| End the Week with CME - June 6, 2008 | 6th Jun 2008 | Download | Email to a Friend |
Welcome to End the Week with CME! This weekly email is sent automatically to Clergy and Readers in the diocese (if you don't want to receive it, please send an email to CovEW-unsubscribe@lists.covlec.org) but anyone is welcome to subscribe to the list, and we are especially keen to pass it on to any interested lay people, especially those who may have responsibility for preaching. To subscribe they simply need to email CovEW-subscribe@lists.covlec.org.
Coming Up
Annual Regional Training Partnership (RTP) Forum
Saturday 14 June, 10am - 3pm, at Droitwich Spa Methodist Church. (Lunch is included.)
This year's West Midland Regional Training Partnership Forum, will look at approaches to theological reflection and will be led by Professor Stephen Pattison from Birmingham and the Revd Judith Thompson from Worcester. For more information about the day, please contact Jenny Harris at jenny.harris@birmingham.anglican.org or on 0121 426 0437.
Subverting the Empire: Romans Disarmed
Blah . . . is a series of conversations on mission, worship, church and Christianity in today's rapidly changing culture.
CMS have planned a 2008 'blah tour', and have invited Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat over from Canada to present it. "Romans Disarmed" will take place in Birmingham on Tuesday 17 June, 10am until 4pm at Birmingham Cathedral.
For more information, or to book online, go to www.blahonline.net.
Ministry Where You Work?
Sunday 13 July 2008, 2 - 5pm at St John's Church Centre, Westward Heath.
An invitation to all Readers, OLMs and NSMs in the Coventry Diocese. Come and discuss:
- Could you have a ministry at work?
- How might God be calling you to expand your ministry?
- An opportunity to explore possibilities beyond your parish role.
If you would like to attend, or find out more information, contact Felicity Smith (chair of the Coventry Ministers in Secular Employment group) on 01926 492452 or at felicity@fandi.me.uk.
Unity in Diversity: celebrating the breadth of Reader Ministry
The Central Readers' Council National Conference will be held Friday 12 - Sunday 14 September 2008 at the University of North Wales, Bangor.
The keynote speaker will be Canon Dr Christina Baxter CBE, and the Principal of St Johns College, Nottingham will be leading an exploration of 1 Corinthians 12. There will also be a number of seminars, led by Readers who are involved in different aspects of ministry outside the church, such as prisons, hospices, bereavement, education etc.
A core part of the weekend will be worship and fellowship, and throughout the weekend there will be an exhibition of various resources relevant to Reader Ministry.
Cost: £170 per head if you book before 30 June / £180 per head for bookings after 30 June.
For more information, contact Heidi Cartledge at hcartledge@fightingclose.freeserve.co.uk or on 01926 641751. If you are planning to attend, or have already booked, please let Chris Haines (Warden of Readers) know at chris@haines.uk.com or on 01788 576279.
Notes on the Gospel Readings for Trinity 4 (Sunday June 15, 2008)
Matthew 9.35-10.8 (or 23)
Mission-shaped disciples?
The Olympics are just around the corner. Athletes all over the world are making their final preparations before they get to the competition. And then they will wait, with mounting excitement and anxiety, for the command: 'On your marks, get set, GO!'
'GO!' is the command of Jesus, which ends Matthew's gospel (Matt. 28.19). For the disciples who have followed him through Galilee and down to Jerusalem this is the moment of truth. Now their training and preparation is over, and it's time to run the race for real.
The earlier parts of Matthew's gospel outline their preparation, and by following the first disciples through the gospel we have the opportunity to join in with their training regime, which is why it has often been described as a manual of discipleship. But it is not discipleship for its own sake, rather discipleship with an end in view. As David Bosch has written, Matthew's gospel 'is essentially a missionary text. It was primarily because of his missionary vision that Matthew set out to write his gospel, not to compose a "life of Jesus" but to provide guidance to a community in crisis on how it should understand its calling and mission' (Transforming Mission (Orbis 1991) p.57). That end is to prepare disciples for 'missionary discipleship' (Transforming Mission p.79), equipped and ready to go.
Matthew's gospel adds five teaching sections to Mark's, the first of which focussed on being a disciple (Matt. 5.1-7.28). The second fills the whole of chapter 10, and its theme is mission. It will occupy us for the next three weeks.
So the early part of this passage sets the scene and introduces the theme. As Jesus travels through Galilee he sees that the mission he has from God, to bring the Kingdom cannot be fulfilled by one person, however extraordinary, alone (9.35-38). His prayer, therefore, is that the mission should be shared. The disciples join in the prayer - and find they are the answer to it themselves! The mission of Jesus is to be shared and the twelve are the first to do it. They have a special, representative, role, but there was a danger later that they too might be left as the competent ones, to whom everyone else left the work. So Luke, in his gospel written (I assume) later than Matthew's, adds another group of seventy who receive the same instructions (Luke 10.1). The point is that the twelve disciples stand for all disciples. The mission and ministry of Jesus is to be shared by all who follow him, and his involvement of the twelve in his own mission is the mandate for shared ministry.
The mission of Jesus was shard, but it was also a strategic one. The church would later go to the Gentiles and Jesus himself seems to have welcomed Gentiles amongst his followers. Northern Galilee and especially the Decapolis were areas where there were large Gentile populations and the coming of the nations to worship at Jerusalem was a staple part of prophecy about the last days (see, for example, Isaiah 56.6-8; Zechariah 2.11-13; 8.20-23). Ed Sanders points out that, when Barnabas and Paul began the mission to the Gentiles, no-one objected to the principle: 'they disagreed only as to its terms and conditions' - whether circumcision and dietary laws were essential or not. He concludes that, though Jesus' activity amongst Gentiles was limited, the gathering of the nations into God's kingdom was part of his plan: 'Jesus started a movement which came to see the Gentile mission as a logical extension of itself' (Jesus and Judaism (SCM 1985) p.220). It was a big vision, but how could it be put into action? The answer had to be in stages, and so the disciples go first to the 'lost sheep of Israel' (Matt 10.6). The implication is that their task was to draw in all those who belonged to Israel, reaching out beyond existing boundaries to all those who were children of Abraham. Through Abraham all the nations of the earth were to be blessed (Gen. 12.3), and the same strategic plan seems to be at the heart of Jesus' approach too. The ultimate mission to the Gentiles may be in view here, then, just not yet (see Matt. 28.19). The first challenge is to Israel itself, recapitulating God's work in the Old Testament.
So here are the disciples, sharing Jesus' strategic mission. What are they to do? First they preach, proclaim or announce 'the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand'. The words matter but they are not all, as we would expect from the emphasis we have seen in the last few weeks on the importance of action alongside words. They are also to 'heal the sick, raise the dead, make lepers clean and cast out demons. As you received freely, so give freely' (Matt. 10.8). This is a comprehensive list unique to Matthew's gospel. It was summarised by Mark Stibbe as Jesus' call to each of his disciples to be a PHD - preacher, healer and deliverer. I'd want to add an S - sharers too, as this seems to be what the last phrase points to.
Which would give us four angles on what it means to bring the Kingdom somewhere:
- proclaiming - the Kingdom then but Jesus now;
- healing - bringing those who are sick (including the dead) to wholeness;
- delivering - driving out demons by facing evil wherever it is;
- sharing - showing a radically new way of living without being trapped by financial worries.
We could get into plenty of arguments about what the two middle terms mean, and how we fulfil the commands. There are plenty of ways of interpreting these. But more important is to get on and do the task commanded - however we interpret the commands. Because the primary command is, 'Go!'
And Finally...
Linda Wainscot kindly shared this at the recent DBE conference and we thought it bore repeating.
Dear Son,
The other day I went up to our local Christian bookstore and saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly upbeat that day because I had just come from a thrilling worship celebration, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting. So I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, I'm glad I did! What an uplifting experience followed!
I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is, and I didn't notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loved Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed. I found that lots of people love Jesus! Why, while I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, "For the love of God! Go! Go! Go! Go!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!
Everyone started honking! I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling at all those loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love!
There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a "sunny beach". I saw another guy waving in a funny way... with only his middle finger stuck in the air. Then I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what it meant. He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. My grandson burst out laughing... why, even he was enjoying this religious experience!
A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended.
This is when I noticed the light had changed. So, I waved and smiled at all my brothers and sisters, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we shared.
So, I slowed the car down, leaned out the window, and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!
Will write again soon,
Love, Mom
(From A Bundle of Laughs by Mark Stibbe and J.John)
Thanks to those who pointed out that last week's joke should have had an acknowledgment to Gerald Hoffnung - those who are old enough to remember will know why!
That's all folks!
Richard
Richard Cooke
Coventry CMERichard.Cooke@CovCofE.org