25 Not Out

1 September 1990 was a very significant day in my life.  It was the day on which I officially began my ‘new life’ as a Methodist Minister.  Having spent 3 years at Ministerial Training College in Bristol, I found myself “in at the deep end”.  One of the realities I had to face was that although I generally enjoyed life at College, much of what I had been taught didn’t seem all that useful in terms of preparing me for the practical realities of church leadership!

I vividly remember going in to my study on that first morning, sitting at my desk, and wondering, “Now what do I do?”  I suppose that I kind of expected that the phone would start ringing with people urgently in need of my services!  Looking back on that time, I can see how relatively unprepared I was for all that ministry involved.  In one of the first ladies’ meetings I took, I encouraged the ladies to suggest their ideas of the qualities of the 'perfect minister.'  After I had written all their suggestions on a flipchart, I confessed that there were only two qualities from the list which I possessed (“young” and “handsome”, and I can’t even lay claim to those these days!)

It is hard to believe that today is the 25^th anniversary of that first day back in 1990.  I can’t help but reflect on those years.  So many times I have felt completely out of my depth, and have known that in my own strength I could not cope with the demands of ministry life.  There have been a few times, through the years, when the going has been really tough and I have felt like giving up.

The one thing that has kept me going in those very hard times has been the knowledge that God has called me to the life of a Methodist Minister.  And when God calls us, he equips us.  The Apostle Paul writes, “By God's grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him” (Ephesians 3:7).  I know that it is only by God’s grace and power, and through the love, support and prayers of family and friends, that I have kept going through those 25 years.

As I look back over the past quarter of a century, although I do remember some very difficult times, and acknowledge the many mistakes I have made along the way, my overwhelming feeling is of tremendous gratitude for the privilege of being called to church leadership.  I have met some truly wonderful and amazing people, who have blessed me beyond measure.  I have had the tremendous privilege of sharing with people in times both of great joy and great sadness.

Yes, there have been a few times during the years when I have thought back to my earlier life as an accountant, and the grass has appeared much greener on that side!  I have sometimes become frustrated with elements of being part of Church, and working with some people who don’t want to change.  But I know that being a Methodist Minister has been and is an enormous blessing and privilege.  As far as I am concerned there isn’t anything else I would rather be doing, not least because I know that I am where God wants me to be.

I give thanks to God for the past 25 years, and look forward to all that lies ahead.

THIS, this is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
Whose love is as great as his power,
And neither knows measure nor end.

'Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We'll praise him for all that is past,
And trust him for all that's to come.

Will you still need me?

Last time I wrote about the process of unpacking boxes following our fairly recent house move.  This blog begins on a similar note. One of the boxes I managed to attack a few days ago contained all my old LPs.  Unlike many people, we still do have a record player, though it is rarely brought into action.  I have had a quick look through; a few LPs may be worth trying to resell on eBay (a Beatles album being one example), but most are pretty worthless financially and unlikely to be played again, so will probably have to be disposed of one way or another.  Not surprisingly, relatively few people play records these days - even CDs seem to be almost a medium of the past!

I came across an LP by Cliff Richard which triggered a particular memory from many years ago.  Sue and I may have been courting at the time (I love that word, even if it is a little old fashioned).  I am not absolutely sure whether we were officially "an item", but I'm sure that I wanted us to be (my courting of Sue was quite a struggle, but that's another story!)  On the particular occasion I am thinking of, Sue was round at my house.  A Cliff album was playing at the time.  Just as I nipped to the kitchen to make us a coffee, the track "When I'm 64" happened to start playing. 

I didn't think of it has having any particular significance, but Sue was obviously listening to the words, which include the following: "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"  I was a little nonplussed when, as I walked back into the room with Sue's coffee, she said in quite a strident voice, "The answer's 'No!'"  It took me a while to realise what she meant.  Perhaps she had thought that I was using Cliff's song as a third party chat-up line!  I hope that these days Sue might give a different answer: after all, we have both turned 60 this year, so not long to go!

I guess that the heart of the song addresses the issue of a long-term commitment in a relationship.  I was privileged to lead a wedding service last Saturday.  It was a very happy occasion as the bride and groom committed their lives together in front of their family and friends.  The previous weekend Sue and I had attended the 25th wedding anniversary celebrations of two friends of ours, at which they reaffirmed their wedding vows: another wonderful occasion.

Every married couple know that it's relatively easy to make vows to one another, but rarely so easy to keep them.  The vows which a couple exchange in a wedding service are amongst the biggest and most serious commitment a human being can make.  It's probably true to say that every marriage goes through sticky times.  So how do we handle those hard times?  How do we maintain that commitment to one another?

During last Saturday's wedding service I spoke about a verse in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, which says,  

'Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.' Ecclesiastes 4:12

A husband and wife committed to each other in love and trust can create a strong bond.  But if we include God in our marriage (making a chord of three strands), our relationship will be so much stronger.  I know that in our marriage there have been times when Sue and I have had to rely on the love and power of God to keep us together.  With God's help our marriage can last to the 64s and well beyond!

Boxes and boxes

We recently passed the six months mark since Sue and I moved to our new manse, and we were aware that we still had quite a lot of boxes which we hadn’t got round to unpacking.  To be honest, it may well be that some of those boxes have been waiting to be unpacked since we moved to Leicester from Doncaster three years ago!

I’m pleased to say that we have managed to open a number of the boxes, though it will take us a while longer to complete the task.  In some ways, opening the boxes has been a bit like Christmas or a birthday!   In certain cases we unearthed items which we had completely forgotten about.  Our intention is to slowly work our way through the boxes, deciding what to do with each item individually.

Perhaps not surprisingly, there were quite a lot of items which we decided we could easily manage to live without; they were sorted ready for the charity shop or for some other destination.  How easy it is to gather clutter as time goes by.  In reality, it’s probably true to say that a sizeable proportion of most people’s possessions could be dispensed with if push came to shove (I remember hearing a story of someone who visited a very remote part of the world with few modern comforts; the host said to the visitor, “Let me know if you need anything, and I’ll show you how to manage without it!”)

Some of the items we unpacked, of course, were very precious indeed, not in a financial sense, but in terms of their sentimental value or memory association.  For example, an item may be closely related to a certain important life event, such as a marriage or birth or other special occasion.  I did come across a bag which contained a collection of items from our honeymoon 37 years ago. We still haven’t got round to sorting them out; they have no monetary value but are precious to us!

Our box-unpacking experience so far has been thought-provoking.  Why do most of us tend to gather so much “stuff”? Does it indicate that we have bought into a materialistic outlook on life?  I have been led back to the words of Jesus, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’ (Luke 12:15)  I must say that I have found the process of sorting out and giving away a lot of items quite therapeutic.  Sue and I would both admit to have accumulated too much stuff.  If only we could agree on which items we no longer need!

Going bananas

The churches in Markfield held a children's Holiday Club this week, and I popped in yesterday morning to see how things were going.  The children seemed to be having a great time, with songs, games, stories, craft activities, food & drink keeping them well occupied and engaged.

This year's Holiday Club was based on a resource called "Going Bananas."  On each of the 3 days of the Holiday Club, a focus was made on a Biblical character who "went bananas" for God.  The first character was Noah, who built an ark in the desert when there was absolutely no sign of rain.  The second character was Zacchaeus, who not only climbed a tree (not the done thing for a man with any self-respect) but also gave away half his money to the poor!  Then the third character was the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with a very expensive jar of perfume as a sign of her love for him.

Three very different characters, but the one thing they had in common was that they were prepared to do something which many of their contemporaries would have thought to be crazy (or "bananas"). In Noah's case, he was ready to do what God had said even though it seemed to make no sense.  For Zacchaeus and the unnamed women, it was their meeting with Jesus which led them do something which must have shocked those who knew them.  There are so many other characters in the Bible and through history who could be used as examples of the same thing.

The Apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters, "Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools."  The truth is that sometimes to be obedient to God or to answer the call of Jesus is to run the very real risk of looking foolish in the eyes of our friends or family.  I suppose that when, many years ago, I made the decision to leave my well-paid job as a Chartered Accountant in order to train for the Methodist Ministry (with all the implications, not only for me but for my family as well), there will have been some who thought I was going bananas.  In human terms my decision didn't make much sense, but I knew then and still know that it was the right one, because it was what God had called me to do.

There was a piece on this morning's BBC Breakfast programme about so-called tomb-stoning, the practise of jumping from a high position such as a cliff or bridge into water.  The dangers of such activity was highlighted; a number of people have been killed or seriously injured in recent years.  That really is a foolish thing to do.  Aspects of the life of following Jesus can appear foolish, and there may be times when others think that we are going bananas.  But God's way is always the best way, whatever anyone else may think!

What is Community?

Later today I will be attending a Community Gathering in the village of Markfield.  It has been planned for people of all faiths or none as a united expression of sympathy in memory of all victims of terror, particularly in response to the recent Tunisian massacre.  Representatives of Markfield churches and the local Islamic Foundation will be amongst those in attendance.

As part of the proceedings I have been asked to speak on the question “What is community?”  The more I ponder that question, the more I realise that an apparently simple question is really rather profound!  “Community” is not as easy to define as one might think.  Yet we seem to know when we don’t have it!  How many times, for example, we hear people say as they look back to days gone by, “We have lost that sense of community which we used to have.”

Human beings are created for community.  We could think of John Donne’s oft quoted saying, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”  We are made for connectedness.  In the Biblical book of Genesis, we read, “The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:8).

In searching for a definition of “community”, I found myself dissatisfied by what I found in various dictionaries.  I like the following definition suggested by one of my brothers-in-law:  "A group of people who look out for and support each other and rejoice in their diversity.”

In my talk I will also attempt to briefly address the question as to how we can seek to create community.  Perhaps my training as a preacher has led me to mention 4 points, all starting with the letter “C” (there could probably be many more, but I thought it best to stick to 4!)  I don’t have space here to develop the points.  I simply highlight them, together with appropriate quotations:

Commitment: “We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook.”  Haile Selassie.

Communication: “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.”  Rollo May.

Compassion: “Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It's the impetus for creating change.”  Max Carver.

Choice: “This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”  Dwight D. Eisenhower

I will finish with a quote from Jean Vanier: “Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other.”

I hope and pray that our Community Gathering will be one step in helping to build true community.  Perhaps a seed will be sown.