Prestige or servanthood?

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Andrew's Wickford on Wednesday:

In our Gospel reading (Matthew 20. 17 – 28), James, John and their mother were all thinking of what they could get out of the movement that Jesus began. What they wanted was prestige and power by being elevated over all the other disciples to what they thought of as the position of influence at the right hand of Christ. Jesus turned their thinking about what is important and about prestige and power on its head. In the kingdom of God, service; thinking of and care for others is what counts, not personal advancement, position or power. What can I do for you, not what can I do for me!

Significant moments in our lives - such as involvement in the movement for renewal initiated by Jesus - bring our underlying attitudes and understandings into focus and, if we pay attention, can challenge us to change our way of thinking and acting. The recent challenge of the coronavirus epidemic was one such moment. In the pandemic the Bishop of St Albans offered 4 Golden Rules to add to what he felt was missing from the official advice coming from the Government.

Golden Rule One. Each one of us can think about how we can protect and support our neighbours. So much of the public rhetoric was sowing fear about the danger of other people. So, he said, take all the official precautions, offer help and reassurance to others – and don’t demonise anyone or any group.

Golden Rule Two: Think about who may be suffering more than me. For those of us who are healthy there is much less to worry about but the elderly, the housebound and those with chronic health conditions may be very anxious.

Golden Rule Three. Don’t give into panic and start hoarding food. There is plenty to go around, so practise the Christian discipline of sharing. Ask your neighbours what they need and do your best to help them get it.

Golden Rule Four. Live today to the full. None of us ever know what the future holds. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6. 25 – 34), Jesus challenged his followers to live each day fully and not be afraid. Every time we are tempted to give in to fear we need to make a conscious choice to respond in trust and openness.

Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, in his statement on the coronavirus outbreak reminded us that: ‘Jesus came among us in the first place, to show us … how to live not simply as collections of individual self-interest, but how to live as the human family of God. That’s why he said love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself. Because in that is hope for all of us to be the human family of God.’ He then quoted several official statements, including the head of the World Health Organization saying, ‘This epidemic can be pushed back, but only with collective, coordinated, and comprehensive approach by us all,’ in order to make the point that ‘In each of those calls, and in the calls of many of our leaders, we have heard again and again, that we are in this together, we can walk through this together, and we will find our way in our life together.’

‘So look out for your neighbors, look out for each other. Look out for yourselves. Listen to those who have knowledge that can help to guide us medically and help to guide us socially. Do everything that we can to do this together, to respond to each other’s needs and to respond to our own needs.’

The pandemic brought the issue of whether we are living life for our own benefit and preferment or that of others into very sharp focus. Our Gospel reading, though, challenges us as to where we are in relation to these issues all the time, regardless of whether we are experiencing something as significant as the pandemic or not. Are we, like James and John, thinking of our reward or prestige and seeking to be privileged over others? Have we, like James and John, brought the values of the world into the kingdom of God and are we trying to follow Jesus for some form of personal gain?

The season of Lent is an opportunity for self-reflection on these issues and provides us with the possibility of aligning our thinking, values and deeds with those of Jesus as we become the servants of others; in order that we serve instead of being served and give our lives for the sake of others.

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U2 - Pride (In The Name Of Love).

What is mortal may be swallowed up by life

Here's the sermon that I preached at St Andrew’s Wickford this morning:

Imagine you were King or Queen for a day – what would you want to do with the power, fame and money you had?

We know well what Queen Elizabeth II did with that role and that opportunity. The new Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, in her 21st birthday broadcast from Capetown, on April 21, 1947, gave this message to the Empire:

“There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors – a noble motto, ‘I serve.’

Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the throne.

I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now; it is very simple.

I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great Imperial family, to which we all belong, but I shall not have the strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do. I know that your support will be unfailingly given.

God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.”

She chose to be the servant Queen and, with deep commitment, fulfilled that role throughout her life, which is why she is so loved by the people of this nation and so missed on her death.

Her prayer was that God would help her to make good that vow and it is to God that she turns for inspiration as she has sought to fulfil it. The Queen’s personal commitment to her role as monarch, and her service to the people of the United Kingdom, are grounded in a deep faith in Jesus Christ which is an inspiration to countless citizens of nation and Commonwealth. She has said that, for her, “the teachings of Christ” and her “own personal accountability before God provide a framework” in which she tries to lead her life (Queen and Country BBC1 08.05.02). She has said that: “For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace … is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role-model of reconciliation and forgiveness. He stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.”

In his sermon at St Paul’s Cathedral for the service celebrating the Diamond Jubilee, the 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.”

There can, therefore, be no better way for us to remember Queen Elizabeth with gratitude than to take this opportunity to dedicate ourselves anew to the service of God, and to seek the common good through love for our neighbours near and far. As the Archbishop suggested in his Diamond Jubilee sermon, we should seek “the rebirth of an energetic, generous spirit of dedication to the common good and the public service, the rebirth of the recognition that we live less than human lives if we think just of our own individual good.”

It's not always easy to serve and think of others consistently as the Queen sought to do. We know that there were times of great sadness and difficulty in her life when, no doubt, she found it more difficult to keep her promise to serve all those she reigned over. In our Psalm today we read, ‘My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth’ and in 1 Peter 4:9 we read, ‘If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides.’ The Queen spoke often about how she asked for God’s help in undertaking her highly important role. She knew that she needed great strength to be able to serve others in the way she had committed to. What can we learn from the Queen’s example, I wonder, in asking for God’s help?

In her 2011 Christmas Message she said:

“Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: 'Fear not', they urged, 'we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

'For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.'

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves - from our recklessness or our greed.

God sent into the world a unique person - neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God's love.

It is my prayer that … we might all find room in our lives … for the love of God through Christ our Lord.”

That is what we need, not just to live a life of service in the here and now, but also for a life in eternity together with God; that future life that Queen Elizabeth has now begun. We heard in our Gospel reading of Jesus saying that, ‘it is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.’ Jesus gathers up all that is Christ-like and life-giving about our lives and raises it again for eternity. In the Epistle we heard the hope that ‘what is mortal may be swallowed up by life’; the hope that the reality of our mortal life will be become part of the more than that is our eternal life. Then, in St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we read that faith, hope and love remain; in other words, they continue into eternity. Everything that we do of faith, hope and love in this life survives into eternity and our future life with God.

That what we believe about Queen Elizabeth and her willingness to be our Servant Queen; that she takes with her into eternity all that was Christ-like about her life of service. That also needs to be our response to her death and our reflection on her life; that we might dedicate ourselves anew to the service of God, and to seek the common good through love for our neighbours near and far, not just because it benefits our world and society, but also because it has eternal consequences as all that is of faith, hope and love about our lives will also go with us into eternity. As a result, we should re-dedicate ourselves to acts of faith, hope and love and to lives of service of others.

Queen Elizabeth provides us with a marvellous example of a life committed to the service of others. She also provides us with a marvellous example of trust in God for the strength we need to live that life of service. Finally, through both her trust and service, she shows us something of the nature of eternity where all that has been Christ-like and life-giving about our lives will be gathered up and amplified in our future life together with God. 

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Bill Fay - Love Will Remain.

Thought for the Week: The Servant King

Here's my Thought for the Week at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

The Servant King

The Jewish leaders jeered at Jesus: ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah [or King] whom God has chosen.’ The Roman soldiers mocked him: ‘Save yourself if you are the King of the Jews.’ One of the criminals hanging there alongside him hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Messiah [or King]? Save yourself and us!’ All of them were asking ‘What kind of King are you then? If you are a King then behave as we expect a King to behave.’ Their mockery came because Jesus did not look or behave as they expected a King to do.

This Sunday is the Feast of Christ the King when we celebrate Christ as a King who turns the notion of Kingship on its head; who is seen as King at the point when he is least powerful and most vulnerable – at his own death. In Philippians 2 we read of Jesus letting go – stripping himself – of everything which made him equal with God in order to become a human being like us in order to serve us and die for us. On Maundy Thursday we celebrate Jesus’ decision to become a servant to those he had created when we re-enact his washing of the disciples feet and his words that ‘You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am. I, your Lord and Teacher have just washed your feet.’ Jesus makes service of others the true vocation and measure of Kingship.

Jesus turns the meaning of Kingside upside down. No longer is Kingship to be understood in terms of garnering wealth and power for oneself in other to defend others. Now it is understood to be about service; giving your life that others might live. Jesus, as the servant King, says to us, ‘I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another’s feet. I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you.’

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King's X - King.

Servant and scapegoat

Here is the sermon which I preached at St Stephen Walbrook in today's Eucharist for Maundy Thursday. It will shortly be added to the London Internet Church website as an audio file.

In Philippians 2 we read that Christ Jesus, although “... he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.

This passage speaks of Jesus as slave and sacrifice or servant and scapegoat. We read of Jesus letting go – stripping himself – of everything which made him equal with God in order to become a human being like us in order to serve us. On Maundy Thursday, in particular, we celebrate Jesus’ decision to become a servant to those he had created when we remember his washing of the disciples’ feet and his words that ‘You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am. I, your Lord and Teacher have just washed your feet’ (John 13. 13 - 14). Jesus, our Lord and King, is also a servant. In fact, service of others is the true vocation and measure of Kingship.

More than this, his service of others, as their King, leads all the way to his death on the cross – the laying down of his own life for the sake of others. As Philippians 2 puts it, ‘He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death – his death on the cross.’ The true King lays down his own life for the love of his people (all people). Jesus is that true King who turns the meaning of Kingship upside down. No longer is Kingship to be understood in terms of garnering wealth and power for oneself in other to defend oneself from others. Now it is understood to be about service; giving your life that others might live. Jesus, as the servant King, says to us, ‘I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another’s feet. I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you’ (John 13. 13 - 14).

Robert K. Greenleaf, drawing no doubt on the teaching and example of Jesus, has written of the difference between those who aspire to leadership to satisfy their own personal ends and those who aspire to leadership in order to serve others. “The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first [leader] to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test … is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”

A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. Caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Jesus would have said it is the rock on which the kingdom of God is built.

As well as becoming a servant, Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus also becomes a sacrifice or scapegoat. René Girard writes that “Jesus’ ‘strategy’ as the ambassador from a loving, non-violent Father is to expose and render ineffective the scapegoat process so that the true face of God may be known … in the scapegoat, or Lamb of God, not the face of a persecuting deity.”

The scapegoat process is based on a kind of jealousy, but with a twist: we learn what is desirable by observing what others find desirable. Having ‘caught’ our desires from others, in a context of scarcity, everyone wants what only some can have (i.e. survival of the fittest). This results in a struggle to obtain what we want - which in turn produces a generalised antagonism towards the individual or group that seems to be responsible for this disappointment. Those people become our scapegoats and we seek to get rid of them in order to get what we want.

Girard writes that: “The desire that lives through imitation almost always leads to conflict, and this conflict frequently leads to violence. The Bible unveils this process of imitative desire leading to conflict, and its distinctive narratives reveal at the same time that God takes the part of victims. In the Gospels the process of unveiling or revelation is radicalized: God himself, the Word become flesh in Jesus, becomes the victim …” Christ is the ultimate scapegoat because, in him, God himself is scapegoated.

As a result, “The New Testament Gospels are the starting point for a new science or knowledge of humanity. This new knowledge begins with faith in Christ the innocent victim, and it becomes the leaven that will work itself out and expand to the point that the concern for victims becomes the absolute value in all societies molded or affected by the spread of Christianity.”

At the Last Supper Christ calls us to follow him in serving others, while his Crucifixion reveals the foolishness of scapegoating others and the necessity of concern for all who are victims.

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Leigh Nash - The Power Of The Cross.

Jesus and the Roman Officer: A commonality of practice

Jesus was surprised (Luke 7. 1 - 10). This is worthy of note because the Gospels only record two occasions when Jesus was said to have been surprised. Firstly, he was amazed that his own, hometown people rejected him, and secondly that this gentile officer accepted him.

There is much about this story and this officer that is surprising. We see his humility in that, although he is the local official of the ruling power, he says he is not worthy to have Jesus, an itinerant Jewish preacher, in his home. The local Jewish elders testify to his love of the Jewish people, to the extent that he himself had built a synagogue for the locals in Capernaum. As a result, the Jewish elders are prepared to advocate on his behalf. Then we read that his slave is ‘very dear’ to him. There is much about this man that is at odds with the general practice of those who have positions of power, particularly when the position of power held is that of an oppressive ruling elite.

So there was much about this man to which Jesus would respond warmly. The officer cares about others and he does so regardless of nationality, religion and class. In other words, his love of others enables him to cross boundaries between people. There is even the possibility (in the Greek word used of the slave) of a same-sex relationship existing between the officer and his servant!

The officer is an intercessor. He speaks on behalf of his servant and sends other intercessors (the Jewish elders) in his name who speak on his behalf. As a result, nothing is mentioned in the story about the servant who was healed having faith. It is the officer who had faith and stood in the gap for the servant by interceding for him.

His faith is seen in that he believes that Jesus will help his servant and doesn’t need to see or meet Jesus in order to do so. The Jewish elders didn’t think Jesus would help a gentile soldier unless they had proved that he was good to the Jews. Yet, in order to receive help from Jesus no good works are required. The Jewish elders want to prove to Jesus that the officer is worthy of Jesus’ help and yet, when a message comes from the officer himself, the message is that he is not worthy. His faith is seen in his trust that Jesus is someone who will act with compassion and love, not that he sees himself as good enough to earn that love. Jesus shows in this story that the only thing he is assessing is whether or not we have that kind of faith.

The officer understands Jesus’ ability to heal in terms of his being part of a chain of command in which he is able to issue orders and where what he orders occurs. The fact that Jesus commends the officer’s faith doesn’t mean that we then have to accept that the officer was right about Jesus being part of this chain of command. The story can be understood in that way and often has been, but what Jesus commends is the officer’s faith, not the means or logic by which he arrives at that faith.

Jesus continually taught that true leadership is shown through service. He reversed our common expectations about the way in which power should be held and exercised. The Roman officer, by caring about others and doing so regardless of nationality, religion and class, was actually living out in practice, to a significant extent, what Jesus was teaching to others. As faith without deeds is dead (James 2. 17), it may actually be the officer’s practice of servant leadership to which Jesus refers when he says, “I tell you, I have never found faith like this, not even in Israel!”

Like Jesus then, if we allow ourselves, we will be surprised by this story. In it, the gentile, the pagan, the one who does not believe in the God of Israel, the one who is the representative of the oppressive ruling power, the enemy, is the one who crosses boundaries of race, religion, class (and possibly also sexuality), to show real faith in practice. Despite the differences between them, this man and Jesus recognize a commonality of practice in each other. The officer says to Jesus you seem to be my real commanding officer and Jesus says to the officer I see real faith lived out in practice in you. In the synergy that exists between them the servant recovers and is found to be well once again.

In a time where a British soldier has been murdered by those claiming to act in defence of their faith and their people, and where others in our country have then responded with similar hatred and violence, we will do well to pay attention to the lessons of today’s Gospel reading. As the statement issued by the Faiths Forum for London about the Woolwich attack said, “We, as representatives of many of London’s faith communities, deplore the terrible attack that has taken place … in Woolwich … We pray for the victim of this attack and his family, and call for Londoners to stand together at this time. We will redouble our efforts to work for peace, love, understanding and hope.”

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The Holmes Brothers - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?

Public service and servant leadership

Yesterday I took the funeral of Marjorie Watson who had been awarded an MBE in 1997 for services to the Frank Knox Fellowships and to the Kennedy Memorial Trust.  The Kennedy Scholarship is an academic award for study at Harvard and MIT while The Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship programme provides funding for students from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to conduct graduate study at Harvard University.

A tribute made at the time she was awarded her MBE noted Marjorie's "extraordinary concern for the welfare of the young people despatched to Harvard and MIT under these programmes. Nothing was too much trouble for Marjorie and the friendships she made have endured deep into the professional lives of the former scholars. Miss Watson's work was her life."

Frances Cairncross, Rector of Exeter College Oxford, who, as a former Trustee of the KMT, had worked with Marjorie gave a tribute and I said the following:

People with a public service ethos wish to give something to the wider public or community through their work. Majorie was one of those people. Her work at the Kennedy Memorial Trust involved enabling others to take up scholarships to study in America. Many of those who were given these opportunities returned saying:

·        "The Scholarship was life transforming for me."

·        "It was a hugely enriching time socially and culturally and one that I will never forget"

·        "The Scholarship was... the catalyst to a career that has exceeded my wildest dreams."

·        "The Kennedy Scholarship has really meant the world to me."

Many have gone on to distinguish themselves in academia, public service, the professions, politics, the media, business and other varied careers. Majorie was among those who enabled that to happen for many of those scholars.

Robert K. Greenleaf, drawing no doubt on the teaching and example of Jesus, has written of the difference between those who aspire to leadership to satisfy their own personal ends and those who aspire to leadership in order to serve others.  “The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first [leader] to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test … is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”

A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.  Caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built.

Public service of this type characterized Marjorie’s working life and is, as Greenleaf suggests, the rock upon which a good society is built while Jesus suggests that it is also the rock upon which the kingdom of God is built.

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Lou Reed - The Day John Kennedy Died. 

Jubilee reflections (3)

Queen Elizabeth ll has reigned over the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth countries for 60 years. 2012 and the Diamond Jubilee brings about many opportunities to celebrate, focus and give thanks for her faithful, gracious and devoted service to the nations.

The origin of royal jubilees goes back thousands of years, with the first historical records of a Royal Jubilee taking place 3000 years before Christ in Egypt. The early Pharaohs of Egypt held national celebrations every 30 years of rulership.

Jubilee is also a constant theme throughout the Bible. The word ‘jubilee’ stems from the Hebrew word ‘Yobel’, which refers to the ram or ram’s horn with which jubilee years were proclaimed. In Leviticus it states that such a horn or trumpet is to be blown on the tenth day of the seventh month after the lapse of ‘seven Sabbaths of years’ (49 years) as a proclamation of liberty through- out the land of the tribes of Israel. The year of jubilee was a consecrated year of ‘Sabbath-rest’ and liberty. During this year all debts were cancelled, lands were restored to their original owners and family members were restored to one another.

The year of jubilee was also central to the ministry of Jesus. After Jesus had been baptised by John and the Holy Spirit sent him into the desert to be tempted by the devil; Jesus called his first disciples to follow him. His teaching had begun. He went into the synagogue and amazed the people with his teaching, because he taught with such authority yet didn’t have the royal robes, orbs or jewels which granted authority from Kings and Queens, the rulers of the day. No other power or authority can compete with his power and authority.

The people had never heard anything like this before. What Jesus was saying and how he was saying it was astonishing. They had heard teachers talk of the law before but this was something so amazing that they were in awe. Jesus was in another league because he claimed to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 61:1–2. Jesus stated that he had come to ‘proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:18–19 TNIV). This is the year of jubilee and this is THE example for all leader's to follow.

So, as the Churches Together in England President’s have said, “There can be no better way for the Christian Churches to celebrate the Jubilee than to take the opportunity to dedicate themselves anew to the service of God, and to seek the common good through love for their neighbours near and far.”

The Queen’s personal commitment to her role as monarch, and her service to the people of the United Kingdom, are grounded in a deep faith in Jesus Christ which is an inspiration to countless citizens of nation and Commonwealth. She has said that, for her, “the teachings of Christ” and her “own personal accountability before God provide a framework” in which she tries to lead her life. (Queen and Country BBC1 08.05.02)

Her coronation also made it clear that, as Queen, her first responsibility is to God. In the coronation service she was set apart or consecrated by an Act of Anointing with the words ‘as kings, priests and prophets were anointed’. This is based on the scriptural account of Samuel anointing Saul king in 1 Samuel 10v1, 24, 11v14.

Anointing in the Old Testament was always for a specific person and for a particular role e.g. Prophets (1 Kings 19:16), Priests (Exodus 40:13) or Kings (1 Samuel 16:13). As with the Queen, ordinary people were anointed for extra-ordinary service.

This Old Testament principle flowed into the New Testament, where an anointing for service was extended to all of Jesus’ followers. Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2) was fulfilled in Acts. God’s anointing – the Holy Spirit – falls on every generation, young and old, sons and daughters… so ordinary people such as you and I can have the Holy Spirit at work in our lives to give us the power to serve in today’s world.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus explains what it means to be anointed to serve: the power of the Holy Spirit has been given to us to enable us to fulfil Jesus’ ministry to the ends of the earth. As Christians, we have received the Holy Spirit so that we can live in the power of the Holy Spirit: righteousness, joy, peace and hope for our broken world all overflow from this anointing (Romans 14:17 and 15:13).

So, to receive the anointing, by faith we need to acknowledge the sacrifice Jesus has made on the cross for our sins. We then have the privilege of the indwelling Holy Spirit enabling us to live out Jesus’ ministry in Christian service.

In conclusion, and in application, we need to understand that we are ordinary people but have been anointed for an extra-ordinary ministry that we receive by faith, in simple trust. As a result we know the joy, power and presence of the Holy Spirit overflowing from our lives.

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is a great moment in the life of this country. We celebrate together the life of someone who is clearly very special. She has a special job, is given special powers and has special tools and clothes. Looking at the old film footage of the coronation, I can’t begin to imagine how she must have felt – it was almost as if she was the most important person in the world. But as a Christian I am reminded that this is exactly how God feels about each one of us. I believe that God has made each one of us and that we each have a unique part to play in our community. We all have gifts and talents that can make a difference to those around us. We are valued equally because we are loved equally – I know that because I believe that Jesus came to show that through his life, death and resurrection.

So when you leave this church this morning remember you leave as Kings and Queens, truly special people with a special job to do.

Our special job is to be the servant of others just as Jesus has been servant to us. That is actually also the job of the Queen, she is to be the servant of the people. The new Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, in her 21st birthday broadcast from Capetown, on April 21, 1947, gave this message to the Empire:

“There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors – a noble motto, ‘I serve.’

Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the throne.

I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now; it is very simple.

I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great Imperial family, to which we all belong, but I shall not have the strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do. I know that your support will be unfailingly given.

God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.”

Again we are brought back to the words of the CTE President’s, “There can be no better way for the Christian Churches to celebrate the Jubilee than to take the opportunity to dedicate themselves anew to the service of God, and to seek the common good through love for their neighbours near and far.”
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Delirious? - Majesty.

The Good Samaritan

“In a pastoral society like ancient Israel, sheep and shepherds were used to describe the relationship of God with his people: ‘the Lord is my shepherd’ and ‘we are his people, the sheep of his pasture’ (Pss 23:1; 100:3)” (Richard A. Burridge, John). In Ezekiel 34. 15 - 16 God says, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest … I will look for those that are lost, bring back those that wander off, bandage those that are hurt, and heal those that are sick.”

In Jesus’ time, sheep were very important as they provided both food and clothing. Shepherd’s had to have a nomadic lifestyle because of the available pasture. They had to travel with their sheep from one region to another as the seasons changed. This created the close relationship between sheep and shepherd that we hear Jesus describing and using in this reading:

“The Shepherd cares for his sheep, calls them by name, leads them to pasture and water, finds shelter for them in inclement weather, defends them against bandits and wolves, and willingly lays down his life for them. The sheep have great confidence in the shepherd. They recognize his voice, obey his commands, and they follow wherever he leads them” (http://www.frksj.org/homily_the_good_shepherd.htm).

This is why the “image of Shepherd stood out in a special way in the minds of the early Christians. In the very first Christian cemeteries and worship places we find crude but definite artistic expressions of the depth and meaning this particular image had for Christians in the very first century of the Church's history. Images of Jesus as the Good Shepherd appear on the walls of the earliest churches and often as decorations on the tombs of Christian martyrs” (http://frcharliehughes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/blog-184-good-shepherd.html). So, the early Christian community cherished the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

“The word “good” (kalos …) means first and foremost beautiful – the good shepherd is attractive. At the same time he is good at his work. So this attractive and very skilled shepherd draws us to himself and is able to provide accurately for our needs” (Stephen Verney, Water into Wine)

The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep:

“The word “life” (psychē …) is impossible to translate by any one English word. The psychē means the self, or the ego, or the soul. It can be the centre of our earthly life, or the centre of our supernatural life. If the shepherd lays down his psychē for the sheep he is offering them this centre of his inner life, in all its varied aspects …

It might mean that the attractive and skilful shepherd puts the whole of his mind and heart at the disposal of the sheep, through lambing time and shearing time, through summer days in the high mountains and through the cold winter days when food is scarce. Or it might mean that his skilled shepherding reaches this climax, that he is ready to lay down his earthly life to protect the sheep if they are attacked by wolves. Or it might mean, looking into the heart of the shepherd Jesus, that he lays aside his ego self for the sake of the sheep, and seeking their well-being rather than his own he receives from the Father his true Self” (Verney).

In whichever of these three ways or in all three together, the shepherd gives his own life so that the sheep can receive the superabundant life of God himself. Lesslie Newbigin writes that:

“Here is the unmistakable criterion by which true leadership is to be distinguished from false. We are familiar with the kind of leadership which is simply a vast overextension of the ego. The ultimate goal – whether openly acknowledged or not – is the glory of the leader. The rest are instrumental to this end. He does not love them but makes use of them for his own ends. He is a hireling – in the business of leadership for what he can get out it.

By contrast the mark of the true leader is that of the cross” (The Light Has Come).

The mark of the true leader then is courage. Courage, in the sense described by G. K. Chesterton who said, “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of a readiness to die.” Literally speaking, courage comes from the Latin ‘cor,’ meaning heart. So when we open up to any experience fully, with courage — our whole heart — it naturally opens us up to a deep love. The Argentinian musician Facundo Cabral said, “If you are filled with love, you can’t have fear, because love is courage.” This seems to be another way of saying that perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4. 18) and it must be love of us that enables Jesus to talk so freely, as the Good Shepherd, of laying down his life for us, his sheep.

“Jesus …is the good shepherd, who knows his own sheep as they know him (10:14). Shepherds called their sheep out of the fold by their names and the flock followed their voice (10:3-4). The Greek word for church literally means ‘called out’, ec-clesia, from which all our ‘ecclesiastical’ words are derived. Jesus’ knowledge of his sheep is rooted in his knowledge of his Father and his Father knowing him as his Son” (Burridge)

“… the Son can do nothing of himself, but he simply looks at the Father and whatever he sees the Father doing so he does too … the Father holds back nothing for himself but gives everything to the Son.

So it is, says Jesus, between the Good Shepherd and his sheep – between me and mine, and mine and me. They are in my heart, and there I see them in all their human ambiguity. I see what they are and what they can be, and I give myself to them. And I am in their hearts …

That is how the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and how they know him. They do not simply know about him, or pass examinations in theology, or even read books about John’s gospel. They know him in their personal experience” (Verney).

“What is more, God’s love is universal, so the shepherd must also be concerned for ‘other sheep … not of this fold’, who will also hear his voice and be brought together into one flock (10:16)” (Burridge). Immediately before speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd there has been an incident where a blind man who had been healed by Jesus is rejected by the religious leaders and thrown out. What Jesus says here, about what he offers not being for a little exclusive group but for the whole human race, is in direct contrast “to the religious leaders’ concern to maintain their pure group and throw the blind man out.”      

“As we move towards the Passion, the inevitable result of his clash with the authorities, Jesus emphasizes that he lays down his life willingly, out of sheer love for his people, a love which flows even from the heart of God (10:17-18).

This is a challenge to all involved in the pastoral care of God’s people. It takes time and effort to know everyone individually, even as God knows us, and caring for them as Christ laid down his life for us may demand the ultimate sacrifice. The ordination charge for priests in the Church of England says ‘as servant and shepherd … set the Good Shepherd always before you as the pattern of your calling … to search for his children the wilderness of this world’s temptations … the treasure now to be entrusted to you is Christ’s own flock’. This is true whether we are an Archbishop or a bible study group leader, a minister or just visiting an elderly person around the corner – we love others as the good shepherd loves us.”

As Lesslie Newbigin writes, “This is the way for all humankind, and to follow this way is to learn the only true leadership.”
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Keith Green - The Lord Is My Shepherd.

Guidance for future ministry

This morning I preached at St Albans Ilford, at the invitation of Fr. Stuart Halstead with whom I trained at NTMTC. It is good, having shared aspects of training together, to then be able to share aspects of ministry together within the same Deanery:

Am I in the right place? Following the right path? In the right work? What is God’s will for my life? What is my vocation? These are just some of the questions prompted by Matthew 4. 12-23, as we read of Jesus, those who heard him, and his first disciples all making key decisions about their future direction of travel. Hopefully, we shall see some of the factors which play a part in their decision making.

Jesus hears that John the Baptist is no longer able to continue his public ministry because he has been imprisoned. As John was his predecessor, the one who was preparing the way for Jesus' own ministry, Jesus judges that the time is now right for his ministry to begin. So circumstances seem to provide the trigger or opportunity for Jesus’ ministry to begin and can play a part in our lives too. Jesus seemed able to read circumstances well, we not always able to do that as well as he did and sometimes only understand what was happening to us at the time when we look back.

As a teenager, I didn’t get the grades needed to get into University and felt like dropping out of education altogether. I was persuaded to go through clearing however and got a place at Middlesex Polytechnic, so came to London instead of Leicester, where I’d been intending to study. As I was applying late, there was no accommodation available in Halls and so I had to find somewhere to live off site. Once I’d settled in, I started going to the Parish Church which was where I met Christine, who became my wife. I thought at the time that doing less well in my A levels was a disaster, but without that happening I would not have had the marriage and family that I now have. I was being led through circumstances to something wonderful but had no idea that that was the case at the time.

While circumstances played a part, Jesus also allowed scripture to shape the form that his ministry would take. The Gospel writer includes a quote from Isaiah 9, a passage which is often read at Christmas, to explain what Jesus was doing. A key theme of the prophecies collected in Isaiah is that of Israel as God’s servant. Jesus takes this servant role assigned to Israel in prophecy as his ministry template or job description and so, guided by scripture, he chose to begin his ministry in Galilee.

We can also base our lives and ministry on a template or job description. Our template is Jesus himself - so, for example, the letter to the Philippians talks about knowing Christ in order to become like him. Christlikeness should be our goal as Christians; not that we ever attain in this life. Our job description is essentially Jesus’ own manifesto taken from the Book of Isaiah and read at Nazareth near the beginning of his ministry: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to … bring good news to the poor … proclaim liberty to the captives … recovery of sight to the blind … set free the oppressed … and announce that the time for salvation has come.

Jesus’ message to those who listened to his preaching was that Israel was on the wrong path and must turn around and move in the opposite direction. Tom Wright writes that, “Jesus believed that his contemporaries were going in the wrong direction. They were bent on revolution of the standard kind: military resistance to occupying forces, leading to a takeover of power … The problem with all these movements was that they were fighting darkness with darkness, and Israel was called - and Jesus was called - to bring God’s light into the world. That’s why Matthew hooks up Jesus’ early preaching with the prophecy of Isaiah that spoke about people in the dark being dazzled by a sudden light … Jesus could see that the standard kind of revolution, fighting and killing in order to put an end to … fighting and killing, was a nonsense. Doing it in God’s name was a blasphemous nonsense.

But the trouble was that many of his contemporaries were eager to get on with the fight. His message of repentance was not, therefore, that they should feel sorry for personal and private sins (though he would of course want that as well), but that as a nation they should stop rushing towards the cliff edge of violent revolution, and instead go the other way, towards God’s kingdom of light and peace and healing and forgiveness, for themselves and for the world.”

What do we as a nation need to turn away from in order to turn towards God? William Butler, chief economist at the investment banking giant Citigroup, has been quoted as saying that we have lived beyond our means year after year and the nation collectively has to consume less while Janice Turner has argued that consumerism has become like a religion to us leading us to believe that living standards would keep being upgraded like mobile phones. Can we as a nation stop rushing towards the cliff edge of consumerism, and instead go the other way, towards God’s kingdom of light and peace and healing and forgiveness?

Maybe, if we catch once again a vision of Jesus as he really is, we can. The integration of Jesus' message with his personality and actions was so attractive for his first disciples that they left their livelihoods to be with him doing the things that he did and becoming part of his mission bringing the rule of love in the kingdom of God. Why did they give up the security which they had to follow a wandering preacher? “The answer can only be in Jesus himself, and in the astonishing magnetism of his presence and personality. This can be known and felt today, as we meditate on the stories about him and pray to know him better, just as the first disciples knew and felt his presence 2,000 years ago.”

So, are we able to demonstrate in some way the kingdom of God where we work or live? Is what we do currently contributing to the coming of Jesus' revolution of love? Do we need to turn around and leave what we are currently engaged with in order that we might be engaged with the kingdom of God or do we need to listen to circumstances and scripture in order to understand how to live under the rule of love in the place where we are right now?

These are just some the questions which arise from the varying ways in which see Jesus, his disciples, and those who heard his preaching, making decisions about their future direction in life. Lead us, Lord, in your ways that we may live under your rule of love revealing your kingdom where we live and work. Amen.

An edited version of this sermon can also be found on the website of Mission in London's Economy as the Gospel Reflection for Sunday 23rd January 2011.

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King's X - Send A Message.

Faith-based leadership models (4)

Humility

Islam discourages the practice of seeking leadership; if a person desires it for power and glory rather than serving the people by implementing the divine laws, he is not fit to occupy it. In a well-known Hadith, the Prophet has said that he who seeks leadership is not fit to assume it.

A Muslim leader should restrain from behaving unjustly — whether to community members, to customers, to suppliers or to anybody else. Muslims believe that a leader with a firm faith (iman) will not get out of responsibility for his actions, and will continuously emphasize good deeds.

In Islam a leader must be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards those whom he leads. A leader must also consult the people before taking a decision but once a decision has been made no weakness is shown and the policy be pursued with single-mindedness of purpose, determination and courage. The leader, however, must first articulate the vision and demonstrate the ability to turn it into action by aligning performance with vision to create a climate of success for the realization of the stated goal.

In summary the qualities for leadership in Islam are: knowledge and hikmah (wisdom, insight); taqwa (love and fear of Allah); ‘adl (justice) and rahmah (compassion); courage and bravery; shura (mutual consultation); decisiveness and being resolute; eloquence; a spirit of self-sacrifice; and sabr (patience).

Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, has written of the way in which the “wisest is not one who knows himself wiser than others: he is one who knows all men have some share of wisdom and is willing to learn from them, for none of us knows all the truth and each of us knows some of it.”
Sacks has written about argument, debate and conversation as being a fundamental aspect of Judaism. He argues that this is because Judaism is “an attempt to do justice to the fact that there is more than one point of view; more than one truth.” :

“Judaism gives dignity to the multiple perspectives from which we perceive reality and, most importantly, it says that the truth is not only as it appears to God looking down from heaven. Truth is also how it seems to us down here on earth. And the only ways we can handle that are either by having a dialogue and conversation, or by having different perspectives at different times.”

Sacks argues that, “we must learn the art of conversation, from which truth emerges not, as in Socratic dialogues, by the refutation of falsehood but from the quite different process of letting our world be enlarged by the presence of others who think, act, and interpret reality in ways radically different from our own.”

Hinduism contains similar resources for peaceful coexistence between those holding differing views. Jay Lakhani has spoken of the way in which the Hindu understanding of pluralism holds potential for resolving interfaith conflicts. Lakhani suggests that pluralism “says that the same ultimate reality called God can be thought of and approached in different ways.” The difference comes because each of us are different, coming from different backgrounds and inspired by different prophets and scriptures. No religion can claim absolute truth because by making that claim the religion would be claiming to be absolute as God is absolute. Therefore, each religion must always be less than the Absolute. As Hindu teaching states, “At best even the most esoteric religions can only offer a ‘perception of the Absolute’ – but never the Absolute.”

Lakhani suggests that on this basis we can simply say, “Your prophets and scriptures suit you and are best for you, my prophets and scriptures are fine for my purposes so why threaten or feel threatened by each other?” He suggests that true leadership involves the humble recognition of the necessary limitations of what we perceive as absolute.

Service

A servant style of leadership is fundamental to Christian teaching because of the example understood to be set by Jesus Christ in washing the feet of his disciples and in laying down his life for humanity. A servant style of leadership reverses the pyramid of hierarchy in an organisation by suggesting that frontline staff are those who are most important in the organisation (“the first shall be last and the last first”) because they are the people who actually deal with customers and that the role of managers/leaders is to serve these people by properly resourcing them for their work.

For Christians, the primary reason for adopting this style of leadership is that it was the approach of Jesus, the pattern for both his life and death: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” As a result, for Christians there should be a radical rejection of hierarchical power that creates dependence and patronage in favour of a servant style of leadership.

Servant styles of leadership are found in other faith traditions too. From the Buddhist tradition comes the example of the Emperor Aśoka, a great ruler of the Maurya dynasty who lived about 200 years after the Buddha. Initially, like his father before him, Aśoka expanded his kingdom but his sorrow at the slaughter involved in conquest led him, through his understanding of Buddhist beliefs, to turn towards the service of those he governed and to the upholding of their welfare. H.G. Wells wrote, in The Outline of History, that:

“Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the pages of history … their majesties and graciousnesses and serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name Aśoka shines, and shines almost alone, a star.”

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U2 - Peace On Earth (Remix).