(Peter H)

To find out more about what is happening at SGTM, check out our website and social media. Have a blessed week!!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to SGTM Talks. We hope you find this encouraging and inspiring.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Good morning, everybody. It's nice to be here. If you don't know me, my name's Peter, I'm one of the curates here. I'd like you to imagine yourself if you can. It's a drowsy midsummer Sunday afternoon. And you've gone to the countryside. Maybe you've gone to an ancient village in Suffolk, say. There's thatched houses and there's a tall stone church built in the days of the medieval wool trade. In the peaceful churchyard, there are 20 generations of villagers. Bees are nuzzling in the foxgloves, and the butterflies flit between the warm stones of the graveyard. It's Sunday, and you decide to go into Evensong, and a kindly lady welcomes you and says, How nice it is to have visitors. And you sit at the back in the cool shade on pews that smell of beeswax. And the service goes on as it has more or less every Sunday for the last 450 years, adapting the monastic rituals of singing the Psalms and hearing the scripture read. When you hear the gospel announced, a swallow flies into the church through the open door, and you're momentarily distracted by its swooping until it eventually finds that nest in the eaves, and you tune back into the words. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet I tell you, not one of them will fall to the ground without your father knowing. And even, moreover, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid. You are worth much more than many sparrows. And in your church, you think, how comforting, how reassuring, how stable. Unfortunately, you are in completely the wrong place to hear what Jesus means here. This was not said for people who enjoy safety, community, and 450 years of stability. It was said for people who are on the run. Here is the passage in context. Jesus has been doing miracles and healings in his tours of the villages round Galilee, and the disciples have been watching. And then he sends out the twelve disciples, the apostles, to do the same. And he sends them out with strict instructions to make themselves vulnerable. Rely on the hospitality of the villages. Don't take staff, don't take extra sandals, don't take money. They're going to have to look after you. Because somehow the miracles and the hospitality will go together. And that's a mystery which we can go into another time. But then Jesus goes and warns them that not everybody is going to be hospitable. And in his words, he seems to be thinking not so much of the Galilee tour they're about to go on, but the years ahead. You will be hated by everyone because of me, he says. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Ben, can we have the reading? Here we go. The student is not above the teacher, nor the servant above his master. It's enough for students to be like their teachers and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebal, how much more the members of his household? So don't be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight, and what's whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care, and even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. Who never acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my father in heaven. Do not suppose I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. And that you're worth much more than many sparrows. But you really need to know this when people think you are worthless and they try and render you invisible. Scholars think that Matthew's gospel was written down in sort of about 80 years, 80 AD, for a Jewish congregation near Antioch in Syria, who were facing persecution. They'd been believers in Christ as the Messiah, but they'd stayed within their synagogues. Now, with the destruction of the temple in about AD 72, a massive split was underway in the synagogues. And the believers in Christ were being thrown out as heretics. What had first been the Jesus renewal movement within Judaism, a dramatic reinterpretation of Judaism's whole purpose, was now forced to become a different religion. And people were being persecuted. Your friends shunned you, your families split apart, legal chicanery being used to deprive you of property. Matthew's gospel records an awful lot of what Jesus said about persecution to show that being driven out is not a sign of failure, not a sign that God's let you go, but actually a sign of deep continuity with the earliest apostles and with Jesus himself. They had hospitality troubles, so do you. So Jesus says here, if they call you a devil, they called him one first. What they do to you in secret, in the back alley and in the unmarked jail cell, that will one day be revealed, because God knows everything and sees everything, and that's why every hair on your head is numbered. And then Jesus quotes some lines from the prophet Micah in chapter 7 about the collapse of the kingdom of Israel 600 years before. Micah is prophesying it's all going to come to an end. And it coming to an end, says Micah, because the rulers are taking bribes and the powerful are dictating reality in the interests, in the image of their desires. No one is faithful, says Micah. And the sign of this coming collapse is even the household itself is at war. For a son dishonours his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies are the members of his own household. Jesus takes that prophecy and applies it to himself. Not because he loves strife and fighting, but because it's the sign of one old order ending and a new one beginning. And so he speaks those brutally honest words to people in divided and angry societies who are being forced to choose between their parents and their faith. Or putting their children, or their children, and their faith. Everything's at stake here: inheritances, family honour, networks, connections. But Jesus says, you have to put me first. Not for nothing is this passage known as one of the hard sayings of Jesus. The hard sayings. What I want to say this morning is that there is actually some deep, deep love hidden in this hard saying. Jesus is not saying that he wants strife. To love Jesus is to love the author of life and love himself. Jesus loves your mum and dad and your children a whole lot more than you do. And by following Jesus' way, you will also love your parents and your children much more, much better than you otherwise naturally could. But by following Jesus, in Jesus, through Jesus, in saying he has to come before family and relatives, Jesus means that he has to be your primary reference point, your emotional north star, the source of energy in the whole way you relate to yourself. Psychologists of what's called attachment theory, developed not far from here over in Tavistock Square, hold that as infants we are naturally open and naturally unstable. We're not emotionally in control. We are not certainly not bodily in control. That means we are made to be held and soothed by our parents. In the way they fold us into their arms, the way they soothe our temper tantrums, the way they give us stability and continuity, the way that they don't freak out when we explode. They reassure us that we cannot destroy their love no matter how angry we get, no matter how hard we test them. Those basic things that happen with babies, say the attachment theorists, structure the rest of our lives. If we are securely attached, if our mum or our dad or whoever cared for us gave us that basic sense of security, then we will be open to new experiences for the rest of our life, not fundamentally afraid of strangers. But if something's gone wrong there, if we fear at a deep level that we are not safe, that our parents or caregivers will abandon us, then the rest of our life we will approach with a deep mistrust. So what the psychologists are saying is that we are never, ever, ever little self-contained units, isolated things. Our parents and carers mediate us to ourselves. Our parents and carers mediate us to ourselves. We are ourselves in a sort of mental circuit with them. What Jesus wants, what Jesus does, why religion works, is to get to us at that level. Jesus helps us to relate to ourselves. In Jesus, we are born again, literally reparented. When we begin to understand ourselves in his eyes, we begin to love ourselves as he loves us. To consider ourselves as he considers us. To understand ourselves as he understands us. And when that happens, we feel differently about everything and everyone. That I think is the love at the heart of the hard saying about parents and children. Jesus says you can't love your children or your parents more than him because they're not to be the primary way you get your sense of self, your basic sense of you. In Jesus, he is the center of who you are. And in him, everyone else finds their place. Another way to say this is we are ek-centric. We are out of the centre of ourselves. Jesus is the centre. We are not the basic centre of ourselves. He is. And we are to who we are and who we are to each other because of that. Now this has some very radical consequences for what faith is and what church is. That church in Suffolk, it's not being persecuted. Churches all around the world are, though, where they seem like to be a threat to the heart of society. North Korea, Eritrea, Sudan, Myanmar, persecuted churches. And they are churches in which every relationship will be tested and proved because you will get the splits between parents and children, believers and not. In Europe, things last got very bad for the church in pre-war Germany, where Christians in 1933 were required to sign up to Nazi racial purity laws that prevented anyone of Jewish descent from holding church offices. A bunch of German Protestants were quite enthusiastic about this. They went along with it. And they signed up to line up their churches with state doctrine. But a group of pastors, headed by Martin Niemoller, Karl Barth, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer were horrified. They realized that the whole of the gospel was at stake here. They refused to sign, which meant their congregations became illegal and they had to disappear. They had to set up underground congregations and underground training institutions for the pastors. And from that experience, one of them, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, where's Bonhoeffer? Can we have Bonhoffer? There he is. Wrote a wonderful book called Life Together, published in 1939. And it comes from a rather funny place in his life. So Bonhoeffer write, he's an aristocrat. And he's super well educated, super clever. He is one of the elite. And he's then thrown together with a whole lot of people that he didn't choose to be with and he didn't specially want to be with. He found living in community really, really difficult. And one of the reasons he found it difficult is that he was in a community full of revolutionary enthusiasm. Because everyone had kind of lost their families and had to disappear, everyone would say, Well, what we're incredible, we can do this, we're the rebels, we're the heroes. And he really struggled with the hero story about this. And the reason that Life Together is such a great book is the tension there between being the authentic body of Christ and not trying to be a hero. It's a book of hard sayings about love. And it's basically founded in what Jesus says here in Matthew. What we have to learn, says Bonhoeffer, is that church is not made by ties of location, where you come from, it's not made by nationality, it's not made by social class, it's not made by friendship, and it's not made by enthusiasm. The basic rule of life together is this. I am a brother to another person through what Jesus Christ did for me and to me. You see the origin in Matthew here. The other person has become a brother to me through what Jesus Christ did to him. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done for both of us. Now please excuse Bonhoeffer's male-centric language here, where you see brother, read brother and sister. But you get the point. Christian churches are not to be bound together by the ties of family or DNA or class or nation or anything with Christianity added on top. The only bond we really have is knowing what Jesus has done for me and knowing what Jesus has done for you. Now that's a hard word for a society where it was supposed to be allegedly race was your deep identity. But it's also a hard word for a friendly community like ours. Because it means that the deep tie of church is not finding like-minded people, it's not social bonds. Oh, and Jesus too on the top. It's not a friendship circle with Jesus added. The basic social bond is Jesus being in the other person. That's what we have in common with one another. Dare I say it, I think that means that we shouldn't come primarily to church for friendship. Friendship is fantastic, but it's a spin-off benefit. The primary bond of Christians is Jesus in the other person, whoever they are, whether they're interesting or boring or clever or dull. Secretly, I think this is a relief. In an individualistic age, churches are one of the few places where community across generations and across classes still happens. Here at St. George, we do a heck of a lot to try and promote that and to protect it. Because community is not natural. People often think, oh, it's the default setting. It's not, it's really hard. It has to be maintained. That's why the Eucharist is for. But hear Tuff Bonhoeffer's tough but life-giving words about this.

unknown 18:25

Ben.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

True community is not an ideal which we should realize. It's all rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. When you belong, become a Christian, when you love Jesus, Jesus loves you, you do not then have to make a Christian community. You're already in one, you've stepped into one, the one that's made by Jesus. We don't have to make a community. We have to step in and realize the one God already has made. But because it's founded in Christ and on taking up one's cross, it doesn't run by the normal lines that community groups do. It doesn't run on affiliation and it doesn't run on social power. Can we have the next slide, please? In community, we have to realize that God did not make this person as I would have him. He did not give him to me as a brother for me to dominate or control, but in order that I might find above him the creator. In this community, we're not there for friendship, kinship, affiliation, primarily, although all of those things do come out of it. What we have is people who are given to us by God to show us God. To show us God in action. Bonhoeffer says here, he didn't give him to me as a brother to dominate or control. Dominators are not always obvious. Bornhoefer talks a lot about this. He says, you can dominate by being friendly. You can control by being talkative or charismatic. What we are to do together instead is to find God in one another. Hear the stories, see the growth, pray for them. We are to support one another to keep that coming. We are not to rank people according to whether they're interesting or beautiful or talented or just able to bring so much to this church. Because Jesus appears in the vulnerable and the boring and the limited. Next quotation. In the Christian community, everything depends on whether an individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of fellowship. That is a deeply un-Nazi statement. But it's also a rebuke to every church founded on people like us or communities of success. You know the sort. The ones in attractional videos with smiley multiracial congregations who are all thin and able-bodied and apparently work in HR. Jesus' community is not founded on star quality. She's not here now, so I can say this. Wasn't it wonderful when Kira came to light the candles? Okay. Kira is essential to this church. How is the church to happen? How is this astonishing community to happen? Well, by praying. Gotta have the next slide. A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses. I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter what trouble he causes me. His face that hitherto might have seemed strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner. Bonhoffer knew in this revolutionary community that actually people don't get on. One of his most arresting sentences, God hates visionary dreamers. Because they try and draw people around to themselves and make cliques and factions. I have to say, I think Bonhoeffer hated visionary dreamers as well. Church life has tensions. We don't always get on. Other people have priorities that just make no sense. Especially Christians clash about how the church should be run. And instantly we see this is failure. But when we pray for one another, we're just changing the emotional atmosphere around this person. We're kind of de-escalating, unstacking the situation. Yes, they're wrong, stupid, hurtful, misguided, and that is what Christ died for. Just like you. In prayer, we see each other in the light of Christ, and it becomes possible to pray for the other person's sake. Because in prayer we also see ourselves as Jesus sees us, which means we're stepping out of strategizing for power, we're stepping out of victimhood, we're stepping out of working out how we can advantage ourselves in relation to that person. It's just Jesus in them. That's it. As you might have heard in um notices over the last few weeks, um, we're starting um to put together prayer triplets in this church. That's groups of three people who agree to meet regularly to talk and to pray for the church and one another. Given what I've just said, I just want to say we're not doing this because we've had a huge row. Okay. We're not doing this to mend fences. We are doing it though, because Sunday services alone are not always enough to stay in touch with people, particularly if you miss a few weeks. And when's Bonhoeffer says, a church is held together by how its members pray for one another. The idea of a prayer triplet is that you meet with two other people, somewhere convenient, could be a cafe, could be a park, could be in the pub, wherever, and there's some time that's convenient for you. And it's after that, it's just share, care, prayer. Share what's been going on for you this week at work in the family, do some care and love. Can I help? And pray for one another and the wider church. Very simple. We have two triplets set up already, and we're looking for more. Please come and tell me if you would like to be to be part of that. Now, the people in your prayer triplet may well be your friends or certainly become your friends, but deep down we're not looking for friendship. What we're looking for is people to look for Jesus in the other person. Where is Jesus working? How is Jesus changing you? Not how would I like this church to be run, but Jesus, where are you for this church? Where are you in this person? When you pray for the church, other people in the church, and for our building renovations, and for the PCC, and for Jamie, and for Sally and Joe and everybody, the prayer is not, oh Lord, make us part of the most brilliant church in the world. It's Jesus, show yourself in them and to me. And as a way to close, I'd like us to do something a little bit different when we come to the peace. We have the prayers and then we'll come to the peace. This week um I saw a new film being made. Can we have the next slide then? About this unlikely group of people. They're the Society of St. Francis, um, and they are actually an Anglican um uh religious order. They're Franciscans, they follow the way of poverty, chastity, obedience, and the brown robes. Um, but um they're part of the Church of England, and I I got to know some of them because they helped me out in my vicar school. Okay. Um I was lucky enough to see a bit of a new film being made about their life. They live in community houses, um, and basically most of their life, when they're not uh in services, um, is looking after asylum seekers and living together with people with learning disabilities. What was interesting about the film is that it was trying to avoid the cliches about films about monks. And the cliche of films about monks is what's called transcendence. Okay. Films about monks do starkness, long shots of empty corridors, shafts of light, very slow pacing, the swish of a robe. Okay. This film is trying to do something different. It's about the reality of life together and the difficulty. It's got monks accidentally farting. Um, it's actually, it's also got monks being open about sometimes how difficult it is to live together, about tensions about sexuality, about bullying, even. And it's not set in a beautiful monastery, it's set in two very plain houses in Leeds with um strip lighting and plastic chairs, because that's exactly where they live. But in the middle of the film, you see them at Holy Communion, and they come to the peace. And just like we do, they pray for the world, and then they say, Um, you know, Jesus is among us, and the peace of the Lord be always with you, and also with you. But before they say, Let us greet one another with a sign of peace, they stop and they look round, and there's a period of silence, and because in their heart, they just let anybody in the room catch their eye and they pray for them, then and there, in their heart. Bless them, Lord. Jesus, where are you for this person? Bring them light, bring them life. And then the priest says, Let us um greet one another with a sign of peace. And they go over and share the sign of the peace. And any thought or picture that's come to their minds, or any scripture, or just any word of encouragement, or just hello, it's lovely to see you. Can we try that today, please? Um, because if we do that, in a very small way, we'll be stepping into the community that God has already made for us, which is not this one, it's the body of Christ.

unknown 28:45

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Thank you for listening to SGTM Talks. We hope you found this insightful and inspiring and can tune in again soon. In the meantime, try and have our website, SGTM.org.