Thought for the week – A September Thought – 27^th September

A few weeks ago, Tony Cant, the new vicar at Roxwell, asked people to read Matthew 7 and, in particular, to read it in the version of the Bible published as “The Message”. I did, and it has been preying (praying?) on my mind ever since.

You probably know how it begins. Or do you? It’s about judging. Buttonhole your partner or the cat and pass on the first sentence of that chapter.

Cats of course know all about judging people. We are all weighed in the balance by them and found wanting. So try it on the dog instead.

I wonder what you said to the dog. Was it “Judge not, that ye be not judged”? Or was it:

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticise their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.”

The first comes from the Authorised Version, the second from The Message. Do you have a preference?

It’s the boomerang that is a problem for me – this one has come back to haunt me. Whatever Jesus said, for obvious reasons, it wasn’t this.

We don’t know exactly what Jesus said in the first place – the New Testament is written in Greek and he spoke in Aramaic. There has been some “reverse translation” which suggests that what he said often had the pithiness or balance of a slogan or soundbite. Certainly it was memorable enough to be recounted many years after he said it, as the Gospels were all written well after his time in the world was done. So in that respect the AV wins hands down. It has the balance of the repeated idea of judgment, the directness of the archaic negative – “judge not” much more powerful than “do not judge”, and (sorry to be technical here) a wonderful example of the flexibility of the English subjunctive. Modern translations have a choice: is it a promise, “behave this way to ensure that good things will happen” or a threat, “behave this way or bad things will happen”? The AV with its (sadly almost redundant) subjunctive gets them both, carrot and stick.

The main disadvantage of the AV translation is that it makes Jesus sound like a character out of Shakespeare. By contrast, The Message makes Jesus sound like an agony aunt in The Guardian. It sticks in the mind like one of the plays of Ernie Wise.

So what does “judge not, that ye be not judged” actually mean? Because it is also a tease.

At one end of the spectrum of possibilities, it presumably doesn’t mean don’t do jury service.

At the other end of the spectrum, is it one of those injunctions of Jesus like not turning the other cheek that we all find so difficult because it is ingrained into our psyche to do precisely the opposite? Psychologists tell us we sum up individuals instinctively in the first few moments of meeting them. It’s one of those skills, distinguishing friend from foe that is part of our whole primitive survival mechanism. Is Jesus asking the near impossible here, enjoining us to fight against an inherent part of our human nature?

And what is the threat if we fail? Condemnation? Most of us who watch Strictly will tell you that the verdict everyone waits for is that of Craig Revel Horwood, because he tells it like it is. Sound critical judgment earns you respect, man.

In addition, the very idea of being judged brings God into the equation. The AV suggests, in a way that The Message does not, that the act of judging our fellow human beings in a judgmental way puts us at odds with God and draws down upon us His judgment of us.

Notice what I am doing here. I am starting to “unpack” what Jesus said. To me, he seems to be saying that jumping to premature conclusions about people, always finding someone else to blame for everything that goes wrong, is a toxic thing to do. I can relate to that because it’s something of which I know I am guilty at (most) times. And I would say that it is something that is wrong with our society as a whole. So it does boomerang upon me.

And so I have come full circle here. Whoever wrote The Message has tried to translate what Jesus said into clear instructions to himself (I am sure it is a he, I type, jumping to judgmental conclusions) just as I have done, and just as I am urging you to do. So let’s be clear. We all read bits of The Bible in whatever translation we choose and we skate over the meaning. We have to stop and do what The Message has done and ask how each thing that Jesus asks of us is going to affect our lives, what we are going to do about it.

I don’t necessarily come to the same conclusions as the Messenger and you may not come to the same conclusions as me.

I leave it to God to judge.

Heavenly Father,

As we read your word,

Give us the wisdom and insight

To hear and understand

Your message for each of us.

Help us to come to that word, and you,

With open hearts and minds

And to respond to it in a way

Which brings life and hope to others

And the glory to You.

Loving Father

Be with those whose

Hearts and minds are troubled

To the point where they are

Unable to see beyond their current anxiety.

Give them peace and hope we pray.

We offer these prayers in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

David.

Thought for the week – Where is God in all this? 20^th September

This week I’d hoped not to refer, yet again, to the times we are in. But sadly it’s hard to ignore, things are getting tough again, and as they always do in difficult times, people are understandably asking difficult questions, whether of governments near and far, local authorities, the W.H.O. – oh yes and God!… so let’s look at this, but not just in the light of today’s circumstances.

It’s not unusual in times of trouble for people to ask, ‘Where is God in all this?’ Sometimes it’s asked by people who say they don’t believe in God, but to have asked the question could lead one to suppose they’ve at least considered the possibility. Sometimes it’s asked by people who firmly believe in God but are frustrated, or maybe having a wobble. I’m a firm believer in God, but confess to having asked the question too, so it’s only from a believer’s perspective that I can consider the question.

The standard answer seems to be that ‘God is here’ walking beside us in whatever situation we find ourselves in and that He will lead us through if we will but trust Him. Whilst I believe that to be absolutely true, I think we have to admit that for many it’s not sufficient, it’s even an unsatisfactory answer – and it doesn’t address the second part of the question often added…. Why? I’m not going to suggest I can answer any of this satisfactorily, but I’d like to offer some thoughts – one in particular which I’ll come to later

For a moment let me take you back to the story of creation in Genesis. Whether you read it literally, metaphorically or allegorically, there are a couple of things I think all believers will agree on. The first being that God created the world and everything in it and the second that he gave humankind dominion over it. This second part immediately raises questions for me.

A few weeks ago in one of our weekly thoughts we considered how there were probably sufficient resources in the world for everyone, the problem was the disastrously unfair distribution of so many of them. In tandem with that thought we should also consider the use and manipulation of all the world’s resources. You don’t need to be a genius to see that some are used for the common good, to try and benefit all people, animals, the environment….. Sadly of course the reverse is also true and precious resources are used for destruction, selfish greed, national domination, despotic power…….

All the things I’ve just mentioned are carried out at many levels and intensities in the world, within nations, communities, families, and by individuals and all will have an impact, good or bad, on someone.

For some time now I’ve tried, when posing a difficult question, to turn the question on its head – not to ignore it in the way some of our politicians do – but in order to examine if I’m actually asking the right question.

Some people will be familiar with the saying from John F Kennedy’s inaugural speech when he became President of the United States in 1961. “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” This brings me to the thought I said I’d come to, but first:

If we accept that God created the world and everything in it, if we accept that (assuming we steward them properly) there are sufficient resources to go round, and if we accept that God gave us dominion over them, we also need to look to the many prophets over the millennia who have tried to tell us about this ‘God’ and His desires for His creation and humankind. We should also look at the teaching of His Son Jesus and consider the blueprint he gave us for life, the way we treat each other and to value the world around us. Even today there are still people who try to warn us about our destructive behaviour. Given all of this, maybe, just maybe we should reconsider the question ‘Where is God in all this?’

As a world, as nations, societies, cultures, families and individuals I think we also need to be asking the question ‘Where are we in all this?’ What is our responsibility, to each other, to society, to the world God created and gave to us to look after?

I’m sorry if this all sounds a little tough to some people, but I do believe God is here with us and that He’s given us everything we need. I also believe He cares passionately about each one of us and I do believe He will see us through, if we would all but listen and play our part – including me!

Heavenly Father

We thank you for the

Glories of Your creation.

Give us the wisdom

To know and understand

Our responsibilities to that creation

And to those we share it with.

Father God,

We ask your blessing on

All those who are

Vulnerable and anxious at this time,

Those who struggle to know

What to do for the best.

Give them peace in their hearts,

Replace their anxiety with hope

And give them strength to face each day

With the assurance that comes from knowing you.

These prayers we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK – Leadership 30^th August

This week sadly I feel I need to revisit a subject we covered not that long ago. I also think that maybe it’s time, not just for a message of hope, but a call to arms as well – more on that later. Once again, as we watch our television screens we see different responses to events that have occurred across the world. Again we see such marked contrasts in how people react to these events. As before I don’t want to make comment on specific cases – if for no other reason, I wasn’t there – but on responses I’d just say this. We see, following the sentencing of a mass murderer intent on dividing a community, how that community chose instead to come together in love and respect. By contrast, elsewhere we saw how some will use any excuse to create violence and mayhem, with no regard to the voice of a victim’s mother – telling people that the violence did not reflect her wishes, or her family’s and calling for calm and peaceful demonstration. I’d just add that we must take care not to look judgementally at other countries and reflect on the violence that occurs on our own city streets, including knife crime.

What’s the solution? Unfortunately, as I’ve said before, I don’t have the answers. But as last time I’d like us to consider things that may help. ‘Leadership’ must surely be part of the solution. However this is another area where we have to stop and think. Leadership of who by whom. We can all be guilty of turning on governments and national leaders and stacking all the blame on them – and yes it’s true that at times they do play a vital role – but we need to look closer to home as well. What about community leadership, leadership in schools, youth organisations, sporting bodies… and yes churches! One problem is that many potentially good leaders shy away from the responsibility of the role for a number of complex reasons, particularly in today’s society. One feature of great leadership is that it can be very costly. One person who knew that only too well was Jesus. Jesus paid the ultimate price for his leadership on the cross at Calvary, and many men and women have subsequently followed his example. Thankfully following Jesus doesn’t always end the same way and the rewards can be priceless.

Jesus’ leadership brought about the birth of the Christian church. We must of course acknowledge that the church hasn’t always got it right, in deed sometimes it’s acted very badly due, it has to be said, to highly suspect leadership that didn’t follow Jesus’ blueprint! But where the church and its people have faithfully followed the original leadership of Christ himself the results have been life changing and life giving. This has been true even in business and commerce. Take the example of the Quakers John Cadbury and Joseph Rowntree (for those that know me, no I didn’t pick on them because of the chocolate connection)! Less well known perhaps is Titus Salt, a successful businessman who worked to improve conditions for his workers, He built a model factory and village in Saltaire (near Bradford). With his Methodist faith, he brought a social conscience to capitalism at a time when many industrial workers lived in abject poverty. And then of course there is another Methodist, General Booth who founded the Salvation Army. A member of the Salvation Army was once questioned on radio about all its military terminology – I mentioned at the beginning a call to arms – I don’t remember his exact words, but in essence he responded by saying how wonderful it was to be part of an Army who’s only weapon was love.

All these people and many others are fine examples of leadership, but do we ever consider our own leadership role? Yes, I believe each one of us, at different times in our lives, are not only subject to leadership, but called to lead sometimes in small but very effective ways. One leadership quality often espoused is that of ‘leadership by example.’ Each one of us, by our actions, is setting an example to those around us, actions that can lead people to respond in a particular way. At the extreme the example a person sets can affect another person’s whole life. That’s quite a responsibility on all of us

Coming back to where we started. How do we respond in times of conflict and crisis? Do we set, or follow the example of some and fan the flames of conflict, or do we strive to pour on the healing balm of Christ’s love? We are all leaders and we all have a responsibility to each other, especially to the weak and vulnerable.

When it comes to these situations there are many sayings of Jesus that come to mind –listed below are just a few, some we’ve looked at before – but I have to admit there are times when I find some of them a huge ask and exceedingly difficult to live by, day by day, hour by hour. But maybe it’s because they are so important that they are so difficult.

So my ‘call to arms’ is to follow Jesus’ example and my sure and certain hope is, that by doing so, we can change things, even if it’s only one small step at a time. Finally, ‘May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,’ (Romans 15:5)

Matthew 5:43-45  

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

Luke 6:29-31 

²⁹ If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Mark 12:30-31  

^{… 30} you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Matthew 7:1-2  

7 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. ² For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.

All bible quotes are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

A Prayer

Heavenly Father

Grant tranquility and peace

To the world we pray

Guide and strengthen all

Who are in positions of leadership

Fill them with wisdom and compassion.

Help each one of us

To spread the healing power of

Your love in our daily lives.

Now and for evermore. Amen.