Forgiveness (2)

I have been thinking much recently about the death of Rev'd Ian Paisley a couple of weeks or so ago. Perhaps if the news of his death had not been eclipsed by the lead up to the independence referendum in Scotland more may have been made of it

Ian Paisley was a man who divided, and still divides opinion like few others (perhaps Margaret Thatcher?) especially in Northern Ireland.

When I heard of his death my mind went straight back to a trip to Northern Ireland in 1997 on behalf of theology faculty at Manchester University and training college where I was just finishing my ordination training.

The trip lasted around a week as I recall and was filled with remarkable experiences. I came away, having met politicians from all parties and peace groups with a perplexing set of memories of a political environment which to the outsider (I count myself as such) is almost impossible to fully understand. But at the heart of the "troubles" was not only a political divide, but also a religious one, and perhaps the largest of larger than life figures during the "troubles" was Ian Paisley. He is loved and despised in equal measure. I remember going round his church and staring at the glass windows showing stories from his life and being absolutely appalled at the arrogance of the man. That was certainly, if unfortunately true, but in the final 5 years of his time as a politician and practising minister, another Ian Paisley emerged.

In my experience, most people become more hard line and less tolerant as they grow older, but publicly at least, Ian Paisley was the opposite, reaching out in a way which due to his immense standing in his political and faith community only he could have.

In a quite staggering change of heart Ian embraced his former opponents in a way which was beguiling and effective. In a few short years the political situation became transformed.

I wrote last time about forgiveness - about asking "What would Jesus do?".

One of my memories of the trip includes a female colleague of mine innocently asking a member of the protestant faith community why they would not enter dialogue with Sinn Fein. The reply was another question - "Would Jesus have spoken to his enemies?". We looked at each other and the penny finally dropped with us. Yes, I think he did actually. I think that was the whole point of his ministry.

R.I.P Ian Paisley

Forgive? – What does that mean?

The lectionary readings for the coming Sunday are based around the idea of forgiveness. The gospel story is a strange one. The story is couched in extremes, done deliberately so in order to emphasise the main points. It is the story of the unforgiving servant…. The story goes: A man had many servants. The main servant owed his Master a huge amount of money (in our translations sometimes written as millions of pounds). Perhaps the servant was in our vocabulary an accountant? Who knows, the story does not go into detail. The Master asks for a statement of account, at which point the shortfall becomes obvious. The servant asks for forgiveness and the Master cancel his debt, the forgiven servant in a reversal of roles then refuses to offer the same charity to someone who owes him a much smaller amount. The purpose of the story is clear. We have ourselves been forgiven, but to be part of the narrative of the Kingdom of God, we must do the same – “freely you have received, freely give”.

 

But it’s not as simple as you may think.

 

This week saw the anniversary of 9/11 (I wonder if you can remember where you were when you heard? I was carry out a funeral visit to the family of a friend of mine who had committed suicide by setting fire to himself). It was on the anniversary that President Obama committed himself to the “destruction of Isis” (The self-proclaimed Islamic State).  I attended a clergy meeting the same day. One of my colleagues was suggesting that without the 9/11 attacks, there may well have been no invasion of Iraq, or Afghanistan, the Arab spring may well have been different and without the vacuum of power left, no Isis to roll across Syria and Iraq carrying out horrendous cruelties as they move. So actions may have profound consequences beyond our ken.

 

What would the Christian response be to this? What was the response to the rise of Nazism? To ignore and turn the other cheek? Forgiveness requires one (at least) of the parties to acknowledge that a wrong has been committed, and attempts to make things right . The problem with our world at the moment is that no-one is prepared to acknowledge any wrong, only to assert their own rights, often in the name of religion.

 

Around the world Christians wear bracelets with the letters WWJD? Written on them. It is a reminder to us all when faced with any dilemma to ask the question – If He were here, What Would Jesus Do”?  

 

Its one thing to ask the question, but yet another I would suggest to carry the answer through.

 

Take Care

 

Alan

Things come back...........

My mother (OUR mother, sorry, my sister Barbara and I) passed away last summer, a little over a year ago. For over 4 years prior to this she had been struggling with a particularly cruel form of vascular dementia which slowly robbed her of her memories, her recognition of others and finally of her very self.

She was nevertheless a real woman of faith (if not sometimes a little peculiar) and had been a real pillar in my life for as long as I can recall. During one of the most troubling periods - approx. 4 years ago, she fell and broke her hip, complications ensued and she ended up having barrier nursing in hospital for 6 months with  C Difficile. It was a horrible time , and now thankfully, a receding memory.

Her generation have seen more change I suspect in this world than any other.

Whilst in hospital, the wedding ring she always wore - originally belonging to my grandmother went missing. On top of the trauma of Mum being in such a pitiful state, it seemed like the final straw. Of course we contacted and complained to the hospital but with seemingly no result.

Moving the  story on four years, another elderly relative ( this time from Ireland) was taken ill whilst staying with my sister Barbara and her husband Will and ended up seeking emergency care from Social Services  He was rushed into one of the several care homes Mum had previously been in. As Will went into the home, a member of staff saw him, recognised him and said "I think we have your Mother - in -  laws wedding ring in the safe". 4 years ago, the hospital it seems, had found it after all and simply forwarded it to the last address they had for her - one of the care homes. 4 years on, the ring came home, a lost treasure.

The Bible speaks much of treasure, lost and found. It speaks of people being lost and found, the sure principle is that none of us are truly lost, we are all known to God and never so far away that He cannot hear us.

Take Care
Alan

Machine code?

Karen and I have been away on holiday recently. We spent a fascinating time on Orkney crawling in and out of the various Neolithic mounds which pepper the islands and everyone was very welcoming.

Though we didn't intend to, we visited two very different churches on adjacent Sundays, firstly at St Magnus's Cathedral in Kirkwall and yesterday when visiting relatives I called in to a local United Reformed Church in Malvern.

It was this last visit which has made me think. The URC was much less grand than St Magnus's, nevertheless, the speaker made me stop and think in ways I have never done before. The basic reading was a fairly well trodden one - whether we have the self esteem or not to view ourselves as the offspring of a creator God. It is a very often visited theme for me (since I have church members with a puzzling low sense of self worth), but what I heard made me sit up and take notice....

(She said)....  "Most people in church do not see themselves as children, but as machines. It is clear from the language we revert to instinctively, it is the language of industrialisation." (She said) In all my years in the church, I have never been invited to the birthing of a dream but only to the launching of projects

We speak of getting "geared up" ...................

of things "running down" ........................

of "oiling the wheels".......................

of things running like a "well oiled machine"..............

She said that she was once referred to (by a Bishop) as being "a cog in the church machine"

The implications are astounding.

The New Testament has a very different picture, instead of being part of a machine, we are described as being a part of a body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you" etc

......................  "You are the body of Christ, and individually members of it"

The teaching is one of a body. We have a saying - "do not cut off your nose to spite your face" have you heard it. It says that whether we like each other or not, we belong together, Jesus' teaching in John chapter 17, praying that his people would be one illustrate this perfectly. We are not machines, we are flesh and blood, when one hurts we all hurt, when one bleeds we all bleed. When one feels good and has something to celebrate - the birth of a child, a wedding anniversary, a fresh enlightenment, we should all rejoice.

I don't know about you but the older I get the more battered my body feels. I can't abuse it as I did when I was younger, I take longer to recover and I feel the aches and pains more, and that is the same with us all, we ache , we hurt, we may not like each other, but we do belong together.

Being honest...... and saying sorry

Like lots of sports fans I have two conflicting images from recent weeks.

I freely admit that I couldn't quite believe it when Luis Suarez "allegedly" bit yet another member of the opposition after a horror strewn yet quite brilliant couple of years, and yesterday I was really touched and felt the hurt of Mark Cavendish when he had that terrible accident in the lovely Yorkshire Dales stage of the Tour de France.

What struck me about both events was the way the two individuals reacted to them. The mealy mouthed half breathed apology from Luis Suarez, days after insisting that he "fell" into Giorgio Chiellini leaves a bad taste behind. Here is someone, unable to admit to anyone, perhaps even himself that he has caused injury to others. He may be a fine footballer, but as a human being....  I am not sure that he holds the same high standard.

Mark Cavendish almost immediately afterwards - whilst dealing with the pain of a dislocated shoulder and ligament damage said straight away... "It was my fault, I take full responsibility and shall be apologising to the other riders".

Saying sorry, being honest about the kind of people we are and the hurt we cause others is fundamental to the Christian faith and living fruitful, honest congruent lives.

Today's passage from the New Testament speaks of Jesus saying that the "yoke" or load which he offers is easier than the one you bear already. Why? Because His yoke has at the centre of it, a message of offering forgiveness and seeking repentance.  Of saying "sorry" and being prepared to offer the same to others - freely give, freely receive.

I just want to challenge you this week to be aware of every slight, every hurt you either cause or receive, and then consciously offer, or ask for forgiveness.

I do not wish to comment on Elton John's fine song, sorry may be the hardest word, but it is also the first step towards healing.

Take Care

Alan

Manchester Metropolitan Church

Last Sunday, pastor Andy Braunston and I in effect did a swap. Andy spoke at Bramhall in the morning and Karen and I went to Wilbrham St Ninians' in the afternoon to the Manchester Metropolitan church where Andy has been pastor for around 20 years.

Manchester Metropolitan Church (according to the website) is the only LGTB church in the area (stands for Lesbian Gay Trans and Bi sexual).

I just wanted to say what an incredibly inclusive and caring community has been built there. What is it like to be in place where everyone has at some point been ostracised? Well it could have been very defensive, talking about rights and so forth, but the reverse was true. A very welcoming and accepting community. It was also - and this threw me a little, multi linguistic. Andy has a group of French speaking asylum seekers in his congregation so when the reading was in English, and on the screen in French, I was a little unprepared!

But in many ways it was like what church used to be like - one minister to one church, a medium sized congregation where everyone knew each other and seemed really concerned for the support each could give and receive. That, I would suggest is pretty much the ideal self supporting faith community. Respecting each other's space and individuality but offering support if it was needed.

The congregation was also a good deal younger than most!

So I just wanted to give you a thumbs up Andy

Best wishes

Alan

Pentecost Sunday .............So how did the Holy Spirit change sex?

Of course, On one level it is nonsense talk about God having a particular gender. God is after all, so The Bible tells us, spirit - ("and those who worship HIM must do so likewise"). But we all live in a world where gender is an issue which literally divides the world. Weekly we hear of appalling atrocities happening in Asia and Africa where war is waged on helpless and innocent young women.
So the necessity to talk in sexualised language is our fault, not God's.

But we think in gender terms. Our whole vocabulary splits into "he" and "she", and when we talk about God not having a gender, the sad result (as the reference above shows) is that God becomes male.

But it was not always this way.

In the very start of the Hebrew Bible, and consistently though it, the proper noun given to the Holy Spirit is female (see Proverbs 8). The imagery of creation is quite clear - it is that of procreation - a male God and a female Spirit bringing forth life in the universe. Even the earliest name for God implies that God and "being" are the same thing, and in the way that we understand life......... it takes two to tango.

In fact, the earliest believers gave her a name, they called her "Sophia" (as in the "Hagia Sophia" in Istanbul which means "church of the Holy Spirit").

Gradually though, as we move from the two gender language of Hebrew (where the Spirit is female) to Greek,(three genders), the Holy Spirit become neutral, and when we translate that into good old no nonsense English, neutral, of course becomes male. So we start off, on Pentecost Sunday by apologising (confessing) to God for the awful mix up in passport control which has seen Ms God become Mr...

This is not new and controversial, it is very old, and very secure.

As a world and human race we all need that spark of life in our lives which She brings. That sense of hope, of being able to see possibilities where we thought none existed. That is who She is, it is what She does, and She loves to do it still, So fling off the male pretentiousness on this day of all days and let Her bring light and life into your world this day.

I spoke previously about a great influence on my life - the Narnia stories. Aslan (male I am afraid) creates life by breathing onto things and it reminds us on this day of days that the people who wrote these texts so long ago made no distinction between breath and the Holy Spirit, It is the same word. She is the same thing and creation comes where she goes.

Have a good Pentecost Sunday, especially if your name is Sophia.... or Sophie!

Rev'd Alan Poolton