Tank or donkey?

What would your choice be: a tank (if you can afford the diesel) or a donkey? Both are available, and the former says “power” or potentially “destruction” all over it, whilst the latter is largely harmless, and is so counter to our modern culture that it's highly likely to be mocked and screamed at from across our streets.

Inevitably, our thoughts right now are full of worry, apprehension and concern about the war taking place in the Middle East, and within Iran. This week hopes have been raised when POTUS stated that peace talks had in fact been initiated and in his own hapless way expressed the hope that they lead to something otherwise, “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.” Seemingly a choice between the way of aggression and domination, and the way of peace. The former is about power, and the latter seemingly worthy of mockery.

We are presented with two choices in the biblical account of Easter, which is so up to date for our struggles, challenges and choices for our lives today. In the days before the Passover supper, arrest of Jesus, his stitched up trial and crucifixion, Judas hopes that Jesus will arrive in Jerusalem in power and authority (assuming legions of Angels) and deal with the Romans and their abusive military power and dominance. Jesus confounds Judas’ hopes by arriving on a donkey instead, thus showing a very different kind of Kingdom which has nothing to do with the abuse or display of human power.

Palm Sunday, Holy week, Good Friday, Easter Sunday provides us with a distinctly different choice on how we live our lives. Not for Jesus, the way of the tank, but that of the peaceful donkey. As Pope Leo recently stated, “God does not go to war!”

I love this Methodist prayer: “Come to us as you came to Jerusalem, not wrapped in dominance, but clothed in humility. Teach us to recognise your presence in the ordinary, vulnerable and overlooked. Open our hearts to peace that confronts violence, to justice that repairs harm, our voices to praise that become action. Through Christ, who comes gently and truthfully, we pray.”

Is public prayer wrong? (the right wing object to public prayer)

In today's national papers there are articles about whether "Public Prayer is un-British"(Telegraph) and brought to prominence by an Islamic gathering for prayer in Trafalgar Square of 3000 Muslims. Lest you immediately conclude that this is something that is typical of the Telegraph (The CofE newspaper), then you'd need to read more widely and see it's been picked up across the board. Actually, look a bit more closely at today's papers and you will find a number of Islamic stories running today, and the sharp will realise that this is in all probability to do with Ramadam, which Muslims are engaged in at the moment.

The right wing traditionalists are up in horror at such a spectacle happening so publicly and are arguing that in a Christian country, such public worship and prayer shouldn't be happening, and should be confined to Mosques. They are seeking to put the blame for this event at the feet of the Mayor of London.

It's fascinating that my preparation for my Sunday preach (at YBC) is Acts 17: 16-34 where Paul visits Athens and in particular the Aereopagus and comments on the many stone idols they have, and the one to the unknown God. Interestingly, the best translation (RSV) of vs 16 isn't that he's angry, it's that he's provoked! It's worth noting that.

For sure we now live in a post-Christian country, and whilst the state church does its bit, it's hardly what you'd call prophetic or dynamic, but the UK is now very much like the Athenian supermarket of faith: there are numerous religious experiences, some mere stone monuments, others sincere, but what above all else is true, is that Christians no longer have a closed-shop on public prayer or worship. Why should we? The right wing are so behind the curve on this that it's a tad embarrassing.  And any argument that other faiths shouldn't be permitted somewhat stinks of hypocrisy. Christians will in just 2 weeks carry the cross through the streets and declare the death and resurrection of the one true Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ - Jesus is Lord, Christ is risen! The Gospel via the resurrection, stands on its own - fact! Paul in Athens doesn't tell the Greeks off for their stone monuments, he is provoked to passionate Gospel proclamation - "the one true God."

Then again, there is a sense here in which those who object are yet to catch up with power of the Gospel and how we should not be ashamed of it. Merely trying to object to JWs or New Age shops in the High Street seems archaic, unless you are arguing about how it reflects on the Christians of the town. Don't get me started about the embarrassing actions of anti-Harry-Potter-ites from 25 years ago either (feel free to google that one)! I'm more likely to object to the embarrassing Christian street preacher who makes me cringe and not want to be at all aligned with them - but that may just be me. Somehow even they seem not really Gospel-rooted, just noise!

So we should be careful to remember Paul when faced with the stone gods, doesn't tear them down, he merely is secure and passionate in the Gospel and the true God of the Scriptures.

Welcome to the brave missional opportunistic world!

When you run out of words

 Well, I can't speak for you, but at the moment, I've run out of words. 'Thank goodness', you say. 'At last, some peace and quiet!' What am I thinking about? The Iran war ofcourse. And again, I'll make no assumptions about your views, "Dearest Gentle Reader", but I am aghast at how this could be happening, and how we now seem to be in world freefall. The only view I have is, I guess, one that essentially is a Christian one, which leans towards a "war is wrong" view. I wouldn't say I was a pacifist, but I hate the thought of war, and the wilful destruction of innocent lives and institutions that are bystanders to the abuse of political power by unstable, unqualified, out-of-control world leaders.

In my previous church, we had a weird moment where we were all invited to the local USAF military base, to the firing range, to try out some guns. The officer in charge was part of our church, and remains a friend, but I hated the feel of the gun in my hand and its potential for violence, and even when we had our son's paintball party, I struggled at the whole thought of hurting anyone.

18 months ago I wrote in the wbc church magazine that in my view, sadly, it seemed inevitable that globally we were headed for some kind of conflict. Well, conflict is what we have right now. There are arguments that attempt to justify the rightness of the war, to do with the threat of nuclear bombs, and I guess they need to be heard, but how we have ended up in this mess is beyond me. Even as I type, I have shaken my head in disbelief. War does not seem to be an answer, nor should it be an inevitability, and if this is all a cover for other American political issues, then I can only pray that sooner rather than later, the necessary accountability of the American voters, and the two representative Houses of Government will step in.

It's so difficult to pray about all of this. And when you read (as I do) the regular news feeds and live reports, one ends up feeling almost stunned into silence. But pray about it we must. The consequences and ramifications of all of this are so far reaching, and very scary indeed. Hanging on to the Lord in all of this is vital.

Thats enough of that for now!

Holy Week and Easter will soon be upon us, and I can't believe how fast time is moving. And herein lies some important foundations. Stopping and slowing down to truly reflect on the awfulness of Holy Week, and the awfulness of the victorious cross is necessary. In a world where our lives spin ever faster, we have no hope of fully understanding the depth of love of our Saviour, unless we stop and look at the cross ourselves. Then and only then can Easter Sunday and its joy be fully embraced.

Can I ask you to pray please about the two Easter school assemblies I have in a week's time? It's so difficult to communicate the death of Jesus to a secularised scholastic culture.

Finally, I crave your prayers, please. I wouldn't normally bother mentioning this, but I'm in pain, and I'm hating it. I don't know what's happening, but my right knee is agony at the moment, and I've had enough of it. At the start of the year it was my left leg, now it's my right one! It's affecting me in the daytime and I've no idea what's happening now to cause it, and I can't get a Doctor's appointment, as there are none. I'm sure your situation is worse than mine, but I'm a wimp when it comes to pain.

God bless you this Easter!

Pastor Sam