Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome

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

Hospitality is a bedrock of cultures and countries across the Middle East. Everywhere travellers go in the Middle East, they are overwhelmed by hospitality. This culture derives in part from the experience of nomadic peoples in desert landscapes where one had to travel significant distances to find water. To refuse travellers refreshment in such places would have been to let them die which would have threatened the openhandedness that nomadic peoples must depend on to survive. For Jews, Christians and Muslims, the story of Abraham receiving three travellers who turned out to be divine was key, as he was seen to have entertained angels unawares. This story is then contrasted with the sinful response of the people of Sodom to the same three travellers; instead of offering hospitality, the people of Sodom seek to abuse them.

The rabbis teach that Abraham left off a discussion with God to greet these guests when they arrived at his camp. He ran to greet them during the hottest day on record and served them the best food he could put together. Based on this example, the rabbis say that taking care of guests is greater than receiving the divine presence. The fundamental wickedness of Sodom was their hostility to vulnerable strangers and the violence they enacted on the innocent. The people of Sodom had a moral responsibility to offer protection and hospitality to vulnerable strangers, as all the ancient laws of the East demanded, and they stand in scripture as an example of extreme wickedness because they attacked and abused those they should have protected.

Jesus called his 12 disciples to an itinerant ministry which involved going ahead of him to prepare people for his coming and his message. As a result, they took nothing unnecessary with them, they weren’t distracted by small talk along the way, and they welcomed hospitality when they received it but simply moved on to the next place and the next person whenever they were not made welcome. We’ve been listening to and reflecting on the instructions Jesus gave to his disciples in our Gospel readings for the past couple of weeks (Matthew 10). This passage (Matthew 10.40-42) comes as the conclusion to Jesus’ teaching. His concluding words are all about the importance of welcome and they are, therefore, based on Middle-Eastern understandings of hospitality.

Before the disciples go Jesus warns that those who fail to welcome them are not only turning God’s messengers away from their homes and lives but God himself too. As he says, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” and earlier, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” When the disciples return to him, he rejoices at the welcome which they have received and the sense that the Gospel has been received from “the diverse and motley group he has chosen as his associates.”

The emphasis in these passages is on the hospitality provided by others to Jesus’ disciples. We tend to think of ourselves as being called like them to take the good news of Jesus to others, so we naturally identify ourselves with the disciples in the passage and think about the response we receive from others when they know that we are Christians. But to really get the force and challenge of what Jesus is saying in this passage we have to put ourselves in the shoes of those the disciples went to and ask ourselves how well do we receive others? The challenge in this passage is about the quality of the welcome provided to others. The great sin here is to be inhospitable and to be inhospitable is actually to reject the divine in our lives.

So, how do we rate on that basis? We think of ourselves as a friendly, welcoming church but it’s important not rest on our laurels and instead ask ourselves how we can be more welcoming, more hospitable to those who come for the first time and those that we don’t know well. When we are here in church, let us make those people our priority, always seeking to speak first to those we don’t know, don’t know well or haven’t spoken to for some time.

Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York has written: "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."

We get six mentions of welcome in the three verses that form today’s short reading which suggests the importance that welcome of others held for Jesus. We see this, too, in his teaching that we should love our enemies and bless those that curse us. We see it in his statement that those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked and visit those in prison are doing those things to Jesus himself. We see it, too, in his concern to be with those who were excluded from worship and society; those with disabilities, tax collectors, publicans, prostitutes and others. In Jesus, God became one with those who are rejected by others, but the rejected one became the cornerstone of our faith. The experience of Jesus provides a model for ministry. In Jesus, we see that God is most clearly seen among those who are marginalised or rejected (whether by Church or state) and, therefore, those on the edge are the gifts from God which have the most potential to renew us.

Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields says: ‘In his crucifixion [Jesus] was rejected by the builders – yet in his resurrection he became the cornerstone of forgiveness and eternal life. That’s what ministry and mission are all about – not condescendingly making welcome alienated strangers, but seeking out the rejected precisely because they are the energy and the life-force that will transform us all. Every minister, every missionary, every evangelist, every disciple should have these words over their desk, their windscreen, on their screensaver, in the photo section of their wallet, wherever they see it all the time – the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. If you’re looking for where the future church is coming from, look at what the church and society has so blithely rejected. The life of the church is about constantly recognising the sin of how much we have rejected, and celebrating the grace that God gives us back what we once rejected to become the cornerstone of our lives. That’s what prophetic ministry means.’

Whoever welcomes, welcomes Jesus and welcomes God. If we truly want to see and hear God, then all we need to do is to welcome those we encounter as we will see the face of God in them. God calls us not just to be those who follow him but also to be those sent out to prepare the way for him to come into the lives of others and challenges us, too, to be those who are always welcoming, always hospitable towards others.

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Little Richard - Great Gosh A'Mighty.

The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) exhibition

 

The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) art exhibition which has been at St Andrew's Wickford will next be shown at St Paul's Church, New Southgate, from Friday 28 April to Thursday 4 May.

The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) is an image in charcoal of the Last Supper by Revd Alan Stewart, which includes the central character of a visually impaired Jesus, surrounded by twelve people of differing ages, backgrounds and abilities. At the table, an empty chair invites the viewer to find themselves at the table.

The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) has been commissioned by Celia Webster, Co-Founder of Wave (We’re All Valued Equally), as part of a project in which it seeds other images of the Last Supper that are truly for everyone. Schools, churches and community groups are being invited as part of this project to create their own images of welcome and belonging.

The exhibition includes additional images of welcome and belonging created by: WAVE (We are All Valued Equally); St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Muswell Hill; St Paul's CE Primary School in Barnet and Wickford Church of England School. The exhibition at St Paul's sees an additional piece - 'Me, Myself and I - God's Children' - by St Paul's Primary School N11 join the exhibition.

Photographs of the WAVE Church Last Supper were taken by Maria de Fatima Campos.

Pupils in year 1 and 2 at St Paul’s CofE School in Friern Barnet created their work with their amazing art teacher, Dimple Sthalekar. The work shows how we begin as roots and then grow. The leaves of the tree are multi-coloured and moveable to show how we can move into different spaces and communities. St Paul's is a hugely welcoming and inclusive school that welcomes children from all backgrounds and faiths and uses the medium of art to convey this.

St Mary's Catholic Primary School focused their piece on the empty chair included in Alan Stewart’s drawing. Pupils in Years 4 and 5 created ‘Take a Seat,’ a piece which uses the technique of mono-printing to create lots of empty chairs as an invitation for everyone to sit down and join the table. They began the project by talking about the empty chair and what it could mean. They also compared and contrasted it with the commissioned drawing to talk about difference and what forms that can take. Through the process, the children decided that the peace dove would make a good representation of god. The words around the dove invite us to take a seat, to unite us in love and community.

Alice Lucas, art teacher at Wickford Church of England School, helped everyone there make a special picture based on a rainbow and including images of pupils and staff to show that they all belong at the school.

The exhibition can be seen at St Paul's on Friday 28th, Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th April, and Thursday 4th May (see flyer above for times).

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Glen Hansard - Grace Beneath The Pines.

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.

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

Exhibition Viewing Evening: 'The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you)'

 

We shared a very special evening of reflection on the nature of welcome at Unveiled in St Andrew's Wickford tonight through deep and personal insights from Celia Webster, Revd Alan Stewart and Revd John Beauchamp. We also prepared a multi-sensory table of welcome as a special installation that was just for tonight's exhibition viewing evening.

Celia Webster says: “When our third little girl was born with learning disabilities my experience was of no longer fitting in, and of feeling that we didn’t belong anywhere. For me the piece is very moving. The young man leaning on Jesus’ shoulder reminds me of the trust my daughter seems to have in God (well, most of the time!) which often teaches and challenges me. The wounded Jesus reassures me that He is never a distant God and like any loving parent experiences his children’s hurt and suffering as his own. His vulnerability reflects the God that came as a vulnerable baby and then refugee and then victim of torture. It reminds me that, whilst sadly we Christians are a very poor advert for Christianity and can appear bigoted, racist, exclusive, homophobic and judgemental, Jesus is not like this. Jesus is the friend of the overlooked and those on the edge. He is the God of an upside-down Kingdom. However worthless, not good enough, whatever sense of failure we might feel, we are shown in this picture that our true identity is found in Jesus who just wants us to be close to him and love him and allow him to love and transform us!”

The artist, Revd Alan Stewart, intends that this Jesus challenges theological and Biblical imagery of blindness as sin or something to be cured. This is a Jesus who comes from a place of vulnerability, unaffected by the visual appearance of others. Responding to the image, a visually impaired friend of Alan’s has written “as a visually impaired person an image of Jesus who is like me makes me feel accepted … I wish my visual impairment would be cured. But I am glad that Jesus embraces it.”

Revd John Beauchamp, Diocesan Disability Ministry Enabler for the Diocese of London, writes that: “In this Last Supper the marginalised and excluded and devalued are invited to the table. Invited to be with Jesus. To sit and eat with Him. To find themselves with Him and recognise themselves in Him. To find that their embodiment is not a barrier but in fact their passport into the kingdom where all of our human diversity is redeemed and celebrated in a riot of joy and celebration.”

 
The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) exhibition is at St Andrew's Church (11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN) from 9 January until Easter. Do come and experience it for yourself. St Andrew’s Church is usually open: Saturdays from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm; Sundays from 9.30 am to 12.00 noon; Mondays from 1.30 to 3.45 pm; Tuesdays from 1.00 to 4.30 pm; and Wednesdays from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon. To arrange a visit with in-person audio description please contact Revd Jonathan Evens on tel: 07803 562329 or email: jonathan.evens@btinternet.com. See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information. 

The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) is an image in charcoal of the Last Supper by Revd Alan Stewart, which includes the central character of a visually impaired Jesus, surrounded by twelve people of differing ages, backgrounds and abilities. At the table, an empty chair invites the viewer to find themselves at the table.

The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) has been commissioned by Celia Webster, Co-Founder of Wave (We’re All Valued Equally), as part of a project in which it seeds other images of the Last Supper that are truly for everyone. Schools, churches and community groups are being invited as part of this project to create their own Last Supper images.

The exhibition includes additional Last Supper images created by: (Still) Calling from the Edge conference; WAVE (We are All Valued Equally); St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Muswell Hill; and St Paul's CE Primary School in Barnet.
 

The photographs of the WAVE Church Last Supper were taken by Maria de Fatima Campos.  Pupils in year 1 and 2 at St Paul’s CofE School in Friern Barnet created their work with their amazing art teacher, Dimple Sthalekar. The work shows how we begin as roots and then grow. The leaves of the tree are multi-coloured and moveable to show how we can move into different spaces and communities. St Paul's is a hugely welcoming and inclusive school that welcomes children from all backgrounds and faiths and uses the medium of art to convey this.

St Mary's Catholic Primary School focused their piece on the empty chair included in Alan Stewart’s drawing. Pupils in Years 4 and 5 created ‘Take a Seat,’ a piece which uses the technique of mono-printing to create lots of empty chairs as an invitation for everyone to sit down and join the table. They began the project by talking about the empty chair and what it could mean. They also compared and contrasted it with the commissioned drawing to talk about difference and what forms that can take. Through the process, the children decided that the peace dove would make a good representation of god. The words around the dove invite us to take a seat, to unite us in love and community.

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Linda Perhacs - I'm A Harmony.

Thought for the Week: Respair

I’ve written the Thought for the Week at St Martin-in-the-Fields this week:

Our HeartEdge friends at St John’s Waterloo have their annual Arts Festival in May and June before closing for a major restoration, their first since 1951. The Waterloo Festival celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, a “return of hope”, for which St John’s, badly damaged by a war-time bomb, was restored and made the official Festival Church. Now, as then, out of a period of crisis and loss comes a fresh determination to make the world a better place.

The Festival is called Respair, the return of hope after a period of despair, a word that fell out of use many centuries ago but one they are reviving as we celebrate the brighter future that vaccines will bring and the rebirth of real-life creativity and shared experience.

Among the stories of hope being shared is that of Jewish émigré artists who used Christian iconography, worked for the Church and contributed to cultural life in post-war Britain. Hans Feibusch, for one, arrived in the UK in the 1930’s and received church commissions which enabled him to survive and thrive. He painted two magnificent murals at St John’s and came to be responsible for more murals in Church of England churches than any other artist in its entire history.

This is a story of effective interfaith dialogue and enjoyment of others' creativity. It is a story where the Church is at the heart of welcome and hospitality combined with awareness of the immense contribution that refugees make to the culture and economy of the countries to which they travel. If it becomes a story we can reinhabit as a nation, then we will know respair.

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Leonard Cohen - It Seemed The Better Way.

Whoever welcomes children, welcomes me

Here's the reflection that I shared during today's lunchtime Eucharist for St Martin-in-the-Fields:

Jesus said, let the little children come to me, do not hinder or harm them, whoever welcomes children welcomes me and the one who sent me, the kingdom of heaven belongs to children, and anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

Nicola Ravenscroft is a sculptor who is part of our congregation. She has a sculpture installation featuring seven lifesize bronze children, one from every continent on Earth. She sees her calling as an artist being to do what Jesus taught to welcome children and receive like children. She writes: ‘I am visionary, sculptor, mother to many, and grandmother to even more. I breathe life into life. I see a resilient and beautiful future for our children and their Earth, I hear their conversation, and I feel the pulse of a new understanding.

What is it about children that Jesus wanted us to imitate? What is that Nicola hears as she listens to children? ‘Creative, inquisitive and trusting, children are Earth’s possibility thinkers. They seek out, and flourish in fellowship, in “oneness”, and being naturally open-hearted, and wide-eyed hungry for mystery, delight and wonder, they embrace diversity with what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks so elegantly describes as the “Dignity of Difference”.’ It is, she says, ‘this life-giving, transformative gift in our children’ that feeds the unquenchable fire in her artist-heart; which inspires and gives her hope.

In words taken from the novelist Joseph Conrad, her urgent prayer is that the children she has sculpted, ‘shall awaken in the hearts of the beholders, that feeling of unavoidable solidarity: of the solidarity in mysterious origin, in toil, in joy, in hope, in uncertain fate, which binds all men to each other, and all mankind to the visible world.’ Her sculpture installation ‘calls us to unite, and invites us collectively, and with visceral response, to consider the fragile future of planet Earth.’

In a poem called ‘Sweet Breath of Life’ she writes about the installation saying:

It represents a world,
our world in seven little earthling children,
made from spirit, love and stardust,
gentle ..
spilling out in hope,
vulnerable yet strong:

Earth’s messengers
calling us to hear their urgent birthright-cry,
poised ..

and leaning
on tomorrow’s cutting edge.

these children are my artist-voice:
they are the voice of Earth,
and yours.

They challenge us to look at life
with a fresh sense of possibility.

These children are themselves a tender pleading ..
they plead for you, for me, for us all to work together,
and so achieve in oneness what we can’t achieve alone:

they challenge us to wear that “dignity of difference”,
bravely,
and so to find solutions,

and they challenge us to do whatever it requires
to learn Earth’s subtle language,
and to speak her truth:
as it is thus,
as one, we shall secure that precious gift,
that sweetest breath of Earth ..
our children’s future.

This is what is there at the heart of children – an innocent trust in one another – which is quickly lost, but which we need to regain if we are to unite and find solidarity in mysterious origin. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child leading them. Isaiah also said that to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Jesus is the little child who can lead us into peace as we welcome children and receive like children.

Nicola’s seven lifesize bronze children, one from every continent on Earth:

hesitate in time,
leaning forward, hopeful,
poised to dive,
eyes closed, dreaming into their future,
anticipating things unseen:

a little child shall lead

trusting feet, plump and bare,
remind us of our duty of care
to life, to love, to planet Earth

they stand together, peacefully, as friends,
vulnerable and strong,
silently singing out to us
their call to change.

Will we hear their call? Will we welcome them and what they have to say to us? Will we receive like children remembering our duty of care to life, to love, to planet Earth? Earth’s children are life’s heartbeat: they are her hope, her future .. they are breath of Earth herself. Amen.

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Whitney Houston - Greatest Love Of All.

The Black & White World of the Law vs the Colourful World of Love

Here is my sermon from today's Ash Wednesday Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook:

John 8. 1 - 11 is a story in which the accusers of the woman caught in adultery are shown as living in the black and white world of the Law. In the black and white world of the Law, everything is clear and everything is simple. “This woman,” they say, “was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death.” If you do wrong then you are punished. No consideration of circumstances or motivations, no compassion for a fellow human being, no opportunity for restoration or rehabilitation, and no equality, because in this story it is the woman, not the man, who has been brought from the very act of adultery to be tried.

In the black and white world of the Law, there we find no consideration, no compassion, no restoration, no equality. The black and white world of the Law has no colour because it has no nuances, no distinctions, no difference, no variation. People often like to live in the black and white world of the Law because everything is easy to understand and easy to put into practice - no wrestling with difficulty and no struggling with conscience - but it is also a harsh world without understanding, without compassion, without forgiveness.

The hands of the accusers point away from themselves towards the woman. This is our common response as human beings to our own fallibility and failure. Instead of acknowledging our own shortcoming we attempt to distract attention away from our selves by identifying a scapegoat and angrily pointing out that person’s many failings. We are often very successful in covering up our own shortcomings when we adopt this tactic but the reality is that we are being hypocritical.

By bending down and writing in the sand with his finger, Jesus creates a pause that is pregnant with the possibility of other points of view, other perspectives, other understanding. When the simplistic rush to condemnation is halted, other questions immediately arise to muddy the waters which had initially seemed crystal clear; what would be the compassionate response, the restorative response, the forgiving response?

The words which follow this act of writing in the sand, “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her,” are words which undermine the black and white world of the Law by revealing the hypocrisy at its heart. The reality is that each one of us has broken the Law and each one of us are sinners. If that is so, on what basis can one sinner presume to judge or condemn another? To do so is a gross act of hypocrisy which multiplies one sin upon another.

Jesus and the woman by contrast live in a world of love. They live in a world without condemnation – “Is there no one left to condemn you?” Jesus asks the woman. “No one, sir,” she answers. “Well, then,” Jesus says, “I do not condemn you either.” They live in a world where second chances and fresh starts are available – “Go,” says Jesus, “but do not sin again.” This world of Love is a world where nuances exist, difference is recognized, and variation is understood. Therefore choices and chances exist which simply did not occur in the black and white world of the Law; in the world of Love a multitude of sins are covered over (1 Peter 4. 8).

What does all this have to do with Ash Wednesday? As the sign of the cross is marked in ash on your forehead, these words are said: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” In this service, therefore, we acknowledge both our sinfulness and our mortality recognising the link between the two – the wages of sin are death.

The ash mark on our forehead is a public acknowledgement of our sinfulness but, because it is formed as a cross, it is also a sign of the forgiveness we have received. We are saying that we no longer live in the black and white world of the Law where sin automatically leads to death. Instead, like the woman caught in adultery, we have been accepted and welcomed into the world of Love by Jesus himself.

He says to us what he said to that woman, “I do not condemn you … Go, but do not sin again.” Those words are spoken to us all whether we were the accused or whether we were those who accused others. Whichever we may be, we are called to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

This Lent we have the opportunity to explore this in practice as we are showing crucifixion drawings by the artist Francis Bacon. Bacon was an atheist, whose lifestyle was promiscuous in many ways. It would be easy to criticise him and his crucifixion images and yet through his reflections, over many years, on the crucifixion there is much for us to see and appreciate, disturbing as his images may be. Our Lenten exhibition will therefore challenge us to look outside of the black and white world of the Law and embrace the world of Love. May we rise to that challenge.

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Valerie June - Trials, Troubles, Tribulations.

The 3 Mothers

Our current exhibition The Divine Image continues until Friday 20 January, with an evening opening until 7.00pm on Thursday 19 January. Then the exhibition's themes of welcome and hospitality will continue as the 3 Mothers will visit St Stephen Walbrook from Monday 23 January – Friday 3 February. See the 3 Mothers here: Mon – Fri, 10.00am – 4.00pm (Weds 11.00am – 3.00pm).

In 2007 the Bishop of London commissioned Revd Regan O’Callaghan to paint a triptych on the theme of hospitality and the 3 Mothers was the result.

They were blessed by the Bishop and installed in the reception of Diocesan House, London where they resided for a few years. After this they have been on the move and have been installed in different places including the Jewish Museum London, St James’s Piccadilly, St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne and Lambeth Palace.

They are 35 cm x 40 cm each, painted in egg tempera, gold leaf on gesso with a dark wooden frame. This triptych written by Revd Regan O’Callaghan depicts three smiling women from the congregation of St John on Bethnal Green Church, seated around a table. The women reflect the diverse nature of the congregation at St John’s as well as the local East End community. Each woman is a wife, mother, and grandmother, a person of faith and a committed hard working member of their church, something the artist wanted to celebrate. The three women also symbolise in part the important role of women – particularly older women – in the Church of England. The opened hand of Mother Pearl is held out to greet the viewer to the table, a place of fellowship and hospitality while Mother Becky and Mother Miriam look on. What offering do you the viewer bring to the table? The stars on the table cloth symbolise the many descendants of Abraham. The colours the three women wear represent the Christian liturgical seasons and the gold leaf a belief in the ‘sainthood of all believers and divine light.’

The triptych is understood as a contemporary religious icon which functions to instruct the faithful, theologically, spiritually and liturgically. An icon is believed a portal into the heavenly realm where the eternal light of God permeates all things and where no shadow is cast. The 3 Mothers thus represent the divine spark within all of us.

Regan O'Callaghan will be leading an icon painting course starting January 2017. It will be held in the recently renovated Emmanuel Church West Hampstead. The class begins the 28th January 2017 and is for adults with any artistic ability or none! Cost is £250 with all materials included.

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Pink Floyd - Mother.

Statement from West End Church Leaders

As leaders of churches in the West End of London, we are disturbed at reports of the rise in incidents of hate speech and racist acts. We commit ourselves to resisting such attitudes. We invite our congregations to continue our traditions of welcome and hospitality, and to look for active ways of celebrating diversity and exploring ways of living with difference.

We are working for a community where all are welcome and can feel safe.

• Revd Sue Keegan von Allmen, West London Mission Superintendent Minister.
• Fr Pascal Boidin, Rector – Notre Dame de France
• Rev Alan Carr, Rector, St Giles in the Fields
• Fr Andrew Cameron-Mowat SJ, Parish Priest, Church of the Immaculate Conception Farm Street
• Revd Richard Carter, St Martin-in-the-Fields. 
• The Revd Philip Chester, Vicar of St Matthew, Westminster; Parish Priest of St Mary le Strand; Area Dean of Westminster (St Margaret)
• Stephane Desmarais, French Protestant Church of London
• Revd Jonathan Evens, Associate Vicar, Partnership Development, St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Rev’d Simon Grigg, St Paul’s Church Covent Garden.
• Rev Dr Ruth Gouldbourne, Co-Minister, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
• Rev Katherine Hedderly, St Martin-in-the-Fields
• The Red Dr Ivan Khovacs, St James’ Piccadilly
• Rev Philip Majcher , Minister, Crown Court Church of Scotland
• Rev Lindsay Meader, St James’ Piccadilly
• Fr. Kevin Mowbray sm, Notre Dame de France
• The Revd David Peebles, Rector, St Georges Bloomsbury
• Revd Val Reid, Minister of Hinde Street Methodist Church
• Dominic Robinson SJ, Superior, Farm Street Jesuit Community
• Joost Röselaers, Minister of the Dutch Church in London
• Rev Dawn Savidge-Cole, Communities’ Minister, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
• The Revd Hugh Valentine, St James’ Piccadilly
• The Revd Dr Sam Wells;Vicar, St Martin-in-the-Fields
• The Revd Lucy Winkett, St James’ Piccadilly
• Revd Dr Simon Woodman, Co-Minister Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church

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John Rutter - The Peace Of God.

A covenant of fruitfulness

Today I was welcomed as the new Associate Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the-Fields. As part of explaining the commission I have been given for this role by the Bishop of London I stated that: I understand partnership as a response to God’s endowing Spirit in which each party brings forth its unique gifts to make a relationship more than the sum of its parts. I understand development to mean working with all parties to advance partnerships at the pace and in the depth suitable to the relationship. I understand being an associate vicar to mean, as a priest, speaking to God for the people and for the people to God, and as a pastor helping the people of this place to grow in faith, holiness, ministry and mission.

In his sermon, the Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, said the following in setting out the significance of this new role for St Martins and St Stephen Walbrook:

"... like Abraham and Sarah we’ve been on a long journey. And we’ve made many precious and wondrous discoveries. And we’ve been called by God. And what we’ve been called to is a covenant of fruitfulness, which calls us both to be faithful to God and to bring forth fruit that heals the earth. We can’t do the second without the first. But we can’t be content with the first if we’re being offered the opportunity and we’re hearing the call to do the second.

And this brings us to the licensing of our new associate vicar for partnership development, and to the formal beginning of our partnership with St Stephen, Walbrook. If we were content to enhance our heritage, to strengthen our programmes, and to deepen our common life, we wouldn’t be hiring Jonathan and we wouldn’t be partnering with St Stephen’s. The reason we want today to mark the beginning of something special is because we’re exploring ways to convey our message and identifying how we can enhance our impact. St Stephen’s is an admirable church with faithful people and a glorious building; but by partnering with us, St Stephen’s is saying, ‘We want to walk a journey like the one you’ve been on, we want to find abundance in scarcity, we want to expand our programmes and deepen our common life so we too can be a blessing to communities beyond ourselves.’ And it’s the nature of partnership that at the same time St Martin’s will also grow and change and learn through what the people of St Stephen’s teach us about ministry and mission and faith.

Jonathan is here to walk with the people of St Stephen’s as they make this journey together. And Jonathan is among us to develop a range of partnerships with communities and communions near and far, of which St Stephen’s is, we hope, the first. With St Stephen’s we are making a covenant of fruitfulness inspired by the covenant God makes with Abraham. Our hope is not just that through this partnership St Stephen’s will develop its commercial, cultural, charitable and congregational life so as to become self-sustaining, but that before long it is partnering with other institutions to lead them on a similar path.

Over time we trust we will develop many such partnerships. In some we’ll offer services such as estate and HR oversight to institutions so they can concentrate attention on their programming and common life. In others we’ll walk alongside churches as they develop a model like ours of growing a commercial arm to galvanise their culture and make them sustainable. In others again we’ll be looking to bring our national profile alongside local initiative to enhance work around poverty and destitution. And in others again we hope to partner to help congregations grow in relation to disability issues or enhance other forms of inclusion like our Sunday International Group. In these and many other ways we’ll be looking to establish a covenant of fruitfulness with partners and friends all around the country and beyond.

We could settle for enhancing our resources, developing our programmes, and deepening our common life. Those are all fine and demanding things, and most churches in the country would be overjoyed to have such an aspiration. But we’re being called beyond that. We’re being called to share our message and to influence the wider church and world. And right now the way we’re seeking to do that is by making mutually-enriching partnerships and working with other institutions to help them better realise their vocations. Why? Because we believe that’s God’s way. God in Christ didn’t shout from afar or keep a light hidden on a hill far away. God in Christ made relationships one by one, some close and constant, some occasional and passing, and came alongside people of all kinds, opening up their hearts, setting their souls on fire, and lifting from them the burden of oppression or pain or guilt. That’s what a covenant of fruitfulness looks like. Today we cross that threshold and enter that covenant."

Listen to the full sermon by clicking here - http://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/podcasts/a-covenant-of-fruitfulness/.

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Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields - Amazing Grace.

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. 

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Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More.

An attitude of openness

Jesus said that he had come that we may have life, and have it to the full (John 10. 10). Jesus is able to give fullness of life because “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Colossians 1. 19). It is out of that fullness that we receive grace upon grace” (John 1. 16).

This is why we are told to pray that we might “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge,” so that we may be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3. 18 & 19). We receive this fullness when, out of love, we don’t judge and don’t condemn but do forgive and give to others. As Jesus said in the Sermon of the Mount:

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6. 37 & 38)

In other words, fullness comes from openness. Think for a moment of a cup or a glass or a chalice or any other container or receptacle that can hold a fluid. Each of these are specifically made to be open. They are designed to be open to receive.

If we place a lid on the container – if it is closed rather than open - then it cannot receive the water. The bottle can only be filled when it is open. Jesus’ image of “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” is of more than simply being filled. When we forgive and are forgiven, when we give and are given to, then we are receiving a constant flow of love which not only fills us but constantly spills over to others around us. That is what is promised to us, through Jesus, in scripture but it only occurs as we are open.

OPEN is the name of the fresh expression of church that you have begun here on Sunday afternoons. It is about the church being open for all who wish to come and open to a wide range of activities and creativity. The openness that OPEN is supposed to signify, though, is not simply about the practicalities of opening the church doors. Instead, it is much more about an attitude of mind; an attitude of openness to God, to others, to change and difference and newness.

It is an attitude of mind that, as Jesus said, we will not and cannot experience when we are judgemental, when we are condemning, when we are unforgiving or when we are not giving. Openness is demonstrated, Jesus said, through welcome, through acceptance, through forgiveness, and through giving. It is when we are open in these ways that we receive the fullness that God has been pleased to give to Jesus and that fullness spills over from us to those we meet.

We might think about OPEN as something for others – as a way of opening the church to connect with people who haven’t ordinarily come. If we are thinking that way, then we are saying it is not for me. We might even have already tried OPEN and decided that it isn’t for us. If so, we are closed rather than open. OPEN is not just an event or activities or outreach or a fresh expression, more importantly it is an opportunity to be open; to cultivate that attitude of openness through which we are able to receive God’s fullness and share it with others.

OPEN is an opportunity to be open to church looking and feeling different, open to those who don’t come to the usual church services, open to the creativity or conversation of those that we wouldn’t otherwise meet, and by meeting and greeting, welcoming and accepting all this, cultivating that attitude of openness through which we are able to receive God’s fullness and share it with others.

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Eric Bibb - Forgiveness Is Gold.