“The past, the present and the future
I’ve reached the final chapter of this little book and want to try and sum up something of what I’ve tried to write. To do it I’d like to think about the classic novel by Charles Dickens, ‘A Christmas Carol’. I’m pretty sure you will all know it reasonably well. Some of you will have read the book, many of you will have seen one of the many television or film adaptations of it.
At the heart of the novel are a number of things and these are just some of them :
The possibility of good triumphing over bad
The possibility of redemption for anyone
The recognition of a need to look back in order to learn lessons for the future
A willingness to respond to a need for change
Sometimes change takes time, but sometimes it happens immediately !
With a fleeting glance it’s very easy to describe Scrooge as a rather unpleasant, miserable and mean man. All of these things are true without doubt, but this was a person, upon further examination, who had a history. There was a past with relationships, with people who cared for him and people he cared for. There was, it seems likely, a considerable amount of good in his past. Things had happened to change him and to turn him into this character we now recognise so easily. For some he seemed beyond any sort of redemption. But then there was Fred, Scrooge’s nephew, the son of Scrooge’s sister, Fan. She had been a real joy in Scrooge’s life it seems, caring for him as a child.
�Fred had followed in her footsteps as someone who was warm and kind. He perhaps saw something in his uncle which others didn’t see. Much to Scrooge’s annoyance he would turn up, and even more irritatingly to Scrooge, he would be happy, always happy ! Not offended by Scrooge’s rather rude manner towards him, he kept giving him invitations to spend time with him, for example, at Christmas. Scrooge isn’t moved by Fred’s cheerfulness until his meeting with the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, who persuade him of the hopelessness and emptiness of his life. Then, following this mysterious encounter with the ghostly visitors, when Scrooge rather sheepishly heads to Fred’s house, hoping for dinner, Fred greets him with open arms. The welcome he received is just as warm as if he’d enthusiastically accepted the first invitation that Fred had given.
What has all this got to do with us and the church ? Well, perhaps a little more of the book first. When Scrooge was moaning about Christmas he said to Fred, "Much good may it do you. Much good it has done you," Fred replied with, "There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say. Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"
The point is that Fred, through all kinds of disheartening episodes with his uncle, maintains his faith in him and in life itself. He still, it seems, believes in the possibility of redemption and when Scrooge seeks it, Fred doesn’t bear any grudges, but accepts him in happily.
The church has much to learn from the past, some good, some perhaps not so, and some which is just bad. However, the resurrection of Jesus reminds us that good always wins in the end, that love triumphs over evil, that darkness is always shattered by light.
Many people have worked hard, have prayed faithfully and lived out their faith in the service of God through the church and their lives are rightly celebrated as part of the history of the church. For the Church in Wales that history is relatively short, but the same will apply in every part of Wales. We have things to learn from churches that have helped shape and support communities and that have truly been and shared good news and continue to do so.
For Scrooge, the wake-up call to live a new and transformed life came in the form of this strange night. What is our wake-up call as the Church ? Is it the concern over money, or buildings in need of repair (or closure) ? Is it the drastic drop in attendance, or the lack of young people ? Is it the coronavirus which has led many of us to perhaps view life and our priorities through a whole new lens ?
Whatever the wake-up call may be (or will be if we don’t believe it’s arrived yet), using a phrase I really dislike, we are where we are !
As a church, too often we lack confidence to do new things but also lack confidence to recognise what good things are already being done. We struggle to maintain buildings, believing they are hugely important (and sometimes they are) whilst neglecting the building of relationships and the sharing of good news.
Sometimes our churches don’t shout out to people through their very existence, a message of love and hope, a message of joy, a message of welcome, care and compassion. But they should and they must, we should and we must… “
Book available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Church-Confident-Closing-Ian-Rees/dp/B088JKDRCR/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=34815838-17cd-496b-95ac-20a2fdc0245b
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