Brexit means...

Here is an article I recently submitted for publication in Frome Valley Voice:

              BREXIT means BREXIT! My analysis of the state of our country could be summed up with these words. We are all aware that BREXIT means BREXIT, but less clear what BREXIT really means! We know that we are British and we live in the United Kingdom, but when it comes to the small print of our values and our relationships with the rest of the world, we differ hugely.

              I am aware that in schools we teach: British values? I wonder what these are exactly. Many of our laws and values were based around the Christian faith, but I am fairly clear we can no longer meaningfully call ourselves a Christian country. I do not mourn its passing, for all of my lifetime we have only given it lip service. I prefer genuine and passionate commitment rather than begrudging formal acquiescence.

One thing that Christianity did bring was a story around which to build our values: love your neighbour, do unto others, love your enemies, the love of money is the root of evil, take the plank out of your own eye, remember a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven…… to the poor will be given the kingdom of God, the hungry will be satisfied, those who weep will have a time to laugh, those that mourn will be comforted. All of these teachings are actually counter cultural ideas, especially when we live in a culture whose core idol is SELF; who I am and what I can get. They sit more comfortably in a culture which genuinely values community, and realises that for its health all have a responsibility towards the weak.

              Alongside the above teachings of Jesus we have the foundations from his Jewish roots: Do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not lie (give false testimony) and do not be jealous (of your neighbour’s wife, and thus presumably husband, or their Ox, Donkey or belongings.) How can we be a ‘Christian’ country, when our living rooms are flooded each day with adverts directly contradicting this? Without jealousy we may learn contentment, but then our economy could not be stoked up with the personal debt of the poor!

              The bright eyed of you may have realised that I have quoted only five of the Ten Commandments, I wonder how many of you know the others. Others may look at this list and conclude that indeed they were not a bad starting point upon which to build a healthy civilisation. Perhaps they contributed to our willingness to tackle the worst excesses of slavery and inhumane practices and inequality, even when these seemed to damage the wealth or status of those who held power. Indeed it could be argued that as they have sunk into the sub-conscious we have inadvertently allowed new forms of slavery and inequality and injustice to flourish.

              The five commandments I have omitted are all summed up in Jesus’ answer to the question which is the greatest commandment. He answers, ‘to love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.’ He sums up all we’ve said above by saying, ‘the second is like it, love your neighbour as yourself.’ For me this is the crucial question. It is the answer to BREXIT, it is the answer to our understanding of ourselves and our values. To whom or to what are we related. For myself I am convinced that I am related, indebted, valued and cherished by something far beyond myself and my local concerns. This in turn connects me to my neighbour in Frampton and indeed my neighbour in Syria. I am also convinced that the vast majority of my country no longer sense the vitality of these relationships.

              Our country must now negotiate towards a society no longer confined by our European heritage or indeed Christian heritage. I do worry about the values that we might adopt. However for me BREXIT means that I must refresh my own relationships and commitments to ensure that, wherever it is in my power, I exude a love for my neighbour, wherever they may be, which honours sufficiently the love that I understand has been offered to me. 

Summer Reflection

              Summer time is here, I hope you will have some time of rest and relaxation, perhaps to enjoy God’s beautiful world, and even reflect on your walk with God. I know I’m hoping to get some miles on my bible reading clock, as well as some trips away for Holiday.

Life often seems busy when we forget to make time to reflect. Holiday clubs, Frampton Festival and a whole series of family celebrations has meant the weeks leading into the summer have been hectic. Of course the world of the news has managed more than the odd headline: new Prime Minister, new relationship with Europe, abject failure in the football (unless you are lucky enough to be Welsh) and of course the old old story of terrorism! France’s ‘Bastille’ day marked by utter carnage, shootings in Germany, coup attempts in Turkey and attempted kidnappings for serviceman to name but a few. How can we celebrate and go on as if all of life is normal whilst others weep in sackcloth and ashes? Last month two of my children graduated, P-j my colleague became a Grandpa, my Father celebrated 60 years as a minister, surely I must rejoice and celebrate. Yet at the same time the devastation of Nice, the impending famine in Nigeria and indeed on-going devastation of Syria or Libya leave us with so many questions, to say nothing of the homeless, unemployed or mentally ill all around us.

              How do you cope?

              Some try simply to ignore it. It isn’t because they don’t care, but perhaps they reach a point that they ‘can’t care’ anymore. If we open our eyes to all the struggles and pain of others we can be swamped, and our own health or well-being disintegrates. Others isolate themselves, they focus on those situations and peoples that are close to ‘home’ and make their focus there. I must be honest and say I don’t like that attitude, but I do understand why people do it. If these two responses can be described as burying our heads in the sand, then surely there is some merit in them…. After all when we raise our head, open our eyes the devastation, the inequality, the suffering is simply too great.

              How do I cope?

              I try to turn back to God, and hopefully not just in summer when there is a bit more time! I will admit sometimes I feel God is hard to find. On the morning of the Nice attacks I was leading communion at St. Peter’s Church. I scrapped the readings I was going to use and simply turned to Psalm 22. It is a Psalm (song) of David written thousands of years ago and is the Psalm that seemed to comfort Jesus whilst he was being murdered on the Cross. ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me…… all who see me mock me: “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him.” ….trouble is near and there is no one to help…..my strength is dried up…and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.’ It is as you can see not exactly a ‘happy’ song, but it is real, brutally honest. This is why I love it. But it doesn’t only shout WOE, WOE, WOE, it also, from the depths of the pit, whispers FAITH. ‘Yet you (LORD) brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast……But you, O LORD, be not far off, O my Strength, come quickly to help me….All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him.’ I have long since decided that the only way to face the realities of this world is to do so head on and ask for strength. It is fairly obvious that we live in a wonderful and yet terrible world. To deny either is to obscure the truth. We must face both and live. Our guru, Jesus, sums up what our response needs to be like when he noticed that his generation neither danced with those who dance nor mourned and wept with those who wept. This is how I try to cope. I want to dance with those who dance, to celebrate all that is good in life, to laugh and rejoice with those who rejoice. But I also know that I am called to stand beside those who weep, to watch with those that mourn through the long reaches of the night. In truth this empathy for and with others, is an absolute key to what it means to be human. It is the reason why ultimately I believe all terrorism will fail, because even though some become radicalised and filled with hatred the very nature of that hatred is ‘inhuman.’ Know this, many many Muslims are just as disgusted by the actions of these ‘haters’ as you or I am. In the past even the most ardent Republicans or Unionists from Northern Ireland simply became sick to the core at the inhumanity of what was once called ‘the struggle.’ Our humanity will always weep with those that weep, and though we may want, or even try, to shut the doors of our heart to the needs of those not like us, the television screens and maybe even our immigrant or refugee neighbours will not allow us to. Each one is precious wherever they are from, and something deep in our hearts always knows this.

As I said Dad celebrated 60 years as a church minister recently, he chose a reading from Matt 25 which simply said, ‘whatsoever you do for one of the least of these you do for me.’ So whether you are relaxing or working this summer our calling is essentially the same: we are called to dance with those who dance, but also to be ready and to stand and weep with those who weep. In effect we are to recognise the core humanity, even the reflected divinity, of all those who are around us and to serve each one, even if they may appear to be our ‘enemies,’ as if in effect we were either dancing or weeping with Jesus himself.

Stephen

Where to find our true nature

Give me a candle of the Spirit, O God, as I go down into the deeps of my being. Show me the hidden things, the creatures of my dreams, the storehouse of forgotten memories and hurts. Take me down to the spring of my life, and tell me my nature and my name. Give me freedom to grow, so that I may become that self, the seed of which You planted in me at my making.

Out of the depths I cry to You…   

George Appleton

Momentous LIFE or Death

                I wonder which you think is more powerful life or death. Your answer to that question probably reveals a lot about your personality; optimist or pessimist, jar half full or half empty!  Before you tie yourselves in knots thinking there maybe a definitive answer, we can all agree that both life and its absence are powerful and mysterious.

                The Easter story is precisely about these mysteries and is certainly powerful.  It is fitting that we celebrate in spring when life seems to burst forth from barren ground. At this time of year life seems to conquer death and Easter is no exception. Few would doubt that a man known as Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. The fact that many believe he conquered death and arose to life seems incredulous. Death is death, by ‘nature’ it is the end, we may argue. However when we look a little closer at nature it is not so unreasonable for most endings are really simply new beginnings. The end of a sunset is the beginning of the night, a flower that falls to the ground, is the beginning of the nutrients that are needed to give new life to another flower. 

                Death itself has been fairly well understood for centuries. The people who watched Jesus crucified were no more likely than you or I to expect that he would arise. If you are aware of Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch you must understand that 1^st Century Palestinians would also have known a dead parrot when they saw one!  I however am among those who believe that in this particular death, death itself was mortally wounded. Paul expresses this when he writes:

 ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.
                O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

If Paul is correct the answer to the conundrum with which we begun is simple. Life must be more powerful, for the greater swallows the lesser. So life is more powerful than death….. In Jesus at very least!

                I think the meaning of Easter must come down to this question. If the resurrection of Jesus is real then the power of life, particularly life connected to Jesus Christ is unstoppable.  Again as Paul wrote, ‘nothing not even death can separate us.’ Of course death still remains powerful; all sorts of separations that we experience are real, and especially so if we practically keep ourselves away from God. The ‘glass’ maybe more than half full, it may actually be overflowing and can never run dry. However you and I will remain thirsty if we do not drink it! Easter states that Life is stronger than death, hallelujah, God has done this. It is still though for us to grasp this life, each and every day and to live it and to enjoy it to the full.

Happy Easter everyday

Stephen

Thought for Lent: THE GLORIOUS INEFFICIENCY OF REST

When I hear the words ‘efficiency savings’, I have to admit that my hackles rise. I do not believe that life is meant to be ‘efficient’, it’s meant to be lived. Now you might wonder what this has to do with a ‘thought for Lent.’ I would say a great deal. Lent is a 40 day preparation (excluding Sundays!) for Easter. It’s a time of waiting before in effect the new life of spring and Easter arrives. Waiting is something that we English are very good at: we queue, we sit in traffic jams and we wait for someone human to finally answer the telephone! We are good at it, but by and large we don’t enjoy it. We think that waiting is a waste of time, we become impatient; it’s inefficient we cry.

One problem we have with waiting is that we live in a culture of demands. We expect fast food, superfast internet and instant information from the beloved (if tax avoiding) google! In a perfect mechanised world there would be no waiting… it’d be all arrival. But when life is all about arriving, without any ‘inefficient’ waiting and preparation, few of us seem to realise or indeed appreciate where we actually are.

Nature on the other hand ‘naturally’ makes us wait. One can plant a carrot instantly, but there is little point picking it until it’s grown. One can make a baby fairly quickly but it takes 9 months or indeed a lifetime to become a parent.

There are so many areas of life that this principle applies to. I recently visited Southmead hospital on a Sunday evening. The place was asleep. Oh yes there were staff quietly going about their business of caring for others, but it felt to me as if the whole place was having a rest, taking a breath before the frenetic activity of healthcare resumed on Monday morning. Is this inefficient, or is this a necessary breather for everyone. It reminded me that the God of the Hebrews in his ‘wisdom’ spoke of the need for land, animals and people to have a weekly day of rest. How inefficient: how absolutely delightfully wonderful!

(Ref inefficiency in healthcare… it is salutary to note that according to most doctors I know, the greatest inefficiency is down to not enough beds left for people after treatment. A problem caused by shrinking bed numbers, because this was more ‘efficient!’)

So back to Lent and waiting or preparing for the reminder of new life at Easter. The Christian stream that I now most closely associate with is Celtic. It came to these Islands along the sea channels around 350AD. It didn’t bring Christianity as a religion; it brought a way of life, of love. One idea that I treasure is taken from the tides, the ebb and flow: as the sea rushes in there is great activity, as it ebbs there is a time for rest. This natural rhythm is mirrored each day and each night. I believe it’s there too in the seasonal waiting of lent, which ends of course with a further ‘inefficient’ paradox: the death, the lying ‘resting’ in a tomb of the one I believe is Saviour of the world. In this case just as rest is a prelude to work, so death is a prelude to life: a bursting forth of love that not even ‘inefficient’ death can defeat. So my advice this March is to take some ‘inefficient’ rest, so that you will discover how to truly find a life that is a joy in the living.

This March we celebrate Easter on the 25^th and 27^th. Your local churches would love to welcome you.

Stephen Newell

Fruitfulness on the Frontline

 

                Have you ever noticed how growth and change don’t happen evenly? Often things seem to be plodding along with the status quo and then wallop, everything changes. Culture changes a bit like this, like a growing teenager it creaks, and then bang something new emerges. Hence the 60’s brought pop culture and now I think more cultural change is being birthed around us. Certainly this is the case for the church. In reality not much changed in churches for a few generations… we sing slightly different songs perhaps but the basics were much the same.  We were also a Christian country with good albeit sometimes suspicious, relations between different denominations. Most people knew the Christian story and were at worst polite towards us. Then suddenly we are surrounded by militant atheists, the government is talking about regulating our “radical” Sunday schools and no one seems to have the first clue about what Christianity really means. In effect I am saying to you that Christendom, where the church had a cosy and well understood relationship with the society around us has died, or at very least is dying! There is no longer a sense that because you are a Christian and I am a fully accredited church minister we should be afforded any particular respect or status. The title Reverend almost never appears on any forms anymore!

                Personally I am delighted that the change has finally come. I prefer the honesty of where we are now to the cynicism of a society that for all my life time at least has been pretending to be Christian. The question for us is how we should respond? Loads of Christians have responded very simply.  They have decided that they will at best hibernate their faith and just get on with the world. One key reason for this that I have heard is summed up in the phrase: ‘the church doesn’t make sense to me anymore.’ Funny thing is, I agree. Much of the church that I encounter simply makes no sense. The reason for this is that we have been tricked into becoming indistinct from the world. By which I don’t mean all of our front rooms are now stocked with pews and slightly dampening heating systems. I mean we have created church for consumers. You go to the shops (or online!) to buy things to be served. You come to church to be told what to believe to be served up, often with certainty. Church is where you sit and watch the minister or some other ‘wise’ person tell you how or what you should believe, or worse still tell you that you are alright while the rest of the world is all wrong! In effect our whole understanding of church is pointing in the wrong direction. We talk about going to church or think about somehow doing the church things. When in reality we need a big wakeup call to remind us that we are the church. God wants our lives to be the living, outward expression of his love in the world. The only thing that will make church relevant again is when we realise God’s love is relevant to us and all the things we are part of.

I am hoping that the new course, Fruitfulness on the Frontline, that we are starting this year will help us in this transformation.  My job, indeed the place of the church as a whole body is not to encourage you to come and watch some show, but to constantly think of ways that we can equip one another and form one another as living expressions of God’s love wherever we find ourselves. Our ‘frontlines’, are the places and the people that we spend time with: our families our friends, our work colleagues and our fellow volunteers or neighbours. I am not suggesting that our task is to somehow ram some truth about God down these poor unsuspecting folk’s throats. Rather that we should realise that God cares about everything that we do, and wants to bring his love and his joy and his healing into every part of life.  His chosen method is to be alive in the world, his chosen instrument is very often us! GULP!

Please don’t misunderstand me I am not suggesting that God’s brilliant idea of forming a church in his image is irrelevant. We need one another now more than ever. But not so that we can rejoice that we are part of a big church! Rather so that we can really help one another to become more distinctively like Jesus in everything we are. I suggest by way of illustration, that it is vital to me that I worship God with all my heart. Not because God somehow needs me to worship, although he does delight in our friendship and relationship. Rather as I worship and love God his love refreshes my innermost being and helps me to carry that love back out to the frontline. To refresh, I need to be refreshed!

The Oh so very REVEREND Stephen Newell!! J

Refuge and Belonging

Belonging and Refuge:

                Sometimes there is a feeling that the Bible is old fashioned and out of date. However, occasionally world events remind us that this is simply not the case. Last evening we grappled within our elders (leaders) meeting how as a church we might respond to the human tragedy which is the present refugee crisis, primarily from war torn Syria. One elder simply said, ‘this is the biggest Exodus of people since the Biblical exodus.’ Now he is probably wrong, over history there have been many tragic events which have displaced huge numbers, but it does remind us that present events have many parallels in the Bible. In fact if we take a who’s who of the bible… most of them were in some way refugees: Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and Naomi, Daniel, Moses, in fact all of the 12 tribes of Israel, Elijah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. That’s not a bad list to start, but it continues in the New Testament, Mary and Joseph and of course Jesus took refuge in Egypt, most of the early church was forced to flee persecution and if you take Paul’s letter to the Ephesians seriously all of us begin as refugees: ‘remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth…. You were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship with God’s people and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.’ (Eph 2:11-13) Of course the letter goes on to remind the Ephesians and indeed us, that we are no longer ‘foreigners’ we have been welcomed in, by the costly love of Christ. We are invited and welcomed, given a place at table.  There is no doubt that the Bible with its many stories of refugees is relevant. It is also deeply challenging.

                Of course for many of us our options to help refugees are limited. We don’t all have a property which we can offer to the local council, or indeed the capacity to foster a child or young person. We can of course all pray, we can cry out for an end to this senseless human suffering. We can also petition government and most of us can give towards agencies and groups who are seeking to bring relief either here in Europe or indeed around the area of Syria. [On 27^th Sept we will open a donations box at Zion… towards this relief.] Even were we able to offer a house, foster a child, pray, petition and give generously, the depth of the suffering means that this could never be enough.  Although this particular tragedy is very much ‘man-made’ we need to pray for a real sea change to bring it to an end. Tragedies like this must eventually open the eyes of leaders and assailants to search for new ways to live, pursuing peace, reconciliation, acknowledging our common humanity.  I believe this realisation is also an opportunity. We may not be ‘great leaders’ but we can in our own small ways begin this process.  It is a chastening fact that some or indeed many of those who have travelled to Syria or Iraq to wage war have done so in part because here in the UK they did not have their common humanity affirmed nor did those who were different to them seek reconciliation.  I have experienced this alienation and separation even in little Frampton Cotterell over the last few days.  We have skateboarders ‘colonising’ Zion’s car park! It is very easy to alienate them, to see them as different to us, indeed to feel threatened. We might want to affirm that they are in “OUR” car park. I have sought a gentler path. In my view Zion’s land is God’s land. I am not exactly welcoming them with open arms… there are issues, bad language, litter and indeed the matter of safety. However these young people are, like me made in God’s image. If I wish them to respect me and our property, I have to respect them.  I must also remember that they are capable of great goodness. One of them, Harry, came upon an elderly member of our congregation who had fallen at the roadside. Like a regular Good Samaritan, he helped him up and back to his car: (another example of the bible being relevant today.)  I met Harry later that afternoon in our car park whilst I was chastising another boy for making a mess. I was able to thank him and give him some fair trade chocolates.  We are able to be the beginning of the end of this refugee crisis. We begin this ending of fear, and separation and alienation when we learn to treat those around us, whether alike us or very different, as our sisters and brothers, made in the image of God.  Let’s spur one another on to do just this, to treat others as we would love to be treated.

Stephen

A video which inspired some of my thoughts this month can be found at:

http://www.stewardship.org.uk/blog/blog/post/384-krish-kandiah