This is the second of these annual services that I have been to and once again it was a brilliant experience. There is something significant about doing things together with other Christians and other churches. The New Testament has a lot to say on unity and working together. This is particularly relevant in small rural villages where working together enhances our witness of God's love for us.
Planning the service takes a number of meetings throughout the year as representatives from Baptist, Anglican, Catholic, LEP (Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, URC) and independent churches seek to shape a service that will have some points of familiarity for everyone but will also bring something new from other traditions in a way that does not exclude anyone from taking part.
This year our guest speaker was Rowan Williams who had chosen to speak on the topic of 'Engaging with Post Christian Britain'. He was great and here is my summary of what he said.
Engaging with anyone can only properly happen after we have engaged with God. If we're not engaged with God there is no point trying to engage with anyone else.
Rather than thinking about post-Christian Britain we should be thinking about a Britain that half remembers - and this brings with it both positives and negatives. We have a story to tell - the story of Jesus. And as you read the gospels, whatever else this story may or may not be it certainly isn't boring. So how has the church managed, so often, to make this story seem boring? How do we try and communicate with the world?
Bigger or Smaller?
When we talk about our Christian faith does it come across as something that makes the world bigger or smaller? Because our faith should make the world bigger. Our faith enables us to see more, to love more, to rejoice more, to make us more human. It enables us to see the thing in us that needs to be dealt with.
The tragedy is that so often our presentation of the gospel makes the world smaller. We want a faith that defends us from the real world, that keeps us safe. But Jesus says that reality is grounded in God - and therefore we need to move into a bigger world. Being a Christian gives you more resources to look at and make sense of life.
Beginning or Ending?
Hearing and responding to the gospel is a beginning and not an ending. It is the beginning of a new life, it is not something that now achieved marks a conclusion. But sometimes the church can think of it as an ending - all our effort is focused on getting someone to that point and then there is nothing else. But there is a whole life ahead and so much to be done. The NT talks about new creation and new life. It's about being released into something, from something into something new. Being release into a world where we discover and grow. It's an endless pilgrimage towards God - not an endless loop. Do we present the faith as a beginning or as an end?
Harder or Easier?
The world often thinks that we have a faith because it makes things easier. But the truth is that the gospel makes things harder. If you're after anything for an easier life - then don't start to follow Jesus! The gospel is not about an easier life. Jesus says follow me and take risks. Take up your cross and follow. It's hard and it hurts to let go of the things that we need to let go of if we're going to follow Jesus. Rather than a comfort blanket our faith is a call to take risks.
Jesus gives people a bigger view of the world, he gives them a new beginning, he tells us that it is going to be hard but he promises to work with us and be with us.
In our presentation of the gospel and our engagement with the world do we find the stories and the faces that bring this to life?
This is what faith looks like...
We all need good stories to tell of our faith. We need to be able to point to lives that show what Christianity looks like. These lives will not be boring they will not be small.
When we know these stories then we have something to talk about. We point to Jesus and the fullness of life that the gospel points to.
When engaging with post Christian Britain it is good to remember what kind of book the Bible is. It's not a book of strategy or theory. We start with the story. The act of God in opening up and transforming life. That's the Bible we've got. The Bible we need to be sharing. The strategy matters in its place etc but the lever that starts a shift in a person's life is the story.
Let us be alert to the lives where this makes a difference - and learn to share these stories.
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