Preparing for the new thing God was doing

Here's my reflection for yesterday's lunchtime Eucharist for St Martin-in-the-Fields, on the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1. 57-66, 80):

Our eldest daughter is expecting and she and her husband can’t agree on a name for their son. It’s not an unusual situation for the parents of a new born child. For Zechariah and Elizabeth it should have been relatively straightforward, as the culture of the time was for the child to be named after the grandfather.

Names were kept in the family and handed down from grandfather to grandson. This was part of a culture where the firstborn son inherited all that the family owned, whilst also being responsible for maintaining the family unit. That included the role or work undertaken by the father and grandfather before him, in this case as one of the priests at the Temple.

The naming of John was problematic because it signified something different was happening; a break with tradition. The name John was not in the family line and he would not become a priest like his father and grandfather before him; instead becoming a prophet preparing the way for the new thing that God was doing in the world in sending his Son to be one of us and save us from ourselves.

The new thing that God was doing in the world entailed a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit so, in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel we read of Gabriel promising that John will be filled with the Holy Spirit from before his birth and of his growing up strong in the Spirit. The Spirit comes upon Mary at the Annunciation, Elizabeth is filled with the Spirit at Mary’s arrival (and blesses her as a result), and Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit at John’s circumcision, prophesying about John and Jesus.

This fresh move of the Holy Spirit comes after a period of over 400 years during which there was no revelation from God by the Spirit. That had fulfilled the prophecy of Micah: “Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without revelation. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them” (3:6). The new thing that God was about to do was not possible without the preparatory work of the Holy Spirit or without there being a working together of the principal characters with the Holy Spirit.

Preparation is also seen in the upbringing of John through his separation for God’s service which involved the rejection of wine and other strong drink and time spent in the wilderness, where he wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. His calling as the one preparing the way for Jesus involved a particular kind of preparation, which may or may not have been individual to John, but which was the right preparation for the calling on his life.

What can we take from these reflections on the early life of John the Baptist and how might they bite for us? First, we can reflect on the call on our lives. That is not so dissimilar to that of John. He was preparing others to encounter Jesus. We are essentially called to do the same. When I was a young Christian I read writers like Francis Schaeffer who talked about the importance of pre-Evangelism. This involves discussion of our worldviews and the extent we live according to our beliefs, whatever those beliefs may be. Exploring inconsistencies in our lifestyles or inadequacies in our beliefs opens people to the possibility of the Holy Spirit working in their lives. None of us are evangelists. It is only God the Spirit who can bring people back into relationship with God through Jesus. Yet, like John, we can prepare people to encounter Jesus for themselves.

Second, the Holy Spirit was moving in a new way through the birth of John and Jesus, and Elizabeth, Zechariah and Mary were among those who discerned it and responded. Like them, we can seek to discern what the Holy Spirit is doing and how the Spirit is moving within our own day and time. When Jesus opened the scriptures and read ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me’ that anointing was for the bringing of good news to the poor, release for captives, recovery of sight for those who were blind, freeing of the oppressed and proclamation of the Jubilee when land and property was returned to those in debt. Where we see these things happening today, we can discern the work of the Holy Spirit.

Third, John needed a specific form of preparation for his ministry which involved him making commitments, not generally made by others. That is the approach we use here within the Nazareth Community as its members commit themselves for a year at a time to silence, sacraments, study, sharing, service, Sabbath and staying with. This kind of commitment, whether the Nazareth rule of life or something different can be a helpful practice and discipline enabling us to live out and deepen the calling on our lives.

As we reflect on our calling, the needs of our world and our practices as Christians, it may well be that John the Baptist is the role model in the Gospels to whom we most need to turn.

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Godspell - Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord.

Start:Stop - Be doers of the Word

Be doers of the Word

Investors in People argue that “Everybody needs someone to look up to in the workplace. They want role models. This may seem like a daunting responsibility for a manager or employer, but it needn't be. It's largely just a matter of what we call ‘walking the talk’ and leading by example.” William C. Taylor, author of Practically Radical, has written that, “One of the most ubiquitous aphorisms in business is that the best leaders understand the need to “walk the talk” — that is, their behavior and day-to-day actions have to match the aspirations they have for their colleagues and organization.”

The phrase “if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk” is a modern version of old sayings like “actions speak louder than words” and “practice what you preach.” Another early form of the expression was “walk it like you talk it.” Many people now condense this to “walk the talk.”
All these are essentially versions of James 1. 22, “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers. “The real blessing of the Christian faith does not lie in listening to sermons or reciting liturgies, but in dwelling on what is true until it transforms what we do. A genuine encounter with Jesus provokes action.”

The action it produces is “care for orphans and widows in their distress.” Jesus said, in the Parable of the sheep and goats, that God’s judgement on us will be based on our actions; giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and visiting those in prison. These actions are to be the end result of our faith. If our looking deeply into God’s word does not result in our doing these things, our faith is not genuine and we are not walking the walk as Christians.

Prayer

As we relate to our colleagues, customers and suppliers, make us doers not merely hearers of your word. May we talk the talk and walk the walk.

As we seek to model our values and those of our company in the way we manage or relate to others,
make us doers not merely hearers of your word. May we talk the talk and walk the walk.

As we demonstrate our faith in actions and, where necessary, words, make us doers not merely hearers of your word. May we talk the talk and walk the walk.

As we show compassion to those in need here in the UK and globally, make us doers not merely hearers of your word. May we talk the talk and walk the walk.

As we do our job and respond to the new challenges and opportunities in our changed political environment following the General Election result, make us doers not merely hearers of your word.
May we talk the talk and walk the walk.

May your Spirit inspire, guide and empower us to live as your people, following in your footsteps, animated by your Spirit and putting into practice in our lives what we hear from your word. May we be doers of your word and not merely hearers only and may that blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and remain with us always. Amen.

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Kanye West - Jesus Walks.

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.

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Extreme - Run.

Morality in football?

In yesterday's Guardian and on Comment is Free, Peter Singer asked the question Why is cheating OK in football?

The nub of Singer's excellent piece was that after the England Germany match, the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer gave this account of his actions:

"I tried not to react to the referee and just concentrate on what was happening. I realised it was over the line and I think the way I carried on so quickly fooled the referee into thinking it was not over."

To put it bluntly: Neuer cheated, and then boasted about it.

By any normal ethical standards, what Neuer did was wrong. But does the fact that Neuer was playing football mean that the only ethical rule is "win at all costs"? ...

Neuer missed a rare opportunity to do something noble in front of millions of people. He could have set a positive ethical example to people watching all over the world, including the many millions who are young and impressionable. Who knows what difference that example might have made to the lives of many of those watching. Neuer could have been a hero, standing up for what is right. Instead he is just another very skillful, cheating footballer."

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Good Charlotte - Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous.