Run the race: run with fire

This morning we used the More Than Gold and Run With The Fire DVDs in the All-Age Service at St John's Seven Kings to begin preparing our congregation for the 2012 Olympics and to explore what we can learn from the concept of the Christian life as a race to be run. We said: 

"Run with the Fire is an arts project for the London 2012 Olympics which celebrates creativity, cultural exchange and hope for the future. The picture on our Text for 2012 comes from the project and in a moment as an act of prayer and reflection we will look at some words and images from the project.

The ideas that seeded Run with the Fire come from the celebration of Pentecost, with its tongues of fire, new languages, and promise of dreams and visions, plus the Olympic Games, with its running messenger carrying forward the burning torch and its dreams of cross cultural harmony.

Living as a Christian is like running a race: we need to train hard through bible study, fellowship, prayer and lifestyle change, we need to run hard with real commitment throughout our lives (no distractions, no veering off track), and we run to win the prize which is the coming in full of God’s kingdom of love, mercy, justice and peace.

To run the race well, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who is our example and our goal; the pattern and example of what the kingdom of God will look like when it fully comes. He has shown us how to run the race – we are following in his footsteps – and he is our goal because his life shows what the kingdom of God will look like when it comes in full:

“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed — that exhilarating finish in and with God — he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honour, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he ploughed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

Our Text for 2012 gives us another athletics image to savour and that is of a full stadium cheering us on as we run our race:

"We are surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses – all those who have borne witness to the truth of Christ before us. All the saints, all the heroes of the Bible, all those who encouraged us in our faith but who are no longer with us; each one is there in the stadium stands yelling and cheering to encourage us to preserve, continue and complete the race that we are running.

Do you see what this means — all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running — and never quit!”

In 2012 17,000 athletes representing 205 countries will compete in 26 different sports. The example provided by these athletes in their preparation for the 2012 Olympics can teach us about living the Christian life; running the race of life for Jesus. This is what our Text for 2012 encourages us to believe and do. To run our race well we need to get rid of all that would distract us or weigh us down, train hard, focus on the example of Jesus and on the goal of the coming kingdom of God, and be encouraged by those who have run before us to run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us."

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Philip Bailey - I Am Gold.

Farewell to our curate

This afternoon we said goodbye to Geoff Eze, who has been our curate at St John's Seven Kings since 2008. This is what I said in thanking him for all he has contributed here during that time:

Because of your wise-cracking and extrovert personality, we have enjoyed and been challenged by some of your sermons that have stayed firmly lodged in our memories like your Christmas Day sermon where you gave us a humourous quiz about yourself (surprise, surprise!) that had us all thinking this is Geoff bigging himself up again. Only to then remove your robes in order to symbolise all that Christ gave up through the incarnation. I remember the whole mood and dynamic of the sermon and the service changing at that point with the meaning behind the action being crystal clear and lodging in memory just as much as the action itself.

We’ve had sermons using jazz, liturgies which rhyme, video interviews, as well as many sermons that have weaved a contemporary story (often personal and self-deprecating) together with the passage on which you have been preaching in such a way as to sustain interest in both the story and the passage. These are approaches to preaching that are not just for effect; they have helped us get at the heart of bible passages in a way that helps them stay in our memory and therefore continue to influence us.

You’ve done some great work with our children and young people over the time that you have been here; organising and fronting Holiday Clubs and building up the youth group with a varied programme which has interested our young people and drawn in young people from outside the church too. You’ve also developed youth leaders and helped in handing over the running of the Youth Group so that we can be confident it will continue. But you haven’t simply focused on young people, important as they are, those elderly and housebound folk that you have regularly visited have been very grateful for your conversation and for bringing them communion at home.

You have played an active role in the development of Street Pastors within the Deanery and took up the opportunity to provide a Christian witness in the community by becoming a Police Chaplain to the Newbury Safer Neighbourhoods Team. You’ve supported the deanery by being the clerk to the Clergy Chapter and by being the arranger for the early cluster meetings. You’ve been a key part of building the closer relationship we now have with St Paul’s Goodmayes and have organised and led the Palm Sunday procession and Praise in the Park. You’ve also done some excellent work with local schools, initially with the Christian Education Project, and then more recently through the Easter Activity Stations and by forging new links with the new Aldborough E-Act Free School and Seven Kings High School.

So, there has been lots that you have done and much that we will remember with real gratitude. But, of course, we will also remember with real affection the person that you are; your optimism and positivity; your liveliness and energy; your humour and piano playing; and perhaps, most of all, the challenge of your ministry here – the challenge to us to expand our vision of what God can achieve through us combined with the encouragement to become all that God intends us to be.

Although we will miss you, we also know that you do need to move on for the next phase of your ministry, so we want to pray for your as you move to Stoke and as you begin your new ministry in the parish of Stoke Minister. Let us pray:

Lord God, we thank you for Geoff and for all that he has brought to St Johns during his time here. We thank you for bringing him to us and for all that we could share together during his curacy. We thank you for his new role in Stoke Minister and pray that you will help him adjust to his home, parish and city with all of the changes that will be involved. We pray that Stoke Minister will be a parish where he can use all of the gifts you have given to him and where he can utilise all that he has learnt through his training and curacy. We pray that he will continue to learn from you through the new experiences he has and the people he will meet and among whom he will minister in Stoke Minister. May your Spirit fill him for these new challenges and opportunities and may your hand of blessing rest upon to sustain and strengthen him for this new ministry in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Black Gospel Jazz - There Is None Like You.

Assembly on racism

This is the assembly I gave on Friday at St Edwards Church of England School and Sixth Form College which is adapted from resources at the Collective Worship resource from the Culham Institute:

Liverpool striker Luis Suares has been found guilty by the FA of racially abusing his opponent, Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, and has been given an 8 match ban as a result. He argued in his defence that the word he used isn’t a term of abuse in his culture but his defence of what he did and Liverpool’s support of him seem to have led to a Liverpool fan racially abusing Oldham defender Tom Adeyemi in another recent match. That fan has been arrested by the Police and faces the possibility of a lifetime’s ban from Anfield, Liverpool’s home ground.

Sometimes people argue that it doesn’t matter what people say to each other; that, for example, everyone should be able to think and say what they like and people shouldn’t be punished for shouting abuse at a person because he had a different skin colour. But what we say to each other does matter and does have an effect. Signs around the ground at Anfield make it clear that Liverpool FC should be opposed to racial abuse in their ground but because they seem to have tolerated it on the pitch it then seems to have spread to the stands as well. Therefore, Liverpool FC need to find a way to make it clear that foul language, violence and racism are not acceptable at Anfield; on the pitch and in the ground.      

Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan to oppose racial intolerance in his own time. Here is the story he told: Luke 10: 25-37. Jews and Samaritans hated one another in Jesus' time as they were different races with different religions but in Jesus' story it is the Samaritan who is the hero and who helps the one who is his enemy. Jesus taught that we are neighbours not enemies and that we should both give to and receive from those who are in some way different from us.

Nearly 19 years ago Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager, was killed by a gang of white boys while he was waiting at a bus stop. Stephen was killed for no other reason than that he was black. It was a purely racist killing. It is a sad fact, but for thousands of years people have been persecuted, abused and killed because of the colour of their skin, or for their race, and it still goes on today.

Yet we are really all the same under our skin. In Genesis 1. 26 -28 we read “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth... God said, 'Let us make Man in our own image and likeness... So God made Man in his own image and likeness, male and female He created them.”  This means that there is no reason for racial prejudice, or prejudice of any kind. Because we are all created by God in his image, Christians believe that we are all children of God and life is much better when we share what each race has to give - music, clothes, food, beliefs, skills.

For the whole of the 19 years since Stephen's death his parents have campaigned for justice for their son's killing. When she came out of the Old Bailey, Doreen Lawrence, Stephen's mother said that she would not let her life be ruled by her hatred of the people responsible for Stephen's death. Doreen set up the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust a few years ago to provide financial help for young people from ethnic minorities to achieve their educational ambitions. She has called these young people her 'beacons of shining light,’ showing the world what can be achieved when prejudice is put to one side. She says that if Stephen were alive 'he would be proud of them too'. She says, 'I think he'd be surprised at all the positive changes that have taken place in his name.'

When Stephen's mother returned home from the Old Bailey, she lit a candle in his memory. As we light a candle, let us remember Stephen and all those who have been victims of racial hatred. Let us ask God to give us grace to live our lives fairly and without prejudice.

Father, thank you for the amazing variety of people in your world. Help us to learn to value each other and not to fear. Give comfort to those who are hurt by racism. Make us strong to fight racism wherever we meet it in whatever ways we can and help us to understand that you are on our side. In Jesus' name we ask this. Amen.

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Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again.

Embankment

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Low - Starfire.

'Run with the Fire' on YouTube

A promotional presentation for 'Run with the Fire', a partnership project for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics by CANA, commission4mission and Veritasse, is now available to be viewed on YouTube. The presentation outlines the project, shows examples of work included and gives information for ordering copies of the 'Run with the Fire' pack.

  

Every 'Run with the Fire' pack includes:

·        a digital exhibition on DVD with a 2 year licence for use in the purchasing church

·        an electronic book and planning aid produced by three experienced Christian event organisers, with samples and templates to save you time and effort

·        telephone, skype or e-mail support to help you use the pack effectively

·        access to a large pool of Christian artists who you may wish to involve in your project   

Each 'Run with the Fire' pack costs £50.00 (any profits, go to Oxfam) and can be bought from http://www.veritasse.co.uk/ or by contacting Sue Newham on 01686 626228

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U2 - The Unforgettable Fire.

Windows on the world (178)

London, 2011

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Nick Drake - Pink Moon.

The Magi: searching and worshipping

The Magi searched for a sign, then searched for the one to whom the sign pointed, and then gave gifts when they found the one for whom they were looking for. We think of them as being wise for doing all this. When we think about their story in these terms, it can give us a framework or a pattern for thinking about our own lives; perhaps then we will also find or know wisdom!

The Magi searched the stars looking for signs of divine communication; messages from the gods that could guide individuals and nations in the present. In other words they were seeking answers, by the best means they knew how, to the big questions in life:

·        Who are we or, in other words, what is the nature, task and significance of human beings?

·        Where are we or, in other words, what is the origin and nature of the reality in which human beings find themselves?

·        What's wrong or, in other words, how can we account for that seems wrong or brokenness in the world?

·        What's the remedy or, in other words, how can we alleviate this brokenness, if at all?

These are questions that each of us, consciously or unconsciously, find answers to by the way that we live our lives but it is only when we consciously ask them and actively search for answers that we begin to leave behind our natural inclination to live life for our pleasure and convenience.

The sign which the Magi found through their searching was the star in the east which they thought was a sign that the king of the Jews had been born as a baby. This sign uprooted them from where they were. If they were to see and to worship the baby King then they had to leave where they were and travel not knowing for sure where their journey would take them. Their journey was probably inconvenient and uncomfortable for them but was the only way for them to find what they were seeking. It is similar for us as we consciously ask ourselves the big questions in life and seek answers; asking questions and seeking answers is uncomfortable and often means making changes to the way that we are currently living which are inconvenient and disruptive, yet necessary, if we are to find any sort of answers at all.

T. S. Eliot writes, in his poem called ‘Little Gidding,’ “We shall not cease from exploration,” and that is right because if we stop searching, if we stop questioning, then we get stuck and stagnate. We only have to look at nature to see the way in which all growth involves change; the caterpillar and butterfly being one of the most dramatic examples. Our own bodies are constantly changing throughout our lives with many of our cells being replaced as we progress through life. Growth involves constant change and if we apply this same principle to our thought life, our emotional life and our spiritual life then, as Eliot wrote, we must not cease from exploration.

The Magi’s journey found its immediate conclusion when they knelt before the Christ-child and worshipped him. They had no independent verification that this child was the King that they were seeking; they simply had to trust that this was so because they had arrived at the place to which the star had led them. Once again, T. S. Eliot’s ‘Little Gidding’ describes this well:

“If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel …”

The answer to our questions is a person, not a fact, and the person who is the answer to our questions turns out to be God himself. Because God is infinite, he cannot be fully known or understood by human beings. With God, there is always more for us to know and understand. Knowing God is like diving into the ocean and always being able to dive down deeper therefore are ultimately only three responses we can make to the wonder and majesty of God. The first is, as we have been saying, to keep exploring and the second is this, to express our sense of awe and wonder by kneeling in worship.

The third is to give gifts. The Magi gave gold, frankincense and myrrh; each being costly gifts expressing aspects of Christ’s nature and purpose. Christina Rossetti expressed the significance of the Magi’s gift-giving beautifully in her beautiful carol, ‘In the bleak midwinter’:

“What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.”

She understood that the costliest gift we can give is our life and that our life is given to Jesus when we express through our lives and actions something of who Jesus is.   

Kneeling in worship was the end of the journey that the Magi took when following the star but it was also the beginning of the new journey that they were now to make; the journey home. Eliot used the phase, ‘In my end is my beginning,’ at the end of his poem called ‘East Coker’ and, in ‘Little Gidding,’ he writes:      

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

The Magi journey home but their home is no longer what it once was because they have been changed by their journey. Eliot’s poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’ ends with these lines:

“were we led all that way for

Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,

We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,

But had thought they were different; this Birth was

Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,

But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,

With an alien people clutching their gods.

I should be glad of another death.”

The Magi are no longer at ease with their old way of life because they have been changed through their searching and journeying. Now they see life differently because of what they have seen and heard; the answers they give to life’s big questions are no longer the same as before – their worldview has changed.

Are we asking the big questions? Are we constantly questioning and exploring yet also kneeling in awe and wonder to worship? And are both our answers to life’s big questions and to the way we live our lives changing as a result? If we wish to be wise like the Magi then our answer to all those questions will be, “Yes.”

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Florence & the Machine - What The Water Gave Me.