To the cross and beyond
William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, once said, ‘The Church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of its non-members.’ I think there is no greater proof of this quote than when we consider the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and today, Passion Sunday, is the day when we start to turn our thoughts beyond our own journey through Lent, to the even more serious business of Holy Week, Good Friday and ultimately of course to the joy of Easter Day. The church is great as an organisation – there are lots of structures and systems and lots of people like to feel they have a special right to make decisions in the Church. Lots of us like to have our own places and so on, but within the membership of God’s kingdom we have no more rights than anyone else. There’s a story about a farmer in Russia. After it became a communist state he was visited by a party official, and the farmer asked what this would mean for him. The official replied, ‘Well comrade, ...