Losers for Christ

I won't bore you with all the details of my sermon this morning. Suffice it to say that it was on 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 where St Paul says that God's grace is made perfect in weakness and that God's grace is sufficient for him. If you are so disposed, you can hear the sermon online on the Christ Church website thanks to the good efforts of Samuel who looks after these things for us.

This has always been a favourite passage of mine. I remember when I was 17, walking home late at night going through moments of late teenage angst. This passage not only came to mind, but became from that point forward a text that has been with me all my life. I used to have a picture on my bedroom wall with it written across: 'My grace is sufficient for thee.' I still used the Authorized Version in those days!

Anyway, my sermon this morning, which could never hope to do justice to what St Paul writes, simply stressed that relying on anything other than God's grace was a recipe for disaster and that riches, power, prestige and position were illusory and unreliable. I think, as a matter of pure fact, that this is what St Paul says, irrespective of whether you agree with him or not!

I was hoping to offer some hope to members of my Church, who, I know, are dying and/or who are going through great distress at the present time. God may not always take our 'thorns in the flesh' away, but he does give us his grace to cope - or so I believe.

I had expected people to say either 'that's not my experience', or 'how do I experience this?' What caught me somewhat off-guard was the reaction of a long-standing member of my Church and a very committed one at that. This person said, and I am trying to quote as accurately as I can:

'You are only saying this because you are a failure and don't earn a lot of money. You can't do any other job other than this poorly paid one and are just jealous of those who have done better than you. You are trying to justify your failure and make yourself feel better using theological language.'

Now I have to confess that I was tempted to immediately engage in self-justification. As it happens, all I have ever wanted to do and be is a priest. But, thank God, I managed to control myself. For whether true or not, and God alone knows what my motivations are, this is how many think, even those in the Church. When we as preachers argue for a different way to the way of society around us, they just don't think we mean it and are sincere.

While, doubtless, I will get over it, I have to admit to being more than a little hurt.

St Paul's words, and, indeed, those of our Lord's himself, just sound like idealistic nonsense to most people - Christians included. And those of us who try to honour them are seen as just losers.

I am challenged, saddened, and very disturbed. But I hope and pray that, whatever else, I really do believe what I said this morning. I am convinced that this is at the heart of the Gospel. We preach Christ crucified. Still, it seems, a stumbling-block.

No matter how great the temptation to doubt oneself may be.

Wet and Weeping

One of the projects that we have started here at Christ Church recently is the renovation and reordering of the building to the side of the Church in order to create a multi-function space for different groups to use. Today the builders were going to start work on laying new drains. Needless to say, today turns out to be one of the wettest so far this rainy season. It is really very wet!

I am hoping that the rain will go off soon - not for the builders, but because we have a funeral in Church this afternoon of a long-standing church member who, sadly, died a few days ago of cancer. I am sure other priests and pastors will know what I mean when I say how hard it is to take the funeral of someone you knew reasonably well.

As priests and pastors, we often get asked to take funerals of people we never or only barely knew. I would like to think that we do so with sensitivity and sympathy, but when you knew the person and are yourself part of the grieving community, it is always that much harder. I have always made it a rule not to take the funeral of close family. This rule was pushed to the limit in my previous parish when there was a time when I was regularly taking the funeral of parishioners who had become good friends.

It is a reminder that important though things like building work are in a Church, the real work of ministry is to 'rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep'. Regular readers of this blog will know that I regard death as always an occasion for weeping, even though as Christians we look forward to the day when God will wipe all tears from our eyes.

Until then, he entrusts us with the task of wiping each others eyes for him.

Lies, **** lies and road death

After all that has gone on this term. I am really looking forward to having a break in a few weeks time and, in particular, to going back to the UK with my family to see my family - if you see what I mean. This will involve me driving greater distances than I have since last time I was back - shoulder rehabilitation permitting.

I was, then, very interested to see a report on the BBC web-site telling us that road deaths in the UK are at their lowest since 1926. This is the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8118341.stm

This seemed very counter-intuitive to me. I find UK roads terrifying.

But then, I am one of those who wishes that the internal combustion engine had never been invented and who regards the car as the creation of the Devil. I find it hard to think of any argument in its favour.

Incredibly, in London, traffic moved at the same speed in Victorian England, if you rode a horse, as it does now, if you drive a Ferrari. This may expalin why everyone goes speed mad on the motorways when they are not blocked by road-works or accidents. But I digress.

How, then, to explain the corrspondence in deaths between 1926 and 2008. I think the answer lies in another statistic. The number of people both killed or seriously injured in 2008 was 28,567.

In other words, it is not that accidents don't happen, it is just that we are better now at keeping people alive afterwards. Headline statistics like this feed what we want to believe. As car addicts, we want to be told that cars are safe, even though they are not.

The one good thing to come out of the present world-wide recession is that car purchase is declining. Sadly, I don't think it will be long before we take up our addiction again. We haven't got off the trip, we just lack the money at the moment to finance it.

I also noticed the other day in the news that India is planning a big expansion of its road network. Ironic, as another item in the news was that train operators in the UK want to expand the railway network. Perhaps the two countires should talk to one another.

Especially since the UK gave India its railways and India is now buying up the UK car industry.

Getting back to Normal?

It's been a long time since I blogged seriously. So in this blog, let me bring you up to date!

First of all, thank you to all who sent me good wishes after my accident. It needs to be said that I am aware that many people have a lot worse to deal with than a few broken bones! Nevertheless, it was very painful. The worst part was not getting any sleep for a few weeks because every time I moved, I got a serious amount of pain that kept waking me up! Trying to keep working after not sleeping for days on end was not easy. It helps you understand why unscrupulous regimes use sleep deprivation as a form of torture!

Thankfully, the shoulder fracture has largely healed and the pain mostly subsided. I am now undergoing physiotherapy to get the use of my shoulder back. There are a whole range of movements I still cannot do, but it is improving!

Secondly, life goes on, of course, and the biggest issue I have to deal with at the moment is swine flu. It was quite some time after the first outbreak in other countries that Hong Kong had its first local case. But it has spread rapidly since. Primary Schools and Kindergartens have been shut for two weeks and the government announced this week that they would remain closed now until September. This has affected all the end of term activities and it is particularly sad for those who have been rehearsing for end of year performances and the like.

My own doctor's practice wrote to its patients yesterday about the swine flu making a number of points:

1. It is very infectious.

2. The actual number of cases is likely to me much higher than those recorded because many doctors (themselves included) do not test for swine flu. They just treat the symptoms.

3. Following on from this, they don't think the flu itself is very serious.

This makes it very difficult for those like myself charged with making decisions about what we do and do not cancel. On the one hand, the government is urging us to be as careful and as vigilant as possible. On the other, we are being told that there is nothing much really to worry about.

What doesn't help is that after the schools closed all that has happened is that parents have started taking their kids to activities such as ice-skating at the local mall instead. If the kids are going to congregate in malls, they may as well be in school.

The problem is that every-one is worried about what would happen if people did become seriously ill or even died. Or to put it more honestly, who would be blamed. I received advice yesterday that even though the risk of anyone getting seriously ill at an event we were organizing was small, I should not go ahead with it because if anything did go wrong, the School was liable to be blamed and would not be covered by our insurance.

It is a difficult choice: to go ahead with an event that everyone wants, knowing that the same people would be the first to criticize if there was the spread of infection, or to cancel it and spoil everyone's fun.

My own point of view (in case anyone is interested) is to play safe. Given that all are agreed that the disease is very infectious, I think it is better not to take risks. While this present flu strain may turn out not to be serious in its threat to health, no-one quite knows for sure. We certainly don't know what may happen in the winter. So I am in favour of doing what we can to contain the spread of infection, but suspect that it may be too late!

I confess to being more than a little surprised that people I know who were panic-stricken during the SARS outbreak here a few years ago seem totally unconcerned about swine flu. I hope I am wrong, but I fear this particular illness may turn out to be more serious than some seem to think. But I am just a Vicar so what do I know?

I do know that I get very annoyed when people tell me that they are worried about taking communion in Church! Our policy, which I am sure is the same in most churches, is to allow people to decide for themselves whether they receive just the wafer at Communion, both the wafer and wine, or neither. I am convinced that there is no risk at all - just as well given that I, as the priest, consume what remains at the end of Communion.

But even if there was a high risk, doesn't it say something if we unprepared to take that risk? Either Communion is important or it is not. If it really is, as St Paul says, a 'participation in the body and blood of Christ', then surely the risk is worth it?

I hope it won't be as long before the next blog. Stay well!

Hooray!

I have now started physiotherapy, which means I have begun the road to recovery.  

It is very painful, though.  There is, however, some very positive news: I am so pleased that we have our Archbishop to preach tomorrow.  I have told you about him before.  He is one of the good guys!

As, indeed, is my colleague Eric who has supported me and helped me to focus over the past few weeks.  It has not been an easy time.

I will tell you all about it when the pain eases.

Have a good Sunday!

And thanks for keeping with me on this blog.

Thank You

Thank you to all who have prayed and thought about me over the past few weeks.

This has been a difficult time that I will tell you all about - eventually.  

I know that many of you have suffered much pain physically and spiritually in your lives, much more than me, but this has been the most physical pain I have experienced.  I have tried not to let it affect my work, but inevitably it does.  My congregation have been very forgiving of me not being at my best.

I hope to be more cheerful in the next post.

I am sorry to have gone off the radar recently!  On Maundy Thursday, I had a fall and landed awkwardly, badly breaking my shoulder and collar bones as well as getting somewhat bruised.  I managed to cope with the Easter services, but the recovery time is quite long and, in the meantime, I am in quite a bit of pain! There is little I can do except to be very careful I don't do anything to cause more damage than I have.

I hope I will get back to posting in the near future!

The past couple of weeks have been very intense with all sorts of important meetings not least my Church's AGM last Sunday.  The AGM is not that long, but getting ready for it takes ages! Thankfully it went smoothly with people in reasonably good heart. Last night was the last in my series on parables for our Lenten Studies.  We were looking at the Parable of the Pounds (Luke's equivlaent to the Parable of the Talents).  Now it's time to get ready for Easter!

Here is the last in my series of talks for the radio on Creation.

Creation Talk Five: Through Him and For Him   

In the UK, a little book called the Penny Catechism used to very popular amongst Roman Catholic Christians, in particular, for learning about the Christian faith.  It is so called because it used to cost a penny and teaches the faith by asking and then answering a series of questions.  It begins like this:

Who made you? 

God made me. 

Why did God make you? 

God made me to know him, love him and serve him in this world, and to be happy with him for ever in the next.   

In other words, we are not the chance product of a random process.  We are not accidental beings who live for a few years on this planet then merely to vanish without trace.  We are spiritual beings created for a purpose by a loving Creator.  We may exist for only a short time in this world, but there is a future for us beyond it.  It is the Bible’s contention that the biggest obstacle to that future lies in ourselves, in our rejection of the One who made us, and in our desire to go our own way.

This desire has led us to wage wars, to inflict harm on others, and to torture each other.  It has resulted in hatred, violence, cruelty, discrimination, selfishness, and all the many other acts of wickedness that we shut our minds to.  Evolution suggested to us that things could only get better; in fact, they only ever seem to get worse.   

In Christ, God offers us the chance to get back on track, to find him again and so rediscover our purpose both in this life and for the next.  Salvation makes it possible for the creation to achieve its original purpose.  But the question remains, why did the uncreated God who is beyond the creation, create.  What was his purpose?   

The answer the Bible gives is one that frequently gets overlooked even by Christians!  Christians rightly focus both on God’s supreme act of love in becoming one of us in the person of Christ and also on how through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, he both reveals himself and saves us.  From the very beginning, Christians realized that Christ was no ordinary man.  He was indeed fully human, but he was also divine.  Accordingly, they worshipped him as God.   

As they reflected on what this meant, however, they came to see that Christ’s earthly existence was only a part of the story.  They came to see that he was in fact in the beginning with God, God’s eternal Son who had always existed alongside God the Father in perfect love and harmony.  This recognition led them to formulate what we know as the doctrine of the Trinity: One God in three persons; three persons in One God.  It is for this reason that Christianity is rightly described as Trinitarian religion.   

From this, they drew the boldest of conclusions.  God the Father had brought the creation into being through the Son.  The Son was the agent of creation.  In the Gospel we read at Christmas it says: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.’    

Everything has been created through Christ.  As if this wasn’t enough, the early Christians went even further.  Everything had been created through him, but everything had also been created for him.  The creation was the Father’s gift to the Son.  Before anything came into being, God had determined that when it did, its purpose would be to produce people in his own image who would be part of the family of Christ.   

When everything went bang, the future was already clear.  The creation is not an accident, and nor are you and I.  We were created to know God in Christ and when we do, we discover our own purpose in existing.  At the same time, we become more fully and truly ourselves.  Without Christ we are missing out on becoming who, from the very beginning, we were meant to be.   

The world we live in me may as a result of human sin be less than perfect.  Human beings may fail and turn their back on God.  But God remains as committed to his creation and to his purpose in creating as he ever was.    

And Christ remains at the centre of all God’s plans for you and me.