Parish Magazine Item for The Diocesan Years Of...

 

From The Rectory

 

In 2023, the Diocese of Chichester focused on the Old Testament. This year we are thinking about the New Testament. And 2024 will be a Year of Faith to mark 1700 years since The Council of Nicaea and 950 years of Christian mission based in Chichester, the home of our diocesan cathedral.

 

The relationship between Old and New Testaments and Christian doctrine is often misunderstood. Clearly there are differences between them, but what is much more remarkable is the unity of Testaments and Christian confession.

 

It is quite common to hear someone say that they are more of a New Testament Christian than an Old Testament person. They mean they are nice and kind and not keen on war etc. But, if I may say so, this involves rather misleading caricatures about the Bible.  

 

It is very hard to make any sense of the New Testament without the Old. As Christians have often said, the New is in the Old concealed and the Old is in the New revealed. But actually the Old Testament is often pretty obviously looking for a New Testament fulfilment. Jesus’ identity as Israel’s Messiah (the Christ, the Anointed One, the long-promised rescuer king) is only comprehensible based on expectations going back to the book of Genesis itself and the promise of a Serpent-Crusher who will defeat evil and undo the curse on sin. We could wax lyrical about all the patterns and pictures which Jesus, the prophet, priest and king fulfils.  

 

Arguably, the Trinity, atonement, resurrection and many other Christian themes are all clearly present in the Old Testament. They are not hiding if we have eyes to see them.

 

The commands to love God and neighbour come in the Old Testament. Old Testament religion was a matter of love.

 

When the New Testament itself comes to sum up the teaching of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles, it does so in almost the opposite way that we might expect. According to Saint Peter in Acts chapter 10, “All the [Old Testament] prophets testify about him [Jesus] that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Whereas the New Testament apostles proclaim a message of coming judgement: that he, the risen Lord Jesus, “is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.” The Old Testament speaks of forgiveness; the New Testament speaks of judgement. Old Testament bad and horrible; New Testament nice and lovely obviously misses the mark.

 

Christian teaching is not merely a repetition of what the Bible says, but the Bible remains true, clear, necessary and sufficient. All that we need to know for salvation and godliness is taught well enough in the Bible, if we will only seek to understand it prayerfully together. The task of Christian doctrine is to study more deeply what the Bible teaches and to articulate it afresh in each generation, applying it to new situations using all the help which tradition, reason and experience can give. In a sense it might be claimed that The Nicene Creed is just an attempt to summarise what the Bible teaches and what all Christians everywhere has always believed, even if it uses some technical terms not found in the Bible itself. It aims to expound and apply, to show the meaning and implications of the Bible, not to pour in alien ideas.

 

Over this three-year period, let’s pray for a deeper appreciation of the Bible and the Christian faith. And in particular, let us pray that we get beyond an academic interest in these things or a merely intellectual understanding. We aim not only to stuff our heads with more understanding but we ask that God might move our hearts, wills and hands with these great truths: that we might see what they mean for us and how they make a difference on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.    

 

The Revd Marc Lloyd

The Newness of the New Testament

 

I am attempting to preach two sermons for the Diocesan Year of the New Testament in these couple of weeks before Lent.

 

I have one on the nature and purpose of the New Testament in which I try to say something about the historical reliability of the gospels, Jesus’ identity as Lord, the truth and authority of the Bible and the goal that we might meet Jesus there, hear his voice, believe in him and have new life in his name. It deserves a whole sermon series, I know!

 

I am also thinking of saying something about the newness (or otherwise) of the New Testament / Covenant. All the time seeking to proclaim and apply the good news of Jesus, not just to give an academic lecture.

 

So perhaps you can help me on content and implications. Much of the New Testament actually wrestles with issues related to this (how will Jew and Gentile relate in the church, what of the Law of Moses etc.), but perhaps few of our people are tempted to live as Old Testament Jews, so we need to work out where the rub is for us.

 

Continuity

 

The same Triune God!

 

The unity of Scripture: God’s big picture – The Old Testament the Word of God not the Word of God Emeritus

 

Love in the Old Testament; wrath in the New Testament

 

One work of creation and redemption – one plan of salvation – The Covenant of Grace (in Old and New Testament administrations)

 

Salvation always only by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone

 

The Newness of the New Testament

 

Here is Jesus come in the flesh!

 

The incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus

 

The Old Testament not abolished but fulfilled – from shadows to substance

 

Something of an internalising and intensification of the Law in the teaching of Jesus? (Though this obviously wasn’t absent in the Old Testament).

 

(To say the NT goes from physical to spiritual etc. would probably be overstating it and misleading?)

 

All foods declared clean

 

The temple and the sacrificial system, Jesus and the church – the torn curtain, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70

 

The people of God no longer infants under the tutelage of the Law – a mature learning from the wisdom of the Law, an internalising of its message of love

 

The New Testament itself, of course!

 

New sacraments

 

Pentecost: The outpouring of the Spirit to permanently indwell all God’s people

 

The gospel going to all the nations and the radical inclusion and equality of the people of God as those who have faith in Jesus

 

Looking forward not to the coming of Christ but to his Second Coming

 

A new and better glory!

 

Applications?

 

Read your New Testament (and Old Testament), obviously!

 

Delight in and stick with this Jesus and his gospel

 

Share this Jesus and his gospel with all the nations

 

* * *

 

Right? What else and so what? How would you aim to communicate some of this engagingly on a Sunday morning?

 

Again, this is probably far too much for one sermon so what main thing or things would you want to communicate?

The authority of Jesus is Ss

 

 

I have sometimes heard the authority of Jesus in Mark’s gospel described using a series of words beginning with (or maybe sounding like) “S”s.

 

Slightly silly, but I suggest we seek Our Saviour's authority in the Gospels over "s"s:

 

Some of these might be a stretch and perhaps are debatable / lack on obvious proof text but here goes:

 

With a salute to friends who chipped in:

 

Sin;

Sickness;

Scribes;

Spirits;

Satan;

Sinners / Seekers / Sceptics;

Sailors! (fishermen);

Simon;

Sea;

Sandwiches (loaves and fishes!);

Sanhedrin;

Sadducees;

Soldiers; Centurions;

Scripture (as its authorised interpreter and subject);

Sabbath;

Ceremonies;

Sepulchres;

Sanctimoniousness;

Self-righteousness;

Silliness;

Sorrow / sadness;

Suffering;

Snakes / serpents;

Sliced ears;

Smells (the stink of Lazarus)  

Soft fruit (the cursing of the fig tree)

Sanctuary (Temple)

Sausages (The Gadarene swine and the food laws!)

Structures 

(our) Selves?

Something else? Supplement, please?

What is a Deanery?

 

What is a Deanery?

 

A question you are no doubt asking! It could be the house in which a Dean lives. But not in this case.

 

“The Anglican Communion is a family of 42 autonomous and independent-yet-interdependent national, pan-national and regional churches in communion with the see of Canterbury” operating in over 165 countries.

 

These churches are composed of Provinces, in the case of the Church of England, Canterbury and York. There are also, as it happens, 42 diocese in the Church of England, ours being Chichester, which roughly covers Sussex.

 

Chichester Diocese is made up of four Archdeaconries, ours being Hastings. And these are composed of Deaneries, benefices and parishes.

 

Our diocese comprises 478 churches in 361 parishes grouped into 275 benefices with a clergyperson overseeing each. These are grouped into 21 rural deaneries, each served by a rural dean who is also a parish priest. Ours are largely rural but they need not be. Brighton is a rural deanery. Some diocese have switched to having Area rather than Rural Deans.

 

 The word “deanery” comes originally for the Latin for ten: deaneries originally comprised about ten parishes. Nowadays they are geographically-based, and may contain twice that number, or (for very rural areas) fewer. In this Diocese, some of the deaneries have ancient names, after some of the oldest parishes. Our deanery is Dallington, which though it is a tiny village based around The Street is an ancient settlement mentioned in the Domesday Book. The churches here date from the 13th Century. Dallington is roughly central within the Deanery though people living in the deanery might look to various different surrounding towns for their shopping and other amenities. There’s no real shared centre, which is rather different from a deanery such as Hastings or Eastbourne which is very much based around a single town.

 

Our Deanery of Dallington extends from Hailsham in the south to Hurst Green in the north, Waldron in the west and Salehurst in the east. A map of the deanery showing the churches is available on the Church Near You website. Hailsham is the largest town in the Deanery. Other centres include Heathfield and Burwash. The Deanery is largely rural.

 

When fully staffed, the Deanery is served by 12 licenced clergy, plus any training curates and a number of clergy with Permission to Officiate, who may be retired or have some other work, possibly as a chaplain or in secular employment.

 

The Deanery Chapter of clergy meets roughly every couple of months, usually for lunch, prayer and mutual encouragement. Notices are shared and any business is contracted and sometimes we are joined by a guest from the Diocese or elsewhere. Recently Bishop Will, the Bishop of Lewes, visited.

 

The functions of Deanery Synods are formally set out in the Synodical Government Measure of 1969. A cynic once said that a Deanery Synod is thirty people waiting to go home, but in fact they have lots of potential for good. Deanery Synods exist to promote co-operation between parishes and as a unit of mission and organisation between the level of the parishes and the diocese. It can be useful to work together and share best practice. A Deanery Plan might guide pastoral reorganisation and we also have a Deanery Mission Action Plan which sets out some our shared priorities. We have also done some work on listing the main things each parish is working on and any areas where parishes feel they may have resources or expertise to share with one another.

 

The Deanery Synod normally meets three times a year in a different church or church hall. This consists of the House of Clergy and the House of Laity who are elected by their parishes according to the number on the electoral roll of the parish church. The Church Representation Rules and the Standing Orders govern business. The Deanery Standing Committee (a Secretary and Treasurer and others) help the Rural Dean and the joint (lay) chair to plan the meetings. Normally there is a speaker. And we always have one parish share items for praise and prayer. General Synod (rather like the church’s parliament) or Diocesan Synod can refer matters to the Deanery. And a motion could go all the way from a Parochial Church Council to General Synod via the Deanery and Diocese. Importantly, the members of Deanery Synod are also the electors for General Synod.

 

Only members of synod are entitled to speak and vote but anyone is normally welcome to attend.

 

(This article draws on material from the Anglican Communion, Church of England, Diocesan and Deanery websites as well as other sources).

 

Two points and a challenge

 

I want to make two points and then pose a challenge, if I may.

 

(1) We live in an amazingly beautiful part of the world. Okay, there are pot holes and power cuts. And many of us have serious struggles. Ill health or various kinds of disaster can afflict any of us at any time. But many of us have relatively good lives much of the time. We are amongst the most affluent people in the world. Indeed, most of us are probably relatively comfortable by UK standards. There is so much in the world to appreciate and enjoy. A sunset. Music. Food and drink. You could make your own list. Perhaps you have a nice home and are looking forward to a holiday.  

 

(2) May people of different faiths or none will be amazingly kind and generous.

 

So, my challenge is this. And I say this as much to myself and my own family as to you. In our context, if you think of yourself as a committed Christian believer, what difference does it make? How are you distinctive compared to your friends and neighbours? Do you live as salt and light? Could someone ask you for the reason for the hope that you have? Would someone look at your relationships and say, “see how these Christians love one another?” To put it pointedly, what shows that you are not living for this world alone but are seeking a greater heavenly City whose architect and builder is God? Yes, you are no doubt often a lovely respectable member of your community who does your bit, but when did you last give something up for Jesus – something you cared about? Are you willing to do something for Him which is actually a bit hard, or weird, or costly, something that you don’t in a sense want to do? How has Jesus changed you? How is he changing you? What might he be calling you to which perhaps involves an element of risk, a step out with him into the unknown? He gave up all for you. What might you joyfully give up – or take up – for him?

 

I might take some time this Lent to reflect on some of these things. Maybe you might like to make them a matter of prayer too.

New Year's Resolutions and The Epiphany

 

 

Ephesians 3:1-12 (p1174)

Matthew 2:1-12 (p966)

 

INTRODUCTION: New Year’s resolutions?

 

What? How? Why?

 

READINGS

 

Not just me, but Christ

 

Focused on ourselves

 

Take a look at ourselves maybe, but fix your eyes on Christ

Two looks at Christ for every look at self

 

A resolve to seek Christ

 

Whatever the cost

 

The cost for the wise men

 

“The East”

 

Babylon? – Daniel a wise man in Babylon – just a guess!

 

Babylon – near Al-Ḥillah in Iraq, 55 miles south of Baghdad

684 miles to Jerusalem and Bethlem

259 hours of walking – 6 hrs a day – 43 days of walking

And back again, perhaps by the long way!

 

Difficulty, expense, danger

The whole of life on hold for a few months

Risking their lives

 

Not just my failings (or achievements), but Christ’s glory

 

When we look at ourselves, what do we see?

 

Cf. our failings or achievements

 

A positive vision of the glory of Christ

 

Worship him!

 

Give him their gifts!

Lay their all at his feet

Honour him

 

The King of Kings, of whom we should make much

 

Whom we should obey

For whom we should risk all

 

Jesus’ glory

 

Paul: “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8)

 

Richest person in the world

Forbes: Elon Musk - Net worth: $251.3 billion

He was the richest person in the world for much of 2022 as well.

His fortune rose by $6 billion during December 2023.

 

You can’t know how rich Christ is!

 

Inexhaustible

 

Why seeking to know Christ better would always be a great resolution!

 

Not just for me, but Christ’s glory for all the nations

 

Jesus is too good to keep to ourselves!

 

Paul a prisoner / a servant for the sake of the nations

 

All people

 

Mystery – secret now revealed

 

The non-Jewish nations like us are invited in

Ephesians 3v6

Co-heirs with Israel

Co-members of the same body

Co-sharers in the same promise in Christ Jesus

 

Will I seek Christ whatever the cost?

 

How could I serve God’s gospel purposes this year with my time, effort, money, prayers, by how I live and speak?

A response to Kate Andrews, In Search of a Second Epiphany

 On the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany, I want to say something, if I may, in response to Kate Andrew’s thoughtful and moving Spectator piece (16 December 2023), ‘In Search of a Second Epiphany’. 

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-search-of-a-second-epiphany/

I hope it will not seem patronising to commend Andrews for her honesty and her seeking. She expresses cogently what many feel. Despite the dominance of scientific materialism in parts of the middle class press and the academy, most people are convinced, as Andrews is, that God exists. “Believing in a higher power has never been the hard part”, she says. “It’s everything that follows as a consequence of having faith which I find difficult.”

There’s much truth in that. As G. K. Chesterton once said: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” What would a serious commitment to follow Christ day by day mean? I am glad that many go to church on Christmas Eve. But Christ is not just for Christmas. Too right, this way is difficult. All of us veer off it before breakfast. And so moment by moment we need the mercy and compassion of God who knows us better than we know ourselves.  

Andrew’s specific issue is that she finds belief in God brings no particular strength, comfort or assurance. She speaks of the anger over the death of her mother and of God’s failure to intervene to reduce suffering. She says she takes her anger to church. And I think she’s right to do so. God can cope with it. Our anger at pain and injustice is part of the evidence for God, of our being made in his image. If blind chance were all there is, our anger would be nonsensical. Why rage against fluke upon fluke if all your raging is fluke too? But Jesus shared our anger. He drove the money changers from the temple and he snorted with indignation at the damage done to human lives by disease and evil. If we cry out for a better world and for God to act, these are Christian cries.  

Andrews mentions the book of Job. Job’s comforters get little right, but they do go and weep with Job and sit with him in silence for seven days. I hope Andrews has Christian family or friends ready to do that with her. 

Only after more than thirty chapters does the LORD God speak to Job. The Almighty asks Job where he was while God was making the universe. Does Job have some advice for the omniscient one? I realise that is a stark message. The answer of the book of Job is that we don’t have all the answers. None of us. Andrews at least admits it more readily than some of us Vicars sometimes do. Faith means trusting God that he knows what he’s doing, even when we don’t. Job comes to believe that God can do all things and that none of the LORD’s purposes can be thwarted. Inevitably if we speak of God and his ways, we speak of what we do not really understand, things too wonderful for us which we know not. 

Is there more to say, then, than shut up and trust God?

I think there is. A measure of comfort, strength, assurance, peace and joy are possible. And Andrews already points to their source in the life, death, resurrection and return of Christ. 

C. S. Lewis speaks of the elusive nature of joy. Ask yourself whether you are happy or not and your happiness begins to tarnish. It is a mistake to seek peace, joy and strength directly. What we need is Jesus. He gives meaning and purpose and all these things are to found in him. In Jesus alone are the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God. He is our peace.  

Andrews is right to look to the church and to the Scriptures for Christ. Our feelings are often fickle and can depend as much on our blood sugar levels or our sleep patterns as on reality. Who knows what an epiphany might be like? For some it is spontaneous and overwhelming flood of happiness. For others it is a rational conviction which leads to a commitment to stake everything on Jesus. As a journalist, Andrews knows the importance of the search for truth. As we seek The Truth, we will find him also to be the Way and the Life. Love, joy and peace are to found in Him. I for one am going to go on praying Andrews’ prayer. 

 

Some potentially useful ideas for a better year

 

https://drchatterjee.com/13-powerful-ideas-to-make-2024-your-best-year-yet/

Get some time alone with your thoughts. Be still and present. Allow yourself to be bored. Don’t be always connected / accessible / distracted.

Embrace discomfort. Confront your feelings and fears. Your emotions are in flux and change. Much passes.

You can’t control all that happens to you / circumstances, but you can have some control over your responses. We spend a lot of time trying to avoid a future which hasn’t happened yet. Past hurts lead to fears of the future. Tension and worry can be self-fulfilling – we bring our anxiety with us. Be aware of your patterns and be compassionate towards yourself. It is funny that we go to such effort to avoid a future we are imagining. What upsets us is us. We can take responsibility.

It Is very liberating not to mind what happens, but we might still have a preference! We need not be victims. We can have some control.

We sometimes live in others’ perception of ourselves. We base what we think of ourselves on what we think others think of us.

We want to jump to have but we have to be, do, have, share. Head, heart and hand must be aligned. Mindset (assumptions and attitudes – what I believe is possible for me), motivations and methods matter. Nouns must be turned in to verbs. Our self-talk / beliefs are very powerful. Not so much time management but mind management. The most important thing is to keep the most important things the most important things. We should seek to control the control-ables.

Common sense is not common practice. People often know what they ought to do (e.g. eat more fruit and veg, quit the fags), but they often don’t do it.  

Self-help is sometimes shelf-help.

90% of your thoughts today are the thoughts you had yesterday! What fires together wires together. We get automatic. We become what we habitually think / feel / do.  

We do well to become conscious of our unconscious thoughts. We should seek to become aware of our thoughts, emotions, behaviours. What do we want to change from and to. Practice feeling (imagine, role play – the real thing might not be so different from pretending).

Our expectations often make us happy or unhappy. Be okay with life! Austin Martins are not perfect and tend to disappoint. Calm and peaceful contentment, acceptance is necessary. We can even feel pain without it leading us to despair and endless suffering.

Stress responses last about 90 seconds. After that, we either repeat or move on. I can make myself angry and miserable again or not. I can choose to dwell on my upset.

Victimhood can have a utility, but you are not six years old any more.

Many events are neutral. It depends what story you attach to them. Or how you react to them. Stories can be changed.

Live from the inside out, not dependant on what happens.

Hatred is probably not useful. Pity might be better. Love.

You create what you think / feel / behave.

Ironically, we can criticise ourselves for being overly self-critical.

Turn towards what is, even if it is painful, without being consumed by it.

Be aware and seek perspective. Respond kindly and wisely with compassion. If you were your friend, what would you say to yourself?

Feel connection to others.

The Hi-Five Habit: Look at yourself in the mirror and hi-five yourself – it’s going to be okay! You can do this! Give yourself some positive energy. Be excited to see yourself! Unconditional support and celebration. Partner with yourself. What do you need from yourself today? Trashing yourself does not work. Don’t reject yourself. Don’t depend on validation from others. Show gratitude for yourself. This doesn’t change your circumstances but it changes you.

There is a poverty in uniformity. Resist moving to the middle ground. There can be good stuff at the untidy edges. Express what you care about. Live don’t just perform / conform.

We want results, but the way to get the results is to fix the inputs, to form the habits that get results. How you are now, depends on how you were each day six months or a year ago. We tend to over value the results. We need the systems.

True behaviour change is identity change – part of who we are, of the story we tell ourselves. Writing is natural to writers. Athletes train. Healthy people eat in a healthy way. Every action casts a vote for the kind of person you are becoming / want to become. Who do you want to become? Do one thing now.

Real change is long, slow, hard and requires dedication to a process, little things repeated imperceptibly and incrementally. Deadlines / rules can really help you. Be patient for the long journey of learning, growing.

You overestimate what you can do in the short term (a couple of weeks) and underestimate what you could do in the long term (a few years).

Make a commitment to yourself. Recruit a community to keep you accountable.

You can’t make time for everything that matters. Just make sure you make time for some things that matter.

Everything is a choice – conscious or not. Every choice is a choice not to do something else in that moment. Every YES is also a NO.

Make some time today for something you really care about. Some things are not going to get done and that’s okay.

Priority was a singular word for hundreds of years. It can be risky to have lots of priorities. It’s not all important. A few things really matter. Much is trivial noise. We are not coal miners but diamond miners. We don’t need to simply do more. Find what matters and focus on that.  

Are you led by your scared self (e.g. comparing, fear of missing out) or your sacred self?

Perfectionism is a common form of self-sabotage since it sets an exhausting impossible standard. Comparisons push us out of the moment in to dissatisfaction. Tolerate imperfection. Expose yourself to imperfection. You could have people round in an untidy sitting room and it would be okay. Get perspective. There is lots of mess out there and its okay. We don’t all have it all together. No one is perfect.

Everyone fails. Successful people have to be comfortable with failure – trying and failing often is the only way to have some success. Training is failing. The growth is where the failure is. Failure is inevitable. Failure is a comma, not a full stop.

If identity is a construction, what would be the ideal identity? That of a learner. This is a non-fragile identity since it embraces not knowing and failing. Criticism is an opportunity for growth. If people throw stones at you, think of them as gold nuggets. Or use them as bricks. Is there an element of truth in the criticism that can be put to use?

The psychological immune system is not always helpful: the more deluded someone is, the happier they might be!

What is the friction in your life. Why? Why does that bother you? Is it a revealing opportunity for growth?

Life is change. We think we can control it, but we can’t. We try to avoid difficulty. Busyness can be a kind of avoidance. We need space to process change, to adapt and thrive. Distraction can serve us. Sit with your feelings and see what comes up. Pain can be the agent of change. Squash a feeling and it will come out in some other way.

Breathe – it is free and accessible and you can control it. Be present. Pay attention.

Take a moment to reflect. Slow down for a minute. Don’t be in such a hurry to get to a future where you can relax and enjoy life! Breathe now. Can you be comfortable in your own skin whatever is going on around you? Don’t pin your hopes on a future with the perfect body, bank account etc. Be content here and now. Don’t feel the need to react, control or manipulate.

On Journaling

 

Dr Chatterjee recommends journaling. In fact, he suggests buying his journal!

(https://drchatterjee.com/# Podcast #413 How to make 2024 your best year: 3 questions to ask yourself each day).

But nevertheless:

Journaling need not take long. You could do it each morning over a cuppa. Or more irregularly. You only need a few minutes.

A ritual can help us. Try attaching journaling to another habit. And to have a visual cue. And get rid of any friction. Put your journal and pen near your mug, kettle and morning coffee.

Journaling might not be that different from prayer and reflection. But it is helpful to write something down to crystalise it. Writing on paper may be better than typing. It may help you to have a journal (or pen and paper) which you like and look forward to using.

You could journal in the form of prayer, “Father, thank you… sorry… please….”

Journaling can help you to stand outside your life and examine it. It can help you to break the loop of stress and anxiety. It is a way of having a conversation with yourself.

Start small and easy and repeat.   

Journaling can be a good way to make the day more intentional (less reactive or unconsidered). It can be a great way to help you to do other good stuff.  

Chatterjee suggests we ask ourselves three key questions everyday:

(1) “What’s the most important thing for me to do today?” Pick one and then do it. That day will seem like a win.

We can sometimes feel that we have many important things to do today. Which may be true. But it is helpful to choose one. Likely we can never do everything we feel we ought to do. But we can get on and do something meaningful or necessary.

(2) Journaling can also help to deliver us from the negativity of the news and social media. It is worth asking ourselves what we are deeply grateful for in our lives. What do we really appreciate? It is better to be positive rather than to look at lacks. Be specific. Try to focus more on people than things. Seek to connect with your emotions (to feel what you appreciate, engage the senses).

The more we practice these things, the better we will get at them.  

(3) We might ask ourselves: “What quality do I want to show the world today?” For example, if we seek to show patience, we might begin to notice what makes us impatient and how we can be patient. Imagine yourself being patient. Practice! Choose who you want to be.

In the evening, one might reflect on the day. One study found this could lead to a 25% increase in performance.

Possible evening questions are:

(1) What went well today? Again, this cultivates positivity and gratitude.

(2) What can I do differently tomorrow?

(3) What did I do for someone else today? One study found practicing kindness may have more effect on mental well-being than diet or exercise.

If we try something like this over seven days, we are likely to experience positive effects.  

On Christian journaling see: https://www.churchsociety.org/resource/s08e05-christian-journalling/

 

Five Happiness Tips

 

Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley - Happiness Special – with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001ts5r

Health has four main pillars: eat, sleep, relax, move

We sometimes settle for the junk happiness provided by ice cream and video games. Alignment of inner self and self in the world, contentment and control lead to more core happiness.

Five tips for happiness:

(1) Say hello to strangers. Or at least smile or nod. Speak to the taxi driver or the barrister. Any / minimal positive social interaction is good for us.

(2) Use social friction as free therapy. Reframe this stuff to be calmer and less stressed. Lead with compassion. Ask yourself why. Put yourself in the shoes of others. If someone is grumpy with you, what might be going on in their life? Try not to get stressed by the actions of others as you can’t control them. If you depend on how others treat you for your happiness, you set yourself up for failure. Think of the dancer in the concentration camp who performed the same day her parents died. In her mind she was able to be free and in an opera house. The greatest prisons are the ones we create in our own minds. You don’t have to be the victim who resorts to sugar or caffeine or booze. You can take a measure of control and make choices.

(3) Think about your death bed and what you would want or regret. Write them down: I want to be surrounded by family and friends whom I love and who know that I love them. I want to leave the world a better place. What weekly habits would lead to a better death bed? E.g. eat with your family five times a week, make space for your passions (e.g. run and play the guitar), fit work around these things. Be more intentional. Prioritise the important. Be willing to say no. See further: Five Regrets of the Dying https://bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-of-the-dying/

(4) Eliminate choices so that you have to make fewer decisions. Know what clothes you will wear, what work out you will do, what breakfast you will have. Decide the important stuff which matters to you.  Choose when it matters no you, not when it doesn’t so as to reduce stress.

(5) Think of your phone as a real person and change your relationship with it. E.g. if you and your spouse are in bed together both on your phones, are you having eye-affairs with two others? We have our meals together and we don’t use our phones at our table. Phones are addictive. Get a grip of phone free times and spaces. Do you want those notifications on? You are in control of your phone. Don’t be a slave to it.

The Trendy Bespoke Examen

 The Examen is a practice of prayer and self-examination recommended by Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. 

A quick Google will show that this has been adapted e.g. for ecology or well-being. 

At one level this is all well and good. These things are likely to be beneficial. And they may prove to be gateway drugs to the real hard stuff: sin, repentance, forgiveness, transformation by the power of the Spirit. 

But there is a danger we never get there. 

We want to proclaim the gospel afresh in every generation. We may, probably should, perhaps must adapt the language we use. 

For example, people today may not say they share Luther's guilty conscience. Perhaps better to speak of inauthenticity. If we do not feel ourselves, necessarily, to be transgressors of the moral law, we may admit that we have a spectacular ability to muck things up for ourselves or others. 

But in the end you have to call sin, sin, even if not in so many words. 

You need not confine yourself to the language of the Bible. You may even sometimes use Bible words in a way the Bible does not, though this risks a muddle. But the Christian must always re-connect with the language and meaning of the Bible, which alone has final authority. 

By all means, reflect on your happiness and your impact on the environment, but Ignatius would like you to trace these things back to their source and to know yourself to be a loved sinner in the presence of a holy God, and to know what to do about it, which is to cling to Christ in repentance and faith. 

Go for the traditional Examen and you will get the other stuff thrown in. Go for the new trendy light version, and you might miss the real thing. 

How to read more in 2024

 

 

If you’d like to read more in the coming year, some or all of these might work for you:

 

Have several things on the go. Sometimes read what you feel like reading. Have something light and fun and something more demanding. Something that is pure relaxation. Something related to your work. Something sacred and secular.  

 

Read a little each day, even if you don’t feel like it.

 

Try reading at a set time each day, even if just for a few minutes.

 

Always have something with you which you could read if you have a few moments spare.

 

Read something demanding when you have the most capacity (e.g. first thing after breakfast).

 

Find a space that works for you. Maybe you need to step away from your desk / laptop. Perhaps if you don’t want to fall asleep reading or you want to sleep in your bed, it’s not the ideal place for reading.

 

Read with a pen or pencil near by and mark the book / write a few words in summary of each chapter. You might keep a piece of paper in the book in case you want to write any notes.

 

Read with purpose / put your reading to use e.g. write a short review, recommend a book.

 

Get recommendations.

 

Read book reviews. Sometimes this will make reading the book itself unnecessary. Sometimes you will want to order if before you’ve finished the review.

 

Consider logging your reading.

 

Reading out loud may help you grasp something particularly dense and difficult.

 

Maybe read with others. Read the same book with friends or family and talk about it. Join a book group.

 

For some reading, you might use a reading plan (a chapter a day).

 

Try listening instead of reading. The play-back speed may be adjustable.

 

Feel free to skim, skip or give up. Reading page one of a book need not commit you to reading the next three hundred pages if it isn’t working for you. Some books deserve to re-read and slowly savoured. Some are not worth your time. Many are worth an hour or two and after that there are diminishing returns. If you had eight books on your reading list for this week, how much time would you spend with this one?

If you want to read a whole book, once you have 1/3 left, push through to the end rather than letting that last bit linger on. Get it done! 

 

Sometimes a summary / guide / introduction can be of use.

 

Re-read something.

 

Read something new / outside your comfort zone / which you wouldn’t normally choose.

 

Cut out things you don’t really enjoy / need / regret which get in the way of reading. Maybe read less social media so as to read some Bible or Shakespeare.

'Twas The Week after Christmas Day

 Although this may be a quiet week for the clergy and the Vicar may be on leave, it is a busy one for the liturgical calendar. 

Today is St Stephen's Day. Good King Wenceslas and all that. We might recall Steve's vocation to service as a deacon and the importance of good administration and care for the poor and lonely even amidst our festivity. 

His martyrdom urges us to live not for this world alone but to look to the well done of the risen, ascended Christ. 

He helpfully gives us a review of Biblical history as pointing to the coming of Christ and beyond. 

Christmas week, then, quicky embraces Easter and the eschaton too. 

John, Apostle and Evangelist gives the week a cosmic scope and also focuses us on the life of Christ. We have have heard John 1 read a number of times at Advent and Christmas services, but it is worth reflecting afresh on the depths and implications of it, as well as on gospel, epistles and Revelation. Maybe love of Christ might be said to be a key note of what we can learn from this beloved disciple.  

The Holy Innocents confront us with a grim reality and drive us to prayer. We see here that the Kingdom of Christ and the kingdoms of this earth are not going to be on friendly nodding terms without radical repentance and transformation. Again, the cross stalks the manger. And we cry "Come, Lord Jesus!"

And though 1170 was a long time ago, if you are an Anglican or a Brit, Thomas Becket brings matters even closer to home. What of friendship? And final loyalties? Maybe we too will find a serious life's work and a cause worth living or dying for. 

And then, of course, on Sunday, it will be back to the Celebration of Christmas, and like every Lord's Day, Resurrection Day!

Merry post-Christmas week! 

Some jottings for a midnight Communion sermon

 

Isaiah 9:1-7 (p693)

Luke 2:1-20 (p1927)

 

Christmas for the children?

 

A child for us

 

To us

 

To all the people

 

To the whole world

 

To you

 

 To all who received him

 

The German Reformer, Martin Luther, said this in his Christmas sermon of 1521:

 

Listen! the angel says: "I bring you glad tidings of great joy", my Gospel speaks of great joy.

Where is it?

Hear again: "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord"...

How is it possible for man to hear of greater joy than that Christ has given to him as his own?

He does not only say Christ is born, but he makes his birth our own by saying, to you a Saviour.

Therefore the Gospel does not only teach the history concerning Christ; but it enables all who believe it to receive it as their own….

Of what benefit would it be to me if Christ had been born a thousand times… if I were never to hear that he was born for me and was to be my very own?

 

Not just a Saviour, but my Saviour

 

To be received personally by faith

 

Holy Communion

 

Christ offered to us

 

“Given for you”

Christmas Day Sermon Outline: Christmas Highs and Lows

 

https://www.faithinkids.org/christmas-highs-and-lows/

Carol Service Sermon 2023: Christmas has been cancelled in Bethlehem

 

Christmas has been cancelled in Bethlehem.

Or at least, celebrations will be kept to a minimum this year in response to the war in Gaza.

There will be no Christmas tree and no fairy lights.

 

Bethlehem’s economy is 90% dependent on tourists and pilgrims, but for months now souvenir sellers have been playing backgammon rather than running their stalls.

Normally 150 000 people would go Bethlehem during the Christmas period, but this year there are virtually no visitors.

In contrast to the first Christmas, the hotels are empty.

 

One church in Bethlehem has set up a manger scene surrounded by rubble.

Perhaps more than the tinsel and the glitter, that image of a manger in the midst of rubble, captures the meaning of Christmas.

Because Jesus came for a broken world.

He entered our mess.

 

If we imagine the perfectly curated Christmas, there might seem little need of Christ.

I’ve no idea how Jesus fits with Stacey Solomon's Crafty Christmas or Jamie Oliver’s Quick and Easy Christmas.

But when we think of the reality of our world, perhaps we can begin to understand why Christ came.

 

He was born in royal David’s city, but he came to be with the poor and meek and lowly.

He was born after a long, hard journey, in difficult circumstances, in an occupied land, his parents displaced from home.

An animal’s feeding trough in a borrowed room isn’t the beautiful nursery parents-to-be dream of.

And soon Jesus would be a child refugee, fleeing from Herod’s violence.

 

Christmas is for people walking in darkness, for those living in the land of the shadow of death.

It’s for those who know gloom, distress and oppression.

But it is a great light – a dawn which changes everything.

The true light has come into the world.

 

In the carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem, we sang:

in thy dark streets shineth
the everlasting light;

 

Jesus came into this world of sin, and he comes to all who will receive him still.

We need him to cast out our sin and enter in and be born in us today.

 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us, in this world of mess and pain.

God himself came to our world in Jesus, that by believing in him we might have new life as the children of God.

 

Even when there are no fairy lights, the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Jesus could not be cancelled.

When they killed him, he rose victorious from the dead.

The Light wins!

 

Jesus is the Prince of peace, and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

 

There’s still a long way to go before we see the message of the angels, of peace on earth, entirely fulfilled.

But their message is more than make-believe.

It’s not merely sentiment or aspiration.

It’s good news because it is the announcement of the favour and kindness of God: of God’s undeserved love for us and our broken world.

Something has happened which the Shepherds can go and check out:

The birth of the Saviour – Christ, the Lord, the long-promised rescuer-king, who alone can give us peace with God and peace within.

 

However terrible the pain and suffering of our world, we should never allow it to cancel Christmas.

According to the Bible, Jesus came to cancel the charge-sheet of sin for all who would put their trust in him.

 

The darkness, the shadow, mustn’t do away with Christmas.

It shows us our need of the Light.

 

So even amidst the rubble, look to the manger!

Perhaps especially when we’re conscious of terrible violence and suffering, Christmas is good news of great joy to all people.

 

May you know hope, joy and peace this Christmas. Amen.

 * * * 

Since preaching this sermon, I've seen online a a 1511 painting by Albrecht Altdorfer of the nativity amongst a somewhat derelict house. 

On the first Sunday of Advent 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from prison:

November 28, 1943

My dear Parents,

Although no one has any idea whether and how letters are presently being handled, I nevertheless want to write to you on this afternoon of the first Sunday in Advent. The Altdorfer nativity scene, in which one sees the holy family with the manger amid the rubble of a collapsed house—just how did he come to portray this in such a way, flying in the face of all tradition, four hundred years ago?—is particularly timely. Even here one can and ought to celebrate Christmas, he perhaps wanted to say; in any case, this is what he says to us.

Crib Service Talk Outline 2023

 

https://www.faithinkids.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/all-age-talk_-_christmasfeels_long_talk_3.pdf

The challenge of Christmas preaching

 Christmas preachers feel, I think, a struggle to have some kind of new way in or fresh angle. When we deal with similar themes and passages year after year, how will we be engaging and what are we going to do in the four or five new all age services we need each year?

More important, of course, to concentrate on proclaiming the central truths of Christmas: the Word made flesh, the birth of the Saviour, the long-promised rescuer-king.

And to pray for grace to do so in a way that is transparently sincere, to be moved again by these great foundational truths oneself. We want not merely to tick off the talks (great, I’ve got an idea, I’m prepared, that one’s done) but to speak to all who will listen of what matters most to us.

We may want some of our services, at least, to feel fun and happy, but we want the cosmic seriousness, the mystery, the mind-blowing world-remaking New Creation of this central fact of history to shine through too. More than entertaining or amusing, we want our hearers to check out this thing which has happened which we have been told about and to go home glorifying and praising God.