An intentional desire to welcome others

Here's the sermon I shared at St Catherine's Wickford this morning:

I wonder if you attended the Olympic or Paralympic Games in 2012 and were greeted by the cheerful faces of the 70,000 red and purple-clad Games Makers and further 8,000 London Ambassadors who were a key feature of those Games. The majority of Games Makers gave up at least 10 days to volunteer and took on a wide range of activities including welcoming visitors, transporting athletes and working behind the scenes.

As a Church, we can learn from the wonderful welcome given out by the Games Makers. As Archbishop Stephen Cottrell wrote in his book ‘From the abundance of the heart’: "There is a fantasy about evangelism: people hear the gospel, repent, and look around for a church to join. Then there is the reality: people come into contact with the church, or have some inkling of the possibility of God, and enter into a relationship with the church, either through its activities, its worship, or just friendship with its members. In the loving community of these relationships, faith begins to grow. Or to put it more succinctly: belonging comes before believing. Therefore, right at the heart of any effective evangelistic ministry must be a warm and generous attitude to those who are currently outside the church community and a place of welcome and nurture within it."

Archbishop Stephen has also said that in recent years we have re-discovered that for most people becoming a Christian is like a journey. This changes the way we approach evangelism. For the most part it will mean accompanying people on that journey and this is why the story of Jesus on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24. 13 - 49) is instructive for us in thinking about evangelism.

When Jesus encounters the two disciples on the Emmaus Road on the evening of the first Easter Day, he meets them where they are but Luke tells us that "their eyes were kept from recognising him" (Luke 24. 16). He joins their conversation and walks with them while they are going in the wrong direction. He listens to them before he speaks. His first question is one of open vulnerability to their agenda: "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?"(Luke 24.17). In response to their questions and accounts of what has happened he then breaks open the scriptures, explaining to them "the things about himself "(Luke 14. 27). Arriving at Emmaus he "walks ahead as if he is going on" (Luke 24. 28). But they invite him in, and as he breaks the bread their eyes are opened. They then rush back to Jerusalem. They can’t wait to share with others the good news they have received.

Luke’s account provides us with a rich and challenging story about evangelism which is hugely relevant for the situation we face today because: "our own culture here in Essex … is not so dis-similar to the ones the first apostles encountered outside the comfort zone of the Jewish faith: a smorgasbord of beliefs, a general interest in things spiritual, a lack of confidence in the meta-narratives that had previously been trusted so much. In this sort of world becoming a Christian will be like a journey, and much of our work will be helping people to make the journey; and much of that will be removing obstacles from the path."

God longs for reconciliation with the whole of the creation and with every person on earth; he is therefore an evangelist. His great love for the world and his purposes for the world have been revealed in Jesus Christ, and through his death and resurrection Jesus has already done everything that is necessary for us to enjoy eternal life with God. The ministry of evangelism is our sharing with others the good news of what God has already done in Christ and the transformation it can bring to the world and to our lives here on earth and in eternity. It can involve specific ministries (such as a place of nurture where people can find out about Christian faith), but is also shaped enormously by our witness as individual Christians as we walk with others in their individual daily lives.

"Becoming a Christian is not just learning about the Christian faith: it is about becoming a member of the Christian community, and it is about relationship with a God who is himself a community of persons. Therefore, right at the beginning of the journey, people need to experience what it means to be part of a pilgrim church. Before people can become pilgrims themselves, they need to feel happy to travel with us and be open to experiencing life from a Christian perspective."

"Nurturing a generous attitude of welcome to newcomers is something that needs to be worked at over many years … Welcome is not just what we do when someone comes through the door. It is an attitude which seeks to get inside the shoes of the other person so that they can be welcomed and accompanied at every point of their journey."

Archbishop Stephen likes "to use the term ‘Travellers’ to refer to people who are beginning to explore the Christian faith, because it describes those who are on the way. They may not yet be coming to church, but they are committed to taking the next step. For many people the best next step is a course of enquiry where they can enter into dialogue with the Christian faith in the company of other Christian people."

In May we are going to begin a new Enquirer’s course called Being With. Being With is about sharing stories about our lives and hearing the stories of others. These stories are the small things that mean a lot to us and they can also be the most challenging and life changing moments of our lives. There’s a space for every person’s life in this course. The course is based on the belief that to find the meaning of life we need each other. We need to spend time being present and attentive to others who may be different to us and to ourselves and the world around us. As we do this, we can discover a way to be attentive to God and discover that God is present to us.

So, we are talking here about three specific forms of welcome: the welcome someone receives when they first encounter the Church or an individual Christian; the welcome involved in travelling with someone else on their journey to God and beyond; plus the welcome which can be provided in a enquirer’s course like Being With.

Just like the Olympics and Paralympics, the Church needs welcomers. The traditional role of welcomer to services in the Church of England is that of the sidesperson. We can see from all that we have thought about so far today why that is such an important role. We might not all have a ministry as a sidesperson but we can all get alongside others on their journey towards God in the way Archbishop Stephen has described and as Jesus did with the two disciples on the Emmaus Road. How, I wonder, can you get inside the shoes of those you know so that they can be welcomed and accompanied at every point of their journey towards God?

Finally, could you encourage people to join our Being With course by making people feel comfortable and safe, putting them at ease so they can bring their questions and feel challenged but not pressured. These are all ways in which we can use our time and talents in God’s service and so be a transforming presence in our homes, community, workplaces and world.

Archbishop Stephen suggests we need to have become a church where evangelism is in our DNA and where we have learned ways of doing evangelism that work in the different and varied and fast changing contexts that make up our diocese. All these involve an intentional desire to welcome others and share with them the good things that we have received from Christ. To do that, like Jesus on the Emmaus Road, we need a warm and generous attitude to those who are currently outside the church community and a place of welcome and nurture within it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

T Bone Burnett, Jay Bellerose, Keefus Ciancia - A Better Day.

Post Olympic and Paralympic events

We enjoyed an excellent Men's Breakfast at St John's Seven Kings this morning hearing from three of our Games Makers about their experiences at the Olympic and Paralympic Games - Senthur Balaji was at the Excel Centre for the Olympics, Doug Feather at the North Greenwich Arena for the Paralympics and Bob Keenan who was a driver at the Paralympics. Our Mothers' Union branch will also be having a presentation shortly from other St Johns' members who were Games Makers and on Wednesday 7th November (7.30pm) we will host a deanery Sports Thanksgiving Service.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coldplay - Yellow. 

Patronal Festival

At St John's Seven Kings we have just enjoyed a very special Patronal Festival which included a well attended and very enjoyable Barn Dance, an excellent sermon on telling your story from Rev. Chris Wragg (a former member of St John's, who is now Vicar at All Saint's Squirrels Heath), a presentation to our Reader Jean Richards on her 70th birthday, a Confirmation Service for our cluster of Anglican churches led in inimitable style, with Olympic and Paralympic imagery, by the Bishop of Barking, a combined choir from the four cluster churches, and original songs written by our own Lester Amann. Our congratulations to all those, from the four churches, who were confirmed tonight by Bishop David.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Curtis Mayfield - Back To Living Again.

Transforming Presence: Evangelising effectively

Earlier in the week Boris Johnson thanked the "unbelievable" volunteers at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and said London should capitalise on and learn from their "energy". The cheerful faces of the 70,000 red and purple-clad Games Makers and further 8,000 London Ambassadors have been a key feature of the Games. As we know from those of our congregation at St John's Seven Kings who volunteered, the majority of Games Makers gave up at least 10 days to volunteer and took on a wide range of activities including welcoming visitors, transporting athletes and working behind the scenes.

Meeting volunteers at the North Greenwich Arena, Mr Johnson said: "I think the reason why the Olympics have been such a success is because the people of London have made it one. The volunteers have been tremendous and I want to thank all of them. The important thing now is to look forward. We have to think about how to keep the energy in the volunteering life of the city. They have done an amazing job in welcoming people to London and we can learn from that."

As a Church, nationally and locally, we can also learn from the wonderful welcome given out by the Games Makers. As Bishop Stephen has written in his book From the abundance of the heart: "There is a fantasy about evangelism: people hear the gospel, repent, and look around for a church to join. Then there is the reality: people come into contact with the church, or have some inkling of the possibility of God, and enter into a relationship with the church, either through its activities, its worship, or just friendship with its members. In the loving community of these relationships faith begins to grow. Or to put it more succinctly: belonging comes before believing. Therefore, right at the heart of any effective evangelistic ministry must be a warm and generous attitude to those who are currently outside the church community and a place of welcome and nurture within it."

In Transforming Presence Bishop Stephen says that in recent years we have re-discovered that for most people becoming a Christian is like a journey. This changes the way we approach evangelism. For the most part it will mean accompanying people on that journey and this is why the story of Jesus on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24. 13 - 49) is instructive for us in thinking about evangelism.

When Jesus encounters the two disciples on the Emmaus Road on the evening of the first Easter day he meets them where they are but Luke tells us that "their eyes were kept from recognising him" (Luke 24. 16). He joins their conversation and walks with them while they are going in the wrong direction. He listens to them before he speaks. His first question is one of open vulnerability to their agenda: "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?"(Luke 24.17). In response to their questions and accounts of what has happened he then breaks open the scriptures, explaining to them "the things about himself "(Luke 14. 27). Arriving at Emmaus he "walks ahead as if he is going on" (Luke 24. 28). But they invite him in, and as he breaks the bread their eyes are opened. They then rush back to Jerusalem. They can’t wait to share with others the good news they have received.

Luke’s account provides us with a rich and challenging story about evangelism which is hugely relevant for the situation we face today because: "our own culture here in Essex and East London is not so dis-similar to the ones the first apostles encountered outside the comfort zone of the Jewish faith: a smorgasbord of beliefs, a general interest in things spiritual, a lack of confidence in the meta-narratives that had previously been trusted so much. In this sort of world becoming a Christian will be like a journey, and much of our work will be helping people to make the journey; and much of that will be removing obstacles from the path."

God longs for reconciliation with the whole of the creation and with every person on earth; he is therefore an evangelist. His great love for the world and his purposes for the world have been revealed in Jesus Christ, and through his death and resurrection Jesus has already done everything that is necessary for us to enjoy eternal life with God. The ministry of evangelism is our sharing with others the good news of what God has already done in Christ and the transformation it can bring to the world and to our lives here on earth and in eternity. It can involve specific ministries (such as a place of nurture where people can find out about Christian faith), but is also shaped enormously by our witness as individual Christians as we walk with others in their individual daily lives.

"Becoming a Christian is not just learning about the Christian faith: it is about becoming a member of the Christian community, and it is about relationship with a God who is himself a community of persons. Therefore, right at the beginning of the journey, people need to experience what it means to be part of a pilgrim church. Before people can become pilgrims themselves they need to feel happy to travel with us and be open to experiencing life from a Christian perspective."

"Nurturing a generous attitude of welcome to newcomers is something that needs to be worked at over many years … Welcome is not just what we do when someone comes through the door. It is an attitude which seeks to get inside the shoes of the other person so that they can be welcomed and accompanied at every point of their journey."

Bishop Stephen likes "to use the term ‘Travellers’ to refer to people who are beginning to explore the Christian faith, because it describes those who are on the way. They may not yet be coming to church, but they are committed to taking the next step. For many people the best next step is a course of enquiry where they can enter into dialogue with the Christian faith in the company of other Christian people."

This is often a course like Alpha, Emmaus or the START! course, which we currently use and, as a place of nurture, needs to be a safe place, where people are at ease, where they can bring their questions, and where they will feel challenged, but not pressured. People need to feel comfortable: they need to feel that their questions and concerns are taken seriously.

So, we are talking here about three specific forms of welcome: the welcome someone receives when they first encounter the Church or an individual Christian; the welcome involved in travelling with someone else on their journey to God and beyond; plus the welcome which can be provided in a nurture course like our START! course.

Just like the Olympics and Paralympics, the Church needs welcomers. The traditional role of welcomer to services in the Church of England is that of the sidesperson. We can see from all that we have thought about so far today why that is such an important role. We might not all have a ministry as a sidesperson but we can all get alongside others on their journey towards God in the way Bishop Stephen has described and as Jesus did with the two disciples on the Emmaus Road. How can you get inside the shoes of those you know so that they can be welcomed and accompanied at every point of their journey towards God?

Finally, could you help welcome people to our START! courses helping to create a place of nurture, making people feel comfortable and safe, putting them at ease so they can bring their questions and feel challenged but not pressured. These are all ways in which we can use our time and talents in God’s service and be a transforming presence in our homes, community, workplaces and world. This Sunday in Stewardship month is the time to think about the time and talents God has given to us and how we already use them and can use them for his glory in the future.

Over the next two years there will be training provided and opportunities available for getting involved in the ministry of evangelism. The London 2013 Festival is an initiative of the churches in London in partnership with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse. Equipping Christians in "whole of life discipleship" by providing training to develop evangelistic lifestyles and verbal skills in sharing the Gospel will enable Churches to connect with and serve, communities and civic society across London, providing a commitment to the social and practical needs of Londoners. This will culminate from 4^th - 6^th October with public events to invite people to hear the good news of Jesus simply explained by Franklin Graham - with a chance to respond.

Then in 2014 it will be the Centenary of the Diocese of Chelmsford, a year of celebration and outreach, and Bishop Stephen is inviting every benefice in the diocese to put on a mission weekend, where we can celebrate our faith and invite others to consider the claims of Christ. Again, in 2013, there will be training events, one for every deanery, so that in every benefice there can be a small team of people who have been trained in putting on small scale evangelistic events and understanding something of how we accompany people who want to find out more about the Christian faith.

By 2025, Bishop Stephen says we need to have become a church where evangelism is in our DNA and where we have learned ways of doing evangelism that work in the different and varied and fast changing contexts that make up our diocese. All these involve an intentional desire to share with others the good things that we have received from Christ. We need to commit ourselves to be faithful in this ministry because it is of the essence of what it means to be faithful to Christ. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More.

Spiritual Life: Support for human flourishing

Here is my Spiritual Life column for this week's Ilford Recorder:

The Paralympic Games are having a major impact on people’s attitudes to disability a recent survey suggests, with 78% of people agreeing that the UK media should do more to promote people with disabilities as role models in society.

I’ve had several conversations in the run up to the Paralympics about using the term differently abled instead of disabled, as the Paralympians show us that those labelled as disabled actually posses high levels of ability and have huge potential to fulfil.

This is also what the Bible says of all people. We are all made in the image of God it suggests and therefore have each been given significant gifts and abilities which can be developed and applied. The presence of God’s Spirit is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.

The issue that differently abled people consistently face is that our society is structured for able-bodied people. We have not yet sufficiently adapted to enable society to enable those who are differently abled to always reach their true potential. Many are also rightly worried that the real advances which have been made to enable those who are differently abled to take their rightful place in society will be eroded through current changes to welfare provision.

To enable God’s Spirit to genuinely be seen in all people for the good of our whole society we need to support the culturally, political and technological developments that were celebrated in the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. The Paralympians are role models showing what each of us can achieve but the examples they provide demonstrate the need we all have for appropriate support and encouragement.

At the same time as valuing the Paralympians as role models, we can also recognise the extent to which we need to do more to structure churches, faith communities and UK society, as a whole, to support human flourishing and wellbeing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extreme - Run.

Transforming Presence: Inhabiting our world distinctively

The opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and the opening ceremony for the Paralympics have all raised issues of what it means to be British; what there is in our history and culture that can be seem as being distinctively British. Between them they have included our green and pleasant land, the weather, the industrial revolution, scientific and technological discoveries, multi-racial popular culture, the Suffragettes, the NHS, popular music, the Queen, James Bond, Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Stephen Hawking.

While all these have something to do with being British, do they sum up what is distinctive about the British? John Major famously described Britishness as being,"Long shadows on county cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and old maids bicycling through the morning mist." Would we identify with that, living where we do? Perhaps not! By contrast Gordon Brown stated that "Britain's roots are on the most solid foundation of all - a passion for liberty anchored in a sense of duty and an intrinsic commitment to tolerance and fair play." We might be more likely to agree but how distinctively British are those values? Aren’t they values that many around the world would agree with and practice, can we really claim them as distinctively British?

All of which goes to show that defining what makes us distinctive is a difficult task but it is one that our Bishop is asking to undertake together as Christians. Bishop Stephen has written a document for the Diocese called Transforming Presence which aims to give us four strategic priorities to focus on as a Diocese for the next 10 to 15 years.

Bishop Stephen’s hope is that every Christian and every Christian community in the Diocese will begin to prayerfully consider its own response to these priorities and to engage in a continuing conversation across the diocese as we seek to discern what sort of church God is calling us to become. Our Ministry Leadership Team has suggested that we begin thinking about our response to Transforming Presence by studying it in homegroups (some of our groups have already done this and others will begin shortly) and by having a sermon series on it during September (our Stewardship month).

The first priority is the issue that we’ve already begun thinking about together this morning; inhabiting the world distinctively. In Romans 12 Paul speaks about the new life in Christ describing the members of the church as being "one body in Christ" (Romans 12.5) He goes on: "We are members of one another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given us." (Romans 12. 5b & 6) From verse 9 onwards he describes the marks of true Christian living and discipleship. He is saying that the Christian church is the Body of Christ in the world and each individual Christian a member of it, each called and equipped by God for ministry and service. It therefore follows that every Christian has a ministry and that every Christian should live a distinctive life.

Living that distinctive life is the way we worship God and it happens as we stop conforming to the standards of the world around us and instead let God transform us inwardly by a complete change of our mind. Of course this kind of inner transformation is the work of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be achieved by our hard work alone but there are certain things we need to do in order to create the fertile ground in which the Spirit can bring our faith to life, enabling us to live out our faith and give a reason for the hope that is in us.

First among these is prayer. More than anything else, we need to place a new priority on becoming a people of prayer, whose daily lives are formed and punctuated by our relationship with God in Jesus Christ. He is the centre of our lives, and new life in Christ is nurtured and shaped by a life of prayer and a commitment to worship and the discipleship that follows from it.

Therefore – and before anything else – teaching people to pray, encouraging greater biblical and theological literacy and developing a diocesan rule of life must become our priorities and must be reflected in the work that is done at every level of diocesan life: in every church school, in every parish community, in every chaplaincy.

Developing a diocesan rule of life would be so that there is a unity between us over the sort of lives we should be leading as God’s people in this place and some sort of mutual accountability. This rule will encompass those aspects of Christian living that we consider annually during Stewardship Week such as giving, participation in worship, ministry in our daily lives and also the way we inhabit the planet itself, including issues of ecological, social and political wellbeing.

"Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good. Love one another warmly and be eager to show respect for one another. Work hard … Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times. Share your belongings with your needy fellow Christians, and open your homes to strangers. Ask God to bless those who persecute you . .. Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep. Have the same concern for everyone. Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise. If someone has done you wrong, do not repay him with a wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good. Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody … conquer evil with good."

So giving generously to God, others and our world using our treasure, time and talents is what Stewardship and a Diocesan rule of life would be all about. God loves a cheerful giver, we are told, and whoever shares with others should do it generously.

So, the way we inhabit the world as Christians should be about this kind of generous living and the rule of life would form a basis of expectation about what it means to be a Christian in this diocese but, of course, this does not mean that we are somehow better than other people or that generosity itself is distinctively Christian. It is manifestly true that there are all sorts of good and generous people who are not yet part of the Christian community. It does mean, however, that there should be something distinctive and attractive about the way we live our lives. Conversely, if our lives are indistinguishable from anyone else’s it is then little wonder that people conclude that the Christian faith is our hobby; a fascinating and exhausting pastime, but not the life changing transformation that should be evident in the lives we lead Monday to Saturday.

By 2025 Bishop Stephen wants this to change and says that without this inner transformation no other worthwhile change will happen at all, and we will simply carry on managing church decline as gracefully as possible. None of us want that to happen although we all recognise the challenges we face as Christians and as a church. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but if we let its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us and its vigour renew us then it will be as though we were born for such a time as this.

If we live distinctive Christian lives, as Romans 12 directs us and as Bishop Stephen encourages us then we can make a difference where God has placed us, here at St John’s, here in Seven Kings, here in our family, here in our workplace, here in our diocese, here in our nation, here in our world. Let us pray …

Saviour Christ, in whose way of love lies the secret of all life and the hope of all people, we pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but let its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us and its vigour renew us for your kingdom's sake. Amen.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Woven Hand - In The Temple.

My Greenbelt 2012 journal (3)

Sunday 26^th August

Instead of the Greenbelt communion I go to St Bartholomew Nympsfield for their Patronal Festival where the 60 strong congregation is made up of locals and retreatants from Erdington at the Marist Retreat Centre in the village. Diana Crook preaches an impactful sermon equating the training and dedication of the Paralympians with that of the disciples, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, St Bartholomew, and ourselves. Jesus’ question to us – ‘Do you want to go?’ is a liberating one. We follow because we choose to and want to. This is a message which I need to hear.

Lila Dance are perplexing – something vigorous and fascinating is happening but, like Mister Jones, I have to confess I don’t know what it is. Peterson Toscana, in line with Jesus’ parables, is deliberately raising more questions than answers. He mixes his own story told as a sequence of prayers with the retelling of several Bible stories. These, while amusing and different, are not as funny or radical as I’d expected from the advance notices and I’m left rather underwhelmed. The session is titled 'Jesus had two daddies' though and that got me thinking about the phrase 'The unorthodox Jesus'. So much of the debate on controversial issues in the Church seems to revolve around different understandings of orthodoxy but Jesus was unorthodox - right from the start, as Toscana noted, growing up in a family set-up that was very far from being a nuclear family. 

I revisit the Gallery and appreciate a little more fully the comic book/strip focus of this show. Leunig is whimsical and wise while Smith is clear and challenging. Green remains opaquely personal while Lia has innocent humour.

Things pick up at mainstage with a great set of sensitive folk songs from Roddy Woomble and a barnstorming set from the Proclaimers. Roddy Woomble’s ‘Work Like You Can’ strikes me as a celebration of ordinary existence, something I need affirmed currently, while the Proclaimers sang:

“Thought that God had failed me
Thought my prayers were useless
Thought that he would never give the chance for me to praise him

Thought the book was written
Thought the game had ended
Thought the song was sung and I could never sing another

Thought my faith was misplaced
Thought my back was broken
Broken by a weight that I was never fit to carry

Thought I knew this city
Thought I knew all about it
And then one night I went to Morningside and you were waiting

I met you.”

Following that inspiration, I experience a measure of peace via the Taize Service and Aradhna in Eden and write the following:

Absence is not void.

Absence fills vacuum with live memory;

a present aching.

Silence is not still.

Silence simply tunes our hearing to other sounds;

noise abounds.

Peace is not passive.

Peace requires active relations,

if hands are to be shaken.

Do not a-void absence.

Hear the sounds of silence.

Actively create peace.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roddy Woomble - Work Like You Can.