Remember Bertrimoutier

(re-published, following a computer 'hiccup' in November 2014)

“Bertie who?” I hear you say.  Let my answer begin with a confession.  This post is far more personal than usual.  I visited this village nearly thirty years ago, on my first ever visit to France.  I was in Alsace, with almost a week to go before my pre-booked ferry would take my car and me back to England, and I decided on an unguided, ‘sniff-it-out-for-myself’ tour of the Western Front; Bertrimoutier, in the department of Vosges, was one of the first places I passed through.

Its position, so close to the 1914 border between France and Germany, almost guaranteed that there would be fierce fighting here, and a military cemetery nearby has graves of soldiers from both countries.  As I looked over the valley towards this, I exchanged just a few sentences with a local man who looked old enough to have witnessed these events in his youth.  The incident lingers in my mind because it’s the only time I can recall having a spontaneous and inessential conversation in French.

In recent weeks I have been planning a gradual transition into retirement and with it the possibility of obtaining a modest motor-caravan.  I’ve wondered whether such an investment is a wise use of a significant slice of my savings, comparing my situation to that of many thousands in our world who have no hope of such luxury.  After prayer, I realise that my privilege is not without responsibility, and in this instance it seems that my responsibility is to make positive use of such a resource.

I enjoy using words.  Talking – or in former days, preaching – from a script (or at least prepared notes) from a position of established authority isn’t a problem.  On the other hand, although I have no hesitation in replying to enquiries about my own affairs, I find initiating conversation difficult, and anything beyond the essential doesn’t come easily.  I believe this is largely due to having lived and worked alone for many years.  I have determined that, if I go ahead with my plans to go exploring in this large leisure vehicle, I must overcome this difficulty; I must get out, chat to people and engage in their lives rather than remain incarcerated, monk-like, in a mobile cloister.

I wondered where the word ‘talking’ appears in the New Testament.  The results were both encouraging and challenging.  Firstly, they spoke to me of togetherness, being alongside others, as Moses and Elijah were with Jesus at His transfiguration (Luke 9:30).  Then the Gospels revealed more togetherness, as the crowd in the courtyard confronted Peter (Luke 22:60) and later along the Emmaus road (Luke 24:14-15).

Peter rejected the adoration offered by Cornelius (Acts 10:26ff), and talked with him as one of equal rank as he shared the good news of Jesus.  And no study would be complete without Paul, as he almost ridicules himself in an aside, “I’m out of my mind, talking like this” (2 Cor. 11:23).  Paul also warns Timothy about young widows with nothing to do, and writes of their progress from idlers to busybodies “talking nonsense and saying things they ought not to” (1 Tim. 5:13).

So, how can I relate these verses to my present situation?  My conclusions are three-fold.  Talking to people brings great potential for both fellowship and challenge; I shouldn’t take myself too seriously; and I should steer clear of foolish chit-chat or unsubstantiated and unfair criticism of others.

... It should be a piece of cake!  See if I dare to publish the outcome here!

What's it all About?

From time to time I get asked what my slogan, "The Gospel Around Us" is all about.  Is it a new kind of belief system, something to be signed up to, or what?  Is it an obscure part of the beliefs of an established Christian denomination?  The Quakers talk about 'That of God in Everyone'; is it something to do with that?  The turning of the year seems as good a time as any to address some of these thoughts.

"The Gospel Around Us" is connected to all of these ideas, but it isn't any one of them.  It's certainly not something to be signed up to!

So far as I can determine, the idea behind "The Gospel Around Us" goes back many years, to when I was training as a Reader.  In one of the books I read, the author expressed the idea that, because he* was a layman living and working in the 'real' world, and not hiding behind a dog-collar, the Reader had a particular platform for ministry that was denied to the ordained clergy, because they had to overcome the visual 'separation' of this symbol and the invisible 'separation' of their office in order to engage with 'normal' people.  You'll note that I've used a lot of '..'s in that sentence; this is deliberate, because these are not true distinctions at all.  Yet they do form a certain barrier for people who haven't grown up in the habit of church, whether believers or not.  It's a barrier that some clergy try to overcome by wearing their dog-collar solely on official duties.

The Reader (in common with all rank-and-file Christians) has a responsibility to communicate the faith to others in his speech, his behaviour, and in every other aspect of his daily life.  The things we usually associate with Reader ministry - leading or taking part in public worship - are, in fact, only the secondary part of his duties.  He is charged first to "Visit the sick, to read and pray with them, to teach in Sunday School and elsewhere, and generally to undertake such pastoral and educational work and to give such assistance to any Minister as the Bishop may direct."  Ministry at a personal level therefore takes precedence over anything public and formal, and this is something that I'm trying to continue through these articles, while no longer exercising the latter.

So much for its origins; just what is "The Gospel Around Us"?  Let me first dismiss the idea that it's a new belief system; it's not part of the beliefs of any church, but it is an expression of some aspects of Christian teaching.  In a way, it's a parallel to that axiom, often labeled (incorrectly) as the 'Quakers' creed', "That of God in Everyone".  I think of it as signifying that there is something of God in everything around us, both the natural world and what is man-made within it; both in the things themselves and in the way we relate to them, or think of them. What I seek to establish in the minds, and hopefully the memories, of my readers is something that will link what is going on around them in the everyday to that which is eternal, and cause them to be prompted by the one to consider the other.

Let me offer three different situations that provide some idea of what I mean, although each one of them is perhaps inadequate .  This morning's post brought me two Christmas cards.  The first that I opened bore the picture of a steam train, and I wondered which of my friends might have sent this.  My guess - quite correct - was a friend from teenage, whom I haven't seen for over thirty years, although we faithfully exchange seasonal greetings every year.  His father worked with my uncle on the railway in those days, and we enjoyed a memorable fortnight in one long summer break from school, travelling along as many of the lines in our area as we could, using a 'runabout' ticket that entitled us to unlimited journeys within specified boundaries.  So the picture of the train links the card, and the person who sent it, to those experiences many years ago.

The second card was from a distant cousin whom I have met only once.  The sight of her name on the card brought a smile to my face, as I recalled our meeting.  It happened during a hot summer ten or more years ago.  I'd made a delivery in the area, and decided to call at their home 'on the offchance' that they might be in.  What I couldn't know was that my cousin had just decided that, since it was so hot in their house, she would strip to her underwear before attacking the washing up!  With her hands just plunged into the hot soapy water, she heard the doorbell ring.  There was some delay before the door was opened to me by her red-faced husband, who had little alternative but to plead his wife's dilemma as the reason for the delay.  Once more, the arrival of a particular card is the link to a specific personal experience.

My third example concerns a friend - let's call her Susan, it's not her name - who had to make a business visit to Poland during the winter months.  One day she found it so cold that, as she reported to me after her return, "the only way I could warm up was to go to my hotel room and stand in the hot shower for several minutes."  A few weeks ago I was deceived by the winter sunshine, and went to watch a football match wearing a thick winter coat over my polo shirt, but with no sweater.  By the time the match was over I was so cold that I declared it to be a 'Susan-in-Poland' moment, and once home immediately ran a hot bath.  Feeling really cold was the link to this friend, through the story of her chilling experience.

In summary, then, my mission is to identify everyday moments in such terms that, when they happen in the lives of my readers, they might call to mind a particular facet of God's love for them, or of His teaching about some aspect of their lives.

* It is acknowledged that, in this context, words expressing the male gender should be interpreted as including both male and female.