Nice to start the new year with a visit to Canterbury, to have some trips and great to see H and T. The Crab and Winkle Way was brilliant, and the buses back from Whitstable (along with others) frequent and reliable. Unfortunately Janet is trapped in the generation of women who, in a colossal moving of the goalposts, won’t get bus passes or state pensions until 66.
Think global, act local
Various people are credited with inventing this phrase, starting with R Buckminster Fuller in the 1950s, in the form “think globally, act locally”.
The Lectionary passages for this Sunday coming remind me of that phrase.
Starting with Isaiah, first question, who is this stuff about God’s ‘servant’ about? It could be the people of God (Israel), their leader, about the prophet’s personal experience; for the Christian, it could be about Jesus. For me, though, it kind of doesn’t matter, because it tells us about the characteristic way God’s servant operates. And yes, for me that is Jesus, but also anyone who seeks to serve God, and also the churches themselves. The servant’s style is gentle, the antithesis of bullying … “42:2,3 He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” But, the servant is determined …“42:4 He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.” And despite God’s servant’s apparent meekness, the scope of her ambition is global … “42:1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” But I have to watch out here, because I find that the more I talk about justice, the less I do it. Maybe we have to survey what we can do where we are.
And in the Acts of the Apostles, we also see the global ambition of God’s love … “10:34,35 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” If you read the earlier part of that chapter, you discover that Peter had to change his mind before he was able to say this. He had only just discovered that the story of Jesus was for all the nations. So yes, it’s no bad thing to change one’s mind sometimes.
Read in Matthew’s gospel, and you see that Jesus submits to baptism. Once again, the un-bullying style is in evidence. John the Baptist was unwilling to do the deed at first, and Jesus could’ve surfed on John’s worship of him. But no, he went under the water to be baptised just like anybody else.