In a good cause

A few weeks ago our church held a promise auction to raise funds for Mid Africa Concern and in particular for a hospital in Uganda that is facing severe financial hardship. We were pleasantly surprised by the amount raised and I suspect some of us were caught up in 'auction bid fever'. It was a fun evening with a canny auctioneer and plenty of laughs.

And then I caught sight of what went on at the Tory Party summer ball. Apparently someone paid £45,000 for a bottle of not very good champers signed by Margaret Thatcher. Someone else forked out £160,000 to play tennis with the Prime Minister and Mayor of London (not in their official capacities of course which would be, well how do I put this, corrupt). There were plenty of other extraordinary amounts bid for various items and all in the good cause of... The Tory Party. I see the successful bidder for the tennis match was a banker married to a former minister in Vladimir Putin's government.

I'm writing this listening to the Genesis classic Selling England by the Pound while feeling slightly sick and I don't think it's because of the croissant I've just eaten.

So much to learn

Yesterday at St. Mary's we were joined by two of our Kenyan brothers and sisters who are in Chelmsford Diocese for a few weeks to help us celebrate our diocesan centenary. It was a particular joy to welcome Canon Moses, Principal of St. Andrew's College of Theology and Development, and Catherine Mwangi, who heads up the Anglican Development Services of Mount Kenya East. When I visited Kenya with my friend Glen for the consecration of the Bishop of Kirinyaga in 2012, Canon Moses was our host and made sure we had a wonderfully enriching time, offering us generous hospitality in the midst of a very busy period. On our previous church visit in 2011 we had seen something of the impact of the development services (known as CCS at the time) in working in developing sustainable communities. Katie, our curate, was in Kenya during Lent and spent time with Catherine and so was pleased to meet her again. Catherine will be staying with us at St. Mary's later in the week and preaching on Sunday morning.

with Catherine, Moses and
Roger (Dean of Mission and Ministry)

During the service our guests were invited to bring greetings from Kenya. As Canon Moses spoke he could not help but refer to the fact that five of his students had been refused visas to visit us in the diocese. It was clearly a matter of great hurt and pain that he was with us but his students were not and I felt shame for our country. Our immigration policies welcome many of the richest people in the world with open arms. Some of these people have acquired their wealth by extremely dubious means but in the UK it seems money talks. Unfortunately the Kenyan students don't have much money, they are ordinands training for ministry in their homeland and so their visas were turned down, despite assurances offered by bishops and even the archbishop.

And then Canon Moses challenged us to forgive and to trust the purposes of God. Quoting from Romans 8:28: 'We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose' he asked us if we believe this is true? Here is a man who not only speaks the gospel but lives it out, even in the midst of pain, hurt and rejection. We must forgive and pray for those who have made the decision to prevent our brothers and sisters in Christ from joining us. No words of bitterness or resentment, rather words of the grace of God spoken into a situation of injustice. We have so much to learn from our sisters and brothers in Christ.

A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief #worldcup2014

And so we gathered in The White Horse expectantly, the proverbial triumph of hope over experience. Over forty of us communing over curry, beer and World Cup football. Already on the back foot after the first loss against Italy, nevertheless there were signs of promise amidst the usual weaknesses and failings. The food, drink and company were excellent, unfortunately the same could not be said of the match. We lost. We lost to Uruguay. To be more precise, we lost to Louis Suarez. I won't detail the many reasons why this is a particularly bitter pill to swallow (his past racial abusing of an opponent, his attempt to eat another player etc.), what really hurts is the Uruguayan was only 75% fit and yet managed to make our defence look like a group of disorganised pub footballers.

The brief respite during the evening was provided by the half-time pundit we had invited along to save us listening to the inane ramblings of Adrian Chiles and the ITV crew. Bishop Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, rose to lift our spirits as England trudged off the pitch 1-0 down. He chose as his text Isaiah 53:3 and proceeded to recount just about every failing of the England team since the glory of the 1966 World Cup final. It was a litany of misery, failure, pain and suffering. From Peter the cat Bonetti's gaff against Germany in 1970, through the catalogue of missed penalties, red cards and squandered chances, up to Rob Green's howler against the USA in 2010. Bishop Stephen, speaking from bitter experience, reminded us that the lot of the England supporter is one of sorrow and grief, with each of us bearing the sores and scabs cruelly exposed afresh at tournament after tournament. He went on to remind us that each of us bears the marks of sorrow and grief accumulated over a lifetime and though we might empathise with one another there isn't much we can do about it. And then Bishop Stephen reminded us of the one who chose to share our condition and the only one who offers, not only understanding, but forgiveness, healing and hope; the Lord Jesus Christ, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As we prepared to endure the second half Bishop Stephen concluded with his challenge: 'wake up and smell the incense!'.

True to form, having given us a few moments of hope with a goal from Rooney, England blew it as Suarez (may he be hounded from stadium to stadium next season) smashed the ball past a flailing Joe Hart in the last few minutes, to remind us afresh that we really are people of sorrow and acquainted with grief.