Advent 3 Keep Herod in Chirstmas

Week 3 Keep Herod in Christmas ....

We do not live in an ideal world. To be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to face at every turn the destructive reality of violence. To be alive in the adventure of Jesus is to side with vulnerable children in defiance of the adults who see them as expendable. To walk the road with Jesus is to withhold consent & cooperation from the powerful and to invest it instead with the vulnerable. It is to refuse to bow to all the Herods and all their ruthless regimes - and to reserve our loyalty for a better King and a better Kingdom Brian McLaren p90

I found this detail from a Giovanni Painting of the slighter of the innocents on a blog 'Why Red is the Christmas colour' http://spleen-me.com/blog/?p=2892

 

Another picture was posted on another group I am part of .... It seemed relevant to our retreat, The picture is by Daniel Bonnel ... 

Mary answered the angel, 

"Behold, I am the maidservant of the Lord. 

Let it happen to me according to your word." 

And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

"Thank you for the faith of a maiden, 

in whose obedience your plan 

for the reconciliation of the whole world was begun.
I beg you, too, that you might empower me in pure simplicity. 

Teach my mouth and all my parts 

to make this simple response 

to whatever task you set before me

- this:
Let it be to me according to your word.
"Yes!"
Amen" 

Walter Wangerin in Preparing for Jesus  

 

I was inspired by Daniel Bonnel's painting and had a go at doing one at our holy::ground meeting - 'falling into Christmas'. (without any visual clue - no wifi!) And if you remember the angel I drew became unintentionally ominous ! More of a fallen angel .... I called the picture 'Whatever!' (thinking whatever anything, something that big and frightening says, will have to be obeyed) So I reworked the one I had originally started on, in a slightly more abstract style.... I still find those words ringing in my ears 'be it unto me according to your word' I find Mary's act of submission totally insprirational .... and so now maybe I'll face the other ' dark angel' and think about evil and keeping Herod in Christmas .... after all RED is a Christmas colour .....

Bob the Builder: 'Entertaining Angels'

There were 6 street angels (WSA) on duty on Friday night in 3 equal male-female pairs. Perfect....

 Angel based on Van Gogh drawing

Our pair spent the initial time (first 2 hours) chatting, clearing bottles, greeting people. We talked to Pakistani Taxi drivers and an Afghan pizza man,  as well as Nigerian and Eastern European Bouncers. Woking is becoming much more multi-cultural.  We were offered a glass of green tea by one taxi driver who had once driven me to Gatwick and remembered me by name. I didn't recognise him at first. 'cos he's grown a bushy beard.  The sweet 'kava' was served by a restauranteer from Gilgit in N Pakistan. I had visited there in 1987, even visiting his village of Kaplu in Baltistan, so we had lots to talk about.... 

Since it had been raining, and because of the general recession, there were not that many people out  but we still had a significant evening of encounters and conversations.

A recent BBC article  claimed that anti-social behviour was down by 21% in Woking since the StreetAngels had been out on the streets.  This was due to a combination of good Community Policing and more visibility by WSA and groups like Outside Lights.   They were under the station canopy, giving away tea and literature. Interestingly some of the police thought we were the same group. 

By the way,  you can now follow the local Woking Police on Twitter @WokingBeat.  And Woking Street Angels also have a Facebook page

We had a number of encounters, in particular a fascinating conversation with 'Charles'* (*all names have been changed or made up*),  a well-spoken young Trader, someone learning the fast paced lifestyle, currently in £500 a month as a student, but soon expecting to earn £500 a day, if he could keep up with the highly pressured lifestyle.  

We came across one man, 'Pete'* sitting on a bench with his head in his hands. He had been kicked out of  pub for disturbing bahaviour and was feeling very low indeed.  He had lost his job and had lived rough a few time in the past and had also been in a drug rehab years ago.  He could see himself sliding back down and was talking of harming himself. So we walked him back to his house. It was difficult to leave someone who was talking of getting a knife to cut himself. Walking away can also be an act of faith.

The police seemed particularly helpful on this occasion going round to check on him.  We later got a message that he was OK and sleeping it off.

We also me someone  'Neville'* who was obviously very high and had great difficulty drinking from the bottle of water we gave him.  He did seem to really enjoy his lollipop.  'Bob the Builder'*  and his mate were looking for a place they could get a pint at 2 in the morning.  We all ended up staying with 'Neville' and helping him walk towards the centre of town, (he certainly couldn't walk very straight at all). They even rolled him a fag.  Bob the Builder said he had been an addict himself years ago, and had been off for 11 years and now had his own family and a good job.  He was really helpful with Neville, who said he had nowhere to stay cos he'd been kicked out.   We gave him a blanket and he bed down for the night in a  doorway near BHS,   The police, who knew him well as a PPO  (Persistent Petty Offender), said they wouldn't disturb him and let him sleep it off for a bit. I thought that was great.....   

I mentioned to 'Bob' that he had missed out on that extra pint on his Friday night out. He responded that helping Neville was much better than a pint. It had reminded him of where he had been and how far he had progressed. He may have been a rough diamond in the past, but he certainly shone that night. The Bible talks about practicing hospitality and entertaining angels unawares. Actually I think we saw an angel at work that night in the guise of Bob the Builder.......
 

Angels watching over you

I was out with Woking Street Angels again on Saturday night – part of the Jubilee Celebration weekend.  We were 8 angels and a visitor in our 'cohort'.

Our team of 3 included Caroline, who had met the angels when she was out partying a couple of years ago. She is a mother of two and was thinking about joining SAs, so she walked the streets with us til midnight. She found it fascinating to be on the 'other side' as she put it.

The Woking Angel sits on top of the memorial and keeps watch 

The first shift of 2 hours went very slowly. We talked together and greeted one and all. I chatted with Haroon/Harry, the Pakistani bouncer at Subway.  A bright, well-spoken young man,  he holds down 3 jobs to build a better future for himself.  A not-quite-sober man came up to him as we were talking. Tom asked to use the loo and Haroon explained it was out of action. ‘No problem’ he quickly retorted ‘I’m a plumber and earn £140 a day. I’ll fix it.  ‘But, you’re not authorised  to work here… Haroon insisted politely. Tom was not happy and swerved off to relieve himself elsewhere. Haroon commented that it is hard to be polite all the time. 

We spent the evening chatting to people, picking up bottles at one point sent off on a couple of wild goose chases. One after hearing of trouble in the town square. But the town centre is a building site with extensive renovations. The new Café Rouge is now open, and on this night it was the only source of activity, though very quiet.   

And the other time a passerby near Weatherspoons told us that there were some very drunk teenagers near the bandstand (by Toys’R’us).  When we got there … nothing. 

It felt like an 'almost and nearly' evening, we 'almost' got there on time, we 'nearly' saw a fight. We never seemed in the right place at the right time. Bu we did walk a lot – good exercise! 

There were lots of police around, and they seemed to turn up in places on time.  An arrest under the station canopy, we heard on the radio and from the bouncer at Yates about a man who had pulled a knife and had been taken off by the police.  And of a double arrest at the Chameleon. 

One Angel team spent a lot of time with a very drunk Italian girl and her Swedish friend who had been thrown out of BEd Bar. Their ID and keys were in their bags in the lockers inside. But they had lost the cloakroom tickets.  Eventually after lots of time and sympathy and negotiation, the team were able to negotiate with door staff and the bags were retrieved. And then put in a taxi home. That is, after all the ultimate aim. that people get home safely.     

A mysterious hand

Walking down street a girl stuck a hand out of her car and thrust a postcard sized leaflet towards us: 'Hell awaits a sinner ….. but Jesus died for your sins'

She asked ‘Are you saved?’  I must admit it is years, since that has happened.

There was a heaviness and intensity about her, a wistfulness and distance, as she sat in the driver’s seat of the car and handed over the tract. She had a passion for the lost and said she was from a church in Ottershaw. She wanted to know, if the church we went to was: ‘born again’. I responded  ‘Yes, again and again and again…!’  Her two friends returned with some coffee and they drove off.

The leaflet implied that being out on the street at night, drinking, partying … was being on a path to hell. I felt uneasy about it. There was a picture of two escalators one going up and the other going down… with a sign saying “it’s your choice' <=>  There were bible verses on the back talking of everlasting life (John 3:16) and being born again (John 3:3) and a picture of three crosses. It finished with: ‘if you confess….  Jesus is Lord…you will be saved’ (Rom 10:9)  

I was left wondering if it really communicated to the partying community in Chertsey Road. The encounter left us reflecting on how do you reach the ‘least, the last and the lost’. Does a leaflet really do it?

For me. I prefer a more gentle approach, summed up by prayer we prayed at the beginning of the evening before we went out. I’d found the book of prayers from Iona in the Horsell Hospice bookshop only that morning. (‘Each Day & Each Night: Celtic prayers from Iona’ J. Philip Newell, Wild Goose Publication, 2002)  It seemed to express the spirit of ‘Street Angels’

Watch now O Christ,

with those who are weary

or wandering

or weeping this night.

Guide them to a house

of your peace

and lead me to be caring

for their tears.

 

Watching out for people and simple caring (out of a motivation of love) and guiding them safely home, does itself speaks volumes…     Sometimes it feels like a 'mysterious hand' is with us, guiding, watching, supporting. 

at the end of the day, to use the title of another (controversial) book by Rob Bell:  ‘Love Wins’    

I wrote about that earlier  in two parts: The Prodigal's Return and Between Heaven and Hell 

Wrestling with Angels

'Wrestling with Angels' is the title of a book by Rowan Williams,  subtitled 'Conversations in Modern Theology' (SCM 2007  ed Mike Higton). The picture is based on one I found on the Internet, which I painted and used for an essay I wrote on 'Faith Seeking Understanding' in Summer 2006.   But the painting for me has come to symbolise theological struggle. ......

The story is related in the Genesis narative:

Then Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. (Gen 32:24-30)

So much theology can be sterile abstraction. ‘unfruitful, abstract theology that gets lost in a labyrinth of academic trivialities’  Karl Barth paraphrasing AMOS  ‘ I hate, I despise your lectures and seminars, your sermons, addresses and Bible Studies…When you display your hermeneutic, dogmatic, ethical and pastoral bits of wisdom before one another and before me, I have no pleasure in them… Take away from me your …thick books and ,,, your dissertations…your theological magazines, monthlies and quarterlies.’ (Barth ‘Evangelical Theology’ 120 in  Migliore, Daniel L. Faith seeking Understanding : An introduction to Christian Theology  2^nd edition Erdmanns 2004 p6) 
  

Anselm coined a phare, a slogan: ‘fides quarens intellectum’  ‘faith seeking understanding’,

FAITH  

‘I pray, O God, to know thee, to love thee, that I may rejoice in thee’  Anselm

Faith is itself an engagement with the Divine Other.  Faith is engaging with the living God  - entering the ‘mystery of God.’  Theology is not about solving issues and discovering truth. It is about discovering God. Gabriel Marcel suggests  ‘unlike a problem which can be solved, is a mystery which is ‘inexhaustible’  Migliore/ p3   (Eph 1:19)

SEEKING

Christian faith prompts enquiry, searches for deeper understanding, dares to raise questions’  (Miglore  p2)

‘Searching the Scriptures’  is a key part of the seeking after God (Jn 5:39).  Perhaps our greatest struggle is with the text of Scripture itself and understanding in what way it is the ‘word of God’. The two extremes of liberal rationalism, which seems to leave little room for divine inspiration and conservative evangelical ‘Biblicism’, (McGrath  p 177 explores the Old Princeton School and the origin of concept of absolute Biblical infallibility) which appears to leave no room for human fallibility. The struggle with understanding the relationship between divine inspiration and the human fallibility of Scripture is as complex as seeking to understand the divinity and humanity of the Son of God!

 UNDERSTANDING

‘Christian faith asks questions, seeks understanding both because God is always greater than our ideas of God and because the public world that faith inhabits confronts it with challenges and contradictions that cannot be ignored’ (Migliore pg 4)

The idea that somehow ‘truth’ can be ‘possessed’ seems almost an anathema. Faith must be  always seeking, always searching, always desiring. The ultimate goal is God. (Ps 42:1)

So is theology rationally ‘thinking’ about faith?   Or is it more ‘faith’ doing ‘the thinking’? The dominant question in the New Testament  is still  ‘what must I do to be saved’, rather than ‘what must I know.’ It is not information about God but ‘the life-giving and salvation-bringing self-disclosure of God’ (McGrath 201) Revelation does not abolish the mystery of God, but is its starting point. Thinking is but one part of the outworking of this mystery. ‘faith sings, confesses, rejoices, suffers, prays, and acts’ (Migliore 7)  Faith is relational as well as rational. Experience is the starting point. The outworking, practical application, and relevance of the Gospel - the Good News of Jesus Christ - is in the transformation of human lives (including mine). 

FAITH SEEKING UNDERSTANDING

The dominant image I am left with is of WRESTLING, particularly wrestling with words. Jacob wrestling with the ‘man’ becomes a metaphor of theological struggle – desperately seeking after God  - wrestling - and afterwards trying to understand the meaning of the encounter  ‘you have striven with God and men and have prevailed’

I particularly like the final picture because it is overlaid with words and part of our struggle is with words and ideas, trying to find language to describe the indescribable.  And the apparent theological impossibility of being succinct!

It is a struggle with others (‘God and man’) over meaning, but ultimately a struggle alone (Gen32v24).  It is a ‘laming-naming’ experience in that the ‘battle’ results in both ‘bruising or brokenness’ (Gen32v25), as well as the ‘blessing’ of a new identity (Gen32v28).  Any theological encounter should have a similarly profound effect on each of us.