I have just been into our local town to buy some bread and vegetables, I went to the town because a short trip into the village revealed bare shelves, a supermarket looking as if a swarm of locusts had passed through it...
I should have taken that as a warning and gone home and made do, but foolishness prevailed and I drove the 8 miles. There was a queue for the car-park, but that is not too unusual so I joined it and found a space fairly quickly. I was not prepared for the madness that greeted me in the store though; the swarms of locusts had flown ahead of me and I entered what felt like an alternative reality of shoppers gone mad.
The shelves were bulging here as harassed assistants jostled by shoppers tried to keep up with the demand. Shoppers were in full attack mode. snapping up bargains before the VAT increase apparently! On the shelves was cookware and china, bed linen and clothing, all highlighted as last minute buys, and they were being sanpped up as if all supply of such things will come to a halt.
I picked up my veg and noticed some cheddar on sale for half price, we use a lot of cheese so I thought I'd add it to my trolley, not quick enough it seems, it was actually taken out of my hand! I was gob-smacked! If someone needs a bargain that much they can have it...
I found the bread I had come for added some cat food to my purchases and beat a hasty retreat...
I left the store in a daze, feeling dirty somehow, and very sad. I had to stop on the way home to consider my reaction, and have come to the conclusion that for me 2011 will be the year of "Do not worry..."
For what I encountered today was materialism gone mad, driven mad in some ways by a looming VAT increase and a media driven insanity about tough times ahead. The result; a we must grab it all now while we can mentality.
It is time to turn all of this madness on its head, to speak out not so much for the individual and individual rights but as Rowan Williams so ably reminded us in his Christmas sermon it is time to consider society as a whole. Time to retreat from the grabbing mentality of all for me and to regain a sense of proportion about what is important:
Christmas is about the unshakeable solidarity of God's love with us, not only in our suffering but in our rebellion and betrayal as well. One mediaeval Greek theologian, deliberately out to shock, described as God's 'manic passion', God's 'obsession'; manike eros. And so it is a time to do some stocktaking about our own solidarity and fidelity, our own promise-keeping.
There are at least three things we might ponder in that respect, seeking to understand ourselves better in the light of the Christmas story. The first is our solidarity with one another, in our society and our world, our solidarity with and loyalty to our fellow-citizens and fellow-human beings. Faced with the hardship that quite clearly lies ahead for so many in the wake of financial crisis and public spending cuts, how far are we able to sustain a living sense of loyalty to each other, a real willingness to bear the load together? How eager are we to find some spot where we feel safe from the pressures that are crippling and terrifying others? As has more than once been said, we can and will as a society bear hardship if we are confident that it is being fairly shared; and we shall have that confidence only if there are signs that everyone is committed to their neighbour, that no-one is just forgotten, that no interest group or pressure group is able to opt out. That confidence isn't in huge supply at the moment, given the massive crises of trust that have shaken us all in the last couple of years and the lasting sense that the most prosperous have yet to shoulder their load. If we are ready, if we are allready, to meet the challenge represented by the language of the 'big society', we may yet restore some mutual trust. It's no use being cynical about this; whatever we call the enterprise, the challenge is the same – creating confidence by sharing the burden of constructive work together.
You can find the full test of his sermon here, and I don't think he was participating in a Party Political broadcast so much as challenging the idea of a Big Society and recasting it in the light of the Gospels...
So how did I get from here to "Don't worry", that is a simple step, any call to look beyond ourselves and to consider a bigger picture calls for a letting go, and that is just what Jesus clls us to through the Sermon on the Mount, particularly through these words:
"19-21"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."
and:
25-26"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss (do not worry) about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
On Sunday I will lead the first of our Covenant Services for 2011, where we will pray:
"I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours."
If we are truly to yield all things to God then it stands to reason that a grabbing self centred materialistic mentality has no place in our lives. That if we are truly God's then we need to embrace Jesus words, and fussing about food and fashion will not be the things that we live by. Marks and Spencer's with their perfect designer Christmases and New Years and Easters, and summer BBQ'S and " nights in" etc. , will have no power over us for we will be content because we live for more than the things we can get.
34-37Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he (Jesus) said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
(Mark 8)
