Rich Get Richer

So the Board of BP wants to pay its chief executive, Bob Dudley, £14million pounds for a year it made great losses. In the same year the Trussell Trust, which runs 424 food banks in the UK, gave out enough emergency food to feed more than 1.1 million people. Let us not forget there are at least, I mean at least, double that amount of food banks in the UK at present.

Perhaps people who need the help of food banks matter less to this Government than those that generate great wealth through foreign investments and decorating companies. I recall Sir Alan Duncan (Tory MP) words this week in the house of commons; "Shouldn’t the prime minister’s critics really just snap out of the synthetic indignation and admit that their real point is that they hate anyone who has got a hint of wealth in them?” He was of course talking about the Labour party, those that do not have as much wealth as the conservatives (maybe).

Obviously if we do not crave great wealth only to live we matter less! No, no, no! Money, wealth, power, is the evil that drives today’s society. It drags us down, holds us back. Makes us turn on others and say we do not want them here; they may take money off us! Yes, we are all aware how wealth can create racism.

Those that really take the money are the ‘wealthy-selfish’, not the poor refugee, or the disabled retired benefit claimant. Yet a person can generate great wealth, and do great good with it. But one can also just turn away from others and say; ‘no this is all mine’.

Our weakened Government supports just that point of view. Evidence, the Equality Act. The first part was to protect those suffering economic inequality. The Conservatives never enabled this section, and will not. Indeed, they seek to change for the worse our human rights by getting rid of the Human Rights Act and bringing a lesser substitute. All allowing employers to bend rules further, pay less, and work people harder.

If we now loose the protection of the European Court of Justice by leaving Europe, so many of us in the margins will suffer first. Then the split between the socio-economic groups will become much greater and far more obvious. Those of us who recall the great strikes of the 1970’s and 1980’s will see where this will lead us.

O Lord, I pray that humanity will learn to love each other more than selfish greed. Amen.

From the Heart

Into the night I walk,
The dark overwhelming,
The quiet deafening,
The stillness oppressive.
My mind broken by this life and all it brings.
If this is mental illness then how did I get here?
Am I not sane, normal, have I changed so much?
Am I now something 'other'?
No I am me, just me, but a broken me.
Like so many; ill, yes; mad, no.
So pray for me as I do for you,
For tomorrow you could be me ...

Disabled People: Treated Badly

Disability Right UK has launched a new strategic plan, which has been introduced on their web page on the Blog with an article by the Chief Executive Liz Sayce (link below). The article makes sobering reading for everyone especially all with a Christian background. We are reminded that we should in the forefront of ensuring that disabled people are fully part of society, which is not doing us disabled folk a favour, it is recognising our human rights.

http://disabilityrightsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/what-would-change-public-attitudes-on.html

It's all about the next person I meet

Over the past year I have been challenged to consider, and reconsider, the role of an ordained minister in the church. I suppose it is something that we should constantly challenge ourselves to reconsider again and again, but this year for me has been especially challenging as I have thought particularly about Jesus and how he interacted with people.

The church is a strange organisation, and I use the word organisation in a very fluid fashion, because many people would not recognise it as one organisation but rather many ‘different organisations’. But if we all believe in Jesus Christ, and if we all hail from the same roots then in many respects we are all one organisation albeit with many different faces. How much does this matter when one is sitting holding the hand of an elderly patient who is terminally ill, or the young parents who just lost their only child, or when faced with families who have just lost loved ones in an accident; in truth it matters little. What matters is that the church reaches out to each individual to give them love, compassion, and in the end hope.

Humanity as we know is flawed in many ways; and each of us presents ourselves to others as we are, all the good, and all the bad, and all we expect from the other is that they do the same. So any organisation built upon a flawed foundation will itself contain flaws; so in many ways so too are our larger organised churches. They have become so large that on a day-to-day basis their aims are often to sustain their immense size, which will mean ensuring that they can cover the salaries of their many employees as well as those who are paid as ordained ministers. On top of this is a huge amount of money that goes towards maintenance of buildings, and let’s not even mention pension pots. So one can almost understand that the big picture for a large organised, and perhaps, ancient church is about sustaining its size and paying its way. But how does this sit alongside the mission of Christ, the calling of Christ to us all who believe, that call to reach out to all people so that they too may also come to know Christ, and through Christ to know the Father.

All clergy when training as such will spend a huge amount of time reading about the theological concepts of mission. Much of this study will be based upon the theology of mission which in truth is the academic thought behind what mission should be, could be, or would best suit the church to be. My experience of time spent studying mission at theological college is somewhat negative to say the least. We had many books thrust at us that told us how we could do mission, then there were many other books that told us why the first books were wrong. But in the main the vast majority of the material spoke about the big church, and when I say big church I me large congregations. Now I have to accept that in my 50 years I have in the main spend most of my life as a member of a church congregation that has tended to be on the smaller side. When I say smaller side I mean somewhere in the region of 50 to 80 people. Though I have been to many churches where the average congregation can be far less than this, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that at each service I felt the Holy Spirit with us. Now there are so many pressures to grow the church; I do recall the current Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Reynolds, addressing a group of new curates reminding everyone that if the average congregation numbers stay the same then the church has actually grown. He was talking about time. We often restrict ourselves to the here and now and forget that God does not work by our time constraints.

By now you’re wondering whether I actually care about the numbers of people who attend church on a Sunday; well the answer is yes. The answer is yes, yes because the more people that attend means that we are reaching out and spreading the word of Christ as Christ commanded his disciples to do. Yes, also because the more people that attend our churches means the more support they can give to one another particularly during the difficult times. As a point of clarification when I say churches I do not mean buildings, I mean churches made up of the people, all God’s people. Because God’s people can meet anywhere as church as they did in those early days. But when I say yes I also say yes with caution, you would expect that from a lawyer wouldn’t you? Why caution? Because the object is not about large numbers of people, it never has been, and never should be! For me as a priest the most important thing for me to do will be to deal with the next person that needs my help.

It is all about the next person I meet. If our churches become so big that we can no longer cater for each individuals needs then there is a massive problem, and that was the issue the mission books never ever dealt with. What matters is the one, not the many, because on a day-to-day basis the many are usually coping well but one by one each will find the need for help and support, that is when as representatives of Christ we must reach out. When Jesus spoke about the 99 sheep he was reminding us that the one mattered, the one that was not there. In this parable the one was a sinner, but he still spoke about going after the one, I am quite sure that the parable still stands if one has to leave the 99 sheep to go after the one good sheep who is in distress.

A minister once said to me when moving into a new church sometimes you had to upset the apple cart, and if some people leave but that allowed opportunity for a lot more to join then in reality you had a result. No, no, no, no, what on earth was he thinking? This is like driving part of your flock out into the road without care, it makes no sense; it is based upon a perverse rationality of mission by numbers. I am not blind, I understand the politic within the church and the problems the church family can suffer. I also know that which can stop a church from developing its own mission when it feels the Holy Spirit calling it to reach out into its own community. There will be people within the church family who for many reason hold out against change, but they are still part of the church family. Therefore, they must be looked after, respected and nurtured. Space must be found for everyone, those who been with the church for a long time and those who aspire to join the church, because let us not forget the church has no walls therefore we cannot be hemmed in. Of course changes do take place things do move on, and occasionally some people do feel the need to move on. The church family, especially those called to be leaders and clergy, must never give up on them, the family must always reach out and say that, “we are here we love you and you will always be welcome”.

A church is not made up of a congregation! Is made up by single persons, each with their own stories to tell, their joys, their pains, their gifts and their needs. If Christ loves them then so do I.

Luke 15 Parable of the Lost Sheep, Parable of the Lost Coin, Parable of the Prodigal Son

Spiritual life v. Flesh

Reading St Paul’s letter to the Galatians this morning really made me stop to consider what it is to be human. Paul speaks about “gratify the desires of the flesh”, which we often consider to be based on physical desires; but as we read Paul goes much further. He actually lists a whole plethora of human emotions, and desires which seem to make up everything we are as humans.
Is Paul right? Or does he go too far?

Well he gives to us a solution; accepting the Holy Spirit, and living by the guidance that the Spirit gives to us on a daily basis. For it is by the Sprits love that we gain strength, and that strength will then allow us to deal with the temptations of this life. We do not have to live boring lives, we just need to think of everyone else, and try our best to live life loving everyone else. Lets face it that’s a challenge in itself.

Of course there is love in the flesh, the love we share with a spouse, which is the love that takes us to a whole different place. It is not a forbidden love but one of great intimacy to be shared and cared for. But we can so often miss-understand that intimacy and want to find it with others in the form of sexual relations. But it isn’t there, what we find is nothing, we may think it great at the time but it is a barren field yields nothing of life’s true wonders. The wonders we can only discover in love.

Read for yourself St Paul’s words to the Galatians:

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. Galatians (5:16 – end)

Life Journey

We are all so very aware that Jesus was crucified upon the cross on Golgotha; and that He was extraordinary by human standards, for Jesus was fully human, and at the same time fully God. Well now there’s a huge concept to start this mailing, and actually I am going to let you work that one out for yourself, because it is far too great for my tiny brain to calculate, especially after a migraine.

One thing we have to deal with however is that God became incarnate in Jesus, and then allowed us to execute Him. Why? To a larger degree we know the answer, Love. Love, a short word and yet perhaps a word that encapsulates the greatest concept known to humankind.

But along with that great gift of Love from our parent God, our creator, came a challenge. The challenge is to follow Christ’s path, by walking in the footprints Jesus left for us. Easy you say; it is easy to follow a path someone has already cleared for us, well I do hope you find it easy. Perhaps if it were a path someone had cut for us through a jungle then it may be clear or a path across a field that someone uses a heavy roller to compress the grass so that we can follow it without deviation. Perhaps that sort of path may be easy to follow, and for you my sister or brother perhaps Jesus’ footprints are easy to follow through this life; alas the path I am on is worse that the UK roads are at present, there are so many holes and trip hazards.

So I could ask of God; ‘why did you make such a path for me to struggle along’, but when I reflect, I realise God’s original path was straight, even and flat. What I am faced with are potholes, and bumps of my own making. These deviations from the original path are those created by my own confusion. Perhaps I am a little like St Thomas I let doubt get in my way. I am blessed in my faith, I have always had a belief in God and it has never wavered, I have questioned it, but it had remained strong. But doubt in myself as being worthy has always been with me, and so when I read about St Thomas’ wanting to see Jesus himself I wonder whether it is more to do with jealousy that everyone else saw Jesus and he, Thomas, had not? It’s a human thing.

The following prayer is great for all journeying people, please join me on this journey; together we can support one another ...
Lord, we give praise and thanks to You

for You redeemed us with the

precious blood of Christ,

A lamb without blemish or defect.

Help us to live this day in

Your footsteps.

Amen

(Walk with Me: Holy See)

(John 20:24-29)

Rehabilitation: Taking time out with God

            Like most clergy I have a number of roles, one is chaplaincy. I also write as someone who in common language is ‘disabled’, though I prefer differently-abled as I have never found the perfect specimen of the ‘able bodied person yet.

            Rehabilitation comes after trauma; the trauma can be an accident such as a fall which leads to massive tissue damage, or sometimes bone fractures that need either operations to repair or time in plaster casts allowing ‘nature’ to take its course. I say nature always knowing that God created us and made us so that at times we can repair ourselves. But of course there are times when we cannot, so it is worth remembering that in the book of Genesis it says that God created us ‘Good’ not perfect. Other trauma can be due to massive infection that causes people to stop their normal activities for a period of time, which means they need help to get going again. There are other illnesses that also attack our nervous system our muscles and even our own defence system which stops us being active in our normal way.

            Rehabilitation is part of the long road to help people by physiotherapy to regain, some, or all of their previous abilities. But along with physiotherapy comes many other therapies such as speech therapy for example for people post stroke, there is occupational health who help people to regain safety instincts around their own home when making a cup of tea, bathing or moving from room to room. There may also be an intervention from psychology where someone wants to talk about the changes in their lives and how it has affected them. Someone may need social services to help with moving to a new home, or assistance with money issues, or even family problems.  Of course there is the chaplaincy for all spiritual matters, and prayer being our most important gift to share together; as well as just a chat if someone just wants a different face to talk to. A good chaplaincy will always cater for all faiths and none. Let us not forget the Nurses and Doctors who are always there to offer advice and assistance for medical issues. There will be many other people who come and go offering great and valuable support and care.

            The sad truth is not everyone gets back to their starting place. This can be that age has crept up on us and it takes an accident or illness to stop a person for a time, then suddenly the body is not capable of getting back to where it was before the accident. There are also those injuries and illnesses that have such a traumatic effect on the body that the person cannot recover no matter how good the medical intervention. It can sometimes seem random when a person has had major life threatening trauma recovers to a near prefect self. Then another person has something that seems minor and ends up with life changing disabilities. As a chaplain my role is not to try and explain or even comfort, for experience has taught me that you cannot comfort someone who has lost all independence. My role is to be there, and when I can represent the face of Christ. This may seem a rather presumptuous claim, but often the chaplain in the dog collar bearing Christ’s cross will be the one who reminds people of the Goodnews. Of course some reject this outright, though I say confidently that this would be less than two or three percent of all people I have met ignore me completely. Of the rest, the majority believe in ‘a’ God. Now I do not whip out my Bible and start to preach and attempt to convert, no, I smile and chat. I only have the God conversation when the patient wants it, and often they will. This is how I read Jesus in the Bible, he got on with life, led by example, and when everyone was ready spoke about the Father.

Chaplain Major Jeffrey (Chad) Leach,OSP

International Chaplains Association of the Celtic Cross Foundation in Ministry

Medical Outreach Division

Associate Minister; Wednesfield St Gregory the Great