So here I am

by Brian Haymes

So here I am at Whaley Bridge Uniting Partnership, sharing its life and worship for three months while Michael our minister works away at his academic thesis. Mine is proving to be an interesting and happy experience, sharing worship, meeting new friends, seeing how another group of Christians “do Church”. I hope Michael is having a good time too.

The Church title interests me. It strikes me as a wise decision to be a uniting church rather than united. Uniting has a dynamic about it, a sense of journey, an adventure not yet complete, with always something more to hope for and embrace. Those claiming to be united already may, deep down, be a little unrealistic, suming agreements where issues are not really faced.

One obvious fact about the early followers of Jesus is what a motley group of people they were. They expressed a vivid diversity, something we have not always found able to enjoy in churches, local and national.

While it is true that many of Jesus’ followers were people of humble origins and means, there were also those of wealth and status, prominent leaders in their home communities. There were rich people who could support Jesus in his mission out of their resources as he moved among the economically poor. Socioeconomic factors and class distinctions, to use our language, are reflected among the first disciples.

There is clear evidence of gender diversity too. The signs are there reflecting the patriarchal society which was the context of Jesus’ mission but we notice how visible and active women were among Jesus’ associates. Women followed Jesus from the first and they are ones who are there standing vigil at the cross, noting the tomb, and the first to tell that it is empty and the Lord is risen.

We could go on, noting the variety of vulnerable people who came to Jesus, with various kinds of illness and impediments. There is ethnic diversity as well, Syrophoenicians, Samaritans, Romans and Greeks. Three Gentile star gazers who came to his birth might well have been Persians. And an African helped carry the cross.

What hope for any unity among such diversity? And we have not even touched yet on the political differences between Zealot freedom fighters and collaborative tax collectors! Who or what brought and held these people together?

I think that the crucial factor is the person of Jesus himself. These people had little in common except the inviting call of Jesus to share the adventure of living out the kingdom of God. Coming from different backgrounds, they had this in common, that Jesus had called them to be disciples.

They found themselves uniting in him and his ministry, his vision and love. He taught them to call God “Father” and to live as sister and brothers, relationships that went beyond the natural use of these words. A new community was coming into being centred on Jesus.

And following Jesus led to a unity of character, for people could not remain as they were as followers of Jesus. They learned to practice forgiveness, even enemy love, generosity and compassion. Their new perspective on life and its daily praxis, sharing the way of the rule of God, meant a growth and transformation of character, individually and corporately. Something was happening to them in following Jesus.
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The Gospel writers record how they found this discipleship and growth at times demanding and unsettling. Why couldn’t they call down fire from heaven on their enemies? Why couldn’t they strike with the sword when threatened? Why not jockey for position and the best seats like other people? The answer was, because of Jesus. Following him was not an instant transformation so much as a lifelong journey of growth towards a unity and depth they hardly previously imagined was possible.

Following Jesus seriously, they discovered they were being united, drawn into new ways of relating, trusting, growing, loving. So the life of the first disciples involved diversity and uniting. In the gift and call of Jesus they came to the new possibilities of life in the kingdom of God, a uniting that in the end entails the whole of creation, the earth and all its people. In taking Jesus’ calling seriously, in faithful following and discipleship, enabled by the Spirit, they became a uniting church. For that we may all be very thankful.

 Having the Faith to Vote

 by Michael Peat

This edition of Growing Together is coming out as a general election is imminent. With poignant timing, the text from John's Gospel which will be read in many churches on the Sunday before polling day ends with some famous words Jesus spoke at the last supper he shared with his disciples before being arrested and crucified. The disciple Judas has just left the meal to betray Jesus. The disciple Peter is about to be told he will deny being Jesus' follower before the night is out. In between these two examples of followers letting Jesus down, he says this:

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

(John ch. 13 vv 34 - 35).

In a sense, this commandment is not new at all. Much of the Old Testament emphasises how God's people are called to love others, particularly those more often neglected. Elsewhere, Jesus told an enquirer that the real meaning of the law is to "love your neighbour as yourself," and demonstrated just how far this command reached by telling the story of the Good Samaritan. The first Christians who shared their possessions "so that there was not a needy person among them" (Acts 4v 34) showed how neighbour-love can be expressed in a community.

In doing so, they also showed why the call to love our neighbour is a call to engage with politics. For faithful politics is all about seeking to meet the needs of all our neighbours, and faithful voting is a plea for the party whose policies we think offer the best opportunity to achieve this as a society.

In another sense, this commandment is radically new, because it defines 'love' for us in a very distinctive way, with the example of a very distinctive person. Jesus says "love one another as I have loved you." This command may sound like an impossible dream, particularly when we are speaking of politics, with all its compromises, shortcomings and scandals. But bear in mind that this was a command given to people who Jesus already knew were bound to compromise its truth and fall well short of its demands.

Even as Jesus told his disciples to love another as he had loved them, Judas and Peter were about to let him down. But Jesus entrusted the disciples to witness to his love all the same. Jesus put his faith in this dubious group of fallible people called disciples, trusting that God's Christ-like love would be glimpsed in their lives in spite of their failing. That trust was an expression of his love for them, and his faith in the God committed to work through them.

In recent months, the failings of politicians have been widely reported. The scandal over MP's expenses and the ill-judged comments of many politicians on radio, e-mail and twitter, have knocked the confidence of many voters. Perhaps it has caused you to doubt whether it is even worth voting at all. This is understandable. But then perhaps this general election, precisely because our faith in politics has been severely tested recently, is an opportunity to express the meaning of Jesus' distinctively 'new' commandment by voting.

To vote, especially when the shortcomings of many politicians have been recently exposed, is to show our trust that God's inclusive love can be glimpsed in the work of politicians even though they fail at times. It is to show the same faith in the House of Commons community that Jesus showed, and goes on showing, in another flawedgroup of human beings, namely the church. Do we have the faith to love our politicians as Jesus has loved us ?