We are concerned with Christ and nothing else

‘“A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me” … I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy … So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.’ (John 16:16 – 22)

Jesus was speaking about his crucifixion and resurrection. He was to be taken from his disciples through his death and burial. As a result they would no longer see him and would weep and mourn. But he then rose from death and was restored to them and their pain turned into joy. Jesus, and his presence with them, was central to their emotional state. When he was with them they rejoiced, when they no longer saw him they mourned. This reality speaks to us of a simple but profound central truth of Christianity; that it is all about Jesus.

In his song ‘Heart of Worship’, the worship leader Matt Redman encourages us to sing:

‘I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus
I'm sorry Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus.’

Redman may express this truth in a slightly clumsy and sentimental fashion but he is essentially making the same point that the German theologian, pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer made as he outlined his Christology: ‘Christianity for Bonhoeffer was not a religion, but a person, Jesus Christ, who made difficult demands of His followers.’ ‘Bonhoeffer states, “He did not go to the cross to ornament and embellish our life. If we wish to have him, then he demands the right to say something decisive about our entire life.” “Let no one,” adds Bonhoeffer, “think that we are concerned with our own cause, with a particular view of the world, a definite theology or even with the honour of the church. We are concerned with Christ and nothing else.”’ (https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2008/11/bonhoeffer-a-christology-for-today.html)

We come together to hear Christ, Bonhoeffer says, but then he questions whether we have actually heard him. Today’s church, he suggests, ‘suffers from a divided loyalty to Christ and the world, and it has diluted our effectiveness.’

We know of the command for peace, Bonhoeffer says, and yet with the open eyes which are given to the church we see reality dominated by hate, enmity, and power: ‘It is as though all the powers of the world had conspired together against peace; money, business, the lust for power, indeed even love for the fatherland have been pressed into the service of hate. Hate of nations, hate of people against their own countrymen … Events are coming to a head more terribly than ever before - millions hungry, people with cruelly deferred and unfulfilled wishes, desperate men who have nothing to lose but their lives and will lose nothing in losing them - humiliated and degraded nations who cannot get over their shame - political extreme against political extreme, fanatic against fanatic, idol against idol, and behind it all a world which bristles with weapons as never before, a world which feverishly arms to guarantee peace through arming, a world whose idol has become the word security-a world without sacrifice, full of mistrust and suspicion, because past fears are still with it - a humanity which trembles at itself, a humanity which is not sure of itself and is ready at any time to lay violent hands on itself - how can one close one’s eyes at the fact that the demons themselves have taken over the rule of the world, that it is the powers of darkness who have here made an awful conspiracy and could break out at any moment?’

As a result, he states, Christ must become present to us in preaching and in the sacraments just as in being the crucified one he has made peace with God and with humanity. The crucified Christ is our peace. He alone exorcizes the idols and the demons. The world trembles only before the cross, not before us (https://winnowing.wordpress.com/the-church-is-dead-dietrich-bonhoeffer-1932/). Christ encounters us in our brother and sister, in the English, the French, the German . . . in those who seek, those who are hungry, those who wait, those who are in need, those who hope.

Every generation must decide what they must do with Christ. As Bonhoeffer notes, “Christ goes through the ages, questioned anew, misunderstood anew, and again and again put to death.” The church is only good insofar as when it “humbly confesses its sins, allows itself to be forgiven, and confesses its Lord. [It must] daily . . . receive the will of God from Christ anew. Therefore, Bonhoeffer admonishes the church to keep its gaze always on and only on the humbled Christ. To be concerned with Christ and nothing else.

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

Matt Redman - Heart Of Worship.

CompassionArt & Deanery Youth Service

In January 2008 twelve of the best-known writers in the gospel/Christian music scene - Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Paul Baloche, Israel Houghton, Graham Kendrick, Steven Curtis-Chapman, Andy Park, Stu Garrard, Martin Smith – got together in Scotland to spend the week writing songs that could impact on issues of poverty in some of the poorest parts of the world on a long-term basis. They wanted to be people that can make a change rather than just singing about it.

As a result CompassionArt was born, a charity dedicated to seeing works of art generate income for the poorest of the poor. When we sing a song in church it actually makes money. A royalty is paid to CCLI – the global body that oversees the process. They take out a small percentage to cover their administration costs and then pass the remainder of the royalty on to the songwriter's publisher who take a cut themselves and then pass what remains to the writer of the song who then splits it with a management team. But everyone involved in these songs from writers to publishers, managers to the team at CCLI have waived all their rights and allowed CompassionArt to own the copyrights. So the songs that were written in Scotland are now owned by the charity meaning that every penny will come to it and the trust will own these copyrights forever.

Our young people at St Johns Seven Kings heard about CompassionArt during a Youth Group session about Christian music and decided that they wanted to base a Deanery Youth Service on its work and music. They have come up with some great ideas for leading prayer and worship and their service will be held at St John’s on Sunday 5th July at 5.00pm.

By supporting our young people and coming to this service you can help CompassionArt support projects restoring choice and hope to people's lives. CompassionArt is a charity that joins the dots between art and poverty. It raises money to help breathe life into the poorest communities, restoring hope and igniting justice.

They provide funding to projects working with children in Uganda – some of whom have already endured the brutality of life as a child soldier – as well as children of sex workers in Indian slums. There are homeless shelters in the middle of wealthy western cities and orphanages in the middle of developing nations that are helped financially - as a result of the sale of CompassionArt albums, songs and books - all of them breathing hope back into lives that have been conditioned to believe that life may never get any better.

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

CompassionArt - Friend Of The Poor.