Skip to main content

God with us; God among us: God revealed.

God is rejected, forgotten, ignored, blamed and abused; the same can be said, oftentimes, for his followers. Our job as Christians is to call people to worship the living God and therefore to honour and glorify the one to whom all honour and glory is due. At Christmas we have a particular opportunity to divert people’s attention away from what is of fleeting value, to what is of eternal value. Contrary to popular thought, people are hungry to be fed and eager to pray and those of us who have seen the living God must share in the joy of pointing the way to others. We do not control or contain the glory of God; we do not know where he is or isn’t at work; but we do know what we comprehend together as faithful Christians and to that we must be true. Being a Christian has never been simple – there is no golden age of Christianity when everyone believed and everyone went to church. Faith is a narrow road and only a few walk it – but nonetheless, at the same time, there are always those who have an ear for faith who are ready to come and hear what we have to say. Our role then is to be the sort of people, together, who make that listening possible. In this church we open our doors to those who seek to be in the presence of something greater than themselves; in doing that we are honouring the holy and sacred nature of the God we worship. How might we make our doors wider and more inviting? That is the job that the Parish Church Council is endeavouring to undertake on behalf of the whole community of St Andrew’s. I give thanks for the ways in which I have learnt about God’s grace and generosity here during the past year and most of all I give thanks for you, for sharing with me in the work of Christ– blessings, peace and joy for 2016.


Christ Mass

Salvation might be about the simple act of noticing,
It could be that collective amnesia
Has given birth to nostalgia,
Which in turn encourages us to
Miss the point.

The shepherds and the wise men
Made a journey
And crowded in that little
Place, they saw.

Yet, the television speaks of
Disembodied festivity:
Joy emptied, to leave
Tinsel and technology;
What else is there to be thankful for?

Bodied, enfleshed, breathing, moving, crying,
Realness glorified
Actuality, made more real than you or me
God, emptied and re-filled
Made again and made anew
That we might be re-made
Filled up, meaning spilling over
Shiny things shiny
Because we are made anew


Comments

Post a Comment

Please be respectful when posting comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rugby

It has been just over three weeks now since we have arrived in Rugby and it feels like a world away from South London. If I was used to being in what is generally thought of and written about as a post-Christian secular world then Rugby looks and feels very different. There are a proliferation of churches across Rugby which are very active in working together for the good of the town. There seems to be a genuine Spirit of God's love working across Rugby in impressive ways that I'm not sure what century I am in! It is surprising to find a town that works so hard in regenerating and reinvigorating all that it is and it feels like an enormous privilege to be here.  Not that South London was any kind of spiritual desert! It was also a great privilege to work there and see how God can still be so central to people's lives in the 21st century. If the image we get from the newspapers and national media is that God is redundant in the modern age it seems that the reality is very ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wonga and the Archbishop.

The Archbishop’s embarrassment concerning the Church Commissioner’s investment indirectly in Wonga helps to clarify ideas about sin, purity and holiness. In particular it reveals the extent to which sin is communal and interconnected. The Archbishop talks about a complex world which we all have to live in. He is right, but it can be put more theologically than that. The in-depth discussion around the Charity Commissioner’s investment portfolio and its tolerance of say up to 3% in companies (perhaps a hotel chain) that sell pornography reveals the way in which it is probably impossible to exist in perfect holy isolation. Nobody is perfect in and of themselves because we exist inter-dependently of one another. That is why sin is so corrupting - the wide effect of the pornographic industry not just on those who make it and buy it can be charted. That is why, when God made Himself known to the Jewish people as YHWH, that he started a covenantal relationship not just with a few individuals ...
Read more

Addicted to Travel?

Road to Emmaus Luke 24.13-35 What has been the most significant journey that you have taken? Was it short, long, with friends, alone? The travellers on the Road to Emmaus were walking and a stranger appears alongside them. I was wondering how the story would have to be different if it were set today. Jesus' sudden appearance in a car, for instance, would have spoiled the slow build up of drama as they listened to this stranger! Someone suddenly appearing in your car is going to make you jump! But most of us don't usually walk seven miles just as part of our daily routines, let alone seven miles back again! That made me think about how we travel today and I had the  very uncomfortable and challenging thought that travelling in a car is a sin. Hmm. I didn't like that idea very much so I had a go at arguing with God about that one. I like the car: I go to Scotland in it for a holiday, or I visit my parents. These things bring me joy - I tried to push away the idea that ...
Post a Comment
Read more