From The Inside

Remembrance Day

I’m not sure that we Baptists really know what to do with Remembrance Sunday. Certainly when I was the Pastor of a local church, it caused me a great amount of internal debate each year, and I’m still not sure that I have reached any conclusions. It seemed an unnecessary formality in the midst of an informal service. In years past I dismissed it as being irrelevant given the fact that none of my congregation had anyone they ought to personally remember. As a free church it smacked too much of state church. As those who believed in the way of peace it ran the risk of glorifying war. As a Briton it seemed insensitive to those of other nations – as if God were on our side. Maybe at the time I lacked enough imagination to observe the day in a way which avoided these dangers, and enough creativity to make the affirmations I would now wish to make. Maybe I was alone in this, but given that even today there will be Baptist churches fully observing the day like any good Church of Scotland, right through to those will not have even mentioned the event (like the church I attended), seems to suggest to me that there are others who don’t know what to make of the occasion.

I think if I was doing things today I would wish to put my own interpretation on the day, and make it more of a silence to think of the horrors of war in general, and a stand in silence and solitude against violence in all its shapes and sizes.

It seems almost comical now, in a twisted sort of way, the notion that on the 11^th hour, of the 11^th day of the 11^th month an armistice was signed to end the “war to end all wars.” The history of the last century, including the start of this present one, demonstrates the horrible basic truth – man’s inability to live at peace with his neighbour. But more than that – it has demonstrated the way in which human life can be seen as a commodity to be disposed of by those in power, for a cause that more  and more often seems indeterminable. As we observe another Armistice Sunday, the day itself mocks us – for what actually happened on that day back in 1918? Although both sides acknowledged that World War I was over, they independently chose to continue fighting on that final day, November 11, 1918, until the armistice hour.  It has been claimed that more men died on the final day of World War I than on D-Day a quarter-century later, demonstrating what all war is in its essence – the pointless carnage of usually young lives for no positive purpose, except perhaps the purposes of the politicians and those in power, a fact increasingly apparent as we engage in more and more conflicts which lack an answer to the whole question “Why?”

Below are just a few of those who have lost their lives in the past few months alone. Their families will be marking this day in a whole new way this year. Men full of life, hope and future – men who loved and were loved, who breathed in the freshness of each new day, who experienced life with all its joys and sorrows – in the same way as we do now. May God comfort those who love them. May He look down on this tragic world of broken humanity in mercy. And may the King of Peace come, and come soon.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!!

Just to say that while I was on holiday the Baptist Union of Scotland carried a wee news item in its recent monthly publication about my induction back in May.  Click Download connect10.pdf to read.

Good Followers?

OK - so maybe I've never been a good follower.  Call it pride, rebelliousness, whatever - but as I discovered the Baptist Assembly in Scotland website and read through the details of the theme for this year's Assembly (The Way Ahead: leading followers, following leaders) I find myself increasingly disconcerted about the whole concept.  Is this really "the way ahead"??

"Together, we'll... consider how we can be good followers who are responsive to wise and godly leadership."  Is that what church membership is all about?  Who are we meant to be following?  Is that really what is wrong with Baptist Churches - not only poor leadership (they are addressing that too!?) - but naughty members who aren't "good followers"? 

And who decides what is "wise, godly leadership" anyway?  We are in danger of denigrating disciples of Jesus into being unthinking, undiscerning sheep who follow blindly; "I will obey, I will obey".  And thus the need to train church members to follow, like good members are meant to.

Where is the image of the Body in all this?  Are we not buying into the old clergy/laity divides that Baptists throughout the ages so vigourously opposed?  What has happened to the concept of the gathered church where all come together to discern the will of Christ for that local church?  Where first and foremost members are seeking to be good followers of Jesus Christ - and instead of being following, bleating, obeying sheep they are radical followers of the one who turned the world (and the Temple with all its quasi-religious nonsense!) upside down.

I was at a church recently where the Minister was giving the annual Matthew 28 sermon (sales were obviously down!) - the need to go and evangelise our neighbours and make them disciples (even though in the midst of the sermon he admitted that as a "professional Christian" he had no non-Christian friends and therefore never had an opportunity himself!)  The sheep bleated shamefully away - feeling bad at their lack of salesmanship - I mean evangelism.

Is that not what we've made church into though?  The professionals up front whose task it is to put on a good performance - and the rest - the obedient followers - whose job is to help keep the whole enterprise going, give their money, attend every meeting/conference/training event the "wise, godly leadership" deem necessary (usually at a price and giving up the little free time they have just to "be").  Has church not become a religious form of pyramid selling?  The members' job is to come and watch the performance, soak up the wise oracle of the preacher - and well, go out and bring along new recruits - who in turn can be trained to go out and bring in new recruits - who in turn can be trained to go out and bring in new recruits, who in turn.... (And all the while raising the finances to pay the professionals and keep our multi-media, buildings and exciting gimics fresh and up-to-date!) Is it all simply about church perpetuating church?

I've been out of Pastoral church ministry for nearly 6 months (after 12 years immersed in local church life) - and it has been a real awakening for me to see things from the outside.  To realise how because you are a Pastor and it's your job to make it work that you become so obsessed with church life that you forget we're meant to have a life.  Where you forget that people who work all day can be genuinely shattered by evening.  Where weekends become precious family time.  I have come to realise, to my shame, that you get so sucked into the idea that members are there to be "good followers" - whose task is to do as they are told to fulfill your dreams.  And as you go about making the "business" work you deceive yourself into believing that in doing so you are serving the people, indeed washing their feet.  I have found it so liberating to get a life - and realise there is life outside the church, and indeed that is where real ministry needs to take place, and where Jesus really is!  And to any of my ex-church folk reading this I apologise for the times when I have driven you with an iron rod, wanting you to become who I think you should be, instead of helping you to become the person God has made you to be.

It has also struck me recently that (apart from Matthew 28 and parallels) Jesus never tells us to go out and convert people, or build the church (rather He says "I will build my church").  Instead he tells us to love God and to love others.  To help the one we see in need.  To forgive the one who offends us.  To make time for the ones rejected.  To invite the "nobodies" for dinner.  To be faithful to our marriage partners.  To show mercy and grace to all.  (It is so refreshingly not-churched-based and instead so grounded in life - where we are, where we're placed).

I ramble and I rant and I apologise (I'm off sick today and feel grotty!).  But train the members to become good followers of the "wise, godly leaders"?  NO!  Set God's people free to go out and be good followers of Jesus Christ.  Yes the church and its navel-gazing programmes and activites may suffer.  But heck, the Kingdom may just grow!

Dry Baptisms

Having followed some of the discussion happening in Blog world on Christian Baptism on blogs by Andy Goodliff and Simon Jones (speaking at the Scottish Baptist College  and St. Ninians Community Church on June 21st and 24th respectively), I found myself attending a dry baptismal service on Sunday morning.

Well not quite.  I was attending the service at a Scottish Episcopal church, St Mungos, Balerno.  I suppose what they were doing was a confirmation service of people previously having been baptised as an infant, but they called it a "Renewal of Baptismal Vows" service.  There were 4 people involved.  They each came and gave a short testimony of how they had become Christians, explaining what their life had been like, how they became Christians and what their lives had been like since (i.e. a classic testimony pattern).  They then collectively assented to a short statement of faith, followed by each of them answering public questions of commitment to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This was no routine confirmation service, but a quite profound and moving fresh and public commitment to following Christ.  The "candidates" were then taken to the side, and while the congregation continued to worship, they were prayed for individually by a prayer team for a fresh impartation of the Holy Spirit (interesting theologically I thought!).

As a Baptist minister having pastored a "closed membership" church, I wondered on what gounds we could possibly refuse people who had made such a public profession of faith (well as public as the average Baptist church! - they too had invited family and friends along for the occasion) and yet people who didn't want to despise or reject their baptism as an infant.  I also wondered whether this renewal of Baptism vows could be something that Baptist churches could do to admit such people into membership - albeit still acknowledging that believers baptism by immersion is still the preferred method?

Incidentally this church, which meets in a school, was also having a number of people baptised "properly" in the evening  in the school's swimming pool - I presume of those not "done" as an infant!

An interesting Episcopal experience!