Inspiration

Even if you don’t attend an Anglican Church you will surely have heard about the vote regarding Women Bishops on Tuesday. Maybe you might find yourself in a conversation about it or being asked ‘why doesn’t the Anglican Church allow Women Bishops?’ The answer is that it does! In principal anyway. It simply hasn’t yet been able to agree a formula for adequate supervision/provision for those (few) churches who don’t believe a woman should be a Bishop (nor a priest for that matter). It’s very difficult holding together people with such varying views in one church but that’s been our challenge and our sticking point. There is now a huge will to resolve this sooner rather than latter so here’s hoping. Meanwhile I blogged my thoughts the morning after the vote…

Yesterday the General Synod voted on the admission of women to the episcopate. I began the day much earlier than I’d hoped after a restless night, so it was in the early hours before dawn that I spent a lot of time wondering what the day would bring.

I knew there was a real possibility that the measure would not get passed and wondered how we would all be feeling at the end of the day.

Gutted.

Disappointed.

Undermined.

For the last 4 or 5 years more women than men have been ordained to the priesthood. This does not mean we are a majority, not even close, I don’t mean to mislead you. But without women stepping up to lead, the church would be ‘somewhat stretched’. Sadly almost two thirds of those ordained women serve the church in an unpaid capacity. I say ‘sadly’ not in anyway to (further) undermine or criticise the ministry of my sisters who serve God and their congregations so selflessly. But I can’t help be sad about what that statistic says about where the real power lies in the church of England.

To the rest of the world we look desperately out-dated. Even to ourselves we appear inconsistent because it had already been agreed that women do have the right to become Bishops, what was at issue was the protection of those who disagree.

So we have bent over backwards to love and accommodate a different ‘other’. Surely this has always been the Christian way? And that is the only shred of comfort I take from this situation.

We may well be misunderstood and it does appear ridiculous that 72% of Synod can support the measure but it still doesn’t get passed and this is a matter to be addressed in due course. (Pray for the new Archbishop).

But yesterday morning it was the words emblazoned in gold on the ruined cathedral that stands next to my diocesan cathedral in Coventry that gave me strength.

‘Father forgive’

Whenever we feel powerless, misunderstood, backed into a corner, undermined, abandoned or unappreciated we need to remember that Jesus felt all of those things. He didn’t even have the comfort of a few close friends who understood what he was doing and why he was doing it.

He didn’t get the chance to explain to his followers why he appeared to be letting them down (‘No, really this is for your own good!’) But he still found the courage to give his life anyway and to even to forgive those who hammered in the nails. And that is the power that remains to us when all other powers are taken away: we still have the choice to forgive.

We still have the choice to work lovingly even for those who appear to reject us.

Lord, give us the grace to follow in your footsteps and forgive,

bring healing to your church and may we be willing to be instruments of that healing. Amen?

P. S. There was, of course, the resurrection…

This is the third year in a row that John Lewis have spent more than £5million on an advert for Christmas. This year they have moved further away from subtley showing their own products and it takes a while to even work out who the advert is for. Not for them a glitzy party showing lots of pretty women in cocktail dresses. There are few people featured, it is all about two cute snowmen, or at least one dedicated snowman and his girlfriend! It was filmed in the July midwinter of New Zealand and features the snowman travelling across forests, rivers and mountains – all for love. I was reminded of the scary blinking angels from Doctor Who as you never actually see the snowman move, you just see that he has moved on…
Cynical commercialism? Too early to start talking about Christmas? A message that shopping and spending money solves all? Perhaps, but I love this little film and it is already a one million youtube hit wonder.
I am thinking of playing it to my youth or ladies group at the next talk on the power of love or maybe Jesus travelling across the universe for me. How could you use it?

http://youtu.be/0N8axp9nHNU

I was thinking recently about that well known passage in Acts 3 where Peter and John are on their way to worship at the temple only to be accosted at the entrance by a crippled man in need of help.

What this man wanted was not a religious formula or thought provoking meeting, but simply he wanted help for what had been his greatest need.
I thought about all the people who, like this beggar, struggle to see our services or hear our gospel because their need shouts louder. Until this man could see that this faith, this message, proclaimed by these apostles, could meet his disability, he wasn’t interested in it reaching his soul.

It is interesting to see just what Peter did not do in response to this beggars appeal. Peter did not begin to unpack the whole gospel message, taking the man through decades of prophetic witness and scriptural evidence. What they did do was address his need and apply everything they knew to everything this man truly cared about.

You’ve all heard of the graffiti message “Jesus is the Answer”, one time I heard that in one place someone had scribbled under it, “But what is the question?” I’ve often wondered which of the two are more revealing. I’ve been as guilty as the next person in answering all the questions my non-churched friends are not asking.

I, like Peter, have squatted down next to an equivalent beggar asking for silver and gold and explained the struggling economy, the inevitable consequence of cut-backs, and whether he knows that, despite this, Jesus could save his soul. It all sounds wonderfully correct, but it’s all just a long winded way of answering a question he’s not actually asking.
Peter’s answer on the other hand is quite insightful: “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you…” I love this. Peter could have lamented the fact that he didn’t have the relevant resource to help this man or even the correct knowledge to change his situation, but instead he used what he had.

If I am to make an impact on my community I must remember two key things.

First I must recognize that where I am is where God placed me. I’m not there by accident or default, neither am I there to simply carve out a successful and comfortable life for myself. Jesus said, “I am among you as one who serves” and such needs to become my own conviction and habit.

The second thing I need to remember if I am to make an impact on my community is that I have been given a unique set of skills. Impacting my community is not about trying to be what I’m not, or wishing I had more of this or less of that. But it’s about acknowledging what is in my hand, and then offering that to those around me with love, empathy, compassion and grace.

Have you ever thought of all the things Peter could have said but didn’t? He could have become quite arrogant and said, “Sorry sir, but I don’t actually believe in begging. People ought to work for what they get”. Or he could have taken a more diplomatic approach and said, “Sorry sir, but I don’t think I am qualified for this level of assistance, but I do know of a professional agency that might be of better help”. He could have chosen neither of these and become more introspective and said, “Sorry sir, but I’m not a great one with strangers, I find it very difficult to connect to new people, so I’m afraid I can’t really help you”.

It’s not that any of the above three are particularly wrong responses, they all have their context, but in the case of this beggar, they would all have been an adventure in missing the point. The man in Acts 3 wasn’t asking for Peter’s political persuasion or John’s social perspective. He wasn’t interested in cataloguing various agencies. And he especially wasn’t interested in hearing their confession of social awkwardness.
What he really needed, if I can put it bluntly, was for someone to actually give a rip! He needed one person to care enough to stop, listen and give what they could.

We are all susceptible to the danger of faith become too ‘me’ orientated; where it becomes simply about my faith, my quiet time, my church etc, we effectively privatize faith to a degree Jesus never intended. Peter and John still challenge us today. It’s seldom about how much you know or have, but about whether you care enough to notice, to stop, to become vulnerable, by allowing another–even a very different other–into your space.