The Church is for Dying

This is based on two Bible Readings, Colossians 3:1-10 and John 12:23-26, both of which are printed at the end of the blog.

What is the Church? The Church is for dying!

Coronavirus has brought death into sharp focus in so many ways.  It has been a really painful time and continues to be for many around the world. There have been some dreadful sights in the news of people in intensive care.  There are occasions for various medical reasons when people have to make a choice of turning a life support machine off because there is no hope.  When that happens, it is immensely difficult and sad for most people.  That is compounded by some people not having a faith in Jesus and not knowing of an eternal future that can be theirs.

I wonder if sometimes we try to keep the Church on life support. The body is there, but the signs of life are few. Death has not happened but the fragility and state is such that we are aware that it could happen soon – maybe at any moment. There are some fellowships who are very aware they are on life support – propped up, being given oxygen by helpers around them.  Dependent upon so much around them.  I am not thinking of the vulnerability that should always be present in the life of the Church as we reflect Christ’s life, but that human vulnerability where we have been trying to keep things going in the way that suits us.  Fighting to cling onto life as we understand it.  Maybe it would be better to turn the life support machine off.  After all death for the Christian and for Christ’s Church is not an end but an entry point into new life.  We are made for death because through death comes life. 

 In the gospel reading from John 12 Jesus says, ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 

Here Jesus was talking primarily about his death that was to come, but we recognise that we are given a principle which is important – a principle demonstrated through Jesus. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life   To find life we have to understand death.

That is true of salvation – dying to sin. It is true of a holy life – allowing the sinful life to die

 ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.  (Colossians 3)

I would venture the same principle is true for the Church. I don’t mean the divine, spiritual life of the Church will die.  Jesus says “I will build my Church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it”.  I am not talking of the divine spiritual Church of Jesus dying. It won’t. Governments, dictators, persecutors, mockers, atheists, haters – can all throw what they want at it. But within that the Church has to let go of its human, sinful bits in order to enter into the new life that Christ brings.

For some individual fellowships that might mean them coming to an end as I just mentioned, but what I am specifically thinking off is that the rhythm and principle of dying in order to live should be something that we embrace in the life of our churches.  Sometimes we cling on to the life that we know and sometimes we make every effort to keep things going – as if we are on that life support machine – alive in a sense but not really in the way we are meant to be.

During this period of lockdown in the midst of Coronavirus when so much of our ordinary regular routine things of church and church life have stopped now is a good time to ask what is it that we allow to die.  Maybe there are old ways of doing things that no longer work, maybe worship and preaching has drifted from putting God and the Bible at the centre.  Maybe we have not fully embraced our existence as a missional movement designed to make disciples of all nations. Maybe we have been confined in our buildings.  Maybe we have allowed finance to dictate our vision rather than vision our finance. Maybe we have not allowed the voice of the little people to be heard in the Governance of our churches.

Our understandable difficulty is that dying involves letting go, loss, and pain.  So, our inclination is to shun or fight these things.  But that is the wonder of Jesus in the life of the Church.  When we embrace death of those things which do not draw us closer to God then it becomes an entry point into the new life, the fulfilled life that Jesus brings. That is true of us as individuals. That is true of us as church.

Might we seize the moment and allow some of those things to slip away that have been holding us back – as individuals, as churches, as a denomination… in order that we might live?  Life awaits us.

The Church is for death! In order that we might know life.  How far can people see the death and resurrection life of Jesus in the Church?

Fresh Expressions of Church is a movement I am passionate about and want to encourage churches to look at (that in itself might require allowing other things to die to allow us to move into new areas of mission and ministry).  I sometimes wonder though if we have invented a particularly unhelpful fresh expression of church.  We have Café Church, Messy Church, Sweaty Church!  I wonder if we have invented “Zombie Church” and in too many places see churches stumbling around with the semblance of life but lacking the reality of it.

The words of Deuteronomy 30 are relevant, ¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life….

Colossians 3:1-10

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your^[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

 

John 12:23-26 

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.

Give me some good news: Evangelism beyond COVID-19

This is the approximate text of a webinar I shared in on 19th May 2020 on "Give me some good news: Evangelism beyond COVID-19.

I want to reflect on re-purposing principles of Evangelism and drop some words in that I will be cover.

Principles

(Re) – Purpose

Practice

Partnership

Prophetic

The central Principles of Evangelism remain the same.

In Matthew 28, Jesus said “Go and make disciples”.  This reminds us in the Church we should be outward facing and looking.  The principle remains even if we are more confined in lockdown. Give me some good news! – It’s still about “Go”.

Going is not just about physical travel but about “going” in the mind to understand people and the context around us.  Paul in Athens (Acts 17) was like this.  He got the context.  He understood their religious background and uses it as a starting point when he talks about the altar to the Unknown God.  He refers to the local poetry, “In him we live and move and have our being” and “We are his offspring)

Give me some good news!  It is still about understanding the people and context around us.

Then the Mission of God, the Missio Dei.  One of the things that has come to the foreground more and more in recent years is the acknowledgement that we are invited to join in the mission of God rather than inviting God to join in our mission.  Give me some good news - It’s still about God’s mission not ours.

Let us re-purpose these principles so they inform our Practice in the present situation of COVID 19 and beyond They are relevant and they work. So, if it is God’s mission, where is God at work?  That picks up the context emphasis again from Athens and is essential.  God is at work.  We will have identified various ways and places and there will be more.  Look at what is going in in society,

Rainbows everywhere.

Prayer spoken about more freely.

People engaging with online worship in greater numbers than when we were meeting in church buildings.

An emphasis on the importance of Community as people struggle with isolation and lockdown.

A longing for freedom when our freedoms have been taken away in lockdown.

Creation where pollution levels are falling because so much air travel and other travel is reduced.

Health, Life and Death issues are to the fore

Mental Health challenges.

Domestic abuse challenges.

Those who are involved in extra marital relations will find it more difficult to pursue them and relationships may become even more strained with the hidden undercurrent.

The Church has something to speak into all these areas and having reflected that it is still God’s mission we can look and listen and discern where God is at work as we seek to apply the same principles of understanding the context and “going”.  We move to join in with what God is doing in his mission.

What else might help with our “Practice” then?

The good news is we have an opportunity to speak and act into the present situation, lifting our eyes up from the most familiar and usual routes of evangelistic practice and taking account of what is real to people at the moment. We can do that by learning from those around us.  Too often we might seek to re-invent the wheel in the Church.

Learn from the lockdown Church (that is prison, perhaps more like lock up church).  I was a Prison Chaplain for a number of years and saw how powerfully God can be at work in that environment.  What can we learn from those who have experience in a place where people cannot freely move around and meet?  I discovered Prison Ministry encourages a recognition that many are Biblically illiterate and we need to respond to that.  There is great Biblical illiteracy in modern society. Prison Ministry enables us to be more aware of spiritual hunger that exists within human kind. Prison Ministry encourages ecumenical co-operation and teamwork rather than a spirit of competition. Prison Ministry encourages the discipling of people one to one as well as in small groups.

Learn from the Dispersed Church  Look how the Early Church grew.  We may not be physically moving around under lockdown, but we are moving into different ways, mind sets, encountering people in different situations.  Perhaps we are getting to know neighbours in different ways, e.g., WhatsApp groups. We may be more aware of who we might meet via social media or the telephone. We might reach out through foodbanks and home deliveries to the vulnerable.  The dispersed Church really can be like salt being shaken out across communities.

Learn from the Persecuted Church  It is not that we are being persecuted, but we are not able to meet openly.  The persecuted Church might remind us of the thirst for the Bible, the encouragement into deeper prayer life and holiness, an emphasis on quiet communication of the good news of Jesus through one-to-one situations, and growth in perseverance.  Oh, what lessons we can learn from our sisters and brothers in the persecuted Church.  Maybe you know someone who had to live their faith out under persecution.  Ask them what we can learn to sustain us today.

Into this I want to bring an eschatological angle which was important for parts of the Persecuted Church, just as it has been in other groups and times.  Slavery would be another example.  Working for life before death (a Christian Aid slogan) is really important and part of the outworking of the Gospel.  In some parts of the Church, maybe more so in a relatively comfortable West, the Church has been a little more circumspect about mentioning things like assurance of life in Christ (now and eternally) and sharing insights about death, judgement, heaven and hell.  There are a lot of uncomfortable people around at the moment who feel frightened and vulnerable and some who are dying,  We have a message of hope and assurance for them.  For some who have suffered under persecution and who have suffered in other ways the realisation that in the end God holds them for eternity is central.  Of course, that does not and should not stop us working for change now.

I am reminded in some of what I have just shared that it is good to learn to Partner with others.  Prison, Hospital and Forces Ministry and the global church are all examples of where such partnership is seen.  We should make a point of partnering with God’s Church which is bigger that the Methodist Church. We should partner with communities and local government, with para-Church organisations in order that we might “seek the peace and prosperity of the City for when it prospers you too shall prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7).  Burst the bubble of Methodism and live on a bigger map.

Another element to inform our practice is the Prophetic voice.  What is God saying to us?  It is good to ask that question.  It is not always easy to answer.  I have been trying to listen to others and to prayerfully reflect myself.  Maybe God is saying Stop, to the World and the Church

Our normal routine in the life of the Church is not something I am keen to go back to and I wonder if God might be speaking into this time saying to us Stop!  Stop your struggling and die.  Because it is through death that we enter into life.  Think differently, act differently.  Do not start the same meetings up, do not use Preaching Plans in the same way.  Look past the boundaries of your buildings.  Listen to the concerns of the world.  Put mission at the centre.  Do not start or restart anything unless it has a missional edge.

Finally, there is no lockdown on love and no lockdown on the Holy Spirit who still brings the living Christ to us.  They tried lockdown on Jesus once, on a Friday in a tomb.  It did not work.  It does not work.  The essential thing is to keep Jesus at the centre.  That is the uniqueness of what we bring.  I heard a radio interview several days ago.  Two people were being interviewed and one of those was a Church Minister.  The Minister was asked whether this be a moment of spiritual revival.  My own view is that it could be with the many questions and concerns that are being expressed across society.  The minister was asked about what the Church offered into this and shared that we can encourage people to be kind.  Now I do not want to encourage people to be unkind, but if that is the best we can offer……

Give me some good news!  I want to say what we have to offer is Jesus – nothing more and nothing less.  That is still good news.

Reflection on John 14:1-14 - Jesus the Way

Dying to Live

Based on a recent sermon using the Bible passage Mark 8:27-38 

In this passage we find that Jesus is in the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Before it was Caesarea Philippi it was known as Baal Hermon and Baal Gad in the Old Testament period. Later it was named Panias after the Greek god Pan who was worshiped here.  It was enlarged by Herod Philip, and named after Caesar, with his own name added to distinguish it from Caesarea.

I want to consider this passage under three headings,

They Say

You Say

I Say.

They Say

You know what they say!

Before moving to the Midlands last year I spent 20 years on the south coast of England on Portland. I remember from about year 3 on Portland, every other year it would seem, I would hear reports that I was going to be leaving next year. Well eventually they were right!  If you had ears you could hear what “they say”. Ministers often get told what “they say”.  “They” don’t like that, they are upset.  “They” don’t want the time changed, or the seating changed or another meeting or that new fangled idea!

Of course it is not only ministers that get told what they say.  There is a story of the British Wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. During his last year in office, he attended an official ceremony. Several rows behind him two men began whispering. "That's Winston Churchill." "They say he is getting senile." "They say he should step aside and leave the running of the nation to more dynamic and capable men." When the ceremony was over, apparently Churchill turned to the men and said, "Gentlemen, they also say he is deaf!"

Jesus in this passage ask what do “they say”?

‘Who do people say I am?’  They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’

In Matthew’s account (Chapter 16) there is an addition to that,

 They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

On the face of it sounds complimentary. But there are such things as backhanded compliments.  For instance,

“He looks lovely.  I like both his faces”

“I always feel more intelligent after reading your thoughts and ideas”

“Thanks for making me feel better about my own problems”

“You’re extremely reliable sometimes”

Generally both Elijah and John were seen as forerunners to the Christ/Messiah and some people believed they would return to herald the Messiah.  Messiah literally means “anointed”.  Jewish people believed the Messiah would come to bring deliverance to the Jewish nation. So John, Elijah, Jeremiah – it was a kind of compliment but something missing.

Today lots of people compliment Jesus (often their problem is with the Church).  They think he was a good man or maybe a prophet. I’ve met various atheists who respect him.  All kinds of people like Jesus and what he stood for when he helped the poor and oppressed, but that is not enough!

You say

Jesus asking the disciples about what “they say” seems to be the way in to a more pointed question.  ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’

The debate and discussion about what “they say” is fascinating but Jesus says to each one – who do you say that I am?

Do you recognise me – as God with you?

Do you realise that I am the one who came to get you out of the mess and consequences caused by sin?

Do you know me?

Who do you say I am?

Today who do you say I am?

As Jesus says those words what is your response?

‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’

In a moment of revelation Peter says

Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’

This was a radical response.  It could threaten the religious establishment and this happens in a region with royal connections.  Could threaten the Roman establishment too.  It is indeed amazing how threatened people can feel by Jesus.

This passage follows the healing of a blind man.  Some scholars think that these passages run together because the disciples are about to have their eyes opened.  Are our eyes open today?

I don’t know our background. Maybe every one of us has confessed Jesus as the anointed chosen one of God who came on behalf of God to bring us back to him. Or maybe not everyone reading this has said to themselves and others.  “You are the one” about Jesus.  He challenges us to choose.  And a prophet or good man or backhanded compliments won’t do. I am impressed by the words of C S Lewis from his book Mere Christianity,

 “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

I say

After this stunning response from Jesus we read “Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.” (Perhaps this was because they didn’t yet understand what being Messiah meant, or maybe even because he wanted people to discover from him and not from the disciples.)

^“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” 

So the Messiah has been confessed and Jesus has acknowledged he is the Messiah by telling the disciples not to tell anyone.  If it is important that the disciples see him as the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, then it is also important that they recognise him as God appointed and not appointed by humans.  And here Jesus is pointing at the sort of Messiah he is.  He doesn’t fit in with our ideas and opinion about salvation.  IT was understandable that the Jewish people who lived under occupation wanted a Messiah who would bring release and freedom.  But Jesus did not come to bring political salvation, or military salvation.  He came to bring something far deeper.  He came to bring spiritual salvation, which in turn brings freedom in the other areas of our lives.  The challenging thing is that the way to that is a way of suffering.  Well Peter is unhappy with the idea of the Messiah suffering.  Maybe because having recognised Jesus as Messiah Peter has some preconceived ideas about what that means. Maybe we have preconceived ideas about how God should interact with this world and our lives.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ In Matthew’s account there is a little extra.  (Mark is often short to the point.)

Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’

Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Then Matthew’s gospel continues, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’

Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

One minute Peter is going to be a rock for Jesus and then he is a block, a stumbling block to Jesus.  Rock or Block – what are we for God?

Have you been on a white-knuckle ride?  I think the worst for me was the Big One in Blackpool. What a roller coaster ride for Peter.  The highs of being pointed to as foundational in Christ’s Church and a moment later being called Satan.

Be careful lest we think we can tell Jesus how he should do his work.

Maybe we do.

Maybe we criticise Jesus.  Why did that have to happen?  Why couldn’t there be an easier way?

Such questions are natural, but there is a difference between a question and telling Jesus how to do things.

Maybe we know exactly how the work of Christ’s Church should be done rather than waiting on Christ.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: (in other words “I say”) ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’

Not only is the way of the Messiah one of suffering but those who follow the Messiah find it is their way too. This is not a comment about suffering generally. Followers of Christ do not have a monopoly on suffering.  This is about suffering persecution, taking up the cross related to our faith and because of our faith. That is the offer today. Follow Jesus – and suffer.

That’s a difficult sell! But paradoxically it is the way to life.

In dying to self we live.

In losing life we find life.

There is a lot of searching going on out in the World. People looking for satisfaction, fulfilment, or maybe trying to numb their self to the world.

What about today?  You?

Discover who Jesus is.  Find in him life. It is as we let go we receive life now and for eternity.  What do we need to let die today?

‘If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’

Jesus would say – “I say” – lose your life and find it.

Follow me.  Life will never be the same again.

Mark 8:27-38 

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’

²⁸ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’

²⁹ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’

Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’

³⁰ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹ He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’

Gone Fishing

I’m no fisherman.  I dabbled when I was younger.  I caught some flatfish off the beach at Ramsgate with my Grandfather and was very excited about it.  I think they were flounders, but it was a long time ago now. Truthfully that was probably the pinnacle of my fishing career.  Other attempts consisted of boring days with little or nothing to show, unless you count a little skill with sticklebacks and a small net on a pole!  Mind you the photograph accompanying this blog shows a more recent success!

Despite this abject failure at fishing I know, like so many people know, that the method of fishing one should use depends on the type of fish you are trying to catch.  So shark fishing requires different equipment and methods to fishing for trout.  Fly fishing is different to Spearfishing.  Line fishing can happen in a variety of ways and styles, and Netting is different again.

Jesus called his first followers and said “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people” (Matthew 4:19).  This was put in a way they could understand since some of those first followers were fishermen.  Different fish require different fishing techniques.  Different people require different ways to reach out to them with the good news of Jesus.  Sometimes this is a very gentle one to one conversation, being alongside someone, building a relationship with them over a long period of time, and sometimes what is required is reaching out with challenge offering a point of decision.  When the good news of Jesus is heard there is no one way of response but instead God draws people to himself in a variety of different ways.

This week Billy Graham died.  I was privileged to share in some of his ministry in the United Kingdom when he held big rallies and also privileged to see him in a slightly more intimate setting of a press conference.  I found him a humble and gracious man who sought to be a servant of God. It would be wrong to characterise Billy Graham’s ministry as only large rallies, but these did form a great portion of his ministry and many people over the decades responded to the call to follow Jesus that he offered.  Of course some of those who will have responded will have turned away eventually, perhaps having been caught up in the moment.  The parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) makes it clear that Jesus knew this would be one result of reaching out with God’s Kingdom. It is not confined to evangelistic rallies.  However, there are so many in the churches across the world today who can point back to an initial commitment to Jesus being made at a Billy Graham Crusade.

Such crusades became very unpopular in Britain for a while.  Some people still argue that they do not “work” (whatever that means).  But I want to say that different fish require different forms of fishing.  I want to thank God for all that he did through Billy Graham.  I want to say that we should not dismiss means and methods of outreach, mission and evangelism, maybe just because they do not appeal to us and our inclinations.  Instead we should celebrate that God reaches out through the followers of Jesus, who he calls to fish for people, in a variety of ways.

Today I celebrate that Billy Graham has been one of those fisher folk and I pray for many more.

Through the Eyes of a Stranger

Strangers are both noticed and notice things.  Having moved to a new area in 2017 I have been a stranger in a new area.  I have noticed things.  Of course it may be that many others embedded in the communities I have engaged with have noticed the same things, but my gut feeling, and from conversations with others, is that things I have noticed may not be in the consciousness of others.

I’ll tell you what I have noticed in my new area in contrast to where I moved from.  Institutions and people within them seem genuinely more determined to help rather than a “jobs worth” attitude.  There is stunning countryside and scenery.  It is a great contrast to living by the sea, but that is the right expression – a great contrast.

Then some other interesting observations (well to me anyway). People seem to routinely park on pavements with consequent problems for pedestrians.  This happens rather routinely and very very frequently.  Second I am stunned by the number of metal shutters on shops, metal bars inside windows of offices and businesses, and the number of burglar alarms.  Third I am amazed at how often I see motorists run red lights. It has happened enough for me to expect it now when I see a red light.

All this may be of no interest to anyone, but I share it to make the point that it is important to see through the eyes of the stranger.  The stranger often notices things we have got used to.  This is why it is so important to listen to strangers that interact with the Church. I am particularly thinking of those who come along to our worship or to our church events.  They often notice things that those on the inside have long ceased to see.  It is one of the reasons why many churches think (genuinely) that they are welcoming when in fact all they are is a comfy club for the insiders.  For the outsider, the stranger, they are assault courses to be negotiated with little or no help.  If you want to know if you are welcoming ask the stranger not the club members.  Hospitality is so much more than thinking it nice that new people have dropped in.

The stranger is important in the Bible. We are reminded there in many places that we are to welcome the stranger and to be hospitable to the stranger.  This is as relevant to the Syrian refugee who may be one of a larger group as it is to the individual who wanders through the door of a church on a Sunday.  Indeed Proverbs 5:10 is extreme in its direction to God’s people “Let strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another”.  Jesus likened himself to a stranger when he spoke about the sheep and goats on judgement day and effectively said he had been treated as a stranger and not welcomed through his followers being rejected (Matthew 25:31-46).  The idea of Jesus being treated as a stranger by us is a fascinating one, since as the one through whom we were created (Colossians 1:16), he will know us more intimately than any human could.

Be careful of shunning the stranger.  The stranger may know us better than we think.

So next time we want to see something clearly maybe we should stop looking with our own eyes for a moment and try to look through the eyes of the stranger.  We might learn a lot.

Maybe as we enter 2018 we can use the opportunity that the New Year brings to determine that we will welcome the stranger. Like Abraham, who was visited in Genesis Chapter 18 by three men at Mamre, we might never know how much of the Divine we are encountering and how far our lives might be transformed through the encounter.