Bread and fishes made fit for many - A farewell service for Bideford Methodist Church nased on Matthew 14: 13 - 21

It was back in December that I was asked how I interpreted the parable of the feeding of the 5,000. I mumbled a bit about the possibility of a miracle of generosity and the likes. I am not sure if I convinced anyone least of all myself what I was talking about. Still two days later I received the telephone call that told me that the Nottingham East Circuit Invitation Committee had decided to invite to join their ministerial team in September.

Well what a surprise to find that for my last Sunday in the Bideford Circuit, the gospel reading in the lectionary is about this very same feeding of the 5,000. So I get another go!

But time is short. So I don't want to revisit the question as to how little food became much food other than to to say that what we have before us is an incredible transformation. After all five loaves and two fishes of the sort that this scripture concerns would according to commentators struggle to feed more than a dozen people much less 5,000 men and an unknown number of women and children.

Nor do I want say too much about effect that this miracle had upon those present. That is other than to assert that this miracle is quite unique in appearing in all four gospels whilst a separate feeding of 4,000 appears in both Matthew's and Mark's gospels. But if you want to know the effect of this feeding look no further than John's gospel where you will find that many people were minded to make Jesus King by force - a seemingly suicidal act given the propensity of Rome to use wholly disproportionate violence to put down and to deter rebellions!

This morning I want to look at 3 simple points concerning this feeding.

The first is that when Jesus feeds the crowd he does so with generous extravagance. Fed to the full they are with a dozen baskets of leftovers full to the brim. Is this not a picture as to how Jesus gives to us? This is no reluctant giver but one who gives to the max and still has more to offer. Indeed what we have here is a picture of the love and grace of Jesus. Not something we can put false limits upon but something which amazes us from day to day. And notice there would be many in the crowd who might be deemed undeserving but this matters not a jot to the Jesus who scandalises us by loving not just those whom we might approve of but every manner of reprobate as well. For here is a clear message of a wideness in the mercy and favour of God.

Secondly there is the trust that Jesus inspires. You know the saying, "You are what you eat" - not a comfortable saying for someone like me who loves black oudding and whose favourite part of a roast chicken is the parson's nose! Today we still care that food is properly prepared as anyone who has suffered food poisoning can bear witness. We care what the ingredients are especially in our awareness of allergic reactions. But in the time of Jesus the purity of the provider and handlers would also be a concern. Yet in this story we find a suspension of any such distrust. the normal rules are abandoned. Why? because Jesus not only is seeen to be trustworthy but he is in the business of changing people and how they see the world.

And finally Jesus heralds a new community. The background to the story in Matthew's gospel is that just before Matthew has told the story of another feast. This feast hosted by Herod Antipas for the Roman elite has ended in dark violence with the beheading of John the Baptist. How different though is this feast hosted by Jesus. It begins with Jesus being motivated by compassion. And what ensues is not the self centred nastiness of the Herodian court but an inclusive invitation from which none are excluded. Here the lowly are as important as the mighty and the poor are as valued as the rich. Here none can lord it over others with power of life or death. Here none are too insignificant to have a place.

This is a new way of community living. We are reminded that the message of an end to domination which lies at the heart of Magnificat and which is a recurrent them in the teaching of Jesus, is an important part of the gospel message. Our faith is not about applying holy oil to exploitative and unjust structures. Rather it is about us being led into God's way of being in which the hitherto least significant person's hopes and dreams are as important as those of the hitherto mighty and powerful. For justice and liberation far from being options are gosepl imperatives. The search for them is a cause that will ever continue, a hope that will ever endure and a vision that will never die as long as there are followers of Jesus.

So this morning as I take my leave of you I commend to you the grace of Jesus which is totally inexhaustible, the capacity of Jesus to change our perspectives and the challenge left to us by Jesus to work at transforming our communities and world in a manner consistent with the messages of the prophets and most of all that which has been revealed by Jesus of the Kingdom of God.

So I encourage you to go on as the followers of Jesus confident in the knowledge of his love for each and very one of you. And as you do so may you continue through you living and your witness to be sign of his Kingdom.

Farewell to Gammaton - A sermon for closing of Gammaton Methodist Church based on Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 and Matthew 17: 1-9

Today we come together to share in the end of the Methodist work in this chapel. We do so with some real sorrow for here is a place with a long Methodist history.

Methodism in these parts goes back some 200 years - first with services taking place at the home of a Mr Beailey at Brownscombe before being based in a cottage just below where we gather this afternoon. When the numbers became to large for that location they moved to a nearby barn before taking the decision in 1835 to build a chapel on this site. We do not know when the foundation stone was laid or indeed when the chapel was opened. But we need not trouble ourselves for the Church Council in a moment of great insight chose to celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary in 1989. So rightly or wrongly we date this chapel back to 1839.

That is indeed a long history. But more importantly it is a history in which we can take great pride. Back in 1900 The Bideford Wesleyan Circuit magazine told of Gammaton's "loyal and generous support of connexional and circuit funds giving it a place among the first of our village centres" whilst also observing that "its public teas and accompanying meetings have for long made it a centre of attraction to many outside the membership of the Methodist Church." Well in a few minutes we will enjoy the last of those teas and I guess more than a few of you faced with that propspect will be murmuring under your breath, "Get on with it!" and that such murmuring might be a little louder if the hint is not taken.

Indeed Gammaton has also hosted a society with a strong musical tradition to which its hymns have been sung. The records tell us of flutes and clarionettes and great musical events. And then of the arrival of the harmonium an instrument first played by a Miss Chamings.

But more than that Gammaton has been a gathering of people of faith. A number of remarkable characters have contrinuted to the spiritual life of this place. Sometimes such people have been a bit on the vocal side such a Grace Scott who if she approved of the direction of the service would start clapping her hands and exclaiming, "Praise the Lord!" Or a Mrs Sanders from Woodville who clearly with a touch of the Billy Brays, when prior to a class meeting remembering that she had left her best shoes near the fiure to warm them up. discovered that one of them was badly burnt, rather than blaming herself for carelessness, cried out, " Never mind, Mr Devil, you shall not keep me fromclass; I shall wear my old ones!"

Yet it is steafast faith that has been a hallmark of the people called Methodists who have met here. Children have been educated in the faith and adults have been built up in a faith that has enabled them to live victoriously. Indeed when I faced the District Probationer's Committee for examination as to whether I should be recommended for ordination, my interrogation was led by a former meber of this church, Rev Linda Barriball - and believe you me the experience cost me a good few pounds in weight!

That was then and now is now! But I would like to say at this point that the small faithful band whom I have got to know here are very much the equal of their ancestors from the past. This has remained a place of real faith, fine hospitality and a proud musical tradition - the number may have been few especially after the deaths in the past 18 months of Bob and Jean Bellew and indeed Elsie Bellew not so long before but I can tell you that there has never been any question about wholehearted singing of hymns in this place.

And yet today we prepare to move out from this place. The preacher in Ecclesiates talks about there being a time for seemingly contradictory activities. And in those words are great wisdom. In 1835 it was a time to build on this site. Today it is a time to move on. Why? Because the needs have changed. The demographics of this area are not what they once were. Patterns of transportation are also not what they once were. And so as a a society we have been faced with a quest to find out what is most in the interests of God's church and ultimately God's kingdom for us to do. Oh yes, as Bob Dylan put it so prohetically, "The times, they are a changin." And we know that in changing times the church can never stand still.

This afternoon our gospel reading took us back to that strange story of the transfiguration of Jesus. Matthew tells us of how the disciples were astounded at what they saw. Peter was tempted to hold onto the moment. That is why he suggested that he along with James and John should build shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He was as we so often are, tempted to hold on to the wondrous experience. But that is not how the story ends. For a voice from heaven tells them to listen to Jesus. And of course listening to Jesus means that soon they will be going back to a world of disbelief and conflict.

We can so easily fall into the trap of equating the calling of God to a place that is precious to us. You know the sort of thing where place and God become intertwined. I don't mean to suggest that we should not have deep feelings for the places where we have experienced the holy. I feel a sense of sorrow whenever I drive pass the church where I was confirmed and find it is a church no more. But we need to grasp the urgency of God's kingdom, the kingdom that is at the heart of the teachings of Jesus, and this means recognising that the shape of the church which points to this kingdom is forever changing according to the needs of the time.

As we prepare to move on from this church, we go knowing that we will continue to meet with God in other places. And to those other places, members of Gammaton you have much to contribute. for in the past four years I have seen in this place great faithfulness to the gospel. I have seen great sensitivity to the needs of society. I have seen great gifts of hospitality. I have seen a great desire to engage in meaningful worship. And I have seen what it is to live as a closely knit community. In a way what is happening today is not so much the end of Gammaton but an invitation to take Gammaton to other places of faith.

Here in this sanctuary for over 170 years there has been a great story of faith. Today we thank God for it. And we bring it to a conclusion that is certainly not one of despair or defeat. Gammaton has journeyed in faith. It mission has been completed. Now let all that is good about Gammaton be shared with other church in this area to God's praise and glory.

John Prescott's letter to Daviod Cameron in 2009.

Just for anyone interested here is a letter written to David Cameron in 2009 warning him of the dangers of appointing Ansy Coulson. Seversl others sent advice to Mr Cameron before he took Coulson into No 10.

Mr Cameron chose to ignore such advice. His inability to see the dangers that clearly lay ahead raises significant questions as to his fitness to be Prime Minister. He is the author of his difficulties and it is hard to think of another Prime Minister in the past half century who would have stubbornly ignored the avalanche of advice that was offered to Mr Cameron. In this matter he las let not only himself but the country down.

Sowing to Jubilee - A sermon for Pentecost+4 YrA based on Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

I guess that the most rural church in the Bideford Circuit is a fitting place for us to be looking at that most rural of parables, the Parable of the Sower.

After all this is a story that reflects on life as lived by one who is dependent on the land for the outcome of the seeds he sows - seeds whose return will determine his and his family’s material wellbeing.

As child I was told that parables were “earthly stories with heavenly meanings.” The trouble with such an outlook is that it has the effect of making the stories of Jesus somewhat removed from the daily struggles of life as well as conveniently removing Jesus from controversial political and economic debates. Indeed it divorces the gospel from justice issues in the here and now relegating it to a matter of “pie in the sky.”

And yet I am convinced that those who first heard the parable would have related it to the very real injustices that afflicted them. After all nothing could be more painfully unjust to Palestinian peasants than the matter of land ownership. The peasant working the land faced a daily struggle for subsistence. He depended on a decent yield from his sowing so that he night feed his family, pay the rent, pay a range of taxes and tolls as well as purchase sufficient seed so that that the cycle might continue for the following year and into the future.

Should he fail to do so he would need a loan which in those pre banker days would come from a wealthy landowner - at the time of Jesus often those who were beneficiaries of the patronage of Rome. Further failure would result in the peasant farmer having to default and in the process losing his land and needing to sell his labour. In short this was a system through which the rich got richer and built up great estates whilst the poor grew poorer and ever more dependent. The great prophet Isaiah of Jerusalem had expressed regret at this concentration of wealth and power in ever fewer hands several centuries before the coming of Jesus but along with other prophets of justice he had been ignored by ruling elites who preferred to keep religion safe and unthreatening.

So when Jesus told this story he was drawing attention to centuries of wrong which had caused far too much suffering, suffering in which religious elites had colluded.

Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry linked his vision of the Kingdom of God with the ancient vision of Jubilee which is rooted in the Book of Leviticus. This involved the periodic cancellation of debt (an inspiration to those who through Jubilee 2,000 sought cancellation of the debts of the world’s poorest nations ), return of land to original owners and the freeing of slaves. This vision whose DNA if not its every detail given the changing ordering of society should be a part of our vision today, had the purpose of ensuring a society in which justice is underpinned. Dare I say it, but it represents a serious vision to ensure inclusion of all people in society with a fair distribution of the fruits of their labours. That it was barely implemented makes it no less of a challenge to us in an increasingly unequal world today!

I suspect that this parable is a challenge to embrace the vision of Jubilee and the justice that flows from it. But it is also a warning as to how we might be obstacles rather than enablers of the vision.

Jesus speaks of four types of soil which represents differing responses. There is the shallow response which seeks benefits from the gospel but which lacks the commitment to see matters through. Then there’s the response that falls away when confronted by persecution. This is a very human response and soon we will see the disciples themselves give way to this fear in the face of Roman power which brings Jesus to a criminal’s execution - indeed perhaps the fear of persecution lies behind this week’s big story in which politicians of both the main political parties along with others among the great and good bowed down to the Murdoch Empire and its prejudices in large part out of fear of the consequences of making a stand until such time as News International’s moral bankruptcy was laid bare to face public revulsion! Thirdly there are those discipleship begins with sincerity but is ultimately choked out through love of wealth and privilege - the rich young ruler being an example. But finally there are those who hold firm to Jubilee values as will the disciples and others who emerge as followers of Jesus down through the centuries often resisting the collusion of church with ruling elites, a failing which dates back to the coup through which the blood stained Emperor Constantine gained power over the church in the early 4th century subsequent to the Battle of Milvian Ridge.

Most of us are at various times examples of each of the negative outcomes. Yet we can be world changers when we embrace Jubilee and become as good soil. Here Jesus speaks of thirty, sixty and a hundredfold bumper harvests. Listeners would gasp at this. After all the best that could be hoped for by the Palestinian farmer was six fold! But Jesus is pointing his hearers to an incredible possibility - the possibility that his followers might through identifying with God be the means through which the whole cycle of indebtedness of not just farmer but village and even nations might be brought to an end. Now the parable points to a world in which each person might have life with abundance.

I see this parable as containing a message of real hope for the followers of Jesus. Our ordinariness is not an obstacle to our being used to extraordinary effect when we allow ourselves to be allied to the liberating purposes of God. Here we encounter the good news that God’s kingdom of justice, peace and joy can break through into our world that is often dominated by despair and cynicism.

In two weeks time this fellowship at Gammaton will be closed down. We may well go in different directions. But I urge you to hang on to what you have learnt in fellowship with one another in this church that you might go forwards knowing that whilst the mission in this place is completed, you may well be the means through which in other places God’s kingdom of justice and liberation takes root and you like the sower may see change that goes beyond your wildest dreams.

A trip to Nottingham, a protest, a holiday and a national scandal

Well I’ve been quiet this past couple of weeks. The reason has been that I’ve had plenty going on.

Firstly I have been on a trip to Nottingham. This was in part so that my daughter could attend an induction day at her new school where she will be doing A Level studies. It also became a chance to meet some of the people we shall be getting to know in Arnold and to have a second look at the manse.

Soon after my return I was involved in an anti cuts protest in Barnstaple. The atmosphere was great and certainly there were a number of people involved whom I have enjoyed getting to know over the past year. There were speeches at the end which dealt with the effect of cuts on various groups of people including young people who are hit by cuts in the youth service, worrying cuts in further education provision , elderly people for whom the going is getting harder as well as those suffering from addiction problems and disabled people who are very much a part of a worrying picture in the health service. I was one of the speakers. My main point was that only a mad man or a monster could cuts housing when we have homes that need to be built and unemployed building workers. Likewise a similar picture arises regarding education and health care. What sort of country fails to provide jobs for much needed newly qualified nurses, leaving many to work in retail where their skills will stagnate ,when their skills are clearly needed? The answer is of course Britain!

From the protest I went on holiday to Cornwall. It was nice to see familiar places again. Newquay Zoo was a new experience for me even if the main memory I shall take away from there was a urinating penguin! It was also interesting to visit the Eden Project. My fear of heights was challenged by going out onto a platform looking down from a considerable height in one of the biomes. Still I was amused at the shop afterwards to peruse a copy of one of Daphne DuMaurier’s books where the forward suggested she would have hated the Eden Project. It was as always good to see my old town of Redruth and to visit the Meadery - my first date with my wife having been at St Agnes Meadery whilst fighting off a tummy bug.

Now I am back in Bideford for my last three weeks of ministry here. This will be an emotional time for me.

Throughout the past week I have kept up with the News International scandal. I have not been surprised by much of it although the hacking of Milly Dowler’s mobile and that of her parents was a low as was the similar treatment of those how have lost loved ones in the July 7th bombing and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Still much of it has long been obvious. We knew that hacking had gone on and that money had been paid to police officers for information. The reality is that politicians have been only too desperate for the approval of Rupert Murdoch and scared of the consequences of offending him. They have served us poorly other than exceptions such as Tom Watson M.P and Chris Bryant M.P.

Hopefully the BSkyB takeover is dead in the water although we have a Prime Minister who is closely aligned with the criminal conspiracy that is News International.

I hope that there is now vigorous police investigations as well as the necessary judicial enquiries. Hackers and corrupters of the police service need to brought to account as do those police officers who sold information to News International. Equally questions must be asked as to the police enquiry of Hayman (now earning a crust from News International) and Yeates. Their neglect on the job is surely a national scandal!

Finally it is to be hoped that a new culture will emerge. Never again should politicians be beholden to or scared of a press baron, especially one who is not British. To win that new culture it is imperative that the government takes the right decisions to bring a vigorous resolving of the crimes that are now revealed and which may yet be no more than the tip of the iceberg!