“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there”, wrote L.P Hartley in his 1953 novel “The Go- Between'. Whether we are reading scripture or looking at paintings from the past we will need the same skills as an anthropologist and a linguist. It will help if we have some clues about the ways they do things in the strange country we are visiting. As Clare and I were preparing to live in Peru we read up on the culture, the history, and even the table manners but we made plenty of mistakes! Our passage today from Matthew is so familiar to us that we forget that it contains a mystery that even John the Baptist could not understand. Why should Jesus require Baptism if he was the beloved Son of God as proclaimed by the voice from heaven? Here we need not just clues but an Epiphany, or ‘Fresh light’ inspiration from above. ‘The Arnolfini wedding’ painted by the artist Jan Van Eyck appears to be a wedding portrait with the happy couple already expecting a baby. But appearances are deceptive. Some art historians now think this is not a marriage or betrothal portrait but a memorial to a dead wife as Nicolao’s wife, Constanza, had died in childbirth the year before the portrait was painted. Van Eyck has placed around the room clues to the sad events surrounding the painting. In the candelabra the candle on the side of Nicolao is alight, the candle on his Constanza’s side has been snuffed out. On the mirror behind them, there are scenes from the life of Christ on the side of Nicolao, but on Constanza’s side, they depict the death and resurrection of Christ. The rich clothing they are wearing is for winter wear though the cherry tree outside the window is in full bloom. The apparent bulge in Constanza’s dress was a fashionable feature of a rich woman’s wardrobe as it showed how much fabric had gone into the dress. The meaning of this portrait has been endlessly debated but the truth will always now be a mystery. At the centre of our account of Jesus' baptism is another mystery. Baptism as preached by John the Baptist was a sign of repentance from sin. His powerful message warned the Jewish people of the judgment of God. As he speaks of the Messiah to come he speaks in terms of fire and a threshing floor on which the chaff will be burnt. John the Baptist thought he knew who Jesus was and what he had come to do, but he was wrong. He needed a fresh light and a flash of inspiration. At first, he refuses Jesus' baptism. Thinking rightly that the ‘Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world’ (John 1:29) cannot himself need to be washed clean by baptism, but Jesus is insistent. Jesus' words can be understood to mean ‘this is what God has ordained for all to be put right with Him’ Still confused? Yes but now John in obedience to Jesus baptises him. No fresh light here, no flash of inspiration just humble submission. Revelation or epiphany follows on from obedience. All the great saints have followed John not by seeking faith by understanding but rather by seeking understanding through faith in Jesus Christ. Then the fresh light, the revelation of God: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased” Matt. 3:17 These words recall two passages of scripture, Psalm 2: 7 ‘You are my son’. To this is added a verse in Isaiah 42:1. ‘Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight’ The first speaks about the royal kingship that God has given His Son. The second speaks of the suffering servant who will bring justice and peace to mankind as he is ‘pierced for our transgressions... crushed for our iniquities' Such a person, such a possibility had never been considered, that Jesus could be both Son and sacrifice for sin was beyond their understanding. In baptism, Jesus ‘fulfills all righteousness’ in a way that can only make sense as we see him as the sinless one who becomes sin for us, the divine Son who becomes man that man might become a son of God, the one from above who comes amongst us that we might be lifted into the presence of God. In the Arnolfini portrait, we see a couple apparently celebrating the beginning of married life, sadly it tells us another story. The Baptism that John preached was all about fleeing from God’s wrath but in Jesus, we hear another voice announcing God’s love and mercy. Baptism is now seen in a different light. As we begin the season of Epiphany we are encouraged to live by faith in the one who gives us this light, the light by which we see and understand all things. Rev. Simon Brignall We pray today for those recovering from operations or preparing for an operation. Prayer for Ukraine God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today, and the laying down of weapons. we pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, That you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
‘Plus Ça change, plus c’est la même chose’, so say the French, ‘The more things change the more they are the same’. As Jesus speaks about the end times in this passage and warns of wars and famines we recognise not only our own times but all the ages in between now and then. We live in changing times but we face the same old issues that have always plagued mankind. Pablo Picasso’s painting ‘Guernica’ recalls a specific historical event in May 1937, the bombing of the village of Guernica in the Basque country. It is also an allegory of war, a story of war in every age. Drawing inspiration from Rubens’ painting ‘The consequences of war’, painted in 1639, and Goya’s ‘May 3rd’ Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ is a timeless piece that could have been describing the bombing of Ukrainian towns and villages only last week. The woman on the right of the picture is taken from Rubens and the composition itself is a reversed version of ‘The consequences of war’. Goya’s painting, ‘May 3rd’, depicts an event during the French occupation of Spain in 1808, but the stigmata on the outstretched hands of the soon-to-be executed man speak of the suffering of Christ. This soldier can be found again in Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ in the outstretched hand of the dying soldier on the left-hand side of the painting. He too has the marks of the nails in his hands. All are scenes of horror and destruction reminding us that war brings misery in every age. We had hoped for a better world in which the cycles of violence would end. Bob Dylan spoke prophetically for a generation that saw significant changes - a new age was dawning in the words of another song. Some have called it the Age of Aquarius, the water carrier in ancient mythology, some have called it the age of the Spirit. Both images conjure up a new agenda for our world, a hope held out for a better world. There have been changes. Culturally materialism is out spirituality is in, consumerism is out and ethical shopping is in, permissiveness is out and political correctness is in. There’s a new atmosphere, a new sensitivity to a reality that is out there somewhere, or maybe within us. It is a hope that is held out in the midst of war and, uncertainty about where we are heading. But alarm bells have been ringing for a number of years of which the world’s current economic turmoil is only the latest. Scientists, historians, climatologists, and sociologists speak of change in the air. There is uncertainty about what our future holds. In these times we need a more constant light than the changing cultural scene, a light that Jesus held out in his changing times. A new spirituality and a new uncertainty marked the birth pangs of the new age that Jesus heralded. The Pax Romana, like the Pax Americana today, was beginning to break up, and a new world was taking shape. When Jesus spoke to this tiny unnoticed group of disciples they did not know that they were to shape the world that was coming into being, but they held onto the hope he gave them through the upheavals to come. “As in the days of Noah so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” Matt 24:37. ‘Watch’, be ready stand firm are the watchwords they are to live by. By 'watch' or 'wait' as it is sometimes translated Jesus meant to be attentive as a waiter is attentive, watching for the signs. God is speaking to His church today. ‘Be ready’ as Noah built his Ark to the astonishment of those around him so we are to build the church. God continues to love His world and plan for its future a future that will be shaped by the church. ‘Stand firm’ To illustrate this world Jesus gives us a picture of two women working, one will be saved the other not. There is no apparent difference between them, but one is ready the other is not! The Christian stand is not to be distinguished by the kind of eccentric behaviour that some adopt but by a quiet faithfulness to Christ and his Kingdom. John Wesley when asked what he would do if the world was to end tomorrow said, “I hope I would be able to continue with what I was already doing”. In the centre of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ there is a light, not the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, that is in fact a bomb exploding in the sky. (The Spanish for lightbulb is bombilla). To the right of the bombilla is a small lamp held out by the hand of destiny. It is the source of light in the whole painting stretching out of the darkness to reveal not only the horrors of war but the hopes for peace. As we enter the season of Advent let us remember the light that shines in the darkness, is the light of Christ, bringing hope to the world and promising a better world to come. This is the hope that Christ told his followers to keep their eyes on. It is the only constant in a changing world. Rev. Simon Brignall Prayer for Ukraine God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today, and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, That you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
I expect the Christmas catalogues are falling through your letter box like snow just at this moment. Turn to any of them that feature interior decoration and you will no doubt find the designs of William Morris, an artist, poet, novelist, and interior designer who inspired the ‘Arts and Crafts movement’ and still decorates our homes today. He was a man consumed with a vision of beauty and social well-being that he explored in poetry, painting, interior design, typology, and radical politics. A saint is ‘A man, a woman, or a child of the eight Beatitudes’. So said Pope John Paul 11, If so, a saint is someone who has an all-consuming vision that drives whatever it is they do be it at work or at home, at prayer, or in politics. Every dimension and every aspect of their life will reflect the vision that first inspired them to pick up a paintbrush, write a poem or weave a tapestry. You may be surprised at my choice of saintly occupations. William Morris was not a man who we might conventionally call a saint, but a man consumed with a vision of beauty and social well-being that he explored in his poetry, painting, interior design, and radical politics. His vision was not of a world to come, but a world in an imaginary medieval past where there was community, craftsmanship, and a courtly code that dictated relationships between rich and poor, men and women, employer and employed. This was the world that Morris attempted to establish in his workshops and wrote about in his poems and novels. Morris preached in the streets and in his old Oxford college, from the soapbox to society lectures he proclaimed his faith in this vision of idealised medieval England. Today William Morris is remembered for his glorious designs for wallpaper, tapestries, typefaces, fabrics, furniture, and stained glass windows. His company, Morris & co covered every decorative art form and profoundly influenced interior decoration throughout the Victorian period. He was the archetypal medieval artist craftsman setting out to master his craft before any new project so that he could instruct the apprentices personally. We may want, or may not want to call William Morris a secular saint. He certainly would not welcome the idea, but in pursuit of his vision, he embraced a whole world of art and architecture and left a legacy of great design and decoration that is still with us today. In this sense, he is a saint, in that he is driven by a vision of beauty that expresses itself in a multitude of art forms. In the same way, the saints, whose vision is of Christ, express and live out their lives in pursuit of expressing his beauty. ‘ Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, Be all else but naught to me, save that thou art; Be thou my best thought in the day and the night, Both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.’ A couple of examples of saints who lived out their lives and expressed their faith in different ways illustrate the different ways we can express our vision of Christ’s beauty. One of my favourites is Saint Don Bosco, the patron saint of conjurors, who taught by love and magic. After Mass in his village church, Don Bosco would gather the children of the poor around him and tell them Bible stories, illustrating them by juggling and sleight of hand. St. Don Bosco is important because he shows us that a vision of holiness, can still be expressed without wearing a hair shirt. A saint is someone who makes goodness attractive. The Anglican tradition, following St Paul, who addresses his congregation as saints, encourages us to pursue the same vision of holiness. Some of these saints are famous, even if we know next to nothing about them, but the vast majority of the saints remain unsung. In a society that fawns on celebrities, in which merely to be known matters much more than being known for anything, in particular, it is important that we give thanks for those hidden and forgotten saints. The saints who sustain our local communities and churches. This includes all of us in whatever way we choose to serve God, inspired by a vision of service as we see it Christ Jesus. Saints come to mind as we read the Beatitudes and the beatitudes come to mind as we think of the saints. Pier Giorgio Frassati was a wealthy young man from Turin who was dedicated to social action on behalf of the poor and marginalised. He was often heard to say, ‘charity is not enough; we need social reform’. He died of polio at the age of 24. The story of his life and death influenced the young Karol Wojtyla, who as Pope John Paul 11, described Frassati as ‘A man of the eight beatitudes'. All the Beatitudes are contained in each one of them and each of them embraces the rest. Soren Kierkegaard’s exposition of the sixth Beatitude, Purity of Heart is to will one thing, is a commentary on them all. The saints – though this is not to explain them – are those who ‘will one thing’, who are undivided in their intentions. This single-minded quest in pursuit of a vision of beauty is no easier for monks and nuns than for those of us ‘in the world’. It’s hard to ‘will one thing’ when you are struggling, or ill or even alone you’re your thoughts, but the lives of those who even in the struggles of life and indeed often through the struggles remind us that in pursuit of a vision of beauty we make goodness attractive. Rev. Simon Brignall We continue in prayer for healing: At every moment of our existence, You are present to us, God, in gentle compassion. Help us to be present to one another so that our presence may be a strength that heals the wounds of time and gives hope that is for all persons through you God. We pray for all who have undergone a stroke, or cancer (especially for those who have recently been diagnosed and are struggling with this heavy load) and all those we know and love in our communities that are in need of general health being restored. We thank you for the recovery of so many and into God's loving hands in faith we bring for God's continued healing: “The power of our prayer is not in our praying but in the One to whom we pray. God is the perfect Father who loves to give good things. Prayer is a precious privilege.” I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘I am this dark world’s light. look unto me, thy morn shall rise, and all thy day be bright:’ I looked to Jesus, and I found in him my star, my sun; and in that light of life I’ll walk ‘till travelling days are done. Words Horatius Bonar (1808–89) Rev Simon Brignall I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872 – 1958 Ralph Vaughan had a keen ear for the music of England, collaborating with the folk-song collector, Cecil Sharp, he turned some of their collected folk-song material into tunes that we know and love today. There are too many to list but among them, they include Kingsfold, Forest Green, Monk’s Gate, and Shipton. Of his own original compositions, Down Ampney, Sine Nomine and Salve Festa dies are still widely used today. The new English Hymnal, into which these tunes found their way, was the brainchild of Rev Percy Dearmer, who wanted to rid the Anglican Church of turgid 19th-century hymn tunes and felt that Vaughan Williams, then in his early 30s, was the musician to help him. Dearmer cleverly reeled Vaughan Williams into the two-year project by assuring the composer that the project would only take two months. Initially, reluctant Vaughan Williams later admitted that his work on the English Hymnal had been ‘a better musical education than any amount of sonatas and fugues'. Crucially, it was tunes that Vaughan Williams discovered in the preparation of the English Hymnal that inspired the Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis (1910), Dives and Lazarus (1939), and passages of the opera the Pilgrims Progress (1951). The hymnal itself set new standards and brought fresh sounds to the English-speaking world. Ralph Vaughan vowed that the new hymn book would contain only ‘tunes of worth’. He was particularly dismissive of Victorian tunes with their sentimentality and ‘Germanic nature’. In the end, he was obliged to appease critics by adding an appendix of Victorian tunes well known at that time, He called it the ‘the chamber of horrors’. None of this, it would appear has anything to do with our passage today, but, I believe there are some interesting connections. Our passage from Luke’s gospel is about a judge who will not listen to the appeals of a poor widow. Widows had no voice in the ancient world as they had no male to speak for them. They were ignored and thought too unimportant to pay attention to. All this can be said of English folk music at the time of Vaughan Williams. Folk music was the poor relative of proper continental orchestral music which was the mainstay of the British musical calendar, but Vaughan Williams wanted to discover a genuine English voice and looked at the lowliest and most humble of musical forms and found riches beyond his dreams. He listened to the poor and was rewarded with music that in his hands was transformed into the masterpieces like the ‘Lark ascending’. The same is true of small voices when taken up by God they become his material with which he shapes the world around us. Troubled Times The Parable of the Persistent Widow, as this short parable is often called, reflects the concerns of the small, vulnerable Christian communities in the early days of the Church. These were times when these communities were often under attack from outraged religious groups, whether pagan or Jewish seeing their way of life and even their businesses threatened by this new upstart faith. Just read the accounts in Luke’s second book ‘The book of Acts’ about the situation the Church faced in Jerusalem, Ephesus, Philippi, Antioch, Corinth, and Colossae. Christians were imprisoned, executed, outlawed, and ostracized from polite society. In this situation, the leaders of the early Church needed to reassure their small communities that God had not abandoned them and that the promises of a new age dawning had not been false. Persistent Prayer Luke reached back into his store of parables told by Jesus and gave us two parables on faithful persistent prayer. The kind of prayer the Church would need to sustain itself through this testing time. The parables, as they often do, depend on the contrast between two extremes. Here we have the unjust Judge compared to the Just God and the self-righteous Pharisee compared to the humble tax collector. The message the parable teaches us is that we pray not to a distant deity unconcerned for us but to a loving Father who hears our prayers. We come to Him not to demand our rights but to receive his love, waiting on Him, trusting Him for our every need. Good Justice? The first of these parables sketches for us two figures who I think represent the situation of the Church as Luke understands it. Here is the vulnerable small Church community struggling to survive in a hostile world. As they raise their voice in prayer they ask themselves does God hear, does God care, or is God like this Judge, unconcerned with the suffering of the poor? To them, at this moment God seems more like the unjust Judge who ignores their pleas for mercy. Jesus wishes to compare the judge to whom this poor widow appealed to the Father God to whom we pray. Bad Judge! Jesus tells of a judge who, ‘Neither feared God, nor cared about men’ in other words he had no respect for the law, nor did he respond to the needs of those who came before him. Further, he took his time, delaying his judgment, maybe because he was waiting for some kind of bribe! Faced with a judge like that why bother to ask, or as Jesus implies, faced with a God like that why bother to pray? Faced with injustice, and suffering in the world, many are tempted to ask, “Why pray?” Prayer and Protest The portrait we get of the Widow is very interesting. It appears that she was quite a feisty lady! The full meaning of the parable is not apparent to us because it is hidden in the Geek original. The Judge complains that the widow has blackened his name by raising such a fuss about the injustice done to her. The phrase translates as: “Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so she will not beat me down by her continual coming” Luke 18:5 In the Greek original ’Bothering me’ is translated as: “because she has given me a black eye, I will give her justice!” That could mean she has blackened his name or literally has assaulted him! This points us to an important dimension of faith – it is active. It does not merely wait on God to act but goes out to create a new world, by protest if necessary! The Apostle Paul was certainly very active in protesting his rights as a citizen of the Roman Empire and appealed to the Emperor for Justice. The Church too eventually achieved recognition as a ‘Religio Licito’ a legal religion, permitted and recognised in law. The Church has always been and should continue to be a Protest movement seeking justice and truth through the renewal of each one of us and of society as a whole. St Francis of Assisi protested against the corruption of the Church and preached a gospel of renewal. Luther likewise started a movement we today call the Protestant Reformation because it has its origins in his call for the Reformation of the Church. The Faith that sustains us. The parable of the persistent widow gives us an insight into the faith that sustained the early Church. It was a faith sustained by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The God who we know in Jesus Christ came preaching God’s Kingdom of justice and peace, and the life he lived was consistent with the words he preached. He cared for the sick and suffering, the vulnerable in society, and he reached out to the unloved and unlovely. Finally, he suffered for us, offering himself in our place, the Just Judge who actually pays the penalty that is due to us! As the hymn so wonderfully puts it, ‘Love and justice mingle, truth and mercy meet. This was the God in whom they placed their faith. A faith that not only persisted in prayer but protested for justice. The early Church survived the fiery trial and handed on to the next generation this living faith rooted in prayer, praise, and protest, seeking always to establish God’s Kingdom of Justice and peace on Earth. The Father God to whom Jesus put his faith in the darkness of his own time of trial was the God who even in an unjust world hears the cry of the suffering, a God who in Jesus Christ has already responded with his ‘Yes’. The question that Jesus asks of those who hear the parable is a question for every generation of the Church as we in our turn are asked to hand on the faith of Christ as we have received it. “When the Son of Many comes, will He find Faith on Earth” Luke 18: 8 Could it not also be said of Vaughan Williams that he heard the voice of the poor and had the faith to turn that humble music into the praise of God? Rev. Simon Brignall In faith, we continue in prayer for Rory and Clare. Prayer for Ukraine God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today, and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them. We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions. Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, that you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen Rev Simon Brignall I am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
