As per last week, what follows is a compilation of extracts from Roots and some of my own thoughts, I have been attempting since 2009 to help by leading worship at Nelmes, at the start I used a library of events that had occurred on my travels, meeting with Christian folk, recounting situations that had impacted on me. At the beginning it was nerve racking it still is in 2020, both myself & Barry have over this time taken quite a few services, I think we would both say it doesn’t get any easier. So when I thought about creating Blogs during lockdown I probably didn’t think it through thoroughly, I have found writing sermons harder as the years have passed, gone are my work related stories, people at Nelmes will know that over the last couple of years I have used articles from newspapers to help to craft my message. So this Blog may not be as long as previous ones, but I hope the message is still there. - Keith Finch THE SPIRIT BESIDE US:
The Father loves you, The Son loves you, The Spirit loves you. Come and show your love. Amen. Spirit of truth, come close to us. Unite us in the body of Christ. Enable us to worship God in Spirit and in truth. Help us to support and encourage each other. Help us to love as we are loved. Sprit of truth, come and abide in us. Amen I will be using the reading from John 14: 15-21 for today’s blog, the other lectionary readings for Sunday 17th include, Acts 17: 22-31, Psalm 66: 8-20, 1 Peter 3: 13-22. I spoke last week about my Garden, how I was managing during the current problems, even if Garden centers do open I intend to cope without bedding plants, to attempt to adapt using what I have & hopefully what I have grown from seed! Gospel: John 14.15-21 The theme in this speech by Jesus spirals back round to the centrality of love (see 13.34). Loving Jesus becomes evident when we obey his commandments, the central one of which is to love as he has loved us. To help us in this, Jesus will ask the Father to give us another ‘Advocate’ who will be with us for ever, who is also called the Spirit. The Greek word translated ‘advocate’ literally means the one ‘called to your side’ and could equally be translated ‘intercessor’, ‘counsellor’ or ‘intermediary’ – and probably by a number of other words too. It is the word used in the Greek version of the Old Testament for the comforters who came to Job, so one could add a positive version of ‘comforter’ to the list. When Jerome was translating the New Testament into Latin, he felt that the term was intentionally broad and inclusive, so instead of choosing just one word and therefore one meaning, he simply turned the sounds of the Greek word into Latin, giving the term ‘Paraclete’. The Paraclete is the one who guides, counsels and consoles us, and speaks up on our behalf. Crucially, the Paraclete will never desert us in our hour of need. This speech then flows on naturally from discussing our relationship with the Paraclete to discussing our relationship with Jesus and with the Father. The kind of mutual indwelling that Jesus describes (e.g. ‘he abides with you and he will be in you’, and ‘I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you’) makes it clear that our relationship with the Paraclete is not something distinct from our relationship with Jesus and the Father, but is all bound up in that oneness with God that ensures we are not left orphans. Sources: Roots 17th May 2020
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Notes from an address preached by the Rev. Ronald M. Ward, B.D. Originally published in the July 1950 issue of Progress, the monthly magazine for Romford Congregational Church. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)
"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." (Acts 1:8) In the communion of the Holy Spirit the Christian Church experiences both life and power. These words represent two great aspirations of the world, and therefore the Gospel offers something that the world is already seeking. Here, then, is a bridge thrown across the gulf which separates Christians from other men. Let us examine the differences between what the world means by life and power and what the New Testament means. (1) The will to live is the basic urge which animates the whole world of nature. All living things, from the most simple organism to the most complex, are devoted to the simple goal of remaining alive as long as possible. (2) In general it may be said that life is maintained by death. Each creature exists by destroying another creature and absorbing the life that was in it. The will to live, therefore, becomes the will for another's death. (3) But since nothing wishes to die this results in strife. Nature is in an endless state of war, and her children must learn the art of pursuit and self protection if they are to enjoy any span of existence at all. (4) In order to conduct this war, power is necessary. Consequently the will to live develops of its own accord into a will to power. Evolution is nothing but the story of the accumulation of power. In some cases power was achieved through heavy weapons of offence and defence - teeth, claws, powerful muscles and so on. In others speed or silence of movement proved effective. But the most powerful of all creatures, always excepting man with his extraordinary intelligence, are the smallest of all. Nothing is stronger than bacteria, simply because they are invisible. Strength is made perfect in weakness in more ways than one. (5) There are alliances in this war. Creatures are bound together in species, and a species has common enemies, and common goals. Instinctive activities are all designed to preserve not only the individual but also the species to which it belongs. But although there are alliances in nature there is no sharing. Hungry dogs do not ration themselves. All alliances in the natural world are based on necessity. Sex, for instance, is a temporary union based on mutual need. Nature knows marriages of convenience. But she knows no friendships. (6) Man, considered on one side of his nature as an animal, is involved in this war, and because of a greatly superior brain he is the most successful competitor. Man is supreme because his intelligence provides great resources of power. And so he largely dominates all other creatures, destroying and preserving where he wills and making nature serve his needs. Still, it should be noted that in some respects he has not been wise enough to impose limits on his ability to exploit natural resources. Soil erosion over the earth's surface gives warning that one day there may not be enough food for the human family to eat. And only the other day I read an article called "The Trees are Afraid," which told of the great price we may have to pay for the prodigal waste of timber. (7) But as soon as we begin to think about man as a competitor in the struggle for life we notice a new and ominous fact. For man is not only at war with nature. Man is at war with himself. Human society is a constant struggle between various classes, interests, and personalities. In the sphere of economics the element of conflict is particularly obvious for here the competition for power in the form of material wealth is undisguised. But not until the struggle reaches its climax in actual physical warfare do we see it as naked reality, stripped of all pretences. There is a certain truth in the statement that "Man is a wolf to man." (8) Why is it that the human will to power is so much more terrible in its effect than the struggle for life in the jungle? The answer lies in the difference between human nature and the nature of animals. Animals desire simply to exist and to satisfy their instincts, and this sets a limit to their aspirations. Theirs is a realisable goal. A well fed tiger, presumably, does not hunt. Its nature is capable of satisfaction, and beyond the point of satiety it has no motive. But man has a spiritual as well as a physical nature. And to his spiritual aspirations there are no limits. The human person is not content with mere existence, else we should never have emerged from our cave dwellings of our primitive ancestors. Man wishes more than life. He wants abundant life. There is a restless hunger in his soul for a better kind of life, a richer experience, a wider world. The search for these things is both his glory and his tragedy. It is the explanation of human achievement, but it is also the source of a ruthless struggle for power which has now reached such dimensions that human society is in danger of destroying itself. (9) The appetite for a deeper and more satisfying kind of life becomes translated into a demand for material wealth. This is because a civilised man obviously has a better time than a savage. You cannot divorce a man's spiritual resources from his material resources. A highly civilised society has a deeper spiritual content than a savage one. It horizons are wider, its experiences richer. That is because its standard of living is high, it enjoys security, leisure, has time to enjoy the world and the opportunity to develop a culture. All of which provides food for the spirit as well as the body. And so the struggle for economic power conceals the desire in the soul to live richly. The violence of human society is like the violence of some monster of the ocean thrashing itself in shallow water because it is hungry for the deep. Actually, this is an indication of a largely unconscious desire for God. "Lord, thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee," Only in Him is the infinite sea of the soul's desire to be found. The will to power is a sign of our hunger for eternal life. (10) Power is satisfying in itself. It is an end as well as a means to an end. The man who seized power - whether as money or in some other form - feels that he is consequently a bigger man, leading a larger life than his fellows. To feel a superior person, looked up to and admired and perhaps feared by others, feeds the appetite of the spirit. No animal knows anything about this. It is a spiritual hunger, and therefore and infinite one. There is no point at which it has had enough. That, perhaps, is why hell has no bottom to it. (11) The will to power in the struggle for life ultimately defeats its own end, however. For fellowship is the condition of life in the spirit. And ruthless competition destroys fellowship. Its intention is to eliminate everyone but oneself. No one is more lonely than a successful Dictator. An absolute Dictator would be friendless and therefore a dead soul. Power, which seems to lead to life, leads to a desert. It is the path of death. So the will to power, which emerges from the will to life, leads to isolation and consequent destruction. The best symbol of this extreme dilemma is the H-bomb, which might conceivably be used by a nation demanding more living space. But its use would probably destroy us all. (12) Somehow the human race must transcend this situation. It must put an end to the competitive struggle which up to now has seemed an inevitable pattern for life, or else it will perish. Socialism is an attempt to do this. According to Socialist theory the element of competition could be eliminated on the basis of common ownership. There is much to be said for this in theory, but in practice it has no saving power because it fails to notice that the source of conflict is in the spirit, quite as much as in physical need. Common ownership cannot settle the problem of human pride. (13) The world of ruthless conflict which we have described is not, however, the real world. We have simply imagined the universe with love left out. If there were no love in it life would be nothing but a struggle for power. And this is, in fact exactly what it looks like through the eyes of a Marxist. But we believe that the love of God is the supreme fact which changes the face of existence, and in the communion of the Holy Spirit we see new and wonderful possibilities. For in that communion we find the words "life" and "power" used in a different context. When life finds its source of love, it issues not in destructive competition but in fellowship. Love is the sacrifice of one's own self, not of other selves. And power finds itself in service, not in domination. "Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant." This situation can only begin to exist in Christ, for He is the source of the the life which the New Testament calls "eternal." By His sacrifice of Himself upon the Cross He gave a new power to the world. The Church alone knows of this fact and the Church does not compete in the world's war, for it is in the world but not of it. And what of us, the members of this communion of the Holy Spirit? It would be idle to deny that we have scarcely begun to live according to its principle of sacrifice and service. But it is our task to transform the will to power into the will to love. By the grace of God it can be done, and the existence of a universal Church which is in truth a communion of the Holy Spirit may yet save even such a desperate world as this. As per last week, what follows is a compilation of words from Roots & Fresh from the Word as well as some of my own thoughts.
In our opening prayer we reflected on Jesus’s words – I am the way! He also said I am the truth & the life! You all should be aware by now that if I had been taking Church services I would have spoken about “Words” but I suppose the theme goes on, it is in fact eternal, words and how we use them, how we extract the meanings from them, I remember many years ago as a very junior Church teaching assistant having to be re-educated by Martin Dakin in the true meaning of certain passages from the bible. What follows is an extract from Roots, “The limitations of human language and our imaginations makes us think in terms of physical buildings and places, and heaven as a ‘happy place’ – somewhere! But is that naive? Remember that Jesus said not only that he is the ‘way’, but also that he is the ‘truth’ and the ‘life’. These are all things that are important now, in this life. Perhaps this passage is more about this life, the here and now, than the next one. Perhaps Jesus is helping his disciples understand how they are to live – once he is gone. You need a way to live your life – Jesus is the way; he shows us the way to live. You need to know what is true and good, and what isn’t – Jesus is the truth; learn from his teaching. You want to live a good fulfilling life? Jesus is the life. Abundant fulfilling life is what he came to bring; we learn about life from what he did. What do you think this means in practice?” Extract from Roots 10th May 2020 In these time of loss, where we are reminded every day of the personal stories of loss, that are the fabric of those daily figures that benchmark where we are on this long road we are travelling on, nobody knows when the path will level out but I am sure of one thing, we need to use our faith, even when we question it to support our community, we will all have stories to tell, we hear every day of the devotion of a person or group of people to others, so although a lot of us are limited by definition to what we can do, just remember these words Jesus said “I am the way”, he is our Sat Nav (but we know he will not send us in the wrong direction) As with some of my plants not all will bring forth flowers, but it’s really good having a go! May God bless you, guide you and direct you. May God bless you, give you strength and the assurance of his love. May God bless you and fill your life with his presence – today and always. Amen (Roots May 10th) As per last week, what follows is a compilation of words from Roots & Fresh from the Word as well as some of my own thoughts.
I have only used a single lectionary reading for today, for those wishing to delve deeper go to: Acts 7: 55-60, Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16, 1 Peter 2. 2-10 Gospel: John 14.1-14 Jesus is speaking to his disciples before his death. He explains that he and the Father are joined in a close relationship to one another (John 14.10-11), so close that whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father (14.9). This is why Jesus can assure the disciples that they will not be left abandoned and that he himself is the way which they need to travel – he is both the means and the route. A fuller life awaits them: ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life,’ he declares. He is life itself, even in the face of his own approaching death. He is truth – the most complete and accurate truth, truth that he promised would, by its very nature, set them free. And he is the way – the way for them to be fully united with God, and the way that they need to journey, in order to serve God. No wonder he can promise, ‘I will come again and take you to myself.’ This is a promise of unity with him within this life, not just after death. Jesus is commissioning his disciples for service. He speaks to them about praying and believing and doing even greater works than he has done. He describes his return to the Father not as a separation from the disciples but the way in which their relationship with God will be even clearer and stronger, when they are drawn up into the love between the Father and the Son. Our satellite navigation systems give us directions? In my last job I travelled the length and breadth of the UK. Initially I had to use an old fashioned map to plot my trips, when I first purchased a Sat-Nav some of the well-established colleagues laughed (but they all new there individual areas very well, they all covered different quadrants of the UK) in the end over a twelve year period all my colleagues were using them, I didn’t totally trust them they were a guide, and if I had the time I would share some of the mishaps I had along the way, but overall they were a benefit. But we can totally trust the guidance Jesus gives us through his teachings. As per last week, what follows is a compilation of words from Roots & Fresh from the Word as well as some of my own thoughts.
Jesus said, I am the way – come! Jesus said, I am the way and the truth – come and receive. Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life – come receive and respond. Amen. (Roots May 10th) Our opening prayer grew line by line, it came from Roots, I could have used similar wording myself, as I thought about these opening words, I realized that my garden has been on a journey, through all its array of Spring colours, because we as a family are like many of us in semi isolation, I have had more time to attend to my garden, to try out new ideas, to grow more from seeds, I don’t know how affective this is going to be, I will attempt to keep you posted. The current situation has given me time to think, how are we going to manage without traditional bedding plants, we have been buying less & less since I retired & my Fuchsia’s & Pelargonium’s seem to have come through the winter quite well. I think we, that is those that follow a faith, will be in some ways like the seeds I have planted some will grow well, some will start to grow and then fall away, and some won’t germinate at all. I thought this extract from Fresh from the Word was quite appropriate: “This week we will be hearing from poets and chroniclers of an ancient world, about a walk with God that’s not always straightforward: uncertain first steps, moments of confusion in a journey of exploration. The blaming can begin as soon as things go wrong. No one wants to accept responsibility. Instead, hostility and fear can mean that nations build walls and block the way for others. But God can show wanderers in the wilderness that there is another better way.” Jan Sutch Pickard ( Fresh from the Word) In my opening remarks I was once again reflecting on how we use words, in prayer, in hymns, in poetry – our walk with God, or in simpler terms my garden which could be a metaphor for our faith journey, we all tend to blame others when things go wrong, I am very slowly learning how to look after my plants along the way I have had many failures and there will be more to follow I am sure, I do accept my garden failures ( too much water, too much sun, not the correct growing medium, ) the list is endless, and so it is with our faith journey. What follows are my thoughts on the lectionary readings alongside some personal thoughts, we are very fortunate to be able to access the URC Sermons on a Sunday in written or Audio format, I think it shows how resilient we are as people, my own thoughts pale into insignificance by comparison, I may also touch on subject matter that I have already spoken about, so I ask for your forgiveness in advance. - Keith Finch “The disciples (in Acts) met each other’s needs by sharing their possessions and wealth. We are not used to this in our culture – neither that kind of dramatic generosity nor the vulnerability of having people know that we are in need. But we are church just as much as the community we read about in Acts. How can we meet each other’s needs? The first step may be for brave people to allow others to know that they have a need in a certain area. This can be very hard in a culture where self-sufficiency is so prized. But we know that circumstances can hit any of us in unexpected ways. Can we find ways to break down this barrier – e.g. by inviting people to identify a need anonymously using a box at the back of church? The needs could be displayed on a ‘board of abundance’, where others who have something they could share relating to a specific need could post an invitation for the anonymous person to speak to them about.”
Last week some of us decided to decorate our Church cross, social distancing was maintained throughout, when I visited the church no one else was in the vicinity, I posted as did others the pictures on Facebook, Claire mentioned that she had been asked by people passing if they could add flowers to the cross, setting in motion the question – do we reach out enough or to put it another way are we reaching out in the right way? I can’t remember if I have used this quote before, I probably have but I don’t apologise for using it one more. It came from Juliet Rosenfeld who is a psychotherapist “While loneliness may sore for some, technology, even its just a landline can really help with this. “ So maybe when we come out the other side and we will ,let’s remember all the things we promised we would do, all the compassion shown to ALL our front line workers, remember how good it was to talk – to keep that regular contact that in normal times we put off till tomorrow. It’s something I have promised to carry forward, I am now in fairly regular contact with an old friend & also with an ex work colleague. So once again I have come to the end of my Blog for Sunday May 3rd2020, I would like to close with a short prayer: Dear Lord, In these troubled times, give me space for stillness, A place for prayer, ways to walk in your path, A continual reminder of your presence with us, To walk in your path with purpose. Let us share the “Peace” with one another in a virtual reality. Amen. Extracts taken from Roots with permission. What follows are my thoughts on the lectionary readings alongside some personal thoughts, we are very fortunate to be able to access the URC Sermons on a Sunday in written or Audio format, I think it shows how resilient we are as people, my own thoughts pale into insignificance by comparison, I may also touch on subject matter that I have already spoken about, so I ask for your forgiveness in advance. - Keith Finch You may remember that I was using WORDS as a subtext to my previous three Blogs, well I suppose it’s fairly obvious that we all use words every day of our life, but I wanted previously to reflect on how we use words, how important it is that we use words in the correct way, and that we study the words we read whether that be from our Bible or any other source. So the following extract from Roots struck a chord with me!
“Whose voices do you listen to in your daily life? Radio presenters? Television personalities? Members of your family? The satnav when driving? Station announcements? Other people’s conversations? Unwanted telesales calls? We are bombarded with voices, most of which our brains filter out. Some of them we do listen to, because they give us information and help us choose our direction. Jesus identifies his sheep as being those who hear his voice. How easily do we hear Jesus’ voice? Does it ever get drowned out by other voices? Do we let ourselves get distracted from listening for him?” “ Does your computer printer have a display that shows the level of each colour ink – so that you don’t run out? Sometimes there may be an abundance of black ink, but the magenta or cyan will be dangerously low. We often think of abundance as being filled with things and events. Jesus promised ‘abundant life’, but that is not the same as a ‘wealthy’ or a ‘successful’ life. How do you think your ideas of ‘abundance’ differ from those of Jesus? In all of our lives, however abundant we may feel in some areas, there will be something, some area, where we are lacking or struggling. It might be our finances, our relationships, our career or spiritual life. What in your life do you want to bring to Jesus for him to bless with his abundance? I thought these words linked quite nicely to the extract from Fresh from the Word by John Proctor,’ carry the defence of faith’, in these times we need to remind ourselves of the trust we have in Jesus, and all the human pain and suffering we are all being touched by in one way or another. So let’s allow Jesus to bless us with his abundance. “Jesus says that those who hear his voice and follow him will ‘come in and go out and find pasture’. Jesus modelled a way of life where he regularly sought out quiet, peace and stillness – time to be with God. Sabbath is no longer a nationally shared event, but as Christians we are still commanded to give a day a week to rest, to reconnecting with God and with family, whether that is Sunday or another day that fits our work and family patterns. When is your Sabbath?” What are you doing on the Sabbath – for myself it is still Sunday morning listening to the URC sermon sitting on the bench in my garden, seeing first-hand the wonders of Gods kingdom, the daffodils and tulips that I’ve recently posted on Facebook to act as a reminder of our world beyond Covid-19. To be continued... Extracts taken from Roots with permission. What follows are my thoughts on the lectionary readings alongside some personal thoughts, we are very fortunate to be able to access the URC Sermons on a Sunday in written or Audio format, I think it shows how resilient we are as people, my own thoughts pale into insignificance by comparison, I may also touch on subject matter that I have already spoken about, so I ask for your forgiveness in advance. - Keith Finch Jesus says, ‘I am the gate’.
Come, and be loved. Come, and receive peace. Come, and find life. This opening prayer comes from Roots, I want to follow that with an extract from “Fresh from the word” written by John Proctor. So besides being ‘Be Vigilant ‘come two further commands: ‘Be sober’. Sobriety is not just about alcohol. It means not letting our sense and stability be swept away by the heady potions of time, by the myth of celebrity, slogan, prosperity or power. And ‘Be armed’. Not literally. Cary the defenses of faith, hope and love. Let these be the outward face of your character and conduct, and you will not be overcome. Wise words and quite appropriate for the times we find ourselves in. John 10: 1-10 “This reading begins with the phrase ‘Jesus said to the Pharisees’. He addresses them because they have been disputing his authority in the previous chapter; they were very suspicious when he healed a man born blind. So we need to hear the opening words of this passage: ‘anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate…’ as both a challenge and a warning to teachers and leaders. When it comes to guiding and caring for people spiritually, Jesus is uncompromising: there are those who approach by the gate and whose voice is recognised by the sheep, and there are those who climb in another way, with the intention of exploiting the sheep by stealing, killing and destroying. The sheep will not follow a stranger, but they recognise the voice of the shepherd. Is this perhaps a reflection on the crowds that follow Jesus, feeling instinctively that his teaching brings them closer to God? Are the people like sheep, allowing the shepherd to guide them to pasture? The Pharisees here will not do anything as simple as listen; they are more fearful of their own authority being usurped than they are thankful that a man has been healed. In John’s Gospel, the speeches given by Jesus often move in a kind of spiral – they mention an idea, move on to a second idea, and then spiral back to a fuller understanding of the first idea. This speech has that kind of pattern: Jesus moves from the image of entering by the gate to the image that he himself is the gate. He is both the shepherd with a voice that the sheep recognise and the actual gateway in and out between safe pasture and the protection of the sheepfold. When he summarises what he has come to give, he calls it abundant life – a life so full of life that there is some to spare.” To be continued Extracts taken from Roots with permission. An address preached by the Rev. Ronald M. Ward, B.D This sermon was found in a copy of Progress, the monthly magazine of the Congregational Church Romford, published in March 1949. "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
- Genesis 11:4 "Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it." - Luke 14:28 The story of the Tower of Babel tells us how the survivors of the flood determined to build a city with a great tower in it, "whose top may reach unto heaven." At the time, so the story goes, there was only one language on the earth. And so men were able to engage in this great enterprise with the maximum of co-operation. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, and because it was such a bold work in which men were engaged He decided to end it. "This they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do." And so the common speech is confounded into many language, and men are "scattered ... upon the face of all the earth." The city and the tower remain unfinished. The first thing to be admitted about this story is that it is not true, at least in the sense that it is not history. This we may confidently assert, not only because it is in the highest degree improbable that the origin of language difference could be explained in such as way, but also because the picture of God portrayed in the story is a false one. This rather petulant Deity, alarmed when His creatures show too much enterprise, is certainly not the God of the universe, neither is He the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why, then, is the story in the Bible? Should we reject it as unworthy of Scripture, and cease to read it? No. Personally I think it is one of the outstanding examples of genuine inspiration in the Old Testament. Just because it is so full of human error we can see all the more clearly that it is also full of Divine wisdom. What the men who wrote the story meant to say is one thing. What God has to say is quite another. Let me suggest a possible explanation on the human side. The primitive mind, like the modern mind, was always searching for explanations of incomprehensible phenomena. This story is an ancient and very simple attempt to explain why it was that in different parts of the earth men spoke different languages. The word Babel is linked with the word Babylon, and it means "the gate of heaven." But it was also popularly connected with another Hebrew word meaning "to confuse." The story, you will remember, took place in the plain of Shinar, which is Babylonia. These three facts cannot be coincident, and are likely to fashion the material out of which the story grew. It is not difficult to speculate on what actually happened. Perhaps there was on the plain of Shinar a ruined city with a huge unfinished tower. An unfinished work which promised greatness always has a powerful fascination. Half the charm of the Unfinished Symphony is its name. One can imagine a nomadic people, wandering over the plain and finding this massive ruin. Thus by simple association of ideas the story of the Tower of Babel may have been told. The myth, for such it undoubtedly is, contains elements which are common to the primitive imagination all over the world. It betrays, for example, a fatal tendency, not perhaps so very primitive, to make God in our own image. That is to say it is a projection into God of something which is really in us. This is not what God does. This is what we might do if we were God. All religious people have to guard against this danger. It is that which provoked the gibe, "All theology is anthropology." That is, all study of God is really the study of Man. It is also worth noticing that the idea of God, or the gods, becoming jealous of men come to know too much, and perhaps taking revenge, is a common one. The Greek myth of Prometheus provides an example of it. In this story Prometheus, who wrests fire from heaven for the benefit of men, is cruelly punished for his presumption by Zeus. All these childlike ideas can be read into the story of the Tower of Babel, and they can be forgiven, because after all the story was told a long time ago when men were childlike. I have been at pains to point all this out not in order to undermine the authority of the Bible but in order to assert it. For the fact is that when we have discerned all the childish errors in the story there remains something else, something the writer never intended at all. The myths of Ancient Greece remain myths. They tell us a great deal about human psychology, but nothing more. The great bulk of the Bible is grounded in history, but of course it includes myths too. And the extraordinary, the wonderful thing is that they are more than myths. They too belong to the vast stream of Divine inspiration. God takes the foolishness of man and makes it speak His own wisdom. So that in this simple story there is an element which is deeper and wider than the whole range of human understanding at the time when it was written. The writers would have been astonished if they had known that what they had really said. It is this, I think, which constitutes the seal of God's activity in Scripture. "The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Holy Word." So the Bible continues to speak in new ways to each person and to each generation. It is the continual and contemporary miracle. We have guessed at what the story of the Tower of Babel might have meant for the writer. Let us see what it can mean for us. The motives for building the tower are significant. First, "let us make a name," Moffat translates this, "let us make a name for ourselves." Now the desire for a name is nothing but the desire for identity, the longing to be someone, an individual, a person. This is one of the strongest impulses in human nature. The history of the race, looked at from one side, is the history of personality coming to flower. Gradually there emerges from the anonymous shelter of the tribe, group, family, the individual person. And the history of the individual is the same. From early childhood we are always seeking ways in which we can assert our individuality and show the significance of a personality which is different from others. "Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Side by side with the longing to be a person is the longing for community. We want to be ourselves, but we want also to be sufficiently like others to be in fellowship with them. The search for a name drives us away from society, the need for community draws us back again. The men in this story attempt to achieve these objects by means of a building enterprise. It is a tower like no other tower which they attempt, for it is to reach the heavens. And so it is by making and establishing something, by creative activity, by erecting a city, a culture, a machine, by writing a book or painting a picture or planting a garden or organising a business that men try to find themselves. But they cannot make these things in isolation. There is no point in a name unless someone will call you by it, no point in doing anything unless it can be understood by another. "Less we be scattered." This implies beside the need for community the need for security. Man needs something permanent to which he can belong. He fears the loneliness of wandering homeless across the world. His cities and his civilisations symbolise the need for spiritual as well as material security. And his art is his hunger for immortality as well as his delight in discovering and displaying himself. Yet the tower remains unfinished, the city deserted. And at the end of this bold attempt to save his soul he is worse off than he was at the beginning. Even the common language is lost to him. Why is this? Because he thinks that he can find his salvation in himself. "Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly." Full of confidence, it does not seem to him impossible to build a tower to heaven. And the message of the story is just the impossibility of doing that. Without God none of these legitimate aspirations of the spirit can ever be achieved. And if we think about it we shall see why this is so. "Let us make us a name." It is quite impossible to make a name. I can only receive one. If I have a name, if I am a real person, if my existence has any particular significance at all, that can only happen because God confers it on me. "Then shall I know, even as also I am known." But I have to be known first. Man only come to self consciousness in religion, and supremely in the Christian religion. There is no other faith in the world which has so quickened his sense of himself as a significant person. And where the Christian, or religious, element is removed, as in a totalitarian state, there personality sinks back again into the anonymous mass. We have an ant hill, but not a family. We have uniformity, but less individuality. Systems matter more than names. "Lest we be scattered." The hunger for togetherness is perhaps stronger to-day than ever. But it is becoming more and more clear that there is no community except that which is based in God. We cannot impose community from without, we have to grow it from within, out of the response to God. We can regiment men easily enough. That is, we can iron out their differences and destroy their individuality, or, if you like, take away their names. Or we can let them retain this at the cost of disorganised chaos. But religion alone provides us with the means to bind men together in such a way as to preserve the valuable differences which make them persons. In God we can have a community of names. Without God we can only have a regiment of numbers. The longing for spiritual security, for roots in the universe, cannot be met if we ignore God. And this for the simple reason that death will leave the tower unfinished if nothing else will. To come to terms with death, through God, to see it, by the light of the Cross, as a means of fulfilment instead of a disastrous interruption; this alone can remove that inner loneliness which come with the sense of mortality. Perhaps, when we read the story of the men who wanted to build a tower to heaven, we smile indulgently. We were prepared to accept this childish mistake as we accept the baby's cry for the moon. But the twentieth century is no wiser than men in ancient time. "Go to, let us build out of our great technical ability, our new psychological understanding of one another, our political wisdom, our economic foresight, a tower ..." But without God the human enterprise remains a hopeless one. Like the tower, it points its finger into the void. And we shall lose even the common unity we used to have in Europe unless we remember this in time. For already we speak a "different language of the heart." What follows are elements from the Sermon I would have given on the above date, including Communion, as I revisited this sermon which was to be the last of a trio on the basis of “Words” it struck me how relevant it was to the current situation. - Keith Finch, Nelmes URC As Jesus walked along the road, the disciples did not realise who he was until Jesus recited his own words, and their eyes were opened. There is power in God’s Word and the faithful proclamation of it, as in the Acts passage, where 3,000 came to believe, as God’s Word and his story were faithfully shared.
All these readings explore situations where people have jumped to false conclusions: All these thoughts were overturned by the reality of the resurrection. This is the greatest story we can tell, and one which will change lives: who might we share this story with? In our culture, there are lots of ways to interact with people without actually seeing them as discussed back in March we can email them, send a text, share messages in a WhatsApp group, ’like’ something posted on Facebook or Instagram, and so on. I did mention back at the beginning of March that words and how we use them was a topic we would be returning to moving forward I am an advocate for some of those mediums if used wisely, I don’t intend to devalue these products, but we are made for human interaction. The disciples understand who Jesus is after hearing him share stories about himself from the Scriptures, and watching him break bread in their home. While teaching Family History at the Library I consistently remind my students that getting the dates is in some ways the easy part, the hardest part is attempting to tell that persons story, sometimes that story can only be told if a family member has memory of a particular event or maybe family folklore or written evidence from the past, old newspaper articles etc.. In some ways it reflects on our ability to transit the readings from the Old Testament to the New and onwards to today! Does this raise questions for us, not only about the depth of our own relationships, but also whether we spend (enough) time allowing Jesus to come alongside us? Driven as the two disciples were by very different emotions, we cannot fail to notice the contrast between the speed of the journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and that of the journey back to tell of the meeting with the risen Jesus. It can be hard to get ourselves moving when we are weighed down with worries and disappointments. The Church has never pretended such stresses are not real, but it has always looked for ways to help people meet with Jesus personally – e.g. through prayer. If we are struggling and finding our path difficult, are there ways we can encounter Jesus and allow him to meet us in – and transform – our situation? In the last six months of my working life in our head office in London, as usual I wore my URC cross in my lapel, a young lady joined me when I was making myself a coffee, she said you’re a Christian aren’t you, you’re the first person of the Christian faith I have come across and I have been here 18 months, I was very happy to point her to two of the very large Compliance department who were practicing Christians – so don’t be afraid to talk – I am absolutely positive that talking to people we meet can give comfort, that is I suppose nothing directly to do with faith, but is a clear example of how it is a part of how we should behave as Christians. Sometimes these conversations take us to unexpected places, some people share readily, I had an example (I am sure you will all have had similar occurrences) While working at the Windmill Garden a few weeks ago, a lady walking her dog came to the garden perimeter and complimented us on how good the garden looked, I must have been close to my finishing time as I came across the lady with her dog as I walked home, we struck up a conversation which disclosed that she had been recently widowed and how tough she was finding it, she had recently found comfort in meeting others in similar circumstances at a local bereavement group, I did nothing more than any one of us would do in a similar situation, but I thought it worth mentioning as we have read so much about Jesus on the road to Emmaus, it’s so easy to pass by and not interact, we that is 21stCentury society in major cities have plenty of reasons not to interact, but if the circumstances feel right then give it a go! (This was written in earlier in the year, but I think its fits well into the situation we find ourselves in today) At this point in the service we would have shared communion with one another, we are not all in one place but let’s share a virtual “Peace” with one another. Sending out prayer: Lord Jesus As you walked on the road to Emmaus, Walk with us on the roads we travel. Help us to know your presence with us, And to be your presence to others. And at the end of the day, may we all enjoy your feast. Amen Elements of these words have come from Roots for the 26th April 2020 |