#nativity

Our Nativity Service this morning was in two parts.

Carolyn started us off with something very handy for Christmas!

And then Cooler invited us to imagine a nativity complete with mobile phones!

Nativity Service   Jaffa Cakes Talk                          15^th Dec2013

Some children unwrap the large Jaffa Cakes box from under the tree.

This will come in handy!

There’s some messages on it…

1. CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL KIT

What do we need to survive Christmas?

Lots of patience and resources to cope with difficult journeys and unlikely visitors arriving at inconvenient times?

Has Jesus been through that?

Yes certainly. Dealing with smelly visitors with muddy feet in the middle of the night who bring their pets with them when you’ve just had a baby! It’s not exactly the perfect Christmas you planned from John Lewis! Then the next minute you’re dealing with royalty and then you’re running for your life.

Do we really need to ‘survive’ Christmas?

When we read this we all know it refers to rushing around buying stuff, cooking, cleaning, wrapping, organising, trying not to succumb to a cold or flu and keeping all the family happy! But this has very little to do with the birth of our Saviour.

Indeed, during a session with M:Ocean recently we asked ‘What would Jesus think about Christmas?’ The children thought he’d actually be confused as he wouldn’t recognise what he had started! (He might also get presents from everyone in the world!)

Or actually, can we not ‘survive’ without it?

Without God sending Jesus into the world to live and die for us we are lost without hope in the darkness in all sorts of ways. We might have a ‘survival instinct’ but cannot ‘survive’.

But Jesus is the light of the world, the hope of the world, the way, the truth and the life and ‘Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’ Psalm 23:6

2. CHRISTMAS STOCKING OVERFILLER

Typical of our culture today, we are tempted by bigger and greater and more. A bulging stocking is better than a skinny one. Half the world ‘over fills’ themselves while the others struggle.

What does God say about this?

Jesus had strong warnings for ‘those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God's sight.” Luke 12:19-21

But God is good and generous

Psalm 23:5 says that God will prepare a banquet for me where all my enemies can see me; he will welcome me as an honoured guest and fill my cup to the brim.’ Or in some versions, ‘my cup will overflow’.

Romans 15:13

 ^‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’

John 10:10 says, ‘I have come in order that you might have life - life in all its fullness.’

3. LENGTH COMPLIES WITH ELF AND SAFETY

Very funny!

How do we measure up?

Luke 6:38 ‘Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.”

And just to double check the standards… How about this version;

‘Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’

God doesn’t give stingy portions: measured, mean and sparing. His love pours out and overflows if only we will receive it.

4. LONGER THAN THE AVERAGE BRITISH SUMMER

We can probably relate to this joke! And it is a big box of biscuits you have to admit. But it’s still not going to last forever.

What does last forever?

Psalm 39 :5-7 ‘How short you have made my life!
    In your sight my lifetime seems nothing.
Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of wind,
⁶     no more than a shadow.
All we do is for nothing;
    we gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.

⁷ What, then, can I hope for, Lord?

    I put my hope in you.’

In the Christmas story, the angel says to Mary, ‘ “Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. ³¹ You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, ³³ and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!”

Luke 1:30-33
and finally,

Romans 8:38-39 ‘ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

After lighting three Advent Candles and spending a time of prayer for the Hopes we have for ourselves, for others and for our world, the preparation we need to make to welcome Christ into our lives and the joy that we share at Christmas, our young people's group 'Cooler' introduced us to the #nativity

#nativity

Intro

Two thousand years ago, angels played a significant role in bringing the message of Jesus’ birth to the world.  Essentially angels are messengers (it’s what the Greek word means), one way in which God communicates with people.

So we have given a bit of thought to how the nativity story might have looked if God and his angels had 21^st century means of communication ……..

Nazareth

Group of 2 or three girls crosses the stage, chatting/checking phones, then separate, leaving Mary on her own.

Reader 1: A teenage girl on her mobile phone, receives an unexpected tweet from a contact she doesn’t recognise

(>>angelG @mary hi don’t be afraid god has chosen you)

Reader 2: “Mary! Don’t be afraid. God has chosen you to be the mother of his son, Jesus.”

(>>mary @angelG omg!)

Reader 1: Mary couldn’t believe her eyes.  It took more than a few reassuring messages before she finally agreed to this challenge.

(>>mary @angelG ok)

Joseph – on his phone/laptop in his workshop .

Reader 3: A little later, Mary’s fiancé Joseph is interrupted in his work by a message that is not from a new customer or his accountant

(>>angelG @joecarpenter hi big news….)

Reader 4: “Joseph! Don’t be afraid! Mary is pregnant and you are not the father.  But you mustn’t reject her; she is carrying God’s son, Jesus.”

Reader 3: Although rather stunned by this, Joseph agrees to stick by Mary.

Mary and Joseph standing or sitting together with a laptop/phone, looking frustrated because they can’t find anywhere to stay.

Reader 1: Sometime later, they find they have to go in person to Bethlehem to comply with a government order.  Booking the bus was no problem; accommodation for a few days was more difficult.

Reader 2 Trivago – no, bethlehemhotels.com – no, spareroomsinbethlehem.com – yes!  No tourist board ratings or positive comments from previous guests, but beggars can’t be choosers. With the baby due any day, Mary and Joseph set off.  

Bethlehem

The baby has been born. Having wrapped him up, Mary is cradling him and Joseph is taking pictures on his phone to send to the family back in Nazareth. 

(>> Instagram picture of baby)

On the other side of the stage, a group of shepherds are hunched over their tablets. Occasional cries of ‘Goal!’ ‘Yess!’

Reader 3: The local shepherds out on the hills are whiling away the night hours playing football games.  All of a sudden … the screens freeze and dim and the game is stopped.  Messages fly in at a great rate.

(>>#b excited #bigevent J J J gtgith gtgith J J)

Reader 4: “Hey guys! Don’t be afraid! There’s something much bigger happening. There’s a baby born down in town - the promised Messiah. Go and check it out for yourselves.”

Reader 3: “Glory to God in the Highest” - with impressive sound effects.

Reader 4: The shepherds are not sure quite what to make of this, but something about the messages convinces them it’s worth leaving their sheep to go and find this baby.

Shepherds cross the stage to join Mary and Joseph, fall in front of the baby with some sort of amazement, then get out their phones and start texting/snapping etc. Move off to one side as reader 3 reads the last line below.

Reader 3: When they do so, their immediate response is indeed to worship him, but then they just have to share the news with their mates.

(>> snapchat/Instagram pictures of shepherds and baby with ‘chillin with Jesus’ caption)

Reader 4: In no time, they are spreading the good news to all their friends.  This continues as they return to their sheep and finish their shift, football games forgotten.

Unknown location, then Bethlehem again

A bunch of amateur astronomers looking through telescopes and checking results on their laptops, looking very clever but rather puzzled by what they are seeing. 

Reader 1: Meanwhile, a bunch of keen astronomers see unusual events in the night sky and check out what this might be on skymaps.com. They ask other enthusiasts in on-line forums for ideas on what it might mean.  They come to the conclusion that someone special, a king, has been born and set out to see for themselves.

After a bit of discussion they pick up their gear and set off.  They appear to get lost a couple of times, eventually end up with Mary and Joseph. Like the shepherds before them, they are initially silent and adoring – before getting out their phones to take pictures and tell others.

Reader 2: With the help of GPS and Googlemaps, they set out across unfamiliar territory. After a couple of false turns, they too arrive in Bethlehem and find Mary and Joseph.  For a short time they forget their gadgets and technology to worship Jesus.  But then they just have to share with their fellow-skywatchers round the world just what the star turned out to mean and what they have found. 

>> starman1 @astroprof big star=#nativity not your average king

>>starman2 posted an update on facebook

The wise men leave some of their gear as presents for Jesus and then prepare to leave.  One looks rather shocked as he gets a call on his phone; they confer together, then set off in a different direction to the one they came in.

Reader 1: As they prepare to leave, one of them gets an urgent message telling them to avoid Jerusalem on the way back as it is too dangerous.  After a quick check for alternative routes and a bit of discussion, they set off home by a different road.

Conclusion

By whatever technology or none, the good news is to be shared. Mary, Joseph, shepherds and wise men acted on the messages they received. They in turn passed on to others what they had witnessed.  By whatever technology or none, we are to do the same.  Whoever you are, you have a role as an angel-messenger and there is a part for you in this story.

#nativity readers/actors stay on the stage and we (Mary?/Richard?) invite all the younger children (and anyone else bigger!) in the story as shepherds, wise men, angels etc. A group photo can be taken and posted (immediately?) onto the Highbury's Facebook page.

An impossible ideal? Far from it - a tribute to Nelson Mandela

DVD’s of films come complete with extras that include the Director’s Cut and behind the scenes accounts of how the film was made.

This morning I want to share a ‘behind-the-scenes’ account of how my thinking has gone this week in preparation for this Second Sunday of Advent, as we light the second Advent candle and think of Preparation.

I settled on the themes for the Sundays of Advent about ten days ago and worked out the readings, drawing on material from Embrace the Middle East as we are this Christmas supporting their Syrian Appeal.

Thanks to encouragement from Judi and Shirley as they have prepared their anthologies of Poetry and Prayers I have moved away from using other people’s prayers on the front of the Order of Service sheet to putting together my own short prayer reflection, seeking to encapsulate the theme of the day, the sermon itself.

And so on Thursday morning I set to.

I would tell the story of John the Baptist in the first part of the service and then focus on the song Zechariah sang at the birth of John, the Benedictus.

The words of the Benedictus touch on the great themes that are at the heart of our Christian faith.

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
   for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
   in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
   that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
   and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
   to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
   before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
   for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
   by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
   the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

There are a lot of words there and so I began to look for the key words and themes.

One leapt off the page at me.

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
   for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them

That word ‘redeemed’ means among many things ‘set them free’

That’s what our Christian faith is all about – we are ‘set free’.  A wonderful freedom to celebrate.

The next is a key thought.

He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
   in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 

There are those wonderful passages especially from Isaiah that we shall be reading as Christmas approaches.  They map out what it takes to rule in the kingdom of God – they establish what it is that all Kings in the kingdom of God should aspire too.  And the tragedy of those kings is that they failed to live up to these expectations.   The wonder of these passages is that Jesus got it – as he came to usher in the Kingdom of God, to be the King of kings, the prince of peace, he modelled all he did on these wonderful statements.

One such passage is in the beginning of Isaiah 40.

Comfort, O comfort my people,
   says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and cry to her
that she has served her term,
   that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
   double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
   make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
   and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
   and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
   and all people shall see it together,
   for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ 

A voice says, ‘Cry out!’
   And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All people are grass,
   The grass withers, the flower fades;
   but the word of our God will stand for ever.
Get you up to a high mountain,
   say to the cities of Judah,
   ‘Here is your God!’ 

See, the Lord God comes with might,
   and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
   and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
   he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
   and gently lead the mother sheep. 

This is what John modelled his ministry on – it is what inspired Jesus.  And it has a wonderful sense out of catastrophe, the catastrophe in the first instance of the devastation of Jerusalem and the destruction of exile, comes a sense of comfort … the Good News Bible captures that finality well.

Encourage the people of Jerusalem.

Tell them they have suffered long enough

and their sins are now forgiven. 

Back to Zechariah’s song, the Benedictus.

I worked through it emphasising all the key words and thoughts and phrases.

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
   for he has looked favourably on his people and set them free.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
   in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
   that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
   and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
   to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and justice before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
   for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
   by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
   the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

The over-riding theme was one of ‘setting free’ and so I felt all the rest filled out what that meant.

For me, the covenant, is the wonderful link of love between the God who is love and the people who are God’s beloved in a relationship of utter love.  And so for me the word covenant suggests the word ‘love’.

I then sought to encapsulate what this song is saying to me in a prayer meditation for our Order of Service sheet.

Lord God,

Mighty saviour

You call us to  be

A people set free

Set free from hostility

Set free from hatred
Set free with mercy

Set free in love

Set free to serve

Set free for holiness

Set free for justice

You call us

To prepare the way for you

A way of salvation and forgiveness

A way of light in a world of darkness

Guide us in that way of peace

It poses then for me a major question.

Is this an impossible ideal?

When God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven this is what it looks like.

Read on into Luke 3 and listen into what John the Baptist goes on to say as the core of his message and he is passionate this is not an impossible ideal.

He preaches a message of justice, of sharing, of caring in following that way of peace.

Read on into Luke 4 and listen into what Jesus has to say in that first sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth and he is passionate this is not an impossible ideal.

Good news to the poor, sight to the blind is the keynote of what he is about.   His message is a message of love for God, love for neighbour, love for enemy too.  Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel message.

Jesus takes that passage from Isaiah 40 and many others like it that map out what it takes to rule in a kingdom that is God’s and then shapes his whole ministry, his whole understanding of kingdom and what it takes to be king according to that pattern.

He invites us to pray ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ and expects us to take this pattern seriously.

It is not an impossible ideal!

Thursday was a busy day for me.  In the evening we had the Church Meeting that saw the confirmation that our new Governance documents have been approved and sealed and the appointment of our new Ministry Leaders – Shirley Fiddimore for Worship, Karen Haden for discipleship, Jean Gregory for mission and outreach and Mary Buchanan for young people.

The meeting over we set out the chairs ready for our Christmas Café.

We got home and had just started to watch a TV drama when I had a text from my older son with the news that Nelson Mandela had died.

We switched over and were absorbed with the coverage of his death.

I found it most moving for all sorts of reasons.  I come from a family who have always been passionate in their opposition to apartheid.  We did not have South African fruit as I was growing up, we demonstrated against the Springboks tour in 1969 to stop the 1970 cricket tour, my mother had a photo of Nelson Mandela on her mantelpiece through the 80’s.

My mother was looking forward with eager anticipation to the elections in 1994 when she died tragically in a road accident.

A couple of days after the funeral Felicity and I went to a vigil in the Lady Chapel of Gloucester  Cathedral on the day of the elections.  We bumped into the son in law of my predecessor in our Shropshire Churches, himself an Afrikaaner, a personal friend of Desmond Tutu.  It was a moment of triumph touched with my own personal sense of tragedy at the loss of my mother.

At the end of the evening I looked up the journal I had kept of a visit to Johannesburg on a conference for theological educators from all over the world hosted by our mission partnership, the Council for World Mission.

We shared the conference centre with South Africa’s very first children’s parliament.  On the Saturday evening the phone lines were cut off and rumours began to circulate that Nelson Mandela was going to visit.

On the Sunday evening the youngsters were all excited at the prospect of seeing him the next day.

I found myself in conversation with a couple of their leaders outside the squash courts.

What they said I have heard repeated time and again in the last couple of days as tributes have been made.

“The wonderful thing about Nelson Mandela is the way he was able to forgive.” 

We had strict instructions not to go and listen to Nelson Mandela.  I could not keep away.

First, he opened a herb garden of healing.  Nearby was a choir in uniform – it turned out they were prisoners from a local Gaol.  Nelson Mandela ensured that prisoners from a local prison would come when he visited anywhere and he would speak to them.

They were the choir.  How moving it was to hear them sing "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" in rich harmony.

Nelson Mandela then was driven round to an enormous marquee where he was to address the children.

I listened in from outside the marquee.

What he said was powerful.

When he spoke to the children, he spoke very directly of the fear of illness and of dying – sobering thoughts when you think that a high proportion of those youngsters were living with HIV Aids.

He urged them to he open about illness problems – in talking and sharing is real help.

He spoke of the importance of children to the future of the nation.  In ringing tones he challenged them, and all of us, to fulfil their responsibilities as citizens and to be caring people.

He touched on violence, On HIV Aids and on sickness too.

“Talk about it!  Don’t keep it to yourself,” he said. 

All of this was incredibly moving.  Only a couple of weeks ago I had been at a meeting with our local Palliative Care consultants – they said in the 19^th century everyone spoke of death and no one spoke of sex.  Now everyone speaks of sex and no one speaks of death.  They were impressing on us how important it was to speak of death and dying openly.

This was exactly Nelson Mandela’s message.  Very powerful.

Next year I must do Movember!!!

And then he spoke of having TB and prostate cancer.

“They keep telling me to go to the USA and have it treated.

“But I say, no!  What would people think of our doctors and nurses if I said they were not good enough to look after me.

“They are good enough and I will stay.

“When I die,” he said and corrected himself.  “If I die …” he paused and laughter swept through the marquee.  “if I did I hope to go to the place where I will meet old friends.  And when they greet me there I look forward to being directed to the room where I will meet my ANC friends.

“Then I will say, ‘Send my prostate gland suffering from cancer to the USA.  Their doctors are so wonderful; let them treat it then.  When they return it to me I shall be back to see how you are all getting on.”

With more words about the importance of caring he greeted the members of the Children’s Parliament and his speech was over!

Great courage.  Great conviction.

Here was some who took seriously the principles of love for God, love for neighbour, love for enemy too.  He took so seriously the challenge to forgive.

What a difference it made to Nelson Mandela and in the last twenty years in South Africa.  How much it is our prayer that that spirit of forgiveness can prevail there in the months and years to come.  How much it is our prayer that that spirit of forgiveness can prevail in other troubled parts of the world and in our own hearts too.

Let’s pause a moment in quiet and share in reading together that prayer meditation that encapsulates the words of Zechariah’s song, the Benedictus.

Lord God,

Mighty saviour

You call us to  be

A people set free

Set free from hostility

Set free from hatred
Set free with mercy

Set free in love

Set free to serve

Set free for holiness

Set free for justice

You call us

To prepare the way for you

A way of salvation and forgiveness

A way of light in a world of darkness

Guide us in that way of peace

The day I heard Nelson Mandela speak about his death as he addressed the very first South African Children's Parliament

On 3^rd November, 2003, I was privileged to hear Nelson Mandela address the very first Children’s Parliament in Johannesburg.  Having only recently been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer he spoke openly about his death.

For more than thirty years I have taught on the Congregational Federation’s course equipping people for a wide range of ministries in our church.  Our Congregational Institute of Practical Theology is in partnership with the University of Winchester and we offer a Foundation Degree and an Honours Degree in Practical Theology.

In November 2003 I had the opportunity to join with Theological Educators from more thirty countries world-wide who had been brought together in Johannesburg by the Council for World Mission, our world mission partnership.

South Africa’s very first Children’s Parliament was meeting at the same time in the same conference centre.  As the phone lines went down and it wasn’t possible to ring home rumours began to circulate that Nelson Mandela would make a visit.

The following are extracts from the journal I kept at the time.

Saturday 1^st November

We visited Soweto, the home of Nelson Mandela and the Apartheid Museum.   We got back to the Conference centre to discover the phone lines had gone down.

In all, a moving day.

Shame not to be able to phone home – all lines are blocked!

Sunday, 2^nd November

I had the opportunity to preach in a Johannesburg church in the morning.  At the end of the day I got into a couple of conversations with youngsters attending the Children’s Parliament.  By now rumours were circulating that Nelson.

Around supper I had some wonderful conversations with some of the youngsters who  had come for the Children’s Parliament.  Three 16 and 17 year old boys in particular were thoroughly enjoying the experience and looking forward with excitement in their eyes to the visit of Nelson Mandela tomorrow!

They aren’t the only ones.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to round off the week by seeing (or even meeting!!!) Nelson Mandela?

“The wonderful thing about Nelson Mandela is the way he was able to forgive.” 

So commented one of the leaders of the Children’s Parliament in a brief conversation by the squash courts.

Monday, 3^rd November

There was an air of eager anticipation in the Conference Centre as our first morning session came to an end.

We broke for coffee and many of us hovered by the windows overlooking a new garden Nelson Mandela was to open.

There was a buzz of excitement as a bus arrived first. 

Young people clad in prison clothes were escorted by their guards and stood in line waiting.

The security was thick on the ground.

We were held back behind closed, glass doors.

And then the car arrived and a frail yet strong silver haired 86 year old Nelson Mandela emerged.

The Security Guard waved us outside.

I followed … only to be called back.  Our session was about to begin and we must not miss it.

I heard my name called out.  I turned. But only for a moment.  This was an occasion not to miss and I was not going to miss it.

Out into the heat of the mid-day sun and a vantage point just behind the line of young offenders.  How close we were as Nelson Mandela greeted first representatives of the first South African children’s parliament whom Nelson Mandela was later going to address.

A woman whispered in my ear, ‘That’s Imolo,’ she explained.  ‘He is totally blind, and spoke so well in the Parliament yesterday he has been chosen to greet the former Presidnet.’

A photo call, a few words of greeting and Nelson Mandela came back down the path.

Then we realised that the young prisoners were in fact a choir.  In wonderfully rich looked as he stood looking at those young people.  It was at his insistence, so we were told, that a group of young prisoners should be bussed out to see him.

Nelson Mandela returned to his car and I slipped into our session.  We were sitting in silence reflecting on our few days together.  But I had already done that with the listening group.  I knew that for the next half hour the listening group’s report was going to be shared.

I could not concentrate.

And then I decided.  In the silence of the meeting I got to my feet and left.

“Aren’t you coming to the marquee to hear Nelson Mandela speak?” The question one of the excited staff members had asked me was ringing in my ears.

I followed the stragglers still making their way to the marquee.  Through a metal detector and my bag through an X ray machine (I hope my photos haven’t been lost!!) only to meet a steward.

“Aren’t you from the other conference?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Then you cannot stay: this is for invited guests only.”

I took my leave through the door on the opposite side of the marquee, and sneaked round the back to the side entrance I had passed through only moments before.

In the bright sun with other staff and onlookers I stood on tiptoe and watched as Nelson Mandela gave his address to the Children’s Parliament.

He spoke of the importance of children to the future of the nation.  In ringing tones he challenged them, and all of us, to fulfil their responsibilities as citizens and to be caring people.

He touched on violence, On HIV Aids and on sickness too.

“Talk about it!  Don’t keep it to yourself,” he said.  And then he spoke of having TB and prostate cancer.

“They keep telling me to go to the USA and have it treated.

“But I say, no!  What would people think of our doctors and nurses if I said they were not good enough to look after me.

“They are good enough and I will stay.

“When I die,” he said and corrected himself.  “If I die …” he paused and laughter swept through the marquee.  “if I did I hope to go to the place where I will meet old friends.  And when they greet me there I look forward to being directed to the room where I will meet my ANC friends.

“Then I will say, ‘Send my prostate gland suffering from cancer to the USA.  Their doctors are so wonderful; let them treat it then.  When they return it to me I shall be back to see how you are all getting on.”

With more words about the importance of caring he greeted the members of the Children’s Parliament and his speech was over!

I returned to our session.  They were still discussing the Listening Group’s report.  I sat, half-aware of questions being put to the Group.  “Richard will answer that,” said the one chairing the session.

I grabbed the notes from the person sitting next to me, whispered to the chair as he walked up and gave me the microphone, “What was the question again?  And Just about managed to get by answering it and another question as best I could.

It turned out the wife of the chaplain from Singapore had also been there and she was pleased to know that I had heard the speech.

After boycotting South African fruit for so long, demonstrating against the Springbok’s Rugby tour in 1969, stopping the 70’s cricket tour and admiring Nelson Mandela’s photo on Mum’s mantelpiece through the 80’s, having attended that wonderful vigil on the day of his election (27^th April, 1994) only a couple of days after Mum’s funeral … this was a day not to miss!

To see one of the world’s greatest statesmen and to hear him give such a powerful speech at the first gathering of South Africa’s Children’s Parliament was something I would not have missed for the world!

A day to remember for a lifetime.

One last thing to do.  

A phone call home.

First to Felicity who got Phil to the phone to hear the exciting news of my meeting with Nelson Mandela!  Well, as good as a meeting anyway!! 

It was so exciting that I rang Dave too on his mobile.  What a wonderful end to the day!

Telephone lines outside the centre opened again this afternoon.  Strange how they went down just before Nelson Mandela’s arrival and came alive again just after he left.

Security is security all over the world!

Richard Cleaves (6^th December 2013 – the day after news of Nelson Mandela’s death)

Click here for Prayers on the Passing of Nelson Mandela
from Christian Aid

Hope

As we lit the first of our Advent candles we focused on hope and a verse from Romans 15.

and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises  to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’ 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,                                                                 so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Through December we shall be supporting the Embrace the Middle East Appeal for Syria.

I began by reflecting on an episode of Country File filmed in Whytham Woods, just to the North of Oxford.  They had been exploring the way Charles Elton had pioneered the study of ecology in recognising that what appears to be 'dead wood' is actually a nursery for a great deal of life!

I had taken a photo of a sole green shoot in a sea of wood chippings, bark and dried leaves that I had taken in the ruins of Mary Jones's house in North Wales.  Mary Jones as a young girl trekked 25 miles across the Welsh Mountains in order to purchase a Bible from Thomas Charles of Bala.  He was so moved by her determination to buy a Bible that he joined with friends to form what has since become the Bible Society, committed to making the Bible available in people's own language at an affordable price the world over.

It prompted me to think of the wonderful analogy used in that verse by Paul!

That quotation was from Isaiah 11, a passage that maps out what it takes to rule in God's way in a kingdom that is God's.  It is one of those passages that was used as a model by Jesus as he came to be King in the Kingdom of God, the Prince of Peace.

The Peaceful Kingdom

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,

   and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

   the spirit of counsel and might,

   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

  

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

   or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,

   and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

  

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

   and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze,

   their young shall lie down together;

   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

They will not hurt or destroy

   on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

   as the waters cover the sea.

That gives rise to that wonderful hope Paul spoke of.

I then went on to explore what the basis for that hope was.

I suggested that Romans was written by Paul to provide an insight into the faith that meant so much to him.  In the opening chapters he sets out the difference having faith in Christ Jesus makes as it brings forgiveness and a whole new life for the believer that is shaped by the grace of God.

Then Paul gets to chapter 7 when he sinks into the depths of despair.  He knows exactly how he should live and what he should do ... and does the opposite.

The good that I would I do not, the evil that I would not ... that I do!

The use of all those single-syllable words in the William Tyndale influenced authorised version is brilliant.  The only two syllable word is evil and that weighs heavily on Paul.

How does he resolve that dilemma?

He moves on to chapter 8.

A most wonderful chapter as it is so down to earth.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning

 The world Paul lived in with the cruelty of the Roman regime and much that went on was a world he felt to be groaning in its pain.  Our world is just such a world too.

I am sometimes accused of being a bit bleak in my preaching.  That's in some measure due to the fact that I do about 25 funerals in a year and often no weddings at all, and few baptisms.  Most of my pastoral miniistry is spent with people who are hurting in all sorts of ways.  In my preaching I find myself wanting to speak into that world because that's the world I inhabit.

It's not just the world at large that groans ... we each of us groan inwardly too - even those of us who are of faith, are Christian.

and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly

But it is fascinating that Paul uses the analogy of  groaning and pains and is thinking about one particular kind of groaning and pain.  He is thinking of the groaning of labour pains.  As a man I cannot comment ... but that pain can be among the most excruciating ... and yet out of that pain comes new life.

We cannot explain it. We cannot understand it.  But maybe it is of the very nature of the world of God's creation that there is pain.  The insight is that out of pain can come new life.,  Out of the deadwood comes new life.

 

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly

This gives grounds for the hope that we have that is at the heart of our faith .. the hope that 'saves us' or better perhaps the hope that 'makes us whole'.

For in hope we were saved

It is the very nature of hope that it cannot be seen.  This is what Paul goes on to emphasise!  And it is a powerful insight!

For in hope we were saved.  

Now hope that is seen is not hope.

For who hopes for what is seen?  

But if we hope for what we do not see, 

we wait for it with patience.

How can we have such hope?

This is the genius of what Paul shares.

Hope is not something we can generate in our own strength.  We cannot work it up.  We cannot muster hope ourselves.

The hope that can make a difference in our lives.  The hope that means so much to Paul is the hope that comes from a strength and a power that is from beyond ourselves.

How often we face those dark times when we cannot get through on our own.

But there is a strength, an unseen power, that God gives to help see us through.

Faith does not enable us to escape the darkness.  The faith that gives rise to hope enables us to get through the darkness and emerge into the light.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit prays for us with sighs too deep for words. 

I love that expression Paul uses.  At those darkest times when we cannot find the words to express our prayers, neither can God.  Words fail God too!

That hope, that is unseen by its very nature, is grounded in the love that can be seen, the love for which there is evidence.  For Paul such hope is grounded in the love that we have seen in Christ.  And that is a love that nothing can separate us from!

Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Will hardship, or distress, or persecution,

or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us!

For I am convinced that#

neither death, nor life, 

nor angels, nor rulers, 

nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers,

nor height, nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us 

from the love of God

in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

From Romans 8 Paul goes on in Romans 9-11 to explore the place of Jewish people and non-Jewish people in God's kingdom and then in chapter 12 comes to the point where he says, Therefore!   And in chapter 12 and following he appeals to those who have discovered such faith, with the hope it engenders, all of which is grounded in the love of God in Christ so to live their lives that they will follow faithfully in the footsteps of Christ, seeking to overcome evil with good in their commitment to the way of love.

Before a final very personal postscript in chapter 16 addressed to those who belong to the church in Rome by name, he comes to the point of rounding off his thoughts in those most wonderful words!

May the God of hope fill you

with all joy and peace in believing,

so that you may abound in hope

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our reflections over we paused a moment and then shared in the words of a meditation inspired by these words for Paul in Romans 8 and 15.

 Hope

There’s a darkness abroad in our world

There’s a darkness deep in our hearts

It’s into that darkness that a light shines

It’s the flickering, fragile light of hope

The hope that makes us whole

And when the candle goes out?

The light of the flame no longer seen?

The hope remains.

Unseen, yet very real.

A hope that is grounded in love,

A love that nothing can separate us from.

May the God of hope

Fill us with all joy and peace in believing,

So that we may abound in hope

By the power of the Holy  Spirit.

Romans 8:18-25, 35-39 and  15:12-13

After singing that wonderful hymn, All our hope on God is founded, one of our Deacons, Sharon, led us in prayers she had been prompted to put together in the light of the course she is doing at the University of Gloucestershire.

Highbury Prayers by Sharon with help from Spinoza

As many of you know, I am currently studying Religion, Philosophy and Ethics.  More specifically, amongst other things, I am looking at the philosophy of Spinoza.  His thinking, though in some ways at odds with my own beliefs, expresses a mindset with which I identify and I am finding myself engaged in what appears to be a kind of metaphysical gymnastics in an attempt to make sense of it.  When I was asked to prepare prayers for this morning, I struggled with my current sense of instability as I strive for reconciliation within my own mind.  I decided that the best way forward would be to approach the prayers honestly, presenting my thoughts as they are and trusting God to find the sense which evaded me.

Spinoza lived in Holland during the 17^th Century, the beginning of the age of enlightenment.  In the wake of scientific advance, this was a time when many people found their thinking caused them to question the teachings of the Church.  Many who dared to voice their concern were persecuted.  Spinoza, working from home as a lens grinder by day, and writing philosophy for his friends during his spare time, found himself having to be very careful how he presented his thinking in order to avoid possibly dire consequences. Thus, he presented an account of creation which spoke of an infinite Nature as God.  Since God is infinite, he said, there can be nothing outside of him, thus, all creation, of which we are inextricably part, is God: a pantheist view which also subscribed to determinism.  This means that all of Nature hangs together as a single mechanism.  What we perceive to be evil is only that part of Nature which challenges our power to exist within that mechanism.  The esoteric nature of his writing enabled him to remain under the radar to some extent as far as the authorities were concerned, whilst still questioning popular thinking and dogma within intellectual circles.  He faced ostracism by both Christians and Jews.

Spinoza believed, amongst other things, that all of nature (God) formed a Truth, of which our finite, and comparatively tiny, minds could never become fully aware.  By undertaking research and pooling our minds, however, we are able to maximise our power to ‘live’ by improving our knowledge – what he terms, ‘adequate ideas’.

My prayer, is, therefore based upon a lack of understanding of the infinitude of the perfect universe and our insignificance within it.  It is not ‘Spinozist’, but is very much inspired by Spinoza.

Offer a period of silence, in which people are invited to bring their difficulties, or those of others, to God in their thoughts.  Alternatively, invite them to contemplate the wonder of their own existence, in terms of mind and body.

Lord God,

As we gather together today, as one, in your name, we are filled with a sense of awe, both at your mightiness and our own insignificance.  Yet you charge us with caring for this great creation of yours.  Psalm 8 reads:

O Lord our God, how majestic is your name in all the Earth.  You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise…..  When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him; the son of man that you care for him?  You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.  You made him ruler over the works of your hands.  You put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field; the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea…….  O Lord our God, how majestic is your name in all the Earth!

Yet, Lord, as your mighty and beautiful creation surrounds us, we find ourselves apparently at odds with its workings.  Powerful weather systems wreak havoc within communities, and internal battles on a cellular level lay waste to our bodies.  Seismic shifts shake the very foundations of our cities, and our minds become clouded, blinkered by our aspirational desires.

Lord, our understanding is finite and you are eternal.  We can never comprehend the enormity of your power.  We attempt to describe our surroundings and are thwarted by things too tiny to discern, or too vast to fathom: In Geneva, neuroscientific research in The Human Brain Project looks into the workings of our mind, and physicists at the Large Hadron Collider seek evidence for the tiny particles responsible for hanging our universe together.  Still we know more about the moon than the deepest trenches of our own oceans, and the Hubble Space Telescope has provided data to astrophysicists enabling them to hypothesise as to the rate of expansion of what is, already, a boundless universe……

Our suffering in the midst of all this appears so insignificant and yet, Lord, you assure us that you know every hair on our heads.  You designed and know every weather system, every neurological structure, the geology of our planet and the universe in which it sits.  Our immense knowledge is mere anecdote in the face of all that remains a mystery to us.  Our efforts to make a difference seem almost futile tinkering.  So we, your creation, whisper to you of our distress.  We bring before you those who have found themselves at the mercy of natural disaster, illness, financial worry and all the other plethora of difficulties which befall us in our comparatively minute existence.  We cannot understand what plans you have for our futures; we will never understand why our lives should be beset by challenges.  But, as the rest of your creation works with such precision and maintenance of order, help us also to recognise that everything we face is part of your perfect will.

Help us to uphold your teachings of love and hope; to support and find solace in one another and to continue in awe at the mighty beauty of your creation.

In Jesus name

Amen