Tag: Faith

Remembrance is important

A Reflection from Piers Northam on Remembrance Sunday

The beginning of St Mark’s Gospel tells of Jesus walking along the beach at the Sea of Galilee, calling his disciples, the fishermen Peter and Andrew, James and John. Calling them to follow him and calling them to a life of service. Ultimately, for many of his disciples, it would turn out to be service that would cost them their lives.

And on this Remembrance Sunday morning we remember those who have answered another call to service – in this case the service of their country – and who have given their lives in that service.

As I’ve reflected, this week, on what I might say on this Remembrance Sunday morning, I’ve been pondering on the difference between ‘memory’ and ‘remembrance’, and I wonder if we might take ‘remembrance’ to be the shared calling to mind and recounting of events or people that we don’t necessarily directly remember ourselves? Certainly, if we take the Second World War, there is a sense that it is receding into history and that fewer and fewer people remember it first-hand and with that comes the danger that it will seem less and less ‘real’, less and less affecting. And, of course, there have been many other conflicts since, that British forces have been involved in – Aden, Korea, the Falklands, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan – all of which will be remembered by those who served and were involved, but which otherwise can also seem increasingly distant and less relevant.

Yet on Remembrance Sunday each year we gather as a nation to remember; to recount the stories of war and the cost of war; to remember and give thanks for the sacrifice of those who gave their lives – or who had their lives irrevocably altered – hopefully, in the pursuit of peace and stability. Remembrance and the wearing of poppies is also bound up in our sense of identity – one of the rare times in the year when so many of us, from all walks of life, are drawn together collectively to reflect and to remind ourselves of the horrors of war; of the ways that we can, as humans, descend so quickly into conflict and of the urgent and constant need to work for peace and never to be complacent.

Currently, as we look around the world, it seems as though the vital lessons of war and conflict have been entirely forgotten in some places. Mr Putin blithely sends thousands of men to their deaths in an attempt to grab land and territory from the Ukrainian people; Mr Netanyahu – despite the historic imperative for remembrance of the horrors of the Jewish experience in the Second World War – rains bombs and missiles on thousands of defenceless civilians in Gaza and now in Lebanon. It seems that, all too easily, we forget the human cost of war – or we forget what it was like to be on the receiving end of such aggression and begin to entertain the notion of meting it out on others.

All of which underlines the importance of gathering together to remember. Of looking the cost of war in the eye and striving all the more conscientiously and urgently for peace.

Remembrance is important.

In our Tuesday housegroup, we’re currently doing a series of sessions where we’ve begun looking at and comparing readings from the Old and New Testament to see what they help us to understand about Jesus. This last week we looked at the first Passover in Egypt when the Israelites, who had been living in slavery under the Egyptians, were given specific instructions about killing and eating an unblemished, year-old lamb and using its blood to mark the doorposts and lintels of their dwellings so that, when the Angel of Death came over the land in the final plague on Pharaoh and the Egyptian people, it would pass over their houses and the Israelites would be spared death – and subsequently would be able to flee the country and the years of slavery they had endured and so set out on their very long journey to the Promised Land.

The book of Exodus sets out the very particular instructions that the Lord gives to Moses and Aaron for the people and the Lord also says:

‘This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.
You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe
it as a perpetual ordinance.’

And, of course, that is what the Jewish people have done ever since – they have gathered around the family table each year to keep the Passover and to tell the story: to recount how, through the goodness and faithfulness of God, they were spared death and set free from their years of bondage and slavery. The Passover story is a huge part of Jewish identity – a story that all Jews brought up in the faith will know. A story that teaches them about the nature and the goodness of God.

And on Tuesday night we discovered some of the strong parallels between what happened at the Passover in Egypt and the story of Jesus’ Passion in Jerusalem. Because of course, at the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples were keeping Passover – they had gathered around the table in the upper room to remember; to recount their story and to share food for the journey and, in a new twist, Jesus gave them just that. Not the traditional food of the Passover meal, but bread and wine: the body and blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. And what does Jesus say as he gives them the broken bread and the cup of wine?

‘Do this in remembrance of me…’[2]

The details of the ancient Passover were fulfilled in Jesus – he was the perfect, unblemished Lamb. And the next day, as he was crucified, his blood was shed for us, marking not the posts and lintels of the Israelites’ doors but the wooden upright and crossbeam of the cross. It was his blood that set us free from the slavery of sin and opened us up to everlasting life. And so, we became a pilgrim people: the people of the Way – Christians from all over the world and down the ages, travelling towards God’s Kingdom.

So, in a sense, for us as Christians, every Sunday is Remembrance Sunday; every Sunday is a family Passover where we gather to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. In the eucharistic prayer that we will hear in a moment and in the creed that we say collectively, we recount the story of God’s saving and redeeming love for us in Jesus – of how he set us free from the limitation and slavery of sin and how he spared us from death and opened the gate of glory – the way to everlasting life. And every Sunday we share the family meal – the food for the journey – the bread and the wine that we take in remembrance of Jesus, to nourish and sustain us. And then we are sent out into the world – ‘to love and serve the Lord’ and to help the world to make its way into God’s Kingdom; to bring His Kingdom in…

You see, remembrance is important.

Amen.

[1] Exodus 12:14

[2] 1 Corinthians 11:24-25

[Piers Northam, Deacon at St Mary’s-at Latton]

A Prayer for a broken world

*‘Sunrise over Bethlehem.’ photo by Gill Anderson.*

A Prayer for our broken world.

Yesterday, at church in Fakenham, we sang the hymn, For the healing of the Nations, by Fred Kaan. The second line begins, ‘Lord we pray’, a reminder that hymns are musical prayers which begin life as prayer/poems. As such they are an important part of our devotional resource, whether they be as hymns, psalms, anthems of chants. This prayer by Fred Kaan speaks deeply to our human condition which cries out for healing of our brokenness in so many ways.

For the healing of the nations,
Lord, we pray with one accord,
for a just and equal sharing
of the things that earth affords.
To a life of love in action
help us rise and pledge our word.

Lead us forward into freedom,
from despair your world release,
that, redeemed from war and hatred,
all may come and go in peace.
Show us how through care and goodness
fear will die and hope increase.

All that kills abundant living,
let it from the earth be banned:
pride of status, race or schooling,
dogmas that obscure your plan.
In our common quest for justice
may we hallow brief life’s span.

You, Creator God, have written
your great name on humankind;
for our growing in your likeness
bring the life of Christ to mind;
that by our response and service
earth its destiny may find.

Fred Kaan

Fred Kaan was uniquely placed to offer this poetic insight of a world in need of healing. As a child of the occupation of the Netherlands, he experienced first-hand the horrors of Nazism, His parents were part of the Resistance in Holland and they also sheltered a young Jewish woman who was kept safe for over two years. Fred was doubtless shaped by a global conflict which was also experienced personally. He was filled with a passion for social justice, global peace and a reconciliation between people. When he discovered Christ, this strong desire met the explosive love of the Gospel. His faith was expressed in Christian ministry and a spirituality that found expression in prayer/poems which could be sung powerfully as hymns or quietly as Gospel -based prayers as part of personal devotion.
It is offered here as a pinprick of soul-light for our praying.
After all, for many, the best action for human justice, freedom and the outpouring of love, is through prayer. Action flows from prayer because it changes us.

To a life of love in action
help us rise and pledge our word.

[Mr G]

***for more on Fred Kaan see my blog entry June 29^th 2023

The Invitation

A Pondering on BIBLE SUNDAY, by my friend, The Revd. Becs Challis.

So, it’s Bible Sunday, this is a time where we pay special attention to and give thanks for the Bible in our lives as disciples….
I’ll be honest, for me I find this easier said than done….

First, the bible that I am currently paying most attention to is the NIV study bible (a big large hardback book) and I’m paying attention not because I am referencing it but because it’s just the right size as a laptop stand on my desk.
Secondly, rather than simply give thanks in my inner thoughts, I want to add “but did it really have to be SO long and SO complicated (not only to read but also to understand)
And I’m not being flippant I am just recognizing my human condition and the fact that actually the bible if I think about it as a “book”, for me is the source of a lot of shame. And I am going to hedge my bets that I am not totally alone in sometimes slipping into thinking things along these lines?

Yet this is actually the one day when many churches will be praying and giving thanks for the bible, so it’s worth us really understanding what we mean when we say that we are paying attention to and giving thanks for, the Bible. So let’s use this time to take away any barriers we may have to connecting with God when we are thinking, praying or blowing the dust off and potentially even reading the bible!

So what is it, that we are actually giving thanks for, and can we put words to the impact that that has had on our lives and those around us?
We’re told in 2 Timothy (3:14-4:5) that all scripture is inspired by God, all of it. – The passages we love, the passages we’ve read over and over again, the verses we can recite and the bit’s we’re less familiar with, those sections we skim over or the ones we’ve never read, those passages that we can’t quite reconcile with our view of God, and those ones that have been interpreted differently and used as weapons against us or those we love…. All of them every word is inspired by God.
The bible is God breathed; all 66 books all 700 thousand plus words are inspired words of God. It is the most sold book (not necessarily most read) but most controversial books in the world.
Yet it’s not a book at all, it’s an invitation into relationship with Jesus, it’s admittedly a very large, dense, wordy invitation. But it is an invitation all the same…

This is an invitation of hope:

an invitation to us here in church.
an invitation to those who we know aren’t here today
an invitation to those who ‘have never’ and ‘will never’ come here….
an invitation to the whole human race, the whole world, to all of us grace gifted misfits[1] that in some way don’t think we are good enough

But what do we do, how do we access this invitation?

Well in Paul’s letter to Timothy there’s a sense of urgency, whatever you do, do something because the Bible is invitation into relationship with Jesus, it is not something to put off for a rainy day.

“Hold fast to what you have learned.”
It might be just one word or one phrase but hold onto it. However, right at the heart of this instruction, it isn’t about gripping tightly with fists closed. Instead, it’s a reminder to hold on with an openness, with a heart ready to receive, a mind willing to explore. The Bible, or “scripture” for Paul, is not a cage meant to confine us. It’s Jesus as light within us, illuminating dark corners, showing us paths of justice, mercy and peace.

The bible, this invitation, is not just to know Jesus, but to be known. This is wisdom for salvation, Paul says – not salvation only in some distant, other-worldly sense, but salvation that reaches into the here and now, into our living, breathing lives on the good days and on those that are more challenging.
The Bible when we let it breathe, has the power to show us how to live in rhythm with God’s grace, in sync with God’s love. – This invitation instead of us reading it, allows us to be read and in turn, to be known.

The interesting thing about invitations is that they generally come with an RSVP, it’s not good enough to just receive the invitation of the Bible we have to respond as well:

In John’s Gospel (5:36b-end) Jesus says:
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

The RSVP to the invitation we have all been given is not found in echo chambers and divisions, or in those voices that are heard louder and more confidently than the rest, it’s not found in words that flatter rather than challenge…
The response, the real response to us receiving the gift of the Bible, the inspired word of God, is to take it in with each breath we take , each pause, each silence each chaotic unplanned moment, each waking minute of every day move closer to Jesus.

And as with all invitations, they generally always come with a +1
For Timothy, and for us the invitation to be in relationship with Jesus is not about how much you’ve read or whether you can quote it word for word, it is about how you respond in the ordinariness of your life. How you embody the Good news in all you say and do. It’s about living life in a way that others can see Jesus through and in you.
So if you do nothing else, just find a way that works for you to connect and engage with the Bible and let God’s inspired breath become part of all of us. This invitation is to a dynamic relationship, one with a God that is very much alive, not a relic of the past covered in dust, but rather, a living breathing divinely inspired word unfolding all around us, calling us to new depths of love and wisdom and inviting us to be shaped, transformed and in turn transform others.

(based on a sermon preached at St. Mary-at-Latton, Harlow. on Sunday October 27th 2024.

[Becs Challis,
Programme Manager Mission & Ministry, Diocese of Chelmsford

The Burning Bush

BURNING BUSH – a pondering on Exodus 3: 1-15 (4-17)

Arresting attention, the bush burned by the wayside,
impossible to ignore, flame beckoning. A sign of glory.
Tongues of fire, like hands waving to excite our curiosity
“Come Near!”
A way of saying, Come and See”; God’s words of calling us.

An angel appeared in the midst of the fire, becoming flame.
Moses didn’t flinch. In those days Angels were common-place and expected.
Doers of God’s bidding, as they still do today but people have a tendency to rationalize away what they prefer not to understand.

Then God spoke, like a friend hiding in a favourite place, waiting.
“Moses! Moses!” Urgent, eager.
Disturbing too because whenever God calls us by Name it so often means that in some way we are about to change the direction of our life.
– Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Mary and Joseph, Mary of Magdala, Peter, Paul….
The well tried and tested vocational call which is not entirely about doing something but
a recognition that we are called to become someone.
“I call you by Name, you are mine.”
We are more truly children of God who comes to be with us.
“Immanuel”.

“Here I am” says Moses.
God invites him to take off his sandals for the ground is Holy.
It is infused with God’s presence.
This is the language of pilgrimage, an intentional journey to the heart of God.
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

What he hears is that The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, has a plan,
He has heard His people’s cry. They are burdened and brought low by the oppression of Pharaoh.
“I intend to free them” says God, “and you’re going to help me.”
He then tells Moses his intention.

Despite the heat, a shiver of uncertainty and fear works quickly through him.
He would prefer God to be silent just now.

It does not escape his attention that God is sending him to Pharaoh, in whose family he was brought up. How can he stand against the might of Pharaoh?
Like so many whom God calls to some new task or way of life, excuses are sought and made. Moses stutters his way to a reason why it should be others. “Here am I, send someone else.”

When I was at School and I hadn’t done my homework, I would make up not one but usually about three excuses, just in case the first one failed. They all failed of course!
It feels a bit like that with Moses. He’s scared of Pharoh; the people of Israel won’t accept him; they won’t believe God has sent him; he can’t talk eloquently and he stutters; besides which he has a murky past. Oh dear!
It won’t convince God.

But Moses has a point. He really could imagine the peoples’ reaction when he told them of the bush that burned but was not consumed and of an angel suddenly greeting him from the middle of it; and of God suddenly talking to him;
Surely they would think him either mad or drunk!
“Just tell them that I sent you”.
“But they’ll want to know who you are. What could I tell them. What is your Name?”

Oh, that again! They always want to know so much. “Who are you, Lord?”

Precisely that! I am the Lord who will now give you what sounds a bit like a riddle.
“I AM WHO I AM”. So, Moses was to tell them that I AM has sent him.
God reveals who He IS. He is the One who is. He is the heart of all Being.
HE has brought into being the life of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Moses himself, and of all Creation, including you and you and you ….
The Name of God is forever and He is Lord for all generations. Because God IS, We ARE.

It took a bit more to convince Moses that he was the right person and he probably wished that he hadn’t taken notice of the Burning Bush but he could not deny that God had spoken with him and that God was absolute Being and was with him.

So in everything that followed, Moses could pray as we can pray:

Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power,
the glory, the splendour and the majesty;
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
All things come from you,
and of your own do we give you.

Chronicles 29:14

[Mr G}