Take up your Cross

Reading Matt 16:21 – end

Preamble

In the last Blog post we looked at a number of important Bible characters and discovered that they all had the same faults and failing that we all experience.

The above Gospel reading re-introduces us to one of those characters, Peter, and another of his gaffs. Jesus had previously asked his disciples the question, "Who do you think say that I am?" Peter had replied, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Peter had seen all the great miracles, he had heard all the inspired teaching, he had seen how Jesus had dealt with the Scribes and the Pharisees and was convinced that Jesus was the one who had come to save Israel.

However, Jesus teaching to his disciples begins to take on a different theme. He now openly talks about handing himself over to those same Scribes and Pharisees, to suffering and death. All this is too much for Peter who takes Jesus aside and rebukes him – in other words he begins to tell Jesus off for even thinking this way. But Jesus tells him off for thinking about human things rather than the things of God.

But let us pause for a moment -are we not guilty of the same attitude. We praise God and declare him to be the Lord – we pray, "Thy will be done." and then we question when things do not seem to go the way we imagined.

Take up your cross

Let's read those words again: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

What does Jesus mean by "take up your cross?" We often interpret it as meaning some sort of suffering. We ask someone who has a long standing medical complaint and they may well reply something like, "Well my dear, I must not complain, after all it is a cross I have to bear." This may be partially right but really Jesus was talking about something else. The clue is in the phrase, "Let them deny themselves." The cross we are all meant to carry if we are to be true Disciples of Christ is all about subjugating our will to that of God's. I believe that it is the hardest thing we are called upon to do. It is totally against our human nature which makes me and my will the centre of the world.

In 1943 a Psychologist of the name of Maslow produced a theory which he called the Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow believed that the most important needs where physiological (food, sleep etc.) followed by the need for safely – and this could include not only physical safety, but job security etc. This was then followed by the need to love and be loved and then the need for esteem and lastly the need for creativity. How people meet these needs varies from society to society and with time. For example, to the Victorian esteem came with class, today it seems to come with money and possessions.

Whatever we think of Maslow's theory it is easy to see that there are forces within us that keep on driving us in a certain direction. They are not wrong in the eyes of God, after all he put them there for our benefit, but there are times when the Will of God calls us to go against one or more of them. A good example is in our reading. Maslow says that one of our needs is safety. Peter was responding to that need by warning Jesus to stay away from Jerusalem. Jesus knew that God's will was that he put aside that need however much it pulled him in the opposite direction.

So then, taking up our cross in this fashion, bringing our needs and desires into line with the will of God, is both challenging and difficult. In fact it is the most difficult challenge we will ever face –so difficult that it cannot be a one off action. In Luke's version Jesus talks about taking up the cross daily. That is the only way it can be done.

Listening to God

How then do we go about taking up the cross?

There is really only one answer – listening to God, daily. It is fine coming to Church on a Sunday. It is fine listening to the words of the liturgy or the words of the sermon. It is fine going to the altar to partake of the body and blood of Christ – but that is just an hour or so in a week, the rest of which we often spend in meeting OUR needs.

Both as individual Christians and as a Church we really have to get to grips with this. As individuals how much time do we spend reading our Bibles and being quiet with God? As a Church have we ever taught people how to do that and do we supply both time and space so that people can?

Choosing Life

Of course we have to have the will and that is not easy. As I have mentioned there are forces that drive us. Jesus terms it as "wanting to save our life" that is putting me and my needs above everything else. If I do that I end up with nothing. On the other hand, the more I put that aside, the more I will experience what true life really is.

I think I know what all this means. Two years ago I was on retreat at Holy Island. After two days communing with God, it seemed that even the peace if the Island was too noisy. Just off the coast there is St Cuthbert's Isle a very small Island that is cut off for a lot of the day. I managed to wade across and had the island to myself. It was just me and God. Not long after being there it seemed that time and space ceased to exist and for a while I truly believe that I experienced what it really means to be alive. In fact I felt more alive than I had done in some time.

But experiencing God in that way is not just for the few. It is the right of all those who call themselves God's people. It is the right of everyone here.

Tomorrow is the beginning of September, in many ways it is the start of a new Church program. Perhaps this is an opportune moment for us to pick up that cross. To find new life where God is the focus and not ourselves.

Changes will not come overnight – carrying a cross is not easy – sometimes we may stumble – sometimes others will have to come to our aid and help us with the weight. The stations on the walls tell the story. But the reward is real life – the thing that the world seeks – but never finds and is open to you.

Just as I am

Readings: Genesis 37: 12-28

Romans 9: 1-5

Matthew 14: 13-21

These three readings introduce us to three characters – Joseph, Peter and Paul.

Firstly, our Old Testament reading introduced us to Joseph – made famous by Andrew Lloyd – Webber.

A couple of years ago we were all subjected to a programme where a group of wanabes battled it out to play his character in the West End. Yet Joseph was not the nice "boy next door" type – in reality he was your original self centred, precocious brat. Spoilt rotten by his father, full of his own importance it is no wonder his brothers hated him. I suspect he was far worse than the Bible lets on. It records the special coat that his father made and two of his dreams which were interpreted as his father, mother and brothers bowing down to him, but they were probably the tip of the iceberg. Most likely his brothers had been subjected to years of this stuff. Of course, that does not excuse their actions but it does explain them.

Secondly, our New Testament reading centres on the writings of Paul.

Many Christians will not have a word said against Paul, and one has to admit that the Christian Church, as we know it, would not exist without him. Through Paul the Church both expanded and began to work out its theology as to the nature and mission of Christ. However, I can't help feeling that if I met him I would be more likely to give him a punch than a handshake.

I find Paul to be arrogant and boastful. Time and time again he says that he does not want to boast and then goes on about all the things he has gone through - with a sense of pride.

He writes that we are all one in Christ and that there is no Jew or Greek, male or female and then tells women to shut up in church and learn from their husbands.

He rows with Barnabas about taking Mark on a missionary journey, because he thought Mark was not up to the task and there is friction between Paul and the Church in Jerusalem.

And the thing that really gets me – in his letters he keeps on writing finally, and then goes on with another point.

Thirdly (I will not say finally) our Gospel reading is about Peter. If anyone suffered with foot and mouth disease it was Peter. He was always opening his mouth and putting his foot in it. "Put brain in gear before opening your mouth" never occurred to Peter. The Gospel reading is a classic example. The disciples are out in a storm. In the distance they see a figure walking on the water and the disciples, quite reasonably, think it is a ghost. Jesus seeks to comfort them and Peter utters "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." If you are charitable, one could say that Peter's words were a great statement of faith – if you are less charitable you may conclude that Peter has not thought this through. Even more so when he actually steps out of the boat and begins walking! But Peter was like that- one moment he could say profound things, the next it could be completely the opposite.

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, Peter figures in the Acts of the Apostles and we see the same pattern. At the house of Cornelius God shows him that there is not distinction between Jews and Gentiles. Peter defends that position at a council in Jerusalem but then Paul tells us that later on he has to tell Peter off for separating himself from Gentiles when he is eating.

There are other writings of the early Christian period that suggest that Peter party to a split between himself and James and that Peter actively discouraged the ministry of those women who had followed Jesus.

So why am I saying all this? Perhaps I have been a bit flippant at times? Perhaps I am being either uncharitable, expressing my own opinion, or both?

The reason I am doing it is to show that God uses us as we are with all our faults and failings, whether actual or perceived by others. Behind every Saint there is a story. David, who looks so benign in out of a window in our church was in reality a harsh disciplinarian. That did not stop God using him, just as it did not stop him using Joseph, Paul and Peter.

Do not think that to work for God you have to be perfect. There is no perfect Christian and no perfect Church. Billy Graham is quoted as saying, "If you find the perfect Church, don't join it as your will spoil it."

Going back to Paul- in his letter to the Philippians, after saying "finally" and going on about all the things he had done – he writes "Not that I have already obtained, or am already perfect" Paul knew he had faults. "For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" – "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." It does not come much stronger than that.

All these people lived in the past, but here today we are all charged with the same mission – to reveal God to those around us. It is not just the job of the Clergy, nor of Readers or any other licensed ministry within the Church, it the job of us all. It is an urgent task and despite what we may think people are open to God.

If Jesus had waited until he had got twelve perfect disciples we would not be here today. They all had faults and one was even a terrorist! Jesus takes ordinary people and works with them.

Those who know me know I'm a pessimist. I believe that if anything can go wrong it will. But when it comes to the ministry of the church I am completely optimistic. I believe we have an important role to play in our parishes and in our towns and cities. That role needs us all to be on board. Many already are. But if you're one of the ones who is thinking that you have to change before God can use you. Think again. God wants you just as you are. To him our faults can actually be strength. Paul wrote some good stuff after his finalies – Peter was the rock on which the church was founded, and Joseph rescued the emerging Israel from extinction. Who knows – saying yes today may well change the course of history.

Anglican Power Struggles

I have never been happy with the way the Anglican Church is presently set up; this may seem a strange thing to say for someone who is one of its licensed ministers. We are locked in a system of oversight that would make any Roman General proud. When we process, we process in order of rank. We organise ourselves on the Diocesan system, another harping back to Imperial Rome. (Why we should want to name it after Diocletian, the persecutor of early Christians beats me!) Despite all the rhetoric surrounding lay ministry, we still have a Clerical elite that keep certain things to themselves. I would dearly love to see change, but all I hear is talk and platitudes from those in power. However, I still believe that God has called me to be an Anglican and so I accept the status quo whilst at the same time seeking to change it.

This is the beauty of Anglicanism; we can have different points of view and still get on. I regularly work with Evangelicals, Anglo Catholics and all shades in between. Indeed, I am willing to work with anybody of any persuasion provided their goal is bringing about the Kingdom of God.

For this reason it makes me sad that some of our clergy have seen fit to set up a rival organisation: The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans or FOCA. Perhaps the title shows the naivety of those who met at Jerusalem – it was not long before they were being called a "load of FOCAs! "(Sorry if some take offence)

They say they want to 'recue' Anglicanism from the liberals and to do this they will cross boundaries to come in to those churches that 'need' them. In so doing they have broken down the accepted structures of the church.

Now I began by saying I believe those structures to be out of date and need changing, but to break them up using their methods will only lead to chaos and animosity. Of course, they don't really want to break them up; they want to take them over. They want to use those structures so that they can rule and dole out their own brand of Christianity. They will become the new popes, whose word is law (or whose interpretation of the Bible is law.) The battle the Anglican Church faces is not one of Theology but of power.

How different all this is from the real Kingdom of God.

1 About this time the disciples came to Jesus and asked him who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

2 Jesus called a child over and had the child stand near him.

3 Then he said: I promise you this. If you don't change and become like a child, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

4 But if you are as humble as this child, you are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18)

Have the leaders of FOCA taken this to heart? Maybe, but not in the way Jesus intended. When Jesus said we had to become as a child he did not mean we had take tantrums and throw our rattle out of the pram. It strikes me this is what they are doing.

Fishers of People

Palestinian Fishermen Today


A man wanted to start a new company, so he began poring over C.V after C.V. He selected ten people with great qualifications, hired them, and put them to work.

He could tell pretty quickly, however, that his company wasn't going to succeed. Two of the people he hired were always arguing about the right way to market their product. Three others spent all their time devising strategies but had no idea how to implement their plans. The others bickered with one another over product placement, accounting techniques, and goals and objectives. The man fired all of his employees and decided to start over. He asked himself the question, “What have I done wrong?” Perhaps he should have taken his example from Jesus.

When Jesus began recruiting disciples, he looked in rather unlikely places. Instead of in the synagogues, he looked in boats along the seashore. Instead of in the inner court of the temple, he recruited from the tax collector's booth in the outer courtyard. Instead of in the cultural centre it was of Judaism, the city of Jerusalem, he looked in the backwoods province of Galilee, derided as "Galilee of the Gentiles" by many of his contemporaries. The ragtag group of fisherman, tax collectors, political zealots, and others became a team of committed followers. Sure, they were sceptical at first. No one leaves a reliable job to pursue the poorly defined scheme of a wild-eyed madman.

Most of us enjoy stories about naïve amateurs who make bizarre mistakes. We chuckle knowingly over the man who complained about the performance of his new powerboat, only to have the marina staff discover that he’d launched the boat without taking it off the trailer, or the woman who mistook the CD-ROM drive on her computer for a retractable cup holder. We may laugh but the truth is that we have all been in similar situations – even in some eyes Jesus.

The Galilean fishermen, hard at work on their nets, may have recalled stories like that when the teacher from Nazareth asked to use one of their boats as a podium. A bit later they had proof of his ignorance when he told them to cast their nets in the deep during broad daylight. Perhaps then folks joked, "Those that can, do; those that can’t, teach."

Though the men never knew for sure if the huge catch of fish that resulted was a miracle of God or just dumb luck, it altered the course of their lives. Soon they became the amateurs and rookies. "Catching people," that’s how Jesus described their new vocation. They had no training for this new line of work. Indeed, in his other volume, Luke described two of them, Peter and John, as "uneducated and ordinary men"

But they soon learned that Jesus was more than he seemed at the outset. He spoke about forgiveness and acceptance to tax collectors, he answered the questions of sceptics, and he directed fisherman so that they could make a great catch of fish. Having won them over, he promised them greater accomplishments. When we encounter Jesus in our own lives, maybe we sometimes wonder why we were chosen. Surely there are others who could do the job better than I can. Certainly there are more persuasive speakers or or smarter people! But Jesus didn't look for followers among the socially elite, because his ministry was primarily among the common people. Jesus' success as a recruiter is exemplified by the fact that today, two thousand years later, the spiritual descendants of those twelve have grown into a huge multitude, two billion strong by some counts.

All this is well and good, but it’s all in the past – let us bring it up to-date. We can do that by simply asking ourselves the question – “Why did Jesus choose me?” Think for a moment – was it because you had a special talent, a brilliant C.V. that would make you one of the ‘high fliers’ in the business of ‘catching people.’ If Jesus stood here right now and said “Follow me,” would you make excuses that you were not the right person for the job?

The success of a movement that will turn the world upside down by means of a message, a "gospel," would seem to require orators and wordsmiths, not a bunch of unlearned people.

The secret lies in the net with which Jesus’ "fishers of people" will make their catch. It must be made partly of words. After all, the apostles and prophets did an awful lot of talking, and they left among their notes the principle that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Moreover, they came to believe that God provided the words to say, and those words had remarkable power.

Nevertheless, how many people either then or now become followers of Christ solely through hearing or seeing words? Important as words are, the net that God hauls through this world, using former fishermen’s hands, has other knots and strands as well.

In the early 13th century there was a young man, the son of a merchant, who liked nothing better than going out with his friends and spending his father’s money. As his father was a cloth merchant he always had the finest of clothes. Like many young people he had no time for education and, to all accounts, was a little naïve. The only thing he could dream about was going to war and winning his spurs as a knight. With that in mind he bought a suit of expensive armour, way above his station in life.

Well he got his way and one day went off to war. However, things did not go to plan and he ended up captured and imprisoned for two years. This did not damp his ardour and he could not wait for the next occasion.

During his wait he spent his time walking around. Not far away there was an old church in much need of repair. He entered and started to pray. On the wall of the church there was a crucifix and it seems that the Christ was staring at him. He heard the words “Francis, build my church which you see in ruins.” Now what Jesus meant by the church was not the building but the organisation which was at that time becoming very decadent and corrupt. But I have said, Francis was very naïve and so set about on his own to collect stones to repair the church single handed.

Finally, have experienced the love of God towards him, Francis found he had changed. Shortly after he was walking past a leper colony. Lepers were the one thing that Francis hated, normally he would go miles out of his way to avoid them, but this day he seemed strangely drawn. As he got nearer one of the lepers met him and, instead of running away, Francis walked up and kissed him. Interestingly, Francis claimed that this was the moment of his conversion and not the incident before the cross. God’s love had entered Francis just as he was with all his faults an failings, and now it had been passed on to others.

The net that caught Francis was made of words, all right. Francis had attended church and knew some of the scriptures, but it was the love of God and the spirit of Christ that wove the words together and gave them strength proved the effective agents in this story.

That same net has hauled us, too, into the boat that Peter and the others learned to sail after that great catch in Galilee. Now our lives become part of the way God draws all humankind into the loving embrace that waits patiently while the boats work their way toward shore.

Finally, no night is completely lost that finds us hauled up on shore, face to face with the Amateur who once borrowed Peter’s boat to use as a pulpit, the one who has no day job, really, except to love us. And we have no other job than to love others in return, for that we need no qualifications.