Oxford, 2017
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Robbie Robertson - Broken Arrow.
Friday, 8 June 2018
A developing understanding of resurrection
Here is my sermon from Wednesday's Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:
This is a story about interpretation of scripture (Mark 12. 18-27), which is possibly as important for our understanding for what it reveals about ways of interpreting scripture, as for what it says about resurrection.
The Biblical scholar Tom Wright has noted that: ‘Resurrection was a late arrival on the scene in classic biblical writing … Much of the Hebrew Bible assumes that the dead are in Sheol …“The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence” (Psalm 115:17). Clear statements of resurrection are extremely rare. Daniel 12 is the most blatant, and remembered as such for centuries afterwards: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Daniel is, however, the latest book of the Hebrew Bible.’
In Jesus’ day: ‘There was within Judaism a considerable spectrum of belief and speculation about what happened to dead people in general, and to dead Jews in particular. At one end were the Sadducees, who seem to have denied any doctrine of post-mortem existence (Mark 12:18; Josephus, War 2:165). At the other were the Pharisees, who affirmed a future embodied existence, and who seem to have at least begun to develop theories about how people continued to exist in the timelag between physical death and physical resurrection. And there are further options. Some writings speak of souls in disembodied bliss, some speculate about souls as angelic or astral beings, and so forth.‘
‘The Sadducees rejected the Oral Law as proposed by the Pharisees’ and ‘saw the written Torah as the sole source of divine authority.’ They insisted that the traditions did not contain this newfangled doctrine and that resurrection was not taught in the Torah itself. Their question to Jesus was based on the literal application of a commandment from the Torah and was ‘designed to make belief in a resurrection look foolish by proposing a dilemma it might entail.’ (Timothy J. Geddert, Mark, Herald Press)
In his reply to the Sadducees’ question Jesus goes back to the Torah itself (the five books of Moses) which were the only ones the very conservative Sadducees regarded as really authoritative, and stated that ‘God defines himself there in terms of his relationship to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ The underlying point was that ‘God would not define himself in relationship to people who were now non-existent.’ Therefore, Jesus implies or leaves unstated the remaining move in the argument that ‘if they are alive this must be because God will in fact raise them from the dead.’
Jesus therefore disagrees with a literal argument about scripture based on the earliest texts and affirms an emerging doctrine which only appears clearly in the last book of the Hebrew Bible. What he is affirming is an evolving revelation from God in scripture which develops or adds to or changes earlier interpretations and understandings.
The extent to which God’s revelation is fixed or emerging is one which continues to be debated within the Church and is a key ground on which debates about women’s ordination and human sexuality take place. What rarely seems to feature in these debates are the approaches to interpretation of scripture used by Jesus, the disciples and the Early Church, which are often very different from standard ways of interpreting scripture used today, particularly those which attempt to fix understandings of scripture for all time through literal interpretations. Here Jesus clearly teaches a later, newer doctrine which does not appear in the Torah and was not part of early Judaism. This emerging understanding, however, becomes central to Jesus’ mission and to Christian belief as Jesus’ resurrection and the teachings of the Early Church based on it are entirely new in the history of Judaism.
Tom Wright says: ‘The early Christian hope for bodily resurrection is clearly Jewish in origin, there being no possible pagan antecedent. Here, however, there is no spectrum of opinion: Earliest Christianity simply believed in resurrection, that is, the overcoming of death by the justice bringing power of the creator God … This is a radical mutation from within Jewish belief.’
Our core hope as Christians derives from a changing understanding of God’s revelation which Jesus taught and experienced. The literal interpretations of the Sadducees meant that they could not see or receive the new thing that God was doing in their midst. May God keep us open to receive the new things he is doing in our world through his Holy Spirit and prevent us from rejecting the unexpected moves of his Spirit because our rigidity in our own understandings of scripture.
This is a story about interpretation of scripture (Mark 12. 18-27), which is possibly as important for our understanding for what it reveals about ways of interpreting scripture, as for what it says about resurrection.
The Biblical scholar Tom Wright has noted that: ‘Resurrection was a late arrival on the scene in classic biblical writing … Much of the Hebrew Bible assumes that the dead are in Sheol …“The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence” (Psalm 115:17). Clear statements of resurrection are extremely rare. Daniel 12 is the most blatant, and remembered as such for centuries afterwards: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Daniel is, however, the latest book of the Hebrew Bible.’
In Jesus’ day: ‘There was within Judaism a considerable spectrum of belief and speculation about what happened to dead people in general, and to dead Jews in particular. At one end were the Sadducees, who seem to have denied any doctrine of post-mortem existence (Mark 12:18; Josephus, War 2:165). At the other were the Pharisees, who affirmed a future embodied existence, and who seem to have at least begun to develop theories about how people continued to exist in the timelag between physical death and physical resurrection. And there are further options. Some writings speak of souls in disembodied bliss, some speculate about souls as angelic or astral beings, and so forth.‘
‘The Sadducees rejected the Oral Law as proposed by the Pharisees’ and ‘saw the written Torah as the sole source of divine authority.’ They insisted that the traditions did not contain this newfangled doctrine and that resurrection was not taught in the Torah itself. Their question to Jesus was based on the literal application of a commandment from the Torah and was ‘designed to make belief in a resurrection look foolish by proposing a dilemma it might entail.’ (Timothy J. Geddert, Mark, Herald Press)
In his reply to the Sadducees’ question Jesus goes back to the Torah itself (the five books of Moses) which were the only ones the very conservative Sadducees regarded as really authoritative, and stated that ‘God defines himself there in terms of his relationship to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ The underlying point was that ‘God would not define himself in relationship to people who were now non-existent.’ Therefore, Jesus implies or leaves unstated the remaining move in the argument that ‘if they are alive this must be because God will in fact raise them from the dead.’
Jesus therefore disagrees with a literal argument about scripture based on the earliest texts and affirms an emerging doctrine which only appears clearly in the last book of the Hebrew Bible. What he is affirming is an evolving revelation from God in scripture which develops or adds to or changes earlier interpretations and understandings.
The extent to which God’s revelation is fixed or emerging is one which continues to be debated within the Church and is a key ground on which debates about women’s ordination and human sexuality take place. What rarely seems to feature in these debates are the approaches to interpretation of scripture used by Jesus, the disciples and the Early Church, which are often very different from standard ways of interpreting scripture used today, particularly those which attempt to fix understandings of scripture for all time through literal interpretations. Here Jesus clearly teaches a later, newer doctrine which does not appear in the Torah and was not part of early Judaism. This emerging understanding, however, becomes central to Jesus’ mission and to Christian belief as Jesus’ resurrection and the teachings of the Early Church based on it are entirely new in the history of Judaism.
Tom Wright says: ‘The early Christian hope for bodily resurrection is clearly Jewish in origin, there being no possible pagan antecedent. Here, however, there is no spectrum of opinion: Earliest Christianity simply believed in resurrection, that is, the overcoming of death by the justice bringing power of the creator God … This is a radical mutation from within Jewish belief.’
Our core hope as Christians derives from a changing understanding of God’s revelation which Jesus taught and experienced. The literal interpretations of the Sadducees meant that they could not see or receive the new thing that God was doing in their midst. May God keep us open to receive the new things he is doing in our world through his Holy Spirit and prevent us from rejecting the unexpected moves of his Spirit because our rigidity in our own understandings of scripture.
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Resurrection Band - Colours.
Resurrection Band - Colours.
'At the heart. On the edge.' - Aberdeen & HeartEdge
'At the heart. On the edge' is a HeartEdge Introductory Event hosted by Revd Scott M. Rennie, Minister of Queen's Cross Parish Church and Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which features the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields performing Great Sacred Music.
The day includes theology, ideas, solutions and support with a programme developed jointly by Queen's Cross Parish Church and St Martin’s. Contributors to the event include:
- Sam Wells is Vicar of St Martin-in-the Fields
- Scott Rennie is Minister of Queen’s Cross Church
- Jonathan Evens is Associate Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the Fields
- Andrew Earis is Director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields
- Sophy Green is CEO of Instant Neighbour
- Isaac Poobalan is Provost of St Andrew’s Cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church in Aberdeen
- Peter Johnston is Minister of Ferryhill Church
- Hugh Wallace is Minister of Newhills Church
- Congregation - Liturgy and worship for day-to-day communal life – gathered and local
- Commerce – Starting and sustaining distinctive enterprise to generate finance for your church
- Compassion – Growing participation and volunteering to address social need locally
- Culture – Using art, music and performance to reimagine the Christian narrative in your contex
To register for a free ticket click here.
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St Martin-in-the-Fields - Great Sacred Music.
Saturday, 2 June 2018
Liturgy on the Edge: Pastoral and attractional worship
Liturgy on the Edge has been reviewed in Church Times. Reviewer Philip Welsh concludes: 'Liturgy on the Edge is an enjoyable, inspiring, provocative, and useful book. In one way or another, we all find ourselves (in Francis Thompson’s words) “betwixt heaven and Charing Cross.”'
He notes that: “we’re trying to find appropriate ways to help other organisations make the kind of journey we’ve made; but what we can’t do is offer them techniques for fixing their problems — we can only offer them inspiration and support for entering deeper into their mystery.”
and say that, "Reading about the experience of St Martin’s — including what it has learned from its occasional mistakes — is a stimulus to think more imaginatively, more collaboratively, more inclusively, and more theologically."
Liturgy on the Edge: Pastoral and attractional worship is a practical companion to creating pastoral liturgies arises from the vibrant ministry of St Martin-in-the-Fields which is designed to aid local ministry teams in devising forms of worship outside and beyond the scope of authorised church liturgy, yet in sympathy with its purposes and structures.
It includes outline liturgies for:
- regular pastoral services, such as an informal Eucharist, worship for small groups or for a church away-day, a dementia-friendly service, a healing service, interfaith ceremonies.
- acute pastoral needs, such as services for communities affected by local tragedy, those experiencing loss through violence.
- outreach services in the open air or welcoming people into sacred space.
- special services though the year for Homelessness Sunday, Prisoners Week, Holy Week, Harvest, Remembrance, a community carol service and more.
Liturgy on the Edge: Pastoral and attractional worship is edited by Sam Wells with contributions from Richard Carter, Andrew Earis, Caroline Essex, Jonathan Evens, Katherine Hedderly, Alison Lyon, Alastair McKay, Fiona MacMillan and Will Morris.
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Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields - Amazing Grace.
Artlyst: The London Group and the Waterloo Festival
My latest piece for Artlyst previews the Waterloo Festival which includes three exhibitions by The London Group:
'St John’s Waterloo is an Anglican church with a big heart and an open door. Their mission is to be at the centre of Waterloo’s community, helping people fulfil their potential. As part of that mission every summer they host the acclaimed Waterloo Festival, which strives to celebrate their community, heritage and location on the fringe of the South Bank through arts, ideas and togetherness.'
My other Artlyst articles and interviews are:
'St John’s Waterloo is an Anglican church with a big heart and an open door. Their mission is to be at the centre of Waterloo’s community, helping people fulfil their potential. As part of that mission every summer they host the acclaimed Waterloo Festival, which strives to celebrate their community, heritage and location on the fringe of the South Bank through arts, ideas and togetherness.'
My other Artlyst articles and interviews are:
- Bill Viola: Quiet Contemplative Video Installation St Cuthbert’s Church Edinburgh
- The ground-breaking work of Sister Corita Kent
- Katrina Moss Chaiya Art Awards Interview: Where is God in our 21st century world?
- Picasso To Souza: The Crucifixion Imagery Rarely Exhibited
- Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder Interviewed
- Jonathan Anderson: Religious Inspirations Behind Modernism
- Michael Takeo Magruder: De / coding the Apocalypse – Panacea Museum
- Giorgio Griffa: The Golden Ratio And Inexplicable Knowledge
- Arabella Dorman Unveils New Installation At St James Church Piccadilly
- Can Art Transform Society?
- Art Awakening Humanity Conference Report
- Central St Martins in the Fields Design Then And Now
- The Sacramental And Liturgical Nature Of Conceptual Art
- Caravan – An Interview With Rev Paul Gordon Chandler On Arts Peacebuilding
- Art Awakening Humanity Alexander de Cadenet Interviewed
- Polish Art In Britain Centenary Marked At London’s Ben Uri Gallery
- Michael Pendry New Installation Lights Up St Martin In The Fields;
- Mark Dean Projects Stations of the Cross Videos On Henry Moore Altar;
- Refugee Artists Learning from The Lives Of Others;
- The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg;
- The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement;
- Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition;
- Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation;
- The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields; and
- Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?
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Brandon Flowers - Crossfire.
Windows on the world (399)
Oxford, 2017
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Low - Gentle.
Living in the dance of love
Photographs by Dean Xolani Dlwati
The Friends of St Martin-in-the-Fields aim to form a link between members of the congregation, those who can no longer participate and visitors attracted by what they find here. There are many reasons why people become members, some have had family connections in the past, some feel drawn to St Martin’s after a visit and want to forge a link with their spiritual home in London, others wish to keep in touch because of the worship and music.
Today was the annual Friends Festival. This year’s theme was Building Relationships and we celebrated the relationships being fostered within the Nazareth Community and the Sunday International Group, and were joined by Very Revd Xolani Dlwati, Dean of the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin, Johannesburg.
Here's my sermon from today's Friends Festival at St Martin-in-the-Fields:
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love / It's the only thing that there's just too little of.." are lines from a song with lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach that was first recorded and made popular in 1965 by Jackie DeShannon.
As Christians we believe that God is love, so our take on the song would be that the world needs more of God in order to build relationships of love. We read that God is love in the first letter of John and our knowledge of God’s love is linked there to Christ’s death on the cross; an understanding of love as sacrifice which we will remember and celebrate together in our Eucharist. However, as last Sunday was Trinity Sunday and we are still using the collect for Trinity Sunday, we are reminded of a different model of God’s love, which is about connection and communication – two key elements in the building of all relationships.
On the night before he died Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as he is one with God the Father and God the Spirit within the Trinity. Within the Trinity there is community and unity, making the Godhead the wellspring from which we receive love and life. The Greek Fathers called the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit perichoresis, which “means ‘to dance around one another in relationship’ … peri meaning around, and choreio to dance” (Touching the Sacred, Chris Thorpe and Jake Lever, Canterbury Press).
That is why our Eucharistic Prayer for Sunday included these words: Triune God, in the dance of your love we see your nature as utter relationship. Your three persons gaze in mutual attention, relish each other in deep delight and work together in true partnership. So, at the heart of the Godhead is a community where love is constantly being shared and exchanged between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and this exchange or dance of love holds the three persons of the Trinity together in unity. Divine Love notices and listens. Love speaks out of a desire to share One’s heart honestly and respond to the heart of the Other. Love is deep communication that allows One to take the Other fully into account. Conversation is central to the loving relationships within God.
It was out of the overflow of this love that the world was created. In Genesis 1 we read ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.’ Creation, therefore, took place in the midst of a divine committee meaning that we are a social people because God is social. As the paraphrase of John 1 that we have had as our Gospel reading puts it, ‘It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God, in fact the conversation was God. So God started the discussion, and everything came out of this, and nothing happened without consultation.’
It was also out of the overflow of this love that Jesus came into our world to open up a way for us to participate in the relationship of love that is constantly being shared between Father, Son and Spirit. The subject of the conversation, Jesus, came into the world to flesh out the words and invite us to join the conversation. Through Jesus’ incarnation we are given a glimpse of the dance of love - the relationships among Father, Son and Spirit - and what we see is that Father, Son and Spirit are in a constant conversation.
God intends to embrace all creation within the fellowship of the Three. God’s mission is to form communities that reflect and embody the life of the Trinity. If we live in God, we live in love and love lives in us. We become included in the constant exchange of love which exists in the Godhead. That is why we prayed last Sunday, ‘Make your church a community across time and space that enjoys the gift of your life and imitates the wonder of your glory, until we all come into your presence and gaze upon your glory, God in three persons, blessed Trinity.’ For that to happen, God needs us to be in conversation with him so that we can find her for ourselves and actually embody his characteristics and interests ourselves by learning to do right through discussion rather than by rote. As we listen to God and speak with God through each other, the Trinity knits us into the kind of community that Father, Son and Spirit share among themselves.
In 1992 the World Council of Churches published a short but influential book by Raymond Fung called ‘The Isaiah Vision’. In this book Fung set out a simple but profound agenda for social action based on the vision in Isaiah 65 for God’s new heaven and earth. In this vision: infants survive into adulthood with good health; older people live in dignity; there is decent housing for everyone; work is there for all who want it; and different kinds of people live together in harmony. The main features of this vision are good health and long productive lives, shelter, food, work that benefits the worker, and peace. In the Isaiah vision for the world no one would have power over another in such a way that the less powerful are deprived. It is a vision of a settled, creative and fulfilled community and, as such, one where people are released from struggle to focus better on their spiritual lives and their devotion to God.
Sam Wells has spoken of a similar vision in relation to St Martin’s and our vision of church renewal through HeartEdge and our other partnership initiatives. He has said that: “What the world needs more than anything else is communities of trust and support and love that show what kind of life is possible when we believe that God is sovereign, when we place our trust and security there. We need people and communities that believe in the power of God, that believe in the role of the church, and that are content to live through no other power than the means of grace God has given us. We need people who will believe in God’s gifts and remind us why we practise them.”
In conversation with God we, and our partners, can become recognisable communities of hope, embodying a liberating story of reconciliation and grace. In conversation with God, we, and our partners, can become distinctive congregations whose life is shaped and renewed through the energy and gifts of those ‘on the edge’. In conversation with God we, and our partners, can become faithful disciples who have discovered how God is made known in times of adversity and who thus walk with the dispossessed in order to be close to God. In conversation with God we, and our partners, can become fertile centres of creative and artistic flourishing through which people apprehend beauty in the world and talent in themselves and in one another. In conversation with God we, and our partners, can be thriving churches that are seen as an unqualified blessing by their neighbourhoods and nation.
St Martin’s has already generated many inspiring embodiments of such renewal, both within the congregation and in our wider community of organisations. Our fledgling Nazareth Community crystallises what it means to build relationship with God by growing deeper as a community of faith in commitment to silence, sacrament, study, service and sharing. The Nazareth Community, already 48-strong, promises to become a model of integrating personal devotion with humble encounter, generous welcome, diverse community and corporate commitment – and thus provides a template of what congregational renewal looks like.
Our Sunday International Group is a dynamic ministry which aims to provide a place of welcome, hospitality and sanctuary for foreign nationals who are destitute in London. Alongside the practical help, it offers an opportunity for members of the congregation to sit alongside people and build relationships. As one volunteer said, “We do not glamorise their need. It is acute and often heartbreaking. But, for a few hours, we live side by side. We hand out food and clothes, sure. But over time, we listen, eat and laugh together. And Christ, too, is with us.” In this way the Sunday International Group has brought marginalised people to faith and membership of the congregation and galvanised fringe church attenders into energised believers. As Friends you support this work financially and many of you by volunteering.
We have also seen an exciting renewal in our partnership with St Mary’s Cathedral Johannesburg following Dean Xolani’s visit here in 2015. When Richard Carter and Mike Wooldridge then visited St Mary’s in 2016 to share in the life and ministry of the Cathedral, they discovered a church with a rich history of prayer and resistance during the apartheid era, but now facing new challenges: worshipping in the centre of Johannesburg with difficult access and an intimidating atmosphere and crime. Since the Dean arrived the congregation has grown in size and commitment, and there is a desire to draw more people into the Cathedral to share its story of hope. An action-packed small choir visit in May 2017 built further strong relationships. Music provides a common language to cut across cultural division and celebrate the riches of our faith and traditions. The Dean and four members of St Mary’s then came on a return visit in June. They were introduced to the whole St Martin’s community, learning from our business, our work with homeless people, HeartEdge, and cultural programming in and beyond St Martin’s. Now Dean Xolani, together with his daughter, is with us on sabbatical and in the autumn our Choir will visit with support from you, the Friends. In these ways we are building up our partnership that through a richer understanding of each other we may all grow in knowledge and love of God.
The conversations that we share and the people whose lives interweave with ours in these groups and partnerships are not just verbal conversations – they are conversations of actions, of silence, of prayer and of justice. They are conversations of journey and the investment of relationship. In these conversations we come to know ourselves as surrounded by and filled by the love which overflows from the Trinity, understanding that such love involves the continual giving and receiving of affirmation and authority as we seek to live in and through the dance of love in the complexities of human relationships, alliances, coalitions, collaborations and unions. Within the Holy Trinity, we strive to be a dancing community of divine poverty. Each eternally, joyfully, dispossessing ourselves; emptying, pouring ourselves out to the favour and glory of the other. Nothing claimed, demanded or grasped; living and knowing each other in the simple ecstasy of giving, which is the unity and community of the Triune God (D. Runcorn, Choice, Desire and the Will of God, SPCK).
As Friends of St Martin’s you exist to communicate the vision and support the mission of St Martin’s. That means saying that what the world needs now is love, sweet love. What the world needs now are communities of trust and support and love that show what kind of life is possible when we believe that God is sovereign, when we place our trust and security there. What the world needs now are people and communities that believe in the power of God, that believe in the role of the church, and that are content to live through no other power than the means of grace God has given us.
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Holy Cross Choir - Umoya Wami.
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love / It's the only thing that there's just too little of.." are lines from a song with lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach that was first recorded and made popular in 1965 by Jackie DeShannon.
As Christians we believe that God is love, so our take on the song would be that the world needs more of God in order to build relationships of love. We read that God is love in the first letter of John and our knowledge of God’s love is linked there to Christ’s death on the cross; an understanding of love as sacrifice which we will remember and celebrate together in our Eucharist. However, as last Sunday was Trinity Sunday and we are still using the collect for Trinity Sunday, we are reminded of a different model of God’s love, which is about connection and communication – two key elements in the building of all relationships.
On the night before he died Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as he is one with God the Father and God the Spirit within the Trinity. Within the Trinity there is community and unity, making the Godhead the wellspring from which we receive love and life. The Greek Fathers called the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit perichoresis, which “means ‘to dance around one another in relationship’ … peri meaning around, and choreio to dance” (Touching the Sacred, Chris Thorpe and Jake Lever, Canterbury Press).
That is why our Eucharistic Prayer for Sunday included these words: Triune God, in the dance of your love we see your nature as utter relationship. Your three persons gaze in mutual attention, relish each other in deep delight and work together in true partnership. So, at the heart of the Godhead is a community where love is constantly being shared and exchanged between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and this exchange or dance of love holds the three persons of the Trinity together in unity. Divine Love notices and listens. Love speaks out of a desire to share One’s heart honestly and respond to the heart of the Other. Love is deep communication that allows One to take the Other fully into account. Conversation is central to the loving relationships within God.
It was out of the overflow of this love that the world was created. In Genesis 1 we read ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.’ Creation, therefore, took place in the midst of a divine committee meaning that we are a social people because God is social. As the paraphrase of John 1 that we have had as our Gospel reading puts it, ‘It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God, in fact the conversation was God. So God started the discussion, and everything came out of this, and nothing happened without consultation.’
It was also out of the overflow of this love that Jesus came into our world to open up a way for us to participate in the relationship of love that is constantly being shared between Father, Son and Spirit. The subject of the conversation, Jesus, came into the world to flesh out the words and invite us to join the conversation. Through Jesus’ incarnation we are given a glimpse of the dance of love - the relationships among Father, Son and Spirit - and what we see is that Father, Son and Spirit are in a constant conversation.
God intends to embrace all creation within the fellowship of the Three. God’s mission is to form communities that reflect and embody the life of the Trinity. If we live in God, we live in love and love lives in us. We become included in the constant exchange of love which exists in the Godhead. That is why we prayed last Sunday, ‘Make your church a community across time and space that enjoys the gift of your life and imitates the wonder of your glory, until we all come into your presence and gaze upon your glory, God in three persons, blessed Trinity.’ For that to happen, God needs us to be in conversation with him so that we can find her for ourselves and actually embody his characteristics and interests ourselves by learning to do right through discussion rather than by rote. As we listen to God and speak with God through each other, the Trinity knits us into the kind of community that Father, Son and Spirit share among themselves.
In 1992 the World Council of Churches published a short but influential book by Raymond Fung called ‘The Isaiah Vision’. In this book Fung set out a simple but profound agenda for social action based on the vision in Isaiah 65 for God’s new heaven and earth. In this vision: infants survive into adulthood with good health; older people live in dignity; there is decent housing for everyone; work is there for all who want it; and different kinds of people live together in harmony. The main features of this vision are good health and long productive lives, shelter, food, work that benefits the worker, and peace. In the Isaiah vision for the world no one would have power over another in such a way that the less powerful are deprived. It is a vision of a settled, creative and fulfilled community and, as such, one where people are released from struggle to focus better on their spiritual lives and their devotion to God.
Sam Wells has spoken of a similar vision in relation to St Martin’s and our vision of church renewal through HeartEdge and our other partnership initiatives. He has said that: “What the world needs more than anything else is communities of trust and support and love that show what kind of life is possible when we believe that God is sovereign, when we place our trust and security there. We need people and communities that believe in the power of God, that believe in the role of the church, and that are content to live through no other power than the means of grace God has given us. We need people who will believe in God’s gifts and remind us why we practise them.”
In conversation with God we, and our partners, can become recognisable communities of hope, embodying a liberating story of reconciliation and grace. In conversation with God, we, and our partners, can become distinctive congregations whose life is shaped and renewed through the energy and gifts of those ‘on the edge’. In conversation with God we, and our partners, can become faithful disciples who have discovered how God is made known in times of adversity and who thus walk with the dispossessed in order to be close to God. In conversation with God we, and our partners, can become fertile centres of creative and artistic flourishing through which people apprehend beauty in the world and talent in themselves and in one another. In conversation with God we, and our partners, can be thriving churches that are seen as an unqualified blessing by their neighbourhoods and nation.
St Martin’s has already generated many inspiring embodiments of such renewal, both within the congregation and in our wider community of organisations. Our fledgling Nazareth Community crystallises what it means to build relationship with God by growing deeper as a community of faith in commitment to silence, sacrament, study, service and sharing. The Nazareth Community, already 48-strong, promises to become a model of integrating personal devotion with humble encounter, generous welcome, diverse community and corporate commitment – and thus provides a template of what congregational renewal looks like.
Our Sunday International Group is a dynamic ministry which aims to provide a place of welcome, hospitality and sanctuary for foreign nationals who are destitute in London. Alongside the practical help, it offers an opportunity for members of the congregation to sit alongside people and build relationships. As one volunteer said, “We do not glamorise their need. It is acute and often heartbreaking. But, for a few hours, we live side by side. We hand out food and clothes, sure. But over time, we listen, eat and laugh together. And Christ, too, is with us.” In this way the Sunday International Group has brought marginalised people to faith and membership of the congregation and galvanised fringe church attenders into energised believers. As Friends you support this work financially and many of you by volunteering.
We have also seen an exciting renewal in our partnership with St Mary’s Cathedral Johannesburg following Dean Xolani’s visit here in 2015. When Richard Carter and Mike Wooldridge then visited St Mary’s in 2016 to share in the life and ministry of the Cathedral, they discovered a church with a rich history of prayer and resistance during the apartheid era, but now facing new challenges: worshipping in the centre of Johannesburg with difficult access and an intimidating atmosphere and crime. Since the Dean arrived the congregation has grown in size and commitment, and there is a desire to draw more people into the Cathedral to share its story of hope. An action-packed small choir visit in May 2017 built further strong relationships. Music provides a common language to cut across cultural division and celebrate the riches of our faith and traditions. The Dean and four members of St Mary’s then came on a return visit in June. They were introduced to the whole St Martin’s community, learning from our business, our work with homeless people, HeartEdge, and cultural programming in and beyond St Martin’s. Now Dean Xolani, together with his daughter, is with us on sabbatical and in the autumn our Choir will visit with support from you, the Friends. In these ways we are building up our partnership that through a richer understanding of each other we may all grow in knowledge and love of God.
The conversations that we share and the people whose lives interweave with ours in these groups and partnerships are not just verbal conversations – they are conversations of actions, of silence, of prayer and of justice. They are conversations of journey and the investment of relationship. In these conversations we come to know ourselves as surrounded by and filled by the love which overflows from the Trinity, understanding that such love involves the continual giving and receiving of affirmation and authority as we seek to live in and through the dance of love in the complexities of human relationships, alliances, coalitions, collaborations and unions. Within the Holy Trinity, we strive to be a dancing community of divine poverty. Each eternally, joyfully, dispossessing ourselves; emptying, pouring ourselves out to the favour and glory of the other. Nothing claimed, demanded or grasped; living and knowing each other in the simple ecstasy of giving, which is the unity and community of the Triune God (D. Runcorn, Choice, Desire and the Will of God, SPCK).
As Friends of St Martin’s you exist to communicate the vision and support the mission of St Martin’s. That means saying that what the world needs now is love, sweet love. What the world needs now are communities of trust and support and love that show what kind of life is possible when we believe that God is sovereign, when we place our trust and security there. What the world needs now are people and communities that believe in the power of God, that believe in the role of the church, and that are content to live through no other power than the means of grace God has given us.
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Holy Cross Choir - Umoya Wami.
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