Civic Service

The Civic Service is at 10.30am on Sunday 19th October. This is the first time I have done one of these services and I am not really sure what this involves or how to pitch it?

I feel that I want to say something about spirituality as I have done at the 9am Eucharist. So here goes.

Do you remember the advert 'Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet'. My favourite version of this was a philosophical Christopher Columbus lighting up as the deck hand shouts 'Captian the End of the World' and the boat goes over the edge. I wonder what do you think happiness is? Abbott Chris Jamison from the BBC TV Series The Monastery has just written a book on this. I think he has touched on something.

If I could I would take all of you off on a week long retreat where we could think about happiness. Maybe even experience a bit. The problem is that 21st Century living can disconnect us from experiencing and enjoy happiness. Charles Handy says we are expected nowadays to work twice as hard in half the time. Results, targets, profits are paramount. Now with the financial pinch, this pressure and stress must be worse. Do we have time to be happy?

This happens in the churches too. We get very caught up in the business of running church that we forget that happiness is what it is all about. We lose touch with Jesus and his call for us to come and simply be.

You might argue that this contradicts the Parable of the Talents which is being read today. That seems to be a frightening example of God wanting results. But is it? Is not more about using the gifts that God gives us. The good stewards invested the talents and got interest. Some got more than others. It did not much matter how much return was made. The king was pleased with all but the one who hid his talent in the ground. That steward was too locked up in his own fear to experience the happiness of pleasing his master.

Why do people come to Salcombe? Could I suggest they come looking for a bit of happiness. Maybe it is out there sailing that a sense of freedom and release is achieved? Or perhaps it is a nice meal, a walk, some new clothes, an ice cream, that helps them forget themselves? The search for happiness is not far from the concept of spirituality.

Hosting other people's happiness can be demanding. In theological circles we now ask a very basic question of congregations. Are you consumers of ministry OR are you engaged with ministry? In other words do you drain the minister of so much energy that at the end of the day he has nothing left for himself or his family, or is this a place which energises a ministry which works as a team. Does the minister return home feeling fed? The same can be said of a town community? Does providing other people's happiness drain?

I think if we all went al retreat we would find that the good news of the Christian story is that happiness is central. Jesus' first sermon, his first words, begin with the word 'Happy'. I cant think of anyone who does not want to be happy. Presumably a loving God wants this of us too. This does not mean sweeping stress, suffering, hardship under the carpet. I think it means searching for a really deep understanding of happiness, one that is three dimensional, one which includes our Good Fridays as well as our Easters.

Maybe contentment is closer to anything in the Christian understanding. Being content. St Francis in our first hymn, All Creatures of Our God and King, had it right, he really connected with everything. Even embracing, as weird as it might seem, a sense of peace over his own death.

Several weeks ago I took my son down to North Sands. With his little wet suit on he ran in and out of the water all Sunday afternoon. We might have had a bad summer weather-wise, but the autumn has been good to us. The water was warm. He was estatic. Screaming with pleasure as the waves chased him. He was happy, care-free in an uncomplicated wonderful way. So often as adults we lose that ability. We make things complicated. We forget to forget ourselves.

I believe that God wants us to find happiness for free. To be liberated. That is what Jesus came to offer. We dont need Hamlet to find happiness. And it wont be the end of the world if its not Hamlet.

Render Unto Caesar

This week's Gospel is from Matthew's Gospel 22.15-22 "Render unto Caesar what belongs unto Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

We can’t fool God. We can’t play games with God. We can’t trick God. This is why for the Christian what is offered to God is central to his or her spirituality. Half-measures will not bear much, if any, fruit.

But let me digress for a moment on the idea of spirituality. I want to do this because I think this is something which churches struggle with. John Drane's (Theology Professor at Aberdeen) research has demonstrated that many post-modern people think that churches and Christians in general are not spiritual. We are religious, in their view, but not spiritual. We are not feeding them and they are turned off.

The churches then have a two fold problem in attracting people seeking 'spirituality'. One, is that we are on the wrong wavelength. By this I mean that we are (metaphorically) broadcasting on the wrong radio station. This is not a matter of doctrine but emphasis and ambiance. You could easily dismiss this as 'touchy-feely' talk. Spiritual seekers want to find here a way of life which will impact everything, not just one hour on Sunday. They want to know how they can change (transform) their lives. This is why they find candles, whale music, Reiki, Hinduism, the new age movement, lay lines, angels, Glastonbury, Buddism, etc, etc attractive. They come, if they come, looking for Jesus. I want to repeat that, they come, if they come, looking for Jesus.

The second challenge for the churches is that we cannot sell short Christianity. We cannot do a decaf version. The Gospel cannot be reduced to a new age movement. The spirituality of the Church is standing at the foot of the cross and wondering what can I give in comparison to this? You wont be fed until we come to that point. Likewise, it also means doing this in a non-judgemental loving way. We are not the elite. In God's eye the elite is the child this morning somewhere in Africa, searching for food among the rubbish. (I found on-line a picture of this which I shall never forget). We must not hate the world, we must not resent people who struggle with joining us. We must see them the way the Father sees them.

Render unto God. Let us render our hearts.