Citius, Altius, Fortius

25/04/2012 by idavidsonblog.

Faster, Higher, Stronger?

Citius, Altius, Fortius – Motto of the Olympic Games

Well, are you looking forward to the Olympic Games?  There are only one hundred days to go until the opening ceremony as I write this letter and there will a lot fewer by the time you get to read it.  Have you booked your tickets to spectate or have you booked your holiday, to be as far away as possible from Stratford and the other sites whilst the games are going on?  Alternatively, are you just going to carry on as though nothing special is happening?

As a family we have got some tickets and I am sure we’ll enjoy the events we get to watch.  I enjoy watching sport, though I have never excelled at any and risen as high as ‘average’ in only a few.  I will enjoy watching the Olympics, both live and on TV, but I hope they don’t get to dominate my life.  For me, it will be fun to see who goes faster or higher than anyone else and who is the strongest of them all.
When you make ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ your motto however, you should not be surprised when some people take things very seriously indeed.  After all, despite the intentions of Baron de Coubertin that the modern Olympics would be an amateur get-together it has become a multi-billion pound, world-wide, media saturated, thoroughly politicised event.  No wonder some are prepared to go to any drug-enhanced lengths in order to be first over the line.

Along with ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ (apparently suggested by a Dominican priest) de Coubertin also used informally the well-known phrase, “the most important thing is not to win but to take part” (this one attributed to an American Anglican bishop, preaching at the 1908 (London) games).  How do you manage to hold together those two sayings without contradiction?  Maybe you cannot do so.  If a Christian tries looking to the Bible for help with this conundrum then some athletic texts are to hand.  For example, Saint Paul, who lived in Corinth for a while, the city with the most important set of first-century athletics championships after the ancient Olympic games, held by Athens, was happy to pick up such imagery to describe the Christian life: “At the games, as you know, all the runners take part, though only one wins the prize.  You also must run to win.  Every athlete goes into strict training.  They do it to win a fading garland; we to win a garland that never fades.” (1 Corinthians 9: 24, 25)

Christians will want to affirm some aspects of the Olympic Games from a faith perspective, celebrating the physicality and fellowship of the event, for example; things that we were made for by the God of Creation.  At the same time as congratulating the faster, the higher and the stronger, Christians remember that Jesus seemed to spend a lot of his time with the lower, the weaker and those who had been left trailing behind in the society where he lived and ministered.  How we keep these perspectives in balance is a good subject for discussion in Church at this time.  Additionally, the Olympics provide an opportunity for Church-goers to share in fun with neighbours and chat about what beliefs and values help us keep such a big event in some sense of proportion in the coming months.

Trevor

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A Happy Ending?

19/03/2012 by idavidsonblog.

A Happy Ending?

 

Are you someone who likes a clear ending?  In a film called The Italian Job, the earlier version, starring Michael Cane, a band of British crooks pull off a ‘bank job’ in Italy.  They make their getaway in Mini Coopers (the earlier version again), whizzing across the Italian cityscape, chased by police cars and motorbikes.  Having successfully eluded their pursuers they ditch the cars in favour of a coach which is driven up the winding roads of the Italian Alps by a driver fuelled equally by adrenaline and alcohol.  Misjudging one bend the rear of the coach is left hanging over the abyss and the vehicle, with its passengers and their loot is left finely balanced, swaying back and forward between freedom and oblivion.  Every time they make a move to retrieve the gold bars from the back of the coach they find themselves almost tipping over the edge.  At this point their leader, played by Michael Cane, announces, “I’ve got an idea” but before we can find out what it is the theme music begins to play and the film concludes, leaving them and us in suspense.  What’s going to happen next?  No one knows.

 

I still remember the first time I saw The Italian Job and recall my deep sense of outrage that the director could do this to me.  I wanted a definitive ending, not caring whether they were captured or made off with their ill-gotten gains, as long as I knew which happened.

 

Nowadays, I’m much more relaxed about uncertainty and ambiguity.  Maybe that’s something to do with life experience.  In any case I think that helps me when I am presented with the ending of The Gospel According to Saint Mark.  Although someone has helpfully added a definitive ending (chapter sixteen, verses nine to nineteen) those who are expert in these matters are pretty well all agreed that this was not an original part of Mark’s Gospel.

 

So, for Easter this year, we are presented with a resurrection story (16: 1-8) which has women followers of Jesus come to his tomb, only to find it empty and they are given a message that Jesus has been raised to life following his death by crucifixion.  Finally, we are told that they ran off in fright and as a result of their fear told no one what had gone on!

 

So, has Jesus been raised on Easter Day?  Some people in Mark’s Gospel say so but Mark provides no accounts of the risen Jesus meeting with his disciples. What sort of Gospel ending is that?

 

Well, I suppose it is one where we are invited to write the next chapter.  The last thing the women do is leave the tomb, returning to the world, with a story to tell even though at this moment they have been so terrified by their experience that they have, so to speak, been struck dumb.  Of course, however, we know their story did not end there.  Even without the other three Gospels to guide us on the matter it stands to reason that they must have got around to telling someone.  Otherwise how would anybody know that Jesus had been raised to life and why would Mark even bother to tell us that they had been there on that particular morning?

 

When did you or I first have some messenger of good news tell us that things did not end on Good Friday but that the tomb was empty and Jesus was risen by Easter Sunday?

 

What did we do with the information and whom did we tell?

 

More to the point, given that the story has not yet come to a definitive end, who can we tell today and who might we tell tomorrow?

 

A happy Easter to you all.

 

Trevor

 

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Please tick the box that applies to you…

22/02/2012 by idavidsonblog.

Do you have to know the name of the first book of the Bible’s New Testament in order to qualify as a Christian?  In a recent survey on behalf of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (UK) only 35% of those who had identified themselves as Christians by ticking the relevant box in the 2001 National Census were able to give the correct answer.  On the other hand, when invited during a subsequent Radio Four discussion to give the full title of Charles Darwin’s book, Origin of the Species, Dawkins, a prominent, public atheist and scientist, previously specialising in evolutionary biology, floundered spectacularly; and you wouldn’t want to argue on that basis that he does not believe in the theory of evolution!

 

Entertaining though it may be to hear Richard Dawkins tie himself in knots in a public setting we would be unwise to ignore the content and findings of this survey.  Granted, a lot of people self-identified as Christian for the purpose of National Census but how much does this say about their beliefs or practices?  The answer to that question seems to be ‘not a lot’.  Of those who self-identified as Christian, just 30% say they hold strong religious beliefs.  Only 10% draw upon religious beliefs and teachings when making moral decisions, whilst 50% rely on inner moral sense.  More than half of ‘Census Christians’ have not read any of the Bible by choice during the previous year.  When asked why they ticked the ‘Christian’ box 28% may attribute this decision to belief in Christian teachings but a much greater percentage did so because they had been ‘christened’ or because their parents were Christians (whatever that had meant for them).

 

Now, there is no need for British Christians to panic.  Much of this information is actually old news, having been uncovered by previous surveys. Any preacher in a British Church has known for some time, courtesy of the Bible Society, or could have guessed anyway, that the majority of the congregation have not heard or read anything from the Bible since they were last in Church.  Like most ministers I might wish things were otherwise and would encourage everyone to read or listen to the Bible frequently but I am not going to make it an entry requirement for attendance at worship or show the red card to anyone, as far as Church membership is concerned, because they have not perused their Bible this week.  I am much more interested in which direction a person’s faith is taking rather than where they are at this moment in time: is it cooling or warming, growing or declining?

 

Nor do we need to panic concerning the position of the Church in our society, as long as we are not addicted to being close to or in positions of power and prestige.  Jesus had some sharp comments to make about those amongst his followers who were tempted by that: “You know that among the Gentiles the recognised rulers lord it over their subjects and the great make their authority felt.  It shall not be so with you; among you whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.” (Mark 10: 42-43 i.e. from the second book in the New Testament)  As far as I can see, Richard Dawkins’ survey did not ask an explicit question about how we treat others and expect to be treated by them, though it would be good if more of us treated others on the basis of what we know Jesus said, because we read it in the Bible.

 

Trevor

 

p.s.      To hear Richard Dawkins attempt to remember that the title of Darwin’s book was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (yes, I had to look this up), go to

            www.news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9696000/9696135.stm

 

p.p.s.   The first book in the New Testament is The Gospel According to Matthew (and I did not have to look this up, but you already knew the answer, didn’t you?…)

 

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What’s Our Business?

28/01/2012 by idavidsonblog.

 

“Eastman Kodak, the company that invented the hand-held camera, has filed for bankruptcy protection.  The move gives the company time to reorganise itself without facing its creditors, and Kodak said that it would mean business as normal for customers.  The company has recently moved away from cameras to refocus on making printers to stem falling profits.  The 133-year-old firm has struggled to keep up with competitors who were quicker to adapt to the digital era.”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16625725

 

So, Kodak joins a long line of companies and other organisations that have been overtaken by changed circumstances.  As the report above notes, others were quicker to adapt to the digital era and so Kodak, previously so dominant in its field, has fallen way behind.  We live in the digital age.  This letter was written using a computer, emailed to the magazine editors who then dropped it into the appropriate electronic space in the publication.  It was then either re-emailed or delivered on a computer memory stick to the printer, who then sent the digital command to print the paper version that you are now reading, unless of course you are looking at one of the online versions available on Church websites.

Similar pressures have affected other businesses.  Bookshops, including Christian bookshops such as the one in Chelmsford, have been closing as customers (me included) have been ordering online rather than going to the shop.  Likewise, HMV struggles on in the high street but many of its former customers now prefer to pick up their music or movie from Tesco or Amazon.  Churches may have been closing in this country throughout the twentieth century but not at as quickly as the rate at which pubs have been closing, and the majority of pubs that are still going have reinvented themselves as restaurants, where it so happens you can also go for a drink.  Similarly these days, you are as likely to go to Waterstones to drink a cappuccino as you are to purchase a book.

 

Kodak, you could argue, thought it was in the film business when in fact it was in the image business and when photographic film was no longer the way to create images then it should have moved on.  What business, then, in changed times do you think Churches are in as we proceed further into 2012?  One hundred and thirty three years ago, when Kodak was founded, congregations were flourishing in this country, evidenced by the great number of large, new Church buildings being erected.  They were centres of worship, education and entertainment; of social service and socialising.  Today, elements of all of these remain in the lives of many of our Churches, but many of these functions have taken over and are often better done and done better by other groups – schools and hospitals for example, not forgetting the revamped pubs.

 

I would argue there is still a place for many of these things in the life of our Churches, as long as we stay focused on our ‘core business’, which is relating to God through finding and following Jesus.  That’s what drives the Fresh Expressions movement, attempts to ‘do Church’ in different, non-traditional ways in a fast-changing world.  Worship and service, fun and fellowship and learning, located in a substantial Church building however, still have a valid role in the twenty-first century as a way of following Jesus together.  We need to be ready however, to develop our life in ways that best enable us and others to find and follow Jesus, which is the business we are still in today.

 

Trevor

 

For information on Fresh Expressions…

 

www.freshexpressions.org.uk

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Giving Gifts to Strangers

21/11/2011 by idavidsonblog.

 

Giving a gift to stranger seems to be a strange thing to do, at least when you first think about it.  Yet, for Christians, should that be the case.  After all, the magi, also known as ‘the wise men’, however many there were of them, presented their gifts to someone they had never met before.  As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of another; as we celebrate Christmas, I’m glad to say that the three congregations in this pastorate make specific efforts to give Christmas gifts to strangers.

 

All three congregations hold ‘gift and toy services’.  At the beginning or during worship those present bring forward gifts that go to groups and organisations that can use or will especially value receiving a gift this Christmas.  At Brentwood URC gifts go to an organisation called Community Links, which is an east London charity working with 30,000 people each year.  They run youth clubs and children’s activities, including working with children who have been excluded from mainstream education.  They also provide advice for those with benefits, housing and debt problems.

 

At Billericay URC two organisations benefit from the gift and toy service.  HARP (Homeless Action Resource Project) is a charity combining the services of the former Southend Centre for the Homeless and Southend Night Shelter for the Homeless.  Its main objectives are to provide homeless people with help and advice in securing accommodation, and to alleviate homelessness through the provision of short-term emergency accommodation.  Other gifts collected at Billericay Mountnessing Court is an NHS residential care unit in Billericay, caring for a range of people.  Members of the Billericay congregation visit during the year to lead worship for Easter, Harvest and Christmas.

 

At Ingatestone URC gifts go to Chelmsford Women’s Aid’s, an organisation whose aim is to support women and children who are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence, encouraging them to develop skills, gain confidence and enable them to exercise their own power and to use all available opportunities and choices to successfully move on in their lives.

 

Recently I was leading one of the Thursday morning prayer meeting at Ingatestone URC (starts at 9:15am in the West Room, concludes prior to 10:00am – all welcome to come along if available!).  The passage we were looking at was Matthew 25: 31-46, the passage that envisions the ‘Son of Man’ dividing the peoples up like flocks of sheep and goats, the former receiving God’s blessing, the latter consigned to ‘eternal punishment’.  What we concentrated upon, however, was the basis on which the division was made, not on this occasion because of belief or lack of it but because of how they had treated others.  The others include hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and the stranger; the ones who are facing difficulty in life.

I’m not commending bringing a gift for a stranger to a toy and gift service as a form of eternal-life insurance, a means of qualifying you for membership of the blessed ‘sheep’ rather than the rejected ‘goats’.  Nor am I suggesting our congregations can polish their collective halo to an even greater brightness just because we make some small gifts on one Sunday of the year.  Still, it seems to me that when we do this sort of thing we are taking a step along the right path and it is an example of how God wants his people to live at Christmas and for the rest of the year as well.

 

“The king will answer,

‘Truly I tell you: just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”

 

(Matthew 25: 40)

 

Trevor

 

If you wish to find out more or even offer support to any of the voluntary organisations mentioned above…

 

Community Links                    www.community-links.org/

 

HARP                                      www.harpsouthend.co.uk/

 

Chelmsford Women’s Aid       www.chelmsfordwa.co.uk/

 

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Remember, Remember…

26/10/2011 by idavidsonblog.

 

“Remember, remember the 5^th of November”: I must admit I am pretty hazy about how the rest of the line goes.  I suppose that is because I did not grow up in England and therefore did not have the annual experience of remembering Guy Fawkes (we just happily celebrated Halloween, but that’s another story).

 

November is certainly a month for remembering things and our memories are essential to who we are, both individually and as a people.

 

What are your earliest memories?  Many of mine are to do with Church, school and family.  I can remember one of my early, pre-school-age, birthday parties where I had to sit separately from the guests because I had contracted measles.  I can recall Father Christmas arriving at for school and Sunday school Christmas parties – what a busy man.

 

Unsurprisingly, faith, education and family are important to me as an adult, for these are the things I remember so many years later and these in turn are memories that contribute to the sort of person that I am these days.

We all have personal memories that we hang unto or which for some reason persist with us through the years.  November, however, is month not just for personal memories but a month for ‘instructed’ memories.  These are the ‘memories’ for which we have no personal recollection and indeed for which we could not have any recollection.  They are memories of events from times before we were even born but which our family, our community, our Church, our society believe are important or even essential to our development and identity.

 

So, a government and a nation, determined to remain Protestant, and fearful of Catholicism, replayed with the aid of fireworks and bonfires, the failure of a conspiracy to blow up parliament and the subsequent execution of those deemed to be traitors.  Nowadays, in happier political and religious times (at least amongst previously warring Christian factions) fewer and fewer ‘guys’ are placed on the bonfire and people just enjoy the spectacle of the fireworks, possibly as part of a charitable fund raising event rather than as a thanksgiving for the safety of ever-popular parliamentarians.

 

In Churches, November, like other months is a month of instructed memories.  We continue to remember Jesus, by gathering to hear the stories of his birth, life, death and resurrection.  We also remember Jesus and his significance for us, by acting out the meal he shared with disciples just prior to his arrest and death and pondering its significance for us all.  When we get to December many of us will be remembering the birth of Jesus, his incarnation, not only through familiar readings and special songs but also through acting it out in nativity plays.  As far as remembering and November goes, however, the great act of remembrance, whilst it involves Churches, goes more widely than that.

Though for many people in our society remembrance of war involves strong personal memories for the majority of people this just can’t be the case.  Either we are too young to remember the two World Wars which affected everyone in the country at the time or we are not part of the smaller segment of the nation involved in current conflicts, such as the one in Afghanistan.  For most of us, instructed memory is the only type available.  So, we are encouraged into memorial actions, buying a poppy to display on our clothing (some also choosing to remember civilian deaths and the call to peace making through wearing a white poppy).  There will be parades, special religious services, television programmes and moments of shared silence; all opportunities for ‘instruction’ in the content and importance of the things we remember together.

 

I hope that this month is a time of positive memories for you, even if some of these are sad ones.  I hope this is true whether such memories are personal or ‘instructed’, individual or shared.  It is important to remember.

 

Trevor

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Growing Up

25/09/2011 by idavidsonblog.

“We will be a growing Church with an increasing membership.”

 

This was the topic of conversation for a self-selecting group of URC Ministers in which I participated recently.  Led by the United Reformed Church’s Secretary for Mission, Ministers  were confronted with ten headings about the shape of our denomination in a decade’s time; part of the initiative that goes by the name, Vision2020.*

 

Given a free choice, we divided into five groups, each tackling one of headings and I went for ‘Church growth’.  I wonder which you would have chosen as the topic you most wanted to discuss concerning the life of our Church.  Perhaps it might even be one of the five that in this group of Ministers did not even get a vote this time around!

 

In the group we shared stories of growth in Church membership numbers as we had experienced them.  We all agreed that getting the URC to increase membership numbers is a BIG challenge, even if we are talking only about numbers of participants rather than those who officially ‘come into membership’.

 

As a denomination we have been gaining members over the past forty years but we have been losing even more at the same time: you have to run even just to keep up.  Also, with increasing geographical mobility, bringing wider commitments and options, the patterns of attendance and participation in Church life is less consistent.  Worship leaders, for example, face a congregation this Sunday that differs in composition from last week.  Junior Church leaders in many Churches do not know whether they will be working with ten, one or no children as Sunday approaches.

 

This is not a criticism of those with work, family and other significant commitments or health concerns that prevent them from always turning up for a regular Church activity, though if you are in a position to nurture your faith and encourage others by adding your presence to the congregation I encourage you to do so.  Nor am I suggesting that belonging to a Church is only about turning up on Sundays, though if a group does not have worship as part of its life I would argue that whatever else it might be and even though it might be a good thing, it is not a Church.

 

What was clear from the conversation that I had was that if we convince ourselves that our Church will not grow numerically then this will function as a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Most people who come into the life of a Church do so through a personal invitation that they have received from someone that they know.  Lack of confidence prevents us from issuing such invitations, even when recent surveys of the British public reveal a large number of people (possibly as many as three million) who are simply waiting to receive a suitable invitation.

 

All three congregations in this pastorate have aspects to and activities in their life that I am confident would appeal to “outsiders” when we pluck up the courage to ask them along.  Don’t worry, if we crack that one, then there are always nine other mission headings to spend some time on after that!

 

Trevor

 

*The ten headings are: 1. Spirituality and prayer, 2. Identity, 3. Christian ecumenical partnership, 4. Community partnerships, 5. Hospitality and diversity, 6. Evangelism, 7. Church growth, 8. Global partnerships, 9. Justice and peace, 10. The integrity of creation

 

(Given the choice, this group of Ministers from URC Eastern Synod chose to explore headings 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7)

 

Further information at: http://www.urc.org.uk/what_we_do/mission/vision2020

 

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It was Jeremy that did it

23/06/2011 by idavidsonblog.

I’ve just being reading about Jeremy in the Bible.  This was a surprise to me as I had forgotten that he was in there.  I knew that I had read the New Testament verse where he appeared several times before but still he had slipped my mind.  Not only that, I was reading the Bible aloud in public when Jeremy popped up again.  Jeremy, we were reminded, was an Old Testament prophet whose words get quoted in a prominent position in the New Testament.  In theory, many of us who have read Matthew’s Gospel ought to remember Jeremy: “Thus was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet …”

 

I was reading from the King James Version of the Bible, the translation whose four hundredth anniversary of publication we celebrate this year.  I was starting off a public reading of the KJV translation of the Gospels, taking place in Ingatestone Parish Church.  This public reading is only one of many readings of the KJV that have taken place or are due to take place around the country during 2011.  There has already been one at St Thomas’s Church in Brentwood and there is one planned for later in the year by Churches Together in Billericay.

 

Heroically (or foolishly) I had volunteered to be the first to read, meaning that I had to negotiate the family tree of Jesus, with its host of tongue-twisting names, before moving on to the story of his birth, the visit of the Magi (wise men) and King Herod’s massacre of children in an attempt to kill off what he took to be a rival for his crown.  It is in commenting upon this awful act that Matthew writes, “Thus was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet … [‘Jeremiah’, in the translations we use in Church these days] … In Rama there was a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping and great mourning.  Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.” (Matthew 2: 17, 18 – KJV)

 

I don’t think I have ever experienced this reading or the hearing of these words with such force before.  I have never felt so deeply concerning either the bereaved mothers of Rama, of Bethlehem in New Testament times, or for their contemporary equivalents.  I think it was ‘Jeremy’ that did this to me.  Previously, familiarity with the text had dulled my sensitivities but the variation in the name caught my attention, just in time to receive the message about Rachel and the desolate women.  Since the motivation for the King James Version was that the people would hear the scriptures with a new clarity I think the translators would be quietly satisfied to know that their work can still have such an impact four hundred years later.

 

I do hope we all get opportunities to hear the Bible, not only in the ‘usual ways’ but also in new ways, new settings, new translations, or though different means of presentation; that we too really get to hear or hear anew the message God speaks to us today.

 

Trevor

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Resurrection, Then and Now by Revd. Trevor Jamison

29/04/2011 by idavidsonblog.

Resurrection, Then and Now

 

Meeting with others to plan a one day event at Brentwood URC, New Life, New Hope: Stories of Jesus, Risen from the Dead, I was struck by how many stories we have from His followers reflecting their conviction that despite being crucified and killed Jesus was now alive.  Some disciples discovered an empty tomb and one then met Him in the cemetery garden.  Two disciples met Him on a journey to the village of Emmaus and rushed back to tell the others in Jerusalem only to be informed that He had appeared to Simon Peter (I hope they weren’t too disappointed to find that their big news was not news to the others).  Then we are told of Jesus meeting disciples in a locked room, something that Thomas found hard to believe until he too met the risen Jesus and declared his faith in Him.

 

That’s only what we hear in the Gospels (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20).  The Apostle Paul, writing a letter to the Church in Corinth, decades before the Gospels were written, mentions the appearances to Simon Peter and to the Twelve (presumably minus Judas Iscariot) and also one to James, the brother of Jesus.  He includes mention of an appearance to five hundred disciples, commenting that many of them are still alive to confirm the experience and last, but by no means least, speaks of his own spectacular encounter with the risen Jesus whilst on the road to Damascus (1 Corinthians: 15).  For those with faith to see and for those seeking evidence to lead them to faith there is plenty of information available to say that Jesus, who was dead on Good Friday, was very much alive on Easter Day.

 

The other thing I noticed was that Jesus’ resurrection was not just some astounding but isolated event; it affected people.  Firstly, the resurrection removed fear.  Disciples who had been in hiding following Jesus’ death now felt able to come out into the open and talk to others about what God had done for them through Jesus.  For Churches living in difficult times it is good to know not only that the most frequent command in the Bible is “do not be afraid” but that even death, whether for individuals or Churches, is not the final word as far as God is concerned.

 

Secondly, the resurrection experience changed people’s outlook and lifestyle.  Paul is the most quoted example here.  He began as one totally opposed to the new Christian movement, even persecuting it where it appeared within Judaism.  He changed totally as a result of his resurrection experience, becoming one of Christianity’s foremost advocates, not only to Jews but also to Gentiles.  What was true for Paul and others as individuals also worked its way out in their shared life: the Church.  Those who met to hear the apostles teach, share the common life, to break bread and to pray (Acts 2: 42) did so, sharing the conviction that Jesus had been raised to life.

 

For me, history matters, as a record of the past and as interpretation of its significance.  It matters that God raised Jesus from the dead and that this then changed things for His followers.  This history only becomes significant, however, when we let it affect our lives in the here and now.  Today, we need not be afraid of what the future holds.  Today, we are called to organise our lives in response to Jesus.  Today, we are called to do so in company with others, in Churches that celebrate Jesus, both crucified and raised from the dead.

 

Trevor

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God of the Tsunami? By Revd. Trevor Jamison

25/03/2011 by idavidsonblog.

God of the Tsunami? He utters His word, and the ice is melted;He makes the wind blow and the water flows again. 

Psalm 147: 18 So, is that all the explanation we need for the wave that has devastated a large area of northeast Japan?  God, creator of the world sent the wave?  Whether we are Christians or not, religious believers or not, many of us want explanations for why things happen.  Scientific explanations about shifting tectonic plates in an earthquake-prone area of the world provide valuable explanations about ‘how’ such things occur but lurking in the background is that human desire to ask not only about the ‘how’ but the ‘why’ of such an occurrence. 

Questions about ‘how’ and ‘why’ are luxuries we can afford since we are not the ones in the midst of this desolation.  Did you see and do you remember the Japanese woman, standing in the midst of the wreckage, unable to recognise her home town because all of the landmarks had been swept away by the great wave?  For her, I suppose, just trying to frame an answer to the ‘what’ precedes any about how or why this has happened.Christians (and others) want to know what role God plays in a situation like this, to say nothing of previous events in Haiti and New Zealand.  Some of the explanations that are offered we can reject.  God is not going about the world doling out punishment for sin in the form of earthquakes or other disasters.  In John’s Gospel we are reminded that God loves the world and that “it was not to judge the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through him the world might be saved.” (3: 16-17) Other explanations contain a grain of truth.  Perhaps sometimes God does send or permit suffering because it helps us to grow.  Personal experience confirms what Saint Paul declares: “suffering is a source of endurance” (Romans 5: 3) and we sometimes emerge the stronger for a time of suffering.  On the other hand disproportionate suffering simply destroys the person.  Likewise, there is a grain of truth in the thought that suffering produces good, in that when we encounter the suffering of others we are moved to do good.  Christians (and others) are moved to respond with generosity when confronted with the sufferings of others, whether with their time, their expertise of their money.  But should I believe that God permits or causes others to suffer simply in order to make me a better person; that children should face the possibility of radiation poisoning to encourage me to increase my charitable giving?  I don’t think so. 

Despite the human desire for explanation (which I share) we are simply not able to give a totally convincing one for why such suffering occurs.  For Christians this should not come as a total surprise.  After all, we know that our understanding of this world and of God’s nature is partial (1 Corinthians 13: 12) and that total understanding will have to wait.  In other words we need to be humble, which is not a bad place for Christians to begin.  What we can (humbly) offer is hope, grounded in the faith that God loves the world, enough to come and live here, enough to put things right in the end.  Hope, faith and love (1 Corinthians 13: 13) may not constitute an explanation for suffering but, lived out in practical ways, they do constitute a Christian response. Trevor

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