Staying Loud

This week in 1969, the first person set foot on the moon. You can't miss it in the news at the moment - it's on all the time - a celebration of the moment 50 years ago when Neil Armstrong said his famous words. It was a moment that brought the whole world together - a moment when millions and millions of people united sat around TV screens and radios waiting for a significant bit of history to unroll before their eyes. The astronauts left a plaque on the moon that said 'we came in peace for all mankind' and President Nixon said that in this moment '.....all the people on this Earth are truly one'.

This week in 1969, for a moment, the world was united. An amazing moment where people who wouldn't ever meet face to face and would probably cross the street before speaking to united together around the same thing, with the same awe and amazement. 

Yet this moment only happened because of conflict - because the US believed that if the Soviet Union got their first then they had lost somehow. They made a commitment to getting to the moon first because the Soviets had beaten them at everything else when it came to the space race. 

Yet this moment happened only a year after Martin Luther King was assassinated because his fight for civil rights for all was so distasteful to those traditionally in power in the US he had to be wiped out. This moment was only a moment and didn't - doesn't - mean that the world was then united. 

Because in 2019 we watch as the US President stands in silence as a rally chants 'send her back' to a Somalian born American citizen who says stuff they don't like.

Because in 2019 we hear news of how their are people living in effectively concentration camps on the southern US border and being treated like not-humans. 

Because in 2019 we face the prospect of having a prime minister be announced in the next week who thinks its OK to tell jokes about people's choice of religious dress and to mock where people come from in a way that speaks of prejudices that should have died out a long time ago (and are scarily similar to the rhetoric that led to the chanting in the US).

Because in 2019 we watch programmes like 'Years and Years' and 'The Handmaids Tale' and worry how close they are to the truth. 

I have been challenged in the last few weeks that where we see wrong - those things that divide and don't unite that we need to call it out. I have been challenged that we need to not stand by and let it happen as hostile and divisive policies and ideas begin to presented as normal and OK. I don't want to be complicit in the chanting of 'send her back'. I don't want to be complicit in the hostile environment that shuts the door in the faces of people who are desperately seeking help, that sends people to a home that hasn't been a home for many years because of a lost piece of paperwork.... I don't want to be complicit in all of this....

In 1969 the first meal that was shared on the moon was communion. Buzz Aldrin unpacked bread and wine and together the crew committed the mission to God, recognising that in this meal that unites, in this meal where all invited, that there in it was a centre that they must not lose. The language of bread and wine transcends cultural barriers and different languages and identities. In that moment where we centre on the story of Jesus, we are united in his love which reaches the whole world........ And its because of Jesus that we must call our leaders to account and I will not ever, I hope, choose to be silent. 

Love from the centre of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Romans 12:9-21 (The Message)

Moving beyond fixing.....

Bottom set Year 10 in a difficult school - a girl, with problems at home. She suggests to her friend who is pregnant that she'd quite like to have a baby too because then she will have someone to love her. The teacher overhears this, ignores it, carries on teaching. The observer (me) overhears it and mulls it over for a while. 

Later on in the week the girl won't stop talking. The teacher stops. Again. Again. Again. The girl won't stop talking. The teacher says 'you need to stop talking' the girl says 'that's not what I need'. They argue for the rest of the lesson it seems. 

Next week there are exam papers lying on the teacher's desk. The girl - she asks what they are about. The teacher says they are for another class - but that if she wants she can help count them. The girl picks up the papers, she puts them in piles and she quietly listens as the teacher continues with the lesson. 

That series of incidents from when I was learning to be a teacher has never left me. The needs of the girl - at home and in school are evident. The teacher knows that getting a grade in maths will make a huge difference to the options for her future. The girl - she has other things on her mind. 

What can the teacher do to fix it? Not ignore her - that is what seems to happen all the time. Not make her conform - perhaps she is sick of being told what to do. She's different. Deal with it. 

But, perhaps the teacher's role is not to fix, but to welcome, and in that welcome, help guide her on a path to a better life. As she is invited to participate by counting exam papers and her contribution valued, she then begins to feel like this is a place she can belong. She's there. She's needed. She begins to journey forward as she chooses to participate.

Our initial reaction is too often to fix. How can I make this person's life better? How can I make them fit in to expectations so that they can get on in life? What can I do? What difference can I make? It becomes about 'me' and that's emphasised when we make sure we write down what we've done on social media for everyone else to see. 

We like to fix. I've had people try and fix me. I don't talk much, until I know I am in a safe place. But then when I talk, I occasionally encounter people who want to fix me. And that makes me angry. I don't want to be fixed. I just want to be. 

And I think that 'being' word is the key. For the girl - belonging, being there in that classroom with purpose was what she needed right then. For me, when I talk, I just want you to be with me, listen, help me learn to trust you, go at my pace. 

When we look at the world around us, often our response is 'how can we fix this?'. Then we jump quickly to fix - which is sometimes needed, but often reactionary, short term and doesn't offer long term solutions and reach down deep into the roots of the problems. 

I've been reading a book called 'Making Room' by Christine D Pohl. It's about hospitality in Christian tradition. I've been struck by her reflections on how Christians today offer hospitality. Our offers of hospitality are often about doing stuff for people or to people - fixing people through resources - and then when we are drained, we hide away from those who are different to us to build up our resources again. Pohl writes that Christians today are much better at collecting and providing for needs than we are at welcoming people into the community. We become people who fix rather than people who 'be'. Providing for others is good, and important, but when that becomes an 'out there' thing and not a 'welcome in' thing, when we 'do to' and forget to 'be with' we miss something of the hospitality of God's Kingdom. 

The early Christian communities were radical, rebellious and counter cultural because of equality within the community - no society reflecting hierarchy or privilege or special food for special people. They recognised the need and importance of fellowship and friendship.

As we recognise that same need within church community, then perhaps we need to be thinking about how we be with people and journey together. As we serve, invite others to serve with us. As we provide food, invite others to share in the distribution and then sit alongside them to eat. As we sit down, put an extra chair at the table. As we prepare, invite others to count exam papers. Small invitations to belong, to taste and to experience the love of God together.

Be......