Thursday 2 March 2017

Broad beans and St Chad

ST CHAD'S DAY MARCH 2nd 2017:

WALKING IN A SAINT'S FOOTSTEPS

Did you know that, according to tradition, today is the best day to sow broad beans? The things you learn from Wikipedia! Perhaps you knew already, and have spent the day doing so..

Today is also the feast day for St Chad, who was the first bishop of Lichfield, and died on this day in the year 672 - 1,345 years ago. He was one of four Northumbrian brothers (including St Cedd) trained by St Aidan on Lindisfarne and who went on to serve the English church. Chad was a contemporary of St Hilda. 

Chad's diocese was vast, covering the whole of the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Lindsey (Lincolnshire) - from Barton on Humber in the North East to Chester in the North West, Cirencester in the South West and the edge of East Anglia in the South East. Might it be fanciful to think he walked through the ancient woods that predate our Warley Woods? 

What is certain is that he traveled a great deal across the length and breadth of the West Midlands engaging in mission. He walked for miles encouraging faith, evangelising, training other disciples and building up the church. Aidan was known for teaching his monks to walk and pray, often reciting the psalms from beginning to end on a long journey. As a product of the Celtic church, Chad would have followed the same discipline of study and prayer while on the move. What psalm might you choose to learn off by heart to meditate upon as you walk today?

It is hard to know much about these incredible first missionaries to the English nation. But they were cross-cultural mission-minded barrier-breaking people of courage. In the days we now live in - and in the context we are now in with an incredibly diverse region - we find that the same approach, meeting people on foot, spending time creating networks of relationship beyond the walls of the church are part of our call. We are missionaries too. 

A new study, commissioned by the Bishop of Birmingham exploring the current provision and future needs for cross-cultural training as part of the global-local mission and ministry, has just reported. It begins with the following statement:

The landscape of post-Christendom has radically changed the relationship between mission and cultural engagement. Whereas formerly most western Christians assumed that world mission was what ‘we did’ to ‘them there’, our emerging era experiences mission as being ‘from everywhere, to everywhere’. Given cultural diversity, migration flows, changing urban demography and more, it is as likely that a conversation with your next door neighbour will require intercultural skills as much as a trip to a different continent. As David Bosch points out in his seminal work Transforming Mission, this ‘from everywhere to everywhere’ has broken down the distinction between mission as what we do in places abroad that are not yet Christian and evangelism as what we do at home among the no-longer Christian.Thus a cross-cultural approach is now appropriate everywhere, and sharing the gift of salvation a complex and exciting life requiring skill and thought. 

What is mission? This is the interesting conclusion of this latest report. It is something I think St Chad would recognize:

Mission is incarnational in that it requires a self-emptying and sacrificial immersion in the world with a servant heart which offers to all people the possibility of being set free from the consequences of sin. 

Mission is contextual in that it requires a listening and sensitive engagement with the diversity and needs of the context in which God’s people find themselves, so that they can express the good news of God’s love with language and lifestyle that connect appropriately. 

Mission is cross-cultural in that it requires God’s people to cross-cultural boundaries ready to learn from other cultures. It becomes intercultural as mutual relationships are formed in which there is respectful giving and receiving in honest dialogue through which witness to God’s saving love can be offered.

Mission is evangelistic in that it requires a clear announcement in word and deed of the good news of deliverance through Christ’s death and resurrection from every oppression, with the invitation to respond and accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. 

Mission is holistic in that it requires engagement with every dimension of the context which God wants to transform in a way which integrates the dimensions of mission. These dimensions are well summarised in the Anglican Five Marks of Mission.

I end with the collect for St Chad, whose character as a person of grace who was know for being peaceable, humble and prayerful:

Almighty God,
from the first fruits of the English nation who turned to Christ,
you called your servant Chad
to be an evangelist and bishop of his own people:
give us grace so to follow his peaceable nature,
      humble spirit and prayerful life,
that we may truly commend to others
the faith which we ourselves profess;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

And is it too late to sow broad beans tomorrow?

3 comments:

  1. "Mission is cross-cultural in that it requires God’s people to cross cultural boundaries ready to learn from other cultures".

    I'm writing this on Friday, the Women's World Day of Prayer, when an estimated 3 million women and men in 170 countries will have prayed with and for the people of the Philippines who had prepared the service shortly after Typhoon Haiyan had struck and caused much devastation. We heard stories of women suffering injustice and exploitation at work, and girls denied education and often abused, and we were challenged with the question "Am I being unfair to you?"

    But we also learnt about the Filipino practice of dagyaw:
    " In the Philippines, among the rice farmers, the neighbours are called to help with the planting and the harvesting. No one is paid, but the harvest is shared among all. This practice is called dagyaw. It is is a good practice for building and sustaining a community, an actualisation of compassion and care for each other. Does this seem fair to you?"
    I don't know that it's broad beans they are sowing, but everyone present was given a small bag of rice as our share of the harvest. Noone was left out.

    We also learnt about the Filipino Fellowship of the Least Coin. This is when groups of women meet to pray for justice and peace. Each time a woman prays she offers a coin of the lowest denomination of the currency. That way all are included, and noone is greater than another.

    The Filipino women taught us that in their struggles "we realise that solidarity is our source of strength" and their hope is in the truth that God is a fair and just God.

    The 50 women gathered in Warley learnt from our sisters in the Philippines and through song, dance (by a lady from St. Hilda's), readings and prayers we committed ourselves to "plant the seeds of hope to become fruits of liberation and love".

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  2. I have thought about "What is mission?" , and written brief points about my thoughts.

    Self emptying
    It is what we do when we welcome strangers into our presence. Being available for those who hurt. Cooking for someone who is unable to do so themselves due to ill health.



    Mission is contextual in that it requires a listening and sensitive engagement with the diversity ...
    Listening and expressing God's love. This is what the sessions about dementia, aging and sexuality attempted to do.

    Mission is cross-cultural in that it requires God’s people to cross-cultural boundaries ready to learn from other cultures.
    World women's day and what FEE speaks about. It is our interaction with people from different cultures.

    Mission is evangelistic in that it requires a clear announcement in word and deed of the good news of deliverance through Christ’s ....

    This is what messy church is about. And Mandy's job.

    Mission is holistic in that it requires engagement with every dimension of the context which God wants to transform in a way which integrates the dimensions of mission.

    Engagement with refugees, vegetable patch, green energy project

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  3. This has been circulating on Whatsapp, so I thought I'd include it in our blog as it speaks of women.

    *WOMAN*. . . . . . . . .

    When God created woman he was working late on the 6th day.......

    An angel came by and asked." Why spend so much time on her?"

    The lord answered. "Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her?"

    ●She must function on all kinds of situations.
    ●She must be able to embrace several kids at the same time.
    ●Have a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart.
    ●She must do all this with only two hands.
    ●She cures herself when sick and can work 18 hours a day.

    THE ANGEL was impressed" Just two hands.....impossible!

    And this is the standard model?"

    The Angel came closer and touched the woman.
    "But you have made her so soft, Lord".
    "She is soft", said the Lord,
    "But I have made her strong. You can't imagine what she can endure and overcome"

    "Can she think?" The Angel asked...
    The Lord answered. "Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate".

    The Angel touched her cheeks....
    "Lord, it seems this creation is leaking! You have put too many burdens on her".
    "She is not leaking...it is a tear". The Lord corrected the Angel…

    "What's it for?" Asked the Angel..... .
    The Lord said. "Tears are her way of expressing her grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride."...

    This made a big impression on the Angel,
    "Lord, you are a genius. You thought of everything.
    A woman is indeed marvellous"

    Lord said ."Indeed she is.
    ■She has strength that amazes a man.
    ■She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.
    ■She holds happiness, love and opinions.
    ■She smiles when she feels like screaming.
    ■She sings when she feels like crying, cries when happy and laughs when afraid.
    ■She fights for what she believes in.
    ■Her love is unconditional.
    ■Her heart is broken when a next-of-kin or a friend dies but she finds strength to get on with life"

    The Angel asked: So she is a perfect being?
    The lord replied: No. She has just one drawback.
    "She often forgets what she is worth".


    *Being a woman is priceless*

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