Why give some time to a Gospel? 5 Reasons to Read Matthew

 

With our Lent Course on Matthew’s Gospel beginning on Wednesday, I wanted to say something about why you should give some time to one of the gospels.

 

(1) You’ll enjoy it. The gospels are really great literature which has stood the test of time. You’ll find it surprising, strange, intriguing.

 

(2) These short books have shaped Western civilisation. Everyone who wants to think of themselves as even vaguely educated should have read at least one gospel as an adult.

 

(3) There is great practical wisdom to be learnt here. The gospel could really help you and change your life for the better.

 

(4) In this book you can meet Jesus Christ. He is the person who divided history in two. Aren’t you a bit interested in him?

 

(5) This is the only reason which really depends on a developed Christian theology. Christians have always believed that these books are the words of God. They are God speaking. God-breathed, given by inspiration or expiration of God. They are human words which convey the divine word. If there is a chance that this is true, don’t you want to listen to what your Maker who loves you has to say to you? In fact, he wants you to know his Son whom he loves, with whom he is well pleased. God the Father says “Listen to my Son”. And we do that as we read the Spirit uttered words of Scripture. In the pages of the Bible you will find Jesus and he is Life. His words are what you really need for a person cannot live by bread alone but only by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Read the Word and meet the Word.

 

Enjoy!

 

You can join us at the Rectory 7:30pm Wed 25^th Feb for coffee, biscuits and a bit of Matthew’s gospel. Or via Zoom. Anyone localish and all church members welcome.

 

Ash Wednesday Sermon Handout

 

Ash Wednesday 2026

Isaiah 58:1-12 (p744)

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (p970)

 

·       True and false repentance

·       The heart and how it relates to our actions, which might be seen by God and others

 

(1) Repentance is a matter of the heart. Certain symbolic actions do not prove true repentance

 

Our heart / mind / soul / spirit / will / desires as the control centre of our selves

 

Religious observance could come from a true or false or mixed heart

 

(2) Repentance issues in actions which God sees. Certain actions go with true repentance

 

A true heart leads to true actions (truly if imperfectly)

 

e.g. social justice not just church services; good relationships with others (as far as it depends on us) not just talk of piety

 

(3) Repentance must not be a show to impress other people. Certain actions are best kept secret so as to promote true repentance

 

You can sometimes get the reward you are looking for!

 

Look for a reward from God alone by doing what only your Unseen Father who sees what is done in secret can see

 

(4) Repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ and God will transform your heart and life, and will reward his own work in you

 

Make every effort… Oh, and it’s all God’s work!

Ancient wisdom for modern life

 

There is an industry of Stoicism for Today and Bite-Size Buddhism.

 

Christians have differed on how to account for the wisdom of the ancients. Did Plato borrow from Moses? What role might General Revelation or Natural Law play? What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?

 

Arguably part of Jordan Peterson’s project is to take insights from the Bible and apply them to how we might live today.

 

Many things could be said.

 

At some point, we might need to consider how is relates to ought. What is the metaphysic of this system and how does it relate to morality? Is what these people taught true? You know, true, true. Literally true. And if it is untrue, is it still in some way meaningful or helpful? Does it in some way participate in or borrow from or prepare for The Truth? Or is it an antithetical system?

 

No doubt there are things which Jesus said which can be made into timeless practical lessons. It is probably good, for example, to avoid certain types of worry. But why and how?

 

Is it really possible to have the fruit without the root? How would a cut flower Christianity be sustained? Would it even be Christianity without a living Christ? Jesus as dead guru is not what the Bible has in mind at all.

 

Jesus specifically taught that God is actually real and is the source of all physical and spiritual life. We were made by and for him and so our hearts are restless till they find their rest in him. We are, if you like, wonderful little gods, the very image of God, but also that our hearts spew out evil. We are broken gods. The line between good and evil runs through every soul. We need not merely self-help or moral reformation, but inner transformation: new hearts. We need forgiveness and the friendship of God. Grace. Mercy. Love. Christian community. The power of the Holy Spirit. How To Be Happy The Jesus Way won’t cut it.  

 

No doubt there is much we could learn from the ancients or from Jesus. But Jesus offers the Real Thing. The sum of all wisdom, holiness, peace and joy are to be found in him. Indeed, he offers hope in the face of the grave, a song even for the worst suffering. If we really listened to him, we would trust him with our whole selves and in so doing we would find ourselves.

 

Jesus’ teaching is often radical and all or nothing. He challenges us as to whether we are with him or against him. Will we love him and hate ourselves, our families? This is the path to true love of God, self and others. It is mysterious and paradoxical and the adventure of a life time. Go for the full roast version, not the instant repackaged Jesus flavoured drink.

On Ashes

 Dust and ashes - אפר / עפר - are a Biblical symbol of mourning, repentance and prayer for mercy, e.g. Daniel 9.3, Jonah 3.6; there is warrant for the corporate use of ashes, e.g. Esther 4.3, Jeremiah 6.26, 25.34. Jesus assumes that corporate use of ashes in repentance is an acceptable response to him, e.g. Matthew 11.21. They symbolise that we come from the dust and to dust we shall return because of our sin (Gen 3.19). To make a sign of the cross on the forehead with ashes proclaims to us the judgement the cross passes on us: we sin and deserve death, so should repent and seek God's mercy.

What is a Psalm Roar and why should you go to one?

 Most Christians I know love the Psalms. They give us God-given words to say back to God which we know he approves of, and yet which also so often express what we feel but couldn't have expressed or wouldn't have dared to say. 

Yet most of us don't know the Psalms as well as we'd like to. Perhaps on a good day with a run up we could sing a version of Psalm 23 or Psalm 100. But many of the 150 we don't have out our finger tips. 

Singing the Psalms could help us with that. We tend to remember what we sing so much more than what we read or even say.  

It could inform our minds. And move our hearts. And lift our spirts. Any communal singing is so good for morale. How much more when they are the songs of Jesus!  

And the New Testament seems to command Psalm singing. A command we are very good at neglecting and have some catching up to do on. A command which it is actually a pleasure and a joy to obey.

Last year we had more than 80 people - many of them much younger than usual - at our little church to sing the Psalms and it was a really brilliant day, even if our single loo was a little strained. 

We sang a number of Psalms in different styles. 

All musical abilities and none felt at home. 

It was lots of fun. And very encouraging. There was enthusiasm, warm fellowship, good coffee and lots of cake. And it was a bargain. 

Each Psalm came with a 2 minute introduction focused on the good news of Jesus. So it really did good for our souls. 

I could say more, but you'll want to get on with booking! https://www.psalmroar.org/

Look forward to seeing you in Hove on Sat 7th March if you can make that one. 

Alexei Navalny on God and his Christian faith etc.

Remembering some of the things Alexei Navalny said. “My job is to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and leave it to good old Jesus and the rest of his family to deal with everything else. They won’t let me down and will sort out all my headaches.”; “If you want I’ll talk to you about God and salvation. I’ll turn up the volume of heartbreak to the maximum, so to speak. The fact is that I am a Christian, which usually rather sets me up as an example for constant ridicule in the Anti-Corruption Foundation, because mostly our people are atheists and I was once quite a militant atheist myself. But now I am a believer, and that helps me a lot in my activities, because everything becomes much, much easier. I think about things less. There are fewer dilemmas in my life, because there is a book in which, in general, it is more or less clearly written what action to take in every situation. It’s not always easy to follow this book, of course, but I am actually trying. And so, as I said, it’s easier for me, probably, than for many others, to engage in politics.” Jesus said: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” “I’ve always thought that this particular commandment is more or less an instruction to activity. And so, while certainly not really enjoying the place where I am, I have no regrets about coming back, or about what I’m doing. It’s fine, because I did the right thing. On the contrary, I feel a real kind of satisfaction. Because at some difficult moment I did as required by the instructions, and did not betray the commandment.” 

Paul Kingsnorth, Against the machine

 Some jottings towards a review

If you have any thoughts about what you would say or ask about this book, especially for Reformed Evangelical Anglican pastors, I'd really welcome them, please 

I could have typed out much more of this book! 

In addition to what I've scribbled in the margins:

Against The Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity

Paul Kingsnorth

Penguin / Particular Books, 2025 (ISBN: 9780241788400 hb, 348pp)

 

Written not exclusively for a Bible-believing Christian audience 

Not on the surface entirely or straightforwardly a theological book, but in fact profoundly so since it is about what ultimately matters to us and how we should then live. Kingsnorth sees our problems and their solutions as in the end spiritual and related to God and the so-called / demonic gods. He calls us to the rebellion of true worship in a nihilistic self-loving world (314).

 

As far as I can see, Carl Trueman is the only Reformed writer cited.

 

At times this felt like a mark-every-paragraph sort of a book, though I imagine few readers will agree with everything. Kingsnorth notes that some will find some of the ideas controversial, others incomprehensible (313). I cried on page two. Kingsnorth likes Tolkien and R. S. Thomas. He has thrown away his TV and moved to the West of Ireland where he homeschools the kids. He thinks the West has gone wrong in old, deep, interesting ways to do with technology, the economy, the earth and the soul.

 

Kingsnorth can write. In addition to his journalism, his non-fiction was cited by David Cameron and the Archbishop of Canterbury. His fiction was Booker long-listed.

 

At turns prophetic and poetic. Moving.

 

Unlikely to agree with everything here

 

Kingsnorth has been on a journey via environmental activism, Wicca and Buddhism to the Romanian Orthodox church.

 

Kingsnorth speaks rather sadly of giving in and buying a mower chapter. If he really means that no technology has saved us time or effort, I think that is obviously wrong. But it is true that we are still busy. And we don’t always use that technology well. Email is brilliant, but there were some positives about the effort, delay and locatedness of the letter.

 

Homeschooling his children in rural Ireland where he draws water from his own well

 

Creation and fall

Humanity has chosen the tree of the knowledge of good and evil over the tree of life, information and technology (magic?) over communion  

 

the vision of "The Machine" (a kind of technology-capitalism alliance against humanity) is to liberate "all potential birthing-persons, to spend more time at work, lovingly nurturing economic growth." (Against the Machine, p112)

 

Dominion – technology / magic – Faustian – control which fails to trust God

 

The English lack a shared knowledge of folk songs. And their national costume, the pin striped suit and the bowler hat, suggests the worship of Mammon. We have forgotten where we are from, or we hate it. The white working class are despised as bigots and racists. Our high culture is one of negation (we are against white straight males and Christianity). We want to topple the statues, but we don’t know what to put in their place. We certainly wouldn’t look to the cathedral for inspiration, which is why we could not build a cathedral, only another glass sky-scraper.

 

Our culture is adolescent and locked in rebellion, refusing to grow towards adult maturity and become parents.

 

Supposed liberation but also control. You can shake off all traditional constraints, but you must scan the QR code.

 

Human beings as inherently religious and if we reject the true God we make idols for ourselves

 

4 Ps which underpin traditional culture

People

Place

Prayer

The past

 

4 Ss with which Machine ideology would like to replace them

Sex

Science

Self

screen

 

Much of the book is given over to tracing the origin and nature of the machine which is seen as an alliance of technology and capitalism. The machine is tied up with money. It is Molech and demands human sacrifice. It is Antichrist. Sciencism denying anything immaterial or transcendent. Totalitarian. The nation state has been largely co-opted into this global vision.

 

We might quibble about the notion that the Reformation was (unwittingly?) responsible for desacralizing the world. Or that monasticism might have saved a sense of the transcendent.

 

Draws on the work of Ian McGilcrist who calls this “the most powerful and important book I have read in years. Simply brilliant” (back cover)

 

Reactionary radicalism (ch 24)

 

A moral economy on a human scale based on a community of place

 

“A politics which embraces family and home and place, loving the particular without excluding the outsider….” (284)

 

The Machine’s programme is akin to the Enclosures in 19^th Century English agriculture. It aims to replace “self-sufficient moral economies… with a system of dependency and exploitation which has now gone fully global.” (288)

 

Kingsnorth advocates attempting to evade the reach of the state by a “dispersed culture of refusal” which defends cultural and economic autonomy”. We might choose to live as “barbarians” building “parallel systems… which are hard to assimilate, and are robust enough to last.” (293) A few may do this by forming off-grid communities in the hills; others will “retreat to the margins” (294) in the homes or hearts (295). We may live “in the Machine but not of it” (295) geographically, psychologically or spiritually (295-6) becoming conscientious objectors to the Machine (297).   

 

Whether pirates, highwaymen and outlaws are suitable models? (297)

 

Kingsnorth is clear that he would smash the screens and turn off the internet if he could, yet he is typing these words on a laptop and sharing his essays online.

 

The soul’s needs for roots in place, community, past, shared vision of the future

 

The Machine is “an external manifestation of an inner hunger” (310)

 

The modern West has dedicated itself to uprooting all tradition and has made itself homeless (310) we have replaced a culture with culture wars (310) but the real warfare is spiritual for culture, humanity, creation and God

 

An attachment to hearth and home without making idols of nations or cultures (312)

 

Opponents of the modern machine painted as fossils or fascists (313)

 

Gary Snyder: “The most radical thing you can do is stay at home” (314)

 

Kingsnorth says that in its own way 60s counter culture attempted some resistance against the military industrial complex of the Machine but that the ground of extreme personal liberation proved too swampy to establish an effective lasting alternative (315). The hippies became the yuppies. “The counter-culture has become the culture, and everyone is having a bad trip, man.” (315)

 

A new counter culture should avoid the mistakes of the past, of seeking a blank slate or a national utopia. It would seek to be “rooted in eternal things” (315)

 

Raindance on the astroturf, call down the powers, offer ourselves up to God (316) even if it doesn’t work, what’s the alternative?!

 

Sometimes the ridiculous and the mad is worth trying, as when two halflings take on the power of the Ring. The foolishness of the gospel, we might have said

 

Some myths about Reformed Evangelicalism

 

Or at least some myths about better versions of well-informed Reformed Evangelicalism as we might like it to be.  

Do you agree these are myths? Which people actually tend to believe? Would you have suggested others?

(1) They believe in the sole authority of Scripture.

Not so. We hold that Scripture is the only final and supreme authority, but that doesn’t mean we don’t believe in a role for tradition and reason. They are subordinate authorities.

(2) They are so in to “grace alone” they are antinomian (lit. against the law, the idea being that there is no point or place for good works).

Actually, the Reformed champion the (Old Testament) Law as a kind of guide for Christian living (the so called ‘third use’ of the Law).

They have thought carefully about good works as the fruit and evidence of justification. Many of them have been big on effort and self-discipline but ideally powered by the gospel of grace.   

(3) They necessarily have a low view of history and most things before 1517 or so.

Calvin was something of a student of the church fathers. We want to be Reformed Catholics. Arguably the Reformation was a recovery of one strand of Augustine. It was claimed to be a movement for getting back to history, to those things which had been forgotten or corrupted.

(4) They are captive to individualism with little interest in liturgy, the church, corporate worship etc.

Cranmer himself was a Reformed Evangelical. The reformation of the church service for the glory of God and the good of people was a driving concern.

(5) They are pretty much un- or anti-sacramentalists who think baptism is just getting wet and maybe best for adults only, and the Supper is just a helpful reminder.

The Reformers were all at pains to distance themselves from the Anabaptists. Calvin believed the Supper was a true participation in Christ. And the C of E Book of Common Prayer and The Thirty-Nine Article are very influenced by Reformed view of these matters.

(6) They believe the Holy Spirit has retired.

Even if the traditional view is that there is no new revelation and certain gifts of the Spirt have ceased, the Holy Spirit is very much at work in regeneration, sanctification, edification and other long words ending in “shun”.

What to expect when you come to church

 

What to expect when you come to church in Bodle Street

 

Perhaps you’re not a regular at church. Maybe you come sometimes at Christmas and Easter, or for weddings and funerals. Or not at all.

 

All churches, even C of E churches, have their own way of doing things so we thought it might be helpful to say something for those who are thinking of coming but who would like to know what to expect.

 

You’re always very welcome. We’d love to see you. Please do come! And come as you are.

 

You might well find some familiar faces from the village hall or the White Horse.

 

The main thing is to relax and not worry. Please don’t be concerned about doing the wrong thing. We are pretty relaxed and informal and the Rector is forever getting things wrong! His children have often run around and screamed the place down so….  

 

There’s no particular dress code. Some people do wear a shirt and tie or equivalent, but others don’t. Most people dress in a smart casual or more relaxed way. Jeans and shorts are very welcome.

 

Hopefully someone will meet you at the door and say hello. Typically you might need a service book or sheet, and a hymn book, which we’ll give you.

 

Please do sit wherever you like. There are no reserved pews. No one will mind if you sit in their usual place. Normally it isn’t full. You might like to be brave and try somewhere towards the front.

 

We aim to start promptly at 9:30am. But sometimes people are still getting into their choir robes so sometimes we are a minute or two late. Normally somebody is late and comes in once we’ve started, which is also fine.

 

When the choir and minister enter, please stand.  After that, the minister will normally invite you to sit, or stand, or kneel as appropriate. If you find it hard to stand or kneel, or simply prefer to sit, please feel free. Hymn numbers are up on a board and are also announced. And the minister will say what page we are on in the service book. You are invited to join in with the words in bold type, if you’d like to.

 

We normally sing some hymns. We say sorry to God for the wrong things we have done and are offered his forgiveness. We have two readings from God’s Word, the Bible. There is a brief sermon which seeks to bring out the good news of Jesus and the difference it can make for our lives. We affirm the Christian faith by saying an ancient creed. We say some prayers, asking for God’s help for ourselves and others. There is an opportunity to give money to the church, but please don’t feel obliged to do so. The service ends with God’s blessing and the choir normally sing “Amen.”

 

Twice a month (on the First and Third Sundays of the month) we normally have Holy Communion as we obey Jesus’ command to share bread and wine in remembrance of him. The minister will explain how to join in, or you can just remain in your pew if you prefer.

 

Children are always welcome. The Second Sunday of the month is our All Age Service, which is a bit simplified and shorter. The children are invited to help out or take part if they like. And the sermon might be somewhat interactive, perhaps with some object or activity involved if the Rector could think of anything fun. We have instruments for the children for the last song.

 

At the end we remain standing until the choir and the minister have left.

 

If there’s anything you want to ask before or after the service, please do.

 

We normally have coffee and biscuits afterwards. If you’d like to stay we’d love to say hello but if you have to dash off, of course that’s fine. Normally the service is less than an hour, sometimes more like 45 minutes. The Rector usually has to get to Warbleton for the service at 11am so he can’t go on too long even if he wants to!

 

We hope you’ll give it a try sometime.

 

Marc

Rural Ministry Interview and Notes

 

Some random jottings

For / from a conversation on ‘Inspirational Breakfast with Michael Fanstone’

on Premier Christian Radio (Fri 30^th Jan 2026 - 7:30am ish to 8am)

a Rural Dean to talk about rural ministry through storms, literal and figurative

Audio: 

https://www.premier.plus/inspirational-breakfast-with-michael-fanstone/audio-series/clips/audio-items/the-storms-and-challenges-of-rural-churches

(You may have to create a free account to listen) 

C of E vocab: Rural Dean are called Area Deans in some diocese (not always rural)

Cf. Dean of the Cathedral

A deanery is the unit between a parish or benefice and the diocese

So our diocese of Chichester basically covers Sussex and is made up of 21 deaneries

Our deanery of Dallington – 12 clergy – 23 church buildings

 

Government definition by population destiny

Semi-rural

Rural

Deeply rural

Connected rural / isolated rural

A large town or city next door or not?

 

Storm

Road flooded and closed

Electricity went off very briefly

Church boiler room had to be bailed out

FB groups and WhatsApp groups pinging away about the driving conditions

My little car was fine – someone with a Landrover did kindly offer me a lift if I needed it

 

Townies

Excited by pheasants in the garden or spotting a deer

Peacock on the roof

 

A very beautiful place we’re privileged to live in

Kipling was right about Sussex!

Especially lovely in Summer – rather wet and muddy today

Quite often a stream running down the road

Pot holes!

 

Infrastructure a bit more fragile

 

Trees down

Power cuts – shower at church members houses

The Christmas Turkey in the garden as we wondered about how to cook it with no electricity

 

Water main burst the other day

Water sometimes interrupted or brown

 

Cost of living in rural areas 25% greater

Cars

No gas

No mains sewage

 

Farmers

Isolation

Financial pressures

If the farm has been in the family for generations, you don’t want to be the one to lose it 

https://fcn.org.uk/

 

People in rural areas are still people!

 

Jesus

Doesn’t spare us storms

With us through the storms

If we build our lives on Jesus and his word, our lives will stand through the storm

 

Often we can’t solve their problems – weep with those who weep

Pray!

 

Ministry everywhere has its challenges.

It would be easy to speak at great length about the challenges of rural ministry, some of them distinctive and some of them shared with other contexts.

What too of the opportunities?

 

Smaller churches

People know one another well and are good at looking out for one another

WhatsApp group – people share prayer needs and encouragements – feel more connected

Someone brought cake to church the other day to mark 2 years of her involvement in the church and to thank people for the welcome and kindness

Supporting one another e.g. in the face of difficult medical diagnoses

 

Small is beautiful!

Sometimes people are used to things being smaller in the countryside.

They love the village shop as it is – everyone accepts it is not and can’t be Tesco Extra.

Likewise your church is unlikely to become the cathedral or Holy Trinity, Brompton or St Helen’s, Bishopsgate or…

Are there ways that small can be okay, or even an advantage?

What could you do with ones or twos or in a small group?

 

Stable population

The real locals have three generations in the churchyard

Evangelism slower?

Cf. outer estates

A particular opportunity when people move house

 

Very grounded in a place

What will people travel for or not?

Co-operation between parishes?

 

People often have a hands-on, can-do attitude

Used to getting on with things and helping one another out

 

 More connected to our communities than in towns

The boundaries between church and village are more porous

People have a tremendous attachment to their parish church, even if they only come at Christmas (and Easter – Remembrance very well attended)

Sometimes it’s the same people keeping the church, the village hall and the pub going

 

Challenge of church buildings

The countryside has cleared out over the centuries

Don’t really need 3 church buildings for a population of 2000 in my three villages

Sometimes smaller older congregations

Financial pressures (asset rich, cash poor?)

 

More connected to creation and the seasons

Harvest!

Plough Sunday etc.

 

Vicar of Dibley understated!

Three lunches one Sunday – which was fine by me!  

 

Pet Service – rates of dog ownership! Very important to many

 

Tradition

 

Being there for people – to listen and pray

 

No silver bullet or secret programme

Friendly consistency

 

Intentionality offering Jesus

Ready to speak good news

Crossing that pain line to speak – not just being nice people

 

Also interviewed was Bob Goody, CEO of Rural Missions https://ruralmissions.org.uk/

He talked about showing up consistency, building trust etc.

Serve your community with Jesus’ name at the forefront

 

Our Rural Officer in East Sussex in the Diocese of Chichester is The Revd Canon Gary Cregeen - https://www.chichester.anglican.org/glitter_news/2021/06/24/new-rural-officer-appointed/

 

https://www.ruralministries.org.uk/

 

https://arthurrankcentre.org.uk/

Psalm 36vv5-10 notes

 The Lectionary suggests we concentrate on vv5-10 of this fascinating Psalm.

 

You’ll say, “O, Rector, can’t we have the whole Psalm, that would be so much better?”

And in a way I agree with you.

But actually I think there are more than enough ideas in vv5-10  for us to be going along with today.

We’ll be in danger of going over the 22 and half minute maximum regulation sermon length!

I’ve got ten pictures for you.

 

But if (you’re a reader) and you have the Psalm open in front of you, let’s just look at the context of our little section.

V1: “An orcacle… concerning the sinfulness of the wicked”

And you can see he comes back to them in vv11 and 12 in various ways:

The proud, the wicked again, and evildoers.

 

So this is a Psalm partly about bad people.

 

The overall message of the Psalm is to have nothing to do with wickedness or wrongdoing and these verses in the middle which we’re going to look at give us a happy positive alternative: the LORD God, his love, and goodness and kindness, as we’ll see.

You’re far better off sticking with the true and living God of the Bible and trusting him, being loyal to him, knowing him and seeking him.

 

So its nice for us to look at these verses today.

It’s worth us just remembering that this isn’t the whole story.

We know this is a broken world where lots of bad stuff happens.

And we’ll have to talk more about that another day.

But for today look at v5 with me will, you?

 

This is wonderful, marvellous stuff.

 

He’s talking to God:

 

(1)   Heavens / skies (v5)

 

God’s love v5, v7, v10

 

So God’s love is the major theme of this section

 

hesed, faithful covenant love

 

And its worth us just remembering that in Hebrew poems or songs like this they love to say similar things twice.

(Like we love poems that rhyme, they love ones that kind of repeat or vary or sort of riff off the same stuff again, maybe with a change)

(Parallelism – of different types)

(2)   Mountains (v6)

(3)   The deep (v6)

(4)   Humans and beasts (v6)

(5)   Priceless (v7)

(6)   High and low among people find refuge in the shadow of your wings (v7)

(7)   Feast in the abundance of your house (v8)

(9)   Fountain of life (v9)

(10) Light (v9)

 

Will you not take refuge under the wings of this God?

Will you not look to him?

Will you drink the water of life which he gives?

Will you not be refreshed and sustained by him?

Enjoy him and his good gifts?

Receive his love.

Look to his justice.

 I think we know how we ought to respond to these things don’t we?

 Thanks, praise, trust, loyalty.

 Running away from all wickedness.

Neither fearing or trusting the wicked.

 Hesed – covenant loyalty

Love him a little in return.

Or at least pray that our cold hearts might love him more.

 

Full all age sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVhF00cVlOw Reading from about 10:25; Sermon: 12:30

Christian Ministry in the C of E Reflection on an image of an Embryo

 

During the shared discernment process for selection for ordained ministry, candidates are invited to talk about an object or image which is meaningful to them.

I quite a verbal person, but I thought I’d have a go at something like this exercise with an image – though perhaps my reflection turns out to be more do with a concept or idea.

 

My mind first turned to Matthias Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece with its famous image of John the Baptist at the foot of the cross pointing to Jesus.

 

 

In fact I’m going to reflect on an embryo – which is arguably not unrelated to the altarpiece.

Both John and Jesus had miraculous births.

And the cross, though a death, is also a kind of birth pang.

It will lead to new life.

The tomb will be a womb.

And Mary the mother of Jesus is there.

If she is the mother of Christ and we are in Christ, is she in a way the mother of us all?

Jesus’ words to Mary and John at the cross might suggest a new family relationship.

 

 

The embryo is a fecund image.

It suggests the value of every individual human life, of all sorts, at every age and stage, and therefore also our desire to resource the church’s life in every place:

That as the Church of England we have a mission to the whole of society, not just to middle class suburbia.

That we don’t want to neglect our inner cities, our deprived coastal towns or our rural areas.

The embryo reminds us of Jesus’ particular concern for the last and the least, the weakest and the voiceless.

 

Everyone with whom we interact is a precious human being and a disciple or a potential disciple, not just a ministry unit to be formed or deployed.

 

Clergy in particular are tempted to neglect their own humanity and their discipleship for the sake of their role. 

 

We must become like little children to receive the kingdom of heaven.

Our life together, however brilliant it might be, must be grounded in humbly receiving from Jesus.

There will be lots for all of us, even the most senior, to learn!

 

This reminder of the preciousness of all life also relates to valuing all spiritual life across the theological traditions and across barriers of age, class, sex, race or sexuality.  

 

The image speaks of the miracle of new life.

We’re dependent on God to grant new life, and so all our ministry should be grounded in prayer.

We should be encouraged that God’s resources are infinite.

 

Often our resources of finance and personnel are stretched, but God loves to “give life to the dead and call into being things that were not” (Romans 4:17).

We sometimes need to bring faith and hope where parishes are discouraged and despairing.

 

This image places mystery and wonder at the heart of our life.

We are not primarily running Parish Church PLC but are engaged with the sacred and supernatural.

We are about something ministerial not merely managerial.

 

Perhaps a midwife might not be a bad metaphor for the Christian minister.

The embryo suggests nurturing something precious and fragile which has great potential.

That’s important when we think about new Christians and new vocations.  

It is so easy to snuff out an interest in the gospel or in Christian service – the very thing we know Jesus would not do.

We sometimes have to say hard things to people.

Sometimes we won’t share someone’s sense of calling.

Or we can’t provide the Vicar or Curate or Parish they’d like.

But we have to remember that we are dealing with people made in the image of God and loved by him, and sometimes with their very deep sense of self and their hopes tied up with their vocational journey.

 

I’ve been doing some work on the Church of England learning review into diocesan growth initiatives in rural areas.

And one of the interesting debates is whether one should invest in areas of greatest need or greatest potential.

Whilst we are in the resurrection business, and we don’t want to assume that any parish must be forever barren, there seems to be a strong case for adding resources where there is already life, even if its only embryonic.

 

Formation is the great word in ministry training at the moment - related to the embryo, especially when we remember its biblical basis in Galatians 4:19, where Paul says:

“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you”.

 

Christian formation is for all Christians and we ought to expect growth, both spiritual and numerical.  

 

This image suggests that there is ideally something natural and organic about Christian growth.

Just as school is important, so we must have programmes of teaching and learning.

But we must also have the family being together around the table.

That eucharistic life is actually infinitely more important than a course or a check-list. 

 

We want to have a pathway, an invitation, for everyone from first contact with a Christian through evangelism and discipleship to training and ministry, some of which will be at parish, deanery, or diocesan level or nationally.

A pathway, not a sausage machine. 

 

Paul tells Timothy to let his “progress be evident to all” (1 Timonthy 4:15)

The standard is progress not perfection.

None of us can ever say we are the perfect Christian or minister and so we should all always be looking to grow.   

 

We want to encourage a culture of growth for every disciple in the parish.

That every disciple should be a minister using their gifts.  

And a culture of growth amongst the clergy.

It should be normal to be reading a slightly stretching book, and a certain amount of risk should be encouraged.

 

We want to encourage lifelong learning so that it’s not possible to tell when the Vicar finished theological college by the date of the books on her shelf.

If a minister has done no Continuing Ministerial Education in living memory, and it would be good to think about how to make him eager to do some.

Something must appeal as potentially interesting or helpful, surely?  

 

As with the embryo, the goal is a degree of independence.

We will always remain an interdependent household of faith.

But we want Christians to look out for their own souls and for one another, and we want our curates to be ready to take on posts of responsibility and so on.

 

We want to encourage clergy to do those things that will make for their growth and well-being for themselves and together, and in many cases I think we know what that is.

I’ve blogged about this before.

 

In our diocese and networks we already have great resources of skills and experiences and it would be exciting to work with parishes and deaneries on using these to do more together.

 

The embryo suggests the necessary pain of being born, of leaving the womb and of growing in a more challenging environment.

We are not to remain in the safety of our inward-looking club.

Most of our curates won’t remain assistants for ever.

 

The image can also be a warning against infantilisation:

Against the training incumbent who doesn’t allow the curate to grow up.

Or against micro-management.

Against the clergyman who is a bottle keck on growth, who won’t release and empower the laity.

 

Lastly, the embryo suggests continuity and development.

That we seek be faithful to the apostles’ teaching and fruitful in new ways.

We are keepers of a tradition, but that tradition is also to be proclaimed afresh in each generation .

We are not to depart from the faith but neither are we to stand still.

We are both rooted in Christ and sent out by Christ as his representatives to proclaim him.

We keep the faith by sharing the faith.

Like good parents, we encourage both a sense of belonging and of individuality.

 

May God grant us life, growth, health and indeed multiplication of disciples and ministers.

Here endeth the sermon!

TV

It is arguably 100 years since the invention of TV and The Church Society is inviting theological reflection sparked by this.

https://www.churchsociety.org/resource/the-global-anglican-essay-prize-2026/

I don't think I have an essay in me, but perhaps I have a few jottings.

German comedian Henning Wehn speaks of the Parochialism of Facts. Every German child is taught that Friedrich Braun was the inventor of television.

The Traitors and its extraordinary popularity perhaps calls for some Faithful theological reflection. It was interesting to see this spill over into political discourse as Health Secretary Wes Streeting repeated his line that he is and always has been a Faithful.

Way back in the mists of time we read Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Methuen, London, 1985) at theological college. It might be worth asking how that looks after all this time.

Paul Kingsnorth mentions TV in his Wendell Berry lecture along with some sources that would be worth following up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTlM-6nZNdE. He is interesting on the Latin origin of the word "focus", as the hearth or fire place (with its associated gods). Which of course feeds in to discussion of TV and focus. Once family viewing was a thing with one TV as the new hearth-light around which the family would gather of an evening. Then there may be a TV in every room. Now there is a devise in every hand too.

The transition from limited linear TV to online is of course also worthy of reflection.

American journalist Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember (2010) would be a book to consult. .

Peter Hitchens also has some comments about TV in The Abolition of Britain, if I remember correctly.

TV could also be situated in a broader biblical theology of creation and of making. TV and TV shows are works of sub-creation. The cultural mandate has resulted in this culture! TV is an aspect of technology and of humanity's dominion work , but it can easily have dominion over us. We have created the machine which can become a beast, even a serpent.


The Bible also has things to say of relevance to news, leisure, words and images.


We are to give our consideration to whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Like other media, TV is a mixed bag.


We might compare moral panic around TV to that over the printing press, the novel, the telephone or the internet.

Family Evangelism

 Today's Gospel (from John 1) raises the question of Christian witness to non-Christian family. This has its pros and cons. They know you. And they know you. This is not hit and run gospeling but you hope for an ongoing relationship. 

The gospel's account is not really one of deliberate strategy but of spontaneous enthusiasm: we have found; come and see! Perhaps there is a particular opportunity in the first days of conversion to bravely speak up. 

Is Britain broken?

 It seems to be a matter of great debate at the highest and popular levels whether or not Britain is broken. This threatens to be a dividing line in our politics. The shadow cabinet allegedly could not agree.  

 

But as ever, of course, we must distinguish. In what sense is Britain broken or not? For whom? In what ways?

 

For us, in leafy Sussex, life is mostly pretty good. Of course funds are limited. Retirement housing is a worry for this Vicar. And there are pot holes. There are all sorts of challenges and frustrations. Many things we would like, we do not have. And yet we are all in good health. The children’s state secondary school is officially good. It is certainly more than adequate most of the time, even if its not optimal.

 

But if you get ill with certain conditions and you can’t go private, you can probably expect to wait a year or more in some degree of pain and disability. For some issues (children’s mental health?) you could perhaps forget ever getting effective timely help.

 

I suspect in some parts of Britain for many people everything does pretty much feel broken. Nothing works. The state is unresponsive or unhelpful. The police and the GP aren’t on hand when actually needed.

 

Does it really matter whether or not we label Britain as broken?

 

Certainly some aspects of Britain are somewhat broken for some people.

 

Surely we must hope that Britain is not broken beyond repair.

 

So we can all agree there are things which need fixing.

 

A more sensible conversation is how we can go about the job, rather than debating how big the job is. Yes, we know it’s a big job and it’s going to cost us, but the sooner we have a plan and get started, the better.