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"Making Room for Mary and Joseph."
I just don’t want this journey to end” is a regular cry from the contestants of BBC’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. They are having the best time of their lives, transformative even, and they can’t bear to leave it! I have to admit that when the series comes to an end, I find myself in complete sympathy with them; the journey has been a great joy and I’d appreciate a few more weeks of it.
Many journeys are not that enjoyable though are they. In fact, for many folks a journey can be torturous, and they pray for it to end quickly and safely!
Take Maryam Nuri Mohamed Amin, aged 24 from Northern Iraq, journeying to the UK be with her fiancé who drowned in the English Channel two years ago. She was one of twenty-seven who died during that journey, seventeen men, seven women, two teenage boys and one teenage girl. According to one of her relatives, Maryam’s story “is the same as everyone else, she was looking for a better life”.
These journeys are an urgent humanitarian issue, yet the lives of Maryam and countless others have become politicised and her human dignity is denied with slogans such as “stop the boats”. It is overwhelmingly an issue of and for humanity but also it is a deeply theological issue, as every death in these circumstances is an affront to a loving God in whose image Maryam and everyone else was made.
And as we start this season of Advent, I am struck particularly by Maryam’s story. Maryam is the Aramaic word for Mary, now the Islamic version of Mary. Mary the God bearer, and such a central figure in what unfolds over these next few weeks. Mary who was herself a so-called migrant traveller, journeying through dangerous and potentially hostile terrains. Mary, chosen by God to be the mother of His Son.
It may be hard for us here in Shaw and Crompton to imagine what we can possibly do about the plight of Maryam and the countless others making terrifyingly dangerous journeys to find a safer place to stay. Maybe though the first thing is to face this issue head on and don’t pretend it isn’t happening. The story of Mary and Joseph might just help us to do that! They travelled about eighty miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and the journey would have been hard, dirty and dangerous. Mary heavily pregnant and no doubt exhausted.
We all know well that when they got there, there was no-where for them to stay. There was no room for them, so they ended up in an unsuitable place to sleep, and an even more unsuitable place in which to give birth. It’s a far cry from what we know now to be the right circumstances for a birth but at least the journey had ended, and they were somewhere safe.
The Church is entering the season of Advent, ‘Adventus’ in Latin which means ‘coming or arrival’. It’s a time for thinking about that long journey made by Mary and Joseph and maybe it is also a time when it is good for us to think about the other Mary, or Maryam, and the countless others like her, and to pray for them as they make such dangerous journeys. Perhaps praying isn’t enough for you, and if not, see what you can do to help their plight.
In some of our schools we are honouring a tradition called ‘Posada’ which is a Spanish word for ‘inn’ or ‘place for stopping’. It’s a really lovely tradition, a tradition that encourages us to think about those less fortunate than ourselves, to think about those who just like Mary and Joseph can’t find a place to stay and so have to sleep in dangerous and uncomfortable places. Traditionally in Spain, people dress as Mary and Joseph and with their donkey go from house to house looking for hospitality and blessing. Another way of participating in the tradition is by passing on small figures of Mary, Joseph and the donkey from one home to another, and in each place praying for the journey.
Here there is a simple picture of Mary, Joseph and the donkey and I invite you to look at it as our Posada and as they travel around, looking for somewhere to rest, I challenge each one of you – amidst all the exciting preparations for Christmas - to make some room for Mary and Joseph in your hearts this Advent. And not only for them but for the others too.
This prayer might help:
As we welcome these travellers into our home
We remember all those who are travelling tonight
We remember all those who are looking for rest and shelter tonight
We remember all those who care for and comfort those in need
May God bless us and all those we love as we journey with Mary and Joseph towards celebrating the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Amen.
Every blessing for your Advent journey.
Paul.
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"Stewardship"
Our focus through the first week in October is ‘Stewardship’ when we are encouraged to think about how we play our part in the building up and maintenance of God’s Kingdom, and in our worship, we have reflected on the feeding of the five thousand; it is a well-known story and the only miracle to be included in all four Gospels.
What a wonderful story it is! A story of generosity on the part of those who offered what little food they had, and even more so on the part of God, who took what was offered and used it not just to provide what was needed, but more besides. It’s a story about God’s abundant generosity, God’s abundant grace that is lavished so freely upon us.
And there are great parallels with some of what we experience in church today. The disciples have a big task ahead of them: to feed five thousand hungry people and so immediately they think about money. It would cost too much to feed all these people, we just don’t have enough so we’ll have to send them away and they can feed themselves. Confidence wavers and anxiety levels spike as financial and practical concerns take over from spiritual teaching and contemplation they had been enjoying with Jesus.
This might sound a little bit familiar, especially to those on the Church Council, with the regular discussions that take place there about money. The concerns that we haven’t got enough and so can’t possibly do all the things that we want and need to do.
Jesus, on the other hand, knows that this group of people, this community, already have some resources among them; God has given them all that they need and more, so his job is to help them recognise that and to tap into all that they have in responsible ways. The disciples come to Jesus in a flap, and he calmly tells them, “the people don’t need to go away, you give them something to eat”, and they as express doubts, Jesus asks, “how many loaves have you? What have you actually got? Go and see.”
One person, in John’s account of the miracle it’s a young boy, offers just five loaves and two fish. It’s clearly not going to be enough to feed all 5000 people, but he freely gives the little he has so that Jesus can use it. And as we know, Jesus takes it and blesses it; the disciples distribute it and there are 12 baskets-full left over.
There was no way the disciples could feed the crowd on their own; they just didn’t have enough. But neither did Jesus feed the crowd without their help. He didn’t produce food out of thin air, he took what had been offered and given freely and he used it and multiplied it not just to provide what was needed, but to provide an abundance of food besides.
And that brings me to our own situation. Our PCC meetings are often rather like that description of the disciples, we spend a lot of time looking at our finances, worrying about the fact that we’re running at a significant deficit, trying to come up with ways to increase our income. Our confidence wavers and anxiety levels spike as the financial and practical concerns all too often take over from spiritual and ministerial matters.
Recently I wrote out to church members telling you how much money we need in order to meet all our expenses which I think was helpful but our giving as Christians, our stewardship, should not be about what is needed, it should be about what we have that we can offer freely, in order that God might use it to bless God’s people abundantly.
Jesus spent quite a lot of time talking about money and wealth and poverty and possessions. But he never said, we’ve just received a big bill and we’re struggling to pay it so can you please give a bit more. Jesus never said, we’ve spent £X on candles this year, please can someone cover that cost. Jesus never said, our ministry to children and young people is dependent on someone putting up the money to fund it.
Our giving should not be about what is needed but about what we can give. As followers of Jesus, we are called to prayerfully consider all that we have; we are called to recognise that all we have comes from God; and we are called to freely offer back to God and God’s church whatever we have that we can give.
For some of us, financially, that may be nothing or very little, and that is absolutely fine. But however much or however little we have, our faith, our discipleship, demands that we think seriously about money and what we do with it.
So this month, I offer a challenge to each and every one of us, myself included, to spend some time thanking God for all we have and prayerfully considering what can freely offer back to the work of God’s Church. Many folks already give regularly but it is good practise to review our giving on a regular basis. It may be that your circumstances have changed, and you need to reduce your giving. Or maybe you can afford to give a bit more than you already do. Or maybe you’re new to church and didn’t know about giving. Or maybe you’ve been meaning to get around to sorting out your giving for a while and just haven’t quite found the time.
My friends if ever there was a time, this is it! This is the time for each and every one of us to prayerfully consider all that God has given to us and all that we can offer back to God. But don’t do it because you think or know we need more money, or because someone needs to pay for the candles or the bread and wine or the boiler repair or anything else. Do it because you’re grateful for all the gifts God has given you; do it because you believe in a God of generosity; do it because you believe in a God who has lavished us with abundant grace; do it because you can’t wait to see the miracle that will happen when we all offer to God the little bit we have and let God use it for the good of all God’s people.
We have a lot to learn from that person – perhaps a young boy - who offered the loaves and the fish. I wonder if he was really the only person out for all five thousand who had brought any food with him. Or maybe he was the only one who looked into his basket and saw what he had, instead of what he didn’t have, and was willing to act. Either way, he knew that he had something to share and so he offered it freely. And because he did, all ate and were filled. May we do the same.
Paul.