I think the function of prayer is to pull our lives towards God, to orientate us in the direction of wholeness. Sometimes we think about prayer much too narrowly – saying special words in a particular place. It helps me to think about prayer in broader terms – which include looking and seeing.   Looking for God, for signs of his presence among us, signs of the Kingdom, waiting until we know the time is ripe for important decisions; discerning God’s will. Often I know that I cannot “see”, and yet at other times I can see. Rather like climbing a mountain in a mist. And what is most frustrating is that I am not in control of this“seeing” process, any more than I can say to the mist on the mountainside “be gone !”

I came across a wonderful piece of writing about prayer this week, and how it draws us more closely into the life of God. So I want to share that with you : 

http://liturgy.slu.edu/1LentB022612/reflections_rolheiser.html

you will also find some more thoughts for Lent in my pre-prayer : 

http://www.thesix.org.uk/pre-prayer.htm

Alan

A Song for Simeon …. Hartlip, Anchorites and Faith,  29^th January 2012 

“In you O lord is the well of life
and in your light shall we see light… ” 

Today we celebrate Candlemas, and give thanks for the Well project, and all who work so hard to make it a success. 

The Gospel : Luke 2. 22 – 40 

At the end of today’s Gospel, we heard about the prophet Anna, how she lived in the temple and spent all her time worshipping there with prayer and fasting.   This week, I received an email from someone named Daniel Rollings, researching the history of anchorites and anchorholds in England.   An anchorite is a person set apart for the solitary life, and an anchorhold was where this person lived.   An anchorite was a hermit who lived all the time in a room built onto a church,  and was dedicated with the blessing of the bishop to lead a life of prayer and fasting.

There are some historical volumes with old photographs of our vestry down at the west end on the north side – which may have been an anchorhold;  apparently anchorites – or their patrons – favoured the northside, as it was a bit of extra penance not to have so much sunshine. I’m not sure I quite approve of that…. I’m rather a southside man myself.    Anyway, the only thing we know about our Hartlip anchorite is that his name was Robert.  

Well I wonder what would happen if today the vestry door creaked open and out stepped Robert, flummoxed to be experiencing the 21^st century;he would look around him, note the candles with approval, think that choirs had improved a lot since the middle ages – they have had a few centuries to practise -  though people do dress oddly , and we seem to have run out of incense,   and our Latin seems a bit… well, non-existent.

But Robert is a man of prayer, that’s what he spends all his time here doing,    so he is looking for something more important;   what is he looking for ?     He is looking to see if the Jesus he knows is at the centre of our lives,  and if his light shines among us.

“Well at least they are saying prayers in the nave rather than selling chickens,” he says to himself;    “that’s a start.” And, he adds, “ prayer is a dangerous thing…  you never know where it might lead you…. look where it led me !    It is always the beginning of something new, if it comes from where prayer ought to come from, out of the human heart… ” 

Well, Robert has retreated to his somewhat uncomfortable abode, but he suggested first, that rather than boring you with a sermon today, I might try a bit of poetry instead. “It usually works,” he says; “ try it.” 

And so… 

JESUS AT THE CENTRE 

Simeon came and saw and witnessed
Anna came and saw and witnessed
They saw something new,
Someone new
“Salvation ” , Jesus among them
Shining light upon them
Uncontainable
Unrestrainable
Jesus at the centre of their life. 

A woman came to the well
Weary and rejected
untrusting, at the end of her tether;
Jesus, waiting there for her;
quietly, patiently
knowing who she was
knowing what she needed
- not just water but salvation -
Telling her – her own story
She rushes away with a kind of wild joy
to tell her story, to tell his story
- the disciples scratch their heads -
and the village comes out to Jesus
and he is at the centre
as he meets them at the well
pouring out for them the water of life… 

Here we are today; candles burning
as in the Temple
anthems raising, Simeon inspired,
hearts hoping, Anna uplifted,  
for Jesus at the centre of our lives;
here with bread and wine he greets us
in the word of scripture meets us
“Follow me” his call to us,
“Don’t look back” his word to us
living water, new wine,
fire of love, refining fire
bread of life;
Jesus at the centre of our lives.

+    +    +

And at the same time I am preparing for 6@6 this Sunday, on the theme “Jesus, be the centre” and have chosen Mark 8:27 as the reading “Who do you say I am?’ asks Jesus.

That name, “I am” resounds through the Sriptures, from beginning to end.

The same God, “I am”, who was alive and at work calling Moses, is also alive and at work in Jesus. And it’s in him that the enigmatic “I am” that Moses met takes a new shape and becomes clear. No longer a mysterious burning bush that can only be approached with fear, but a human being, who longs for us to come close. No longer do we have to take off our shoes before him, now he takes our shoes off and washes our feet.

I feel it very keenly,  having spent years in the middle of it all.

So I am delighted to see a really good article by Giles Fraser  ( lately of St. Paul’s ) which sets things straight.  And I  think  what he writes has a message for the Six in it as well;  how do we balance between buildings and being church ?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/dec/29/bethlehem-punch-up-monks-christianity

Happy New Year !  Out with the nonsense,  in with some common sense ( I hope ! )

Alan

And, as we stand on the edge of the holiest of nights, our lips might be carrying a similar question. In the face of riots in our cities, economic meltdown and all the difficulties that we all carry in our own lives, we might want to ask ‘What will God do?‘ What will God do to sort this mess out?

And tonight, as we join Mary and Joseph, and the Shepherds and Angels, as a humble stable becomes the centre of the Universe, we see God’s response.

What would God do? This is his answer. A baby who is the Word of God. A new life that carries the life of the world.  He could have done anything – but this was what he chose. To come amongst us, to show us what he is like. To reveal the fullness of his glory in a human life.

What would God do?

Jesus is what God would do.

A group of bishops has protested to the government about benefits cuts which could hurt the poorest section of the community, see :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2011/nov/19/letters-bishops-condemn-benefits-cap

 They point out that the Church has a responsibility to stand up for the poorest members of society,   -  which reminds me of the Gospel we heard today for Christ the King ( “Stir up Sunday” ) Matthew 25 vv. 31 -46. 

There is no doubt that cuts are necessary; but it is obscene for the wealthiest to award themselves massive percentage bonus increases at a time when others are having the little that they have removed from them. .

Well, it all began in church ! Because this expression picks up situation in the pre-Reformation period when benches were provided around the walls of the church for those too weak to stand. Now the phrase sums up the danger of the weak and vulnerable being marginalised, specially at a time of economic hardship.

Homelessness is a terrible thing, and there should be no excuse not to address this as a common social priority, not just to be left to charity organisations with inadequate resources. Of course we need to face the fact that it is the tax-payer who funds the vulnerable if they are given Council assistance; but I would like to ask what is the alternative within a civilised society ? Helping the vulnerable isn’t easy, because you always get scroungers trying to cash in along with people with genuine needs, and so screening has to be a part of the process.

I commend to you the work of Crisis at Christmas, and their campaign to oblige local councils through a change to the law, so that no one is turned away and all single homeless people are entitled to written advice, real assistance and emergency accommodation when they need it.

I have vivid memories of several episodes during my time as hospital chaplain at the Medway Hospital, when the “no” was given from behind a glass screen at a Council office, and the chaplain was left to drive a poor homeless person discharged from hospital around Chatham and Maidstone trying to find accommodation !

Please read the following email…

Alan

—– Forwarded Message —-
From: Alexandra Sewell <alexandra.sewell@crisis.org.uk>
To: “alankeycol@btinternet.com” <alankeycol@btinternet.com>
Sent: Thursday, 17 November, 2011 16:58:05
Subject: Walk To End Homelessness

The best missionaries were experts at understanding the way these cultures worked, and they often spent years observing what it was that lay at the heart of the way people did things in those places – the symbols they used, the key phrases that were said over and over again, their festivals and their habits. All of these things together helped them  to talk about good news in ways that made sense in cultures so different to their own.

But what about us here in England? With culture changing so fast, the church often appears not to understand how ordinary people think. The church seems out of touch with English culture. Has the time come for us to work harder at understanding our own culture, so that we can tell people about Jesus in ways that really make sense in 2011? Do we need to become missionaries to our own people?

A recently published book tries to do that by looking at 9 key characteristics of the English. the book is called ‘The Faith of the English’ by Nigel Rooms, and I am interested to know whether you recognise what he writes.
The characteristics he lists are:

1. Humour – banter, teasing, irony, wit or mockery all play a part in almost every conversation we have.
2. Moderation – we are people of the middle way. People who dislike extremes and favour the middle ground.
3. Hypocrisy – not so much a deliberate attempt to deceive others, but more a pretending that things don’t matter when we know they do and a dislike of confrontation.
4. Pragmatism – we prefer concrete, practical, common sense to philosophical reflection.
5. Eeyorishness – summed up in our tendency to complain and moan, often in a way linked with the first characteristic, humour.
6. Class-consciousness – even at a time when the differences between social class seem to have diminished, they are still there, and we all know it (even if we don’t talk about it)
7. Fair play – summed up in our love of queuing!
8. Courtesy – in an experiment, 80% of people who were deliberately bumped into on the street apologised, even when it wasn’t their fault.
9. Modesty – summed in the phrase ‘Oh, it was nothing’

Now, there is no suggestion that everyone in England has all these characteristics, rather that together they paint a clear picture of our nation, and we’re really like.

So if Nigel Rooms is right, what does that mean for mission in England today? How do we tell people about Jesus and the good news that he is yearning for them to hear if this is our culture?

Any thoughts……?

And that message is widely seen as being deeply relevant for us today – even if the church is seen as irrelevant. Jesus remains a figure that people look to, and his message of change and hope is still alive in the hearts and minds of British people.

So perhaps one good thing that is emerging from this whole situation – a situation which is still changing very rapidly – is that it reminds us in the church that it is Jesus we follow, not the church. In a strange way, we might come to see that the Holy Spirit has been at work in the protest camp, in part to remind the church what it exists for – which is to follow Jesus.

Archbishop Rowan once defined the church as ‘what happens when people meet Jesus‘. Ironically, it may be that the protesters on the steps of St Paul’s are actually helping us to meet Jesus afresh, and in doing so are helping us to be church again.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8853098/The-Occupy-protest-at-St-Pauls-Cathedral-a-parable-of-our-times.html

Let’s see how the story develops,  not as spectators,  but as people of prayer.

The Bishop of London has offered to arrange a debate with the protestors including representatives from City institutions,  on condition that they agree to remove their tents.

I hope this offer produces a positive response;  unfortunately it is made against the background of an increasing hostility between the protesters and the Cathedral authorities, and human nature means people tend to dig their heels in when they feel under pressure.

Giles Fraser,  who has resigned as canon chancellor  has explained how he wanted to negotiate with the protestors to reduce the size of their encampment and come to other practical arrangements to allow life to continue as normal at St. Paul’s,  but was inhibited by the legal advice received by the Cathedral,  which suggested this might allow a continuing settlement.

Too often law and wisdom find themselves opposed these days !