,<br /> he didn’t
use parables as pithy sound-bites,<br /> cunningly
designed to get his point across in thirty seconds or less.<br /> <br />Rather, for Jesus and, we might suspect, for the readers of
Mark’s gospel,<br /> the
parables encapsulated the <i>problem</i> of communicating
the Gospel<br /> in a world
which can often seem wilfully ignorant or actively hostile<br /> to the
proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven.<br /> <br />The reality, which I’m sure many of us can relate to,<br /> is that whilst
those who already have a faith-relationship with God<br /> will find the faith-world created by
parables compelling,<br /> those who
don’t read these stories through the lens of faith<br /> remain blind and deaf to their
challenge.<br /> <br />There is a strange paradox here,<br /> which is
that the Kingdom of heaven is revealed<br /> precisely
where it is most hidden.<br /> <br />The New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham<br /> captures
this enigma in his comment that,<br /> <br /> “The Spirit
who inspired the Scripture<br /> also
inspires its believing readers<br /> to accept
it as God’s message<br /> and
to understand it.” <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span><br /> <br />Parables, it seems, are not teaching that explains the
Kingdom,<br /> but rather
they are stories that embody it,<br /> and which
invite participation rather than understanding.<br /> <br />Anyway, let me tell you a story, or possibly a parable.<br /> <br />Some school children went on a field trip from the city to
the country,<br /> and their
teacher was showing them natural environment.<br /> <br />She spotted four plants -
one, a tiny new plant<br /> -
two, a shrub about a year old<br /> -
three, quite a large bush<br /> -
and four, a small tree.<br /> <br />The teacher invited one of the larger boys to try and uproot
them<br /> He
succeeded easily on first one,<br /> the second
took more effort,<br /> the third
was really difficult,<br /> and the
fourth could not be moved: it was too deeply rooted<br /> <br />The lesson the teacher was trying to put across<br /> is that the
strength of the tree<br /> came not
from what was going on above ground<br /> it’s
increased size there actually gave the child more to hold onto<br /> but rather
the strength came<br />from what was
going on below the ground<br /> the
growth in the root system<br /> was
what protected the tree from being uprooted.<br /> <br />The smaller plants were vulnerable to being uprooted<br /> but given
enough time<br /> they too
would have grown to enough of a size<br /> to
withstand the child’s attempts to uproot them<br /> <br />Well, this morning, we’re going to be thinking about growth<br /> and seeing
what truths we can hear<br /> from Jesus’
story of seeds growing into plants.<br /> <br /> <br />The context here is the values, vision, and mission
statements,<br /> that we worked
on as a congregation a few years ago;<br />and the metaphor we worked with as we arrived at these,<br /> was that of
the church as a tree,<br /> deeply
rooted in its values<br /> held
strong by its vision,<br /> and
bearing the active fruit of its mission.<br /> <br />I think that probably most people who come to church<br /> would be in
agreement that church growth<br /> is, in
principle at least, a good thing.<br /> <br />What is not so clear-cut, however,<br /> is how to
go about growing a church.<br /> <br />Mostly, I suspect, we tend to think of church growth<br /> in terms of
numerical growth<br /> the “bums
on seats” type of growth.<br /> <br />Because this is the kind of growth that we can most easily
understand,<br /> and
something we can see and measure.<br /> <br />I mean, we know the capacity of our building,<br /> and we know
how many people are here today,<br />and we can clearly see where there is room for more people
to sit.<br /> <br />However, simply linking church growth with numerical growth<br /> without
also emphasising the need for healthy growth<br /> is a recipe
for disaster<br /> <br />Unless there is strong, healthy growth<br /> which will
often be hidden like the roots of the tree<br />then when the strong winds of adversity come along<br /> the church
is in danger of being uprooted<br /> <br />Simply growing numerically,<br /> without a
corresponding quality of growth below the surface<br /> is a recipe
for a boom-and-bust revivalist approach to church growth.<br /> <br />For a long time now,<br /> the Western
world we live in has thought<br /> predominantly
in mechanical and scientific terms,<br /> influenced
by the enlightenment and the industrial revolution.<br /> <br />And the church in our country<br /> has been
greatly affected by this kind of mechanical<br /> and
scientific thinking,<br /> applying
the rational reasoning of cause and effect,<br /> to
issues such as church growth.<br /> <br />An example of this mechanical way of thinking<br /> is found in
our approach to methods of evangelism.<br /> <br />We hear about a church which has been claiming amazing
successes<br /> with a
particular method of evangelism<br /> which they
have discovered and developed<br /> <br />We then hear that a few more churches have tried it<br /> and they
are claiming it has worked very well for them<br /> <br />So we conclude that this programme must therefore work<br /> in every
church<br /> and that
every church should put it into practise<br /> <br />The problem of course,<br /> is that
what is right in one type of church<br /> might be
completely wrong in another.<br /> <br />But when we try something new<br /> and it
doesn’t work as well as we had hoped it would<br />we can get very disillusioned<br /> and
convince ourselves that the fault must be ours<br /> <br />Much of the time, the way churches plan for church growth<br /> is a bit
like making a toy robot<br /> <br />Think about it for a moment<br /> all the
pieces arrive together on the conveyor belt<br /> and are all
assembled according to a fixed plan<br />All the end products, the toy robots, are identical<br /> and all of
them work in the same way<br /> doing what
they are programmed to do.<br /> <br />And this is just fine – if we are making toy robots<br /> Factories
are great for making things to design.<br /> <br />But this is not a model we can transfer successfully<br /> to the
growth of a church.<br /> If we try,
we will fail<br /> <br />Churches cannot be made on a production line<br /> where you
pop in the right ingredients<br /> sing
the right songs<br /> run
the right courses<br /> do
this, do that, do the other<br /> and hey
presto you’ve got a growing church<br /> <br />Things are more complicated than this.<br /> <br />Consider a different picture…<br /> <br />When a child is conceived<br /> the
beginning is a single cell which begins to divide<br />The one cell becomes two, then four, then eight…<br /> and at this
stage the end result could be anything<br /> because
this process of cellular division<br /> takes
place for every living thing.<br /> <br />However, as the embryo develops<br /> the
different cells take on different functions<br /> and it
becomes clear<br />that this is a
new human being in development.<br /> <br />The result is an extremely complex living organism,<br /> and no two
human beings are the same…<br /> with even
identical twins<br /> who
come from the same initial cell<br /> developing
differently after the point of conception<br /> <br />The result of this process of division is growth<br /> natural
growth, which takes place all by itself.<br /> <br />It happens first in the womb, and then, after the birth<br /> it
continues through childhood and into maturity.<br /> <br />Things grow by very different mechanisms<br /> to the way
things are made.<br /> <br />And churches are grown, not manufactured.<br /> They are
grown by God<br /> not made by
humans.<br /> <br />The church is not the end result of a human production line<br /> where we
bolt the right bits together to make a church.<br /> <br />It is not a franchise, with a common logo and brand loyalty.<br /> <br />Rather it is grown by God,<br /> and as the
parable of nature tells us,<br /> each
created being grows differently.<br /> <br />Like the infinite uniqueness of snowflakes,<br /> so with
people, plants, and churches.<br /> <br />Our modern western culture<br /> has largely
become divorced from the world of agriculture<br /> <br />And for those of us who live in cities<br /> food comes
from the supermarket<br /> not from
the field or the cow.<br /> <br />The way we think is so informed<br />by the industrial and scientific
revolution<br />that our thought process are not tuned into thinking<br /> about the
natural process of growth<br /> which Jesus
uses as a parable for the kingdom.<br /> <br />When Jesus spoke and taught about growth<br /> he used
simple, natural terms<br /> which were
familiar to his audience<br /> <br />Think of the parable of the seeds from our reading earlier (4:26-29)<br /> <br /> <br />In this story, Jesus compares the kingdom of God<br /> with a
farmer scattering seed on the ground<br /> <br />Once the seed was sown, what happened next, the growth,<br /> took place
all by itself until the harvest arrived.<br /> <br />Of course, the farmer had done all he could do in the
preparation of the soil<br /> and in the
careful sowing of the seed,<br /> <br />But the growth came from God.<br /> <br />The farmer could not bring about growth<br /> all he
could do was to remove as many obstacles<br /> to growth
as possible<br /> <br />There is a partnership between farmer and soil,<br /> where the
harvest is the result of God-given growth,<br /> and the
farmer’s careful preparation.<br /> <br />And church growth is always also going to be a partnership<br /> as we
become co-workers with God.<br /> <br />Yet so often we still try and understand church growth<br /> as if it
was a production line.<br /> <br />Christians persist in trying to take mechanical or
scientific models<br /> and apply
them to the church<br /> as if the
church were a machine not an organism.<br /> <br />But Jesus’ way of describing growth<br /> encourages
us to think in terms of seed, fruit, harvest,<br /> and
God-given growth.<br /> <br />Such growth will take place most effectively<br /> when we
play our part in preparation<br /> and in the
removal of the obstacles to growth,<br />whilst allowing God to play his part<br /> in bringing
growth, health, fruit, and harvest<br /> <br />The farmer of Jesus’ story has to work in partnership with
God<br /> and we in
the church must work in the same sort of partnership:<br /> we are
God’s co-workers.<br /> <br />This way of thinking about church growth<br /> as a
natural process in which God does the growing<br />can be really useful to us<br /> as we
understand the things we do and are when we are together<br /> <br />So I’d like to draw out four principles from this,<br /> as we
consider our church, here at Bloomsbury.<br /> <br /><b>1. We are dependent on each other</b><br /> <br />The church of Jesus Christ is a complex organism<br /> with its
many parts interrelating with each other.<br /> <br />Where Jesus uses the parable of a plant,<br /> Paul uses
the comparable analogy of the human body,<br />noting that it is made up from many different parts<br /> each of
which has an essential role to play<br /> in the
healthy functioning of the whole.<br /> <br />So with us: each of us is dependent on the others<br /> and when
one of us suffers, we all suffer;<br /> when one of
us is honoured, we are all honoured.<br /> <br />If we have weak roots, the plant will be easily uprooted,<br /> if neglect
the leaves, the plant will die.<br /> <br />However, a positive outcome of the dependency we have on one
another<br /> is that the
sum of the parts<br /> is greater
than the individual parts on their own.<br /> <br />The person who thinks they don’t need the rest of the church<br /> is sadly
mistaken.<br />And the church that thinks it can do without certain
members,<br /> is
similarly misguided.<br /> <br />We all need one another<br /> and it is
only together than we make up the living organism<br /> that is the
church of Jesus Christ.<br /> <br />So we must invest in forming meaningful relationships with
each other,<br /> getting to
know each other,<br /> forging
friendships across the boundaries that might divide us.<br /> <br />We will be coming back to this conversation<br /> about
relationship building for growth and strength,<br /> at our
church meeting this afternoon.<br /> <br /><b>2. Multiplication is Normal natural process</b><br /> <br />If we are thinking naturally about our church<br /> we must
recognise that an unlimited increase in size<br /> is
just not normal.<br /> <br />Every form of organic life<br /> has an
ideal size,<br />and at some point,<br /> reaches its
natural limit.<br /> <br />No plant or animal increases in size indefinitely.<br /> <br />In the plant world, some trees live for centuries<br /> while other
plants last only a few days,<br />Some grow to be huge,<br /> whilst
others stay small.<br /> <br />But always, eventually, the cycle reaches its end;<br />and everything eventually dies<br /> <br />However, plants do so much more than just live and die:<br /> they
produce many more of their species along the way.<br /> <br />A plant’s mission is not to permanently increase in size,<br /> it is to
create new plants before it dies.<br /> <br />Sometimes the lifespan can be very long,<br /> at others
very short,<br /> but the
cycle is always the same.<br /> <br />In the animal world the same principle is at work<br /> a maximum
size is reached, and then reproduction begins.<br /> <br />In humans we grow healthily up<br /> until we
reach a height limit during our teenage years,<br />And then for some of us, less healthy growth continues<br />– it just becomes outwards rather
than upwards!<br /> <br />But the injunction from God to Adam and Eve<br /> was to ‘be
fruitful and multiply’ (Genesis 9.7),<br /> in
accordance with the natural way of things.<br /> <br />And Jesus applies the same approach to his kingdom:<br /> multiplication
is built into its natural life.<br /> <br />Continual unchecked numerical growth of a single
congregation<br /> should not
be expected.<br />Unconstrained cell division is not growth,<br /> it is
cancer.<br /> <br />Which leads me to observe that<br /><b> death,
as a normal part of life, is to be expected</b><br /> Some
aspects of the ministry of a church will come to an end<br /> and
their completion should be celebrated.<br /> <br /> There will
be things that were great in their time<br /> but
whose time has ended.<br /> <br /> Sometimes a
church itself will die<br /> and
this is to be expected<br /> it
is a normal part of life<br /> <br /><b>Also, it is not enough to continually increase in size</b><br /> A tree is
not designed to get bigger indefinitely<br /> it is designed to produce more trees<br /> which
in turn will produce even more.<br /> <br /> It is
impossible to predict the life cycle of an individual church<br /> Bloomsbury
will be 176 years old this year, and is still going.<br /> <br /> But there
is a life-cycle<br /> <br />And I would also observe that<br /> t<b>he ultimate
fruit of an apple tree is not an apple!</b><br /> <br />It is the new tree that grows from the apple seed<br /> The apple
is an important stage in the process<br /> but
it is not the end.<br /> <br /> Similarly
in church life, the ultimate fruit is not a large church,<br /> it
is the growth of the kingdom of God in the world,<br /> beyond
the border and boundary of any individual congregation.<br /> <br />And so, different
ministries within a church work in just the same way<br /> The true
fruit of a leader is not a follower<br /> but
another leader.<br />And the true fruit of a disciple
is not a convert,<br /> but
another disciple.<br /> <br /><b>3. All Energy Should be Transformed</b><br /> <br />There are two distinct ways to deal with the forces of
nature<br /> <br />The first is to be like a boxer<br /> who uses
all his strength to combat his foe<br /> strength against
strength<br /> with
the strongest winning<br /> <br />The alternative is used in Judo<br /> where
someone who is much weaker physically<br /> brings down
the strong man<br /> by
using the strong man’s own strength against him.<br /> <br />The difference in these two is that<br />instead of seeking to destroy the
natural forces<br />at work in our
church<br />by using a
counter-force,<br />we can learn to harness what is
already there<br />and turn it
into something different.<br /> <br />This is the principle of levers<br /> where a
small force is able to prise something much greater<br /> because a
lever is used.<br /> <br />The crew of a yacht can use the force of the wind<br /> to go
wherever they want<br /> even
into the wind by tacking backwards and forwards<br />The wind can be very destructive<br /> but the
sail of the yacht takes that force<br /> and turns
it into forward motion<br /> <br />Too often church life has been governed<br /> by the
boxer mentality<br />when problems arise,<br /> force is
used to overcome them<br /> and great
energy is expended in the process.<br /> <br />There has to be a better way,<br /> and natural
thinking enables us to discover<br /> that every
form of energy can be productive<br /> <br />It may take some inventive ways of thinking,<br /> and much
prayer,<br />but God causes all things to work together for good.<br /> <br />I have a deep conviction God is at work even through the
worst of times,<br /> to bring new
good fruit into being in the world.<br /> <br />God never gives up on us,<br /> and is
always loving us back to life.<br /> <br />So we must always remind ourselves of the need<br /> to use the
energy of the environment around us,<br /> rather than
fighting against it.<br /> <br />Storms will come, threats will arise,<br /> and our
task, like the crew of the yacht,<br /> is to
discern the winds of change, and harness them<br /> to keep us
moving towards our goal.<br /> <br />Sometimes we might get to a point<br /> where the
people who are involved are tired<br /> and there
just don’t seem to be enough workers to go around.<br /> <br />And one answer to this may be that sometimes we need to do
less,<br /> to allow a
particular aspect of the church’s ministry to die well,<br /> and
celebrate its passing with thanksgiving.<br /> <br />But it also raises the question for us<br /> of whether
we are using the wrong people in the wrong roles.<br /> <br />Sometimes, people take on a job in church life,<br /> and then
they get stuck in it<br /> for years
after they would rather have moved<br />onto something
else<br /> <br />And in the meantime, they are blocking others<br /> who would
like to get involved<br /> but don’t
realise there’s a need<br /> <br />This is why we need to be continually investing in
relationships,<br /> working
hard to ensure that everyone is included,<br /> whether
first-time in the building, or part of the furniture!<br /> <br />We need to ensure that we use our energies wisely<br /> doing
things that we are gifted in doing and called to do,<br /> rather than
forcing ourselves into doing things<br /> that
are completely outside our vocation.<br /> <br />If we can ensure that we are using our strengths wisely<br /> then the
church will be like the judo expert<br /> who uses
the strengths around them to their advantage<br />Rather than like the boxer<br /> who makes
heavy work out of every battle.<br /> <br /><b>4. God made us to be fruitful</b><br /> <br />In the natural world<br /> nothing is
an end in itself:<br />everything always has a specific function<br /> <br />God has created all living things to bear fruit<br /> and where
there is no fruit, something is decidedly wrong<br /> because
fruit is essential to preserve the species.<br /> <br />Fruit is also clearly visible:<br /> The reason
apple taste so nice<br /> is so they will attract those
animals that will take the seeds<br /> and spread them so that another tree
will grow.<br /> <br />If all natural life is characterised<br /> by its
ability to bear fruit<br />the church must be seen in the same way<br /> <br />So the quality of a congregation<br /> can be
checked by looking for the fruit,<br /> not simply
the number of people attending.<br /> <br />The difficulty in churches<br /> is that
when activities are begun<br /> they have
an important function,<br /> which is
why they were started!<br /> <br />But as time passes and matters change<br /> that
function is not always updated<br /> <br />The result is that, unless the purpose of the activity
itself<br /> is
regularly updated<br /> it can
become no longer relevant to the present day church.<br /> <br />Similarly, some things in the church<br /> have never
fulfilled their true function<br /> because
they were never designed to be fruitful.<br /> <br />It’s all too easy for us to envisage our activities and
programmes<br /> by criteria
other than the principle of fruitfulness.<br /> <br />Tradition and fear of change are two important factors<br /> in holding
us back from making<br /> what might
be necessary decisions.<br /> <br />Much of what the church does today is based on tradition<br /> even a
so-called ‘free church’ like ours!<br /> <br />And it may be that for some of what we do<br /> the reason
is no longer there for doing it<br />but we carry on doing it anyway<br /> because
that is the way it has always been done<br /> <br />But hear this, tradition is not inherently wrong:<br /> there is
great wisdom in learning from the past.<br />But what is wrong<br /> is hanging
on to it, when the need has changed.<br /> <br />The pandemic brought about many changes in our church life,<br /> some
projects died, and others have begun.<br />The opportunities for growth opened by the basement
redevelopment,<br /> after three
years of lying fallow<br /> are lying
before us.<br /> <br />And as we anticipate this future, we need to remember<br /> that the
most important aspect of being fruitful<br /> is the producing
of fruit<br /> <br />In individuals this will be the fruit of the Spirit<br /> while in
churches and church activities<br /> it will be corresponding
spiritual growth<br /> <br />We need to be constantly asking ourselves<br /> whether the
things we invest our time and energy in<br /> are going
to be fruitful,<br /> or
whether they are never going to be fruitful,<br />where fruitfulness is measured not primarily by numbers,<br /> but by love,
joy, peace,<br /> patience,
kindness, generosity,<br /> faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5.22-23)<br /><br /></span><br /><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Bauckham, ‘Scripture and
Authority’, <i>Transformation</i>, 15/2
(1998): 6.</span></span>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-72796191990841882182024-01-05T14:29:00.006+00:002024-01-05T14:33:15.036+00:00Put Away Your Weapons<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b> A reflection for the Multi-Faith Vigil for Gaza</b><br /><i>6th January 2023</i></span></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtfjUP5p_ka_UfYdiEgRjtmp71tfPLsn06o0-px1D8n7Tydax8mwyrMETTBFfeoj4Ieq7LKFRNcWyGIrYZrfQcQ56jD6KFJiwDkA86sHKKdOtu35DyjCJv8xnOlkLO9QpVKm5y_mATHt4J-pwUoj0Wx_DTEMmwGra6Zx0QEf0n7fTFCtevLRE7Gydr4tW/s1080/WhatsApp%20Image%202024-01-04%20at%2023.44.57.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYtfjUP5p_ka_UfYdiEgRjtmp71tfPLsn06o0-px1D8n7Tydax8mwyrMETTBFfeoj4Ieq7LKFRNcWyGIrYZrfQcQ56jD6KFJiwDkA86sHKKdOtu35DyjCJv8xnOlkLO9QpVKm5y_mATHt4J-pwUoj0Wx_DTEMmwGra6Zx0QEf0n7fTFCtevLRE7Gydr4tW/w400-h400/WhatsApp%20Image%202024-01-04%20at%2023.44.57.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />There is a strange cameo in the gospel stories of Jesus' last night before his crucifixion (Luke 22:49-51, John 18:10-15, Matthew 26:51-55). <br /><br />Jesus and his disciples had left the city of Jerusalem and walked across the Kidron valley to Mount of Olives, to a place where there was a garden called Gethsemane. <br /><br />Jesus had walked away from his disciples to pray on his own; and then Judas, the disciple who had decided to betray Jesus, arrived with a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, along with some religious leaders who had seized their chance to rid themselves of this turbulent preacher.<br /><br />Suddenly, the peaceful garden was transformed, and violence was in the air. <br /><br />Judas walked up to Jesus and famously betrayed him with a kiss.<br /><br />All hell was about to break loose, and it was one of Jesus' disciples who struck the first blow. <br /><br />Simon Peter, Jesus's right-hand-man, had a sword with him, and he drew it and struck the head of the high priest's slave, cutting of his right ear. <br /><br />We are even told this slave's name, he was called Malchus, because sometimes it's the little personal details that turn a story like this into reality for those hearing it.<br /><br />But what happened next was so unexpected. <br /><br />You would think that this striking of the first blow, against the slave of one of the leaders of the armed mob, would be the signal for a bloodbath. <br /><br />But instead, Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, 'No more of this!' and told Simon Peter to put his sword back in its sheath, proclaiming that all who take the sword will perish by the sword.<br /><br />And then he touched the wounded ear of Malchus the slave and healed him, before going with those who had come to arrest him, to face execution the next morning.<br /><br />Well, you might think - this is nothing new. Just one more story of violence and betrayal and murder in a land that has seen so much of these down the millennia to the present day; except this story is different, and I think it speaks to our situation today.<br /><br />The difference is that Jesus did not meet violence with violence. Instead he acted to heal the wounded, and then chose to absorbed the ferocity of the crowd into his own body. <br /><br />The victory over evil and death that Jesus proclaimed would not be won by force, but rather through the eternal power of love even in the face of death.<br /><br />And today, at our multi faith vigil for Gaza, we have been remembering those who have also sought to bring healing to the wounded, those who give care and not violence, and whose bodies have been broken by others.<br /><br />Well, Jesus continues to be crucified in our world: wherever healing and love are displaced by violence and hatred.<br /><br />And the path to new life in the places of violence and death is still open. But we need to hear Jesus speaking to us: 'No more of this!' he says, because 'all who take the sword will perish by the sword'. <br /><br />And so we call for a ceasefire now, and with Jesus we say 'No more of this!'. It is time for a different path to be taken, one which leads to the hope of life, rather than the spiralling violence of death.<br /><br /><b>Please join me in prayer as you are able:</b><br /><br />God of love, God of peace, we pray for the crisis in Gaza. <br /><br />We pray for those who bring healing, for healthcare workers, aid workers, and negotiators. <br /><br />We hear the voice of Jesus calling for people to put down their weapons, and we echo that call for ceasefire. <br /><br />May hatred, fear, and suspicion be displaced by a rediscovery of the common humanity between peoples, <br /><br />and may people of faith in all traditions discover through their scriptures the voice of the one who calls us to love our neighbour. <br /><br />Amen.</span><br /><p></p><div><br /></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-12605419959017425872023-12-30T17:55:00.034+00:002023-12-30T18:11:28.605+00:00'Good news' story, or good 'news story'?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</span></span></b></div><b style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">11.00am, 31st December 2023</span></span></b></div></b><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqADnD-KoyYYusXWyOQiexvB8_j2_AZ1rOeVayk9r7LMrL-W4rfuqjC0NlyT1q7zJjRojmTYcRV9rn8QeVqhnet5HrOc7ltfYEnufUGym4M-2xtodQWkOHetiqNcfQo6SaJKUEjQcHOmUHfE1fBtAyth2XgqBR8Soqq4xVZ6MzdxCxCzIq66eb-nY-nPys/s1280/saint-john-the-baptist-1652345_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="892" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqADnD-KoyYYusXWyOQiexvB8_j2_AZ1rOeVayk9r7LMrL-W4rfuqjC0NlyT1q7zJjRojmTYcRV9rn8QeVqhnet5HrOc7ltfYEnufUGym4M-2xtodQWkOHetiqNcfQo6SaJKUEjQcHOmUHfE1fBtAyth2XgqBR8Soqq4xVZ6MzdxCxCzIq66eb-nY-nPys/w279-h400/saint-john-the-baptist-1652345_1280.jpg" width="279" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Mark
1.1-8</i><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Labour Party spin doctor infamously remarked,<br /> on
the day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001,<br /> that
that day was a ‘very good day’ to bury ‘bad news’.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/41%20Mark/Mark%201.1-8.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]<br /></span></span></span></a> </span></div></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Whilst she was, with some justification,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> vilified
by the press at the time,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">I think that in many ways her reaction to news
management in the wake of tragedy</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> was
the product of a far wider and longstanding culture of cynicism and opportunism</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> in
the world of news, media, spin, and propaganda.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
question of ‘good news days’, and ‘bad news days’,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and indeed of ‘good news’ and ‘bad
news’</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">is
not a straightforward question</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> of the moral difference between
‘good’ and ‘bad’.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
thing is, a ‘good-news’ story, is rarely a good ‘news-story’.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> Stories of ‘good news’ are often
confined to the final item on the local news,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and typically take the
‘lost puppy found’ style.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">It
is very rare for the headline news, to be ‘good news’,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> rather, the stories we want to hear
are stories of tragedy and trauma,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> of wars and rumours of
wars,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> stories of money, power,
and politics.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">These
are the good ‘news-stories’,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and they are rarely ‘good news’.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">On
the rare occasion that a headlining story <i>is</i>
presented as ‘good news’,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the cynic in me is always looking beneath
the surface of the story</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> for the spin, the propaganda, the
vested interest.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">So
what is going on here at the beginning of Mark’s gospel</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> where the coming of Jesus is
descried as ‘good news’?</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">We’ve
just had Christmas, where the birth of Jesus</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as described in Matthew and Luke’s
gospels</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is presented as ‘glad tidings’ for
the world,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">and
now Mark is calling his advent ‘Good news’ for the world?</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Human
births don’t often get this kind of publicity…</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> with the occasional notable
exception,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> such as the announcement of yet another
royal baby.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Whilst
the news of human baby is always <i>good</i>
news in and of itself,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> a royal baby is only <i>headline</i> good news</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> because of the power, wealth, and
privilege of the family</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that the child will be born into.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
it was ever thus.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">In
the Roman world, the official announcement of the birth of a royal child</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> was trumpeted throughout the empire
as, you guessed it, ‘<i>good news</i>!!’</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
Roman propaganda machine would go into overdrive,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to eulogise the emperor as the
‘divine man’</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and the birth of their child as the
birth of a god.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">There
is an ancient inscription, which reads,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> ‘The birthday of the god was, for
the world,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the beginning of the joyful messages</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> which have gone forth
because of him.’</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">‘Glad
tidings of comfort and joy’, indeed.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
birth of an emperor’s god-child was ‘good news’ for the empire,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> because it ensured the perpetuation
of the royal dynasty.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
so we come to the first verse of Mark’s gospel,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> written to a culture familiar with
the carefully managed ‘good news’</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> of the emperor cult:</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/41%20Mark/Mark%201.1-8.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></a></span></div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Here,
right at the beginning of the gospel, in the very first line of text,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> we find Mark setting up a conflict
that will dominate everything that follows.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">He
serves notice to his readers, from the offset,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that this story of Jesus will be one
which challenges</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> all the apparatus of imperial
propagation.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Like
John’s gospel, Mark doesn’t offer us a ‘birth narrative’;</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> we have to turn to Matthew and Luke</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> for our singing shepherds, angelic
choirs, and visiting magi.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Rather,
he gives us a dramatic introduction</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to the arrival of the son of God in
the course of human history.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Mark
presents the coming of Jesus as the advent of the ‘anointed’ leader,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> who is confirmed by God himself,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">and
who bursts onto the scene of history</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> proclaiming a ‘kingdom’ to challenge
the might</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> of the Roman Kingdom.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">In
other words, Mark’s version of the advent of Jesus</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is cast in such a way as to take
dead aim at Caesar, the Roman emperor,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and at the legitimating myths that
supported his power.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">From
its very first line, Mark’s gospel is subversive.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">‘Good
news’ in Roman times, as in our own time,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> was usually news of victory on the
battlefield</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as the imperial armies marched their
way across the known world,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">giving
the gift of Roman Peace, the <i>pax Romana</i>,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to a world that had no choice but to
accept the gift,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> or to pay the price for refusing to
comply.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">In
direct contrast to this, the ‘good news’ with which Mark’s Gospel begins,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is a declaration of war upon the
very heart of the violent empire,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as Jesus does battle
with the political culture</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> of imperial domination.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">We
live in a world that is addicted to news,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> but as we have seen, ‘good news’
does not usually make good news.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">A
good, or effective, news story,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is one that hooks the viewer or the reader
into wanting to know more.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">News
of battles won, terror threats foiled,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> economic victories, and political
standoffs,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">are
the staple diet of our news media.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
they do for us what the Roman propaganda machine</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> did for the Roman plebeians:</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">They
sell us the narratives by which we then frame our lives,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and they invite us to rejoice in the
‘good news’ of their protectionism,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as it comes to us
through the secular deities of militarism and monarchy,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and the miracle of free
market economics.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
it is to us, as it was to the world of the Romans,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that the Christ-child comes.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
Mark would have us believe that he comes</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> in a way that subverts the parochial
good news stories of our time</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> with a transcendent message of ‘good
news’ for all time, and all people.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
so Mark takes us on a journey from the world of global domination,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to the world of those who see
history from the other side.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">He
invites us to step with him into the world of the under-dog,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the world of the dominated,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the world of the
refugee, the alienated, and the exiled.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
so he invokes the prophet Isaiah,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and we hear a voice reading quotes
from the prophet of the Jewish exile.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Interestingly,
if you actually turn to Isaiah in the Old Testament, to find this quote,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> it’s not there quite as Mark has it,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">not
only because he was quoting from a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> (whereas our modern Old Testament is
a translation of a tenth century Hebrew text);</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">but
also because the first half of the quote isn’t from Isaiah at all,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> it’s a mish-mash of quotes from
Exodus and Malachi (Exod. 23.20; Mal. 3.1).</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">But
the second part of Mark’s quote is, however, from Isaiah, chapter 40v3.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">As
an aside here, for a moment,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the fact that Mark can take three
quotes, from three different places,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and edit them together to form what
he presents</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as a unified quotation
from Isaiah,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> tells us a lot about the way in
which the early followers of Jesus</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> thought about their
scriptures.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Not
for them some restrictive doctrine of scriptural inerrancy,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> or any idea that the text is
immutable</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and universally applicable in all
times and all places.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Not
for them a statement of faith</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that regards scripture as the sole
and absolute authority</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> in all matters of faith and
practice.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Rather,
Mark, in common with the other Gospel writers,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> regarded the Hebrew Scriptures as
holy stories,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that explored how and why God was at
work in the world,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">drawing
people to the divine</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and reshaping human history</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> away from oppression and towards
liberation.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">For
them, scripture was more of an inspiration,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> than it was itself inspired.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">It
was there to engage with, to hear from, and to argue with,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> not to settle arguments and close
down conversation!</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Anyway,
the way in which Mark edits these three quotes together is significant,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> because it tells us a lot about his
subversive intent.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">I
don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but the word ‘redaction’</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> has come back into fashion over
recent years,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">with
government reports often published</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> with key passages ‘redacted’ in the
interest of national security.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">But
just in case you’ve missed this word, it means, ‘to edit for publication’,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and it’s a word that Biblical
Scholars are very familiar with</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as we look at the ways
the gospel writers</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> edited their source
material together,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> in order to bring their different
versions of the Jesus story into being.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">So
the scholarly discipline of ‘redaction criticism’, as it is known,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> looks at the motives for why</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> things have been edited together in
certain ways.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">However,
the word ‘redaction’ arrived into more popular use</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> through the way in which government
departments respond</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to
requests made under the Freedom of Information Act,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> where documents are released, but in
so-called ‘redacted’ form,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> with section obliterated
where that particular content</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is deemed unsuitable for
public consumption.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
association with concealed statistics and government cover up</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> has lent the word an air of mystery
and intrigue;</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> it speaks of the
mystique of subversion.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Which
is exactly where Mark is taking us</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> in his redaction of Exodus, Malachi,
and Isaiah.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
Exodus reference, and its equivalent passage in Malachi,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> are combined and translated by Mark
to read:</div></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,</span></div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> who
will prepare your way.’</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And here, Mark takes us into the world of the
Jewish slaves in Egypt,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> making
their journey through the wilderness of Sinai</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> on
their way to the promised land.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The messenger who goes ahead through the
wilderness</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is
heralding the way for the people of God</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to
make their own journey of liberation;</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">the Lord himself blazes the trail.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">This is a story of emancipation, of freedom
from slavery.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> And
as such it is an inherently revolutionary story.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">For any empire dependent on the enslavement of
humans,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the
release of those slaves from bondage</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is
an act of treason against the system that requires their servitude.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Whether it’s the Egyptians of the time of the
exodus,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> or
the Romans of the time of Mark’s gospel,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">or the American plantation owners of a bygone
century,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> or
those who currently serve in the sweatshops and brothels of our own time,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> held
in economic slavery to the empire of global capital</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that
dominates our own world:</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">the release of slaves is an act of subversion.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">What
Mark leaves open for interpretation, though,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is who the messenger of freedom is
in the context of his gospel.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Is
it John the Baptist, heralding the arrival of Jesus?</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> Or is the messenger Jesus himself,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> preparing the way for
those who will follow him?</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> Or is the messenger none other than
God,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> sending the gospel
writer to proclaim to readers down the centuries</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the good news of the
advent of Jesus.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
answer to this conundrum may well be that all three are intended,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> because the advent of God is not a
once-for-all event,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> fixed in time and space.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> The God who comes to us in the
infant Jesus,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> a sign of hope in a
world of oppression and darkness,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is the same God who comes to us in
the adult Jesus,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> opening before all of humanity
a way of being,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that is not dominated by
death and enthralled by empire.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> And this is yet again the same God</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> who comes to us by the
Spirit of Christ,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as the
stories of Good News that we encounter</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> through the
pages of the gospel</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> inspire new ways of
engaging our humanity before God.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Sometimes,
the coming of God into the world</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is full of ambiguity and
uncertainty,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">because
this is the God who comes in the wilderness,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to those who are lost,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">offering
a way through the desert to the new world of love and acceptance</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that he is bringing into being.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
so Mark introduces us to John the Baptist,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the herald in the wilderness,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> living a marginal existence,
surviving on locusts and honey.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">John
is found in the place where the exodus people fled</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as they left their slavery in Egypt.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">He
is found in the place where Jesus faces his own temptations,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the place where Elijah sought
sanctuary</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> when hunted by the
political authorities,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the place of solitude, loneliness,
and liminality.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
it is from this peripheral place</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that the challenge to the centre
emerges.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
voice of the one proclaiming the advent of the good news of the coming of Jesus</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is heard echoing from the hills.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">If
earthly power takes the centre ground,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> whether that be Rome, Jerusalem, or
Westminster;</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">the
prophetic voice of challenge comes from the margins.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Mark’s
gospel deliberately sets up a spatial tension</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> between two places that are
symbolically opposites.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
disparity between the margin and the centre,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> between the wilderness and the
temple,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">is
something that Mark’s gospel returns to time and again.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">According
to the dominant Jewish nationalistic ideology of salvation history,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> Jerusalem was considered the hub</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to which all nations would one day
come.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Mark
turns this on its head;</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and far from beginning his story of
good news</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> with a triumphal march on Zion,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">rather,
he tells of crowds fleeing to the margins,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to be baptised with the baptism of
repentance.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Mark
is setting the scene for a conflict</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that will only resolve itself at the
crucifixion,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">as
the new kingdom of Jesus comes from the margins,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to challenge the powers that
dominate the centre.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
priestly and scribal establishment of the temple,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> whose social power was derived</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> from systems of religiously
legitimates social control,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> finds itself in the same category as
the emperor of Rome:</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">and
such power is deemed illegitimate by the coming Christ.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
good news of the coming of Jesus</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> is that all expressions of
illegitimate power,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> whether secular, sacred,
or some fusion of the two,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> are called to account by the voice
of repentance from the wilderness.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">And
so John the Baptist calls people to repentance,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> he invites them to confess the sin
of their complicity</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> in the idolatrous powers
of Rome and Jerusalem,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and he baptises them in the Jordan
as they, like the exodus people of old,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> pass through the waters
of the river</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as they make their journey from the
old world to the new,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as they complete their
pilgrimage</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> from
enslavement to the powers that be</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to freedom
in the new kingdom</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that
they are being called to bring into being.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
water-baptism of John, the baptism of repentance,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> heralds the baptism offered by
Jesus,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">who
will, says John, baptise with the Holy Spirit.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">If John’s
baptism of water in the wilderness sets up a challenge</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to the dominant powers in the world,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">the
baptism of the Holy Spirit proclaimed by Jesus</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> inaugurates a confrontation on a
spiritual level</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">with
the underlying forces of idolatry</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that give rise to earthly
expressions of centralised authority.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">There
is no darkness so dark</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> as that which lurks in the human
soul,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">and
we have such endless capacity to wreak havoc in creation.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
baptism of the Holy Spirit</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> shines the light of the Spirit of
Christ</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> into the darkest places
of our souls and imaginings,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> bringing to the light all that would
otherwise eat away at our humanity,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> destroying us one day at
a time until all that is left</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> are the false gods of
our own devising.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Baptism
is not simply about being sorry to God</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> for the wrong things we have done.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">It
is about opening ourselves to the transformative power of the Spirit of Christ</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that takes us away from the centre,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> away from our dreams of
power and our fantasies of success,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> into the wilderness where dreams are
transformed</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and fantasies redeemed.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">It
is only as we are baptised to be a marginal people</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> that we find we can effect true
change in the world.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
challenge here, at the beginning of Mark’s gospel, is clear:</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> It asks us to consider in what way
we will regard</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> the coming of Jesus to
the world as good news?</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">If
we see the coming of Jesus as the advent of power,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> to transform society from the centre</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> by forceful application
of Christian values,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> then we side with Rome and
Jerusalem,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> not with John the
Baptist.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">If,
however, we hear the one who comes to us,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> calling us to the wilderness to
repent of our sins,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> calling us to baptism of water and
the Holy Spirit,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">then
we hear the voice of the one crying in the desert.</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The
waters of Baptism speak to all of us,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> maybe reminding us of the promises</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> we ourselves have made
in years long past,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> maybe challenging us to consider
baptism for ourselves,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">but
above all, calling us to the margins:</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> calling us to the wilderness, to the
land beyond the Jordan,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> calling us to repentance of our
worshipping of other gods,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> and calling us to receive afresh the
baptism of the Holy Spirit,</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> who opens within us the
stream of living water</div></span><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> which leads to eternal
life.</div></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/41%20Mark/Mark%201.1-8.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1385043/A-good-day-for-No10-to-bury-Jo-Moores-career.html</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/41%20Mark/Mark%201.1-8.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="text-align: left;" title=""><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/41%20Mark/Mark%201.1-8.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
The following sermon draws on Ched Myers, <i>Binding
the Strong Man</i></span>.</div></div>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-26482352266083699202023-12-11T09:46:00.032+00:002023-12-11T12:10:42.333+00:00'I Want My Country Back!'<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury
Central Baptist Church</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US">17
December 2023, 11am</span></b></div></b><div style="text-align: left;"><a name="_Hlk153187679"><b><br /></b></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjuzfNz5Wc742HZUmHLbAcaT0XULMR4QzxdonxVcUVl67jH-fz1aigEdXt24VeZoLD8XSGn6DWV-FY7N9TYhNRYi1Wjii9Xr6Gk-FjOQGWYsPfR1g1f-CcdUWJpMndj80uSiO2Ux67Dn-UvChK0k7w6XVhkOrrtYcqs2lDY35aImQeAXn3tayr12lKSkLC/s1280/world-67861_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjuzfNz5Wc742HZUmHLbAcaT0XULMR4QzxdonxVcUVl67jH-fz1aigEdXt24VeZoLD8XSGn6DWV-FY7N9TYhNRYi1Wjii9Xr6Gk-FjOQGWYsPfR1g1f-CcdUWJpMndj80uSiO2Ux67Dn-UvChK0k7w6XVhkOrrtYcqs2lDY35aImQeAXn3tayr12lKSkLC/w400-h200/world-67861_1280.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a name="_Hlk153187679"><b><br /></b></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Ezra 1.1-5; <span lang="EN-US">3.1,3,10,12-13; 4.1-3; 9.1-3,12; 10.9-12,44</span></i></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">‘I want my country back’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> has become something of a rallying cry in recent years.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From calls for Scottish independence,
to Brexit, to Trump,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the desire for land,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to have and
to hold, till death us do part,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is firmly back in vogue,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> although I
suspect it has never really gone away.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From Islamic State, to the
Englishman whose home is his castle,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from Israel and Palestine, to Russia and Ukraine,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the idea that <i>this</i> particular patch on the surface of God’s
green earth</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> should belong to ‘me and mine’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">is a compelling narrative
that drives everything from war and terrorism,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to oppressive dictatorships, to the entire capitalist
system.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The idea that land ownership
can be defined</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> within a hierarchical system of tenure</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which ascends from the individual, via the family and tribe,
to the homeland,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">is fundamental to our
understanding of the post-feudal nation state,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and you only have to look at the hell that breaks loose</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> wherever people are required to live across
borders</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that are not of their choosing</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to see how wedded our human societies are</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the land that we live on,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the land which gives us life.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the thing about land
ownership</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is that it is always a multi-generational issue.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You don’t change these things
overnight,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because there is always an ideology at play</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> behind whichever individual or family or corporation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> has actually got their name on the title deed.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, for example,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> whilst it may be perfectly acceptable</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for a member of the English landed gentry,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> say, the duke of Westminster,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to own most of the land on which the better parts
of London are built,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it is deemed less acceptable</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for foreign investors to buy up large tracts of
prime real estate</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with
a view to long term profit</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from what is often referred to as ‘our
land’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so we come to slogans such
as,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘I want my country back’, or ‘Stop the Boats’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or ‘Rwanda is a safe and stable country’…</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And the question of whether
such sentiments, however heartfelt,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> can ever be enacted in any meaningful way,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is as troubling today as it ever has been.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
thing is, many of today's most divisive political issues</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> revolve
around land ownership,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and have their roots firmly in the
past.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So if
you want to understand Brexit, or Trump,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or Scottish Nationalism, or ISIS,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or the Palestinian problem,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">then
you have to go back a very long way</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> into the history of why we are where
we are,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and why certain people feel so
entitled to their territorial assertions.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">People
may forget the details, but the grudges remain,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the sense of prerogative for ‘my
nation’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">coupled
with the sense of fear and frustration</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> when it feels as if someone is taking
‘my country’ away from me,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">lies
behind much of our experience of the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's
not all about skin colour, of course,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> although that can be one of the most
enduring</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and vicious forms of segregation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's
more usually about land (who owns it),</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> money (who has it), and power (who
wields it),</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
these are multigenerational issues</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which echo down through civilisations,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">creating
the context within which each rising generation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> stakes their own claim on the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In
all of this, who your parents are</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> continues to matter very much indeed.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If
they were blue-collar steel or textile workers in the Deep South of the USA,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> people who saw their jobs disappear during
the twentieth century</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because of overseas manufacturing, and
immigrant labour markets,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> then you will probably be
voting, again, for Donald Trump</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in the hope that he will make
your country great again.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
irony here, of course, is that Trump is hardly the personification</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of the defender of the working man.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If
anything, he's the exact opposite,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he’s the landowner who represents</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the vested interests and entrenched
power of inherited wealth.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
he is, at least, an American landowner.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> And like the Grosvenor Estates here in
London,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> British born and bred,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Trump
represents an embodiment of the all-American dream,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which remains compelling to those</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who desire an opportunity for
a better life,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and are frustrated because they feel</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as if someone else is taking
it from them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What
we call neoliberalism,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the free market economic model that
has prevailed in the Western world</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> primarily since the second
world war,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> has, it seems to me, largely failed in
its aim of reducing social inequality</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and controlling the
monopolisation of production</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> through competition and
reduced regulation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
I want to suggest that this is because</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it was just the latest manifestation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of an ancient story of
control</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> based on land, money, and power.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
rhetoric of the free market simply created a situation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> within which the rich have remained
rich,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and where land has remained
centralised into the ownership</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of those who inherited the
power to assert their rights over it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
this is where I want us to turn, for a few minutes,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the story of Ezra, and the
rebuilding of the temple.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Because
I think this ancient story, from a land far away,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> helps us to unmask the deep systems of
domination in human society</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that continue to make their presence
felt in our own world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So,
firstly, a bit of the back story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
first temple in Jerusalem was built by Solomon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as a religious symbol of the political
unification of the land of Israel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that had occurred during the reign of
his father David.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That
story tells us that King David had succeeded</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where all other Jewish rulers before
him had failed,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">by
uniting the disparate tribes of the Jewish people</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> into one nation, with one King, and
one border.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In
many ways, David was for the Jews,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> what King Arthur has been for the English:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a
mythical figure of old who set the ideology of the nation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> defining for future generation what it
means to be part of this people.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well,
Solomon’s temple was part of that narrative,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it cemented the relationship
between the house of David,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the so-called ‘God of Israel’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However,
David’s political union of the land didn’t last,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it was already starting to
fragment by the time of Solomon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> hence his grand building project to try
and unite the people.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However,
after about 250 years,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the Assyrians conquered the northern
part of the land of Israel (740BCE),</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
then a century and a bit after that, the Babylonians conquered the south,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> destroying Solomon’s temple,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and carrying the King and the ruling
elite off to exile in Babylon. (587BCE)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This
Babylonian exile lasted for about fifty years,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> before the political situation shifted
in Babylon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">with
that great city itself falling to the Persian king Cyrus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who, it turned out, had a different
policy</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with regard to exiled and displaced
peoples.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Whereas
the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> had believed that the way to control a
conquered nation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> was
to take the elite into captivity,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and to put his own rulers in place</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to extract tribute and taxes
from the local population,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cyrus
pursued a policy of letting people be ruled by their own leaders,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> worshipping their own gods,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
as long as they paid their taxes to him,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he was happy enough to live and let
live.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
so Cyrus decreed that the Israelites in exile in Babylon</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> should be allowed to return back to
the land of Israel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
he encouraged them to rebuild their temple,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and resume the worship of their God in
Jerusalem.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
this is where our reading today from the book of Ezra</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> picks up the story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s
a book that is written firmly from the perspective of Judah,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the southern kingdom of the Jews</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which had Jerusalem as its capital
city,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
it is clearly written to justify their ownership of that land.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This
is history being written by the victors,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who are telling the story of how they
got to where they are,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in such a way as to legitimate their
current situation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So,
the returning Jews rebuilt their temple,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and assumed power in the land,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
Ezra is their story of how they did it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
there are enough glimpses in this story of the darkness of that time</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for us to recover from it what a
terrible price had to be paid</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for this ideology of land ownership to
reassert itself.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
thing is, those returning to the land</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> were not the same people as those who
had left it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We’re
talking two generations later, here.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> And in the same way that the New York
Irish are more Irish than the Irish,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> so the Jews returning from
Babylon were more Jewish,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> by a certain definition of Jewishness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> than
those who had remained behind in the land.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You
see, the Jews in exile had been busy</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> constructing a national and religious identity
for themselves.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Many
of the books of the Bible that make up</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> what we might call the Jewish history</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> were actually written by the Jews in
exile in Babylon.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So
the creation stories of Genesis</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> are clearly re-written versions of the
Babylonian creation myths;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
the stories of the rise of the nation of Israel under the judges</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the political unity achieved by
King David and his successors;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">are
stories written to create and sustain</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> a specific vision of national
belonging</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in
a time when the land itself was under occupation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
the people were in exile.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We
may never know what historical echoes lie behind these stories,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but it was these narratives of
identity that <i>came</i> to be true</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for the Jews who returned from exile.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Did
King David ever actually exist? Who knows?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Quite possibly he didn’t.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
that doesn’t matter, because the stories <i>about</i>
him</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> defined a nation and a culture,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">in much
the same way that the stories about Arthur</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> came to define what it meant to be
English</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in our own time of imperial dominance.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So
those returning to the land did so</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with a vision before them of
national purity,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> a vision of what it would mean to
worship <i>their</i> God in <i>their</i>
temple,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with <i>their</i> king on the throne.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They
were, to coin a phrase, getting their country back!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
it was Ezra’s job to make that happen,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he was the leader tasked with
delivering on the decision</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to return the exiles to the
land they believed was theirs,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and I can almost hear him assuring the
returners,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that ‘return means return’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of
course, this doesn’t mean that the implications of the decision to return</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> had been fully thought through in
advance.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some
of this was going to have to be worked out on the hoof, so to speak;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> such as the thorny issue of those
already living in the land</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">who
might also have thought that they too</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> had a legitimate claim to the land
they lived in,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and
indeed, a claim to also be considered the legitimate children</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
land that Ezra and the returnees came back to was not empty,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it was inhabited by the descendants of
those</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who had been left in the land by the
Babylonians.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
when these locals asked if they could join in the fun,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> pointing out that they had been
faithfully worshipping God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> through all the years of
Babylonian invasion,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that they would like to help with
the rebuilding of temple,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">they
are dismissed as ‘adversaries’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and made into enemies.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
so the ethnic segregation begins,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and two groups of people emerged, with
two different cultures,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> both feeling that they had a claim to
the same piece of land.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let’s
call them Palestinians and Israelis,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for the sake of argument.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
Ezra’s vision of radical ethnic purity doesn’t end there,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and what we meet in the book that
bears his name</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is the heartbreaking story of the fate
of those among the returners</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who had married local women
and had children.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clearly,
for the exiles during the long years in Babylon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the pressure to not marry out of the
Jewish clan,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> had been crucial to their ability to
remain distinctive.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Much
as some immigrant groups in our own country</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> might frown upon those who</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> choose to marry out of their own
ethnic group.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
once the exiles had returned to their historic homeland,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> clearly some of the men had decided</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that their cousins who had remained
in the land</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> were more relative than
stranger,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and had married among them and had
children.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This
would be like, fifty years from now,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the Syrian refugees to Europe</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> finally being able to return to a
rebuilt Aleppo.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Or
diaspora Jews in the 1950s being encouraged</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to return to their newly recreated
homeland.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s
the same story, told over and over again,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as people are displaced, and people
return.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s
the story of ethnic segregation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of the dream of racial purity,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and of the challenges of
multiculturalism.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
Ezra’s answer is clear:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> these women and children must be sent
away.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s
horrific, it’s barbaric, it’s xenophobic,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it’s where this story ends.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
vision of God that we see here,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is of a God who dwells in the temple
in Jerusalem</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> desiring to be worshipped by an
ethnically purified people.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s
a problematic story,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and we might wonder why it’s there in our
scriptures at all?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From
the point of view of the author of the book,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the sending away of the women and
children is a good thing,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it’s a sign of the piety of Ezra</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that he prioritised the
purity of God’s people</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> even at the cost of great
suffering.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But
this is not the God that I recognise, as revealed in Jesus Christ.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> And I refuse to worship a racist,
vindictive God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I
think the value of this story,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as with so many of the deeply
troubling stories</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that we meet elsewhere in the Old
Testament,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">is
that it bears terrifying testimony to those dark places</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where unflinching adherence to the fusion
of nationalism with religion,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> can take human beings.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This
is the ideology of the terrorist,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it is the ideology of the crusader,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it is the ideology of Christendom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And,
thank God, there is another story in scripture</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which offers an alternative vision of
what it means to be human,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a
vision which allows us to step away</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from the narrative of Ezra and those
like him.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Psalm
24, for example, proclaims:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and all that
is in it’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It
is not mine, it is not yours, it belongs to God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And
the book of Revelation gives us a a glimpse of heaven’s perspective</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> on the kingdoms and nations of this world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">as
the loud voices of heaven cry out that:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘The kingdom of the world</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> has become the kingdom</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of
our Lord and of his Messiah’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Not
in some future tense – but very much in the present tense:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> The earth <i>IS </i>the Lord’s, and all that is in it</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘The kingdom of the world <i>has become</i> the kingdom</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of our Lord and of his Messiah’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, what do we say to the
ideology</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which leads people to cry, ‘I want my country back’?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I think we say this:</span></div><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"> It was
never yours in the first place.</span></i></div></i><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The book of Genesis,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> one of the texts written by the exiled Jews in Babylon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and brought back by them to the land of Israel on their
return,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">offers a perspective on the
earth</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where humans dwell there as stewards of creation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The significance of the Genesis
creation stories</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is not that they offer a competing narrative</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to the insights of contemporary science,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but rather that they offer a
competing narrative</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which contradicts the localised, nationalistic view of God</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that drove Ezra and his contemporaries</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to rebuild their temple and drive away the foreigners.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We need to decide which God
we will worship,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it is a decision with significant consequences.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ezra made his choice,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the people of that region</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> have been living with the consequences ever since.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The current violence between
Israel and Palestine,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the decades of violence that have preceded it,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">need to be heard in the
theological and geographical context</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of Ezra’s return and reforms.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The terrible irony of Ezra’s
situation</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> was that the very people who had just been released</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from their own horrific displacement</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> so quickly themselves became the agents</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of the violent displacement of others.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And that is a story that
echoes down the centuries,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> speaking directly to our own global situation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So what God will we choose to
worship?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> And what difference will it make to the way we live on this
earth?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What if we live out the
conviction</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that all that we hold, we hold in trust for God?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Not for our children, nor for
our nation, but for God?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What if we live in such a way
as to be accountable to a different authority,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> resisting the free market forces</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which constrain us to act for prudence and profit?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What if we discover in our
midst ways of living generously,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> exercising hospitality,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with our homes, and our land, and our decisions?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What if we live to subvert
the notion</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that England is, or should be, a ‘Christian nation’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">because the God we worship is
the God of the whole earth,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> not just our patch of it?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What if we live out in our
lives and community</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the calling to advocate for those who have lost their
homes?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What if we speak out in
welcome</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for those who are displaced from <i>their</i> land?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What if we seek to understand
and live out before God,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the implications of asserting that this is not ‘our’
country,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and this is not ‘our’ land?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The earth is the Lord’s</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and all the fullness thereof.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><p></p>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-17071928359123158392023-11-27T17:22:00.007+00:002023-11-27T17:26:48.637+00:00A right Jeremiah!<!--[if !mso]>
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<![endif]--><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist
Church, </i></b></span></span><br /><b><i>3 December 2023</i></b><br /><i>First Sunday of Advent</i><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uxZJyS3VhklNd61CADjTw5Z7kFa9xcgIcGwkrQYOtyuFBaHMsoOj8gwyf8vGVecELVlf3_f-kIcM4yvs_66r7MFeodQqS4E2bpPYtkudZZmM2Frl5BekQ-SI7v_lg32_BqtAgTeMsw4pHuOptecX9XEZlRGztPZ9h0z0-stQfy7q7dn1bVkNUCt-kokl/s527/Michelangelo_Buonarroti_027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="384" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uxZJyS3VhklNd61CADjTw5Z7kFa9xcgIcGwkrQYOtyuFBaHMsoOj8gwyf8vGVecELVlf3_f-kIcM4yvs_66r7MFeodQqS4E2bpPYtkudZZmM2Frl5BekQ-SI7v_lg32_BqtAgTeMsw4pHuOptecX9XEZlRGztPZ9h0z0-stQfy7q7dn1bVkNUCt-kokl/w291-h400/Michelangelo_Buonarroti_027.jpg" width="291" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Jeremiah 33.10-11, 14-18</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Have you ever heard the expression,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where
someone is described as being ‘a right Jeremiah’?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As someone who has a generally sunny and optimistic
disposition,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I don’t
think it is something that’s usually said of me,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">but I’ve occasionally thought it about others!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you’re not familiar with the phrase,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> calling
someone ‘a Jeremiah’ is saying that they’re, to put it kindly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> a
‘glass-half-empty’ kind of person.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A ‘Jeremiah’ is someone who is pessimistic about the
present,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
foresees a calamitous future.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A bit like Eeyore, you might say,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or Marvin
the Paranoid Android,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or Kreacher
the House Elf.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the things about someone who’s a ‘Jeremiah’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is that
they can often annoy those around them,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> often because
they are right!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I mean, you only have to look at the way Greta Thunberg</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> has been
vilified in certain strands of the media</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">to see how little people like to be told</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that the
climate crisis is real and imminent.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And certainly, the Jewish prophet of doom</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from the 7<sup>th</sup>
Century BCE, Jeremiah himself,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">made something of a career</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of annoying
people with his dire predictions.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Like Private James Frazer in Dad’s Army,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Jeremiah
spent years telling his fellow citizens of Jerusalem</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that they
were all doomed.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Their good life under King Zedekiah wasn’t going to last,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because the
Babylonians were coming.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At one level, Jeremiah’s predictions of Jerusalem’s downfall
to the Babylonian army</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> could have
been simply a case of him reading the political landscape,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
seeing something in the wind</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
was going to turn into a whirlwind of destruction.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And if that had been all there was to it,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> he might
not have made himself quite so unpopular.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I mean, saying,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘Look,
there’s a large and powerful army getting closer,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I
think we should be prepared for the worst’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is not
hugely controversial.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But what Jeremiah did that annoyed everyone so much</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> was that he
pointed to the large Babylonian army</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> gathering
on the distant horizon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and then
told King Zedekiah of Jerusalem</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
it was <i>his fault</i> the disaster was
coming.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jeremiah wasn’t just a prophet of doom,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and he
wasn’t just right in his predictions,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">he was also annoying</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because he
firmly pointed his finger at the king as the one responsible.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By Jeremiah’s understanding, Zedekiah had led his country</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in a way
that had taken it away from where God wanted it to be.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He had prioritised war over peace,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> nationalism
over cooperation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
he was about to reap the consequences of his actions - said Jeremiah.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, by the time we get to the passage that is our reading
this morning,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Jeremiah is
languishing in the palace dungeon in Jerusalem,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where
Zedekiah has dumped him in an attempt to shut him up.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And it’s so often the case, isn’t it,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that those
who hold political power</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> will go to
extraordinary lengths to silence those who critique their power.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And yet the prophetic voice refuses to be silenced.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Eventually, truth will out.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Oppression,
bigotry, and powerful vested interests</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> don’t get
to silence the uncomfortable voices of the prophets forever.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of my favourite Paul Simon songs, and I have many,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is called
‘The Sound of Silence’,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and I don’t know whether Paul Simon had Jeremiah in his
prison cell in mind</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> when he
wrote this song, but he certainly could have done.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ll read the words of the last verse now,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and my
invitation is to hear this as the cry of the silenced prophet in any age:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Fools" said I, "You do not know</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> Silence like a cancer grows.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Hear my words that I might teach you</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> Take my arms that I might
reach you"</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>But my words like silent raindrops fell</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> And echoed</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> In the wells of silence.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>And the people bowed and prayed</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> To the neon god they made.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>And the sign flashed out its warning</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> In the words that it was
forming,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>And the sign said, "The words of the prophets</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> Are written on the
subway walls</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> And tenement halls"</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>And whispered in the sounds of silence.</i></div></i></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My apologies if that’s just planted an ear-worm</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that you’re
going to be stuck with all day.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But Jeremiah, and those like him, will not be silenced,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> despite the
fact that they are rejected</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for
proclaiming a message</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that is not
only pessimistic,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but
which requires a change to society’s destructive patterns of behaviour</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> if
the disaster is to be averted.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The thing is, the masses hate a Jeremiah,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and we all
love an optimist.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s so much easier to vote for the confident sunny disposition</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of the
person promising easy answers to complex questions,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">than it is to admit that reducing geopolitical and economic
complexities</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to binary
options is dangerously simplistic.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And those who offer optimism in place of realism,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> denying the
warnings of the prophets,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
silencing the voices of concern,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">too often resort to the easy option of placing Jeremiah back
in his dungeon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and hoping
desperately that it will all work out OK.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But Jeremiah and those like him will not be silenced.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> And denying
the problems they proclaim</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> doesn’t
make them go away.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so Jeremiah continues to speak,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from his
dungeon beneath the palace.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But what is so interesting,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is that the
words he issues from his confinement</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> contain a
surprising message of hope.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes, I find myself almost in despair at the world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I worry
about global warming,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I
worry about the rise of the far right in Europe,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> I worry
about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
I worry about terrorism,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> about
mass migration,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
about oppression and injustice around the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes, even sunny optimistic Simon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> can find
himself becoming a bit of a Jeremiah.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How about you?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So what does Jeremiah say next?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Does he
continue with his message that ‘we’re all doomed’?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, yes and no.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There’s no escape for Jerusalem from the Babylonian army on
the horizon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the city
will be besieged, overthrown, and the people taken into exile.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But nonetheless Jeremiah explores a sense of what hope might
look like</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in the face
of the depressing message of imminent destruction.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jeremiah’s message is both deeply troubled,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and deeply
hopeful.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At the time of his imprisonment,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> where we
meet him in chapter 33 of the book that bears his name,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> there are
no obvious signs of hope.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Babylonians are coming,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and despair
and destruction are coming to his beloved city.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But still he speaks of hope,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which comes
not from a denial of the realities before him,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> but from a
deep grappling with despair.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And I find myself thinking here about a depth of
spirituality</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that can
embrace both hope and despair.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Too often my experience of church life over the years,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> has been
that we are converted from despair to hope,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">as if despair were some kind of sinful or shameful state,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from which
we need salvation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, Jeremiah offers us a more integrated model here,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as he holds
hope and despair together before God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The hope he proclaims from the depths of despair,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> is
something that challenges the realities of the present;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">something which alters the way in which one lives in the
here and now,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> by
articulating a new, transformative, way of being.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, he says, one day… one day that is surely coming…</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> God will
cause a righteous branch to spring up for David.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Understanding quite what he means by this</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> requires us
to know a bit about the Jewish story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For the Jews of Jeremiah’s time, their security was tied up
deeply</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with their
monarchy was a gift from God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So the stories of David, their archetypical king of ancient
times,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> defined
their nation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> their
understanding of who they were,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
who they were called by God to be.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For the Jews the time of the Babylonian invasion,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the stories
of King David functioned a bit like the way</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the stories
of King Arthur functioned for Victorian England.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just as the legend of Arthur, Merlin, and Uther Pendragon,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> forged the
mythology that sustained the English Empire,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So the tales of Saul, David, and Solomon</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> undergirded
the ideology of Israel as God’s chosen people.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And in the face of the Babylonian invasion,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
ideology was being shaken to its core.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If Zedekiah was to be killed, if Israel was to lose its
king,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> then all
God’s promises would be questioned.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This wasn’t just a political crisis that Jeremiah was living
through,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it was a
crisis of faith.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so, he says, just as a new branch can spring from the
stump of a felled tree:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> even if
Israel <i>is</i> toppled by the Babylonians,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> God
has not forgotten the promises made in olden days,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and a new
branch will spring up for David.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jeremiah wasn’t the only prophet to use this image</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of a branch
of David arising from the roots of a felled tree;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">we find it in Isaiah as well,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who uses
the name of Jesse, King David’s father, and says:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Isaiah 11.1, 10</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> and a branch shall
grow out of his roots.</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples;</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: left;"><i> the nations shall
inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.</i></div></i></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And this passage from Isaiah, together with our reading from
Jeremiah,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> stayed with
the people of Israel through their time of exile,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and sustained
their hope through the years of despair.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And then something interesting happened,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> because
even though the exile eventually came to an end,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
the exiles <i>were</i> restored to
Jerusalem, with their monarchy re-established,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the hope
that a better time, a better leader, was coming,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> didn’t
go away.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What we are seeing here, in our reading from Jeremiah,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it’s
parallel in Isaiah,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">is the birth of what became the Jewish hope for a coming
messiah.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You see, even though the end of the exile marked a partial
restoration,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the extent
of Israel’s borders never got back</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to
where the stories said they had been in the time of King David;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> their kings
never had the political strength and autonomy</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
the stories of David eulogised and lauded,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and instead
the restored Israel existed as a puppet nation,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ruled
by puppet kings,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> controlled
and at the mercy of whatever empire was dominant,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> from
the Babylonians to the Greeks to the Romans.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So the seed of hope for a righteous branch for David,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> planted by
Jeremiah and nurtured through the despair of exile,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">grew into the hope for a coming messiah</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> a son of
David who would restore Israel’s faith and dignity before God.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But I’m jumping too far….</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let’s stay with Jeremiah for a few moments longer,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and re-join
him in his dungeon in the palace in Jerusalem,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> with the
Babylonian army on the horizon.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Because Jeremiah tells us, from the literal pits of despair,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> what this
hope will look like.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For Jeremiah, hope looks like justice, and righteousness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> which are
nowhere to be seen in his world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He articulates a hope that someone will come,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who will
embody justice and righteousness.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a mind-altering moment,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it sets
the agenda for everything that follows.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What, he asks, would it mean</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> for God’s
justice and righteousness to be embodied and enacted?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What would it mean for someone to live out</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> God’s
eternal intent of setting things right?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What would it mean for the kingdom of Israel,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to become
the Kingdom of the Lord, who is righteousness and justice?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is an astonishing articulation of hope,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> in the face
of overwhelming despair.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In Jeremiah’s world, righteousness and justice are gone,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and for him
to assert that God is righteous, and that God is just,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that
God has not yet finished with his people,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">is a narrative of hope that has the capacity to change the
world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But here’s the thing,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Jeremiah
says all this, when the reality of it is nowhere to be seen.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And to leap forward now to the coming of Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> (we are,
after all, now in Advent),</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">it is not immediately clear that God <i>is</i> putting things right by sending a child,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who will be
born in difficult circumstances and flee his home as a refugee;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">it is not immediately clear that God <i>is</i> putting things right</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> through the
horror of a crucifixion and the rumour of a resurrection.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And yet, Jeremiah says that he is so certain of his hope,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
Jerusalem itself will be renamed,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it
shall be called ‘The Lord is our righteousness’.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The hope that Jeremiah proclaims is not dependent on any
human activity,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> it is
dependent on God’s action.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">He is saying that it is always God</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> who
gives new life in place of death,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that it
is only God who brings new righteousness and justice</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> into
the very heart of the place where despair is most deeply felt.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If Jerusalem, the city of death and destruction in
Jeremiah’s time,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> can be the
place where hope enters the world,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">then hope can come to anywhere that despair is at its worst,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> whether
that is lonely solitude of the human heart,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the
corporate victims of an act or terror,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> or the
communal hell of a besieged city in Gaza.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so, because it is Advent,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> we come at
last to Jesus;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">who asked his disciples, ‘But who do you say that I am?’</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and his
friend Peter answered him, ‘You are the messiah’ (Mark 8.29)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Within the Christian story,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> the hope of
Jeremiah and Isaiah is fulfilled in Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">who embodies God’s righteousness and justice,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> bringing
hope to all those whose lives are lost in despair.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And for those of us who find ourselves living in turbulent
times,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> not knowing
who to believe, or where to go for truth,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">the living hope that is Jesus,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> made known
to us by his Spirit,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">and encountered in one another as we gather in his name,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> gives us a
hope that will sustain us</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And so we pray, again, the Advent prayer</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> of longing
for a world transformed.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”</span></div></div>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-58450415390691108512023-11-22T16:36:00.002+00:002023-11-22T16:36:34.570+00:00Rebuilding the House of God<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial;">26 November 2023</b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><o:p> </o:p></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfxaYB8V4J-t6ZdEucC6ju8WQ5EXJ2ratun3_ThF8DMLDKR2yXecW_jev94YGbtLtkBu3lpQwrOdXqoy1whRFCcQkDU-VhhpaZJ1qdNu61c3HSXefLsx8H-CanfaJVHhklkkAANDWl82fOntncXTPXoRQGKpzJmI2Q0qa62fXbqtGdHJ9pLD_L9v2SI03/s640/workers-272214_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfxaYB8V4J-t6ZdEucC6ju8WQ5EXJ2ratun3_ThF8DMLDKR2yXecW_jev94YGbtLtkBu3lpQwrOdXqoy1whRFCcQkDU-VhhpaZJ1qdNu61c3HSXefLsx8H-CanfaJVHhklkkAANDWl82fOntncXTPXoRQGKpzJmI2Q0qa62fXbqtGdHJ9pLD_L9v2SI03/w400-h300/workers-272214_640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>2 Kings 22.1-10, 14-20; 23.1-3<br /></i></b> <br />I have a question for us to consider this morning, and it’s
this:<br /> ‘What God
lives here?’<br /> ‘What God
dwells in this place?’<br /> <br />Or, to put it another way:<br /> What is the
nature of the God we worship in this place?<br /> What kind
of God do we embody in our relationships with one another?<br />And how does this God call us to behave<br /> in our
engagement with the wider world?<br /> <br />These are profound questions,<br /> as they
take us right to the heart of what it means<br /> for us to
be the people of God called to this place, at this time.<br /> <br />It’s been a tough few years, in many ways.<br /> The long term
impacts of the pandemic are still with us,<br /> and they affect everything from
Sunday attendance<br /> to the way we enact our mission in
the world.<br /> <br />The answers to the question of who we should be<br /> as the
community of God’s people,<br />answers that we knew well before the pandemic,<br /> are not the
answers that serve us now.<br /> <br />We need new answers,<br /> we need a
new vision of what it means<br /> for us to
be the people of God in this place.<br /> <br />We need a fresh encounter with God’s word,<br /> as we hear
God’s calling and purpose<br /> on our
lives and for our community.<br /> <br />Well, so far, so <i>revivalist
sermon</i>.<br /> You’ve
heard it before, and you’ll hear it again I’m sure.<br /> <br />And whilst it’s all true,<br /> we still
need to work out what this actually means for us?<br /> <br />How does one have a fresh encounter with God’s word?<br /> How does
one hear God’s calling and purpose<br /> on our
lives and our community?<br />Where do we go for our new answers, for our fresh vision?<br /> <br />Well, the lesson of Josiah might suggest<br /> that we
start with a building project,<br />a bit of sprucing up the house of the Lord,<br /> maybe a renewed
basement,<br /> with a sprung floor and some good
air conditioning,<br /> and a classy glass screen…<br /> <br />After all, that’s basically what Josiah was doing<br /> when
Hilkiah discovered the book of the law.<br /> <br />Josiah had become king at the age of 8,<br /> and his coronation
came on the heels of the long reign of king Manasseh.<br /> <br />The books of Kings love to characterise their rulers<br /> as either a
‘good king’ or a ‘bad king’<br />and Manasseh, in addition to being<br /> the longest
reigning king of Judah, at 55 years,<br /> is also
definitively a ‘bad king’.<br /> <br />We’re told that he persecuted the prophets,<br /> promoted
the worship of other gods,<br /> and enacted
violence with ease, on one occasion killing his own son.<br /> <br />Certainly by contrast to his predecessor Manasseh,<br /> Josiah is a
‘good king’, he’s pious, careful, and a fair ruler.<br /> <br />When he was in his mid-20s, he decided to embark on a
project<br /> to restore
and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem,<br /> which had
fallen into disrepair.<br /> <br />No expense was to be spared,<br /> and Josiah
commissioned the High Priest Hilkiah to carry out the work.<br /> <br />This is when things get interesting, of course,<br /> because
Hilkiah discovers the scroll of the Law.<br /> <br />Now I’m afraid that our recent renovation work at Bloomsbury<br /> hasn’t
unearthed anything nearly as exciting;<br />although we did find some newspapers and cigarette packets
from the 1970s…<br /> <br />But Hilkiah found what seems to be part of the book of
Deuteronomy,<br /> a book we
know as the fifth book of the Old Testament.<br /> <br />The book of Deuteronomy has a very specific understanding<br /> of how God
works in relation to human beings.<br /> <br />In a nutshell, it describes a system of reward and
punishment,<br /> where those
who are ‘faithful’ to God are rewarded by God,<br /> and those
who are ‘unfaithful’ to God are punished by God.<br /> <br />This perspective on divine blessing and cursing<br /> lies behind
the books of Kings<br /> that we’ve
been reading in recent weeks,<br />and it informs the assessment it offers<br /> of which
kings are ‘good’ and which are ‘bad’.<br /> <br />A <i>good king</i> is one
who obeys the law of the Lord,<br /> and a <i>bad king</i> is one who is unfaithful.<br /> <br />And the proof of whether a king is <i>good</i> or <i>bad<br /></i> is found in
whether their reign is a success or a failure,<br />because, according to the theology of Deuteronomy,<br /> God rewards
the faithful and punishes the faithless.<br /> <br />Well, this discovery of the law scroll clearly affected
Josiah deeply,<br /> and he
realised that the law of God<br /> had been neglected in the land for
generations,<br /> through all
the long reign of Manasseh.<br /> <br />And as a bright young ruler with ambitions to rule long and
well himself,<br /> Josiah
embraces this theology,<br /> and
institutes a widespread set of sweeping reforms.<br /> <br />And so Josiah is declared by the Jewish historian writing
the books of the Kings<br /> to have
been a <i>Good King</i>, a faithful and
consequently successful ruler,<br /> who pleased
God and was rewarded accordingly.<br /> <br />And I just want us to stop and think for a moment<br /> about
whether we think God really works in this way?<br /> <br />Does God always reward faith and punish disobedience?<br /> Certainly
many of us will have been brought up<br /> to believe
that this is the case…<br /> <br />The theology of Deuteronomy is alive and well<br /> in the
contemporary Christian church,<br />and it takes various shapes,<br /> from the
more extreme gospels of wealth and prosperity<br /> to the
moralising crusades of those who would demonise the LGBTQ community.<br /> <br />The temptation to equate success with God’s blessing is
always before us,<br /> but when we
stop for a moment and think about it<br />we know, don’t we, that sometimes good things happen to bad
people,<br /> and that bad
things happen to good people?<br /> <br />Read the book of Job if you’re in any doubt!<br /> <br />So what are we to make of this story from ancient Israel,<br /> of a <i>Good King</i> who reforms the religious life
of his country<br /> in search
of God’s blessings?<br /> <br />Well, I wonder, what are we hearing God say to us<br /> as we ‘fix
up’ our own house of God?<br />What word of the Lord will guide us in the coming years?<br /> What wisdom
will we uncover that will shape our community going forwards?<br /> <br />What we will not hear, I hope and pray,<br /> is a
message of fear,<br />where God is poised to bring down divine judgment<br /> on those
who get it wrong.<br /> <br />We need a word for our time,<br /> and our
time is not Josiah’s time.<br /> <br />I do not believe that reform in our time<br /> will be a
purging reform focussed on scapegoating the supposedly sinful.<br /> <br />But there’s an interesting cameo in Josiah’s story,<br /> which can I
think point us in a helpful direction:<br />and that’s the visit Hilkiah the High Priest makes to the female
Prophet Huldah.<br /> <br />We cannot underestimate how significant it is<br /> that the
religious elite go to consult this holy woman.<br /> <br />In a male dominated culture,<br /> and in a
biblical text where women are hardly even named,<br /> and when
they are it is usually in the context<br /> of them being property, wives, or
mothers,<br /> we meet the
Prophet Huldah who speaks for God<br /> into the highest levels of society.<br /> <br />As we discern God’s call on our community,<br /> as we seek
to hear God’s message for our time, and our building,<br />we need to listen to the marginalised, the excluded, and the
oppressed,<br /> because it is
likely that God’s voice will be heard through their voices.<br /> <br />As we learn to listen to the least, and to put God first,<br /> we may
begin to discover a religious reform for our time,<br />where the competing loyalties of our age,<br /> the
economic, social, and political forces that clamour for attention,<br />are relativized before the God who calls us to follow the
counter-cultural path<br /> of radical
love, radical inclusion, and radical justice.<br /> <br />The book of Deuteronomy contains the great command,<br /> that echoes
down to us directly from Josiah’s temple,<br /> via the
voice of Jesus himself:<br /> <br />“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.<br /> You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart<br /> and with
all your soul, and with all your might.” (Deut 6.4-5 // Lk 10.27 //s)<br /> <br />Putting God first never goes out of fashion,<br /> because it
has never been fashionable to do so.<br /> <br />But if we want to hear the word of God for how we live our
lives,<br /> how we
spend our money and resources,<br /> and how we
interact with one another,<br />then it is, in truth, the only place to start.<br /> <br />And so I do think we need to recover the word of God in our
time,<br /> and I think
we need to remember that when God speaks,<br /> what God
speaks is a person.<br /> <br />As the opening of John’s gospel tells us,<br /><i>In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,<br /></i><i> and the Word was
God. <br /></i><b><i><sup>2 </sup></i></b><i>He was
in the beginning with God. <br /></i><b><i><sup> 3 </sup></i></b><i>All things came into being through him,<br /></i><b><i><sup> </sup></i></b><i>and without him not one thing came into
being.<br /></i><i>What has come into being <b><sup>4 </sup></b>in him was life,<br /></i><i> and the life was the
light of all people. <br /></i><b><i><sup>5 </sup></i></b><i>The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.<br /></i> <br />When God speaks salvation,<br /> God does
not speak a text but a person,<br />the divine Word is the Word made flesh,<br /> and word of
God <i>we</i> need to recover, to
rediscover,<br /> is the God
of love and justice revealed in the person of Christ Jesus.<br /> <br />So, to return to my question from the beginning,<br /> of ‘What
God lives here’, of ‘What God dwells in this place’,<br /> <br />The answer, I hope we will discover together,<br /> is the God
of love made known to us in Jesus,<br /> revealed to
us as we are attentive to the least and the lost.<br /> <br />The question that Josiah may well ask us,<br /> is whether
we are listening carefully enough?</span></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-66787992245661522972023-11-06T14:40:00.011+00:002023-11-06T14:40:59.193+00:00Sorrow and Love<p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><div style="text-align: center;">A sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</div><div style="text-align: center;">12 November 2023 – Remembrance Sunday<b><o:p> </o:p></b></div></b><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><o:p><br /></o:p></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><o:p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim55c_FssfKkX-B44sgowKPZoNdT_-HX4DneYBJXQD6LAYJsfQr7jpLPFCsVeP673JmbQBCfH0PjiYSKwBdSAuXMJqe4KWpgE9SB6yaSIhcYx6CLmfHwOLb-yLwNycjZQ3_n31jXVnqVOZki40da3aPJcKfGB0R0D8oyubjENivUwHDu6KTUkin-1cfmjU/s640/love-699480_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim55c_FssfKkX-B44sgowKPZoNdT_-HX4DneYBJXQD6LAYJsfQr7jpLPFCsVeP673JmbQBCfH0PjiYSKwBdSAuXMJqe4KWpgE9SB6yaSIhcYx6CLmfHwOLb-yLwNycjZQ3_n31jXVnqVOZki40da3aPJcKfGB0R0D8oyubjENivUwHDu6KTUkin-1cfmjU/w400-h268/love-699480_640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> </o:p></b></div></b><i>Hosea 11.1-9</i><br /><br />Friends, we just sung a great truth,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>one which
we need to hear on a day such as today.<br /> <br />Did you notice it in the words of the hymn?<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sorrow and
love flow mingled down”<br /> <br />This wonderfully evocative line from Isaac Watts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>invites us
to reflect on the emotions of the crucifixion.<br /> <br />And the next line takes us deeper into the juxtaposition:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Did e’er
such love and sorrow meet”<br /> <br />‘Love and sorrow’, ‘sorrow and love’:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the anguished
finality of death,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
absolute faithfulness of God.<br /> <br />Today we gather today on Remembrance Sunday,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to remember
and honour the sacrifice of so many in war,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and to
commit ourselves once again to the Christ-like path of peace,<br />and I think this combination of ‘sorrow and love’<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>captures for
us something of the tragedy of lost lives,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
heartbreak of lost loved ones;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the cost of
war on all who live and die under its shadow.<br /> <br />But it also invites us to enter into the deep emotions of loss,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to consider
our own experiences of tragedy and bereavement,<br />as they merge into the deep theological tragedy<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of God’s
own child dying before his time.<br /> <br />It evokes for us feelings of hopelessness, futility, and grief,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>overwhelming
yet somehow contained<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>within an
overwhelming moment of divine love.<br /> <br />There is a deep mystery here:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘sorrow and
love’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>tragedy and
hope,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>futility
and faith, flowing mingled down.<br /> <br />And the mystery of the Trinity, I think, can help us here,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we seek to
understand<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
the cross is not God sending the Son to his death;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but rather
that in the death of the Son,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>God
too suffers and dies.<br /> <br />The cross is God’s entering into the depth of human
suffering,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God becoming
at one with us in our most vulnerable moments of mortality,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God dying
as we all must one day die.<br /> <br />As Jurgen Moltmann memorably put it,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on the
cross we meet ‘The Crucified God’.<br /> <br />Let me read a quote for you from this wonderful book,<br /> <br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When God becomes human
in Jesus of Nazareth,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God not only enters into the
finitude of what it means to be human,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">but in his death on
the cross</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>also enters into the situation of humanity's
godforsakenness.</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus … does not die
the natural death of a finite being,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but the violent death of the
criminal on the cross,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the death of complete abandonment by
God.</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The suffering in the
passion of Jesus is abandonment,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rejection by God, his loving parent.</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God does not become a
religion,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so that humans participate in him</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by corresponding religious thoughts
and feelings.</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God does not become a
law,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so that humans participate in him</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through obedience to a law.</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God does not become an
ideal,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so that humanity achieves community
with him</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through constant striving.</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rather he humbles
himself</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and takes upon himself the eternal
death</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the godless and the godforsaken,</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">so that all the godless
and the godforsaken</i><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>can experience communion with him. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></i><br /> <br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This way of
understanding of the cross tells us that God was present</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>at the Somme, at Ypres, and at
Passchendaele,</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not as a divine
General directing the troops</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to die in the name of a higher
purpose,</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">but as a Tommy in the
trenches,</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>facing the enemy with intermingled
fear and courage,</span><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>doing his duty with love and sorrow.</span><br /> <br />‘Sorrow and love flow mingled down’:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this is the
God of the cross.<br /> <br />And this phrase from the hymn<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>also
captures some of the complexities<br />inherent in our reading this morning from the prophet Hosea. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br />Here we have another poet,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>also writing
a hymn to reflect on where God is,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in the face
of human frailty and suffering.<br /> <br />The poet Hosea, from ancient Israel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>draws on
imagery from across the spectrum,<br />as if grasping desperately for a metaphor, however
inadequate,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to capture
the turmoil brewing in God’s heart.<br /> <br />And so in quick succession he introduces us<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to Israel as
a recalcitrant son (v. 2),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>as
one who is idolatrous (v. 2),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as an
ungrateful patient of the divine healer (v. 3),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>as
wandering livestock (v. 4),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as recipients
of divine tenderness (v. 4),<br />and ultimately, as one hell bent on turning from God (vv. 5,
7).<br /> <br />All of this imagery,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>piled quickly
upon itself in the opening verses of Hosea’s song,<br />is used to communicate one thing:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that despite
God’s history of tender care and concern for Israel,<br />the story of God’s people<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is of those
who consistently reject that tender care<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in favour
of following their own inclinations.<br /> <br />Hosea’s poem begins with a painful recollection<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of times that
God has previously showed love and tenderness to his people,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>only to be
rejected time and time again (vv. 1-5).<br /> <br />Ancient Israel’s “childhood” is recalled,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with the prophet
remembering that God called his son out of Egypt (v. 1),<br />a line we will be hearing again in a few weeks<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when we get
to the Christmas story<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and we
recall God’s son Jesus going to Egypt with Mary and Joseph.<br /> <br />But here it is referring to Israel’s release<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from the
oppression of the Pharaoh,<br />the wanderings in the wilderness,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
entry into the promised land.<br /> <br />In Hosea’s poem, the sweetness of this experience of
liberation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is quickly
soured by Israel’s subsequent acts of disobedience.<br /> <br />The text summarizes Israel’s story in this way:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The more
Israel was called by God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the more
they rebelled against God (v. 2).<br /> <br />So blind had God’s people become<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that they
couldn’t even recognize who was healing them (v. 3).<br /> <br />And I just want to pause for a moment here, and hear that
again.<br /> <br />So blind had God’s people become<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that they
couldn’t even recognize who was healing them.<br /> <br />This surely is a perfect description of human sin,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
inability to perceive one’s redeemer as anything but an enemy!<br /> <br />And just as with all of us, sin brings consequences,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so and in
ancient Israel’s life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>their
turning away from God’s will and ways<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>triggered
the rising up of the nations against them (vv. 5-7):<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>foreign
domination ensues (v. 5),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>with
the raging and devouring sword afflicting them (v. 6).<br /> <br />For even Israel, God’s chosen and beloved people,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it will
seem as if God ignores their prayers (v. 7):<br />God’s beloved will become God’s forsaken.<br /> <br />Sometimes the path to liberation from sin involves a
confrontation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with the
seriousness of the results of our actions.<br />Forgiveness is not absolution from consequences,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and sin can
open the way to hell on earth.<br /> <br />Sometimes there is no path out,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>merely a
path through.<br /> <br />The psalmist of course knew this<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when they
spoke of their journey<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through the
valley of the shadow of death (Ps 23).<br /> <br />But the glory of God’s eternal love,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that even
in the midst of sorrow,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>even in the
depths of God-forsakenness,<br />God is still there.<br /> <br />And so we get an interplay in Hosea’s poem<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>between
God’s action in confronting Israel<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>with
the destructive consequences of their sin (vv. 5-6)<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and God’s
hiddenness from them at their time of greatest trial (v. 7).<br /> <br />It is the paradox of the cross,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>written
large across the story of God’s people,<br />as sorrow and love flow mingled down,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with sin
and death meeting loss and pain,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>all held
within God’s eternal embrace.<br /> <br />Judgment, in ancient Israel’s case, involves both aspects:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God
afflicts Israel through the agency of the nations,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and God’s
face becomes hidden from them.<br /> <br />When God hides,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and God’s
face is often hidden from us<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in moments
of great human sin,<br />then terrors are unleashed,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
redeemer and liberator of our souls<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is suddenly
out of reach.<br /> <br />This is the bind of sin;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we turn
from God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and we find
that God is no longer visible to us.<br /> <br />This is the hell of war,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as humans
descend into the depths of killing,<br />and the only saviour we can see<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the
salvation found through yet more violence.<br /> <br />And yet… the message of Hosea<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that no
matter how bad it gets.<br />No matter how great the sin, no matter how great the
betrayal,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>no matter
how great the violence,<br />God does not give up on humanity.<br /> <br />Paul too grasped this truth,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>writing to
assure the Christians in Rome:<br /> <br />‘<i>For if while we were enemies</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we were
reconciled to God through the death of his Son,</i><br /><i>much more surely, having been reconciled,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>will we
be saved by his life</i>.’ (Romans 5.10)<br /> <br />The God of Hosea’s poem<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the same
God spoken of by Paul;<br />a God who chooses, quite apart from human initiative,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to be
reconciled with God’s own enemies.<br /> <br />In a world of enmity,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when people
fight to the death over land and ideology,<br />without warning,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God’s heart
is strangely warmed (v.8).<br /> <br />A series of anguished questions in the poem<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>reveals
that God’s turning away was, from the perspective of eternity,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>but
a moment (Psalm 30.5)<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How can I
give you up?” God exclaims (v.8)<br /> <br />Just the thought of ignoring God’s people, refusing their
prayers,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>brings God
out from behind the locked door of concealment,<br />and into the open, where God is available again<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as a God of
compassion and mercy.<br /> <br />However deep the pit that humans dig for themselves,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it is never
deep enough to keep out the light of God’s love for eternity.<br /> <br />But let’s be clear:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this shift
from absence to compassion<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>was
not prompted by any human deed,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it comes
from God’s resolve alone,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>God’s
free choice to be a God of compassion.<br /> <br />In the face of all the reasons why God might choose absence,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>all the
reasons why God might choose vengeance,<br />nonetheless Hosea’s insight is that God chooses presence,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God chooses
reconciliation.<br /> <br />Between vv. 7-8 there is no change in Israel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>only a
change in God.<br /> <br />But rejecting hiddenness, God brings forth new promises:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>proclaiming
“I will not execute my fierce anger,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>I
will not again destroy Ephraim” (v. 9).<br /> <br />As Walter Brueggemann has shown,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God not
only resolves to set aside God’s anger,<br />God in fact takes the righteous divine judgment<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into God’s
own self. <br /> <br />And so we’re back at the cross,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God on the
cross, absorbing into the broken body of the son<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>all the
pain, all the hurt, all the agony of broken humanity.<br /> <br />The key insight to this is found in v. 8,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>where God
resolves not to give Israel up like the cities of Admah and Zeboiim,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which were
destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(Deuteronomy
29:23; cf. Genesis 10:19).<br /> <br />The term used to describe the overturning of God’s heart here<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the same
term used to describe the overthrowing<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:21.<br /> <br />In other words, Israel’s sin<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is here
compared to the sin of the cities destroyed in Genesis 18-19,<br />but where Hosea 11 differs from Genesis<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is in its
insistence that God would absorb the judgment Israel deserved.<br /> <br />As Brueggemann puts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“God
resolves to contain the ‘earthquake’ in God’s own life.”<br /> <br />Israel deserved judgement, but what it got was mercy,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>obtained
through a God who was willing to suffer for their sins.<br /> <br />And so we’re back at the cross,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and God
suffering for us and with us.<br /> <br /> <br />When Christians think about God’s willingness<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to suffer
on behalf of sinful humans,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they often
think about Christ hanging from the cross.<br /> <br />But Hosea’s poem, written in the face of the consequences of
human sin,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>helps us
realize that the cross<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is not a new development in the life
of God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rather it
represents who God is fundamentally.<br /> <br />The cross is a climactic moment,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but one
that is situated along an already existent trajectory. <br /> <br />In Christ, God does not <i>become</i> a suffering God;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rather, Christ
makes flesh God’s eternally deep longing<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to always be among God’s people,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a longing
that reaches back into the history of God’s revelation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and forwards to our own experience<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of what it means to be sinful humans
in our time and context.<br /> <br />God’s willingness to suffer on behalf of creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
supremely seen in Christ,<br />who takes into himself not only sinful human rage<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but also
divine absence.<br /> <br />The cry of dereliction from the cross:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me’<br />is the cry of every sinner reaching the depths of their
fractured-ness,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and yet it
is also the cry of the one<br />who finds in the depths of their despair<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that God
has not, in the end, abandoned them.<br /> <br /><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This quote is lightly amended to correct exclusive language.<br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This sermon draws extensively on Michael Chan’s commentary https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/hosea-2/commentary-on-hosea-111-9</span><p></p>
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</div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-4217951399561999222023-11-03T12:14:00.007+00:002023-11-03T12:14:46.535+00:00Bonfire of the Vanities<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>A sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Sunday 5<sup>th</sup> November 2023</b></div></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEykYnoNIhPa51grUGNReEJcFblYJ8qHfnWruO4GE84hsgWx0272CSEnptF3dvBN-h84EkFbAd4DtNywRDuDm09yAk1aGTJhZKFlsHNzmOPbSqN7oz3QKieHZzpEHUSxK-NDzaFh5hnj0EQ9mJ09tsrM99d8KA0aimOGieWD8O2JkoNpCq9CQsGeatBa4m/s640/fire-2593636_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="640" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEykYnoNIhPa51grUGNReEJcFblYJ8qHfnWruO4GE84hsgWx0272CSEnptF3dvBN-h84EkFbAd4DtNywRDuDm09yAk1aGTJhZKFlsHNzmOPbSqN7oz3QKieHZzpEHUSxK-NDzaFh5hnj0EQ9mJ09tsrM99d8KA0aimOGieWD8O2JkoNpCq9CQsGeatBa4m/w400-h264/fire-2593636_640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>1 Kings 18.17-39</i><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Today’s Bible reading from the Lectionary<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> stopped one
verse too early, in my opinion.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Where we left the story, was where every Children’s Bible<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and every
Sunday School class leaves the story:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">with the glorious fire from heaven descending,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
consuming the offering that Elijah had faithfully prepared,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">while all the people fall on their faces<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and worship
the Lord as God.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">My question is, do you know what happened next?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Let me read
the next verse for you.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Kings 18.40<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let
one of them escape.”<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Then they
seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and killed
them there.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And my question for us this morning,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> in a world
of killing, is this:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Who does God want to die?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Who does <i>God</i> want
to condemn?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Today is the 5<sup>th</sup> November, it’s bonfire night, a
day of fire and death,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> a fitting
day for the lectionary to give us the Bible reading<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> of Elijah’s
great bonfire on Mount Carmel.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Say the old nursery rhyme with me if you know it:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Remember, remember,
the 5th of November,<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Gunpowder, treason and
plot.<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>I see no reason<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Why gunpowder treason<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Should ever be forgot.<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><o:p> <br /></o:p></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Various versions of this rhyme are available,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it has
its origins in a poem by John Milton,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> better
known for his epic poem <i>Paradise Lost</i>;<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">but the point is always the same,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> which is that
on Bonfire Night in England<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">we gather to joyfully burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> remembering
his treasonous act of conspiring to blow up the King.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The real Guy Fawkes was executed at the age of 35 in January
1606,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> just down
the road from here in Westminster.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">He had a distinguished military career,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> but became
involved with a small group of English Catholics<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> who planned
to assassinate the Protestant King James.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">His fate is well known, although ironically,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> he died by
hanging and not by burning.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But in celebration of his failure to overthrow the King,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Londoners
were encouraged to light bonfires on each 5<sup>th</sup> November,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">provided that (and I quote)<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> "<i>this testimony of joy be carefully done
without any danger or disorder</i>".<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s good to know that health and safety legislation<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> was alive
and well in the early seventeenth century!<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">In fact, so keen were parliament<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> to ensure
that Guy Fawkes treachery was not forgotten<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">that an Act of Parliament was passed,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> which designated
each 5 November as a day of thanksgiving<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> for "the joyful day of
deliverance",<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and this
act remained in force until 1859.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Guy Fawkes Night bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from
the 1650s onwards,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it quickly
became the custom to burn an effigy on the bonfire,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">sometimes of Guy Fawkes himself,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> but also
sometimes of other popular villains, including the Pope!<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">This "guy" as it came to be known,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> is of
course these days normally created by children<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> from old
clothes, newspapers, and a mask.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But the real Guy Fawkes has had an interesting afterlife:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> being
hailed variously as a traitor, a martyr,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> a
political rebel, and a freedom-fighter.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">As the saying goes, one man’s terrorist is another man’s
hero.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Actually, the 2006 film V for Vendetta,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> in which a
vigilante rebels against a right-wing dystopia<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> while
wearing a Guy Fawkes mask,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> has led to
a resurgence of sympathy for Fawkes;<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">and the adoption of the same mask by hacker group Anonymous<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> has
contributed to this,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">with Guy Fawkes, in many people’s eyes,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> now being viewed
as a figure of righteous anti-authoritarianism:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> more folk-hero
than folk-demon.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And so we come to today, to ‘Bonfire night’ 2023,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and I
wonder who you might imagine on the bonfire this evening.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Probably, I’m guessing, NOT the Pope!<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Maybe not
even Guy Fawkes himself…<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But I wonder, in our world,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> who the
good people of England might vote to put on the bonfire?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Who is the demon that you would like burned away?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Maybe some global
political tyrant?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Some
figure of popular hatred?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Maybe
someone convicted of a terrible crime?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">There are those living in our city this day who are scared
for their safety<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> because
others have been publicly threatening them.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">We live in a world of antisemitism and islamophobia,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> of racism
and fear of the other.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">We live in a world where some people believe<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> that God is
telling them to kill other people.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Just this week I attended the Mayor of Camden’s interfaith
reception,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and we
heard how people in the communities of our borough<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> are
living with fear,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> afraid to
walk the streets of our city<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> because
their clothing, or skin colour, or facial characteristics<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> might
mark them out as targets of violence.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And so I will repeat my question:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Who does <i>God</i>
want to die?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Who goes on <i>our</i> altars of sacrifice<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> to be
consumed by the holy purifying fire from on high?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And I’m sure some of you will be answering:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> ‘Well,
no-one! All we want is for the killing to stop!’<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And good for you – I do too!<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Except my
question is, do we?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">A commitment to absolute nonviolence is very hard to
maintain,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> as
Remembrance this coming week will remind us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes, even the most liberal and pacifist among us<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> longs for
the violent and aggressive enemy to be defeated,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> which
usually means that it is their turn to die.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And so I will repeat my question:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Who would
you place on the fire?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">In Florence, on Shrove Tuesday in 1497,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> supporters
of the local Dominican friar<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">collected thousands of household objects<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and burned
them in the public square.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">This ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’, as it came to be known,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> was
focussed on objects that might tempt one to sin,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">including vanity items such as mirrors, cosmetics, fine
dresses,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> playing
cards, and musical instruments.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Other targets included books, manuscripts of songs,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
artworks including paintings and sculpture.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">This theme of burning items to purify society<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> has a long
tradition in both history and literature.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">From Ray Bradbury’s sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> which
depicts a dystopian McCarthyite America<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> where
books have been outlawed<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
"firemen" burn any that are found,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">to the real book burnings in Nazi Germany<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and the ideological
repression in the Soviet Union;<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">burning to purify is as much a part of our contemporary
world<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> as it was
in ancient Israelite society.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Even within our own British Baptist family,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> we are
beset by arguments about purity:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> who
does God approve of?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> And
who does God condemn?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The divisions around LGBTQ inclusion divide us into camps…<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and in a
situation that is analogous to the stand-off<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> between
Elijah and the prophets of Baal and Ashera on Mount Carmel,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> there are
many praying fervently<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> for
God’s purifying fire to descend once more.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But, and I’ll ask again,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> who does <i>God</i>
want to condemn?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">In a world of killing, where societies and communities<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> assuage
their collective guilt by scapegoating the vulnerable,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> by
marginalising the marginalised,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> we urgently
need an answer to this question.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And it’s a question that runs through the Hebrew Bible,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> as story
after story explores the idea<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">of whether God is <i>for</i> one group and <i>against</i>
another,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> or whether
God is for <i>all</i> people but against evil.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">This is an important distinction,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> because it
decouples the issues of evil and purity<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">from a fixed association<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> with
specific groups or communities of people.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Within the Hebrew Bible,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> there are
some who believe that holiness<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> is
the distinctive preserve of that subset of humanity<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> known
as the people of God,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that
the role of religion within the Hebrew society<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> was
to maintain the purity of the people of Israel,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> whilst
opposing all those who do not worship the Lord as they worship.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">We saw this division last week<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> in our
sermon on the religious wars<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> that
divided Israel into north and south after the death of Solomon.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But there is a counter-tradition within the pages of the
scriptures,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> which
asserts that the purpose of calling one people<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> to be set aside as God’s people<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> is not to
condemn the rest of humanity, but to bless it.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the tradition that casts God’s people as a light to
the nations,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> a beacon of
hope in a dark world.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And which of these traditions we embrace is important,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> because it
tells us something profound<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> about
how we see ourselves as the people of God in our time,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
in our context.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Are we called by God to become those ‘set aside’,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> those who
condemn the world by our purity,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> who show
the world the wages of sin by our holiness?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Certainly, many Christians have taken that view,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> standing
with Elijah in the light of holy righteous fire,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">while those who relate to God differently<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> are condemned
before their eyes.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But this, friends, is not the path to God that I embrace,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> it is not
the Baptist way, or at least it shouldn’t be,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and it is
not the Bloomsbury way either.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">We stand in a tradition that resists those<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> who would
tell other people whether they are acceptable to God or not.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">We stand for freedom of religion,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> for an open
path to God that creates space<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> even for those
with whom we want to disagree.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The early Baptists went to prison for their refusal to say
the creeds,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and this is
why we resist creedal forms of religion<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> that tell people what to believe<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and
condemn those who believe differently.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The early Baptists were at the forefront of religious
freedom,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> with Thomas
Helwys famously writing to the King<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">demanding freedom for not just Baptists like him,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> but for Muslims,
Jews, and atheists too,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">before dying in Newgate prison because King James,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> yes the
same King James who executed Guy Fawkes,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">had decided before God that he was the sole determiner of
religious orthodoxy<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that
all who disagreed with him were worthy of punishment.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But who does <i>God</i> want to condemn?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Did God want the prophets of Baal and Ashera to be put to
death?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Did God
want Guy Fawkes to be executed?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Did God want King James to perish in an explosion?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Did God
want Thomas Helwys to die in prison?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Did God want the vanities of Florence burned?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Did God
want the books of Nazi Germany burned?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Did God want more than 1,400 Jewish people<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> to die in a
terror attack at the hands of Hamas last month?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Does God want the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> to be
displaced and bombed?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Does God want the Israeli settlers in the West Bank?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Does God
want the Palestinian suicide bomber in a market place in Jerusalem?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Does God want Putin to successfully annex Ukraine?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Does God
want the Ukrainian defenders to liberate their country?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Does God want the Taliban to rule Afghanistan?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">There are those who would say a resounding ‘yes’ to each of
these,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> although I
suspect there is no-one who would say ‘yes’ to all of them.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">But my suspicion is that God wants none of this,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and that those
who claim to kill in God’s name are always wrong.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">In fact, I suspect that those who kill are always wrong,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> even when
they do so for the very best of intentions.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Dietrich Bonhoeffer, reflecting on his participation<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> in the plot
to assassinate Hitler,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">couldn’t convince himself that killing even such a tyrant as
Hitler<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> was within
God’s will, commenting<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">‘<i>When a man takes guilt upon himself in responsibility,<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i> he
imputes his guilt to himself and no one else.<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>He answers for it...<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i> Before
other men he is justified by dire necessity;<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i> before
himself he is acquitted by his conscience,<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i> but
before God he hopes only for grace.’<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The fire from heaven on Mount Carmel<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> did not
consume the prophets of Baal and Ashera,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> it consumed
the wood of Elijah’s offering.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">The killing was all Elijah.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Those who claim to act on God’s behalf,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> to speak
God’s words, to interpret God’s will, are not always right.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">This is as true for the saints and prophets in scripture as
it is for us.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">If we are seeking God’s will in our troubled times,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I think we
need to look first to God’s revelation in Jesus,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">who resisted the path of violent struggle<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and welcomed
those whom others would exclude.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">In Jesus’ parables, he often mentions fire as an agent of
God’s judgment,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and a
careful reading of these reveals that God’s judgment<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> is
always against the principalities and powers of evil,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> the
structures and systems of oppression.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">It is these that God’s fury burns away.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">God’s anger is never directed to people,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> but always
to those ideologies and philosophies that make people less<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> than the
beloved human beings they were created to be.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">God’s love for humanity is absolute,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> just as God’s
judgment on evil is absolute.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Last week, Udoka introduced us to a poem,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> and I want
to close today by reading it again:<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> <br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“At the trial of God, we will ask: why did you allow all
this?<br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And the answer will be an echo: why did you allow all this?”</i><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">― Ilya Kaminsky, Deaf Republic<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
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Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-82169903512436886072023-10-24T17:46:00.005+01:002023-10-24T18:51:15.235+01:00The Servant Leader<p></p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church </span></b></div></b><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sunday 29 October 2023</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBo7vRbQcb9_PrSRLUOgXOYeIopaH3nCaDIRJCGVpc_pRCQk0mT2k_Hb6TAe48DHeIoMPa6vFeZF9pB-BaGP6bhm5L_nnP97Hz2TbK2T_N7h0rATR3OQLC_uJTt270n6XwMnQkZBqLqJtfjqnCCtBBt4QS2pAKkfW-SIn7HWe9192NRyZiKLqvO2QyduCV/s640/business-idea-1240825_640.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="640" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBo7vRbQcb9_PrSRLUOgXOYeIopaH3nCaDIRJCGVpc_pRCQk0mT2k_Hb6TAe48DHeIoMPa6vFeZF9pB-BaGP6bhm5L_nnP97Hz2TbK2T_N7h0rATR3OQLC_uJTt270n6XwMnQkZBqLqJtfjqnCCtBBt4QS2pAKkfW-SIn7HWe9192NRyZiKLqvO2QyduCV/w400-h133/business-idea-1240825_640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1 Kings 12.1-17,
25-29</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dramatis
Personae:</span></span></i><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b style="font-family: arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">David</span></i></b><i style="font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> -
King over the united tribes of Israel; father to <b>Solomon</b>, grandfather to
<b>Rehoboam</b>.</span></i></li><li><b style="font-family: arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Rehoboam</span></i></b><i style="font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> -
King of the southern Kingdom of <b>Judah</b> after the split of the united
Kingdom of Israel. His capital city was <b>Jerusalem</b>.</span></i></li><li><b style="font-family: arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Shechem</span></i></b><i style="font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> -
First capital of the northern Kingdom of <b>Israel</b>.</span></i></li><li><b style="font-family: arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Jeroboam</span></i></b><i style="font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> -
First king of the northern Kingdom of Israel.</span></i></li><li><b style="font-family: arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Ahijah the Shilonite</span></i></b><i style="font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> -
a Levite prophet of Shiloh in the days of Solomon.</span></i></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This week I was interviewed for a podcast on leadership, on
the practice of </span><i style="font-family: arial;">leading</i><span style="font-family: arial;">,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and as I have
prepared myself for the interview over the last couple of weeks,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">I’ve been
thinking about what kind of leader</span><i style="font-family: arial;"> I</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> am,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">what
my instinctive and distinctive style is,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
what I can learn to be a better leader.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Interestingly, the podcast that asked me to contribute isn’t
a Christian one,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">its
audience is secular leaders,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">and looking back over recent episodes,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">I found
they had focussed on a range of different leadership styles.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">So, they had identified: the influential leader, the
motivational leader,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the
self-aware leader, and intriguingly the autistic leader.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But what they wanted me to speak about, from a Baptist
Christian perspective,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">was the
idea of being a ‘servant leader’.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This is certainly a biblical image,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and it’s
something that people often bring up</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">when
thinking about leadership in Christian institutions.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">We say that we want leaders after the pattern of Christ,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">who came,
as the song so memorably puts it, not to be served but to serve.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In the Baptist tradition, we even use the word ‘Minister’
for our ordained clergy,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a word
which comes from the Latin word for ‘Servant’,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">something
our Government Ministers could well remember!</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">We use this rather than words like vicar or priest,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">which infer
an intermediary function,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">with
the clergy standing between the congregation and God,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">or pastor
or rector,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">which
infer a sense of shepherding leadership.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But what actually is ‘servant’ leadership?</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, we
get an inverse example of it in our reading for this morning,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as we
continue our way through the Hebrew Bible this autumn.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This is story of leadership gone wrong, over multiple
generations,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and of the
catastrophic effects that bad leadership has</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">on
the people of the land of Israel,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as the
nation divides against itself</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as
a response to oppressive, destructive, violent, and self-serving leaders.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes, we can learn as much from bad examples as from
good ones,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as much
from the terrible leadership exercised by the kings of ancient Israel,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as from the
Messiah who embodied what it is to be the ‘Servant King’.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And in our world, bad leadership often seems all
around,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">from
far-right nationalistic leaders, to profit-driven business leaders,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">from
leaders who are quick to war and violence,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to
leaders who are indecisive in defence of the weak.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The British literary critic Terry Eagleton addresses this
trend in his book ‘On Evil’,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">in which he
says,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">'Evil is a form of transcendence,</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>even if
from the point of view of good it is a transcendence gone awry.</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps it is the only form of transcendence left in a
postreligious world.</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We know
nothing any more of choirs of heavenly hosts,</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>but
we know about Auschwitz.</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Maybe all that now survives of God</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is this
negative trace of him known as wickedness,</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">rather as all that may survive of some great symphony</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the
silence which it imprints on the air</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>like an
inaudible sound as it shimmers to a close.</span></i><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Perhaps evil is all that now keeps warm the space where
God used to be.' </i><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And I wonder if this perhaps has always been the case,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">that when
we read of terrible leaders such as Rehoboam and Jeroboam,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
all the other ‘bad kings’ of the books of the Kings in the Hebrew Bible,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">what we
find in their despotism is the echo of a hope,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a
hope and a dream and a memory that things don’t have to be this way,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">that
another, better, way of being human is possible.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Just as many in our world “know nothing any more of choirs
of heavenly hosts,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but we know
about Auschwitz,”</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">so too, the Israelites in the northern kingdom in the
turmoil after Solomon’s death</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">knew little
or nothing about covenant loyalty and temple worship,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but they
knew about Jeroboam’s golden calves (1 Kings 12:25-33).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">All that survived of the worship of God in this time</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">was “this
negative trace of him known as wickedness,”</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">which was made known to the bad kings and their subjects</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">by the
prophets who cried against the apostate altars</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">proclaiming
in their time the word of the Lord (1 Kings 13:1-3).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And I wonder if, in our time of evil in our world,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">of
leadership gone awry and death stalking the world,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">whether this story from the time of ancient Israel,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">can help us
trace the negative imprint of God in our world,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and draw
from us the prophetic voice of the word of God.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">So, to 1 Kings!</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s a complicated story, not least because of all the
names,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and I hope
you found the ‘Dramatis Personae’ in the order of service helpful,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">so let’s spend a few minutes with it, and see what themes
emerge.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Precedents for the tragic story of a divided Israel</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">were set
long before the arrogant choices</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">of
Solomon’s son, Rehoboam,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
his rival, Jeroboam.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">King Saul, who started out as a ‘good king’, but ended as a
‘bad king’,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(as Sellar and
Yeatman might put it)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">had begun
the process of uniting the various tribes of Israel,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">and King David,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">who managed
to be both a ‘good king’ and a ‘bad king’ at the same time,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">completed
the process,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">making Jerusalem, a city located in the land allocated to
the tribe of Judah,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the capital
city of the whole united Israel.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Through the reigns of these first two kings, Saul and David,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Israel had remained
conscious of their identity and tribal land allotments. </span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[2]</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Saul’s inauguration as a warrior king</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">had loosely
united the tribes against the Philistines and other enemies.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And when Saul died, David was made king at Hebron by his own
tribe, Judah,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but
struggled with what at that time with the other tribes,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">who
were known as ‘the house of Saul’,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">until
eventually, seven years later, they confirmed his rule over them</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">(2
Samuel 3:1, 6, 17; 5:1-5).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Much later in David’s reign, the rebellious cry, “Every man
to his tents, Israel,”</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">was shouted
in rejection of an aging David’s leadership,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">showing that the other tribes still retained a sense of
separateness</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">from Judah and
it’s capital in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 20:1-22).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Israel-Judah distinction</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> was further magnified</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">when
Solomon levied taxes,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and forced
all the tribes into labour except Judah (1 Kings 4:7-19; 5:26-32).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Solomon became like Pharaoh,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">using his
people, especially those not from his tribe of Judah,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">to support his huge household</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and to
establish cities, forts, and trade with other peoples.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Judah was consistently favoured while the remaining tribes
of Israel were afflicted,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">even to the
extent that some of Israel’s northern territories</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">were given
to Hiram of Tyre (1 Kings 9:10-14).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The most critical crack in the ostensibly </span><i style="font-family: arial;">united kingdom</i><span style="font-family: arial;">
under Solomon</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">was created
by Solomon’s idolatry and apostasy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite his reputation as a wise ruler and a ‘good king’,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the
biblical account tells of him turning away</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">from
his early humble dependence upon The Lord (1 Kings 3)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to
worship other gods (1 Kings 11:1-8).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">So serious was this, that The Lord intervenes just a chapter
before our reading for today,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">warning
Solomon that most of the kingdom would be torn from his son</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and given
to the usurper Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:9-12, 26-39).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And yet, in our passage today from 1 Kings 12,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">nonetheless
“all Israel” came to Shechem</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to install
Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, as king after Solomon died.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Situated in the narrow pass between mounts Gerizim and Ebal,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Shechem is
now known as Tel Balata,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">near
Nablus in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of the West Bank,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and it is the
home of a small community of Samaritans.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This confirmation of Rehoboams kingship at a city outside of
Jerusalem,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">outside of
Judah in fact, was clearly felt to be necessary,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">given
the strength of the northern tribes</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
their historic identity as separate from Judah.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And so our story pick up with a complaint,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as the
northern tribes of Israel brought a critical question for Rehoboam.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As the condition for their continued support of the Davidic
dynasty,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">they asked
Rehoboam to lighten their hard service,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">the heavy
yoke his father had laid upon them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Rehoboam, in a moment of good leadership,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">shrewdly
asked for time to consider their demand,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but he did
not turn to The Lord or to the prophets for advice.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Instead, Rehoboam first consulted the elders</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">who had
stood before his father Solomon as advisors.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">They attempted to teach Rehoboam diplomacy</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">by shrewdly
pointing out that Israel would be his servants forever</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">if he would
be a servant to them today.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">They advised him to give them ‘good words’,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and their
answer indicates that they may have opposed Solomon’s policy</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">of
consistently exacting a heavy toll from his subjects,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and that they
knew this approach would appease Israel and retain kingdom unity.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the ‘servant leadership’ example found in this
passage,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but it’s a
very long way from the example of Jesus,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and I’m not
sure it’s something I’d seek to emulate in church life.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The elders may have been politically cunning,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but
feigning service to extract loyalty isn’t true servant leadership.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">This is more what one might expect of an expedient and
pragmatic national leader,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as the
elders saw the discontent of northern Israel</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">and knew that Rehoboam must ease their burdens, at least for
a while,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">in order to
retain them as subjects.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Rehoboam, however, somewhat surprisingly, rejected this sage
advice;</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">instead he
turned to “boys,” those who had grown up with him.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The narrator shows his contempt for the king’s young friends</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">by
repeating the phrase: “the children who had grown up with him.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">These inexperienced youth suggested to Rehoboam</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a harsh
answer to Israel’s request that their yoke of service be lightened:</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The crudity of the statement about his little finger being
thicker than his father’s loins,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is amusing
if you have the humour of a 14-year-old boy,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">but as an act of international diplomacy</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">it smacks
of the leadership style of Donald Trump at his finest.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The obvious meaning is: “My father’s yoke was heavy, but I
will add to it!</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">His whips
were brutal; mine will be worse.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The contempt Rehoboam and his friends had</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">for the
elders and their northern kin is clear.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Solomon, despite his reputation for wisdom,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">had
effectively brought his people back to Egypt, figuratively speaking;</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">enslaving them in the service of lavish building projects
such as the Jerusalem temple,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">reversing
the mighty act of deliverance that God had done under Moses.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Rehoboam had the opportunity to become a servant-king</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but chose instead
to require even harsher service than Solomon had established.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">At this point Jeroboam steps to the fore,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a kind of
worker’s hero, a trades union leader,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">someone
standing up for the rights of the oppressed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Israel’s choice of Jeroboam as their new king</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">one who, unlike
Solomon, did not acquire horses, wives, or silver.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In the preceding chapter, The Lord had promised Jeroboam an
enduring dynasty</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">if he would
listen, do right, and walk in God’s ways (1 Kings 11: 37-39).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But instead, fearful of losing the loyalty of Israel,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">he too
turned his face back towards Egypt,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">remembering
the golden calves made by Israel</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">when
Moses was up the mountain,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and Jeroboam
erected golden calves in Bethel and Dan,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">leading
his people into the sin of idolatry (1 Kings 12:29-33).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Meanwhile, back in Judah, Rehoboam also went on</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to build
high places and other abominations,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">continuing
the evil that Solomon brought into the kingdom of God (1 Kings 14:21-31).</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As I said, this story is an object lesson in bad leadership,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">with leaders
embracing violence, exploiting the weak,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and giving free
reign to the sins of pride and avarice.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In many ways this is a story that rings true in our
contemporary world,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">with
leaders in our time also prey to these same temptations.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The conflict between Israel and Gaza</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">finds its
ideological roots in this story of a land and people divided,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">and the challenge of the elders to find a way to give some
ground today,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">in order to
win peace tomorrow,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is
something that needs to be heard.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">We need a move away from political posturing,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and an
embracing of political process.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And the stark warning of Jeroboam and Rehoboam,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is that
those who turn from God’s peaceful path</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">set in
place patterns of violence that endure for generations.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Had Rehoboam been a servant ruler, even if only for a day,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">had he
listened to his elders,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">eased
the burdens Solomon had levied against his kin;</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">had he
rejected Solomon’s Pharaoh-like policies</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
embraced a better kind of leadership (Deuteronomy 17:14-20),</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">had he returned
to the ways of righteousness,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
trusted in God’s mercy</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">then possibly
the disaster that unfolded could have been averted.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And so we come back to the present,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to what it
means to be a leader in our time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I don’t think that the pragmatic expediency of the elders is
what we are called to,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">even though
in the world of geopolitics</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">it would be
infinitely preferable to what we often actually get from our leaders.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">But we are called to something more than this.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Servant leadership, ministering among the people of God,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is something
we need to discover together,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">as we learn
from the example of Jesus.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Servant leadership after the pattern of Jesus</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is always
about setting people free,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">liberating
them from whatever it is that oppresses them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Jesus served people in such a way</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">that their
lives changed by his encounter with them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Robert Greenleaf originated the term ‘servant-leader’ in the
1970s,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and he
said: </span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[3]</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">“</span><i style="font-family: arial;">The servant-leader is servant first…</i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">That person is sharply different from one who is leader
first,</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>perhaps
because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or to
acquire material possessions…</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme
types.</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Between
them there are shadings and blends</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that are
part of the infinite variety of human nature.</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the
servant-first [leader]</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to make
sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The best test, and difficult to administer, is:</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Do those
served grow as persons?</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser,
freer,</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>more
autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">And, what is the effect on the least privileged in
society?</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Will
they benefit, or at least not be further deprived?</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and
well-being of people</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
communities to which they belong.</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">While traditional leadership generally involves the
accumulation and exercise of power</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by one
at the “top of the pyramid,”</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>servant
leadership is different.</span></i><br /><i><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;">The servant-leader shares power,</span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>puts the
needs of others first</span></i><br /><i style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.”</i><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And, friends, this is a calling for each of us,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">because as
Baptist Christians, we share in the priesthood of all believers.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And so, because I know you’re wanting to know,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">I think my
personal style of leadership is two-fold,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">it is collaborative, and it is strategic.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I hold leadership to be a task we do with others,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">rather than
the loneliness of command.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And I also think it is the task of the leader</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to help their
community achieve their shared goals,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">to develop the strategies</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">that will
get us from where we are, to where we want to be.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">And, well, I guess you’ll be the judge of how well I do in
this,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">but the
point is that this isn’t about me.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">It’s about God, and about God revealed in the person of
Christ,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">and about
God with us by the Holy Spirit,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">calling each of us to works of ministry,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to service
of others,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">and through service to prophetic leadership</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">in a world
that desperately needs to encounter a better way of being human.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">
https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/06/what-if-the-problem-of-evil-isnt-a-problem</span><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[2]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">
The summary that follows draws on https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/kingdom-divided-2/commentary-on-1-kings-121-17-25-29-3</span><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[3]</span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">
https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/</span><p></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-16457735389474592202023-10-12T12:11:00.008+01:002023-10-12T12:11:32.612+01:00Love breaking Boundaries<p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>A sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Sunday 15<sup>th</sup> October 2023</div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LJET-_PaWevjL6fuI20CrSy2CL0gXWD7Qc04lIWWIkmsOjJA1eKVhphZ_88T20sLYk0iE4dVBpn_N-3jbjkp5sfRUq4cBAHrgcEeaHyiimYKL7aMzTwqILmValZHT6XX33P-tZEazR69UVCoHe9ehY2dGcgrcfLlz8RyblvXZ89M-L9gMnsh77ok6kXu/s2048/angels%20wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LJET-_PaWevjL6fuI20CrSy2CL0gXWD7Qc04lIWWIkmsOjJA1eKVhphZ_88T20sLYk0iE4dVBpn_N-3jbjkp5sfRUq4cBAHrgcEeaHyiimYKL7aMzTwqILmValZHT6XX33P-tZEazR69UVCoHe9ehY2dGcgrcfLlz8RyblvXZ89M-L9gMnsh77ok6kXu/w400-h300/angels%20wall.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Ruth 1.1-17</i><br /><br />We’re in the season of Harvest at the moment,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it’s no
accident that our reading this week is from the book of Ruth,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>which
is a story set at harvest time,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with most
of its action taking place either in the fields,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>or
on the threshing floor of Boaz’s farm.<br /> <br />It’s a compelling, challenging, and controversial book,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it
raises profound themes of ethnicity, belonging,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>sexuality,
gender, and family values.<br /> <br />A twenty-minute sermon can’t do justice to this story,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which repays
deeper study,<br />but I hope I can raise some interesting issues for us to
consider<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we spend
today with Ruth, Naomi,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and some of
the other characters in this ancient text.<br /> <br />I think, in many ways this story is as contemporary as it is
ancient,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as relevant
as it is archaic.<br /> <br />It speaks to us from a world far, far removed from our own
world;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but it
speaks to the human condition, which is unchanging,<br />and it does so in ways that resonate down the millennia<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the
culture wars, and actual wars, of our own time.<br /> <br />Let’s recap for a moment. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br />In our reading for today, Ruth the Moabite<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>makes a
profound series of promises of belonging<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>to
Naomi, her Judahite mother-in-law;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>even vowing
unspoken curses on herself<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>if
she fails to keep her promises.<br /> <br />The thing is, Moabites and Judahites were not natural
friends:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>there is deep
ethnic tension here in this story.<br /> <br />Clearly Naomi’s son had transgressed some serious social
boundaries<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when he married
Ruth and took her into his family,<br />and Ruth continues this pattern of making commitments across
boundaries<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when she
binds herself to her mother-in-law<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>after the
death of her husband.<br /> <br />The extraordinariness of Ruth’s actions is highlighted<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by her
sister-in-law Orpah’s response,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who also
finds herself widowed,<br />because although Orpah is obviously very fond of Naomi,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and her
instinctive reaction is, like Ruth, to remain with her,<br />in the end the overriding boundaries of geography and
ethnicity<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>lead her to
return to her family of origin.<br /> <br />This is a world of famine, sickness, bereavement, and division;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but it is also
a world of love, hope, and faith.<br />In other words, it is our world as well.<br /> <br />It’s worth paying attention here to the geography of the
story,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because it
begins in Ruth’s homeland Moab,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which was across
the Jordan from what was to become Israel.<br /> <br />These days we would describe Moab<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as the southern
area of the country of Jordan,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>bordering
the eastern shore of the Dead Sea.<br /> <br />And Ruth’s story is deeply rooted in movement<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>across geographical,
ethnic and ideological boundaries.<br /> <br />Last week in our sermon we stood with Moses<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as he gave
the sermons of Deuteronomy in the land of Moab,<br />delivering his reiteration of the ten commandments<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the
gathered Israelites on the shores of the river Jordan,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>at the end
of their wilderness wanderings.<br /> <br />We saw how, as they prepared to invade ancient Palestinian,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to occupy
the land that they believed God had promised to them,<br />the ten commandments called them to the twin pillars of
faithful living:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to love of
God, and to love of neighbour.<br /> <br />Famously, of course, Moses himself never made it<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>over the
Jordan into the promised land,<br />he died and was buried there in Moab,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the land of
Ruth’s family,<br />leaving the occupation to his successor Joshua<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Deuteronomy
1:5, 29:1, 32:49, 34:1-5, 34:6-8).<br /> <br />And it’s in this context of a region bearing the legacy and
scars<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of violence
and occupation,<br />with famine forcing people to make choices<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>about where
they will turn for survival,<br />that Ruth, after the death of her husband,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>makes her
vows of belonging to her mother-in-law.<br /> <br />Unlike Orpah, Ruth decides to throw in her lot<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with a
woman from a different culture and country.<br /> <br />This well-known tale, often featured in children’s Bibles,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is a story
about how a non-Israelite woman<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>became
a model of faith, loyalty, and preserving life,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for all
receivers of Scripture.<br /> <br />And I think we need to hear the message of Ruth very clearly
in our world today.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But more on
that in a few minutes.<br /> <br />First, let’s think for a moment about when this story is
set,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and when
the book telling the story was actually written.<br /> <br />The Jewish scriptures, what we call the Old Testament,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>have a
different order to the one we’re familiar with.<br /> <br />In our Old Testament, we use an ordering which arranges the
texts<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in such a
way as to build up to the revelation of God in the life of Jesus;<br />but the Jews still follow their ancient ordering,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of putting the
books of the Law first,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>followed
by the books of the Prophets,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and finally
the books known as the ‘Writings’.<br /> <br />The book of Ruth is part of this third division of the Hebrew
Bible,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>part of the
Writings,<br />and like most of the books of the Writings,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it was
produced in the Second Temple period,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
time of Ezra and Nehemiah,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the time when
many Jews who had been exiled to Babylon<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>were
allowed to return to their ancient homeland.<br /> <br />So whilst he book of Ruth is set<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>many, many
centuries before the Babylonian exile,<br />before even the time of King David,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who is described
as a descendent of Ruth,<br />it is in fact a story that was written quite late in the day,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and which
reflects the concerns of the time it was written.<br /> <br />So the concerns of the book of Ruth<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are the
concerns of the post-exilic community of Jews<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>returning
to the land of Israel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and trying
to work out how they should relate to their distance cousins<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>who
had remained in the land<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>whilst the
exiles were spending their decades in Babylonian exile.<br /> <br />The book of Ruth is set during the period of the Judges,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which is why
our ordering of the Old Testament puts it<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>after the
book telling the story of this time.<br /> <br />This setting is significant, but so is the fact that it was
likely produced<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>during the
time of Ezra and Nehemiah<br />to address a specific social issue for the returned exiles:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the question
of intermarriage.<br /> <br />The question was whether those returning from exile<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>could
intermarry with those who had remained in the land,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or whether
the exiles should only marry other exiles?<br /> <br />This was a question of both racial and religious purity:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>were those
who had not been exiled, those who had remained,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>still
‘Jewish’ enough in their ethnicity and faith?<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Or were
they now to be considered as gentiles?<br /> <br />In this context, the book of Ruth challenges the previously-exiled
Jews<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to remember
their obligation to the stranger, to the outsider;<br />and to not forget the universality<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the
covenant God made with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3).<br /> <br />The time of writing for the book of Ruth<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>was the
time when the Prophet Ezra went full xenophobe,<br />and attempted to expel the indigenous wives of returned
exiles,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>calling
them “strange,” or “foreign.”<br /> <br />These wives he’s referring would most likely have been the
descendants<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of those Jews
who were left behind to tend the land,<br />or those from unions of such Jews and others,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because the
Babylonians had imported people from neighbouring nations<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into the
land of Judah during the decades of the Jewish exile to Babylon<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(Ezra
10:1-17).<br /> <br />Ezra concludes by listing officials who had married women of
the land,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a kind of
early naming-and-shaming,<br />but the book in the end stops short of ordering their
expulsion.<br /> <br />The book of Ruth counters this trend toward exclusivism<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by
reminding the post-exilic community<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the
faithful outsider-women in Israel’s story.<br /> <br />The book of Ruth explicitly recalls not only the Moabite
Ruth<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but also
Tamar, who became a matriarch of the royal tribe of Judah,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to which
Naomi’s family belonged.<br /> <br />Let’s see how this unfolds. <br /> <br />At the beginning of the story, we learn that Naomi was a
widow,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and more
than a widow—she had also lost her sons,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and so was
utterly bereft of males to support her.<br /> <br />In a patriarchal world, this was a catastrophe for a woman.<br /> <br />Then and now, widows symbolize bereavement, poverty, and
dependence,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and are
often without adequate means to live,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>especially
if, like Naomi and Ruth, they had no sons.<br /> <br />Naomi and Ruth, two widows:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>one an older
woman, and the younger a Moabite!<br /> <br />Naomi felt utterly deprived, but she was not,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for she had
Ruth, a Moabite daughter-in-law who loved her.<br /> <br />Within Judaism, Ruth became a model for later converts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>following
her mother-in-law back to Judah out of loyalty and love,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>refusing to
let Naomi travel back to Bethlehem alone.<br /> <br />These were dangerous times, with the book of Judges saying<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that “all
the people did what was right in their own eyes”.<br /> <br />This was a time of chaos, violence, and degeneration.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For Ruth to
have left Naomi to travel alone could have been disastrous.<br /> <br />But staying with Naomi was not in her best interest, of
course,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as is made
clear by Naomi’s rationale for urging her to turn back to Moab.<br /> <br />But the story tells us that Ruth clung to Naomi like glue
(1:14).<br /> <br />She promised six things to Naomi:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they will
journey together, live together, share a common people,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>share
a common God, die in the same place,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
be buried in the same location, perhaps in the same family tomb.<br /> <br />These promises echo the marriage vows<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that Ruth
would have made to her husband,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and fact
that she speaks them to her mother-in-law is profound.<br /> <br />She is transgressing not only ethnic and geographical
boundaries<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by binding
herself to Naomi, but also gender boundaries.<br /> <br />It’s no surprise that in our context,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>these
promises often feature in the marriage vows made at same sex marriages.<br /> <br />These two women join their families and their lives,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the
extent that when, later in the story, Ruth has a child to Boaz,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>she gives
it to Naomi to hold, and all the women of the neighbourhood<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>say
together that ‘a son has been born to Naomi’ (4.17).<br /> <br />I think the lesson here is that families are complex,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and they
can transcend boundaries<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
geography, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.<br /> <br />We may not realize how much of an outsider Ruth was<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the
early audiences of this drama.<br /> <br />Israel’s origin story for the country of Moab is pretty
brutal:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Genesis 19
claims that the nations of Moab and Ammon<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>were
the descendants of Lot<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through his
incestuous relationship with his daughters.<br /> <br />Throughout much of their history (but not all),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Moab was
Israel’s enemy.<br /> <br />The legal ruling against these nations in Deuteronomy<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>forbids any
“Ammonite or Moabite<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>[to]
be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even to the tenth generation … ” (Deuteronomy
23:3). <br /> <br />When Ruth the Moabite ultimately marries Boaz, later on in
the story,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a Jewish kinsman
of Naomi’s dead husband,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>all the
people at the gate said:<br /> <br />“We are witnesses.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>May the
Lord make the woman who is coming into your house<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>like
Rachel and Leah …<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and, through the children that the Lord will
give you by this young woman,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>may
your house be like the house of Perez,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>whom
Tamar bore to Judah” (Ruth 4:11–12).<br /> <br />This is significant, because it points to another outsider
woman,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
Canaanite, Tamar,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who
pretended to be a prostitute in order to bear children.<br /> <br />And after Ruth gave birth to Obed,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the women
affirmed that Naomi was no longer child-less:<br />“Obed shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of
your old age;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for your
daughter-in-law who loves you,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who is more
to you than seven sons, has borne him!” (Ruth 4:14-15).<br /> <br />Did you notice that – Ruth is worth more to Naomi than seven
sons!<br /> <br />Throughout Scripture the perfect family<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>has seven
sons and three daughters (Job 42:12-15)<br />and yet this Moabite foreigner woman<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is worth
more to Naomi than seven Jewish sons!<br /> <br />As I said at the beginning, this is a controversial book,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because it
intentionally questions<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
boundaries and expectations that people construct:<br />boundaries of ethnicity and religion,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>expectations
of gender and family.<br /> <br />This story is as contemporary as it is ancient,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it
speaks to our world of complex families,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
geopolitical tension.<br /> <br />It was a story that reminded the Jews of the second temple
period,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>those
returning from Exile,<br />that their great king, David,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and all the
kings of Judah since,<br />were descended from a Moabite woman;<br /> <br />and that therefore women who joined the people of God<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>should be
emulated, not expelled, whatever their background.<br /> <br />Like many other Old and New Testament passages<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Exodus 4,
Joshua 2, 2 Samuel 11, Acts 10:34-5, Romans 2:14-5),<br />it shows us that loyalty and faithfulness<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are the
markers of God’s people,<br />not biology, genetics, culture, or history.<br /> <br />This is a story that speaks to the culture wars<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of our
society and our faith communities.<br /> <br />As we tear each other apart over LGBTQ issues, what marriage
means,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and what boundaries
are necessary for belonging,<br />we need to hear the challenge of Ruth<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that such
boundaries are ultimately meaningless in God’s eyes.<br /> <br />And in a world of war, and particularly these last weeks of
renewed war<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in the land
of Israel and Palestine,<br />we need to pray for a world where the boundaries<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
geography, ethnicity, and religion<br />are challenged by an overarching faith<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in a God who
values those on both sides of the line.<br /> <br />I was reading an article this week by Naomi Klein,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the author
and left wing activist who comes from a Jewish family. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br />She reflects on the current conflict between Hamas and
Israel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I’d like
to end with her words,<br />which I think reflect the spirit of the Book of Ruth. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br /><i>For Zionist believers (I’m not one of them),</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jew-hatred
is the central rationale</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for why
Israel must exist as a nuclear-armed fortress.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Within this worldview, antisemitism is cast as a
primordial force</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
cannot be weakened or confronted.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>The world will always turn away from us in our hour of
need, Zionism tells us,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>just as
it did during the Holocaust,</i><br /><i>which is why force alone is presented</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as the
only conceivable response to any and all threats.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>The Israeli state’s current murderous leveling of Gaza</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the
latest, unspeakably horrific manifestation of this ideology,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
there will be more in the coming days.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>The responsibility for these crimes of collective
punishment</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rests
solely with their perpetrators</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
their financial and military backers abroad.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>But we all have to figure out how to make it stop.</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So how
do we confront this violent ideology?</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>For one thing, we can recognize that when Israeli Jews
are killed in their homes</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it
is celebrated by people who claim to be anti-racists and anti-fascists,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that is
experienced as antisemitism by a great many Jews.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>And antisemitism (besides being hateful)</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the
rocket fuel of militant Zionism.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>What could lessen its power, drain it of some of that
fuel?</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>True solidarity.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Humanism that unites people across ethnic and religious
lines.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Fierce opposition to all forms of identity-based hatred,
including antisemitism.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>An international left rooted in values that side with the
child over the gun</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>every
single time, no matter whose gun and no matter whose child.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>A left that is unshakably morally consistent,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and does
not mistake that consistency with moral equivalency</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>between
occupier and occupied.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Love.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>It’s certainly worth a try. In these difficult times, I’d
like to be part of … that.</i><br /> <br /><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This sermon is based on the notes by Karen Strand Winslow at <a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/ruth-3/commentary-on-ruth-11-17-3">https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/ruth-3/commentary-on-ruth-11-17-3</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/11/why-are-some-of-the-left-celebrating-the-killings-of-israeli-jews">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/11/why-are-some-of-the-left-celebrating-the-killings-of-israeli-jews</a></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
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</div></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-82136636266502012862023-10-06T12:17:00.010+01:002023-10-08T08:21:47.079+01:00Resistance to Anxiety<p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>A sermon for Sunday 8<sup>th</sup>
October</b></div></b> </span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorD4GOuTPco3Nr3oE0uoYDchBEbcogDSvQJSBAL51jsQ4vNUNJZZ0sO_hph-GCXhq8l3SJrxC39wD6cAj-kCTkJVHBpxak_RYgYVkUSG4x7wG7Oo_yNfIZBupcj52bQ0h1ewgVTgPoMwnrIOSx8lzKkjGZruMv9bc2VN2BEP0GUcpmJG0GU4JiIOd5uHq/s640/psychology-2422442_640.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorD4GOuTPco3Nr3oE0uoYDchBEbcogDSvQJSBAL51jsQ4vNUNJZZ0sO_hph-GCXhq8l3SJrxC39wD6cAj-kCTkJVHBpxak_RYgYVkUSG4x7wG7Oo_yNfIZBupcj52bQ0h1ewgVTgPoMwnrIOSx8lzKkjGZruMv9bc2VN2BEP0GUcpmJG0GU4JiIOd5uHq/w400-h400/psychology-2422442_640.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><i>Deuteronomy 5.1-21; 6.4-9</i><br /><br />Just before Liz and I went away on holiday last month,<br /> I preached
the concluding sermon of our short summer series on the Sabbath,<br />and I spoke about the principle of Sabbath as <i>resistance
to coercion</i>,<br /> drawing on
Walter Brueggemann’s excellent book ‘Sabbath as Resistance’.<br /> <br />Well, now I’m back we find ourselves in the lectionary
readings for the autumn,<br /> as they
take us through the revelation of God in the Hebrew Bible,<br /> and once
again we’re in Deuteronomy 5, and at the ten commandments.<br /> <br />So today’s sermon is a kind-of follow on from the one four
weeks ago,<br /> and I want
us to return to our exploration of the principle of Sabbath.<br />But this time, and again drawing on Walter Brueggemann,<br /> I want us
to think about Sabbath as <i>resistance to anxiety</i>.<br /> <br />In many ways, I think <i>anxiety</i> might be the defining
feature<br /> of
Christianity in our time.<br /> <br />It’s out there in society beyond the church, of course:<br /> the number
people seeking help through medicine and therapy<br /> for anxiety-related
illness continues to grow and grow.<br />And if you’re part of that number, as many of us are,<br /> I can speak
from my own experience that help is available,<br /> and it is
worth seeking sooner rather than later.<br /> <br />But today I want us to think about anxiety as a communal,<br /> rather than
individual, response to stress;<br />and particularly to the way church communities,<br /> including
our own here at Bloomsbury, experience anxiety.<br /> <br />There is, after all, much to be anxious about.<br /> <br />The decline in church attendance is widespread<br /> across all
the historic denominations,<br />making it harder to be the churches that we once were,<br /> harder to
fill the rotas, harder to raise the money,<br /> harder to
do the good that we long to do.<br /> <br />I remember having a conversation with my former colleague
Ruth a few years ago,<br /> and we were
discussing what personality Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church had,<br /> imagining
the congregation as a person<br /> and
thinking about what they would be like to be with, to talk to…<br /> and Ruth’s
diagnosis stayed with me:<br /> she
said that Bloomsbury personified<br /> would
be a person living with chronic anxiety.<br /> <br />This is not to say that this is true of every person sat
here today,<br /> although it
will be true for some of us.<br /> <br />But rather, it’s to say that collectively,<br /> the
pressures on us as a congregation in central London are such<br /> that
anxiety is an entirely natural and appropriate response.<br /> <br />And so we come to Sabbath-keeping as <i>resistance to
anxiety</i>. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span><br /> <br />Now, you may not naturally think of Sabbath-keeping as an
antidote to anxiety,<br /> because in
many parts of the Christian world,<br /> it is
precisely the opposite!<br /> <br />Largely out of a misunderstood Puritan heritage,<br /> Sabbath-keeping
has often become enmeshed in legalism and moralism,<br /> and
life-denying practices that contradict<br /> the
freedom-bestowing intention of Sabbath.<br /> <br />Such distortions, moreover, have led to endlessly wearying
quarrels<br /> about
“Sunday activities”<br />such as the ‘Keep Sunday Special’ campaign (remember that?),<br /> or debates
about whether you can go to the cinema or pub on a Sunday…<br /> <br />I knew one family which decreed that no cooking should be
done on a Sunday,<br /> and so the
wife (of course) had to do all the cooking on the Saturday night,<br /> leaving it
in the oven on a low setting overnight,<br /> so they had
food to eat when they got home from church the next day.<br /> <br />This is not freedom from anxiety!<br /> Rather, it
amounts to a pitiful misrepresentation of Sabbath-keeping.<br /> <br />But when taken seriously in faith by Jews—and derivatively
by Christians—<br /> Sabbath-keeping
can be a way of maintaining and enacting<br /> a
<i>counter-identity</i> that refuses to be entirely subsumed<br /> by
the “mainstream” identity.<br /> <br />Too often society enacts what are essentially anti-human
practices,<br /> encouraging
the worship of anti-human gods.<br />And understood properly, Sabbath is a bodily act of
testimony<br /> to an
alternative way of being human;<br />it can be enacted resistance to the pervading values and the
assumptions<br /> that build
up on people in anxiety-inducing ways.<br /> <br />And so, understood properly,<br /> Sabbath can
be <i>resistance to anxiety</i>.<br /> <br />The ten commandments, of which the Sabbath command is the
fourth,<br /> appear
twice in the story of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the promised land.<br /> <br />They are there in Exodus 20,<br /> when Moses
first receives them from God on Mount Sinai,<br />and they are repeated in Deuteronomy 5, our reading for
today,<br /> as Israel
stands at the gates of the promised land.<br /> <br />The context for these commands is Israel’s miraculous
release<br /> from the
exploitative environment of Pharaoh’s Egypt.<br /> <br />These commandments are the new rule of life for the people
of God,<br /> replacing
the absolutist demands of the Pharaoh,<br />and they stand in stark contrast to what came before them.<br /> <br />Pharaoh’s commands were oppressive,<br /> but God’s
commandments are liberating.<br /> <br />Pharaoh’s commands were based on hatred of the other,<br /> but God’s
commands are based<br /> on the love
of God and the love of neighbour.<br /> <br />Pharaoh’s commands were a source of constant anxiety<br /> as his own
insecurity led him to make impossible demands of Israel;<br />but the ten commandments are an invitation to a new way of
living<br /> which is
non-anxious, based on a trusting relationship with God,<br /> and drawing
out gentle faithfulness in response.<br /> <br />If you read through the list of the ten commandments,<br /> you find
that the first three commands of God<br /> are to do
with God’s exclusive claim over Israel.<br /> <br />Never again shall they give their allegiance to any other
ruler<br /> whether
human or divine.<br />And so they are told to have no other gods before the Lord,<br /> to not make
any idols,<br /> and to not
make wrongful use of God’s name.<br /> <br />And then the final six commands are to do with relating to
your neighbour:<br /> honouring
your parents, not murdering, or committing adultery,<br /> not stealing,
or bearing false witness, or coveting.<br /> <br />And the bridge between the first three and the final six is
the fourth command<br /> – the
keeping of the Sabbath.<br /> <br />There is something about the intentional reverence for time,<br /> the setting
aside of potentially productive hours,<br />that is key to allowing Israel to shift<br /> from a
world where every moment is demanded from them by the Pharaoh,<br />to a new world where life is a gift to be treasured before
God.<br /> <br />There had been no Sabbath in Egypt:<br /> no work
stoppage for Pharaoh who worked day and night<br /> to
stay atop the social pyramid of Egypt’s elite;<br /> and no work
stoppage for the Israelite slaves<br /> who
had to gather straw for bricks during their time off;<br /> in fact no
work stoppage for anybody in the Egyptian world,<br /> because
frantic productivity drove the entire system.<br /> <br />Does that sound familiar to you?<br /> I fear that
we drive ourselves back to Egypt,<br /> as
a society and sometimes also as Christian communities.<br /> The push to
productivity, to more and more effort:<br /> to
achieve, to stay afloat, to keep going…<br /> <br />And yet in the ten commandments,<br /> the Lord God
nullifies all such systems of anxious production.<br />There is a better way to be human.<br /> <br />So God places limits on how much work it is right for a
human to do,<br /> God
commands times of rest, of recovery, or relaxation,<br /> and those
who obey this command break the anxiety cycle.<br /> <br />We, like ancient Israel,<br /> are invited
to an awareness that life does not consist<br /> in
a whirlwind of frantic production and consumption,<br /> that
reduces everyone else to threat and competitor.<br /> <br />Many of you will know that I enjoy swimming,<br /> and I’m a
regular visitor to the Oasis pool, just round the corner from the church.<br /> <br />Some days, I look at my to-do list for the day,<br /> and the
pile of emails that has come in overnight,<br /> and I think
to myself I just need to power through without a break.<br /> <br />Does that sound familiar to some of you?<br /> <br />What I have discovered, and I need to constantly remind
myself of this,<br /> is that if
I take an hour out,<br /> go to the
pool and swim for half and hour,<br />I end up reviewing the day far more positively than if I had
stayed sat at my desk.<br /> <br />As I often say to myself,<br /> <i>the hardest part about swimming a mile is
picking up your kit bag</i>.<br /> <br />My point is that sometimes it takes effort to stop,<br /> it takes a
decision to break the cycle of productivity,<br />but taking that decision also breaks the spiral of anxiety,
stress, and pressure,<br /> and creates
a place in our lives for a more balanced existence.<br /> <br />The divine insight behind the Sabbath command<br /> is that
work stoppage permits a waning of anxiety,<br /> and allows
energy to redeployed to elsewhere:<br /> in
acts of neighbourliness, in caring for the other.<br /> <br />The Sabbath command is designed to counter anxious
productivity<br /> with
committed neighbourliness.<br /> <br />And whilst neighbourliness doesn’t produce so much;<br /> it creates
an environment of security and respect and dignity<br /> that
redefines what it means to be human.<br /> <br />The world envisaged by the Sabbath-command<br /> is an
anxiety-free world of well-being,<br /> based on
the fact that God is anxiety-free.<br /> <br />God is not a workaholic. God is not a micromanager.<br /> God is not
a Pharaoh.<br />God does not keep hiking up the production schedules.<br /> The
Protestant work-ethic is not a divine command.<br />The ten commandments do not contain the advice,<br /> that if at
first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.<br /> <br />To the contrary, God rests, confident, serene, and at peace.<br /> And God’s
rest, moreover, bestows on humanity<br /> a
restfulness that contradicts the “drivenness” of the system of Pharaoh.<br /> <br />And so humans are commanded to rest,<br /> and while
they rest, to be sure that their neighbours rest alongside them.<br /> <br />This means creating a system of rest,<br /> that
contradicts the world’s systems of anxiety.<br /> <br />We are no longer subject to Pharaoh!<br /> We are
instead called to creative restfulness,<br /> which
finds its basis in God,<br /> which is
politically viable, and economically significant.<br /> <br />Rest is not just for the privileged few,<br /> Sabbath is
rather for all – for sons and daughters,<br /> for
slaves and cattle, for immigrants and asylum seekers.<br /> <br />The Sabbath command calls us to do more than just take one
day off per week,<br /> it calls us
to work to build a society<br /> where all
are released from the anxious burden of productivity,<br /> where
enough is enough, and where life is more than commodity.<br /> <br />God invites the people of God<br /> to a new
life of neighbourly freedom<br /> in which
Sabbath is the cornerstone of faithful resistance to anxiety.<br /> <br />Sabbath declares in bodily ways<br /> that we
will not participate in the anxiety system<br /> that
pervades our social environment.<br /> <br />We will not be defined by busyness and by acquisitiveness,<br /> and by the
relentless pursuit of more,<br />in either our economics or our personal relations,<br /> or anywhere
in our lives.<br /> <br />Because our life does not consist in commodity.<br /> <br />It is no wonder that Jesus invited his disciples<br /> out of the
anxiety system:<br /> <br /><i>Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,</i><br /><i> what you will eat or
what you will drink,</i><br /><i> or about your body,
what you will wear.</i><br /><i>Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into
barns,</i><br /><i> and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them.</i><br /><i>Are you not of more value than they?</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>And why do you worry about clothing?</i><br /><i> Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow;</i><br /><i> they
neither toil nor spin,</i><br /><i> yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory</i><br /><i> was not
clothed like one of these.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>But if God so clothes the grass of the field,</i><br /><i> which is alive today
and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,</i><br /><i> will he not much more
clothe you—you of little faith?</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?”</i><br /><i> or “What will be
drink?”</i><br /><i> or “What will we
wear?”</i> (Matt. 6:25–31)<br /> <br />Behind the sermon away from anxiety by Jesus is the good
word of Moses:<br /> <br /><i>Six days you shall labour and do all your work.</i><br /><i> But the seventh day is
a Sabbath to the Lord your God;</i><br /><i>you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter,</i><br /><i> or your male or female
slave, or your ox or your donkey,</i><br /><i> or any of your
livestock, or the resident alien in your towns,</i><br /><i>so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.</i> (Deut.5.13-14)<br /> <br />The “other gods” that the first three commandments call us
to resist,<br /> are, it
turns out, the agents and occasions of anxiety.<br /> <br />But we, by discipline, by resolve,<br /> by baptism,
by Eucharist, and by passion,<br />resist such seductions.<br /> <br />And in so doing we stand alongside the creator<br /> in whose
image we are made.<br /> <br />Sabbath, you see, is a school for our desires;<br /> taking a
break is an exposé and critique of those false desires<br /> that focus
on idolatry and greed.<br /> <br />When we do not pause for Sabbath,<br /> these false
desires take power over us.<br /> <br />But Sabbath is our chance to embrace of our true identity,<br /> and find
our rest in the God of love.<br /> <br />To conclude, a poem by Wendell Berry,<br /> quoted by
Nicola Slee in her book ‘Sabbath’<br /> <br />I go among trees and sit still.<br />All my stirring becomes quiet<br />around me like circles on water.<br />My tasks lie in their places<br />where I left them, asleep like cattle.<br /> <br />Then what is afraid of me comes<br />and lives a while in my sight.<br />What it fears in me leaves me,<br />and the fear of me leaves it.<br />It sings, and I hear its song.<br /> <br />Then what I am afraid of comes.<br />I live for a while in its sight.<br />What I fear in it leaves it,<br />and the fear of it leaves me.<br />It sings, and I hear its song.<br /> <br />After days of labor,<br />mute in my consternations,<br />I hear my song at last,<br />and I sing it. As we sing,<br />the day turns, the trees move.<br /> <br /><i> Wendell
Berry</i><br /><br /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
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</div></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-44127656639490749662023-09-05T08:59:00.001+01:002023-09-05T08:59:17.727+01:00Time to press pause<p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A sermon for Bloomsbury Central
Baptist Church</b></div><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10<sup>th</sup> September
2023</i></div></i></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnUbNrV1D_ynLvfpD45nJ8WyVrMt-bWunl58hP-asuqNZETc9PUDXjSDiVi5992CnIS-IrdtFkwsn9OB0KnKIoVU_hN66p3BiK-QNSFou1Vdvk-_PZ-CRzKqmi3hSuYLXR2P3eISTB9zBbC2o_tAN67O8JXKKFjvMSFtJXBctMJtmZCyNLeI1EvnM1e5w/s640/pause-940620_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="640" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnUbNrV1D_ynLvfpD45nJ8WyVrMt-bWunl58hP-asuqNZETc9PUDXjSDiVi5992CnIS-IrdtFkwsn9OB0KnKIoVU_hN66p3BiK-QNSFou1Vdvk-_PZ-CRzKqmi3hSuYLXR2P3eISTB9zBbC2o_tAN67O8JXKKFjvMSFtJXBctMJtmZCyNLeI1EvnM1e5w/w400-h283/pause-940620_640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></o:p></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Deuteronomy 5.12-15</i></span><br /> <br />In last week’s sermon,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we looked
at the ancient Hebrew economic principles of Sabbatical and Jubilee,<br />and saw how these offer a persistent challenge<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
unregulated systems of capital acquisition,<br />with their call to forgiveness of debts<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and a less
exploitative relationship with the land.<br /> <br />We also saw how this theme of economic and ecological
‘forgiveness’<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is rooted
deep within the Christian tradition,<br />with the Lord’s prayer itself calling us to forgive the
debts of others,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>even as our
own debts are forgiven by God.<br /> <br />And we learned how these two principles, of Sabbatical and
Jubilee,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
themselves the logical extensions of an underlying principle,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
of Sabbath;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which the
Hebrew Bible tells us<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>is
written into the fundamental relationship<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>between
God, humans, and creation.<br /> <br />It’s written into the creation account of Genesis,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
codified as a divine law in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.<br /> <br />And despite whatever else it might come to mean for us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the Sabbath
command is also an economic command.<br />It is a demand that people should not <i>work</i> on the
seventh day,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that they
should not earn money, for one day per week.<br /> <br />In preparing this week’s sermon, I’ve been greatly
influenced<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by reading
Walter Brueggemann’s wonderful book ‘Sabbath as Resistance’,<br />and I commend it to you<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>if you want
to take what we’re talking about this morning a bit further.<br /> <br />He describes a variety of ‘resistances’<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that he
identifies as emerging from the Sabbath command<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to desist
from work one day in each week,<br />including ‘Resistance to Anxiety’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘Resistance
to Exclusivism’,<br />‘Resistance to Multitasking’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the one
that is relevant for our reading this morning,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘Resistance
to Coercion’. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br />In Deuteronomy 5, we find ourselves in the world of the Ten
Commandments,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the laws originally
given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as the
Israelites made their way from slavery to freedom,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>from
Egypt to the promised land.<br /> <br />The forty years of wilderness wandering<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>depict an
Israel that is trying to work out what it is going to be,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>what
path it will follow,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>how
it will live as God’s chosen and holy nation.<br /> <br />In the time following their initial act of great faithful obedience,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>following
Moses through the waters of the Red Sea<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into the
wilderness of Sinai,<br />the people of Israel then find themselves<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>having a
crisis of confidence in the desert.<br /> <br />You know the story well:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Moses
leaves the people to go up the mountain,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
all the anxieties of Israel come to the surface.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Their God
seems distant and their prophet is absent,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
in their acute anxiety they gather their gold,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>their
precious earrings, their most treasured possessions,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and they make
their own god.<br /> <br />In that moment of anxiety,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they
imagined that they could somehow purchase security in the world,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and to this day ‘God-making’ amid
anxiety<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>remains
a standard human response.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We think we
can buy and build security,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
we make our own idols of gold<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
we devote ourselves to in the hope they will not let us down.<br /> <br />But Moses, returning from the mountain after his
conversation with God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>broke the
tablets of stone<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on which
God had written the words of the covenant,<br />and had to go back up the mountain to try again,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>receiving a
new list of commands<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>to
help the people learn to live in trust and relationship with God<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>in
the midst of an anxious world.<br /> <br />And one of those commands is the Sabbath command.<br /> <br />The years and decades pass in the wilderness wandering of
Israel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
eventually the people came to the Jordan river,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>ready to
enter, at long last, into the promised land.<br /> <br />But it was a long time since Sinai,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and a new
generation had grown up who didn’t remember the golden calf,<br />and so an aging Moses gives Israel renewed instruction<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for what it
will mean for them to live in their new land.<br /> <br />This long sermon is found in the book of Deuteronomy,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and lasts
for thirty chapters.<br /> <br />Moses clearly regards the move to the new land as a
high-risk venture,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and he
wants to be sure that Israel understands<br />that the old, desert covenant still pertains<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the new agricultural
territory, they are about to enter.<br /> <br />So Moses stands on the bank of the Jordan looking over at
Canaan,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this
fertile land flowing with milk and honey,<br />and he regards it as an enormous temptation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and a huge
seduction to his people Israel.<br /> <br />He knows that the affluence of the land<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is sure to
create a crisis in covenant faith.<br /> <br />The problem before Israel is that the new land will work so
well,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that they
will come to think that they can manage on their own.<br /> <br />They will be tempted to autonomy,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>without due
reference to the Lord their God.<br />And whilst they might not make another golden calf,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they will
still build their idols of gold and trust them for security.<br /> <br />The wilderness less of manna and quail,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of food
that is given each day, enough for that day alone,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
which will not keep for tomorrow,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is about to
be forgotten in the glories of fields and farming,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of
barns and storehouses.<br /> <br />The reason Israel will be tempted to autonomy<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that this
new land will make them inordinately prosperous.<br /> <br />The lowlands of the Israel between the river and the sea<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
wonderfully fertile, for growing wheat and grazing crops.<br /> <br />And Moses knows that prosperity breeds amnesia.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So he warns
Israel about amnesia:<br /> <br /><i>[T]ake care that you do not forget the LORD,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who
brought you out of the land of Egypt,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>out of
the house of slavery. (6:12)</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>[T]hen do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your
God,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who
brought you out of the land of Egypt,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>out of
the house of slavery. (8:14)</i><br /> <br />Moses is worried that the Israelites might forget where they
came from,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>forget the
circumstances they had left behind in Egypt.<br />They might forget that they had lived under a system of
unbearable coercion<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>where they
had to meet impossible production schedules<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of more and
more bricks at the hands of the Egyptian slave-masters.<br /> <br />Moses anticipates that if they do not remain alert to the
God of emancipation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they will
just end up right back in another system of coercion.<br /> <br />The problem is that because the land is fertile,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>its produce
will make Israel safe and happy.<br /> <br />And the inescapable logic of production<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that if
Israel can increase its produce,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it will be even
safer and even happier.<br /> <br />In time Israel will discover that the sky is the limit!<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
fertility of the land,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
the domestication of the wheat that grows there,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
the productivity of the systems of agriculture they will invent,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>will make
Israel acquisitive;<br /> <br />Ancient Israel will come to think that the goal of its life as
a nation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is to
acquire, and acquire, and acquire.<br /> <br />And in order to keep on acquiring,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Israelites
will inevitably end up in competition with their neighbours,<br />and the system of ever-increasing acquisition<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>will turn a
neighbour into a competitor,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and a
competitor into a threat and a challenge.<br /> <br />And so Moses warns Israel to ‘Watch out!’<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or the land
in its productivity will transform Israelites<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>into
producers and consumers,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and will
destroy the fabric of covenantal neighbourliness<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>to
which they have been called.<br /> <br />Moses understands, as do the prophets after him,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that being ‘in
the land’ poses for Israel<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>a
conflict between two economic systems,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>each of
which views the land differently.<br /> <br />On the one hand, the land is regarded as property and
possession,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to be
bought and sold and traded and used.<br />On the other hand, in a context of covenant,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the land is
a birthright and an inheritance,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>one’s
own land as a subset<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the larger inheritance of the
whole people of God.<br /> <br />If the land is possession,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>then the
proper way of life is to acquire more.<br />But if the land is inheritance,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>then the
proper way of life is to enhance the neighbourhood<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
the extended family,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so that all
members may enjoy the good produce of the land.<br /> <br />It is clear which of these perspectives<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>was
appropriate to Sinai and the years in the wilderness.<br />But in its amnesia and wealth, Israel may forget its
covenantal frame of reference,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
generate an economy that is anti-neighbourly<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in order to
have more, and ever more…<br /> <br />And so, in his great interpretive manoeuvre,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Moses
asserts that:<br /> <br /><i>The Lord our God made a covenant with us at [Sinai].</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not with
our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant, but with us,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who are
all of us here alive today (5.2-3)</i><br /> <br />Moses remembers the ancient covenant of Sinai,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>made to a previous
generation in Israel,<br />but he asserts that this covenant is still immediately
relevant<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for the new
generation of Israel who are about to enter the land.<br /> <br />This is the core argument of the book of Deuteronomy,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that the
economy is not a rat-race<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in which people remain exhausted
from coercive goals,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>as
they were in Egypt,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but rather
the economy is an outworking of covenant<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>for
the sake of the whole community.<br /> <br />Even in a new circumstance of agricultural possibility,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the old
desert covenant is defining.<br /> <br />And Moses expects Israel therefore<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to reject
the acquisitive culture of its neighbours,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for the
sake of a more neighbourly covenantal alternative.<br /> <br />And so Moses repeats the Ten Commandments,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
generation on from when they were first given at Sinai (recorded in Exodus 20),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>including
the command to observe the Sabbath:<br /> <br /><i>Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as the
LORD your God commanded you.</i><br /><i>Six days you shall labour and do all your work.</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But the
seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God;</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>you
shall not do any work</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>—you,
or your son or your daughter,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>or
your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>or
any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so that
your male and female slave may rest as well as you. (Deut. 5:12–14)</i><br /> <br />Moses proclaims Sabbath as the great day of equality<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when all
are equally at rest,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>humans
enslaved and free,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
animals and land alike.<br /> <br />Not all are equal in production,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>some
perform more effectively than others.<br /> <br />Not all are equal in consumption,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>some have
greater access to consumer goods.<br /> <br />Moses knows that in a society defined by production and
consumption,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>there are going
to be huge gradations of performance<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and,
therefore, of worth and significance.<br /> <br />And he knows that in such a social system,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>everyone is
in danger of being coerced to perform better,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>to
produce more, to consume more,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to be the
perfect shopper and the perfect worker.<br /> <br />Such valuing, of course, creates ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the significant
and the insignificant,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
rich and the poor,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>people with
access and people denied access.<br /> <br />But, he says, all are equal in rest.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sabbath
breaks the gradation caused by coercion.<br /> <br />On Sabbath:<br /> <br />– You do not have to do more.<br />– You do not have to sell more.<br />– You do not have to control more.<br />– You do not have to know more.<br />– You do not have to have your kids in ballet or soccer.<br />– You do not have to be younger or more beautiful.<br />– You do not have to score more.<br /> <br />Sabbath, the one day of rest, challenges the cycle of
coercion,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because in
rest all are of equal worth,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>equal
value, equal access.<br /> <br />And if you can construct a society where all get a chance to
rest,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that forces
that society to construct an economics of neighbourliness.<br /> <br />In our own society, we have seen this with the rise of the
trades union movement,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the push
over the last two centuries for greater workers rights,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
universal healthcare, and the welfare state.<br /> <br />These are the contemporary outworking of the Sabbath
principle,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as all
receive the benefits regardless of their circumstances.<br /> <br />But back to scripture.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is a
significant difference<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>in
the way the Sabbath command is framed in Deuteronomy<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>compared
to its earlier version at Sinai.<br /> <br />In Exodus 20, when Moses received the tablets of stone on
the mountain,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the command
to rest was based on God’s act of creation:<br /> <br /><i>‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the sea,
and all that is in them,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
rested the seventh day;</i><br /><i>therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and
consecrated it.’ (Exod 20.11)</i><br /> <br />Intriguingly, this creation ordinance for Sabbath<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>doesn’t get
a mention in Deuteronomy<br />as Moses stands on the shores of the Jordan<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>at the
gates of the promised land.<br /> <br />Rather, what we find in Deuteronomy<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that the
motivation for Sabbath is not creation.<br /> <br />Rather, Moses says that they are to rest on the seventh day,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
they must <i>remember that [they] were … slave[s] in the land of Egypt,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>[that]
the LORD [their] God brought you out from there</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>with
a mighty hand and an outstretched arm;</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>therefore
[says Moses],</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>‘the
LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day</i>.’ (5:15)<br /> <br />The reason for Sabbath is exodus!<br /> <br />They are to remember<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that the
coercive system of Pharaoh was disrupted.<br />They are to remember<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
the brick quota was declared null and void.<br /> <br />Moses is here warning the Israelites that if they forge
this,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they will
give their lives, both personally and corporately,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>over to
coercive competition.<br /> <br />But if they remember Egypt, and the Exodus wanderings in the
wilderness,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they will
know that Pharaoh,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
all similar agents of coercion, have been defeated.<br /> <br />You <i>do not need</i> to meet the expectations<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of your
mother, or your father,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>or
your work, or your boss,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>or
your broker, or anybody else.<br />You are free from the quota, if you remember,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>if you
situate yourself within the covenant memory.<br /> <br />Moses, in Deuteronomy,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>imagines
that Sabbath is not only a festival day<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>but
also a new social reality,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that is
carried back from the Sabbath day<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>into
days one through six.<br /> <br />People who keep Sabbath live all seven days differently.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So the
task, according to Moses, is to “seven” our lives.<br /> <br />There are two key aspects of new life that are made possible<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when
patterns of coercion are broken<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by the
faithful observance of Sabbath as a day of deep freedom.<br /> <br />First, we saw last week in our sermon on Deuteronomy 15,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that Moses lays
out<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the most
radical extrapolation of Sabbath in the entire Bible.<br />Every seven years, in an enactment of “the Sabbatical
principle,”<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Israel is required
to cancel debts on poor people,<br />And every seven Sabbaticals, at the Jubilee year,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they are to
redistribute the land<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and release
those who have become economically enslaved.<br /> <br />The intention in this radical act of “seven”<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that
there should be no permanent underclass in Israel (v. 4).<br /> <br />Moses, in this instruction, anticipates resistance<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to this
radical extrapolation of Sabbath,<br />he knows that Israelites may become “hard hearted” and
“tight fisted” (v. 7).<br /> <br />But, he says, that is because they have fallen into coercive
patterns<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>whereby the
poor are targeted as objects of economic abuse<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rather than
seen as Sabbath neighbours.<br /> <br />Moses counters such resistance, however,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by appeal
to the exodus memory (v. 15).<br /> <br />On the basis of their own experience as slaves in a coercive
system in Egypt,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Israel is
invited to “give liberally” (v. 10) and “provide liberally” (v. 14),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and so to avoid the temptations<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of
consumptive excess and economic abuse in their own land.<br /> <br />But second, the book of Deuteronomy identifies the great
“triad of vulnerability”<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of widows,
orphans, and immigrants,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as needy
members of society who are without protected rights.<br /> <br />The tradition of Deuteronomy is particularly attentive to
their needs:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
numerous commands to protect the needs<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of these
vulnerable, exposed neighbours.<br /> <br />In this interpretive tradition, Sabbath is not simply a
pause.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is an
occasion for reimagining all social life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>away from
coercion and competition,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>towards
compassionate solidarity.<br /> <br />Such solidarity is imaginable and achievable<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>only when
the drivenness of acquisitiveness is broken.<br /> <br /><b>Sabbath is not simply the pause that refreshes.</b><br /><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is
the pause that transforms.</b><br /> <br />Whenever ancient Israel was tempted to acquisitiveness,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sabbath was
an invitation to receptivity,<br />an acknowledgment that what is needed<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is given,
and need not be seized.<br /> <br />And so what does this look like in our world,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>how does
this ancient economic and theological model<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>take shape
in our world, an in our lives?<br /> <br />We, too, know about the vulnerabilities<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of those
whose circumstances in life make them particularly fragile,<br />and the next decades of global life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are going
to see ongoing waves of people displacement<br />and a persistent need for a compassionate and generous
response<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to those
who find themselves refugees in the world.<br /> <br />This is why we, as God’s people, need to be active in
welcoming refugees,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and reaching
out across ethnic and religious divides.<br /> <br />We, too, know about the hurt caused by bereavement or
relationship breakdown,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as people
have to battle not only with grief,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but often
changed financial circumstances also,<br />and there is a need for communities such as this
congregation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to offer a
place of belonging and deep support<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for those
whose lives are in turmoil.<br /> <br />We too, know how our drive for security in life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>can cause
us to put our faith in glittering idols of gold,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we trust
in our possessions to the detriment of our reliance on God.<br /> <br />And the pattern of giving money and resources to God<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through the
community of faith that we are part of,<br />so that together we can re-balance the economy of faith,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is a vital
part of our discipleship.<br /> <br />We too, know about the damage to the earth caused by excessive
consumption,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as the
climate crisis continues to become ever more tangible,<br />and there is a need for people such as us<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to be
willing to see beyond their own circumstances,<br />to answer the wider call for carbon reduction, pollution
control,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and compassionate
consumption through ethical trading and finance.<br /> <br />The principle of Sabbath, you see,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>not only highlights
the darkness of the human soul,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but also
offers a way of breaking the cycle.<br /> <br />Friends, we need Sabbath.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we are
called to rest from the ever-spiralling demands of production,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to resist the call to ever greater
acquisition and productivity,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to learn
that sometimes enough is enough,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and to discover that this might mean<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
another person can also have enough.<br /> <br />And so we find ourselves once again at the words of Jesus,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>challenging
<i>us</i> to a new and better way of being human.<br />We are his disciples, sent to the world with a message of
good news,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we learn
to forgive the debts of others,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>even as our
own indebtedness is forgiven by God.<br /> <br /><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The sermon that follows is based extensively on the chapter ‘Resistance to
Coercion’ from: Brueggemann, Walter. Sabbath as Resistance, New Edition with
Study Guide: Saying No to the Culture of Now. Presbyterian Publishing
Corporation. Kindle Edition.<br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><br /></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-12675431089059025482023-09-04T09:20:00.002+01:002023-09-04T09:30:38.475+01:00Reading Revelation: A Literary and Theological Commentary - Review<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">A review of Jamie Davies, <i>Reading Revelation: A
Literary and Theological Commentary</i>, Smith & Helwys, 2023. Presented to the
<i>British New Testament Society Conference</i> 2023 <i>Revelation Seminar</i> as part of a
panel review of this book.<br /></span><a href="https://www.helwys.com/sh-books/reading-revelation-2nd-series/">https://www.helwys.com/sh-books/reading-revelation-2nd-series/</a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVytAkwX009pe9fcae0w21OCkpGhEq_GTjjOEocHctB88hJYqEtxgf0HeSb9tdlUTH3rs_AtmM5SxOnyjom3Ie0SARU6CDDN1xIYE-HU8RwTbBxc1KKZX3Pw-Ku2poYKuKnS9xZ4BeCbIOR7ujTrFaEvgLllr2DBw4caGxXEiS5Syh12fNoJa7lcvJwuz0/s375/RNT2_Revelation_XXL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVytAkwX009pe9fcae0w21OCkpGhEq_GTjjOEocHctB88hJYqEtxgf0HeSb9tdlUTH3rs_AtmM5SxOnyjom3Ie0SARU6CDDN1xIYE-HU8RwTbBxc1KKZX3Pw-Ku2poYKuKnS9xZ4BeCbIOR7ujTrFaEvgLllr2DBw4caGxXEiS5Syh12fNoJa7lcvJwuz0/w266-h400/RNT2_Revelation_XXL.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />A commentary that is both ‘Literary’
<i>and</i> ‘Theological’? I’m reminded of the scene in the classic film <i>The
Blues Brothers</i>, where the band rock up at the Good Ole Boys diner to play,
and ask the manager what kind of music they usually like. She replies, ‘Oh, we
got both kinds. We got Country <i>and</i> Western.’<br /> <br />Nearly two decades ago, when
I was being interviewed for my job as Tutor in Biblical Studies at Cardiff
University and Cardiff Baptist College, the interview panel comprised some from
the academy and some from the seminary.<br /> <br />I was aware that the
questions I was receiving from these two groups were quite different to each
other: the academics quite properly wanted to know about my credentials and my
ability to teach and research, whilst the theologians wanted to know about my
faith and my ability to impart that faith to others.<br /> <br />These two sat uneasily
alongside each other both in the interview, and in the happy years of teaching
and training that followed.<br /> <br />When I was Acting Principal
of the College for a while, a review process called on me to defend and justify
the close historic partnership between the Russell Group University and the
Theological Colleges in Cardiff, and one of the inspectors commented that it
was entirely inappropriate for Christian Clergy to be teaching the Bible to
University undergraduates. My response was that if the idea of practitioners
teaching their own subject ever caught on in medicine or dentistry, we’d all be
in trouble!<br /> <br />But the tension remains, and
it is one we feel here at the British New Testament Society. Do we go to morning
prayer before breakfast? In my case – the answer is an emphatic no! But I could
if I wanted to, and this is testimony to the ongoing tension in our own
discipline between faith and academy.<br /> <br />The academy looks to the
literary context, and the church looks to God. But can the two meet? This, it
seems to me, is the premise behind Jamie’s excellent treatise on the Book of
Revelation.<br /> <br />The designation of this
commentary as both <i>literary</i> and <i>theological</i> allows it to pay
attention not only to the historical critical context of the Apocalypse, but
also to the way that the text speaks of <i>God</i>.<br /> <br />Those of us within the guild
of biblical studies are probably here because we have come to love and value
the historical critical approach, and many of us have come to distrust more theologically
motivated hermeneutical approaches to the Bible.<br /> <br />But of course, the texts we
study <i>are</i> theological documents – they bear testimony to their authors’
faith in God, and their history of interpretation bears witness to millennia of
‘faith-full’ reading.<br /> <br />And so to adequately account
for the text as we have it, we do well to pay attention not only to its
literary and historical origins, but also to the words about God that it
offers.<br /> <br />Which brings me to my first
question, that of <b>the intended audience for this commentary</b>.<br /> <br />Is this a commentary written
primarily for those in the academy, or for those in the church; or does it aim
for both? Or rather, does it aim at people who inhabit both?<br /> <br />An example of this comes in
the discussion of the way the Book of Revelation might be considered <i>prophecy</i>.<br /> <br />Quite rightly, Jamie notes
that the book is explicitly self-designated as prophecy in the benediction of
22.7, observing that, ‘in most prophecy, the primary audience is the
contemporary inhabitants of the world of the prophet, and Revelation is no
different’ (p.34).<br /> <br />However, then he continues,
‘But Revelation, also in line with the biblical prophetic tradition, has a
meaning that spills over from that contemporary time and place to times and
places beyond the prophet’s horizon’ (p.34).<br /> <br />This means, he asserts quite
rightly, that ‘we can no longer read the ‘nearness’ of what is revealed in the
book of Revelation in such a way as to plot its events on the linear schemes of
earthly chronological time’ (p.35).<br /> <br />But then he goes on to say
that, ‘Instead, we must become and remain sensitive to its claims concerning
divine eschatological action and the fulfilment of God’s purposes for his
world, as in Christ time’s fulfilment has come ‘near’ to the world of the first
century and the twenty-first.’<br /> <br />And so back to my question:
who is the ‘we’ that is in view here?<br /> <br />It must be people of faith,
those who believe that John’s textual communication of what he believed God to
be saying in his time, is also applicable to those who seek to hear God’s words
in the present time.<br /> <br />Which takes me back to the
question of whether biblical scholars of faith can both have their cake and eat
it? Can one be faithfully attentive to both literary and theological concerns?
Or is there always a compromise to be struck along the way?<br /> <br />This tension runs through the
commentary, and I am impressed by the way in which Jamie negotiates the
tightrope, but I want to draw attention to the difficulty of maintaining this
methodology. For some, this will be the commentary’s greatest strength, for
others it will represent a significant compromise.<br /> <br />And this brings me to my next
question: that of <b>the eschatology in play in this commentary’s
interpretation</b>.<br /> <br />I detect a tension between
the commentary’s reading of the text of Revelation as having a predominantly
realised eschatology, and the broader theological theme of future hope.<br /> <br />Jamie quite properly anchors
the eschatological language of the text within its original context, with the ‘eschatological
soon’ creating a ‘time of expectation’ within which John’s church can
faithfully and actively bear witness, rather than waiting quietistically for
divine intervention (p.28-9).<br /> <br />The commentary then relates
this eschatological scheme to the thrice repeated threefold ‘time-signature’,
of the one ‘who is, who was, and who is the coming one’ (1.4, 8; 4.8). These
are described as ‘not three separate events but three interrelated forms of the
one ‘coming’ of God’ (p.30).<br /> <br />Jamie elaborates: ‘God’s past
coming in the incarnation of Christ, his present coming by the Spirit, and his
future coming in consummation are all united as the one and the same
apocalyptic event.’ (p.30)<br /> <br />He concludes that ‘Seen from
this perspective, it is clear that the threefold divine life cannot simply be
plotted straightforwardly with the three tenses of creaturely history. Rather,
God simply is ‘the coming one’ who comes to history and assumes it.’<br /> <br />And so the theme of
witnessing through suffering unto death is thus seen as central to the book’s
call to discipleship, and the eschatology described is correspondingly focussed
on creating a context within which such witnessing can occur.<br /> <br />The calls to patient endurance
through persecution, and to resistance against empire, are seen as an
outworking of what it means to live faithfully in the time-between-times.<br /> <br />But against this there is
also a desire to relate the future aspect of the time-signature, the
description of Christ as ‘the coming one’, to a hope for future eschatological
transformation. Jamie says, ‘Though Revelation is clear that God is sovereign,
the cosmic battles against the powers challenging his rule are very real, and
so the promise of a divinely ruled world remains, at least from an earthly
perspective, in the future.’ (p.26)<br /> <br />I would be interested to hear
more from Jamie on his view of Revelation’s eschatological theology, and how he
relates this to those in his intended audience who read from a perspective of
faith themselves, and how it relates to that other strand of the audience for
this commentary, the academy.<br /> <br />The commentary proceeds
through the text of Revelation in a way that is clear, helpful, and accessible.
I think the decision to treat the 7 letters together as 7 ‘Oracles’ makes good
sense of the way they relate to the wider visionary material in the text,
helping anchor them as a key part of the overall prophecy rather than as an
early diversion from it.<br /> <br />The journey Jamie describes
around the churches brought back to mind my own travels in the region a few
years ago, as I spent a week in 40-degree heat visiting each of the 7 churches.
Jamie peppers his commentary with nuggets of insight, which serve to bring the
text to life for modern readers, and in this he draws on his extensive research
in both the Jewish and Graeco-Roman context and literature.<br /> <br />The ascent into heaven at the
beginning of chapter 4 takes us into more familiar apocalyptic territory as
John begins his tour of the heavens. But Jamie helpfully cautions that, ‘If we
restrict our attention to that we will miss something profoundly important
about this book, for it is also a renewed vision of earth, seen from a heavenly
perspective.’ (p.84)<br /> <br />This introduces the theme of
‘apocalyptic reversal’ where all is not as it seems (p.85). This demands a
double response of those encountering the vision: they are invited to ponder
the ‘deeper theological significance’ of their existence in the world, and to
then act on that reflection.<br /> <br />Readers are called, as Jamie
puts it, to ‘hold those first-century historical insights together,
simultaneously, with the theological ‘surplus of meaning’ that is expressed
through the imagery, and transcends the specific first-century context.’ (p.85)<br /> <br />If we can manage this, Jamie
suggests, ‘we will approach a reading that attends faithfully to the redoubled
nature of the book’s literary form and theological meaning.’ (p.85)<br /> <br />The journey of the commentary
through the visions pays frequent attention to the characterisation within the
text, elaborating on the variety of characters a reader encounters to show how
their description and actions speak to the world of the reader.<br /> <br />I found this approach to
speak helpfully to my own character-driven analysis of the text, in which I
suggested that Revelation is a bit like a Shakespearian play, where the number
of characters is greater than the actors available to play them, and so actors
play more than one role within the drama, often nipping into the wings for a
quick costume change.<br /> <br />I think I probably fall more
firmly on the side of realised eschatology that Jamie does, and we’ve had
interesting debates on this one in the past. For example, I prefer to read the
New Jerusalem as an image of the church militant, whereas for Jamie it is part
of the eschatological hope (p.238). But this is to quibble, and such quibbles
are best done over a pint in the bar.<br /> <br />So to conclude, I think this
is a truly worthwhile addition to the commentary canon, and will be of
particular use to those in more ecclesial settings who want to access the
fruits of the latest literary studies on the apocalypse. It is, as it sets out
to be, both literary and theological.<br /> <br /><i>Simon Woodman, August
2023.</i></span></div>
Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-77639633737442852172023-08-31T09:09:00.004+01:002023-08-31T09:09:46.844+01:00The tyranny of wheat<p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central
Baptist Church</b></div><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">3<sup>rd</sup> September
2023</i></div></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_csURSqQExPIHVgv1Ckwj45_4h9LgmplDSL-zdVhIHBLFHuDnlYPggoyf7wfe2rMrP6D9IXa8da7FGKw-QMCvnX_TdTN5gS6O1AQRIqm5-EmO-F-jhnOR9jTI88loFf-9zg7l1h2ZFsT1MVMjIQvGKzW4xak3zvYLU5KZQ-4lJDtLiiecgaxFwfyGPhh/s640/wheat-3506758_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_csURSqQExPIHVgv1Ckwj45_4h9LgmplDSL-zdVhIHBLFHuDnlYPggoyf7wfe2rMrP6D9IXa8da7FGKw-QMCvnX_TdTN5gS6O1AQRIqm5-EmO-F-jhnOR9jTI88loFf-9zg7l1h2ZFsT1MVMjIQvGKzW4xak3zvYLU5KZQ-4lJDtLiiecgaxFwfyGPhh/w400-h268/wheat-3506758_640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></o:p></b></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Genesis 4.1-16<br />Deuteronomy 15.1-2,
7-11</i><br /> <br />When I was at Greenbelt last weekend, I attended a seminar<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in which
the speaker was making the case<br />that much of the violence that exists in human societies<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>stems from land
ownership and property rights.<br /> <br />Their reasoning was compelling,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I’ve
been thinking about it a lot this week.<br /> <br />In essence, the theory is humans have evolved our systems of
structural violence,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>specifically
to safeguard ownership of land and property,<br />and to secure barns in which to stockpile our harvest<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to build a
surplus year-on-year.<br /> <br />So land-ownership and wealth creation are two sides of the
same coin,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
protection of these assets leads to violence.<br /> <br />Translate this into the contemporary context,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and one
might suggest that the current global economic system,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>built on
globalised capital assets, is not so different.<br /> <br />The scale may be different, but the idea of ownership<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>based on
capital acquisitions such as land, stocks, and produce,<br />is simply the extension of the great shift in human society<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that took
place at the agrarian revolution.<br /> <br />The scale of violence attached to it in the modern world<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is also, of
course, on a far wider scale,<br />as we are no longer protecting a field or a barn,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but rather entire
nations go to war over land and assets.<br /> <br />Historically speaking, therefore, it is not unreasonable to
suggest<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that the
move from hunter-gatherer to tiller of the field<br />marked a profound and enduring change in the way humans see
themselves<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in relation
to both the land, and to one another.<br /> <br />It was the domestication of wheat, around 10,000 years ago,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that marked
this dramatic turn<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in the
development and evolution of human civilization,<br />because it was wheat that enabled the transition<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from a
hunter-gatherer and nomadic pastoral society<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to a more
sedentary agrarian one.<br /> <br />Without wheat, there would be no system of farming<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>where one
plot of land can generate enough food<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to sustain
those who live elsewhere.<br /> <br />Without wheat, there would be no surplus to store away,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to see the
wealthy through periods of famine.<br /> <br />Without wheat, there could be no cities,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because it
is only wheat that enables some to till the ground<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and others
to build buildings and roads.<br /> <br />Without wheat - there is no viable human societal level<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>bigger than
the hunter gatherer tribe.<br /> <br />The problem <i>we</i> have, however, as modern city-dwelling
citizens,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that we evolved
in the tribe, we are hardwired for the tribe.<br /> <br />And so even those of us who live in cities<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>end up
triablising, fragmenting into our cliques, or networks, or gangs;<br />and as we defend our ideological territories<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from others
who might be considered threatening,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>violence comes
lurking at the door of our homes.<br /> <br />The main alternative to our global system based agrarian-capitalism<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that of
hunter-gatherer-nomadic,<br />where there is common ownership of the land,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and where people
relate and live at the local level.<br /> <br />And there are still some hunter-gatherer societies in the
world,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>where land
ownership is understood very differently.<br /> <br />Societies such as those of the Australian Aborigines,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or the Okiek
people of Kenya<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or the North
American Arctic Inuit groups,<br />live in relationship to the land in ways that are much less
exploitative<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>than those
societies which have adopted wheat-based food production<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
land ownership that comes with it.<br /> <br />In his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sapiens: A
Brief History of Humankind</i>,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yuval Noah
Harari makes the fascinating argument<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that rather than humans
domesticating wheat,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it is
actually better to think of it the other way around,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with wheat having domesticated
humans.<br /> <br />So much of our effort as a species over the last 10,000
years<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>has gone
into the preservation and proliferation of wheat,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for the
simple reason that without it, many of us would die, and die fast.<br /> <br />In the service of wheat, we have exploited the ground,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
systematised violence to preserve our ownership of it.<br /> <br />And in human evolutionary terms,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this is all
quite recent,<br />recent enough, in fact, to have still been a live issue<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>when the
oral traditions behind Hebrew Bible were taking shape,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>some three-
to four-thousand years ago.<br /> <br />The biblical story of Cain killing Abel<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>can be read
as an echo of the tensions of the agrarian revolution<br />which occurred in the Fertile Crescent of the Levant, which
includes Israel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as a direct
result of the domestication of wheat.<br /> <br />And the story of Cain and Abel tells of the triumph<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of those
who till the ground<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>over those
who tend the sheep.<br /> <br />But things aren’t entirely clear-cut,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because intriguingly
God rejects Cain’s offering of grain,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
receives Abel’s offering of meat.<br /> <br />This is what gets Cain so upset:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>he’s the
tiller of the ground, the master of the new technology,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>he’s
feeding his family and far more besides,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but when he
brings his grain offering to the Lord,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
Lord looks the other way.<br /> <br />When it becomes clear that Cain is angry,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God issues
a challenge to him:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>‘If
you do well you will be received,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>but
if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door.’<br /> <br />At this stage in human history, it was not a foregone
conclusion<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that the
land-based agrarian system would lead to good.<br /> <br />The divine jury was still out, it seems, on this new food
technology,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with people
tilling the ground, and claiming ownership of the land.<br /> <br />And there is a strong argument from 4000 years of history<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that it has
not, in the end, led to an entirely good outcome.<br /> <br />We still have poverty and starvation on a global scale,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>despite
having the capacity to produce enough food to feed everyone.<br /> <br />The possibility exists for us to have a system of food distribution
and land management<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
revolutionises human flourishing,<br />releasing people from the burden of generating their own
food,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
enabling the glories of cultural growth and city living,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and to do
so without resorting to violence.<br /> <br />This is the challenge of the story of Cain and Abel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with God’s
warning to Cain,<br />and it is a challenge that Israel has wrestled with
throughout its story,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it’s a
challenge that we continue to wrestle with today.<br /> <br />And this is where I want to move us into consideration<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of an
intriguing economic model that runs through the Hebrew Bible.<br /> <br />It is the three related concepts of Sabbath, Sabbatical, and
Jubilee.<br /> <br />The Sabbath is the idea that it is not good to work continually,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that one
day in seven should be a day of rest.<br />We’re going to come back to this next week,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but it’s
worth noting now that this is the base layer<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the
broader economic concepts of Sabbatical and Jubilee.<br /> <br />The Sabbatical year, which we heard about in our reading for
this morning,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the idea
that every seventh year, there is a financial re-set,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with the
forgiveness of debts and remission of obligations.<br /> <br />And the Jubilee year occurs in every 50<sup>th</sup> year,
after seven cycles of Sabbaticals,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so with
seven times seven being 49, the 50<sup>th</sup> year is the big re-set,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with the
freeing of slaves, and crucially the returning of land<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>back
to its original tribal allocations.<br /> <br />Inherent in these systems of Sabbath, Sabbatical, and Jubilee<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is an
economic model which acts as counterbalance,<br />a counterweight to the tendency towards violence and
acquisition<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
unrestrained capitalism generates,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as Cain and
Abel found to their cost.<br /> <br />This system of resetting, or resting the land,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
releasing people from their indebtedness,<br />is surely one of the most significant economic experiments
in human history,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and we find
it in our shared scriptures with Judaism<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>not as an
idea to consider but as a divine command.<br /> <br />The challenge is clear:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>if we want
the benefits of human society,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of
money, property, culture and freedom from subsistence labour,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>then the only
way this can be achieved without violence<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>is
through a carefully regulated system of economic reform.<br /> <br />And to those who suggest that political economic theory<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>has
nothing to do with theology,<br />God says: ‘Sabbath, Sabbatical and Jubilee’!<br /> <br />This tradition of forgiveness of indebtedness<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is rooted
deeply within the Christian story also,<br /> <br />Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer has Jesus telling his
disciples to pray:<br /> <br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And forgive
us our debts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we also
have forgiven our debtors. (Matt 6.12)<br /> <br />Simon Perry, formerly of this parish,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>tells us in
his latest book that,<br /> <br /><i>‘Forgiveness of sin’ is a phrase whose root meaning is
economic.</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the
original language, ‘forgiveness’ means liberty</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
‘sin’ means debt. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></i><br /> <br />He continues:<br /> <br /><i>In an empire that depended on every citizen and slave
honouring their debts</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– forgiveness of sin (i.e., debt cancellation)</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is a
dangerous political and economic threat.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>For those who were submerged</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>beneath
the Jordan River [in baptism for the forgiveness of sins]</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>– their
debts were consigned to a watery grave.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>When they re-surface [from the baptismal waters],</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>people
are declared debt-free,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>before
their fellow Israelites, before their leaders, and before their God.</i><br /> <br />So not only is our central ritual of Baptism deeply rooted
in the forgiveness of debts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but so also
is our most-recited prayer a plea for emancipation.<br /> <br />Debt-forgiveness is at the heart of our Christian faith,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it is
so because Sabbath, Sabbatical, and Jubilee<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are at the
heart of our parent faith in ancient Judaism.<br /> <br />Ann Pettifor, the British economist who led the Jubilee 2000
campaign,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>reflects on
that movement in the book produced this year<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to mark the
50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Greenbelt Festival.<br /> <br />It’s a fairly long quote, but I’m going to read it in full,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as she says
it better than I could ever do:<br /> <br /><i>Back in 2000 we called it Jubilee.</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And we
practise it at Greenbelt every year.</i><br /><i>It is what the economy needed then</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it
is what the economy needs now.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Our economy, the global economy,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
economic system, is wildly out of balance.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>As a result both the ecosystem</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
political system are out of balance, too.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>To restore balance to nature, to society and to the
economy</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we need
proper, enforced regulation to check imbalances.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>We could start with the Jubilee principle.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>A form of regulation the Abrahamic religions have
practised</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for more
than 2,000 years</i><br /><i>- every seven days, a sabbath;</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>every
seven years, a sabbatical</i><br /><i>- needs to be restored and re-applied to the economy.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>As I write this another US bank, First Republic</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>- even
bigger than the failed Silicon Valley Bank - has collapsed.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Its imbalances - its excess liabilities</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>-have
been dumped on US taxpayers.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>It was brought down by the weight of debts</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
spiralled higher as interest rates rose.</i><br /><i>It was granted the gift that will correct its imbalances.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>According to the IMF, total public and private debt
decreased in 2021</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the
equivalent of 247 per cent of global gross domestic product,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>falling
by 10 percentage points from its peak level in 2020.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Expressed in dollar terms, however,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>global
debt continued to rise, although at a much slower rate,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>reaching
a record $235 trillion last year.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>The number spirals beyond our imagination.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>The debt - at more than twice the world's income - will
never be repaid in full.</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It must
be written off, and debtors given a chance to start again.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>Just as importantly, credit - the man-made system</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
making and meeting obligations, a system we call money</i><br /><i>- must be managed to ensure we do not promise</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to pay
more than we are capable of.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>That we do not make monetary promises…</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>whose
fulfilment draws down and destroys the capacity of the ecosystem,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
humanity holds in common for today's and future generations.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>In other words, we have to lower consumption</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
extraction and exploitation of both nature's assets,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but also
humanity's asset - labour.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>We gather every year at Greenbelt</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the opportunity to enjoy our own personal Jubilee.</i><br /><i>To reconnect, listen, laugh, sing, dance and rejoice</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
those who share our values and beliefs.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>We need to take those values out into the world to wage
justice</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>- for
nature, for the commons: our seas, atmosphere, land and sky</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>-
and for humanity.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>We need to wage justice for the poor, for the homeless,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
those who flee drought, floods, harvest failures and war.</i><br /><i><o:p> </o:p></i><br /><i>We need to wage justice for peace.</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We need
a global Jubilee. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></i><br /> <br />Thank you Anne!<br /> <br />Friends, I hope you can see the connections I’m making here,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>between
land ownership and exploitation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>between
wealth acquisition and violence,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and for the
need for a new and better way of handling our common resources.<br /> <br />And I hope you can take hope from our scriptures,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that there
is a better way open for us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which is
honouring of creation, of humanity, and of God.<br /> <br />But there’s one final connection I want to make,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we come
to gather around the Lord’s table,<br />to add the eucharistic ritual<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to those of
baptism and prayer that I’ve already spoken of.<br /> <br />The bread and wine of communion<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are the
product of grape and grain:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they are
the fruits of Cain’s labours.<br /> <br />And the violence of the cross of which they speak<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the
violence of Cain killing Abel,<br />but the message of Christ<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that in
the cross violence finds its end,<br />as the grape and the grain of the agrarian revolution<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>become the
symbols of forgiveness of debts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>or
repentance for sins,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
possibility of a new way of being human.<br /><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Perry, Simon. Jesus Farted: The Vulgar Truth of the Biblical Christ (pp.
39-40). Thrydwulf Cambridge. Kindle Edition.<br /> <br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
FIFTY, Greenbelt Festivals, 2023.</span><p></p>
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</div></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-2960585220173580532023-08-15T08:34:00.003+01:002023-08-20T17:14:51.885+01:00For the love of God<p style="text-align: center;"></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>20th August 2023</i></div></i></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizusiMxmNeX9R_CuW34duSSdB1h0WeRIzXTdSzQyV9whshfiwp4Ykcec9CuV5DJLwC0g3JsUaxZLksl32Stqj8uHF-uc4V9H88CZA0_1hWv1BVJSlNg_moI3CckJfzAkb0_DuWcksvHxQPYlrtwXKzmFWCcS3I2kI94e8Pf7gyX0mHSCrNHfjwr4rbJ4ZY/s1280/heart-268151_1280.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="853" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizusiMxmNeX9R_CuW34duSSdB1h0WeRIzXTdSzQyV9whshfiwp4Ykcec9CuV5DJLwC0g3JsUaxZLksl32Stqj8uHF-uc4V9H88CZA0_1hWv1BVJSlNg_moI3CckJfzAkb0_DuWcksvHxQPYlrtwXKzmFWCcS3I2kI94e8Pf7gyX0mHSCrNHfjwr4rbJ4ZY/w266-h400/heart-268151_1280.jpg" width="266" /></a></div></i><br /><br />Song of Songs 2.10-13; 8.6-7</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Back in 1996, just as Liz and I were leaving Sheffield to
move to Bristol<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for me to
start at Bristol Baptist College,<br />the Sheffield rock group Babybird released an album (Ugly
Beautiful)<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which gave
them their biggest hit, the brilliantly commercial ‘You’re Gorgeous’.<br /> <br />But it also had another track, which got less attention,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but is
rather more interesting, at least to us this morning<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we come
to the final week in our series<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on the
wisdom tradition from the Hebrew Bible.<br /> <br />The song is called ‘Jesus is my girlfriend’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and whilst
the song itself isn’t all that special, at least in my view,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the title
of the song, ‘Jesus is my girlfriend’, gave me something of a revelation.<br /> <br />Which is that many of the songs we were singing to Jesus in
church,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>could just as
easily be romantic or even sexualised songs<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>sung
to a beloved partner,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with just a
minor tweak of the lyrics.<br /> <br />Are we really just singing to Jesus<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as we might
to our girlfriend or boyfriend?<br /> <br />Well, the first thing I think we need to note that there is
nothing inherently new<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
utilising intense relational imagery<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to describe
a person’s spiritual experience of Jesus.<br /> <br />Just recently I was listening to a podcast from The Rest is
History with Tom Holland,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it was
telling the story of 14<sup>th</sup> Century mystic Catherine of Siena’s<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>mystical
marriage to Jesus,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in which
she gave herself in marriage to Jesus in a vision,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with his circumcised foreskin
functioning as her wedding band. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br />But Catherine is just one example of a whole tradition of
female mystic eroticism<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in which
monastic women described their ecstatic devotion to Christ<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
decidedly erotic terms.<br /> <br />From the 13<sup>th</sup> Century nun Agnes Blannbekin, <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the 16<sup>th</sup>
Century Saint Teresa of Ávila, <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the 17<sup>th</sup>
Century Catholic nun Benedetta Carlini, <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span><br />these traditions bear witness to a reaction against a
male-dominated church hierarchy,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and to
women who refused to be entirely subjugated either spiritually or sexually.<br /> <br />They also create a precedent for using erotic language<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in the
context of one’s relationship with Jesus,<br />something which, of course, we also find in the Bible
itself,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in those
passages that describe the church as the ‘bride’ of Christ<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(John 3.29;
Eph 5.22-33; Rev 21.2,9-10).<br /> <br />So come with me to 1850, just a couple of years after<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
founding of Bloomsbury Baptist Chapel.<br /> <br />That early congregation would certainly have sung one the
latest hit hymns of the era,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>published in
1850, I’m thinking of the hymn<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>‘How
sweet the name of Jesus sounds’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it
contains this verse:<br /> <br /><i>Jesus! my Shepherd, Husband,
Friend,<br />My Prophet, Priest, and King;<br />My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,<br />Accept the praise I bring.</i><br /> <br />Or what of Charles Wesley’s hymn to mystical union with
Christ:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><i>Jesus, lover of my soul,<br />let me to thy bosom fly,<br />leave, ah! leave me not alone,<br />still support and comfort me.<br />freely let me take of thee;<br />spring thou up within my heart,<br />rise to all eternity.</i><br /> <br />I’m not trying to spoil anyone’s favourite hymn,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>although
there is a bit of ‘<i>once you’ve seen it you can’t un-see it’</i> here…<br />but I am trying to create the historical context<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that lies
behind the more recent explosion of intimate worship.<br /> <br />I’m not going to score easy points now<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by trashing
some of the more modern songs that are popular in church life,<br />but if you are familiar with the contemporary worship scene,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>you’ll
recognise the trend for songs where a simple substitution<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of either
Jesus or God with the name of your beloved,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>turns them
from worship song to sexualised ballad in an instant.<br /> <br />All of which brings me to the most sexualised book in the
Bible,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the Song of
Songs,<br />which sits there in the Hebrew Bible as part of the Wisdom
Tradition<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that we’ve
been looking at over the last few weeks.<br /> <br />I’m grateful to Judith for reading this for us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I’m
sure she was grateful that the Narrative Lectionary<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>spared us
all the delights of hearing read aloud in church<br />some of the more purple passages from these lesser-turned
pages of our Scriptures:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘This is
the word of the Lord, Thanks be to God’.<br /> <br />But seriously – go home and read them!<br /> <br />And just as an aside, do you know how difficult it was<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to choose
the hymns for today’s service???<br />With my <i>double-entendre-radar</i> set to high,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>song after
song ruled itself out for us to sing today.<br /> <br />In the end I settled on songs that spoke of God’s love for
us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rather than
the other way around.<br /> <br />But anyway, moving on…<br /> <br />If you were with us when I introduced this series a few
weeks ago,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>you may
remember that I sounded a note of warning<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>about the
tendency to ‘allegorise’ the wisdom literature.<br /> <br />This is where people take a text and make it into an
allegory for, for example,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Christ and
the church, or the virgin Mary,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or some
aspect of Christian discipleship.<br /> <br />This allegorical way of reading scripture dominated much of
Christian history,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>until
comparatively recent times.<br /> <br />The danger with such allegorisation is that it strips the
text from its original context,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and plunders
it for minor details that can be related to the object of the allegory.<br /> <br />Well, when we come to the Song of Songs,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>our <i>allegorisation-alert</i>
needs to be set nearly as high<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as my <i>double-entendre-radar</i>
was when choosing our songs for today.<br /> <br />This is because the history of interpretation of the Song<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is one of
allegorisation <i>par excellance</i>.<br /> <br />There is a Jewish tradition of reading the love between the
two lovers,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as an
allegory of God’s love for the Israelites,<br />and among Christians, the book is often interpreted<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
describing the love of Christ for his church.<br /> <br />These allegorical readings conveniently allow interpreters<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to avoid
having to grapple with some of the steamier moments in the text,<br />by placing all the emphasis in interpretation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into the
realm of God’s love for us.<br /> <br />But is this book really, in any way, about God’s love for
humans,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or indeed
about human love for God?<br /> <br />The evidence would suggest not,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>after all,
it’s one of only two books in the Bible<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that don’t
actually ever mention God…<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(the other
one’s Esther, in case you were wondering).<br /> <br />In fact, the scholarly consensus around the Song of Songs<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that it
originates as a collection of love poems,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>celebrating
the joy and goodness of human love.<br /> <br />In other words, it’s great literature, but not great
theology.<br /> <br />But, given that this text is in our scriptures,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and that
there is a tradition going back millennia<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of
reading it in both Jewish and Christian worship,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>can we
really write off God’s presence in this text altogether?<br /> <br />Does God have nothing to say to human love of the physical
kind?<br /> <br />In what I’m going to say next, I’m particularly indebted to
two female biblical scholars,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>firstly
Professor Kathryn Schifferdecker, and secondly Prof. Rabbi Wendy Zierler.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br />And so here we are, torn between two interpretations:<br /> <br />The traditional interpretation is that it is an allegory<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the love
between God and Israel or between Christ and the Church.<br />Whilst the dominant interpretation in modern times<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is that it
is nothing more than ancient erotic love poetry.<br /> <br />Can it be both?<br /> <br />Perhaps it is both a celebration of the love of two people
for one another,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a love
“strong as death” (Song of Solomon 8:6),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a love
reflected in the renewed life of the earth itself (Song of Solomon 2:10-13).<br /> <br />But perhaps at the same time, the Song is also a celebration<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of the love
between God and God’s people,<br />a love that is in fact stronger than death,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>sealed by
the Resurrection.<br /> <br />As Phyllis Trible and Ellen Davis have both argued,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the Song is
a reversal of the curses of Eden.<br /> <br />So, the relationship between the loving couple is restored,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and in
place of Eve’s punishment in Genesis 3:16<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>where
the judgment on her is that<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>“your
desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you”,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>instead the
woman in the Song declares,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>“I
am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.”<br /> <br />In fact, the woman’s voice is the dominant voice in the
Song.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She is in a
full, robust, and mutual relationship with her beloved.<br /> <br />But also, the rupture between humanity and the earth is
restored.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because here,
in the garden of the Song,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>there
are no thorns and thistles (see Genesis 3:17-19).<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And indeed,
the earth itself is said to rejoice with the lovers.<br /> <br />And so the text begins to function theologically,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>even as it
speaks of the love between the lovers,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it points
beyond them to God’s greater love for humans and creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>inviting
the possibility that God’s love fully encompasses human desire.<br /> <br />I remember as a teenager being told<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that I
mustn’t do anything with my girlfriend<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that I’d be
embarrassed about if Jesus came back whilst we were doing it!<br /> <br />Well, apart from the terrible eschatology inherent in this
advice,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it also
creates a guilt around sex and sexuality<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which the
Song of Songs deconstructs.<br /> <br />What if there is no need to feel guilt about our existence
as human beings,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>what if sex
and sexuality are not evidence of the fall,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but gifts
of God given for pleasure and human flourishing?<br /> <br />Rabbi Zierler says,<br /> <br /><i>I look at our world which is filled with explicit sexual
imagery</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on every
billboard or every street corner,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on every
TV channel and every radio station,</i><br /><i>and I am sick at heart for a reading of the world,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
can elevate my sexuality above base, prosaic level</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to which
it is has fallen in daily discourse.</i><br /> <br />She continues,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><i>This is not to say that the love poetry in [Song of
Songs] is casual and base,</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or that
one should not, at least at first, appreciate the plain meaning</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of
these love lyrics.</i><br /><i>[But] what I mean is that I am also moved by the dogged
interpretive effort</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in [the
Jewish religious] literature</i><br /><i>to draw theological meaning from human, bodily experience</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
thereby, to sanctify the material world.</i><br /> <br />Friends, there is much wisdom here…<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A text
doesn’t have to mention God to speak of God.<br />Maybe God is joyfully, creatively, playfully in all things,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>including
our oh-so-human joy in one another.<br /> <br />But I wonder if there is yet more wisdom we can glean<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from the
poetry of the Song of Songs.<br /> <br />In the ancient Hebrew world, God was almost always presented
as male,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a divine
patriarch, a kingly monarch, a supremely righteous figure of a man.<br /> <br />The corresponding aspect of this was that sins were almost
always presented<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as deriving
from feminine weakness.<br /> <br />Behind every strong man was a weak woman, trying to bring
him down.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Just look
at Adam and Eve!<br /> <br />So if God is the bridegroom, and Israel is the bride,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as with the
allegorical readings of the Song of Songs,<br />then it is the male God who is faithful,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
female Israel who is unfaithful and faithless.<br /> <br />Similarly within the Christian tradition,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>if Christ
is the bridegroom,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
church is the bride of Christ,<br />then it is the male Christ who is the sinless perfect one,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and the
female church who is faithless and unfaithful.<br /> <br />This is how a culture of female inferiority<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>gets
engraved into both Jewish and Christian laws and societies,<br />as biology itself becomes marshalled<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to the
patriarchal system of female oppression.<br /> <br />This is the context in which mystical holy women of the
middle ages<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>subverted the
systems that sought to control every aspect of their being,<br />with ecstatic visions providing a way of their reclaiming<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>suppressed
femininity and sexuality.<br /> <br />And so we come to the empowered woman of the Song of Songs,<br /> <br />My former tutor Cheryl Exum once commented<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that the ‘female
eroticism in the Song is [never] successfully controlled”<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>by
the men in the text,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>not by the
angry watchmen, nor by her would-be protective brothers.<br /> <br />If we can escape from the allegorical bind of patriarchy,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this
is a text that conveys female agency:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in which a
woman speaks, controls her own life, and her own body,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and is
unashamed, as she is declared and seen to be ‘not guilty’.<br /> <br />And this declaration of innocence, the innocence of Eden before
the fall,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is a
profoundly theological utterance.<br /> <br />It is the word of liberation spoken in the Cross of Christ,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as the
world itself is declared ‘not guilty’.<br /> <br />As Stuart Townend and Keith Getty put it in their wonderful
hymn ‘In Christ Alone’,<br /><i>No guilt in life, no fear in
death,</i><br /><i>this is the power of Christ in
me.</i><br /> <br />The theology of the Song of Songs<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is not
found in its allegory for God or Christ and the people of God,<br />but simply in its innocence,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in its
declaration of love as good,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in its delight
in what it means to be fully human.<br /> <br />This is the good news of Christ, because it is the good news
of God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it is
good news for us, whoever we are and however we love.<br />Because as the first letter of John puts it<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God is
love, and those who abide in love abide in God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
God abides in them. (1 John 4.16)<br /> <br />Amen.<br /><br /></span><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Siena">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Siena</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Blannbekin">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Blannbekin</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedetta_Carlini">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedetta_Carlini</a><br /><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/preaching-series-on-o-t-wisdom-and-poetry-4/commentary-on-song-of-solomon-210-13-86-7-2">https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/preaching-series-on-o-t-wisdom-and-poetry-4/commentary-on-song-of-solomon-210-13-86-7-2</a><br /><a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-22-2/commentary-on-song-of-solomon-28-13-2">https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-22-2/commentary-on-song-of-solomon-28-13-2</a><br /><a href="https://www.thetorah.com/article/a-feminist-literalist-allegorical-reading-of-shir-hashirim">https://www.thetorah.com/article/a-feminist-literalist-allegorical-reading-of-shir-hashirim</a></span><p></p>
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</div></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-89025728228176548862023-07-25T18:56:00.000+01:002023-07-25T18:56:35.829+01:00Woman Wisdom<p></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">A Sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</span></b></div></b><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">30<sup>th</sup> July 2023</span></i></div></i><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ZjB2U_IP_givBVr2bQq5rUUeE5pg7P9TJg4gqJRw_TFRHzb06cum6fKybEqzPkM4dLn8xt40gwX3e1qGRSniWgDE6zasBwTQJOotJ5nEctwfVwphorvcRZ0P03S3FrK-oZckxcVGU-l6V2IVgG0P0Qg7lm-mTRWf1g5IqS0jajW7EwgCOmpLTAIYbXU9/s6000/alex-shute-QnRDKNbKl9k-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ZjB2U_IP_givBVr2bQq5rUUeE5pg7P9TJg4gqJRw_TFRHzb06cum6fKybEqzPkM4dLn8xt40gwX3e1qGRSniWgDE6zasBwTQJOotJ5nEctwfVwphorvcRZ0P03S3FrK-oZckxcVGU-l6V2IVgG0P0Qg7lm-mTRWf1g5IqS0jajW7EwgCOmpLTAIYbXU9/w400-h266/alex-shute-QnRDKNbKl9k-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: xx-small;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@faithgiant?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Alex Shute</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/QnRDKNbKl9k?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Proverbs 8.1-11, 22-36</i></span><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> <br />Who, I wonder, is the wisest person you’ve ever
met?<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
won’t ask you to name them, but it’s worth a thought…<br /> <br />And who, I wonder, is the most foolish person you’ve
ever met?<br /> <br />As we continue our journey this week<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through
the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible,<br />we are introduced to a wise woman,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
Woman Wisdom<br />and if we were to read the chapters before and
after our reading for today,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
would find that she is contrasted<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
another woman, whose name is Folly (see Proverbs 9.13-18).<br /> <br />The setup here is that the book of Proverbs<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
offering its sage advice to a young man,<br />and it sets up these two female characters,
Wisdom and Folly,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who
ply him with their words of perception and foolishness.<br /> <br />His task is to learn to listen to Wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
to reject the wiles of Folly.<br /> <br />So, let’s just name this for what it is:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
a highly gender-laden construct,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
reflects the patriarchal culture in which it was written.<br /> <br />The image of female seductress, set on leading young
men astray,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
as ancient as patriarchy<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
as contemporary as workplace sexism.<br /> <br />The seductress archetype is present in film and
literature,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from
Scarlett O’Hara,<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
to Mrs Robinson,<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
to Jessica Rabbit,<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from
Circe<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
to the Sirens,<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
to Lilith,<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
to Eve,<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a><br />there are no shortage of examples<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
women cast as the <i>femme fatale</i><br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
the sole intention of leading young men astray.<br /> <br />And I’m afraid, the juxtaposing of Woman Wisdom
with Dame Folly<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is,
at one level, just another example of this trope.<br /> <br />And those of us who come to this text with post
#MeToo concerns,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>about
the abuse that arises from gendered objectification and vilification,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
right to be concerned about what we find here.<br /> <br />It’s a problematic text, and we need to own that.<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ancient
literature poses its challenges when read in the modern world.<br /> <br />But then again, it’s given us an opportunity<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
talk about this important stuff in a sermon on a Sunday,<br />so maybe some good can come<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from
our engagement with it after all.<br /> <br />Anyway, I’ll plough on, and let’s see what else
we can unearth…<br /> <br />Our readings today invite us to focus on Woman
Wisdom,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who,
in contrast to Folly, is a powerful and empowering woman.<br /> <br />Like Folly, she too is the product of a
tradition,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
dates back into ancient mythology.<br /> <br />The Egyptians worshipped the Goddess Nut,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
goddess of the sky, the stars, and the cosmos,<br />often depicted as a star-covered woman<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>arching
over the Earth.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a><br /> <br />Other cultures contemporary with ancient Israel<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>also
worshipped female deities of great power,<br />including Ishtar, sometimes called Inanna or Ashera,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
Mesopotamian and Assyrian Queen of Heaven<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who
gets occasional mentions in the Hebrew Bible.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><br /> <br />And it’s in this wider cultural context,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
female deities deeply associated with the created order,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
the sky, the heaven, and the earth,<br />that the Hebrew Bible offers us Woman Wisdom.<br /> <br />And she, too, is presented<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
embodying creation.<br /> <br />Those living in the ancient worlds of Egypt,
Israel, and Mesopotamia,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>viewed
their lives as participating in a great created order,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
great living harmony of all things.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><br /> <br />So, for these ancient theologies,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>justice
and wisdom were a matter of creating and restoring<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
sense of societal, political, economic, and religious order.<br /> <br />Many of these cultures, in fact, have just one or
two words<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
can mean ‘wisdom’, and ‘justice’, and ‘created order’,<br />all signifying the ability<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
live fittingly in the world.<br /> <br />And so when we meet the Woman Wisdom in Proverbs,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
find that she is described in a way<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
echoes the ‘tree of life’ passage from the creation story in Genesis.<br /> <br />Provers 3.18 says that,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘She
is a tree of life to those who embrace her’.<br /> <br />This puts Woman Wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>firmly
in the category of ancient heavenly goddess,<br />even though the way she is presented in the text
as it has come down to us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>makes
it clear that she the pre-eminent aspect of God’s creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rather
than the agent of creation herself.<br /> <br />Just as Genesis has the Spirit of God brooding
over the waters,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>summoning
creation into being at God’s command,<br />so Proverbs present the Woman Wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
God’s partner in creation, his female counterpart in birthing the cosmos.<br /> <br />You can see, can’t you, how the ancient tradition<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
an ancient cosmic couple:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
male and female consorts of creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>echoes
down through the Hebrew Wisdom tradition<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to give us the Woman Wisdom of
Proverbs,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God’s creative companion.<br /> <br />But unlike the other ancient Levantine goddesses
and creation stories,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
are often violent and violating of the female characters,<br />the creative act described in Proverbs<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
marked by the loving, other-person centredness of the creator.<br /> <br />The Hebrew take on creation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
that it is not violent and destined for destruction,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
that it is declared good by God, and is destined for redemption.<br /> <br />And so when we meet Wisdom personified,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
find that she is busy filling the earth<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with creativity, generosity, concern
for the other,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
a longing for all of creation to flourish before God.<br /> <br />And so we come to chapter 8 of the book of
Proverbs,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>where
we hear from Woman Wisdom in her own words.<br /> <br />This is one of the longest soliloquies given to a
female voice<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
the whole of Scripture,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
so it’s worth listening to it carefully.<br /> <br />And Wisdom attributes her origins<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
the beginning of God’s creative work:<br /> <br />She says, ‘The Lord created me at the beginning
of his work,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
first of his acts of long ago.’ (8.22)<br /> <br />Wisdom, because she was around before creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
able to proclaim her expertise,<br />having witnessed and even enjoyed the events of
creation (8.23-31).<br /> <br />The many allusions to the created order in this
speech<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>express
her appreciation for the order and fittingness<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
all that God has made.<br /> <br />But she also keeps making the point<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
the world was created with order, with boundaries,<br />to keep the waters in their place, the land in
its place, and so on, (esp. 8.27-29)<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
whilst at one level this probably expresses the fear all humans have<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
the natural world turning against us with flood, fire, or famine,<br />it is also presented as a theological truth<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
there is some deep order built into the world,<br />and that Wisdom, personified as a woman,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
the key to discerning it.<br /> <br />Wisdom offers us the key to interpreting the
world:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>its
beginnings, its purpose, its shape and direction.<br />She offers to guide us in walking wisely in this
life,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
she already knows the places that God carved out for us.<br /> <br />And here we have to be careful,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
there is a danger that we might conclude from this<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
there is some divinely ordained mechanistic path to success,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>whereby if we do this, that, or the
other, good things will follow.<br /> <br />And for many people, this is exactly what they
want from their religion:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this
is the way of reading the Bible<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
treats it as a book of answers to life’s perplexing questions;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this
is the way of approaching God in prayer,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>where
God gives us perfect insight<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>into
a divinely personalised perfect plan for our lives.<br /> <br />Such religion can quickly become highly
controlling,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
those with a vested interest in the status quo,<br />use the argument that ‘this is how God ordained
it’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
justify their ongoing power and oppression of others.<br /> <br />But this is not to say that there isn’t a deep
wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
it is good for us to hear and heed.<br /> <br />There is something profoundly good about learning
to live in harmony with creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
whilst it doesn’t guarantee our freedom from suffering,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it
is nonetheless a wisdom worth seeking.<br /> <br />Last week I quoted from The Lion, The Witch, and The
Wardrobe,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
I found out this week is going to be<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
Bloomsbury book group book for next month!<br /> <br />And I’d like to return to it again this week,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
see how C.S. Lewis explains this idea of deep wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or
deep magic, as he refers to it.<br /> <br />In the world of Narnia, the Deep Magic refers to
a set of laws<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>placed
into Narnia at the time of its creation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by
the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea.<br /> <br />These laws were inscribed on the Stone Table,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on
which Aslan will eventually be sacrificed.<br /> <br />The law stated that the White Witch, Jadis,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>was
entitled to kill every traitor,<br />and that if she was denied this right,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>all
of Narnia would be "overturned and perish in fire and water".<br /> <br />However, we find out that unknown to Jadis,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
deeper magic from before the dawn of Time existed,<br />which said that if a willing victim who had
committed no treachery<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>was
killed in a traitor's stead,<br />the Stone Table would crack,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
Death itself would start working backwards.<br /> <br />And so when Jadis made a claim on Edmund
Pevensie's life,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Aslan
used this Deeper Magic to save him,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>at
the cost of his own life.<br /> <br />This idea that there is deep wisdom written into
the cosmos<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>invites
us to listen carefully to creation,<br />and the groaning of creation in response to the
climate crisis,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
something that humanity needs to hear and hear urgently.<br /> <br />But this applies to us on a personal level,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
well as corporately.<br /> <br />Many voices in the Christian tradition portray
life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
a dangerous tightrope,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a straight-and-narrow
line where we dare not misstep.<br /> <br />But the Woman Wisdom testifies to the harmony and
order<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
can be seen in a large and open landscape<br /> <br />She points us to a freedom within form,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
a way of living where each day is a new adventure,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
be explored joyfully with wisdom as our map.<br /> <br />The reduction of religion to rules and regulations,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
the opposite of what is in view here.<br /> <br />Woman Wisdom’s response to her experience of
creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>humanity,
and the order of God’s world emphasises joy.<br /> <br />The end of the passage leaves us with three key
images:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Firstly,
that God delights in her,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Secondly,
that she dances before him,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
Thirdly, that she delights in humanity.<br /> <br />The whole poem is full of love, compassion,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>intimacy,
and exuberant joy and playfulness.<br /> <br />Cosmic wisdom assures us that the good life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
one of joy, and of love for creation.<br /> <br />And this is the message that Wisdom shouts aloud,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>raising
her voice on the heights, beside the way,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>at
the crossroads,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>beside
the gates in front of the town (8.2-3).<br /> <br />This wisdom is not for the holy elect, or the
faithful few,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it
is wisdom which is good news for all,<br />and if I were to sum it up, I think what it boils
down to,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
the message that God is love, and that God loves us.<br /> <br />And those who respond to God’s love<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by
living according to the grain of creation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
those who embody the wisdom of God.<br /> <br />And as we saw last week,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
key to such wise and harmonious living<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
life lived in the light of what God has already done for us.<br /> <br />Wisdom is an invitation to alternate our gaze<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>between
God and God’s creation,<br />living simply, that others might simply live,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>loving
God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
loving our neighbour as we love ourselves.<br /> <br />It’s no coincidence that within the Christian tradition,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
image of wisdom personified<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>becomes
fused with the eternal Word made flesh.<br /> <br />And so, to conclude, let us hear from that great
gospel of Wisdom,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>John’s
prologue.<br /> <br /><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">In the
beginning was the Word,</span><br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. <br /><b><sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">2 </span></sup></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">He was in the beginning with God. </span><br /> <br /><b><sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">3 </span></sup></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">All things came into being through him,</span><br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
without him not one thing came into being.<br />What has come into being <b><sup>4 </sup></b>in
him was life,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
the life was the light of all people. <br /><b><sup><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">5 </span></sup></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The light shines in the darkness,</span><br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
the darkness did not overtake it.<br /> <br />Amen.<br /><br /><hr size="1" width="33%" /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_O%27Hara">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_O%27Hara</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graduate">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graduate</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Rabbit">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Rabbit</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circe">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circe</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_(mythology)">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_(mythology)</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(goddess)">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(goddess)</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Heaven_(antiquity)">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Heaven_(antiquity)</a><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Simon/Dropbox/FILES/SPW/Bloomsbury/Sundays/1%20Sermons/20%20Proverbs/Proverbs%208.1-11,%2022-36.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The following draws from Bartholomew and O’Dowd, ‘Old Testament Wisdom
Literature: A Theological Introduction’. pp.86ff</span></span></span></span><p></p>
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</div></div></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-73300242716862302582023-07-22T14:00:00.003+01:002023-07-25T11:54:18.827+01:00The greatest of these is love<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>A sermon for the wedding of Jonathan and Frazer</b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;">Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Saturday 22nd July 2023</i></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuj4KkKm7Bq8dzz1zF3VnwfZmKkkHImTW15J5Lo1KrcdLs8AxasuvF-B4sQCYCpZYn9pRfNPQ4S3Y-VU98hjtH4EwbQQitxp-9rdJvDoUt65wi2nDcgfcVYrX1Kxx_AdD3v_ocIzWTe8GClsMRYUq9tSDdU0v9vETRHdSMOVn8zCilYyXkaykUInzUSaP/s640/wedding-rings-g6263aeec1_640.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuj4KkKm7Bq8dzz1zF3VnwfZmKkkHImTW15J5Lo1KrcdLs8AxasuvF-B4sQCYCpZYn9pRfNPQ4S3Y-VU98hjtH4EwbQQitxp-9rdJvDoUt65wi2nDcgfcVYrX1Kxx_AdD3v_ocIzWTe8GClsMRYUq9tSDdU0v9vETRHdSMOVn8zCilYyXkaykUInzUSaP/w400-h250/wedding-rings-g6263aeec1_640.jpg" width="400" /><br /></a><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Zephaniah
3.14-20<br />1
John 4.7–19</i><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This morning I was at the
optician’s having my eyes tested,<br /> because, having not been since a couple of years before
lockdown,<br /> I have become aware that the writing in books and on
menus<br /> has
been getting mysteriously smaller and blurrier.<br /> <br />I don’t have my new
glasses yet,<br /> that’s a task for another day,<br />but it strikes me that they
offer us an interesting analogy<br /> for the way we see the world.<br /> <br />If I wear sunglasses, the
world seems darker,<br /> if I wear reading glasses, the world seems clearer,<br />and I’m hoping that my new
glasses, when I get them,<br /> will help me see the world a bit more as the world
really is.<br /> <br />And all of us see the
world through a lens.<br /> For some of us, it’s a refractive lens of glass that
sits in a frame on our nose,<br />but we have other lenses
available to us,<br /> lenses of ideology, methodology, or theology.<br /> <br />We all have our own ways
of looking at the world,<br /> and none of us truly sees clearly, even if some see
more clearly than others.<br /> <br />St Paul comments, in his
letter to the Corinthians,<br /> that despite his best efforts, he still only sees
through a glass, darkly,<br /> and that now knows only in part, rather
than fully. (<i>1 Cor. 13.12</i>)<br /> <br />And today, as we have
gathered to witness, <i>to see,</i> the making of a marriage,<br /> I wonder what lenses have been operative for us this
afternoon?<br /> <br />There are some who might
look at a marriage between two men,<br /> and see something amiss, something to disapprove of,<br /> because their lens, their way of seeing the world,<br /> is distorting the truth of the love that we have
witnessed.<br /> <br />Well, in our readings
today,<br /> the scriptures offer us two lenses that we might
consider using<br /> when we view the world around us.<br /> <br />Firstly, the reading from
the prophet Zephaniah,<br /> and the lens he offers us is the lens of hope.<br /> <br />Zephaniah lived in
Jerusalem at a time of great social difficulty in ancient Israel,<br /> people were turning away from the worship of God,<br /> and violence, suspicion, and oppression stalked the
streets.<br /> <br />Zephaniah names these
evils for what they are,<br /> calling the rulers of Israel to account for their moral
and political failures.<br /> <br />But then his prophecy
changes gear,<br /> and it moves from words of condemnation<br /> to one of the Hebrew Bible’s great articulations of
hope.<br /> <br /><i>Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;<br /></i><i> shout, O Israel!<br /></i><i>Rejoice and exult with all your heart!<br /></i> <br />Zephaniah goes on to speak
of a time<br /> when God will deal with the oppressors,<br /> and
gather the outcast,<br /> changing shame into praise<br /> and bringing those outcast home.<br /> <br />He invites the people of
God to put on the lens of hope,<br /> hope that their God has not forgotten them,<br /> hope that they are still valued, loved, and welcomed.<br /> <br />Too many people in our
world live with shame, exclusion, and oppression,<br /> for reasons of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and social
standing.<br /> <br />And to those who feel
abandoned,<br /> Zephaniah offers the lens of hope,<br /> an invitation to discover hope in the midst of difficulty.<br /> <br />And then we come to the
other lens that is before us this afternoon,<br /> the lens of love.<br /> <br />In the reading we had from
the New Testament, from the first epistle of John,<br /> we get one of the most profound statements of theology<br /> to be found anywhere in the Bible:<br /> <br /><i>‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God,<br /></i><i> and God abides in
them’<br /></i> <br />Where do you go to see
God?<br /> Well, says John, you see God when you see people
abiding in love.<br /> <br />Where love is, God is.<br /> <br />The lens of love allows us
to discover God in places that we might otherwise have missed.<br /> God is not </span><span style="font-family: arial;">only</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">found in the holy, or the wealthy, or the
powerful,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> God is not </span><span style="font-family: arial;">only</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">found in churches or cathedrals,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">God is found wherever
people abide in love.<br /> <br />And today, at this
wedding, we have seen God,<br /> because we have seen love.<br /> <br />So my prayer is that
today, by faith,<br /> we can put on these lenses of hope and love.<br /> <br />As St Paul puts it, again from
his letter to the Corinthians:<br /> <br /><i>‘Faith, hope, and love remain, these three,<br /></i><i> and the greatest of
these is love.’ (1 Cor. 13.13)<br /></i> <br />And so we sing:<br /> <i>Here is love, vast as the ocean</i>.</span><br /></div>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8937152956353734819.post-46202141333728797452023-07-18T16:27:00.000+01:002023-07-18T16:27:00.806+01:00The Way of Wisdom<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>A sermon for Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church</b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>23rd July 2023</b></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvDipiWjLi009Oz7m_e93Avbj-tfJtKmUYyq6El-YaGyjtzGHeY-Yb4KP796-5l7VojWFX_3RVceAqhgD5DnVfsea-zfVsTP9xNl-OWD12morHHvZIfoGALUtrkTzvvyzVxSHNysheB1T4X3toAvXn_4cuBeZyFlJyoTehTvWtPLTZke47I9DVrdfLlcE/s640/books-gf7f14299c_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvDipiWjLi009Oz7m_e93Avbj-tfJtKmUYyq6El-YaGyjtzGHeY-Yb4KP796-5l7VojWFX_3RVceAqhgD5DnVfsea-zfVsTP9xNl-OWD12morHHvZIfoGALUtrkTzvvyzVxSHNysheB1T4X3toAvXn_4cuBeZyFlJyoTehTvWtPLTZke47I9DVrdfLlcE/w400-h268/books-gf7f14299c_640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><i>Proverbs 1.1-7; 3.1-8</i><br /> <br />I wonder, does your family have proverbs?<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mine does –
and I made a list of them a few years ago.<br />Some of these I can hear in my Dad’s voice,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and some
I’ve added to the list as the years have gone by.<br /> <br />And so as we begin this morning a short summer series<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on the
Wisdom Tradition of the Hebrew Bible,<br />I thought I’d share some of the ‘not-so-wise’ sayings of the
Woodman family,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I offer
these not because they have any spiritual or indeed material wisdom,<br />but because I’d like to invite each of us<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to think
about what the principles are that we live by,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>what is the
wisdom that guides your life,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>what
proverbs have come down to you through your family or cultural tradition?<br /> <br />Anyway, here you are, in no particular order, Woodman
Wisdom:<br /> <br /></span><p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0cm; text-align: left;" type="disc"><li><span style="font-family: arial;">The world does not owe you a living.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">You can make your own luck.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes
you’ve just got to be in the right place at the right time; but sometimes you can
plan this.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Success
is often about just turning up.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Genius
is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Knowledge
is power.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Moderation
in all things.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
hardest part of swimming a mile is picking up your kit bag.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How
to write a book: one sentence at a time.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If a
job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If
you don’t have the right tool for the job, the first job is to make
the right tool.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Measure
it twice and cut it once.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Don’t
try to make up on the road what you have lost elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Don’t
be in a hurry to get to your own funeral.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Give
a new job three years, before deciding whether to stay or not.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Don't
measure your personal progress over the last year: look back five years to
see if you're in a rut.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">You’ve
got a brain: use it.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am
organised because I am lazy - it's less work to do the job efficiently.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I
don’t look busy because I did it right the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Procrastination
is the key to success:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it’s amazing how many
jobs you have been meaning to get around to,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>can be accomplished by
the simple task<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of avoiding the one job
that you really don’t want to get around to.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Don’t
spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Always
quit while you’re ahead.</span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Always
leave a party early, whilst it’s still fun to be there.</span></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial;">Now, you may not like all of these,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and I’d be
very surprised if everyone agreed with all of them,<br />but that’s not the point;<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the point
is that we all live by our own inherited wisdom traditions,<br />and in the Book of Proverbs,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we have the
inherited wisdom tradition of ancient Israel.<br /> <br />And whilst we may not like some of what is in there,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and whilst
we are very unlikely to agree with all of it,<br />there is nonetheless wisdom here that we need to hear,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to weigh,
to consider, and possibly to make our own.<br /> <br />There are certain characteristics of biblical wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that set
them apart from the secular sayings of personal proverbs. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span><br /> <br />Firstly, the quality that the Hebrew Bible calls ‘wisdom’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>finds its
meaning in relation to God,<br />and so, as we heard in our reading this morning,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>wisdom
begins with the fear of the Lord (Ps 111.10; Prov 1.7; 9.10).<br /> <br />Secondly, true wisdom is found within the covenant community
of God’s people,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through
Israel and the church, and their story of Salvation and acts of mercy.<br /> <br />As the book of James in the New Testament puts it:<br /> <br /><i>‘Who is wise and knowledgeable among you?</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Show by
your good life</i><br /><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.’</i> (James 3.13),<br /> <br />And thirdly, wisdom is not always readily apparent:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>sometimes,
true wisdom is the very opposite<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of what our
human reason and intuitions conclude.<br /> <br />As Paul puts it in his letter to the Corinthians:<br /> <br /><b><i><sup>‘</sup></i></b><i>God’s foolishness is wiser than
human wisdom.’</i> (1 Cor 1.25).<br /> <br />But whilst Godly wisdom,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>made known
through the people of faith,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
distinct from the wisdom of the world,<br />might be a fair summary of the Biblical wisdom tradition,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>its
interpretation within Christian history is far more murky,<br />so we’re going to take a dive for a moment<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into the
world of what is known as <i>allegorical interpretation</i>.<br /> <br />The wisdom literature boasts the must unusual history of
interpretation,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
unlike almost all other biblical texts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
with only a few exceptions,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>wisdom, in
the first fifteen hundred years of the church,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>was
interpreted allegorically.<br /> <br />Sometimes wisdom was interpreted as an allegory for the
church,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or the
Spirit, or the human mind,<br />sometimes it was an allegory for Mary the mother of Jesus,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or some
other spiritual ideal,<br />but rarely was it understood as advice<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on how to
literally live life in the world.<br /> <br />This was largely because of the dualistic way the early
church was inclined<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to oppose
spiritual things, to physical things.<br /> <br />The third and fourth centuries CE<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>were
critical for this so-called Neo-Platonic development in the church.<br /> <br />During this time, churches at Antioch<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>practiced
what we would call a more ‘literal’ reading,<br />while the churches at Alexandria<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>practiced
spiritual, moral, and allegorical reading.<br /> <br />The differences between the two are subtle,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it
would be a mistake to think of ‘literal’ and ‘allegorical’<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in only
their modern senses today.<br /> <br />For example, in the last century it has been common<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to think of
‘literal’ in a scientific or mathematical way.<br />Thus, when the Bible speaks of God, ‘<i>coming in the
clouds’</i>,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>contemporary
literal readings often believe<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that this
must mean those physical sources of rain in the sky!<br /> <br />In the ancient world, ‘literal’ carried more of a liter<i>ary</i>
meaning,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with a
broader appreciation for poetic and symbolic ideas.<br />The clouds could be the literal ones we see,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but they
could also be a sign<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of God
coming from a higher place that we cannot see.<br /> <br />It may be helpful for us to have this second, ‘literary’
interpretation<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in mind as
we come to our reading of the Hebrew Wisdom tradition.<br /> <br />Jerome, however, the late fourth- to early fifth-century
theologian,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>favoured a
more allegorical or spiritual way of reading the wisdom literature,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and this
set the tone of Christian interpretation for the next thousand years,<br />before Martin Luther and a few others<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>started writing
commentaries and sermons<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
rediscovered the literal, or literary, approach.<br /> <br />More recent interpreters, informed by the disciple of
Biblical Studies,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>tend to
read these texts primarily against their ancient background,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>rather than
as allegories of the church, or instructions for living in the present.<br /> <br />But this doesn’t mean these texts can’t still speak to us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because of
course our humanity intersects with the common humanity<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of those
who first wrote and received this wisdom.<br /> <br />The context may have changed, and so we need to be cautious,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but a
careful engagement can still draw us into a world<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>where true
wisdom is found in God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
is enacted through the community of faith<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>in
ways that challenge the wisdom of the world.<br /> <br />And the opening verses of the book of Proverbs<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which we
heard earlier,<br />certainly set up the reasons why we should spend time with
this book.<br /> <br />The claims that are made for the benefits of studying wisdom
are immense,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>leaving the
reader in no doubt that wisdom is of great value.<br /> <br />We are told to appreciate the many benefits of wisdom,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in gaining
wisdom and understanding (1.2),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>in
living a disciplined and just life (1.3),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in enabling
the immature to become mature (1.4),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>and
the wise to become wiser (1.5).<br /> <br />Proverbs not only provides wisdom instruction,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but it will
also teach one how to interpret the sayings of the wise (1.6),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because it
seems reading the proverbs requires wisdom too.<br /> <br />And the object lesson <i>par excellance</i>, of course,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the
individual to whom the authorship of these proverbs is attributed,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>none other
than the wise and wealthy King Solomon himself!<br /> <br />Now, here we have to engage our critical faculties for a
moment,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because it
is remote to the point of profoundly unlikely<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
Solomon actually wrote this book.<br /> <br />But thankfully that’s not really the point!<br /> <br />Ancient Royal figures such as Solomon<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>were
renowned for their expertise in exercising judgment.<br />The ultimate court of appeal in those days was to the king,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and so an
ideal king was supreme in wisdom, justice, and law.<br /> <br />Solomon was Israel’s only king to reign in a time of
prolonged peace,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and so the
stories about him described him as embodying these traits<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>more than
anyone else, and wisdom most of all.<br /> <br />In Israel’s historical writings, he is remembered not only
for his wisdom,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but also
for his building of the temple (1 Kings 3-6),<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which is
itself depicted as an act of wisdom.<br /> <br />The story of his solving the conundrum of the child with two
mothers,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by
threatening to cut the child in half to reveal the true mother,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is the
stuff of fable.<br /> <br />And so it makes sense that the collected proverbial wisdom
of Israel,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>came to be
associated with this most wise of ancient rulers,<br />even though a close look at the stories of Solomon’s life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>might
suggest that he was less able to live out his great wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>than he was
to impose it on others.<br /> <br />So, after introducing us to Solomon as the source of the
proverbs,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and after
spelling out what they will do for us if we attend to them,<br />we come, in 1.7, to the foundation of wisdom.<br /> <br />The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge;<br /> [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.<br /> <br />Wisdom comes, ultimately, not from Solomon,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but from
God,<br />and we are told, intriguingly, that one must ‘fear’ God<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in order to
obtain wisdom.<br /> <br />In the Hebrew Bible, the theology of ‘fear’<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is a much
richer concept<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>than our
modern notion of trembling and terror.<br /> <br />In Deuteronomy, fearing God is equated with loving God,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
obeying God’s commands, and walking in God’s ways (Deut 10.12-16).<br /> <br />In fact, the use of the phrase the ‘fear of the Lord’ in
Exodus to Deuteronomy<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is always
in the context of the redeemer and law-giver ‘Yahweh’,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who loved
Israel and redeemed her from slavery (Ex 3; 6).<br /> <br />By this understanding, ‘fearing’ God was the appropriate
response<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to an
experience of salvation (Ex 20.20)<br /> <br />Fearing God thus refers<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to a loving
reverence for the Lord,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
one who has brought us close,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and also to
a way of living<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>that
fits with such an attitude.<br /> <br />It’s the fear of the LORD<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that Mr.
and Mrs. Beaver describe to the children<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in this
scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:<br /> <br />[Mr Beaver said to the children,] “Aslan is a lion—<i>the</i>
Lion, the great Lion.”<br /> <br />“Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite
safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”<br /> <br />“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver;
“if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking,
they’re either braver than most or just plain silly.”<br /> <br />“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.<br /> <br />“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver … “Who said anything about safe?
‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”<br /> <br />The fear of the LORD,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the fear of
the God who created the universe<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but who
deigns to be in relationship with us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>is
the prerequisite for wisdom.<br /> <br />Such proper fear teaches us our place in the world<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and how to
live well in it.<br /> <br />And so the fear of the Lord is the ‘beginning’ of wisdom:<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>fearing God
is both the <i>starting point</i> of the journey into wisdom<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and it is also
the <i>foundation</i> on which a life of wisdom is built.<br /> <br />It is both a response to what God has already done for us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and also the
means to continue our lifelong journey<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of using
wisdom to find God’s ways in life every area of creation.<br /> <br />And it is this idea of wisdom as a journey<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that takes
us to our second reading:<br /> <br />Trust in the Lord with all your heart,<br /> and do not rely on your own insight.<br /><b><sup>6 </sup></b>In all your ways acknowledge him,<br /> and he will make straight your paths.<br /><b><sup>7 </sup></b>Do not be wise in your own eyes;<br /> fear the Lord and turn away from evil.<br /><b><sup>8 </sup></b>It will be a healing for your flesh<br /> and a refreshment for your body.<br /> <br />The key idea here is that wisdom is good for us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it is the
path of healing and refreshment.<br /> <br />Godly Wisdom is concerned with life<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>lived
according to the grain of creation;<br />this isn’t some abstract philosophizing about ethical
concepts,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it’s about
seeking to draw our lives into harmony with the created order.<br /> <br />God is in all things, and through all things,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and God’s
wisdom puts us in tune with creation.<br /> <br />So today, my challenge for us,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is to
consider the basis on which we live.<br /> <br />What voices do we listen to, attend to,<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in the
real-world decisions of our lives.<br /> <br />What newspapers do we read?<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What social
media do we engage with?<br />What voices fill our ears and engage our eyes?<br /> <br />What space to we make to hear the voice of the Lord<br /><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>whispering
to us the counternarrative of godly wisdom?<br /> <br />Where do you go to hear the voice of God?<br /><br /></span><hr size="1" width="33%" /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
What follows draws extensively from Bartholomew and O’Dowd, Old Testament
Wisdom Literature, A Theological Introduction, 2011.<br />
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</div><br /><p></p>Simon Woodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07380154842934378078noreply@blogger.com0