The light shines in the darkness

I wrote a short article for the church newsletter:

I sit writing this in the aftermath of the horrifying events in Manchester this week, where people who went on a night out never came home, or returned home changed forever. When talking to my children about what had happened I encouraged them to focus on the response; the first responders, the helpers, those who draw together to provide a message of hope, love and unity. Our own cathedral staff, locked out of their building, took to the street to offer prayer and support- a visible sign of faith in a city which refuses to be a victim. 

The last twelve months since I was ordained as deacon, to serve here at St. Michaels, have had their ups and downs; moments of joy and of sadness. Our strength has come through how we’ve come together- both at times of joyful celebration and through grief and mourning. This is what being a community of faith is, this is how we reflect the light of Christ to the world around us. 

As I reflect upon what it means to be ordained as a priest on the 24th June, to serve this parish alongside my work at Christie Hospital, what I feel more than ever is the gospel we must proclaim is of Christ's inclusivity, of his drawing to himself the marginalised and outcast, broken and bereaved. 

We must also recognise the face in God in those who are different from us, those whose actions, motives and beliefs we can never understand, because we are all, without exception, made in the image of God and that can be uncomfortable reading when we know someone has committed an unspeakable act of violence. 

The bible verse I have seen more than any other this week is John 1:5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There’s light within each and every one of us but there is, I’m sure, darkness too. As we begin June with Pentecost it’s a reminder that whatever our struggles, both internal and external, God as Holy Spirit dwells within. The Chinese Christian teacher and leader Watchman Nee wrote:

Many saints cannot distinguish inspiration from emotion. Actually these two can be defined readily. Emotion always enters from man’s outside, whereas inspiration originates with the Holy Spirit in man’s spirit.

Whilst sometimes our emotions overpower us and lead our response, as Christians we must listen to the inspiration of the Spirit, placed within us to guide and to counsel, to lead and to teach. I pray the Spirit leads each of us to a place where we are a united body of Christ, moving forwards in hope.

Day 19

“All mysticism is characterised by a passion for unity. To the mystic, true Being and Ultimate Reality are One…Christian mystics aspire to an intimate union of love with God, seeking God’s presence as the very ground of the soul. The human being is endowed with a spiritual sense that opens us inwardly, just as our physical senses open us outwardly.”

(Ursula King, Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies through the Ages, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988 p.15.)

A suggestion for your prayer and meditation:

Contemplate:  Consider what inward "spiritual sense" means to you.  What does it mean to you to experience a "union of love with God"? 

Prayer:  I feel the earth beneath me, the air around me, and the presence of the Holy Spirit within.
Pastor Patty Fox 40 days with 40 Christian mystics

A passion for unity, for connection, to not view difference as something to fear or hate. To be motivated by love, a desire to understand. To celebrate diversity, relate to those who are not our "tribe". Calling someone who is not like us "sister" or "brother". We are one body.

Chosen, Protected, Sanctified, Unified

I'm still always shocked when my sermons are well received. Sermon writing is something I really struggle with but it is, ultimately, rewarding. Today's sermon is based upon Acts 1:15-17 & 21-26, 1 John 5:9-13 and John 17:6-19:

According to my children an horrific part of my childhood still goes on in schools today- the dreaded ritual of picking teams. Two children are asked to take it in turns to pick their side. Now I’m sure that some members of our congregation are, or were, wonderfully athletic, but I never was, so the usual scenario was that I would be the last one to be chosen- the public humiliation of being the kid no team wants.

There was another school ritual- the merit badge. Each week I would hope beyond hope that I’d be picked, knowing I’d tried my best, but rarely would it be me. Are you feeling sorry for me yet?

On holiday one year my parents entered me into some sort of beauty contest, and I didn't do too well in that either. I grew up knowing I was someone who didn't get picked. I wasn't chosen. I wasn't special.

I was on a retreat last weekend and one of the themes was our collective chosenness, not just us as ordinands but all Christians. We’re all taken, or chosen, by God to be sent out into the world. This is echoed in the gospel today where Jesus states the disciples were sent to him by God. Chosen by God. It turns out my childhood assumptions were very wrong- I might not have felt like I was chosen, but as a Christian I, and therefore all of us, are chosen by God for a very specific purpose, as the disciples were.

The point we’re at in today’s gospel reading is just before Jesus is arrested. He knows what’s to come, that he must die, yet instead of preparing himself and contemplating what he will endure, he’s focused on the disciples, what will happen after he’s gone, what will happen to this chosen group of people whom he loves.

He’s preparing for his death by praying for his friends, and specifically praying for their protection as he knows times will be tough. Their association with this radical and subversive man has left them very vulnerable, but even though Jesus will die the disciples’ job, the purpose for which God had chosen them, is far from over. Jesus prays that God will protect them from the “evil one”, yet presumably this protection isn't a physical one, we know many of these men will die violently for their faith, it's spiritual protection they need – protection from anything that might weaken their faith, and stop them fulfilling their purpose. This protection will soon arrive in the form of the Holy Spirit.

So they were chosen by God and protected by the Holy Spirit.

After praying for their protection Jesus sanctifies the disciples He sanctifies them in truth, the truth that Jesus was sent from God and that the father and Son have a unity of purpose.

Chosen by God, Protected by the Spirit, Sanctified by Christ. Chosen, Protected, Sanctified. These 3 actions fulfill the other part of Jesus’ prayer: “that they are one as we are one”. Jesus prays that the disciples are unified.

Chosen, Protected, Sanctified, Unified. We too are chosen by God, protected by the Holy Spirit and sanctified by Christ. It might be difficult for us as individuals to get our heads around that - we each know our individual brokenness and the reasons we might feel unworthy, but as well as individuals we're part of a community and we're also part of the worldwide church or Body of Christ. We might find it easier to recognise how as a body of people we’re a chosen people, a protected people and a sanctified people, yet despite all parts of the body needing to work as a unit we’d be stretching things to say we - the global church-  are a unified people.

Often the Christians we see in the media are those which hold extreme views, one way or the other. Extremely conservative, extremely Evangelical, extremely liberal. They've often been drafted in specifically to generate debate. It’s easy to feel disappointed that they've been chosen to represent “Christians” as an homogeneous group, knowing that our own interpretation of Christian belief don’t match theirs.  We’re all Christians, but our views are not unified.

I’m sure many of us have, at some point, attended churches of other denominations, or been members of other churches, and we’ll each have our own reasons for now being here instead of there. There’s probably lots of things we could identify about other churches that don’t match how we think about our faith, things we’re not unified on.

And what about the controversies which threaten to split the Anglican Communion? The ongoing debates around sexuality may still cause the Western and African parts of the Communion to separate.

Within the Church of England I've read accounts of very un-Christ-like altercations between representatives of pro-diversity church groups and conservative church groups. Our in-fighting over sex, gender and sexuality is a cause of bemusement to the outside world and presents us as far from unified.

There are, of course, many other issues preventing us from presenting a unified church, both locally and globally. So how can we ever be a unified church?

Unity doesn't have to mean we’re unified in all our views and opinions, which would be nigh on impossible. The Western Church split from the Eastern Church, the protestant from catholic and then more splits, more denominations, more schisms, yet we do remain the worldwide church- how then are we unified?

We must look back to our chosenness, our purpose, and ask ourselves- chosen for what? The answer lies in our reading from Acts. We’re chosen to bear witness. Despite our division we’re all called to bear witness to the risen Christ, and, as John writes, to have the testimony within our hearts.

We don’t, and we can’t, agree on every aspect of our faith as so much of it is personal to us, but our faith is also communal, and as a community we can be unified even when we disagree.

“As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world”. This is where we find our unity- just like the disciples we’re sent out chosen, sent out protected and sent out sanctified, unified in our witness to the one God, the perfect unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.