Sunday 19th July 2009

What a busy little passage from Mark’s gospel!  The exhilaration associated with the return of the disciples, hunger and tiredness, necessary rest…only to have solitude interrupted by persistent crowds; compassion takes the edge off tiredness and Christ engages with people once again.  A little later…and we start with a relatively personal, private journey across the lake (though it has hardly been peaceful, since it contains the episode where Peter sets out towards Christ and sinks into the water); the other side of the water is reached, however, and Christ is surrounded by the sick and their helpers.  His cloak is touched, many times…and we have to be mindful of the passage in which we are told that Christ was aware of power going out from him, when another touched him.  Rural and urban, calm and crowds…though plenty of overlap and boundaries are blurred.

These short sections of text are very busy…breathless and bewildering, even.  They contain wild contrasts; differing aspects of the life of Jesus are held in close juxtaposition.  Quietness and crowding, solitude and movement.  Yet there is no surprise here.  A little while ago, I came under scrutiny regarding my frequent use of the word ‘ponder’; fair enough - I do tend to latch on to an idea and run with it for a while.  Those of you attuned to my ways will recognize that a word that I have used  several times recently is the word ‘tension’ - and these verses bear out the point that the Christian life is always a life lived with a degree of tension.  There are times when this will be almost indistinguishable and there will be times when it is overwhelmingly present, but it remains a necessary fact of our life in such a world as this.  You cannot do away with it; we may well be led by still waters from time to time - thank God - but some valleys offer greater challenges.  One writer speaks of the ‘even keel of faith’…but for me, this does not do justice to the fact that we live in a messy world, full of complicated people and demanding situations, and are daily required to make significant decisions.  We need to prepare people of faith to live with this - and it may well be that we need to be more honest in the ways in which we describe our own experiences.

Tension, then, as a first word… and compassion as the second.  Jesus is represented as the shepherd given to compassion.  Excellent, we think: necessary antidote in a world in which many seem immune to sufferings of others.  Human life as carefully crafted construct in which we cannot and will not be got at.  Maybe you saw the BBC drama ‘Free Fall’ this week… at least one key character there quite oblivious to the pain of others, unrepentant and unreformed at the end of it.  Yet, interestingly, what does Jesus the compassionate shepherd do in the context of our reading?  He offers teaching.  Hmm.  Not always the first thing for which we would look…  The teacher and teaching are not always celebrated as they might be; talk of the church’s teaching ministry does still arouse suspicions.  Yet the Christ who was moved was the Christ who taught… by which, read giver of direction, guidance, considered practical advice.  No room for platitudes or the legalistic nitpicking of some of the Jewish leadership.  What Christ offered – and offers – was very different.  Likewise, churches should not be diffident when it comes to sharing relevant direction.  In my early days of ministry, I had a colleague who was known as the ‘Patience Strong of the Pulpit’; try as I might, I cannot interpret this as a compliment.  No offence intended…

It is not by chance that Jeremiah used the picture of a shepherd.  This was a common picture for kingship.  It may be difficult for those of us who have a rather romantic view of a shepherd, but shepherds had a clear responsibility to ensure that sheep were safe and had pasture.  They were obliged to take directive and difficult measures to ensure the flock did what they needed them to do.  Jeremiah write in the knowledge that the kings of his day had not kept the community together, protected the people and attended to their needs.  For these responsibilities, read the teaching ministry of the church as it should be today.

The final thing which strikes me about the gospel reading is the fact that there are lots of other people doing and participating and sharing alongside Christ.  The disciples return to Jesus as the completion of a semi-independent mission; Mark doesn’t dwell on their enthusiasm to the same extent as Luke, but tells us that they did, ‘report to him all that they had done and taught’.  They had been busy.  Interestingly, this is the only time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus’ followers are called apostles, perhaps emphasizing that they were acting in their mission as the authorized representatives of Jesus.  Later on in the chapter, we are told that people carried the sick on mats to Jesus…echoes of the story of the man lowered through the roof.  Participation - involvement - the engagement of others from Day One.

Monolith ministers fill me with dread… the do-it-all dinosaurs of a previous age.  I suspect that this model of ministry had something to do with keeping a measure of control over everything which happened within the church.  Likewise, I have always been uncomfortable with talk of pedestals and pulpits, the pastor as ‘six feet above criticism’.  Nonetheless, I recognize weaknesses in my own model of ministry…things which have been pointed out on a number of occasions in the past.  I don’t hog responsibilities and I hope that I give encouragement where encouragement is due…but I do know that I am not always effective when it comes to the empowerment of others.  The minister as enabler is not one of my strong points.  So…I need to ask for your continued help if everybody within this church family is to have his or her gifts deployed to the full.  One of the most effective churches in which I have been involved – admittedly a very large one – had a group designed simply, ‘the gifts group’.  Its responsibility was to pray for discernment in realizing the gifts of every member of the congregation…and to try to identify the best people for particular jobs and responsibilities which arose from time to time.  So…please don’t hesitate to share comments and observations in this area.

Tension as unbroken thread.  Effective teaching as an expression of compassion.  Empowerment which leads to full deployment of the gifts of a congregation.