Where on earth are we?!
James Bond's latest outing is titled; 'No Time to Die'. Though at 2h 43m long, it has been re-titled, 'No Time to Pee'. (I went to the Silver Screen showing at the Regal Cinema, which included a 12 minute loo break!) Daniel Craig's nemesis is the sinister & elusive bioterrorist Lyutsifer Safin. When Bond & Safin meet face-to-chemically-burned-face, the 'baddie' outlines his philosophy; "The thing that no one wants to admit is that most people want things to happen to them. We tell each other lies about the fight for free will and independence, but we don't really want that. We want to be told how to live. People want oblivion and a few of us are born to build it for them, so here I am, their Invisible God, sneaking under their skin... We both eradicate people to make the world a better place. I just want it to be a little tidier."
I hold my hand up. Often, I want to be told how to live. I want someone to do my thinking for me; make decisions for me so that I don't have to. And that's the strange paradox of faith in Christ. Jesus of Nazareth appears, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand - fullness of life in our midst. A realm of justice and joy breaking in ... all is gift! And yet, Jesus goes on to call his hearers to "repent and believe" - we must respond; we must act; we must do something. And the link between the two, which is beyond our rational understanding? GOOD NEWS! Good news because we free ourselves from the hamster wheel of life; from living to please others. Good news because we throw ourselves on God's love, dependent on his grace. We don't need an Invisible God sneaking under our skin. We have a visible God, in Jesus, taking on our skin; becoming like us so that we might live like him.
Lyutsifer Safin helps me to see that building the Kingdom of God (seeing Jesus' divine life & love growing in our midst) isn't about being "done to". Shaped by God Together does depend to a degree on the Diocese and Ministry & Mission Team, for we are part of a wider church full of wise, skilled practitioners. But the key words are not ultimately 'Shaped' or 'Together' (some of you probably see the whole process as, 'Thrust by the Diocese Together'!). The key words are "by God". Leicester Diocese have consulted and we have told stories. Diocesan Synod are deciding tomorrow whether to vote for the Minster Communities Model, which we commented on through Local Conversations. The best thing we can do for ourselves and the best thing we can do for Framland Deanery/ Leicester Diocese, is to seek God together and ask God for the confidence to name who we are and what we are about. After all, as you will read in the downloadable documents below (underneath the video by Bishop Martyn), how do we ensure these Diocesan changes are missional and not just focussed on administration, structural displacement
activity and governance?
"By seeking first the Kingdom of God. By keeping God at the centre of developments through prayer and engaging
with the Bible. By being attentive, generous and creative in OUR plans. By holding each other to account in love and
with grace."
No Time to Die? No time to die to the hopes & dreams God has placed on our hearts for our parishes & communities. But a time to die to to our anxieties & fears, introspection & selfish desires, so that we might embrace God's risen life.
rev'd david harknett
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