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
The Wolf Lies Down with the Lamb
Dear Friends,
Jewish rabbis say that when there are two Jews together, there are three opinions! I sometimes think the same could be said of Christians! There are those who try to persuade us that this is a bad thing; that we should all think the same, and be carbon-copies of each other. So they produce statements and creeds for people to agree to: if you sign on the dotted line, you're in; otherwise, you're out!
But I want to suggest to you that this is a travesty of the message of the Bible. For as well as teaching the unity of the Church (which we often talk about,) it also proclaims the DIVERSITY of the Church- that we are all different, and we are all meant to be different. The idea of the uniformity of the Church (everyone the same) is a heresy that needs to be resisted at all costs.
This month, once again we celebrate Pentecost, the first coming of God's Holy Spirit, as recorded in Acts, chapter 2. It's a fascinating account. God could have given the crowd in Jerusalem that day a universal language, but he didn't need to, because there was already such a language: Greek. There would have been little difficulty for everyone to understand if the first Christians had spoken Greek- everybody understood it.
The sign of languages (or tongues) on the Day of Pentecost wasn't necessary because the people couldn't understand each other. The point is, as Luke is careful to record, that all these people had gathered from so many different places heard the message as if it was being spoken "in his own native language", literally, "his own dialect"
These Pentecostal tongues were a pointer to the way in which God's Holy Spirit was going to break down the barriers, and create a new order. The Spirit had no ambitions to homogenise everyone into a uniform Christian culture, and overcome the alienation they create without disposing of the diversity they represent. The Jew would still be a Jew, the Greek still a Greek, yet they would come together by means of something so extraordinary, the Christians had to invent a new word to describe it: "the fellowship of the Holy Spirit"
It is all about the wolf lying down with the lamb (to use Isaiah's famous picture), about the risky co-existence of those who have the potential to tear each other apart, but choose for Jesus Christ's sake not to do so. The truth is, we do have different beliefs and different opinions of many things. That's not necessarily a bad thing. "Speaking the truth in love" is about being able to talk together on such matters without falling out- and that is only possible because of the gift of God's Holy Spirit.
On the fourth Sunday evening each month, we're going to think about some of these issues "Where Christians disagree". This month we'll ask the question: "Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sihks (and so on): Are we all worshipping the same God?" Next month, we'll approach another contentious issue: "Do animals have rights?" Should all Christians be on the side of the Animal Liberation Front and anti-Foxhunting brigade? It could be seen as dangerous to share our differences, but in the fellowship of the Holy spirit, it is actually a strength. so try and make an effort to join us on these occasions.
And remember: when we freeze water, we make identical ice cubes; when God freezes water, he makes a snowstorm where every flake is different! The Holy spirit wants to make us a people who rejoice in our differences, just as the first disciples rejoiced to proclaim Jesus in different languages on the Day of Pentecost. It was\ a sign that the Church of Jesus Christ is not intended to exhibit the martial unison of regimental khaki, but the multi-tonal harmony of a symphony orchestra. Celebrate your uniqueness!
Your friend and pastor,
Jonathan Calvert