Black lives matter

I am writing this on Sunday 7th June 2020 on the day after there were large scale protests in London and other UK cities following the killing of George Floyd - a black man - by police in Minneapolis, USA. These protests were overwhelmingly peaceful but were marred by a small amount of violence. They were, however, unlawful in that they contravened the Coronavirus lockdown laws which outlaw public gatherings.

Even before yesterday's protests, the church elders had decided to make a statement to the church at our Zoom meeting on Sunday morning. You might ask why we felt the need to do that. Is it really relevant to us? There are no black people in the church, and only a handful of black people in Crowborough. We felt that it is important for white people to speak out on this issue. We want our black brothers and sisters to know that we stand with them in solidarity. Also we are aware that silence can be read as complicity: if we say nothing then people will think that we accept the status quo, the way things are.

Here are three principles that can help us as we think about a Christian response to race issues -

1) Every human being is made in God's image and deserves respect regardless of age, nationality, race, gender, colour of skin, or ability. Racism has no place amongst Christians.

2) God is a God of justice. As Christians we should stand for justice. Martin Luther King Jr said, "Injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere."

3) The Bible says, 'If one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.' (1 Corinthians 12:26) If our black brothers and sisters suffer, we suffer too.

I also want to add two personal observations -

Why did so many people protest? Why did they defy the lockdown laws and expose themselves to the risk of Covid-19 (which disproportionally affects black people)? I believe that it is because, as a community and as individuals, they have experienced decades of deprivation and discrimination and that they believe that now is an important moment when they need to make themselves heard. They have experienced decades of deprivation and discrimination in education, in housing, in employment, and in the criminal justice system. Now they sense that there is an opportunity for change that must be seized. Things are bad for black people in the USA and have been for more centuries. The ending of slavery more than a century ago did not end discrimination against black people. Nor did the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. Things are also bad for black people in the UK, living in a British society which historically grew rich on the back of the slave trade. While we cannot agree with law breaking and violence, we understand the anger and frustration that has led to it.

And why did the police officers in Minneapolis kill George Floyd? We might never know the answer to that question, but here is my guess. I think that the police officers were afraid of George Floyd and reacted out of fear. Why were the police officers afraid of George Floyd? Because they had the mindset that black men are dangerous, that they are inclined to crime and violence, that they pose a threat. Fear leads to hatred, and ultimately hatred leads to aggression and injustice. How do we overcame fear? By getting to know those who are different to us: people with different skin colour, people with different abilities, and - for us who are Christians - people from different denominations.

At this point I want to recommend a book that I read recently. Ben Lindsay is an Elder in a Newfrontiers church in South London. He is a black elder in a white majority church. He writes from that perspective, combining examples from real-life stories, his own experience of growing up in a white majority church, together with theological reflection. He analyses race relations in the UK and in the Church and he highlights where the church is falling short. Finally, he shows us how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community.




That brings to the point where we realise that words are not enough. We need to take action. Let me suggest three things that we can do -

(1) Speak out against racism wherever we find it - in the church, in our workplaces, in our families.

(2) Take every opportunity to get to know people who are different to us: people with different skin colour, and people who are different to us in all sorts of other ways.

(3) Pray. Pray that justice will prevail and pray that the church will be a truly prophetic community, showing the world how people from all sorts of races and backgrounds can be joined together in meaningful harmony.

Easter meditation: The last enemy is death

The last enemy is death

Easter Sunday is the high point of the Christian year. We celebrate the fact that Jesus triumphed over death, rose from the grave, and opened up the way for us to overcome death. I want to take a few minutes to look at what that means for us today.

In our garden we have a young tree that is blossoming for the first time. The tiny white buds are opening up into little flowers. The tree is covered with white blossom and sharp thorns. It is a hawthorn, but not any hawthorn, it is a Glastonbury thorn – a special sort of hawthorn that flowers twice a year: in the summer and at Christmas. As I grew up in Glastonbury, Joy thought that the tree would make a special gift for me on my 60^th birthday.

Growing up in Glastonbury, I heard all sorts of legends. One of them was that Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man mentioned in the Gospels who made his tomb available for Jesus’s body, came to Glastonbury after Jesus’s death and buried the chalice, or cup, that was used in the Last Supper by Jesus and his disciples. There is a spring in Glastonbury called the Chalice Well and the water that comes out of the spring is tinged red by iron deposits, but is said that the red colour comes from Jesus’ blood.

It is said that Joseph of Arimathea planted his staff into the ground at Glastonbury and that it miraculously took root and sprouted, growing into the Holy Thorn which flowers twice a year. And my little tree is a descendent of that one! Now it has to be said that there is no historic evidence for any of that – apart from the tree in my garden – and it is, almost certainly, a load of made-up nonsense.

By contrast, I read something this week about the death and resurrection of Jesus. An academic historian wrote, “Speaking as an ancient historian, I can confirm that the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the best-attested facts in ancient history.” The same historian pointed out that although the resurrection is less well documented, but there are all sorts of lines of evidence that point to it being historically true. ¹

As Christians, we are not immune from death and suffering. Death is horrible. I’ve been reminded of that vividly in the last few days, as I have heard news about the deaths, or approaching deaths, of three people.

The first was a lovely old lady called Rosemary who was a founder member of the King’s Church in Uckfield. Rosemary was full of God’s love: she gave thanks to him continuously, was exceptionally generous, and did all she could to help other people. In fact, I was at a funeral about three years ago and Rosemary was busy serving food to people afterwards. Her daughter said to me, “I tell mum to slow down but she won’t. She’ll be serving sandwiches at her own funeral!” Rosemary got ill with the Corona virus, was admitted to hospital, and passed away on Thursday night.

The second was the husband of a colleague of mine. Maureen is a Christian lady and worships regularly at All Saints. She was a member of Christchurch many years ago. Her husband John was not a believer. He was in his seventies and a charming, polite, and generous man. He was very supportive of the people with learning disabilities that are cared for by the homes where Maureen and I work. He was always well-dressed and took care of his appearance. I don’t think that I have ever seen him, in any context, without a collar and tie. John developed a chest infection. After two rounds of antibiotics, his doctor concluded that it was a viral infection and he was admitted to hospital about 10 days ago. He tested positive for the Corona virus and he died on Friday morning.

The third has not died yet but is terminally ill with cancer. Humanly speaking, she has months, or maybe only weeks to live. She is a young woman called Emily. She is married and has two young boys – one six and one less than a year old. Emily’s mother, Sue, is a bit older than Joy and I. She and her husband lived in Sussex and were friends of ours many years ago. She moved to South Africa with her family more than 30 years ago. A few years after they got there, her husband died of a heart attack, and then a couple of years later her eldest son tragically died in a car accident. Over the years, we have lost touch with Sue, although bits of news have reached us. Then a few months ago she got in touch with the devastating news about Emily.

Death is horrible. It causes grief, pain, separation, loss, even despair. Death is vile. It stinks. The Bible refers to death as “the last enemy”.²

The good news is that through the crucifixion Jesus defeated death.³ As he appeared to be at his weakest, as he suffered and died a degrading death on the cross, Jesus achieved his greatest victory. And by his resurrection, he showed the world, and all the powers of darkness, that it is true. By coming to life, by leaving the tomb empty, Jesus has demonstrated that death has truly been overcome. That is the hope that we have as Christians, that though we will die, we will be raised to life at the last day, that we will live and reign with Jesus forever.

But, as I said before, that doesn’t mean that life is always plain sailing. As you read Paul’s writing, especially 2 Corinthians, you realise that he endured great suffering and that it took a toll on him emotionally. In fact his words give the impression of someone who had suffered from depression. He writes, “. . we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.”⁴ He’s not talking here about an outward, “real” sentence of death; he had been in court many times and suffered imprisonment and beatings; he could cope with that! No, he’s talking about something he felt in his heart, in his inner being – despair and death.

Later in the letter he writes, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”.⁵ Jesus humbled himself, became a human being, and experienced suffering and even death – the cruel and degrading death of crucifixion. That’s how he won his victory over sin and death and hell. We are called to follow after Jesus by humbling ourselves and embracing suffering. ⁶ The upside-down way that God’s kingdom works is that, in order to bring the victory that comes from the crucifixion, we have to embrace the same way of suffering that Jesus himself endured. The victory that was won on the cross must be brought into being through the cross. In other words, if we want to know the victory of the cross in our own lives, we must be prepared to embrace suffering. If we want to bring the victory of the cross to other people, we’ve got to prepared to embrace suffering in our own lives.

But we know that at the last day, the kingdom of God will come in completeness, the victory of the cross will be fully established, suffering will end, and death will be defeated.

As it says in 1 Corinthians –

“Death has been swallowed up in victory”⁷

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”⁸

1.    N.T. Wright in Christianity Magazine, April 2020, page 69

2.    1 Corinthians 15:26

3.    Hebrews 2:14-15

4.    2 Corinthians 1:8-9

5.    2 Corinthians 4:10

6.    Philippians 2:5-11

7.    1 Corinthians 15:54 quoting Isaiah 25:8

8.    1 Corinthians 15:55 quoting Hoseah 13:14

Jonah 4:5-11

What is your answer?

Jonah is one of two books in the Bible that ends with a question (the other one is Nahum.) God asks Jonah, “Should I not be concerned about this great city?” The book doesn’t record Jonah’s answer. Does Jonah come to embrace the truth that God is full of compassion? Does Jonah welcome the Ninevites’ repentance and rejoice that the preaching of God’s word has borne fruit in their lives? Or does he continue in his stubborn self-righteousness and lack of mercy? We don’t know.

Why does the book end this way? Why doesn’t it give us the satisfaction of knowing how the story ends? Because God wants to pose the same question to each one of us. God wants us to consider whether we are ready to forgive and welcome everyone whom he forgives and welcomes. Or whether, like Jonah, we will cling on to our self-righteousness and look down on those who have come late to the party of repentance and faith.

Last time we looked at the storm within Jonah’s heart. We saw the contrast between God’s character and Jonah’s. God is compassionate, merciful, loving, forgiving and patient. Jonah was self-righteous, selfish, angry, vengeful, idolatrous, prideful, and untrusting.

Here in verse 5 we read, “Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.” 

It seems that Jonah was still expecting, and hoping, that God would pour out his wrath on the city of Ninevah, whether fire and brimstone, military invasion, or plague and pestilence. Even though the Ninevites had repented, Jonah thought that they were still worthy of God’s judgement. It’s easy to be critical of Jonah, but often we are little different. When we hear of murderers or terrorists turning to Christ, we are sceptical of their motives and reluctant to embrace them as brothers. We are pleased that they intend to live the remainder of lives in a peaceful and productive way, but often we are reluctant to forgive former way of life. We think that somehow they need to pay for their previous crimes. But that is the scandal of the gospel: God is ready to forgive the gravest of sins and welcome forgiven sinners into his kingdom. God wipes the slate clean: he forgives our sins and chooses to remember them no more. None of us can gain God’s favour by our good living. We are all affected by selfishness, greed, and even hatred. We are tainted by what people used to call the corruption of sin. None can gain God’s favour by the purity of our own lives: we are dependent on his mercy.

Here’s a mystery: how can God extend mercy to guilty sinners, while at the same time maintaining truth and justice. Praise God that he gave his own Son, Jesus who died for us on the cross. Jesus took on himself the pain and penalty of sin so that we can go free. As one old hymn puts it, the cross is the place “where heaven’s love and heaven’s justice meet”. And another hymn puts it this way: “And Heaven's peace and perfect justice, kissed a guilty world in love.”

But God was not satisfied to leave Jonah in his vengeful self-righteousness. God had intervened dramatically when Jonah’s life was in danger. And God had shown great mercy to Jonah when Jonah had resisted God’s word and run in the opposite direction. Now God wanted to work on Jonah’s character so that it became more like God’s own character. So God provided a vine (verse 6), and a worm (verse 7), and a scorching east wind (verse 8). These were like a parable, acted out in the events of life, to bring Jonah to his senses. God wanted Jonah to realise that just as he, Jonah, had received God’s mercy it was the right response to extend that mercy to others.

We are living in strange times, as the Corona virus threatens not only our way of life, but life itself. Some see this as God’s judgement on a sinful world. That may or may not be the case. It’s certainly a wake-up call to us in the developed world as we expect a remedy to every disease and a solution to every problem. But whatever it is, let’s not distance ourselves from the world. We too are tainted by the corruption of sin. We have received God’s mercy; let’s be merciful to others. Let’s take on the character of God: compassionate, full of mercy, loving and forgiving.

How will we respond to the question that God asked Jonah? Are we ready to embrace God’s character and show his mercy to the world?