CALL TO MISSION - PART 2
Well, here it is “Our part in God’s Mission”! Are you raring to go? And if you are, what will you meet, and how will you react? Well, today I want to tell you two stories: Here’s the first:
Many years ago Jill and I were on holiday in the Lake District. One day we visited Carlisle where we stopped for lunch and went into a park to eat our sandwiches. That park was quite beautiful except for one thing – all the flower beds were ringed round with barbed wire, and had lots of weeds growing In them. “Why?” we asked the park-keeper. “It’s the vandals” he said, “When the park is locked at night they climb over the fence and stomp all over the flowers. The barbed wire keeps them off – but it makes weeding very difficult for our gardeners”. It was so sad, but it did made me think.
God’s Plan for the world has always been very good – His intention was that each of us should grow like beautiful flowers. We would be cared for and loved by those around so that we blossomed and flourished - grew up at peace with ourselves, filled with self-confidence, knowing that we were loved and accepted. As we grew, just as flowers open up in the sunlight, we would we open more and more in the light of His Son, giving joy to those who saw us, and sharing the love that we had received. We would love as we were loved.
But the world being as it is, there are some, perhaps many, who have been hurt in their relationships, let down, uncared for, unloved, and the only way they can cope with life is to put a barbed wire fence around themselves to protect themselves – to keep the vandals out. The trouble is that this barbed wire fence, though it stops them from getting hurt, also stops anyone from getting close to them to love them – and it stops the Gardener from getting in to take the weeds away. They long to be loved – they need to be loved – but they daren’t be open to love, because every time they open up, they get hurt. They are afraid – afraid of people, and their only way of dealing with them is to say, “Keep away, I hurt!” No hugs for them!
There are lots of people outside the Church who find their life is a disappointment,and we will meet them through this call to mission. It’s also likely that we will meet rejection and rejection isn’t easy to take. But let’s get clear what this call is all about – “It’s not primarily to get people to come to Church – it’s for love’s sake, to serve these people, to restore them to faith – faith in themselves that they CAN be loved, and one way or another to introduce them to a God who loves them.
Which leads me on to my second story. Now I have to confess that this story is a rather extreme one, and the circumstances in it are rather extreme. So if you don’t find it all helpful, then can I suggest you just ignore it, and forgive me for bringing it up. But I’m telling it, you see, not for the people who will find this outreach easy, but for the one or two others here this morning who might be having reservations about the whole business of mission. Why?
Because we are followers of Jesus, and Jesus says to His followers: “I want you to LOVE as I have loved YOU. “. Now, how do you react to that kind of statement – it’s my feeling that just a few of us will find it difficult. For just a few of us have our own barbed wire fences to deal with and a call like this can make us feel inadequate. It can even make us afraid. Again, Why? Well look at how Jesus loved - ARMS WIDE OPEN TO TO THE WORLD, TOTALLY VULNERABLE – NO BARBED WIRE FENCE AROUND HIM. And where did it GET Him? To the Cross – they crucified Him. And what if we’ve been so hurt along the line, by difficult relationships – maybe even crucifying relationships - then, even if we’ve been going to Church for years and years, we might still find it very hard to say ‘Yes” and love like Him – and even harder for us to let Him get close ENOUGH to clear up the weeds in our lives, and set us free to step outside the barbed wire fence and really love people. So, you see, the command to go outside these doors and take out the love of Christ can be very scary for just a few.
Which leads me on to my story. I want to be honest with you and tell you that I’VE never found it easy to reach out to those outside the Church. When I was a Vicar, visiting people around the Parish, I often stood on a doorstep, ringing the front door bell and praying, ‘Please Lord, let them be out!”. Why? Because I was afraid of people. I discovered this not long after I was Ordained in 1962. I can’t tell you why I was afraid – I just was, and I often wondered why would God call someone who was afraid of people to be a Priest! So why am I still here today talking about the very thing that scared me stiff – because I know that God has provided an EXIT - a way out of fear, and everything else that may hold us back, and I want to share my discovery with you.
By 1971 things had got so bad that I decided to resign my Ministry. I was a Vicar now and people were expecting so much from me, which I knew I didn’t have to give. I’d also realised that I didn’t believe in God any more and that’s why I decided to resign. But the morning I made this decision I prayed a very strange prayer – I said, “God, if there is a God, I believe you called me to be ordained. Well, if you’re there and if you did, you’re going to have to do something about me!” I have a feeling that, at that moment God said, “Whew, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time – NOW I can do something with you!” – and He did!
First - over the next 8 weeks He overwhelmed me with His love - He showed me that He loved me and accepted me totally, just as I was, and that He HAD called me, knowing just what I was like – it was wonderful! It went on being wonderful for 18 long months - and I began to use my position as Lay Training Officer in Liverpool Diocese to set up a number of Meetings led by people who’d had this same wonderful experience of the outburst of God’s love. But after 18 months the joy began to fade, the old darkness and ear returned, and I began to shut up shop all over again.
Then God led me into Stage 2 of His Healing process. He did it by leading me into the very situation I was afraid of (I think He often does it that way). I’d organised another Meeting with another Speaker... When the Coffee Break came a woman I’d never met before came over to me to speak to me. It was fine at first – just small talk – but then she began to talk about a problem that was troubling her – and I began to feel afraid. I knew I had no answer to her problem whatever it was. Abruptly I stopped her and said “I’m sorry, but I’ve got a lot to do before we start the next session” and I began to organise things which really didn’t need organising. I was running away, and she could see it – my barbed wire fence was up again.
Lunchtime came, and as I sat there eating my sandwiches, that same woman came across the room and carried on talking about her problem. I stood, listening to her, wondering how I was going to get out of this without losing face. She went on and on getting deeper and deeper into her problem, and I went deeper and deeper into fear. Time after time I prayed silently to the Lord, “Lord, take her away. I can’t take any more of this.” , and time after time God seemed to say, “Stay where you are”.
Finally the fear became so great that I knew I was at the end of myself. I said to God: “If you don’t do something I think I’m going to DIE”, but God seemed to say, “Stay where you are”.
So I did – and as I did, a terrible blackness overwhelmed me - and I said to God, “I die!” and I surrendered to the blackness.
But at that very moment I didn’t die – it was the blackness which died, the fear which died, and I came out into light…… to see the woman just standing there expectantly, waiting for me to speak. And I spoke – From that day to this I have no idea what I said,- but when I spoke, I saw a light come into her eyes, and she whispered “Thank you. That’s the answer,” and she left me.
What had happened? God had made me face my fear – He had led me into it deliberately, and challenged me to stay there so that I could experience…… WHAT?
I SAW THAT what I had been experiencing was THE CROSS. As I stood there listening to that woman, not really hearing her, I WAS ON THE CROSS, WITH ARMS kept open by the grace of God, WIDE OPEN to that woman’s problem. It felt like I was dying under the weight of my fear, but, as I stayed open and surrendered to what it was doing to me, Christ took the fear on Himself, took the thing that was killing me and my Ministry, and died in my place. That’s what the Cross is for. And because He rose from death, so did I, and then I spoke – spoke IN THE RESURRECTION POWER OF THE SPIRIT. The woman received her answer, not from ME, but from the Spirit of Jesus., His Holy Spirit, risen in me.
Now I’m sorry if this all seems too weird for words. I have a feeling I was an extreme case and needed extreme treatment from God – don’t think it’s going to be like that for you, but I hope you realise that this is what the Cross is all about – Christ didn’t just die for our sins, but for all those other things which stop us from being whole, and from loving people - and that’s what the Resurrection is for. - He raised us to NEW LIFE, a life lived with HIM IN US – so that we might bring that life to others.
Was I totally unafraid of people from that time on? – No, I’ve had to face that fear of people many times since, and had to let Christ deal with it in me and for me. And little by little it has lost its power so that now I can go up to new people, perhaps still with the touch of fear, but not being conquered by it.
That’s the way that God is going to make the difference to this town of Shaftesbury. That’s how even those who are afraid are going to reach out to those outside this Church’s walls. That’s how we’re going to answer this call to be a Mission focussed Church. Not held back by our inadequacies or our fears - no longer thinking, “I wouldn’t know what to say”, but going out in the power of His Resurrection, Living a life of total vulnerability. – a group of unimportant, inadequate people, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, witnesses to the world of His power to change.
