Settlements and Peace in Israel/Palestine

At a time when there is such controversy over Methodism' support for a boycott og goods from the settlements on occupied land, here is an article which remonds us why the settlements are an obstacle to peace. Yes, Methodism like Christian Aid and the TUC are right on this one! A please dear reader remember that the peace which is currently being frustrated is in the interests of Paletinians and Israelies alike. So yes the issue presented here is a no brainer!

Free churches suggest Chancellor got his numbers wrong

Churches have voiced concern over Chancellor George Osborne’s inaccurate use of welfare fraud statistics in his Spending Review speech.

The Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church have criticised the Chancellor for claiming that welfare fraud is responsible for cheating tax payers out of £5 billion a year.

A Department of Work and Pensions report published last week stated that welfare fraud accounts for £1 billion of money lost, with tax credit fraud accounting for an additional £0.6 billion, leading to £1.6 billion lost in total. Church leaders said the exaggerated £5 billion figure depicts the poorest and most vulnerable in society as thieves.

“Exaggerating benefit fraud points the finger of blame at the poor,” said Revd Alison Tomlin, President of the Methodist Conference. “Let us be clear this recession was not caused by the poor, those on benefits, or even benefit cheats. The poorest in society only got poorer during the boom years and it’s simply not fair to make them pay for the bust.

“Questions also need to be asked about the £7 billion of uncollected tax revenues that the Chancellor claims he is targeting. According to the HMRC, there is approximately £42 billion in uncollected revenues; why does Mr Osborne only speak of £7 billion?”

Revd Graham Sparkes, Head of Faith and Unity at the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said: “There is already deep concern that the severe reductions in welfare provision will cause immense hardship to the most vulnerable. This misuse of figures to exaggerate the scale of benefit fraud only adds to the sense of injustice.”

Mr Simon Loveitt, Public Issues Spokesperson for the United Reformed Church, added: “The coalition government is very keen to talk about fairness and the false notion that ‘we are all in this together’, but the Chancellor’s exaggeration of fraud and last week’s Comprehensive Spending Review confirm the grim reality that it is those who are most vulnerable who will pay the price for that which is so clearly not their fault.”


SOURCE: Methodist Church News

Saints of God - A sermon for All saints based on Luke 6: 20 - 31

One of the highlights of the recent visit of Pope Benedict was the canonisation of John Henry Newman in Birmingham. The criteria for such canonisation is theological soundness, extreme holiness and the performance of two miracles. Two further miracles will be required before Newman will be able to be raised by this or a future Pope to the level of being recognised as a "Saint."

The papacy of John Paul was particularly notable for the number of saints recognised by the church. This continues very much under Benedict. But of course the practice has a long history behind it. Certainly the church has especially in difficult times found great comfort and inspiration in the celebration of its saints. After all many of them show us the potential of lives that are lived out to God's glory.

Within Protestantism there has often been some disquiet concerning the understanding of sainthood in both Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. This owes not a little to the abuses of relic worship at the time of the Reformation. An unfounded suspicion that Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians worship rather than venerate their saints, adds to the divide.

Hence the Protestant emphasis has tended to be that all Christians and not just the superstars of faith are called to be saints. For me that is the gist of the line in the Apostles creed in which we speak of the "communion of saints." We belong with all the people of God across the divides of time - church militant and church triumphant!

So perhaps both Roman Catholic and Protestant understandings of sainthood have something to teach us. At times we profit in our faith by looking to those Christians who have displayed heroic and extraordinary qualities. And indeed such people are not limited to those who acquire the title "saint." But we also do well to see the sainthood of the multitude called by God into being followers of Christ.

I am one who has benefited from the ordinary unsung saints of Christ. In my ministry there have been those times when very ordinary people have ministered to me in extraordinary ways. I think of the woman in Peel on the Isle of Man who coming to the end of her life stopped me from praying for her until I first gave thanks to God. I think of the very quiet woman from North Devon, a woman normally not prone to having much to say for herself who just a couple of days from her death responded to my prayer for her by praying for me, the minister whom she had only known for a short time. And dare I suggest that most of you will at times have been blessed and given heart by the everyday saints that surround us. That is why I believe in the church - not because I love the institutional side of things but because in our gathering together we are encouraged by one another amidst our shared ordinariness.

Not that there is anything ordinary about our calling. Indeed we are called to be signs of God's transforming mission. We see that very much in what is known as the Sermon on the Plain. This sermon does not offer the spiritual get out that we are tempted to reach for in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. On the contrary, this sermon spoken to the followers of Jesus is a fundamental challenge to the world as it is.

The challenge operates on two levels. The first is that it reminds us that we are called to be in solidarity with the poor. Nothing surprising about this - after all we see plenty of it from the Old Testament prophets as well as in the teachings and actions of Jesus. Indeed as one Methodist minister recently put it;

"Cut the poor out of the Bible and you cut out God."

The Sermon on the Plain comes against the background of a society in which the reality for many was a stifling poverty which was reinforced by a tax system that made the richer ever richer through the continuous impoverishment of the poor. It was in all honesty a system that stank. And so the blessings demonstrate God's favour to the poor - those who wept not just for themselves but for their parents and offspring who were also caught in the trap of deprivation. Meanwhile the curses demonstrate an anger directed against those whose wealth originated from keeping the poor down.

Might this speak to us today? I think the answer has to be Yes! It speaks to us in terms the poverty of the "Third World." As Garth Hewitt puts it in one of his songs;

"The rich world makes its living from the poor world on its knees."

In the past week the Daily Mail has been particularly vocal in its campaign against this country's aid budget which is nearing the UN target set so long ago of 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product. Well the news for them is that this objective is pure gospel. But we also need to question a range of issues concerning trade justice before we can say that we are truly good news to the poor world, issues surrounding our use of subsidies, dumping and the opposition to tariffs behind which such economies can grow as once we did.

And then within our own country we face the challenge of ensuring that austerity does not bite those whose needs are greatest. I know some say we should keep out of politics but I tell you there is no such thing as a worthwhile church that does not in some way stand alongside the poor - be that in charitable endeavour or through being a voice for the voiceless. So if people are going to end up living on the streets in greater numbers as is a current possibility or if they are reduced to being unsure as to where there next meal is coming from, the followers of Christ have not an option but a duty to challenge those in appropriate positions of power. And to do it in the face of condemnation on the part of those who would rather that the voiceless remain mute or who would blame the poor for their plight! After all some things are too important to be left to politicians alone!

The second challenge is to resist wrong in nonviolent ways which keep open the possibilities of reconciliation. Love for enemies means seeking their good in ways that they might be surprised at. Hatred is not and cannot be a Christian option but neither is being a doormat a Christian virtue. Jesus speaks of ways of disarming aggression with a creative but non violent resistance. Turning the cheek means no longer accepting a backhander with the contempt it involves that sees the target as a lower person but instead stating to the aggressor that now they could only carry out aggression in a way that recognised the target as an equal human to themselves. Likewise giving a shirt as well to the one who demands a coat only demonstrates their aggression as well as shaming them in a society where to witness nakedness was a shaming thing.

And don't today we need to be creative in resisting violence? As Gandhi reminds an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth creates nothing but a world of blind and toothless people. Today of all days we should give thanks to those who have creatively resisted the dark powers of violence, people such as Martin Luther ling and Desmond Tutu who have lived out a conviction that love is ultimately stronger than hatred or any of the symbols of violence.

Such challenges lead us into the way of Christ. By following him we join the great company of saints. Yes, today give thanks for those canonised! Give thanks for those about whom we read in books and hear of in sermons. But most of all in company with the followers of Christ let us seek to be his saints for today.

Lesbia Scott, wife of an Anglican priest on Dartmoor puts it well in a song she wrote for her children in the 1920s;

I sing a song of the saints of God,
Patient and brave and true,
Who toiled and fought and lived and died
For the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor,
And one was a queen,
And one was a shepherdess on the green:
They were all of them saints of God--and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
And his love made them strong;
And they followed the right, for Jesus' sake,
The whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier,
And one was a priest,
And one was slain by a fierce wild beast:
And there's not any reason--no, not the least,
Why I shouldn't be one too.

They lived not only in ages past,
There are hundreds of thousands still,
The world is bright with the joyous saints
Who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, or
In lanes, or at sea,
In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too.

May we who are indeed surrounded by "a great cloud of witnesses" be inspired to be God's saints for today that the transforming power of God's kingdom might be glimpsed.

One came back - A sermon for Proper 23 C based on Luke 17: 11-19

Borders are dangerous places. They are the places where opposing powers come into conflict. Think of the artificial borders of World War 1 or that of Israel and Palestine. In times of animosity nowhere is more dangerous than a border. And then in some cities there are borders between areas of great wealth and those of great poverty.

Sometimes measure are taken to create security. In World War 1 trenches were dug. Out in Israel/Palestine a walll has been constructed to keep out those who might threaten harm to Israel. And gaited communities have increasingly emerged to protect the wealthy from the great unwashed.

In this morning's gospel reading Jesus is at a border or perhaps a sort on "no man's" land. On one side is Samaria. on the other side is Galilee. And here we meet two peoples who have little regard for each other.

The history of this particular conflict lay many centuries earlier. Samaria hasd been then home of ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. But in the eighth century BC the armies of Assyria had overrun them. Many Jewish people were taken into exile whilst many non Jewish people were planted into the land. The result was a people who were racially mixed and seen as religiously comprimised. Of particular significance was that these Samaritans looked to worship God at Mount Gerizim as opposed to the Jewish practice of worshipping God at the temple in Jerusalem.

By the time of Jesus the poison betwen two peoples had been running for several centuries and both peoples had their folklore of insults from the other people. And so at the time of Jesus it was normal for Jewish people to keep away from Samaritans even if it meant journeys being much longer as a result.

Luke has himself shown us something of the bad relationship between the two people. Samaritans have refused to receive Jesus and so James and John have responded with a desire to call down fire from heaven to consume them. Jesus has rebuled them and even later told a story in which a Samaritans has emerged as the epitome of good neigbourliness. In this we see the Jesus who refuses to be governed by the man made barriers that separate peoples and keep them apart.

In this narrative we find a group of lepers. Now it is probable that they were not suffering from Hansen's disease which we think of as leprosy today. It is probably some other skin disease. But just because it was not that which is so dreaded today doesn't mean that being a leper was anything other than an awful experience. Any skin disease is unpleasant as I know having a daughter who has had exzema. But the probablem in this culture was greater for there was a fear of such diseases being contagious. So lepers were forced out from their communities to fend for themselves. "Unclean! Unclean!" became the traditional cry of the leper. So it was that these lepers crying out to Jesus were a community of need. And in need perhaps it didn't quite matter who was a Jew and who was a Samaritan - perhaps it need never have been other for Galilean and Samaritan alike were looked down upon by the Jerusalm elite and so perhaps should have made common cause without needing to be cast out first!

We do not see Jesus actually work a healing. He simply tells the lepers to go and show themselves to the priests. After all it was the priests who could certify that they were clean and so enable them to return to normal society. And quite clearly at some point the lepers whilst on the road discover that indeed the leprosy has gone. Now nine of them carry on with their journey. And indeed they are doing exactly what Jesus has told them to do. We can imagine their excitement for Jesus has in a sense rehumanised them. They are fully human once more. They count again! Dignity is restored.

But one leper comes back. One wonders why he was even on the road. After all no priest would have much time for him. Oh his leprosy might be gone but no priest is going to certify that he is free from Samaritanism. The journey will only lead him towards rejection. Yet this despised Samaritan is to be the one blessed most of all. He wants to see Jesus. He wants to thank God for what has happened. And even if his theological understanding is back to front, he wants the world to know that God has been working in his life and that he fully recognises the fact. No wonder Jesus sees him as one who has attained a wholeness, a wellbeing that goes beyond mere cure.

I rather like this story. too often the church has dehumanised those who don't fit in with its thinking but Jesus rehumanises thosewho bore the scars and indeed the stigma of leprosy. Censorious people and the religiously orthodox would sense divine judgement in their sufferings but Jesus would see in their suffering merely an opportunity for divine grace. And that grace would be most remarkably displayed through the greatest outsider of them all.

Indeed here we see the inclusiveness of Jesus. His grace builds bridges where foolish men have erected walls and barriers. And too often the church has been part of the problem. Our history is littered with the anti semitism that made the Holocaust possible. Misfits were persecuted as witches and even killed by the Medieval Church. Africans were enslaved and elsewhere treated as lesser in part at least due to Christendom's perversion of scripture. And time and again every prophetic voice for justice and liberation has been confronted by other voices using scripture and church tradition to drown out the cries for freedom. And what of today? Sometimes within the church we can be dismissive of the faith journey of those of other faiths, nowadays especially Muslims. We can at times be cruel to those whose sexuality leads them to seek loving same sex relationships. We can at times treat with disdain those trapped in poverty or disability.

Yet this scripture challenges us to new ways of seeing God's world. For God values not just those who think and act as us. Far from it God is radically inclusive in love. And we can keep up with God or get left behind. But keeping up with God means rejoicing in those times when God's grace is revealed in surprising ways and to surprising people. Keeping up with God means identifying with God's work of giving value to all, of rehumanising the dehumanised. And then like a Samaritan whose religious understanding may have been all at sea, giving to God the thanks that are well and truly due to God.