Lent begins - the desert awaits

The Desert awaits                                                                         

Ready for those who come

Who come obedient to the Spirit’s leading

Or who are driven

Because they will not come any other way.

Those are the opening words of a poem by Ruth Burgess. It reminds us of what the desert has come to signify in some peoples writing and thinking.

What image comes to your mind when you think of a desert?

A dry and arid place

A place of extremes heat in the day cold in the night

A harsh and hostile place

A place of death

A place to be feared and not entered into.

Jesus immediately after his baptism, marking beginning of his public ministry, is driven out into the desert by the Spirit. It seems that he may have been unwilling, hence the way Mark uses the word “driven” where as the later gospel writers use the word “led”.

One of the ways in which Christian writers have used the image of the desert, is to associate the desert with those times of life when we seem to loose our faith or hope.

The times when life seems to be come unbearable.

It has been used to symbolise the “dark night of faith” when God seems far from us and we become uncertain of what lies ahead and whether or not we have the strength to go on.  

We live in a time of great fear and darkness. The fear and terror that stalks our collective and individual consciousness continues to add unease and results in paralysis and aloneness.

As time honoured and familiar markers that give meaning and direction in the landscape of our existence are being swept away it does indeed seem that we are encountering a wilderness in our modern life, shifting sands of subjective individual feeling.

One of those familiar landmarks that has been eroded by the advances of the modern urban life is that of relationship. The relationship between ourselves and the environment, ourselves as fellow citizens and between ourselves and God.

 The season of Lent offers us the opportunity to once again take stock and re-evaluate our Christian commitment, to God and one another as we begin next Sunday evening our lent course “Everybody Welcome” by Bob Jackson.  It is a time when we will journey with our Lord into the desert. It is a time in which we will face the same temptations that he faced –

To find ways to live without reference to God our father.

To find other ways for meaning and purpose in our lives that come at the expense of our relationship with God.

As we journey with Jesus this morning into the desert

As we mark this morning the beginning of our Lentern journey

we remember those who have travelled through the desert before us.

In our first reading we were reminded of Noah who in spite of the mocking  jibes and incredulity of those around him built an ark to protect all that was good in the world and preserve it for a new and better future.

He must have known something of the desert experience as he and his family looked out over the unbroken surface of water for 40 days and nights that had swept away all the familiar landmarks of their life and experience.

The sight of the rainbow, itself only possible in the interaction/the juxtaposition between those familiar opposites of rain and sunshine, dark cloud and clear sky, brought hope and promise into the life of a man on the brink of despair and sorrow.

There was Moses who lead the children of Israel through the desert. This  was a time of change and a time of hardship, a time when all the security of life in Egypt was left behind and a future, defined only by promise, was embraced.

But more importantly it was a time for learning how to be obedient to God. It was while the Israelites wandered, apparently lost, in the vastness of the desert, that God made his presence known to them by giving them the Law, the 10 commandments, by feeding them the manna, the bread from heaven, by sticking the rock so that water flowed for the people to drink God provided and ensured their survival.

You may remember Elijah who cried out in his “dark night of faith”  “It is enough O lord take my life”.

He was alone, the last of the prophets and as a wanted man was hiding in the mountains dejected, lost and at his wits end. His cry of despair is just one of many in the pages of scripture of those who long to understand the ways of God and his purposes in their lives, as indeed we in our time long for purpose and meaning in the seemingly random and cruel world of our making.

Then there is the cry of another prophet, Ezekiel who looking out at the seeming hopelessness of life cried out to God “Can these dry bones live?”

It is this cry that those of us who dare to come and stand at the foot of the cross on Good Friday will hear uttered by God in the voice of his own son at the end of the journey we begin today. “My God My God, Why have you forsaken me”.

If we are able to look upon this God forsaken man, we will be able to look into the god forsaken parts of our life and see the love of God the father and with it the possibility of new life being breathed into those dry and arid places; as he brought life and light into the broken and cold body of Jesus.

 

If we dare to journey into the desert, then we will find ourselves on a journey of self discovery and find that we are not alone, just as Jesus found in the desert, in the long cold nights, that he was himself in the company not just of wild beasts but angels too. 

As I look back over the events of my own life, I like so many of you see times of loneliness, brokenness, and loss. Times when it seems that all that I love most in this world slip from my grasp in a moment. It is then that

I am confronted with my own weakness, my inability to shape or control  events and this in itself is part of the test to be faithful to God and trust in his providence.

What we have to learn, what we still need to learn, is that God is never far from us. That the silence of God can be terrifying and may seem as final as death.

But far from being absent God is in the silence,

He is in the “dark night of faith.”

He is in the wilderness and deserted places of our being

And he is there bringing together all things for his glory.

May you have a blessed Lent and use the time to draw closer to God and trusting in him place your hand in his and journey into the desert within.

The desert awaits……….

And whilst we fear, and rightly

The loneliness and emptiness and harshness,

We  forget the angels,

Whom we cannot see for our blindness

But who come when God decides

That we need their help;

When we are ready

For what they can give us.

Presence and Engagement - the Joy of Diversity

 Below is an article that appears on the Presence and Engagement website 

“The joy of diversity”

St John’s Church, Hendon, has an average Sunday attendance of around 50 people, representing around 12 different ethnic communities. Their heart is to work alongside their neighbours – sharing their concerns in the ‘nitty gritty’ of real life. Fr. John Hawkins tells me also of some of their more deliberate efforts at interfaith, cross cultural engagement in this diverse context.

With 15,000 people in the parish, statistics suggest that the area is nearly 50% Christian, with the rest constituting large Muslim and Hindu communities. A multicultural centre, housed next door to St. John’s Church, is reflective of this diversity. The building hosts three organisations of different faiths/cultures under the same roof: The Barnet African Caribbean Association, the Barnet Somali Community Group and the Barnet Asian Old Peoples Association. There is a sense in the area, Fr. John reflects, of ‘settledness’ within difference. He continues, this context is a source of great joy. In diversity, there is more commonality than difference to be found.

To be ‘Present and Engaged’ means having the confidence to be counted among a community; to be present in the building, in the schools, and alongside neighbours. In this particular area, this often means drawing alongside a Muslim community who have at times been subject to negative press, increasingly in the last decade. Community engagement, post 9/11, has emphasised social cohesion and trying to promote faith as one of the ways in which people can be brought together across difference, rather than a problem. ‘Engagement’ means not doing it alone, but working in partnership with people of all faiths. More generally, it means equipping the church community to manage an ever changing demographic in the area. Once a largely Hindu area, this parish is becoming increasingly Muslim.

As a Christian, Fr. John says, it is easy to lose faith as everything changes around you. He is encouraging St john’s church to not retreat, become aggressive, defensive, or make more noise. He sees new faces as a source of rejoicing, rather than despair. He emphasises commonality, rather than difference, and sees the ‘isms’ of life – sexism, racism etc. – to be things that hinder ‘life in abundance’, as promised in John 10:11. He explains that God enriches our life; we don’t have to live it defensively or fearfully in the face of difference.

To show in practice how different people can enrich each other’s lives, the church engages in numerous art-based, intergenerational projects. One example is of a project in which Year 5 children, along with elderly members of the church were encouraged to bring a piece of fabric that told a story about their life. A square of wedding dress, traditional fabric, and icons of faith were sewn together to make a quilt. 

The Regeneration of West Hendon - hopes and fears

The Public enquiry over the Compulsory purchase orders for the first phase of the regeneration of the West Hendon estate has now drawn to a close, we now wait for the outcome of this process. What will change is hard to know, reinforced concrete is known for its rigidity and much has already been poured. Maybe what will have been achieved will in the long run be as long lasting as the reinforced cement concrete frames that are springing up in this green and pleasant borough of Barnet, and that is that the powerless and voiceless have been heard. Justice begins with the human voice crying out, a baby cries for milk and the demand to life, Adam cries out in his aloneness and God gives him a companion, Eve, the oppressed cry out and God answers by sending them an advocate, a prophet a leader to bring about change, Moses.
The people of West hendon, who for too long have not been listened to, whose human worth and value has been weighted in the scales of financial viability and political expedience and found wanting, who feel that promises entered into have not been honoured are demanding to be heard, and are finding a voice that will join with others to demand change and a fairer future for all our citizens.




Today, a resident and I were allowed a peek preview of G block, due to be completed in the Spring and look at the progress on E block and the future power plant that will provide heat for the flats being built on the estate:

From the top of G block one of the "brown roofs " that will compensate for the negative environmental impact of modern urban designs

The communal area for G Block, this will provide some play and recreational space for residents 

The under ground  car park for a very few cars and a cycle space for every resident 

measuring the main bedroom of this two bed flat

The kitchen, with a window

 

The main living space for a two bedroom flat, there is a balcony, this one of the few that will look east.

Block E starting to take form

The large concrete block is the central core of one of the must contested tower blocks

Candlemass – “O Love that wilt not let me go”

Last week the world remembered the Liberation of Auschwitz

and with the opening of those gates of hatred the world was confronted by the full extent of humanities inhumanity that continues to shock, appal  and inspire  us 70 years on.

After the infamous attack by the Japanese on the Americans at Pearl Harbour, there was a downed Japanese airplane on one of the islands. A local resident put a bunch of flowers on it as a memorial. When asked by a reporter why she was honouring a deceased enemy, she replied, “Even he had a mother.”

After the Falklands War there was a furore cause by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, who insisted that during the service celebrating the victory for this country, prayers were offered for the enemy, in this case the dead of Argentina as well as the fallen of our own country.

When we are encouraged to regard others as our enemy, In the darkness of death and destruction there are times when our humanity wins through.  Even in the depths of such despair and terror there are stories of love and affection that transcends the individuals themselves or the events that they find themselves part of and give us hope.

There are times when the bond between parent and child, or strangers confronted with violence and death or that of our shared humanity transcend, over come and inspire. So too with God, and the bond that lies between our creator and ourselves, though sore stretched it is never completely broken and because of this bond the story of life continues. The Gospel stories are a reminder of this powerful bond, of this love, a Love that will not let me go…

Today we are celebrating the day when Jesus is brought into the temple by His parents to consecrate Him to the service of His heavenly Father. A day when the bond between God and his people is once again acknowledged, affirm and celebrated. A day when the promise of glory is made by an aging widow and the prophesy of Calvary is given by a priest who has seen too much. It’s a powerful image. The scriptures are unfolding as the Eternal Word - as a human infant - is brought into His Temple.

Candlemass, the feast of the presentation is a Reminder of Christianity’s Jewish roots. Here the parents of Jesus show their obedience to the Law of Moses and present their first born to God at the temple. They do so at  time of deep sadness for the people of God as they are a broken and occupied nation, one where there is a deep and profound hope that God will once again take pity on his children and send them a Messiah, a Saviour to give them life once again as he promised long ago.

As with the feast of Jesus’ circumcision a month ago so now with the feast of the presentation the gospel writers are reminding us that Obedience and faithfulness lies at the root of our understanding of God and form the very bond that binds us with God.

The Christmas Story, which we will now leave for another year, begins with the annunciation, Mary being obedient to the message of an angel. It continues with the Mary and Joseph being Obedient to their visions from God that although the situation they find themselves in is hard to understand and is most unlikely- YET God will work with this and bring his purpose to fruition by their obedience.

But of course it is not blind obedience, nor for that matter blind faith that Mary and Joseph, or Simeon and Anna demonstrate. To walk hand in hand with God requires obedience and faithfulness. The one informs the other and so leads us to God.

When we look at Simeon and Anna we see two people waiting upon the Lord.

Simeon and Anna represent the hopes and expectations of all faithful and obedient Jews, at a time when all around them are signs that God has forsaken them, when all that they see is the might of an empire oppressing them and denying them their freedom, they were looking forward to the restoration of God’s rule in Israel – the re-establishment of that bond between God and his people promised long ago.

What ever trial we face today, what ever the fear that is being named, there is one who will give us life

When the future looks uncertain or worse is only defined by despair and failure let us look with the eyes of old Simeon and Anna, to this child who a light to lighten the nations and the glory of his people.

Let us pray to see Jesus not as a remote or distant figure, far from us but in our very midst. And acknowledge that if we remain obedient and faithful to him

Then Our eyes will see his salvation which has been prepared before the face of all people

And ours will be the light that will enlighten the world and his chosen people.

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

that in thine ocean depths its flow

may richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,

I yield my flickering torch to thee;

my heart restores its borrowed ray,

that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day

may brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

and feel the promise is not vain

that morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from thee;

I lay in dust life’s glory dead,

and from the ground there blossoms red

life that shall endless be

The kitchen is finally being set up

Today the kitchen is being assembled and installed in the back of church!!