Belhaven Parish Church

Those who like traditional church hymns must get a bit fed up with the number of new, modern hymns we have…or seem to have…
Those who like new, modern hymns…must get a bit fed up with number of traditional, old hymns we have ...or seem to have.

Those who like long sermons will find the sermons too short…and those who like short sermons will think the sermons a bit on the long side.
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Those who think all sermons should be solidly Bible-based will wonder why there are so many references to films, songs, TV programmes and newspapers…
Others who want preaching to be culturally relevant will wonder why we talk about people in the Bible so much – or mention great saints of the church’s history so often.

And so it goes…nobody quite getting what they want.
Everyone frustrated by this aspect of church life or that…
Too many people involved in worship…or not enough opportunity for the members to take their part…
Too little reference to the wider church…or not enough connection to the contemporary world…
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And when it comes down to the building itself…
Seats too uncomfortable…or “love the old pews…”
like screens or don’t like screens…
like a modern translation…or don’t like one…
want the psalms…don’t see why there should be psalms…
like people other than the minister doing stuff…only want the minister to lead prayers and conduct worship…
want the order of service printed…don’t see the need to have it printed…
Want family services…don’t come when there is a family service…
More instruments, guitars, flutes…drums wanted …want only the organ…
Love regular celebrations of Holy Communion – not so sure want Communion every month…
Like congregation sharing in printed prayers…really don’t find sharing in written prayers helpful.
And so it goes…
No one getting quite what they want.

And yet here we are…as disparate, variegated and diverse a group of people as you can find…all with our needs, our wants, our expectations…our hopes…together for around an hour…and wondering why everything isn’t just to our taste, in every respect.

And if we were consumers of religion…if we were shoppers at the superstore of faith…we might want to make our voices heard…complain to the management…
Or, we might simply… take our custom elsewhere…
Which some do…
“This kind of worship does nothing for me…it’s too…
Shallow
Short
Old fashioned
Modern
Too much for the young
Not enough for my children
it’s too something…or not enough something else…”
So, we go in search of what will suit…what we will like …what will meet our needs…
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Which would be fine…
if this was what church was about…
and if this was what our role as Christians within the life of the church
was meant to be…
consumers looking for satisfaction…
all our boxes ticked…
just the way we like it to be…
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But, what if that’s not what the Church is for?
And, what if that is not what our role is meant to be within its life?

What if we were meant to be providers….not consumers…
What if our job was to provide
The presence
The singing..
The praying…
The resources…
The leadership
The service
The fellowship
The hospitality
The witness
The faithfulness…
And what if being part of the church was not about what we get
But what we give??
Not so much about our needs
As about our calling…to this place…to make this place…this people
A holy place made sacred by the prayers and presence of the people of God – enriched by his Spirit and humble before his call: to be a city set on a hill that cannot be hid…a voice of faithful proclamation in word and action…
A fellowship of belonging and love where the broken can come and find

What if we are meant to be a beacon of truth and light in the shadowy uncertain world of values that drags people down and crushes them…
What of none of it was to do with us
And all of it was to do with them…
How we can tell them they are precious
How we can share the good news of God’s love with them
How we can demonstrate to all the world that we belong to Christ and that our commitment loyalty and love are for pouring out on his behalf…??
And that, in the name of that high calling…and for the purposes of that vision…
We are less concerned about

And more concerned to make sure that it will work for those not yet aware of the good news…

And if the demand of that obligation…if the requirement of that high purpose is that sometimes we don’t always get exactly what we want out of the experience of church. ..or of worship…then maybe that will - at that moment – for those instances…be a price we are willing to pay…
in order that the true reason for the church’s existence is being served…
the people for whom it exists…
those at present outside of its life!!!
Adults and children alike…
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In fairness, in general terms, the people of the church are generous and gracious in face of that high calling…
They release resources and personnel to work outwith the life of the church…
Parish ministry is about that being there at the point of need and never asking “Are you a paid up member of the church?” before offering help and ministry.
Americans who’ve come to work here do find that strange and wonderful…”no-strings-attached” love reaching into a community simply in the service of others in the name of Christ and in the name of his love…so that if the minister is caring for a family in a parish funeral and bereavement situation…then they can’t be visiting you, loyal member of the congregation…in your home…and people understand that…allow for that…embrace that parish responsibility..

we will deal differently with the occasional dissatisfaction we might sometimes feel when things don’t do entirely our way any given Sunday.

Over the piece…on the whole…in the course of the year…there will be songs we love…prayers that clutch our heart…sermons that stir our spirit…warmth, fellowship and a glorious sense of shared purpose and service…
But there will not always be a service that ticks every box…or meets every expectation…
And we will accept that…Because we understand that we are not here to be demanding consumers of religion…
but to be providers of a way in
to those still on the edges of faith…and on the fringes of the life of the church.

In a strange but profound way…
the Church is not for us…
but for them.!!
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You’ll have had them I’m sure…
MOMENTS OF INSIGHT/INTUITION…
a sudden dropping of the penny, seeing of the light, lifting of the mist…and there…you can see it now…see what the others have been telling you about…but has hitherto just seemed to pass you by…
but now…now you have it…or it has you.

We can be rolling along fine. Thinking we have life all figured out. We buy a newspaper that echoes and reinforces our world view…we know who fits in where…what is as it should be…and the corners are rounded…the edges softened. We’re there.

And then something happens to make us look at things again…and we are unsettled…we are shaken and stirred and pretty uncomfortable about things…and we discover that the neat little box we have put life into…isn’t sufficient…lacks flexibility…we have to review our stance on this, that or the other matter…and suddenly it’s not just as simple and straightforward as we imagined.

Usually, those seismic shifts in our thinking have to do with people and our experiences with them…

All our hard certainties…rocked by… reality.
And we have to think again…look at things afresh. Re-assess our dogmatic stance.
We can cling onto our stubborn certainties – or learn to respond as situations arise, and as real people enter the equation.

And it often is to do with people…and the awfulness of their plight, the severity of their need, the depth of their crisis, the choices they make.
And we begin to think that sometimes, actually, it’s people first -and principles second.
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That can be a risky road to take…who knows what accommodations, adjustments, waterings down and radical reviews it will demand
- but when the person is actually there in front of you and their need cries out…their humanity presents itself, we know instinctively where our priorities lie.

Theory might be one thing…but it often has to go out the window when we are dealing with real people.
Intellectual arguments are one thing…the needs of real individuals for compassion, grace and tenderness are another.
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So, here’s the question…did Jesus ever change his mind about things…? Did his thinking evolve, develop, change…alter – in the light of circumstances…did he ever learn anything…have one of those moments when all his certainties had to be readjusted in the light of the need of a real person there in front of him?

You see, the problem is, when we talk about Jesus as being human and divine, we create a tough question for ourselves…
Did he know everything all the time…in the light of his being God an’ all…or did he have to learn stuff the same as we did…and so, his “being divine” gave him no special advantages –
He had to learn to read and write…
He had to come to an understanding about truth and morality and what is right and wrong…
he had to learn to be a carpenter…just like any apprentice and get skelves in his fingers and rough bits on his hands…
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And he had to deal with his cultural heritage and the straight-jacket that can be - and the certainty among his people that they were the people…and they were so chosen it hurt…and that everyone else was pretty much not worth very much…

And having breathed that air of prejudice and social arrogance from his early days…did he have to learn new thinking…discover new attitudes, different ways of dealing with the world?
And when and where did those tipping points come?

The incident with the foreign woman is pretty shocking.
Jesus seems to give her short shrift –
His has other, bigger fish to fry…his mission to the people of Israel has his full commitment, and there is nothing left for the desperate woman with her need and crisis.
Because she is not a Jew, she counts for less
She is not a priority.
He has other things on his mind.
Simple. As it should be – according to the measures and manners of his time and common thinking of his people.
His words to her sound rough, harsh –ungracious impatient…shocking. Un-Christ-like.

He had work in hand and the people of Israel and their blindness, their tragedy- summon him with all his resources, energy and compassion - and he seems to have nothing left for those on the fringes, on the edges…beyond the reach of his compassion.
He tells her to go away.
He sends her away.

But she won’t go.
She won’t take a telling.
Her persistence is relentless.
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And then it seems to happen.
The moment comes.
The penny drops.
He sees it.
He sees her…as a person with a desperate problem, an immediate need.
And it falls into place
Compassion overwhelms cultural stereo-typing,
Old prejudices are pushed to one side by an overwhelming humanity and love…
And he sees.
He understands
And is liberated by that moment, that insight – that divine revelation
to love the whole world…
To leave no one outside the scope and compass of his compassion.
Now he is gripped by the need of the whole world
And draws that whole world to his heart.

American Theologian Barbara Taylor Brown describes it this way:
-- You can almost hear the huge wheels of history turning as Jesus comes to a new understanding of who he is and what he has been called to. He is no longer a Messiah called only to the lost sheep of Israel, but God’s chosen Redeemer of the whole world - Jews and Gentiles alike…beginning with this Canaanite woman.
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That other story - of the woman taken in adultery -
whom the law said should be stoned
offers another one of those disclosure moments…
When the light dawns
And Jesus learns that people are more important than rigid legalistic attitudes…and he invites, dares his critics to share that moment of understanding…
“I know the Law says this.
But here in front of me is this trembling, terrified woman.
What matters most?
What does God the Father want me to allow to matter most?
Yes, who knows into what murky moral waters this decision will lead and how complex it will all become…
But the truth is ….people matter
Mercy matters
Grace is for all God’s children.
The good news is for all the world…
And if there are blurred edges…we will live with them, deal with them…”
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And, on another occasion - when his disciples offend against the strict Sabbath regulations that have become just silly in their rigidity…another moment of clarity….
Of course, this is the truth –
that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath…
Yes! That’s the right emphasis! This is what matters…
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We all carry stuff around with us…simplistic assessments, ancient prejudices, caricatures of this type of person or that….and we should bless those disclosure moments, when we learn something new about truth…its capacity to unsettle, its sometimes grey areas, its challenge to our comfortable certainties.

If we are truly blessed we will have our moments of discovery and insight - tipping points - when the clouds of ignorance part and the sunlight of truth illuminates our story.

If that opens us or our message up to the charge of us “being a soft touch,” offering cheap grace, we will live with that rebuke and try to explain that grace isn’t cheap…even though it is free. Kindliness is not easy – just right.

And we will allow ourselves to be open to those disclosure moments when the love of God enables us to see things differently…in the midst of real encounters…not “wham bam rockets galore revelations” –but in the quiet new certainties that creep into our soul - and we discover that people matter more than being right all the time.
There was a man in the early years of my ministry who gave me a torrid time…he could be difficult, negative…you say black… he’d say white…his mission seemed to be to block and stymie and make sure I never got what I wanted for the church, without a struggle. He was a pain in the neck.
He got ill. I visited him in hospital and he lay there scared and sick vulnerable …and as I looked at him- I realised that, actually, I loved him. I loved the old beggar…and that all the other stuff was nothing. He mattered and he mattered to me. It was a revelation indeed.

I’m still waiting for the other moments to come. When I can open the door to a needy individual who’s looking for money or something…and feel only compassion and never cynicism and suspicion…or when I’m able to see a beggar in the streets of Edinburgh and not be torn between helplessness anger and shame…only feel only sorrow and compassion…

I take some comfort from the fact that if there were things the Master had to learn, journeys and adventures of discovery he had to make…that he will understand if it’s taking me a while to get myself to where he would like me to be….where I too will know that when it all boils down to it…people, whoever they are – strong or weak, feckless or confident, gay or straight, rich or poor, fat or thin, nice or nasty, Christian or non-Christian…they are our gift, our responsibility and our blessing.
They matter.
Every one of them.

The climb has been exhausting…
You reach the top of the hill, gasping but exhilarated.
You’ve done it!
And now the magnificent view stretches out before you…
The sea – the islands – and the splash of light cloud reaching out towards a horizon that seems to stretch for forever.
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Then you notice the little collection of stones.
All the other people who have come here…
Reached this moment…shared the stunning vista…
Each one has added a stone from around the hill-top
And a cairn is growing…

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In solidarity with that…with them…
You add your stone to the little mound of stones
And you turn to look once more
In silence
At the view…
This has been special.
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Some ancient instinct is at work here…
This primeval need or desire to make a mark
Leave a sign…
Acknowledge a significant event.
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In the Old Testament…they took it a step further…
And instead of a cairn
They built an altar…

For them, those times were more than just special
More than merely memorable…
They were sacred…holy
And they deserved a sacred sign
They merited the badge of holiness.
The oil of consecration

For God was there,
Infusing their experience with the sacred and the divine…
QUOTE:
Jacob woke up and said
“The Lord is here. He is in this place.”
He got up early next morning, took the stone that was under his head, and set it up as a memorial”

At special times of thanksgiving, the Old Testament characters
Set up their altars –

All reason enough to gather the rocks and shape an altar…
Offering prayers and sacrifices
The smoke rising in the stillness
The scent of the consecrating oil fragrant and full of meaning
Declaring that something precious and true and of the spirit had entered the apparent ordinariness of their lives
And stopped them short…
Raised their eyes to heaven
Reminded them who they were, and of the kind of relationship that was possible between themselves and their God,
if they had eyes to see
and a heart open to receive his grace.

If we were building our altar of thanksgiving…
We could find reasons
Times and places
Causes and celebrations…
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Our worship here is part of that…
a sign of a life that refuses to forget the goodness of God…
or take for granted his graciousness and provision.
And there may be particular reasons…

These need not, and maybe should not…be moments that go un-remarked and unacknowledged…
They deserve an altar of thanksgiving…
Built in our heart…
A marker of gratitude.
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What would bring you to build that altar?
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Another theme runs through the process of altar building…
and it is the recognition that sometimes there is bad stuff
that needs to be dealt with in our life.
Things said and done that were wrong
and of which we are rightly ashamed
and for which we are truly sorry.

The Old Testament records the experience of those who saw repentance as a necessary first step to restoration…
and there are plenty who felt the need to build
altars of repentance
and in the symbolism of that – to see their mistakes, their derelictions and their sins – dealt with on that altar - a demanding, painful and humbling willingness to admit to failure and need and to reach out for God’s forgiveness.
And a place from which they can now move forward in the freedom of the redeemed,
in the assurance of their status as forgiven,
their living no longer hobbled by corrosive guilt and clinging sense of shame.
They have been redeemed, loosed from the shackles of a past that was crippling them…and on the altar of repentance the broken bits of who they have been and what they have done, are given to God for his mercy and his healing.
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The honesty of that altar-building can be a sore and searing business…but new beginnings become possible, where before there was only regret, recrimination and rebuke.
We are invited to build the altar of repentance.
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We are also encouraged to explore the holy moment…those times when the presence of God settles over our soul,
quietens our spirit,
and we feel with a passion or a stillness the truth of our faith,
the power of God’s truth,
the beauty of the way to which he has called us.

When we let it, that time, that feeling can take us by surprise with a blessing and a certainty that is thrilling, affirming and memorable. And we feel compelled to build an altar to our encounter with the holy.

People speak of that across a whole range of contexts,
some more obviously sacred than others…
but all a real experience of something profound and true…

It can be a place.
And we so seldom draw on the opportunities to find ourselves at such places…
They are closer than we know.
Ancient sites connected with the story of the church…

We don’t have to travel on a crusade to the Holy Land
for the holy things to touch against our spirit…

Instead of the stridency and rush and busyness and crowded diary:
Time to still our spirits in places that have been soaked in the Spirit for centuries, and where that sense of God’s presence is allowed to speak to the secret place of our soul…

When we do it – it works. We know that…we know the places we have been, where it is right to build an altar to the Lord…

And, when we allow them to be, other moments and experiences can bring that spiritual fire to our hearts…

It can be something less obviously spiritual…but affective and effective nonetheless…

All these moments are shot through with the possibility and often the reality of God’s presence if our antennae are sensitive and our hearts are tuned and our mind is focused and open…
As the singer has it…
“We are looking for the sacred and divine…
and it’s standing right beside us all the time”
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Of course, this is more than admiring a fine view, or being happy that our dog is having a good time, running in the surf…
It is not encouraging that myth that
“You can be just as close to God listening to Classic FM, as you can singing hymns in church…”
it’s not just about feeling nice…
it’s about sensing the God who calls us, invites us and disturbs us…about being open and obedient to his summons…and prepared to let his presence and his Spirit take us where we might not want to go…
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And, it’s about fixing that sometimes uncomfortable moment
as we build an altar
recognising the reality that something happened here
that mattered
that made a difference
something true, holy, unexpected, undeserved and precious.

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story.. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing