Following Jesus through the stations of the cross

Over Holy Week, we are going to post short reflections on each of the biblical Stations of the Cross, with prayers that you might like to use. Do join us on this journey.

1^st Station: Jesus in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane

They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’

Mark’s account of the garden prayers is the more shocking, because it comes immediately after Peter’s protestation that he will never forsake Jesus: he said vehemently, ‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And then he falls asleep. Peter, the master of the grand gesture, who so often, like me, seems to miss the small detail of discipleship: just sit here while I pray, says Jesus. Remain here. Not too tall a talk. Keep awake.

The small things in our following Jesus are the most symptomatic of the health of our spiritual life, and the details determine the trajectory of our journey of faith. It’s worth the mathematically-minded among you remembering that one degree of movement to the left or right takes us hundreds of miles off course. No wonder Jesus spoke about a narrow path leading to eternal life, lest we lose our way.

Now let’s look briefly at the components of Jesus’ prayer at the beginning of the crisis of his last days:

1.      He names God intimately, confidently, as one in relationship with him. We too can speak the language of Jesus in prayer.

2.      He tells the truth about God: for you all things are possible. This is what praise is: not flattery, not exaggeration. Just the simple truth, and it’s a perfect model for our praise.

3.      He makes a request, and then – almost as quickly – withdraws it. Well, not quite. He is honest with God, doesn’t beat about the bushes: remove this cup. At the same time, however, he speaks with courtesy to the one who know best, and whose will must be done for the sake of the world’s salvation.

And here too we learn from Jesus, to be bold, to be honest, but to be willing for it all to happen another way. Just stay awake long enough to pray this prayer, with its three simple components: My God, you are great. Help me, and help me your way...

Lord Jesus, you entered the garden of fear, and faced the agony of your impending death:

be with those who share that agony nd face death unwillingly this day.

You shared our fear and knew the weakness of our humanity:

give strength and hope to the dispirited and despairing.

To you, Jesus, who sweated blood, be honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

now and forever. Amen.

Prayer (c) Archbishops' Council 2012 from Times and Seasons page 239 

Where your strength comes from

…and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust [confided], and I am sure [persuaded] that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 2 Timothy 1.12

The word ‘confidence’ occurs 15 times in the New Testament, and 5 of those occurrences are in 2 Corinthians [5 are in Hebrews and the rest in other Pauline writings]. But the root of the word is the verb ‘to persuade’, and when you realize this, you realize also just how deeply embedded the idea of confidence is in the scriptures:

1.      God acts powerfully;

2.      We are persuaded by what we have seen and heard;

3.      We are filled with confidence;

4.      We are persuaded that what God has done will continue until the Kingdom come;

5.      We are transformed by God’s confidence in us and through us, and proclaim the gospel boldly.

Let me now briefly unwrap ‘confidence’ in 2 Corinthians. The argument is this:

1.      God redeems;

2.      We are given confidence/we are persuaded;

3.      Confidence is embedded in us;

4.      With that confidence, we act in the same way towards others.

This is acted out for starters in chapter 1, where – in response to his critics who accuse him of dithering – Paul reminds his hearers that they can have confidence in God’s ‘Yes’. God does not vacillate, is not changeable, does not dither. For in Christ every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes.’ And, Paul says, because God only says ‘Yes’, you can have confidence in us his servants, for we live in the light of that ‘Yes’.

In the next chapter, he underlines the fact that our confidence in God’s Yes comes by way of Christ’s triumphal procession: we are redeemed by the saving work of Christ. As in chapter 1, we are led to understand that this confidence leads to transformed lives: new creations. The metaphor here is the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. We who have confidence in the work of God become part of God’s ongoing work of redeeming humanity.

The 3^rd chapter speaks of confidence in terms of the new covenant, again rooting it in the redeeming blood of Christ. Such in the confidence that we have through Christ towards God. [3.4] This new covenant, which removes the veil, enables us to see the glory of God, and (again, in case we haven’t yet got it), we are told that God’s glory transforms us: from one degree of glory to another.

After a reality check in chapter 4 about our weakness and suffering, Paul comes back to the theme of glory: Though we suffer now, we are being prepared for an eternal weight of glory. Glory and confidence are fully interlinked, of course, because our confidence comes from the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ.  And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. [John 1.14]

The 1^st part of chapter 5 deals with the resurrection of the body: in the middle of it, though he is assured that he will be raised, he abandons everything for the sake of his pure confidence in God: Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. [5.8]

By the time we reach 5.14, Paul has repeatedly hammered home the two parallels:

Confidence in God is placed alongside our own brokenness

Confidence in Christ’s redeeming work leads to our transformation and reconciling work

So here’s your homework!

1.      Ask yourself how confident you are. If you are confident, be careful that it’s not self-confidence that you’re dealing with. If you’re unconfident, then know that you can depend on God alone.

2.      Knowing that in Christ we are a new creation, think about the fact that you are already changed – you are a likeness of a saint! How can you let this new creation shine out of you without striving to be nice, or good, or artificially holy?

3.      Do you really, really believe that the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ’s Church? Or are you wasting a lot of missional time worrying about the death-throes of old institutional patterns?

4.      Are you confident in God and his Church, or in God despite his Church?

Practically pursuing holiness

The call to holiness is terrifying at the best of times. The Bible enjoins us to be holy, because God is holy, regularly repeated in the Old Testament, picked up in 1 Peter 1.16: for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy. Even more daunting are Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, calling us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is.

It’s not terrifying because I don’t understand it, but because I do. I am to be like God: there are no two ways about it. It’s not a warning so much as a given, a lifestyle command to the disciples of the Kingdom. And because I know myself only too well, it’s a command to a movement, a process, a journey, a dynamic change in which I expose my life to the gaze of those around me, so that they can help me to identify areas of work and potential growth.

It’s a work that the Holy Spirit must enable: the fruits of the Spirit listed by Paul in Galatians 5 are after all, fruits of the Spirit, with the emphasis boldly put on God. My part is played by collaborating with God, and I want to suggest some additional and very practical ways of pursuing an feeding a holy life in the everyday things this Lent.

1. At the beginning of the day, pray for the events of the day (so far as you know them) one by one. In so doing, you will enter those appointments and actions with the will to do them in the power of God. 
2. At the end of each day, respond thankfully to these actions and events by ‘counting your blessings, one by one.’ In so doing, you will create an inner environment of gratitude which will be likely to generate gracious attitudes in your thought and speech for several days to come. 
3. Identify one person to encourage by your true words. Don’t use flattery, and don’t overplay your words of encouragement, or they will sound hollow. It might simply be a compliment, or the voicing of a good thought about a sermon. How many of us never say thank you to the preacher! 
4. Look for one piece of good news on your favourite news channel, and make a note to talk about it to someone in the next few days. One I found today was that Atlantic Records is giving £26 million to Oxford University for student scholarships in the humanities. It’s hidden low down on the website, but it’s there.
5. Send one less email, and make a lot of people happy.

 I’d love to know what else you do to cultivate a personal environment of holy attitudes which lead to holy actions, so do please add your comments.

A Litany of the compassionate love of God

 Thank you precious Lord Jesus that you are the Word who became flesh and lived among us, and that we have seen your glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

Triune God we thank you. Thank you that you journey with us.

Thank you our Shepherd Lord that you lead us into green pastures, beside still waters, restoring our souls. Thank you that you lead us in right paths for your name's sake.

Triune God we thank you. Thank you that you journey with us.

Thank you Lord that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil; for you are with us; your rod and your staff, they comfort us. Thank you that goodness and mercy shall surely follow us all the days of our lives

Triune God we thank you. Thank you that you journey with us.

 Father, we thank you that you have given us an Advocate, the Spirit of truth, who abides with us and is in us. Thank you that we have not been left orphaned, for you have come to us.

 Triune God we thank you. Thank you that you journey with us.

Let's say together the words of the psalmist:

Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light around me become night’,

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is as bright as the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

Triune God we thank you. Thank you that you journey with us.

Lord we thank you for each other, that you call us to  provoke one another to love and good deeds, and to encourage one another. And thank you for the faithful saints who have gone before us,  so great a cloud of witnesses, and so let us also lay aside every weight and sin  and run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus so that we may not grow weary or lose heart.

Thank you triune God; thank you that you journey with us.

We have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

We are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone;  a holy temple in the Lord; a dwelling place for God.

 Thank you triune God; thank you that you journey with us. Amen

(Praying Scripture from John 1, 14, 15; Psalms 23, 139; Hebrews 10-12; Ephesians 2 - This Litany was prepared by Ruth Norris, intern with the Simeon Centre, for the Lenten Quiet Day on 25th February 2012 and is reproduced with deep thanks.)

Ringing in the Lenten changes

For those of us who live by school or university terms, Lent arrives at the worst possible time, in the coldest month, when the dark is grindingly awful and we're tired and behind in our work. I don't want to make it sound worse than it is, but Ash Wednesday creeps up on me unawares like it never did in the Caribbean. There, the excesses and explosive beauty (and sin) of Carnival pointed strongly towards the season of repentance. 

So I've caught myself just in time wondering what I might usefully do in refreshing my Kingdom discipline. What follows is not what I've decided to do (yet!), but some of the musings about a creative approach to the season, a series of prompts that might encourage you to do the same.

1.  The tyranny of the internet - this comes in so many shapes and sizes, that it's difficult to know where to begin, but there are several possible starting points:
    
• for those who struggle with internet porn, perhaps it's time to find an accountability partner. Visit Covenant Eyes.  

• if you are held prisoner to the need to answer instantly, or to check (yet again, on your mobile phone) in case that really, really important email has come in, a fast from email looking might be appropriate. Put in place a cut-off hour of the night beyond which you won't look, and maybe a period during the day too.

•  inboxes can become millstones. If you have 12,364 emails in your inbox, set aside an hour a week for the discipline of clearing out and tidying up.

2. The agitation of hurry - like you, I know that in an ideal world I would be more measured about the way I live, but I haven't got there yet, and am not sure that I can take on the world of church or academic busyness single-handed. However,

• for me, it's becoming increasingly important to build in five minute (or even two minute) pauses several times a day when I do nothing but sit, catch my breath, listen to the world, recollect myself for the next race, and pray. I think this is one of the key issues that I must address to punctuate a busy schedule with sabbath space.

• alternatively, you might consider a fasting walk once a week at lunch time. There's nothing worse than sitting down wishing your stomach would shut up. The virtue of walking is that you can no longer hear, or feel, the insistence of the gut!

3. The allure of fulfilment – I remember a speaker on the subject of happiness saying some years ago that we are biologically wired for desire, but not for fulfilment. At the time it felt true, if overstated. Certainly, the ‘instant gratification’ of our consumerism in all its aspects leads to dullness or increased desire. Whether abstaining from chocolate or alcohol is a good thing for you, only you can judge. Don’t use fasting as an excuse for dieting: if you need to diet, just diet. But fasting is a discipline primarily intended to help us remember that the Kingdom of God is both now and not yet; that the battle against sin, the flesh and the devil is won on the cross, but the war is not over. So fast:

•  from something where you need to separate want from need;

•  from an innocent activity which is too dominant in your life;

•  by giving something to someone else that you would really like to hold on to.

4. The seduction of the ugly – having just finished reading Umberto Eco’s book On Ugliness, I am struck by the difficulty of defining beauty and ugliness, and have come to wonder whether they are opposites or part of a bigger picture. However, he’s made me more aware of beauty that corrupts and ugliness that tells the truth. In Philippians 4, the apostle Paul encourages us to learn to think and look in a new way: at the honourable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable or excellent elements of life. Perhaps there’s a final, ‘add-on’ discipline which I need to pursue:

• by committing myself to a weekly act of creativity or appreciation (which could even be a Lenten trip to a museum!);

• by indulging myself in my latest exploration of praying through the lens of a camera and recording it on the 365 Photo Project;

• by reflecting on and attempting to practise Paul’s stricture in 1 Thessalonians 5.22, using the language of the KJV: Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Finally, if you have any other bright ideas about encouraging us all in the discipline of Lent, do comment below on the blog or send me your ideas to be added at my email address..

With every blessing for a godly and holy Lent

Adrian Chatfield

When ministry is rocky and stormy

Psalm 37
Do not fret
But I do fret Lord
I spend too much time and energy fretting
and allowing difficult people to turn into giants
and fill my view
till I can hardly see you.

because of those who are evil 
or be envious of those who do wrong; 
for like the grass they will soon wither, 
like green plants they will soon die away. 

Help me to get them in proportion
with your greatness Lord and your constancy.

Trust in the LORD 

So simple. So obvious.
So why so hard?
The opposite of fretting.
Why – oh why – don’t I do it more?
And how?

Frustrated with my feeble faith.

and do good; 

My call.
Whatever situation
What does it mean to do good here?
Sounds delightfully uncomplicated.

dwell in the land

But so often I want to flee.
And this seems to be at the heart of rural ministry.
Rootedness.
Struggling – and feeling I am failing.
In this place which most people think is paradise.
Fearful... fretting.... flight.
Answer? Trust in the Lord. I tell myself.

and enjoy safe pasture. 

But
And this is the rub
I don’t feel safe
most of the time.
Such pressure.
Such expectation.
Impossible expectations – for one human being.
And so exposed.
So exposed.
Claustrophobic.

And so surprised at this
 As an extravert – open – beyond my own good...
Who loves the countryside (though this is really something else...)
And being part of a community (though this is such an alien community)
(What would it be like to live here and not be the vicar?)

And it’s such a small world.
Their world.
Most of them know no other.
And want to know no other.

Hard to just dwell here
when you’ve spent the last few years being expanded...

Do I have to shrink again?

Take delight in the LORD,
Fill my view again Lord.
How has this happened?
Please
Increase
And satisfy me...

and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Really?
Really?
Really? Dare I hope to be happy?
Dare I even venture into the arena of my desires?
 For family... and friends... and fun... and creativity...and
Pleasure?

Commit your way to the LORD; 
trust in him and he will do this: 
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, 
your vindication like the noonday sun. 
Be still before the LORD 
and wait patiently for him;

Home territory – but hard here
Never felt so pressured to be active
To have to explain (feeling I am making excuses for my weakness)
My need for prayer and stillness.

And why do I feel I have to explain anyway???

do not fret
There it is again.

when people succeed in their ways, 
when they carry out their wicked schemes. 
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; 
There’s been some anger.
Not sure with what or who...
All over the place, I suppose...

do not fret 
There it is again.

it leads only to evil.
Ok. So how?

Inclusion and Exclusion, Salvation and Judgement

Earlier this term, Jill Chatfield spoke to the Ridley Hall community on the theme of ‘exclusion and inclusion’, based on the two readings from Genesis 3 and Matthew 22.1-14. What follows is an edited version of that short talk by way of encouragement and challenge to readers of this blog.

In our Genesis reading Adam and Eve were decisively EXCLUDED from the Garden of Eden. In Jesus’ parable, the good and the bad, the throng on the town streets, were ALL just as decisively INCLUDED in the King’s invitation to the wedding banquet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and tasted the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their eyes were opened, their innocence destroyed, and the freedom to choose became an awesome responsibility, a terrible burden and a dangerous liability.

In that first bite, in their surrender to the lies of the serpent, Adam and Eve denied God’s truth (‘did God really say?’); denied God’s goodness (‘when you eat, your eyes will be opened’) and denied God’s otherness (‘when you eat, you will be like God’.)

They set themselves up as the centre of their universe, the sole arbiters of truth, goodness and godliness. In so doing, they excluded themselves from the privileged relationship of intimacy that they had enjoyed with their Creator.

Exclusion and judgement followed.

NEVERTHELESS

The Creator’s desire to draw people back into the Garden of Eden, into intimate relationship with himself, is evident in Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet.

In this parable, God’s invitation to sit at table at his Son’s wedding feast is rejected by those who saw themselves as God’s favoured few and goes out to all and sundry. INCLUSION and salvation are offered to all, the good and the bad. Simple acceptance of the invitation is all that is required, although, interestingly, those who try to come in by the back door on terms of their own are summarily ejected.

INCLUSION and EXCLUSION, salvation and judgement, are both central to the nature and purpose of God.

God’s holiness is an exclusive holiness that necessarily banishes all that is not godly; God’s love is an inclusive love that seeks to embrace the whole of his creation. Only God can draw the line that determines what and who is IN (and) what and who is OUT.

INCLUSION and EXCLUSION, salvation and judgement, are also both central to our activity as human beings. We are stewards of the creation and of the Gospel, beings made in the image of God, descendants of Adam and inheritors of the freedom to choose. So we too have to make judgements and proclaim God’s salvation.

Woe betide us if we fall into the same temptation as Adam and make ourselves the arbiters of what is good and true. That is God’s sole prerogative and we should not be too hasty in our assumptions about who will sit at table in God’s heavenly banquet.

As we exercise our stewardship of the Gospel, we should be cautious in passing judgement and generous in proclaiming salvation.

We should seek to cultivate integrity of intellect, as we seek to discover God’s truth; obedience of heart, as we allow ourselves to be shaped by that truth; humility of spirit, as we engage with other seekers of truth; and awareness of our imperfect apprehension of God’s truth as we enter into debate about how to apply that truth to the issues that confront us as individuals, as community, as church and as nation.

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