Chips off the old block

Here's the sermon I shared at St Mary's Runwell this morning:

Charles: Our New King is a two-part Channel 4 documentary which shines a light on the new British monarch, told with an extensive collection of rare royal archive and revelatory interviews from those who know him. Part 1 explored the influence on him of his mother and father.

He shares many interests with Prince Philip, as they were both artists and both were fascinated by wildlife, the Navy and young people. They shared concerns regarding the environment, while King Charles has his Prince’s Trust and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, so there are many ways in which they were similar.

Like his mother, the Queen, King Charles has also highlighted the inspiration that his faith provides. In speaking of the Church of England, the Church in which his “own faith is so deeply rooted”, he has said that: “In that faith, and the values it inspires, I have been brought up to cherish a sense of duty to others, and to hold in the greatest respect the precious traditions, freedoms and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government.” He then went on to say that: “As the Queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.” He ended by saying that, “in carrying out the heavy task that has been laid upon me, and to which I now dedicate what remains to me of my life, I pray for the guidance and help of almighty God.”

In our Gospel reading (John 14.1-14), Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” He is speaking of the way in which children – consciously or unconsciously – reflect aspects of their parents. We have a phrase to describe this – ‘a chip off the old block’. King Charles is, in many respects, a chip off the old block as he reflects aspects of both his parents in the way he has been formed and the things he says and does. More importantly, however, by allowing his life to be shaped by the values of the Christian faith, he is also, to some extent, a chip off the old block when it comes to Jesus’ Father, too.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the way by which we can come to see what God is actually like and so become like him. That is the reason why Jesus comes as a human being to model God to us, so that we have the opportunity to begin to reflect something of God in the way that we live our lives.

Rightly, that is the focus of many of the prayers written for the Coronation:

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness,
bless, we pray, Camilla the Queen Consort,
William Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales,
and all the Royal Family.
Endue them with your Holy Spirit;
enrich them with your heavenly grace;
prosper them with all happiness;
and bring them to your everlasting kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

In such prayers, we recognise that, if we are ruled by those who genuinely reflect something of God in their lives, then our experience of the monarchy is likely to be positive in a way that is not the case when our rulers act selfishly, rather than from the heart of a servant of God and the people. Such was the case with the late Queen Elizabeth II. In his sermon at St Paul’s Cathedral for the service celebrating the Diamond Jubilee, the then Archbishop of Canterbury said that the Queen “has shown a quality of joy in the happiness of others” and “has responded with … generosity …showing honour to countless local communities and individuals of every background and class and race.” At her Funeral Service, the current Archbishop of Canterbury reflected that: “People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.”

So, our prayer for King Charles and the Royal Family at this time should be that they reflect in their lives the nature of God as fully as possible. Praying that prayer, however, should also challenge us to make that prayer our own, too. The original Greek word for Christian is “Christianos” which comes from two Greek words; Christ means “anointed” and tian means “little.” So, the word “Christian” literally means “little anointed ones.” During his life Jesus was called the “messiah” which meant “the anointed one” and we are to be his “little anointed ones”, anointed by his Holy Spirit to represent Him in this world as his body – his hands and feet, eyes and ears – on earth. To do that we, too, need to become chips off the old block when it comes to God, his Father, or as St Paul puts it in his letter to the Ephesians, "imitators of God".

How does that happen? How do our lives come to reflect something of God? Firstly, we need to put all our trust in Jesus and in what he has done and said. By doing so, we make him central to our lives. Secondly, we need to live by every word that comes from his mouth; we need to read all we can about Jesus and then by put into practice what we have discovered in our lives. Thirdly, as we eat the bread and drink the wine in Communion, we are taking Jesus and all that his death and resurrection means into lives in order to transform us to be like him and to live as he lived.

As Queen Elizabeth said in her 2008 Christmas Broadcast: “I hope that, like me, you will be comforted by the example of Jesus of Nazareth who, often in circumstances of great adversity, managed to live an outgoing, unselfish and sacrificial life … He makes it clear that genuine human happiness and satisfaction lie more in giving than receiving; more in serving than in being served.”

As we celebrate the coronation of King Charles III this weekend, may we take the opportunity to pray that our rulers reflect the God from whom all true authority actually derives and pray, too, that we will shape our lives on that same God, allowing him to shape and mould us that we, too, become chips off the old block. Let us pray:

Gracious God,
in company with our King,
we rededicate ourselves to your service.
Take our minds and think through them,
take our lips and speak through them,
take our hearts and set them on fire
with love for you and your kingdom;
that here we may have your peace,
and in the world to come may see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Make A Joyful Noise – The Coronation Anthem by Andrew Lloyd Webber

St Christopher's Hospice

As part of researching an article on Marian Bohusz-Szyszko I recently visited St Christopher's Hospice.

Founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 St Christopher’s Hospice was the first modern hospice, now providing the highest quality care to over 2,000 dying individuals each year on their inpatient wards and in people’s own homes. It has been a pioneer in the field of palliative medicine, which is now established worldwide. The ongoing impact of St Christopher’s clinical innovations and their extensive programmes of education and research improve care for dying people well beyond their geographical location and influence standards of healthcare throughout the world. The Education Centre provides a portfolio of palliative care courses, education and training that  improve end of life care in a range of settings.

Dame Cicely‘s vision and work transformed the care of the dying and the practice of medicine. She understood that a dying person is more than a patient with symptoms to be controlled and became convinced of the paramount importance of combining excellent medical and nursing care with “holistic” support that recognised practical, emotional, social, and spiritual need. She saw the dying person and the family as the unit of care and developed bereavement services at St Christopher's Hospice to extend support beyond the death of the patient.

Living life creatively during serious illness can also be important. Patients and carers have said that capturing their life story or gaining new possibilities through the arts can be a rewarding and meaningful experience. Nigel Hartley and Malcolm Payne, who both work at St Christopher's, have edited an excellent book The creative arts in palliative care that explores the use of creative therapies in the hospice. The use of pottery, painting, craft work, digital arts, art therapy and music and music therapy are all explored as are examples of outreach work.

St Christopher’s are currently engaged in a dynamic, annual creative arts partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts. This particular project captures the views of dying people and those who care for them through the creation of a range of artistic self-portraits using various artistic mediums including photography, quilt making, painting, drawing, creative writing and music making.

Dame Cicely‘s vision to establish her own home for the dying was underpinned by her religious faith. She had initially thought of creating an Anglican religious community but broadened her vision so that St Christopher's became a place that welcomed staff and patients of any faith or none. However, her strong Christian faith was a fundamental factor in her commitment to the dying and remained an anchor throughout her life.

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Al Green - Take Your Time.

Scriptural Reasoning

Following a very constructive planning meeting last week, I am now looking forward to the start of a local Scriptural Reasoning group after Easter.

Scriptural Reasoning is a practice of inter-faith reading. Small groups of Jews, Christians and Muslims, and sometimes people of other faiths, gather to read and reflect on short passages from their scriptures together.

The next meeting of the East London Three Faiths Forum provides an opportunity to try Scriptural Reasoning through the discussion of texts relating to women and equality.

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Pierce Pettis - That Kind Of Love.

Come to the feast of life

'The Lord says,

“Come, everyone who is thirsty —
    here is water!
Come, you that have no money —
    buy grain and eat!
Come! Buy wine and milk —
    it will cost you nothing!
Why spend money on what does not satisfy?
    Why spend your wages and still be hungry?
Listen to me and do what I say,                                                                                                        and you will enjoy the best food of all.

“Listen now, my people, and come to me;
    come to me, and you will have life!

(Isaiah 55. 1 - 9)

The Lord says, "Come." No strings attached. No pre-conditions. Just simply, come. Love bids 
us welcome, as the great Anglican poet George Herbert, whose feast day was this past week, 
wrote.

We see this in the parables Jesus told about banquets. In these stories, invitations to the party 
are sent to all and sundry, including those who never get invited out, those from the wrong side 
of the tracks, the homeless and poor; all are invited and those who don’t come are those who 
choose to exclude themselves by making excuses because the one condition is that you don’t 
everything to come there and then.

George Herbert included some of the excuses we commonly make in his third poem about 
love. We draw back, he suggests, because of our sense of guilt, our sense that we are 
unworthy, unkind and ungrateful, that we have made mistakes with the gifts we have been given, 
and only deserve to serve not to be served.

I identify strongly with this poem because it expresses how I felt as a teenager having come to 
faith but then being very aware of my faults and failings and so feeling like a hypocrite who did 
not deserve God’s love. I had to come to a point of realizing that God loved me regardless of 
whether I was good enough or not and whether I felt good enough or not. The moment of 
realization came for me when a youth leader took the time to listen to me and then showed me 
Romans 5. 6 – 8 which says this:  

"For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. It is a 
difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might 
dare to die for a good person. But God has shown us how much he loves us — it was while we 
were still sinners that Christ died for us!"

As the old hymn says, "I love Him because He first loved me." He didn’t wait for me to become 
deserving of his love, instead he showed his love for me while I was still far away from him. So, 
there is nothing I have to do to earn or deserve his love.

That’s what he was saying when he spoke about the Galileans that Pilate had killed and the 
people in Siloam who were killed when the tower fell on them. Don’t look at other people and 
think they are worse sinners than you. Instead, look at yourself and acknowledge your failings 
but then recognize that God always gives us a second chance, just like the gardener does with 
the fig tree.

So, Jesus simply says, "come" and all I have to do to enter into his love is simply come. That is 
what George Herbert’s wonderful poem is all about: 

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
                                                            Guilty of dust and sin.
                        But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
                                                            From my first entrance in,
                        Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
                                                            If I lacked anything.

                        A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
                                                            Love said, You shall be he.
                        I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
                                                            I cannot look on thee.
                        Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
                                                            Who made the eyes but I?

                        Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
                                                            Go where it doth deserve.
                        And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
                                                            My dear, then I will serve.
                        You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
                                                            So I did sit and eat.

Whoever comes simply, like a child, accepting God’s invitation as it is, are those who sit and 
eat, who become saints and priests, who become Christ. For "little Christ" is all that ‘Christian’ 
means. The meal, the feast, the banquet, the party to which we are invited is communion; 
sharing in the body and blood of Christ as a precursor to the coming in full of the kingdom of 
God on earth as in heaven. 

This table, the table of Jesus is our place of gathering: here you are welcomed, wanted, loved, 
here there is a place set for you; come, come to the feast of life. This is the table, not of the 
Church, but of the Lord. It is made ready for those who love him and who want to love him more. 
So come, you who have much faith and you who have a little, you who have been here often and 
you who have not been for a long time, you who have tried to follow and you who have failed. 
Come, not because I invite you: it is our Lord, it is his will that those who want him should meet 
him here.

Come. Come to the feast of life that the Lord Almighty prepares for all peoples. A feast of rich 
food, the best of meats, the finest of aged wines, and water from the spring of life itself. A 
banquet at which tears are wiped away, disgrace removed, where death, grief, crying and pain 
are no more as God himself sits down to eat with his people.

Come, all you who thirst;
come, all you who are weary;
come, all you who are poor;
come, all you who are bitter;
come, all you who grieve;
come, all you who are sinners;
come, all you who are oppressed;
come, all you who are traitors;
come, all you who are sick;
come, all you who are lost.

Why spend money on what does not satisfy? Why spend your wages and still be hungry? Listen 
to me and do what I say, and you will enjoy the best food of all. Listen now, my people, and 
come to me; come to me, and you will have life!

Come to be saints;
come to be priests;
come to be Christians;
to be "little Christs."
Come to sit and eat
at the feast of life.

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The Staple Singers - If You're Ready (Come Go With Me).