Bob Warwicker's blog

Identity seems to be a theme in this Sunday’s readings.

The Jeremiah reading, about a people in exile in a foreign land (who have lost most of what makes them them), suggests that while there’s life, there’s hope.

In the Luke reading, the story of the people who were healed from a skin disease, it’s the Samaritan, the outsider, who has thanked Jesus for what he has done for him: the others didn’t. Jesus is offering people a new home, a new identity, the Kingdom of God.

The writer of 2 Timothy is holding up Christ as the centre of the Christian’s identity.

FWIW it feels to me as if my identity as one of a people is breaking up, dissolving. The UK has always sat uncomfortably between the US and Europe in many ways. ISTR that things like economic equality and life expectancy here aren’t quite as good as most of the rest of Europe, and not quite as bad as the US. Now we have chosen which way to go, it doesn’t cheer me a great deal. But I have another focus for my identity: in Christ.

Great visit to Coventry earlier this week, in which we met up with a friend. Yesterday there was this Tree Of The Day…

…today is gloomy, though. I just thought you’d like to know.

Here’s one of next Sunday’s lectionary readings…

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

“1:1 The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
1:3 Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
1:4 So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous– therefore judgement comes forth perverted.
2:1 I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.
2:3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
2:4 Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.”

It’s a terrifying vision of a nation that has forgotten justice. “The wicked surround the righteous”. Everything the prophet sees is wrong-doing and trouble. But later on we read that “there is still a vision”. Actually the vision must’ve already been there in chapter one, because the prophet could recognise wrongdoing when it was visible. There was a TV programme about the rise of Hitler a few days ago – and the idea of a world controlled by no other principle but the will to power scares me.

I want to say now before I forget, that poor people and excluded people still matter, treating one another right still matters, powerless people still matter, minorities still matter, and that hurting majority among us who are women still matter. Christ among us still matters. And to that end, we should maybe be thinking more of Christ beyond us and his claim upon our lives.

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Something that happens sometimes, when you’re walking from one end of the country to the other, is that you get part of the way and your confidence drains away … “I don’t think I can do it”, you say to yourself. It happens to football teams as well – what had previously been an energetic, dynamic team finds all its terrier-like qualities have vanished. The advice to Timothy is “don’t give up on this”. Encouragement is really important – actually I believe we all need it.

Prayer

Pray through the news headlines… (at this time, the Conservative Conference, flooding including the Isle of Man, Hong Kong, negotiations about a Brexit deal, dangers to the Northern Ireland peace process…)

Living God, help us to recognise in our world
the need for justice,
and the way of Christ.
Strengthen us to live by our faith.

It’s been wet, it’s been misty…

…but today has been sunny and beautiful.

We went to Manchester yesterday, to see a brief history of bus regulation in Greater Manchester, spiced up with music and roller-skaters. Wacky, fun and no doubt would have had some people frothing at the mouth (though not us).

Also on our day out in the rain (BTW it doesn’t rain in Manchester any more than it does in other west-side cities) – also on our day out in the rain, we visited this memorial to some peaceful campaigners for democracy who were killed at St Peters Field 200 years ago…

…note that it was out of bounds because the police were protecting our fragile democracy. Much as I dislike what the people on the other side of the fence (or ‘chasm’?, Luke 16:26) will say, they have every right to say it without any threat to their lives. It does remind me of the instability of liberal democracy, though. If we allow all voices to be heard, some of those voices will be the voices of destruction and violence and will seek to destroy that very freedom which allows them to speak. When the Daily Mail of times past screamed, “Hurrah for the Blackshirts!”, should anyone have stopped them?

Also, I used the word ‘campaigners’ above. That is a war metaphor every bit as much as the ones more familiar to us over the last few days. “People who live in glass houses…”

All in all though, it was good to be in Manchester, and I’m proud to be connected with such a place.

Prayer

God save this nation, we pray.
Allow us to decide our future
without fear,
with respect,
by speaking and listening,
by hearing the disenfranchised,
the inarticulate,
the poor, the downhearted;
by giving voice to the voiceless.
May we who are Christians make our contribution
by being Christ to others,
and knowing him in others.

Odds

The Gospel reading for tomorrow is this…

Luke 16:19-31
16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
16:20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
16:21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
16:22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
16:23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.
16:24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’
16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.
16:26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’
16:27 He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house–
16:28 for I have five brothers–that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’
16:29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’
16:30 He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
16:31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'”

It looks like there’s a divide between rich and poor, and according to Jesus, you would not want to be on the rich side of this divide, not in the kingdom of God.

I leave it to the reader to judge whether this divide in the UK is set to get deeper or not. I leave it to the reader to decide whether it makes any difference that reports say a group of rich people stand to gain stonking amounts from bets they’ve made on an economic disaster.

Ends

It was good to support Janet as she accompanied a friend on part of the St Cuthbert Way.

I discovered yesterday that, when it’s about matters of the heart, ‘ectopic’ can mean ‘out of place, timewise’, rather than spacewise.

I’m trying to remember something my parents used to say about us Brits learning fair play ‘on the playing fields of Eton’. It seems the school has gone a bit crappy since then.

Prayer

Living God,
in a time of pain and despair,
a time of fear needlessly inflicted,
God forgive us.
Help us to learn to sing
the song of hope again.
Show us the face of Jesus
who suffered because of us,
and gave hope to the world.
Forgive us, we pray.
Show us a better way.
Help us to believe again
that you are really alive in this land.

I took a walk after church, and the cutting I passed through was filled with beautiful autumnal smells. The wind was slack after the rain, the air was warm and moist. It was a lovely, kindly, enveloping atmosphere.

I thank God for the sense of smell: it is a delight; and an alarm system, equally effective against fire and dog dirt. Not everyone is blessed with this sense, and its lack is not so obvious as the lack of sight or hearing. It can be quite serious: in the days when I had a proper job there was a story went the rounds about an anosmic instrument engineer who was concentrating hard on his work, completely oblivious to the burning cabinet behind him until a passer-by drew his attention to it.

Apologies for the gap – I keep getting distracted by things; like modifying the GIMP script which removes regular patterns from the surface of images; like putting stuff in the loft; like going for walks, etc..

Sunday’s readings

These are here…

It’s weird, but a lot of the stuff said two thousand years or more ago reminds me of Britain, or more accurately, England.

“8:21 For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.” (from the Jeremiah reading)… We are in a mess, we are a divided nation, and getting more so – isn’t anyone bothered by this?

The first of the Psalms is a similar misery-fest. “79:8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.” It feels as if the people’s fortunes are not in their own hands – the Psalmist reckons the hurt was done in an earlier generation, and the people are powerless to change anything. We English have a troubled relationship with our history, seeing it perhaps in the opposite way, as much better than it really is: this is the politics of a football supporter at large in Charleroi. But, God calls us to live now in the way that is right.

And Amos tells us what is right – well actually by telling us what is wrong – “8:4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, 8:5 saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practise deceit with false balances, 8:6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”” It seems that the worst condemnation of what people are doing is its effect on those who are poor: this is what matters to God. But just like in Jeremiah, there’s this despairing note that the consequences last for generations: “8:7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” It goes without saying that the consequences of the decisions we take now will last for generations.

The second of the Psalms asserts that God’s in charge. This has to be good news – at least in some place, in some time, this has to be good news, even if it’s not apparent here and now – because the reality is that a lot of people are bastards, and quite often the bastards win…. Or is it good news that God’s in charge? Not for everyone maybe…“113:7 He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap, 113:8 to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.” Is that really what you want to hear?

There’s a lot to think about in the first letter to Timothy, but what caught my eye was the last verse of this passage, “2:7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” The writer (claiming to be Paul) says “I am telling the truth” – well, he would [say that], wouldn’t he? (to quote Mandy Rice-Davies). But why does he (probably he) find it necessary? And why does he find it necessary to say it twice? It’s a sad truth of our connected age that the more often something is said, the more it’s believed, regardless of the evidence.

By the time we get to Luke’s Gospel, I’m longing for some Good News. And there is some to be found, but not necessarily in the place I looked first. This is the parable of the End of Austerity. The dishonest manager, knowing that his time is running out, decides to make some friends by giving away his boss’s wealth. It’s bonus time for the debtors, it’s good for the dishonest manager – it’s a win-win situation – except for his boss that is. We look at the parables and say “where is God in this?”, etc.. But maybe that isn’t really the point here. Maybe the point is that Jesus knew that the world had plenty of liars and cheats; and still he taught love and forgiveness and hope. There really can be good news. There really is a kingdom of God, even if people join it out of self-interest. The ending seems to me a bit of a non-sequitur, especially the last verse, “16:13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” I think I’ve known that verse since childhood, and even taken it to heart. But I’m still working out what it really means!

Wandered around Rochdale today, while waiting for the car to be serviced. I think it must be the first time I’ve been in the centre for many decades. They certainly weren’t bashful about Town Halls in this area…

Yesterday I went with Janet on a section of ‘joining-up’ between our house and Janet’s LEJOG route. The signs of earlier high water were visible along the Mersey…

On Thursday I had done another section of joining up, through Stockport, enjoying lunch at Porky’s cafe. We walked past the place where the electricity grid goes underground…

The Lectionary…

The texts can be found on the Vanderbilt University website.

The Jeremiah reading is a bit unsettling. God the potter seems as flexible as the clay, willing to change a plan in response to how things are with his people. Well, is God unchanging or not? I guess you can change a plan without changing your character. It does stir up the questions over what is the point of praying – can we change God’s mind, or is praying for our faith’s sake alone? Maybe these are false dichotomies, if God is unfathomable. I would like to believe, though, and I do believe that God is forgiving, and we are not excluded from God’s love, however we behave, if God’s love is what we choose. However, our flaws may mean the ways in which we God works with us could need adapting. I do find the idea that God has an iron plan sterile, if comforting. God can do new stuff.

The Luke reading is more than a bit unsettling. It sometimes feels as if churches are a long way from being filled with disciples of Jesus, willing to give up everything for him. Churches have become places of comfort and security*. And now I am retired, maybe I too am prone to seek comfort in a church.

God give us, we pray,
the desire to go out,
rather than come in,
to seek the company of people unlike us,
to discover the good news of Jesus
away from the polished crosses
of church

*…not for everyone, of course. There are bullies and abusers in every denomination.

Went to a brilliant service last Sunday, in a “local church for local people” (thank you League of Gentlemen for putting our town on the map), led by a local preacher. Still couldn’t stop my head rushing off on tangents though.
Five really good hymns, including “We cannot measure how you heal…” by John Bell and Graham Maule sung to the right tune (ye Banks and Braes), which is unaccountably missing from the URC hymnbook. I find it so easy to sing (except for a couple of lines where I had to stop because I was about to well up). You Methodists can sure recognise a good tune!

A quick look at this Sunday’s readings – the proverb “25:6,7 Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” and the Luke reading stood out at me…

Luke 14:1, 7-14
“14:1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
14:7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable.
14:8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host;
14:9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.
14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
14:11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
14:12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.
14:13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14:14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.””

This is challenging, but basic. However, it takes on layers of complexity when you start talking about corporate behaviour rather than individual behaviour. What if you’re hearing these words as a woman, one of the half of the human race which is over-represented among “the poor” (verse 13)? … Considering where Jesus was when he said these words, it seems not very likely that poor people were among his audience. What if you are representing a nation that has cut itself off from its usual means of support and suddenly needs any friends it can get? Which voices within that nation need to be heard? Who are “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind”? Not urban liberals like me. Who are our friends? Sometimes, it seems, people we wouldn’t naturally choose.

Hum. Anyway, at the end of that passage is another example of the Kingdom of God being where we sow where we do not reap and reap where we have not sowed.

The reorganising here is slow, monotonous 🙁 , monotonic 🙂 .

God help me to be humble,
but not so self-effacing that I forget
your passion for
“the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”

As I was listening to a (good) sermon on Hebrews on Sunday, I got distracted, like I do. I fastened on to a tiny fragment of Hebrews 11:33, “…who through faith … shut the mouths of lions.” There’s a lot of lions about these days, powerful people whose mouths are open to speak hatred and destruction, who seek to harm poor people, oppressed people, ‘foreign’ people. May the prophets of our generation (you and I??) have the faith to say the words that will deflate the hate. It seems to me that one of the effects of social media is to keep people in touch only with those who are similar to them. The so-called urban liberal elite share plenty of jokes about Trump’s hair, but that’s a waste of time, and does not answer the real concerns of those who are not members of the in-group.

Also, from Sunday’s lectionary…

Jeremiah 1:4-10
1:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 1:6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 1:7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. 1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.” 1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. 1:10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

…again, faith makes the difference. I still struggle to believe this sometimes, but it seems that faith really can change us from quivering blobs of jelly into prophets.

God, give us faith…
Give us more faith,
faith to open our mouths,
faith to speak of what we know,
to discover what we do not yet know,
to believe that the world can be better.

Another picture from LEJOG. This is in Caithness…

Also, less than a day’s walk* from here 200 years ago, unarmed campaigners for democracy were attacked by the army, in the ‘Peterloo Massacre’. This was beyond tragedy: it was an outrage.

*Many of the demonstrators travelled on foot to Manchester from the outlying towns.