I know your works. You have a lacklustre familiarity with me, worn out with meanness and ingratitude. Would that you cheered my name with the gusto that they muster in the Valley or at the Palace! You have hidden your light in a dark cave which few can see. And yet there is in your village common ground where this light may shine. Just as you put your wares in the window 2gether, so may your good works be visible for all to see. Rejoice in what you can do 2gether, the next generation will thank you for it. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
On February 13, local Christians were asked to imagine what Jesus would say to the Church in Chislehurst were he to write them a letter in the spirit of the messages he sent to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. What you read above is a playful but challenging interpretation of what they imagined he would say.
The groups' observations could be divided into good, bad and challenging:
Good
- Working together on the Chislehurst Youth for Christ project and in the shops
- The possibility for outreach arising from the 2008 Lent course
- The progress we have made in accepting one another's strengths and traditions
Bad
- Loss of that first love for God
- Lack of commitment expressed in attitudes to the Bible and to giving
- The existence of ingratitude, complacency and greed in the culture having seeped into the Church
- The absence of young people from our worshipping communities
Challenging
- The need for Monday to Saturday discipleship in addition to Sunday worship
- Finding new and creative ways of working together
- Getting outside our four walls in mission
- The spiritual needs of Chislehurst's 'up and outs' (c.f. 'down and outs') - the affluent but spiritually impoverished
5 comments:
Fancy receiving a letter like that on Valentine's Day! In fact it would be especially appropriate for Jesus to write those kinds of things on such a day as today. It is precisely because he loved the seven churches in the book of Revelation that he gave a straightforward message - it would have been less loving to have placated them. He loves us too much to want us to stay as we are.
Yes, at first sight it looks quite shocking (and I hesitated to post it, frankly) because we prefer reading things which encourage us spiritually. I wrote it this way because it keeps to the spirit of what Jesus said to the churches in Revelation, who almost all faced a word of judgement from him. It also reflects a sense of self-judgment in the responses made by those who took part in the exercise last Wednesday. God's discipline is a component of his love, not an alternative to it, and I think this is how we should always take his word to us.
What would Jesus write?
To the angel of the church in Chislehurst write:
"I, the Lord, have called your Twelve leaders by name-
Revd Michael Adams
Father William Beer
Revd Charles Briggs
Rector Simon Burton-Jones
Pastor Brian Clarke
Youth Pastor Guy Foxell
Leader Martin Hall
Associate Rector Carol Kitchener
Youth Director Lyndsay Smith
Revd Andrew Vaughan
Father George Webster
Revd Michael Williams
For “40 days” the Twelve shall delegate all works of my Church to my lay workers, excepting such as funerals and previously arranged wedding days, to retreat and pray 2gether to discern creative ways to confront my challenges; finding new ways to work in unity; how to meet the spiritual needs of the young and the ‘up and outs’ of Chislehurst.
The Twelve 2gether shall make time to sit and talk in the local meeting places, the pubs, the cafes –The Queen’s Head, Cafes Rouge, Uno, Nero etc.
This is where you WILL be seen to be in and of the community.”
Heather, what a great letter..and what a lot of great leaders we have in Chislehurst..oh and what a great idea that would be!
Having all our leaders meeting together to talk in public places would be a brilliant way to show the community we are working together..they could all come to 2gether but we can only fit 3 on our sofa! Posted by Clare Herriot
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