Tearing down, raising up, at the heart, on the edge

Here is my sermon from this morning's Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

Picture a massive road building project cutting through hills and valleys to create a new straight, level road. The vision from Isaiah that John the Baptist quotes in our Gospel reading (Luke 3: 1 – 6) is one that seems to require bulldozers. It reads like the specification for a new motorway or by-pass. “Get the road ready … make a straight path for travel.” “Every valley must be filled up” and “every hill and mountain levelled off.” It doesn’t sound very environmentally friendly but, like the current project on the A14, may result in major archaeological finds.

John the Baptist uses this image to describe his role in preparing for the coming of Jesus. His aim is for the whole human race to see God’s coming salvation. The idea is that everything that would obscure or obstruct sight of God’s salvation would be torn down or raised up so that throughout the entire world there would be no obstacle able to prevent people from seeing God’s salvation. Everyone should be able to see Jesus because there would be nothing impeding our view; no mountains blocking our vision and no valleys from within which we would be unable to look out. The purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry was that everyone should clearly see who God is and what God does. Picture a vast flat expanse across which the light of Christ can be seen from wherever you stand and you will get the intended idea.

By quoting from Isaiah, John is making clear that he is recovering the original vision for God’s people to be a light to the nations. When Abraham was called by God he was told that he would become a great and mighty nation and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him. The nation founded through his obedience to God’s call was to be a blessing to all nations. The people of Israel were reminded periodically of this call, as in Isaiah 49:6 where we read:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

The prophecies collected together in Isaiah also show the kind of place that Jerusalem was intended to become; a place to which all nations could come to hear from God:

“Many nations will come streaming to it, and their people will say,
‘Let us go to up the hill of the Lord, to the Temple of Israel’s God.
He will teach us what he wants us to do;
we will walk in the paths he has chosen.
For the Lord’s teaching comes from Jerusalem;
from Zion he speaks to his people.” (Isaiah 2. 2b & 3a)

Instead of that vision coming to pass, by the time of Jesus, the Temple had become a symbol of Jewish identity with all sorts of people excluded from worship unless they conformed to the detailed requirements of the Mosaic Law. The Temple and the worship in it prevented the free access to God that God wished to see for people of all nations.

In Jesus’ ministry, crucifixion and post-resurrection commission to his disciples, we see him tearing down barriers that prevented sight of God and raising up those whose position in society excluded them from worship. In his ministry Jesus expressly went to those who were excluded from Temple worship, including them both by accepting them (and teaching that they will enter the kingdom of God ahead of the religious leaders) and by healing them so they could actively return to the Temple worship. When he died the curtain separating people from the most holy place in the Temple was torn in two, showing that access to God was now open to all. Jesus also prophesied that the Temple itself would be destroyed and that when this happened his disciples should take his message of love to all nations.

As an Iona Community liturgy puts it, Jesus was ‘Lover of the unlovable, toucher of the untouchable, forgiver of the unforgivable, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, writing heaven’s pardon over earth’s mistakes. The Word became flesh. He lived among us, He was one of us.’ As Christ’s followers today, we inherit the task of putting into practice what Jesus has achieved through his life, death and resurrection. We are the people today who are called to work towards that Isaianic vision of nations streaming to learn what Israel’s God wants them to do, settling disputes among the great nations, hammering swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, and never again preparing to go to war. To do that we follow the up and down vision of Isaiah and John the Baptist; taking down barriers and raising up those who have been brought low.

As was the case for Jesus hearing John the Baptist quote the vision of Isaiah, we too stand at a point in history when the need of a broad and challenging vision for change is placed before us. Our Vicar Sam Wells has suggested that we live in a world that is pervaded by beauty, goodness, energy, creativity, trust, gentleness, joy and love but which is poisoned by violence, hatred, cruelty and fear. What our world needs most of all are communities of trust and support and love that show the kind of life that is possible when we believe that God is with us and rest in the hope that God’s ways will finally prevail.

We don’t have to invent these communities because God has already done so – in the call of Abraham and Jacob to be God’s people Israel, and when the Holy Spirit was sent on the dispirited apostles on the day of Pentecost. We’ve been given thousands of them all round the country and millions all round the world. We’ve been given the church. Yet we also live at a time and in a society where the church is getting smaller; and the church is getting narrower. Those who regularly attend worship are much fewer; and the church’s reputation and energy are becoming associated with initiatives that are introverted and often lack the full breadth of the gospel.

The vision that John the Baptist shared with Jesus in his time was an up and down vision of tearing down and raising up. That vision was necessary preparation for seeing Jesus but when we see Jesus we gain a different vision; an in and out vision, a vision of centre and circumference, of being at the heart and on the edge. By being in the godhead, Jesus was in the heart of God but chose to be on the edge by becoming a human being. Although he remained in the centre of God’s will by being the embodiment of the very heart of God, that led him to place himself on the edge as he took onto his shoulders the weight of the world’s sorrows and found himself temporarily separated from God. Jesus gives us a vision of being both at the heart and on the edge.

We have claimed that vision for ourselves here at St Martin’s seeing ourselves as being at the heart of London, the nation, and the church, while also seeing our calling as to be alongside those on the edge through being excluded, ignored or oppressed by society or church. We have then created in HeartEdge, our ecumenical network of churches, a means of sharing that vision more widely by fostering, catalysing and facilitating renewal on a national scale.

HeartEdge seeks to catalyse kingdom communities – i.e. it aims to foster, not to impose; it sees the kingdom as God’s gift to renew the church, rather than as a mission-field to be conformed to the church’s image; and it sees churches as lively and dynamic communities, rather than defensive and narrow congregations. At over 50 churches, HeartEdge is already big enough for communities to mentor one another, to offer consultancy days to one another, and for larger gatherings to offer an exchange of ideas, encouragement and challenge. We aspire for it not to create clones of St Martin’s, but to become the national embodiment of those committed to the vision to be ‘At the heart. On the edge.’

HeartEdge seeks to share the vision that the heart of the gospel is that God is most often made known among those on the edge and that the church is at its best when it speaks to the heart but takes risks on the edge. This vision not only renews the church but, through that renewal, speaks into the ways in which our world is poisoned by violence, hatred, cruelty and fear offering renewal of society more widely.

The visions of taking down and raising up and of being at the heart and on the edge are Advent visions; visions that that enable us to see Christ’s coming. Isaiah and John the Baptist tell us that God is seen when barriers that exclude are taken down and those who have been brought low are raised up. Jesus’ revelation of God shows that those at the centre can be alongside those on the edge and will be changed as a result.

So, God is seen through an up and down vision that has a vertical axis and also an in and out vision which has a horizontal axis. Pushing these analogies as far as possible the vertical axis equates to the north-south axis on a compass while the horizontal axis equates to the east-west axis, meaning that all the points on the compass are encompassed by these visions. As Isaiah prophesised, all people will see God’s salvation, or, as John Oxenham has it, ‘In Christ there is no east or west, / in him no south or north; / but one great fellowship of love / throughout the whole wide world.’ May that vision become reality for us. Amen.

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Christ's Hospital Choir - How Shall I Sing That Majesty.

At the heart. On the edge.

Following the recent HeartEdge conference, our next HeartEdge events are two Introductory Days in Manchester and Inverness:

• at the heart. on the edge. Wednesday 31 October 2018 at St Peter's House, Oxford Road, Manchester. Exploring mission, sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support. A day with Revd Dr Sam Wells and guests. Panel discussion, theology, practical ‘how to’ focus. Networking. Connecting. Lunch & refreshments. Refreshments 10am. Programme 10.30am. Finish 3.30pm. Book in here - http://bit.ly/2LDT7Es.
• ‘At the heart. On the edge.' Tuesday 13 November, 10.00am - 3.30pm. A day hosted by Rev Fiona Smith, Minister of Ness Bank Parish Church, and Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the- Fields, which includes theology, ideas, solutions and support for re-imagining Church. A programme has been developed jointly by Ness Bank Church and St Martin’s. The day, to be held at Ness Bank Church on Tuesday 13 November 10 am to 3.30 pm, will explore, with contributions from local churches, mission and ministry in relation to the four pillars of HeartEdge: Congregation; Commerce; Compassion; and Culture. Among those contributing are: Rev Sarah Murray (Provost St Andrew’s Cathedral Inverness), Allan Dunbar (Christians Against Poverty debt programme), Isobel Grigor (Chief Executive of Calman Trust), Rev Fiona Smith (Inverness Foodstuff). St Martin’s Fellows directed by Andrew Earis with perform Great Sacred Music, a 35-minute sequence of choral music speaking to heart, head and soul which explores through song and readings the great classical music of our religious heritage. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/at-the-heart-on-the-edge-tickets-48122091471. 

Other HeartEdge speaking engagements include:

• How can church survive and thrive in the context of world and kingdom? Sam Wells at Bell Vue Baptist Southend on Wednesday 3 October, 6.30-9.30pm (Bell Vue Baptist Church, Southend on Sea, SS1 2QA). Doors open 6pm. Talk 1: 6.30pm Break: 7.45pm Talk 2: 8.20pm. Details here and here.
• Salt Conference 2018: #StandTogether, Friday, 5 October 2018 – 9.30am to 4.30pm at Central Hall Westminster, Storey's Gate, London SW1H 9NH. Organised by Christian Aid's SALT Business Network to learn how to support and equip changemakers in whichever business God has called you to. With business leaders from a range of sectors on how they’re transforming business, communities and lives. HeartEdge will run a workshop on Start:Stop. Conference guests include: Michael Hastings – Global Head of Citizenships for KPMG International; David Connor – founder of the 2030hub and Coethica; Sophi Tranchell MBE – Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, the innovative international Fairtrade cocoa cooperative in Ghana; and Martin Rich – cofounder and Executive Director of Future Fit Foundation. Tickets cost £55. Details here.

HeartEdge is an emerging network initiated by St Martin-in-the-Fields - more here http://bit.ly/2mRUzWX.

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Bruce Cockburn - Strong Hand of Love. 

HeartEdge in Scotland

Heart & Voice Uniting, Tuesday 12 June, 2.15 – 7.00pm, Greenbank Parish Church, Braidburn Terrace, Edinburgh EH10 6ES. 

A HeartEdge Churches & Culture event with contributions from: Sam Wells (Vicar, St Martin-in-the-Fields), Richard Frazer (Minister, Greyfriars Kirk), Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Andrew Earis (Director of Music, St Martin-in-the-Fields) and Martin Ritchie (Minister, Greenbank Parish Church). 

The Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields will perform 'Great Sacred Music’, a 35-minute lunchtime sequence speaking to heart, head, and soul that explores through song and readings the great classical music of our religious heritage. Following this performance will be input on and discussion of approaches to using music in mission, including attractional worship. The event will end with 'Sing Joyfully’, a concert at 6.00pm with the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields. 

Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heart-voice-uniting-tickets-45971004512.

'At the Heart. On the Edge', Wednesday 13 June, 10.00am - 3.30pm, Queen's Cross Parish Church, Albyn Place, Aberdeen AB10 IYN. 

A day hosted by Revd Scott M. Rennie, Minister of Queen's Cross Parish Church and Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which features the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields performing Great Sacred Music. The day includes theology, ideas, solutions and support with a programme developed jointly by Queen's Cross Parish Church and St Martin’s.

The day will explore mission and ministry in relation to: Congregation - Liturgy and worship for day-to-day communal life – gathered and local; Commerce – Starting and sustaining distinctive enterprise to generate finance for your church; Compassion – Growing participation and volunteering to address social need locally; and Culture – Using art, music and performance to reimagine the Christian narrative in your context. The day includes refreshments and lunch. 

Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/at-the-heart-on-the-edge-tickets-45346364196.

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Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields - Nunc Dimittis.

At the heart. On the edge.

 

‘At the heart. On the edge.’ was a day exploring mission by sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support held on 8 February 2017 at St Stephen Walbrook, London. This conference which launched HeartEdge was hosted by Revd Dr Sam Wells.

Following the event, Sam said, ‘I was so delighted to see so many energised and engaged faces at the HeartEdge launch as we spoke about structures, configurations, approaches, insights – but most of all of renewal of vocation, vision and common exploration. That left me full of hope for the emergence of HeartEdge – a movement as yet of many different words but one purposeful spirit. I hope you will sign up and encourage others to do so.’

Find out more or apply to join by downloading the HeartEdge Membership Pack.

For more information contact Revd Jonathan Evens, Associate Vicar for Partnerships on 02077661127 or jonathan.evens@smitf.org.
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Corinne Bailey Rae - The Skies Will Break.

Circularity/Centrality & HeartEdge - At the Heart. On the Edge.

For the current edition of ArtReview a number of artists were asked to propose values they think will be useful to art in the coming year. Renata Lucas wrote the following:

'Circularity/Centrality

When you asked me to describe a value that would be important to art production in 2017, I spent a few days wondering how to name the interest of working with the surroundings to create certain consequences in the interior of a subject: working with the margins to produce an effect in the centre, or applying a force in the centre to create a change of direction in a given context (in the margins). What interests me is to work with this movement between the centre and periphery.'

Lucas' value has real synergy with the vision we have developed at St Martin-in-the-Fields: At the heart. On the edge. 

Sam Wells has explained how our vision was developed: 

'... led by our Parochial Church Council, in conversation with the other parts of St Martin’s, we started to develop a vision that could encompass everything we do and stand for, in all our diverse activities and identities ... 

What we came up with, was agreed at the January PCC meeting, and subsequently endorsed by all the boards across the site, was this six-word, two-sentence vision: At the Heart. On the Edge. I want to explore with you what this vision means and what it says about what and who we are and where we’re going. 

Let’s start with At the Heart. This is saying something most obviously about geography and culture, but more subtly about faith and life. St Martin’s is, without question, at the heart of London. And, for all our identification with the outcast, it’s at the heart of the establishment: it was built by a king, sits half a mile from 10 Downing Street, three-quarters from Parliament, and a mile from Buckingham Palace. Members of the cabinet and the Royal Family visit almost every year, and countless famous people come here at some stage to celebrate, to honour, or to mourn. 

But more importantly ‘At the Heart’ refers implicitly to life, the universe and everything. For Christians, the heart of it all is God’s decision never to be except to be with us in Christ. That triggers creation, as a place for God to be with us, incarnation, the moment Christ becomes flesh amongst us, and heaven, the time and space in which God is with us forever. As a church, St Martin’s exists to celebrate, enjoy, and embody God being with us – the heart of it all. We’re not about a narcissistic notion that we are the heart – we rest on the conviction that God is the heart and we want to be with God. 

But in addition to indicating something central in relation to geography, culture and faith, the word ‘heart’ refers to feeling, humanity, passion, emotion. This means the arts, the creativity and joy that move us beyond ourselves, beyond rational thought, to a plane of hope and longing and desire and glory. It means companionship, from a meal maybe shared in the café or a gift for a friend perhaps bought in the shop. At the heart means not standing on the sidelines, telling the government what to do or waiting for the market to swing back to prosperity, but getting in the thick of the action, where honest mistakes are made but genuine good comes about, where new partners are found and social ideas take shape. But it also means genuine care. Not long after I came to this parish a national figure told me his mum, who lives 500 miles from London, sends an annual donation every year to St Martin-in-the-Fields. When he asked his mum why, she said, ‘St Martin’s cares about what matters.’ That’s what it means to be at the heart. It means practising and being known for compassion, understanding, love. Not walking away from people when life or the church or health or those close to them have let them down. 

And that brings us to the second half of our vision, On the edge. In just the same way this has both obvious and subtle connotations. Most evidently, St Martin’s is located on the edge of Trafalgar Square, looking over the splendour of the Gallery, the honour of Nelson’s column, and the majesty of the embassies, but also the commotion of tourist and trader and traveller and the pageant of protest and performance. But more generally, the word ‘edge’ speaks of the conviction at St Martin’s that God’s heart is on the edge of human society, with those who have been excluded or rejected or ignored. God looked on the Hebrews in slavery, looked on Israel in exile, looked on Christ on the cross, and walks with the oppressed today. St Martin’s isn’t about bringing those on the imagined ‘edge’ into the exalted ‘middle’; it’s about saying we want to be where God is, and God’s on the edge, so we want to be there too. A former archbishop said, ‘If you ever lose your sense of the intensity and urgency of faith, go and hang out with those who still have it – and the chances are they’re among those the world regards as the least, the last and the lost.’ That’s why we’re on the edge: because we want to discover that intensity and urgency for ourselves. 

Being ‘edgy’ is often associated with speaking out on behalf of the downtrodden. We don’t do a lot of that at St Martin’s, for one reason only: we want to walk alongside the downtrodden so that they can find the courage, the voice, and the opportunity to speak for themselves. We’re not about swapping persecution for paternalism. But being on the edge does mean facing the cost of being, at times, on the edge of the church. Some of the issues we care deeply about are not areas of consensus in the church. We aim to practise what we believe is a true gospel where we receive all the gifts God is giving us, especially the ones that the church has for so long despised or patronised. That may sometimes make us unpopular. Being on the edge doesn’t have to mean being relentlessly opinionated or impulsively impatient: we’re in the persuading business, not the railroading business. 

But the ‘edge’ doesn’t just refer to issues of exclusion and disadvantage and injustice. St Martin’s seeks to be on the leading edge, perhaps the cutting edge in a number of ways. We have a truly outstanding music programme, of voluntary and professional singers, free and commercial concerts, liturgical and performance events. It’s getting better all the time. We’re the greenest church in the diocese, and as well as seeking to embrace ecological concerns in everything we do we’re seeking a similar rigour and scrutiny and renewal around questions of disability. Most extensively, we have a commercial enterprise that’s integrated into the life of our church community and rather than simply being a source of funds is at the forefront of what we’re trying to achieve in London’s civil economy. As we’re trying to promote and share these commitments more broadly, we’re developing a sense of how St Martin’s isn’t just about central London, but about an ethos that is national and in some respects beyond; and we’re beginning to develop the appropriately named Heart-Edge Network to make these connections.'

‘At the Heart. On the Edge.’ is a conference to launch HeartEdge, the new network for churches growing practices and patterns of sustainable mission, initiated by St Martin-in-the-Fields. This conference is a day where we’ll be exploring mission by sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support. Starting at 10.30 am (coffee from 10 am) on 8 February 2017 at St Stephen Walbrook, we’ll finish at 3.30pm. We are not charging for the event.

Sam Wells will be hosting the day with contributions from colleagues across England. Our focus will be on:

• Congregation – approaches to liturgy, worship and day-to-day communal life
• Commerce – activities generating finance and developing social enterprise
• Charity – addressing social needs while retaining congregational participation
• Culture – art, music and ideas to re-imagine the Christian narrative for the present moment

We’re working hard to ensure the day will inspire, resource and equip delegates. To book a place to attend this first conference colleagues can visit here >> https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/at-the-heart-on-the-edge-heartedge-conference-2017-tickets-29792821130. You can download the membership pack, which provides background and further information about how to join here.

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Bruce Cockburn - Free To Be.

Advent booklet: HeartEdge principles

This year at St Martin-in-the-Fields we invited our congregation to write pages for our #Advent2016 booklet. Each day a new reading, reflection and prayer on the theme, “At the Heart. On the Edge.”, is being posted on our twitter account and facebook page. Here is my first piece in the booklet which was Wednesday's reflection:

HeartEdge principles

All who believed … had all things in common; they would sell their … goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. (Acts 2. 44 – 47)

The Early Church was formed at the very heart of Jerusalem and Judaism while also being on the edge because they were the few (albeit, a rapidly growing number) who followed and believed in Jesus Christ as Messiah. As such they developed an ethos for and practices of being at the heart and on the edge which have inspired and challenged the Church through the ages. Our understanding of mission as involving compassion, cultural expression and commerce rooted in a vibrant congregational life can be traced right back to these first Christians who gathered together regularly, sold their possessions and goods, gave support to those in need, and whose praise of God included singing the first hymns. In building HeartEdge, a new network of churches for the 21st century, we can find many of the principles that will need to inform this network in the example of these first Christians. They trusted that God would give everything they needed for their life together as people on the edge. They did unbelievable things together by starting with one another’s assets, not their deficits. They thrived as the gifts of all were released and they built one another’s assets.

HeartEdge God, inspire and challenge us through the example of the Early Church in Jerusalem to create opportunities for nurturing generosity and cooperation and, by doing so, encourage others to find their way to becoming abundant communities that open space for generosity and cooperation. Amen.

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The Innocence Mission - Bright As Yellow.

At the Heart. On the Edge.

This year at St Martin-in-the-Fields we've invited our congregation to write pages for our #Advent2016 booklet. Each day a new reading, reflection and prayer on the theme, “At the Heart. On the Edge.”, will be posted on our twitter account and facebook page.

Today read Sam Wells's reflection - "We want to be where God is, and God's on the edge, so we want to be there too."

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The Advent Of Our King.