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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues.
A feeling for reconciliation
Terrible mistakes must be named; having dined with the risen Christ, Peter criticises with love (Acts 3.19).
Context
Surely, mistakes still need to be called out today.
- Criticism is made of a former prime minister’s lobbying for Illumina and the collapsed Greensill Captial.
- While the trial of Derek Chauvin charged with killing George Floyd is under way in Minneapolis, just a few blocks away, another young black man was shot by police. A demonstrator carried a banner with the brief, bewildered question: During the trial?’. VP Kamala Harris said ‘Prayers are not enough. While an investigation is under way, our nation needs justice and healing.’
- Magnificent Belfast youth workers have responded with courage to the terrible resurgence of violence which has been encouraged by gangsters (sometimes styled as terrorists and political movements), playing on various disappointments and deprivations in Belfast. Such youth workers are bending their communities’ energies towards reconciliation.
- We witness the funeral at Windsor of a ninety-nine-year-old statesman wondering how the ugly critical character of the British press has contributed to tensions in his family.
- Russian aggression towards Ukraine stirs horrid memories of the cold war, eclipsing the magnificent anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s orbit of earth on 12th April 1961, marked beautifully in Russia. How will the West respond?
But making a criticism is not, for St Peter at least, an end in itself. The feelings behind the criticism make a difference. Are they vengeful or compassionate? Are they constructive or destructive?
Ideas for sermons or interactive talks
How something sounds depends so much on who says it, with what feeling, and to whom. A fearsome, powerful church telling someone they have made a mistake and their sins need to be wiped away could be aggressive and intimidating. As for saying ‘You Israelites…’ there could be horribly anti-Semitic overtones.
It is, however, a fellow Israelite in the small powerless group of followers of Jesus of Nazareth who makes this speech, putting himself in great danger as he does so. For him to promise that ‘your sins…be wiped out’ is not fierce and judgemental, but joyous and extravagant. He declares boldly what his fellow Israelites’ mistake has been, but this is not to humiliate or shame. Rather his whole being is bent towards reconciliation. This is the man who cut off the High Priest’s servant’s ear when Jesus was arrested not many weeks before.
What has changed him from clumsily violent defender, ashamed denier, frightened man in hiding behind locked doors, is meeting the risen Jesus. The world feels entirely different to Peter now. If the uncompetitive Jesus rose from the dead, Peter need no longer feel that competitive rage towards those who killed him. His speech is frank and bold, but its feel is positive, not aggressive. He desires the liberation of his fellow Israelites.
When Jesus had appeared among them, he too was frank about their doubt, but in a way that kindly displaced fear with joy. His aim for gently criticising was to deepen his fellowship with them. He shares their meal of grilled fish. That’s something he’ll do again at a beach BBQ according to John. It is reassuring evidence of his physical vigour but it is also a sign of the fellowship he will embody in the Eucharist, a physical communion that will matter more and more, accumulating tender meaning with each generation of the Church. Every time we share that meal, we should be reminded that all our speech should be bent towards reconciliation and fellowship.
As a former prime minister is criticised for inappropriate lobbying, I feel my anger rising. I want the sleazy Bullingdon entitlement that has poisoned our politics to be frankly exposed for what it is. But that self-righteousness in me leaves a bitter taste. If all I hope for is leaving someone ashamed, I am not speaking with Peter’s courage or his brand of frankness. My discourse is not bent towards reconciliation. While mistakes need to be candidly named, I need then to press further and find a way to pray positively for a former prime minister that he discover his proper vocation: one which does not waste his experience and insight, but also does not take inappropriate advantage of contacts and privilege.
I feel disturbed and upset to see images from Belfast of the kind that used to terrify me as a Liverpudlian child. In sharp contrast to the heroic youth workers of Belfast who have been working through the nights to encourage lost young souls back towards the light, the grooming of children for violence is child abuse. The terrible error needs calling out with all the heat of Jesus’ teaching that it be better to have a millstone tied round one’s neck and be thrown into the sea than to lead a child astray in such a way. But our prayer cannot end there. We must long for politicians and communities on both sides to stop shouting blame over the barrier and start saying, ‘We have different friends to you. If you talk to yours and we talk to ours, maybe we can displace fear and aggression with a more confident identity that will seek the common good.’
The G7 calling out Putin’s behaviour towards Ukraine is surely right. Where it will lead to, though, is a terribly serious question. We need to prove our desire for reconciliation with the Russian people, prove our respect for whatever we can respect, prove our longing for collaboration, in space or in medicine or in the Middle East. In the tradition of St Peter, what would it look like for our diplomacy to be bent towards reconciliation? Would he place an order for 80 new nuclear missiles?
It is not for us to know what conversations have gone on in the grieving Windsor-Mountbatten households this week. Given Prince Philip’s lauded approach to modernising the family relationship with the press in the fifties and sixties, perhaps they can open their hearts to the opportunity one grandson’s approach might offer in the 2020s. As the Duke’s seven decades’ service is praised, maybe the more traditional approach of his other grandson can be seen, not as superior or rival, but as complementary. In the echo after his funeral, we can pray that grief will lead to reconciliation rather than division in every bereaved family.
Prompt and questions for discussion
- Compare the demonstrations in Minneapolis and the riots in Belfast. Try to weigh the grievances they may be expressing. In what ways are they bent towards justice and reconciliation? In what ways are they leaning away from the common good?
- Discuss what errors you think should be called out and frankly named in public. What would be the signs that such a call is motivated by a desire for healing?
- We are emerging slowly from lockdown, rather as the disciples did at their different paces of discovery. I wonder how your community can hold those who are most cautious.
David Warbrick is Vicar of All Saints Kings Heath in Birmingham. He says that, when it comes to his feelings towards those who want to buy more nuclear weapons, if he is to get from Barabbas’ aggression to St Peter’s generosity, ironically he still has an awful lot of work to do.
Check-in
Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people.
With restrictions easing off this week we can now grab a coffee outside, hit the gym and meet family in their garden! Be honest…were you queuing for hours outside a clothes shop Monday morning?! How did these easings make you feel? Were you overjoyed or overwhelmed? Although we were told that these next steps will happen, being able to see loved ones for the first time in months could feel like a dream.
It’s not unusual to have mixed feelings when changes occur and it can be confusing. Our passage this week explores how it is important to keep an open mind during such times. Although the disciples were told that Jesus would return, they didn’t fully understand how, when or even why. Can you imagine how they felt when Jesus appeared to them? They needed proof that it was really him; it was too good to be true so they presumed the worst and thought he was a ghost!
As we ease out of lockdown try keeping an open mind about the changes around us. Acknowledge that you may be feeling scared, excited, worried, angry and sometimes all of those at the same time. But when you do, remember the importance of talking, perhaps safely over a meal with friends as the disciples did. And continue to share with God as we all journey through this pandemic together.
Natasia Bullock is the children’s worker for the South Liverpool Methodist Circuit and director of Christian theatre company The B Tales.
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