A Day Off

As I'm a probationer, the Methodist Church has ordained that I have a Sunday off after Christmas - even if I don't want it. So we decided to visit some very good friends in Hexham. After some careful consideration we worshipped this morning in Hexham Abbey. The building was fabulous; very old with a long history of abbey-style worship.

There was much that caught my attention, but Hazel pointed out the opening pages in the hymn book, 'Hymns Ancient and Modern'. It said, Military similies and triumpahalism have been taken out. All too often texts advocating spiritual warfare are used to justify the self-seeking ambition behind temporal conflict. Christian "triumph" is surely the triumph of love'. The Methodist hymn book will soon be subject to the same treatment.

This made me think of WWI and WWII and many other conflicts. Perhaps if we were under threat from an invading army about to do terrible things to our children and families we wouldn't be talking like this, but rather about fighting for freedom to proclaim the Christian message. Then I remembered a sermon (very rare indeed!) where the preacher suggested that if all the Christians prayed instead of fought, war might have been avoided.

But then I looked around the Abbey. There was a stained glass window devoted to the RAF and hung from the arches were battle banners and coats of arms bearing symbols of war adorned the walls. As I type, the news on the radio is telling of Israeli air strikes against Palestine.

Are Christians hypocritical? I think not, but we are confused about our faith and doctrine. We talk about love but in our hearts that love is drowned out by the drums of war. I'm not criticising anyone here, but reflecting on the Biblical themes which become - for want of a better word - fashionable. Sometimes being a pacifist is fashionable. At other times laying down one's life in war is what is desired. I don't think we are two-faced, just fail to understand who God really is and what he really wants from us.

A third Christmas thought - the main course!

There have been times when I have taken Christmas services when a thought has momentarily come into my head - do you ever have them? They come from nowhere and like an irritating wasp, hang around for a while before disappearing forever.

When we were singing the carols about the angels and reading the Christmas story, I thought, 'wasn't this a bit over-the-top - you know all these myriad angels singing and then Gabriel coming out of heaven to talk to sinful people?' Not only that, but the Magi turn up having travelled for who knows how long just to worship the baby and offer their gifts. We don't even know how long they stayed or how many there were, but they were influential people and it caused a bit of a stir with king Herod, so they must have been 'heavy weight' men of power. These players are in the story to make a point.

I think though, that the wise men, angels and heavenly host were minimal players in the story compared to Jesus. Just think of it - God comes to mankind in the form of a human, leaves heaven, loves everyone he meets, encounters everything that's not good head on, directly confronts the political system and its rulers and ends up dying for his enemies and so the course of the world is changed once and for all and everyone's life can be redeemed. Somehow, when thought of like that, the angels are an aperitif. Jesus really is the main course.

Another Christmas thought

As I settle down to being a minister (noun),I am discovering what it means to minister (verb). I have either taken or been part of so many services that I am sick of my own voice. Last Sunday, after my fourth service that day I didn't want to speak another word - ever. Which reminded me of Zechariah. Luke tells it so benignly, 'They realised he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak' (Lk 1:22). Why didn't Zechariah just write in the sand? (probably because there might be too many parallels with John 8). Well, whatever the reason he tried to tell those waiting outside, but how do you communicate that an angel from God has told you a miracle will happen and your old wife is going to fall pregnant but without any words? It struck me that although Jesus is the light of the world sometimes we still can only see gestures and certainly not the full story - a bit like a prophet playing charades with us but using a language we don't know. Even at this time of year with a clear message about salvation, we still need faith. There's no substitute.

Some Christmas thoughts...

As we approach Christmas, I'd like to post some thoughts about the Christmas story. Let me know what you think...

In the story that Luke tells us I was struck by a few things. The first was that we start with Zechariah and Elizabeth who, like their son, John the Baptist, are an introduction to Jesus. It occurred to me that when Zechariah goes into the Temple to meet God, everybody else is outside the Temple. And when Zechariah meets the Angel of the Lord, something very special happens; in fact it's the beginning of the end. Here, the walls of the Temple start to come down. When the Angel meets Zechariah he is announcing that the separation of 'those out there from us in here' will very shortly end. The baby in the manger will leave open a gateway so that we no longer need special people to meet God for us, but we can meet him ourselves.

Hope

I was out with my cake-stealing dog this morning and it was very cold. We walked across the fields, said hello to some other dog-walkers and enjoyed the fresh morning. Unusually, I didn't sink up to my knees in the mud. The earth was frozen solid and the grass was white with a very hard frost.

Despite the cold weather and the economic gloom, Christmas still seems to invoke a feel-good emotion for most of us. I don't know what it is about that Christmas feeling, but it always asks us to imagine something better than we've currently got. It asks us to think of a time when circumstances could be better and suddenly we are dreaming about snow on the ground and happy families; grandads laughing with the kids and a large (perfectly cooked) turkey in the background.

Christmas seems to invoke the spirit of God who wants more for his children - not more money or things, but a better way of life coming out of a relationship with the baby in the manger, then the man, Jesus. As if Godis saying in true story book style, 'Come in and know me better'.

As I was thinking about this, it started to snow big heavy flakes. I thought this might be a taste of things to come. That's what Christmas seems to be telling us: there is something more and we find that 'something' in the manger. Suddenly it doesn't have to be in the future, it can be right now. I love Christmas.