Stainglass window
Christmas 2011
3rd Dec Advent Party
12th Dec @ 2pm
Carol Service at Oak tree Court
16th Dec @ 2.30pm
Carol Service at Stratford Court
17th Dec @11am
Carol Singing outside Co-Op
18th Dec Nativity and Christingle Service and Carol Service
24th Dec @ 11pm (Service starts at 11.30pm
United Service at URC Etwall Rd
25th Dec @10am
Christmas Day Service
No More Religion"
Dear Friends,
"Religion does more harm than good!" That was the headline on the front page of The Guardian newspaper of December 23rd. It was reporting the results of an ICM poll: "More people in Britain think religion causes harm than believe it does good. An overwhelming majority see religion as a cause of division and tension, greatly outnumbering the smaller minority who believe that it can be a force for good." Now once you get over the deliberate sensationalism value of the story and headline two days before Christmas, I want to say to you that actually I pretty much agree: religion does do more harm than good!
"Religion," says Karl Marx, "is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion is a demand for man's real happiness". Now I am not a Marxist, but I do believe that has hit on something very important. Because I want to make a distinction between religion and faith, and suggest to you that while faith is a good thing, religion is much more likely to be a bad thing. And I think I have the Bible on my side when I say that.
Take the New Testament. The word "religion" is almost never mentioned. Nowhere in either the teachings of Jesus or of his followers is the Christian community, or its beliefs, described as a religion. On the few occasions the word is used, it refers to either paganism or Judaism.
Those first disciples of Jesus did not believe that Jesus had come to start a new religion. His claims and unique acts put him in a different league altogether from other religious leaders. Here was no mere prophet. Neither was he a sectarian leader. He was the fulfilment of all of God's promises, the Messiah, the Christ. In him God has broken into human history in person.
On Sunday mornings this year, we're beginning to explore these ideas in a bit more detail. Over the first few months we are thinking about the stories of Abraham, "the father of faith". Then in May and June we'll look at Paul's letter to the Galatians, which is all about how Jesus sets us free from religion. During the summer we'll look at some of the stories of Jesus himself, and how he challenges the religion and religious leaders of his day, challenges them to see that there is something so much better in life than religion.
Search the teaching of Jesus from top to bottom. Search the New Testament high and low. You won't find the creation of a new religion. what you will find is an invitation to all, every man, every woman and child, to let God transform them.
In 1953 a film was released on the life of Martin Luther. At one crucial point a senior monk takes Luther to see an event full of religious ritual, relics and devotion. "What would you put in place of all this?" he asks. Luther gives his answer in just two words: "Jesus Christ".
What the human race needs is not religion, but Jesus. Religion says, "Obey the rules! Do this! Be like that!" But Jesus came to earth to set us free from all of that. What our world needs, what Hall Green needs is not more religion (even if it goes under the name of "Christianity"), for religion saves no-one. What our World needs is Jesus, the Saviour of the World.
Your friend and pastor,
Jonathan Calvert