From the Minister’s Desk
Welcome to the Minister's Desk page, where our Minister shares messages with the church community.
Minister's Message
‘Shaken, but also stirred’
It is an unfinished story. Women walk to a tomb expecting to anoint the dead Jesus, but instead are confronted with an open tomb, and a man advising them not to be alarmed; that Jesus had been raised, and that they were to relate the news to Peter and the other disciples. Yet they were seized with amazement and terror, and said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. At this point the gospel of Mark ends – subsequent verses are later additions. Perhaps the original ending is lost, or perhaps this note of fear and wonder will characterise the community of Jesus’ friends.
Easter is a time for joy, but I suggest it may also be a time for being shaken – where awe and terror combine. For resurrection is totally beyond comprehension or previous experience. The raising of Jesus is so utterly different that we are left speechless and bewildered even as we are elated at what this signifies for his victory over sin and death. Easter should propel us out of our comfort zones not through hard effort on our part, but our being willing to be moved by the Spirit, and transported by grace.
The weeks that follow Easter are devoted to the themes of how the community of believers are changed by faith in a risen Saviour: they are more united, more resolute, more outspoken and outgoing, and with deeper conviction. This should all be reflected in the character of our churches, but also with a sense of being shaken. The shaken-ness that comes from a recognition that the world is not the same because of Christ’s resurrection and, as St Paul would say, our sharing in it. A shaking because we begin to perceive the tremendous way in which God can bring new things into being, less predictable than we might have wanted. A turning of our world inside out.
On Easter Sunday morning I was struck by a photo on the BBC website of Easter celebrations across the world. Amid the midnight vigils, early morning parades and services that had already taken place, one photo was of an elderly lady receiving communion from a priest in Sri Lanka. I realised I had visited that very church two years before, when on sabbatical, and why - perhaps – the photo had been taken there. Five years ago, on Easter Sunday in 2019 there were several explosions in churches by suicide bombers. Hundreds were killed and injured, and a public outcry ensued. The church of San Sebastian in Negombo – the heart of the island’s Roman Catholic population – was devasted by the blast, evidence of which can still be seen. Although the church has been redecorated, some markers as to what happened on that terrible day can still be seen. It is a large, joyful church but banners at the entrance angrily ask about the lack of justice since the atrocity. During my sabbatical I also visited one of the other churches, a Pentecostal church in Batticaloa on the other side of the island. It was full at the time, and the bomber detonated his device near the church entrance just as the children were descending the nearby staircase from their Junior Church upstairs. Many of them were killed, and nearly 40 in total lost their lives there that day. The explosion sent shrapnel flying everywhere – the holes are still visible in the metal gates and concrete pillars – and caused a fireball outside the church. The church has not been used since, and a new one is being built nearby. I asked the pastor’s wife why there were no memorials other than one large banner, no flowers etc. She replied that they didn’t see the point as they knew the victims were in a better place. My theology is rather different, and I think lament is very important, but I was taken by her answer.
Those congregations are still shaken ones, but yet strong and determined in the face of tragedy and (sometimes) ongoing threat. They refuse to be cowed, intimidated or despondent. In their different ways they bear witness to a Christ who is both crucified and resurrected. They can’t shy away from the cost of discipleship, but they also know its joys – and the scary part of faith in a surprising God.
We should be shaken, and stirred: into ever new ventures of faith, new discoveries of hope, and new depths of love as we contemplate the wonder of all that the Easter season brings.
Minister's Easter Message
I’m a big fan of the TV series ‘The West Wing’, and am sufficiently nerdy to have watched the entire box set several times. It contains many glorious quotes, one of which is: ‘the safest place for ships is in harbour, but that’s not what ships were built for’. It seems a good line for us during Lent to help us think about our relationship with God and how we might be led from our comfort zones into a more liberating, joyful experience of the kingdom of God.
In a similar vein, St James’ church in New York devised a prayer that became globally recognized, though some have attributed it to Francis Drake centuries earlier. It asks God to disturb us when we are too pleased with ourselves, when our dreams come true because we have dreamed too little, or rarely ventured far from the shore. It confesses our shallowness of faith and asks God to help us dare more boldly, and to set out on greater ventures where discoveries will be extraordinary not humdrum. The prayer ends by asking that God might work in us, reset our spiritual scorecard and encourage us to see where we - because we are human – have become complacent in discipleship and expectation.
Lent is a kind of refresher course that, rather than providing us with information, instead invites us to look inward, at ourselves. What is becoming stale in us? Is our hope evaporating? Have we settled for a compromise of mediocre worship, private devotion, and low expectation of what God can do? For many Christians, the answer is often a ‘yes’. And perhaps we’re not alone in not wanting to confront our inner demons, the sadness and hurts we often carry. The ‘sad rota of forgotten dreams’ as another prayer puts it.
As Jonah, and many other figures from Scripture and since have discovered, you can run but you can’t hide. But the story of God’s dealing with people, from wrestling Jacob through to Jesus and his followers, is that the journey is a blessed one: that as with Jesus in the wilderness, we can be brought to new places of resolve, courage and strength through faith in the grace of God.
Lent is of course predominantly a time of self-denial, but part of that can be the abandoning of our comfort zones, and to exchange them for God’s ones – divine zones of holy discomfort, adventure, joy, healing and peace. As the wandering people of Israel, and Jesus knew, the desert can be a fertile place. Resurrection glory and power may be fully revealed at Easter, but their seeds germinate through the ‘forty days and nights’ of our Lent pilgrimage. It can, and should, be a time of joy for us as we approach Holy Week and Easter.
Minister's Christmas letter
19 December 2023
Dear friends,
I feel as though I’ve been in the circuit longer than just four months! Suzie and I continue to be grateful for the circuit’s kind welcome and the relationships that we’ve begun to establish.
It is early days, but I am encouraged and feel much has already been achieved or is in the pipeline for the coming few months, and I am particularly grateful to the circuit leadership for all their support and guidance. We’ve already made some hard decisions, but many opportunities lie in wait for us in 2024, and some of these we intend to grasp soon. There are many grounds for hope.
We greet the season of Christmas with wonder and joy, but know that we do so as many experience the hardships of poverty, war and homelessness.
Shelter recently revealed figures showing that almost 1 in 50 people in London are classed as homeless, that is, in temporary accommodation; a terrible war has erupted in Gaza following the appalling attacks into Israel in October, and another generation of children will be raised to fear, and hate, their neighbours across the border; a longer conflict continues to drag out in Ukraine. Closer to home, young people are still being stabbed on the streets of our city, and we are having to become more vigilant of suspected scams and fake news.
It is into such a world that Christ is needed, more than ever. The light is only visible where there is darkness. The dreadful conflicts mentioned above remind us that human sin, greed and hatred are often present below the surface, and they affect us as well as their more evident signs: our witness takes place because we acknowledge our continuing need of Christ to direct the path of our own lives. May Christmas may truly be celebrated by those who most need to experience the good news that Christ brings and exemplifies in his ministry.
Christ comes, though not where the world expects to find salvation. Not in the centres of power or privilege, but in the ordinariness, and the poverty, of our lives. Where people of faith – or perhaps people who simply want some faith, open themselves to the possibility of divine grace, healing, A line from the carol ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ (itself a very ordinary, unremarkable town) puts it well:
‘Where meek souls will receive him still
the dear Christ enters in’
I wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas.
‘O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in; be born in us today!’
With every blessing –
Mike
Reflecting on Advent
Every year it seems that Christmas starts earlier. Besides the familiar criticisms that the season has become over-commercialised, there is a more profound problem with this: we overlook the season of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ into our world. That has two aspects for us today: one is our personal readiness, the other is how the state of our world compares to the one God through Christ ushers in.
So during the season of Advent, we are reminded of the prophecies that speak of a new kind of world order in which justice and peace will flourish, and how God will make this happen – and some of these speak of a Saviour who will emerge from the unlikeliest of places and people.
These help us to think about our lives at this moment. To what extent are we open to receiving Christ into our lives? How willing are we for our lives to be turned upside down by a message that inverts many of our common sense ideas, and proclaims a reign (‘kingdom’) in which the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised are given centre stage? And how does our world match up to this?
Advent is a time for preparation but is couched in the language of judgement. At times this can sound harsh, but it is really a positive! We all need warnings and boundaries: think of the climate change that is happening apace, or the urgency of finding solutions to long-standing political problems (Israel/Palestine, Russia/Ukraine…), or the legacy of ignoring early intervention in childcare or mental health. But we also need the affirmation when we are doing something right, or at least trying to align ourselves with the lifestyle of Jesus and his teaching.
May this Christmas be indeed a time of celebration – but one that we are ready for! Let our readiness not be about the presents or the food, but our desire for the inspirational message and example of Jesus. Then we will understand truly why it is a time of great joy.
Greetings to Our New Minister: The Revd Dr. Michael Long
Starting 1st September, we extend a warm welcome to our new Minister, The Revd Dr. Michael Long, who also serves as the Forest Circuit Superintendent. We are delighted to embrace Revd Michael and his family as part of our community.
From the Minister’s Desk
Pentecost & Trinity Sunday - May 2023
Pentecost is the time we celebrate the third ‘persona’ of the Trinity, and the disciples receiving this most precious and powerful of gifts - the Holy Spirit, who together with the Father and the Son introduce us to the relational aspect of the Godhead. For me the love of God is the glue that holds everything together. And although we often understand and say we believe this, we still find it difficult to put into practice. I’ve found 5 short quotes which have helped me hold these teachings and doctrines together, that I hope you will meditate on in your own time:
1. At Pentecost, the church celebrates the coming of the Spirit - the outpouring of the sudden power of God to transform a wounded and disillusioned band of stragglers into a community that changed the world, It was a power that was both awaited in obedience, and utterly unexpected in its energy and urgency. It generated both a deep interior fire, and immediate, compelling, and outrageous public witness. (Bread of Tomorrow, ed. Janet Morley, Christian Aid/SPCK)
2. Jesus said, ‘Peace is my parting gift to you’ John’s gospel is full of hints of the Spirit’s coming. Nicodemus is told what it is like to be born of the Spirit; the woman at the well hears of a mysterious living water; Jesus proclaims the same living water from the Temple steps at the Festival of Tabernacles, with the proviso that the coming of the Spirit will be the moment when the Son of Man is glorified. It is here, as he prepares for that glorification, which is his death, that Jesus talks most about the promised Spirit - the advocate and guide - but here, most of all, the accompaniment of the gift of peace. Jesus is preparing his disciples for the grief and sorrow which will accompany his death. Although it will seem like it, he will not be abandoning them. But now, and in the future, when they must face the worlds hatred, face persecution, face anxiety and trouble, which is only going to get worse, what the disciples are promised is peace. Read: John 14.15-27
3. 4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. …13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love….141a Pursue love … 1 Corinthians 13
4. Some day, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then for a second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire. (Teilhard de Chardin)
5. “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know Peace.’ (Jimi Hendrix)
Archive
April 2023
Dear Friends,
Like Christmas, Easter comes around each year, only with less predictability. The date changes each year, but we do know it's coming. Then we will be singing some well known (and hopefully some not so well known) hymns to celebrate our Saviour's, and therefore our, victory over sin and death. In these hymns we will be giving praise, honour and adoration to God through Jesus Christ for what he has done, is doing, and has promises to do, for us, the world, and creation.
We, in 2023, are very blessed in being able to celebrate these things so joyfully, because on Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, we KNOW that Easter Sunday is coming. Therefore, it is very difficult for us to throw our whole selves into the sadness, despair and seemingly hopelessness of the days leading up to Easter.
This is not always a bad thing, and living in these post resurrection days it is right that we claim the joy and all that Christ has won for us. The problem comes when we try to do this without an awareness of how it was achieved - when we want the glory of Easter Sunday without the pain, self-searching, challenge and self-giving of the Holy Week and Good Friday.
There is no easy way round this situation. We share in the glory of that first Easter Sunday through a present relationship with Jesus Christ. We do this as we see ourselves in all that he has done and is doing. As we not only claim the New Life he offers, but also embrace the challenge to 'take up your cross and follow' him. Then we can sing with one voice:
My song is love unknown, my Saviour's love to me,
Love to the loveless shown, that they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take frail flesh and die?
Only then shall our answer be:
This is my Friend, in whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.
HAPPY EASTER!
Love in Christ
Tony
(Read John 12:12-50)
THE PERSONAL COST, VALUE, AND BLESSINGS OF LOVE:
February 2023
Hello Readers.
I hope you’ve not been adversely affected by the long dark days of December and January. For many they are also lonely months, because of the long nights and cold weather – affecting the ability of many to get out. So please look out for each other – be good neighbours.
The appearance of Valentine’s Day in the middle of February is like a light at the end of the tunnel - a bit of warmth in the middle of a cold spell. At Valentine's we are encouraged to tell those closest to us how much they are loved and appreciated. But what kind of love? What's the nature of this love?
There are many bible readings that I could quote (including 1 Cor.13; 1 John 4&5; and John 15); but instead I'll use some less familiar words of Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet':
When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you…. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.... Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness/flour. He kneads you until you are pliant; and then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing floor, into the season-less world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God." And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself. But if you love .... let these be your desires:To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody into the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; and to bleed willingly and joyfully. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; .... To return home at eventide with gratitude; and then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
One of the most famous verses in the bible is this:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life..."(John 3:16, RSV).
I wish for you the blessings of knowing the love of God in Christ, not only this Valentine’s, but throughout your life; and may the experience be so overwhelming that your only response will be to share it.
Tony Malcolm(Forest Circuit Minister & Superintendent)
Seasons' Greetings to all our Readers & Visitors:
December 2022:
Seasons' Greetings to all our Readers & Visitors:
For Advent - this time of reflection, preparation and making room/space. This season is a precious gift to the world in a time when everything and everyone is so busy.
For Christmas - a time to celebrate (mass) the gift of a Saviour (Christ) for the world.
In the same way as the focus for Advent has changed over the years, there is no doubting that the meteorological seasons are changing. The natural world is confused; spring plants and flowers are appearing; leaves that would normally have fallen off deciduous trees in the autumn, are still on the trees.
Weather forecasters are using the language of ‘extremes’:
“extreme weather …”;
“longest, driest, wettest, hottest, … since records began”.
In these times of extremes, let us also match them with our extremes – extreme generosity, peace, hope, joy, love. Against these, there are no laws.
However you are marking this season of Advent and celebrating the Christmas season, I pray that you and those close to you will enjoy all the promised blessings of the seasons.
Hope, Peace, Joy and Love to you, from Revd Tony (Circuit Superintendent).
Leytonstone Methodist Church
ADDRESS: 578 High Rd Leytonstone, London E11 3DA
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Minister's message
‘Shaken, but also stirred’
It is an unfinished story. Women walk to a tomb expecting to anoint the dead Jesus, but instead are confronted with an open tomb, and a man advising them not to be alarmed; that Jesus had been raised, and that they were to relate the news to Peter and the other disciples. Yet they were seized with amazement and terror, and said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. At this point the gospel of Mark ends – subsequent verses are later additions...