Passages for reflection: Exodus 19: 2 - 8a and Matthew 9: 35 - 36
Where is Professor Van Tam? Of all the scientists in the government press briefings, I trust him the most to tell me the truth, he is clear and concise and I understand him. And now he has disappeared!
In uncertain times we need guidance and care we can trust. Not fake news or not answering our questions. We can only respond when we are sure what we are doing.
I was discharged by the hospital this week. I got clear guidance from the consultant about whether I should still be shielding. Yes I should!
The government has said churches can open from Monday for private prayer. I was glad to read a very clear statement to my Circuit to be from Gareth, the Superintendent. I especially like the phrase “when it is safe for all.”
“The Ripon and Lower Dales Methodist Circuit will not be reopening its buildings on that date and they will remain closed for the foreseeable future. The Circuit Leadership team and I want to ensure the ongoing care of those most vulnerable within our churches and community.
The Gospel passage for this Sunday is some words of Jesus bringing clear leadership and guidance and care into a situation. Matthew tells us the people were “harassed and helpless” like “sheep without a shepherd.”
We know about those two feelings. We are harassed. We spend a lot of time worrying about the future. Our blood pressure rises - why? Because we are helpless. Our future is in Boris Johnson’s hands. He’s very buoyant about having this thing beaten and that the economy will recover and to those of us shielding, he says he will have news of arrangements for us this coming week. Perhaps we will be allowed someone in our garden! Or allowed to go and see some penguins! Who knows?
We are like sheep, wayward and lost. We need safety and protection. We need leading back into the fold. We need a protective ring put around us.
What does Jesus do for the harassed and the helpless and the lost? He throws what for me is the heart of what he is about into the situation that needs help - compassion. And what does the word compassion mean? Suffering with. Isn’t that what Jesus incarnate does? He suffers with us. Not throned above, remotely moved from human pain, but daily, in the midst of life, our Saviour with the Father reigns.
Compassion gets involved. When others keep their distance from those who are suffering, compassion prompts us to act on their behalf. Frederick Buechner describes what it means to have compassion in this way:
“Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace or joy for me until there is peace and joy for you too.”
This is amazing good news: if compassion really is the heart of the Gospel than it means no matter what we face, we do not face it alone. I have a crucifix in my study (not that I have a study at the moment, it’s all in boxes again) - I have a crucifix to remember how much Jesus suffers with me. On the cross he takes the crap I face and don’t know what to do with and enfolds it in his bleeding arms and body and says no matter how bad it feels today, it won’t be for ever. But let’s not water down suffering. Let’s not forget those who are really struggling nearly three months into this Covid 19 crisis. Those who fear going back to work on Monday morning; those who own businesses who fear recession if customers don’t return, those who are shielding still who can’t do what everyone else can.
Even getting a tank of petrol was a conundrum this week. Luckily the man in the garage recommended the BP me app. It’s amazing! You don’t need to go in the shop! Then we have had to face our things going into storage from the blessed Old Vicarage. You try moving shielding! We had to work hard as we weren’t allowed to be around when the removers arrived. My back is still recovering from moving boxes around. The animals were all moved to be packed!
If you are struggling today, know that God revealed to us in the compassionate Christ comes to you just where and how you are.
If compassion is the heart of the Gospel and we are to live that Gospel today as the Church, then that has huge implications. Is the Church a compassionate one? Are all welcome? Perhaps not. I’m glad my own denomination has put out a statement in the midst of the Black Lives Matter stuff has admitted we are still blighted by racism. But we have to try and be more understanding of where people are, and what their story is.
As this coronavirus year goes on, as I contemplate beginning a new appointment while probably still shielding, I can see my role being ministering to those who, IF our church buildings open again, cannot attend because they, like me, are vulnerable. With what I’ve been through in the last two years, I get what it feels like to need some compassion!
At the moment, some churches are beginning to ask what will be important when we reopen, not that we have shut! Maybe some of the things that we might struggle to reopen, need not. But dare I suggest we need a new focus: to put the lost and harassed and helpless at our heart? Can we be as devoted to the care of others as devoted doctors and nurses are continuing to be on the front line? I have been so excited to begin a new appointment in September. Getting to know eight churches in my pastoral charge if I’m still vulnerable will be interesting. I will want as a first step for my folk to know I care...
What might be the priority of the Church to a lost, harassed and helpless world? Well, I point us to the Old Testament reading from Exodus 19. A people in exile needed direction, focus and care. We have been locked down for nearly three months, they were exiled for generations.
”You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.”
How much does God love us? He has borne us on eagle’s wings and has brought us to himself!
And now we are called to be loving as a response. A priestly kingdom and a holy nation. That means living in the light of divine promises and guidance. That means compassion as a lifestyle, not just an ideal. If the Church is to have any credibility after all of this, she has to prove she really wants to get involved where life needs guiding, help and compassionate sacrifice. Don’t you think?
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