Don't Turn the Magnetic-Field Back On

Coming out of lockdown I am repeatedly asked "When can we get back to church?". Of course this is the wrong question from the outset, since we never stopped being church ... so it is not possible to 'go back'! But I also must admit from a personal perspective that in many ways I don't want to go back ...

Yes I want us to gather together as the extended family of Christ-followers. Yes I want us to join together in an expression of worship with each other, a gathering into which we can invite God to speak to us together. Yes I very much want to gather into an environment where the Spirit is free to move and we see ministry among us. And yes I basically want to see, chat, have coffee with and generally be alongside my fellow believers. I want all these things and I miss them like many others.

But I don't want the inadvertent magnetic-field that I worry can go with such regular gatherings, wonderful though they are. The force that turns us inwards, that captures our attention and our focus, that risks making us 'building-centric' or 'sunday-centric'. The pull that stops us from looking out to the incredible, exciting (but also very risky!) things that can happen in our missionary discipleship out there in the periphery. The power-house that tempts us to rely on it rather than paying proper attention to our own rhythms and diet of personal discipleship, discipleship done with trusted partners - discipleship journeyed in the rough and tumble of life.

All these out there things some of us (I hope many of us) have experienced and explored because of lockdown and our inability to gather centrally. We've had over 3 months of the magnetic-field abruptly turned off: it has been difficult, it has brought many challenges (not all overcome), but it has also brought a healthy re-focussing of how we live and grow in our faith, alongside fresh mission endeavour. Yes we have lost many things, and it has raised many questions, but I have seen much blessing and what I believe are healthier for the long term habits arise.

So yes I would dearly love for us to be gathering again - as soon as we meaningfully can - but please don't turn that magnetic field back on!

I Love Rainbows

A rainbow seen in the sky always looks both pretty and a thing of wonder: whether it is against murky rain clouds or the brighter sky poking through, to see the arc of different colours of light always lifts my spirit.

Interestingly in our lockdown times the rainbow has become a symbol of support for the NHS, and seems to have been naturally adopted by children as a universal symbol of thanks and hope. Walk through the housing estates and you will see home-make rainbow posters alongside the 'thank-yous' for our NHS and carers.

This seems to me to be appropriate: the rainbow is also the sign of God's covenant promises - a covenant made with Noah for all humanity and indeed all creation. It is a covenant of hope - of withholding forces of destruction, of limiting judgement. It is of course the covenant God declared to Noah after the receding flood (see Genesis chapter 9).

The rainbow is a symbol that reminds us that God would prefer mercy than wipe out.

In recent years the rainbow symbol has given at least some Christians a bit of a conundrum, because it has also been adopted by the LGBT community, its advocates and activists. Some may have been offended by this, perhaps seeing it as a hijacking of a Judeo-Christian symbol.

Yet it needn't be quite so problematic: I had noticed a trend for it to start to signify more than the LGBT labelling - broadening to respect diversity of many kinds. A kind of encouragement for each person to afford basic human dignity to every other person.

This broader usage surely also resonates with the covenant purposes of God: that whoever you are, wherever you are, God would prefer mercy for you along with the whole of humanity and creation rather than wipe out.

The rainbow sits deep in the Christian story, establishing a covenant that points to and connects with that other important Christian symbol - the cross - where justice and mercy meet, where wipe out is exhausted by grace.

So as Christians let us love rainbows! Wherever we see the symbol used, maybe it could prove to be a useful conversation starter about an greater topic.

Ministers Gatherings in the Future - a Prediciton

When church ministers gather and first introduce the conversation is predictable with near 100% certainty: it will include the question 'What size of church do you have?' ! Trust me, I've been there. I have asked the question myself 😞.

Going forward, as we get to come out of lockdown and meet again I think I can confidently give a new prediction! There will be a new question, and it will be: 'How many people connected to your Livestream/Zoom/whatever?'.

This could all be a bit of a nightmare for many of us. And at its worst it means we might have simply swapped our gather-in-building-on-Sunday for a gather-an-audience-online.

It raises the question of 'metrics' - what we measure. The scientist and strategist in me likes metrics - they help us know where we are, and can help chart progress. But that all hinges on having the right metrics.

What if we preferred to try and assess Spiritual impact or development? What if we found a focus on developing depth (in perhaps fewer people), and equipping them to have greater impact in their own spheres of influence? These things are of course hard to measure - much harder than attendees on a Livestream, which your computer will instantly tell you. Do we settle for the easier metrics because they are simply easier, or because they stroke our own ego as leaders?

We live in lockdown times because of a highly contagious destructive virus. Yet as Jesus followers we want to actively spread the apostolic witness to Jesus that brings life. For a virus to spread effectively it needs to replicate well in a host, and then pass on to others. So how about we work out how to measure the effectiveness of replication of the apostolic witness in the people we lead, and the spread-impact that they can go on to achieve?

Value System Recalibration

The value we place on something or on someone is an elastic concept and variable. It will likely be different to the value placed on the same thing or person by someone else. It can also change with time.

Monetary value is even more elastic and subject to change. Just look at share prices for listed companies! In fact monetary value is completely arbitrary. Why is a house worth, say, a quarter of a million pounds or more? Especially when the price to physically build it will typically be much lower.

And as a society we can get our value systems completely and utterly wrong. As the corona virus pandemic brewed in England people (inappropriately) did hoard-buying in shops, clearing the shelves. A fun yet poignant social media post then went round saying:

In 2019 they told me to get good grades to secure a good job rather than end up stacking shelves.
In 2020 shelf-stackers are now in great demand!

Any job that needs doing is a job worth doing - and the person doing it should be honoured valued! Stop and think what the average pay is for a nurse - even a specially trained ICU nurse ... and now think how 'valuable' they are to us as a nation!

As followers of Jesus we should always be pinching ourselves and asking how much we have allowed our own value assessments to be set by the prevailing views of society around us?

Remember the blind beggar sitting near Jericho who called out repeatedly to Jesus. The crowd tried to shut him up - he was low in their value system. Yet Jesus stopped and called him, honouring him, affording him value.

Pray that we may learn to see value-wise as Jesus see.