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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

 

What really matters

Making sense of what matters and how to respond to a complex and sometimes dangerous world. John 12.1-8

 

Context

At the time of writing, we’re still waiting for what Trump calls his ‘liberation day’ – the announcement of tariffs that European leaders fear may lead to a global trade war.

Meanwhile welfare cuts, rising bills and the impact of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement risk pushing 250,000 more families in Britain into poverty, experts warn. The significant loss of income some will face as a result of the health-related benefit cuts has led to protest by disabled campaigners and allies. Added to concerns about the proposed Assisted Dying Bill, it’s a stressful time for the least powerful in our society.

Financial pressures are cited as one of the reasons behind the falling birth rate and rising average age of motherhood in England and Wales, with the lowest fertility rate ever. This overlaps with the concerns about the rise of incel culture, recently featured in the Netflix series, Adolescence. A government-backed plan to show it in secondary schools has led to calls for teachers and schools to get more support in tackling such devastating issues as youth violence and online safety.

While in Myanmar people struggle to recover from massive destruction from the earthquake with little help or support; in Gaza deaths continue to rise since Israel broke the ceasefire; and the discovery of a mass grave highlights the continuing high rate of enforced disappearances in Mexico.

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

John’s account of the extravagant use of expensive oil to anoint Jesus challenges us to ask: What really matters to us? In countries devastated by conflict, violence or natural disaster, what matters is survival. Yet, as Jesus' response can lead us to consider, death and survival are not the binary opposites we might think. In this essay, where a Palestinian writer both mourns the death of her younger sister, and celebrates her life, even when fighting for survival, we can find hope, and create art, and celebrate love. Where do you find hope in difficult times?

It can be hard to understand or even trust the intentions of world leaders when significant decisions are made that impact the global economy and the lives of millions of people. When Jesus said ‘the poor will always be with you’, did he mean we shouldn’t care or try to tackle poverty or other causes of suffering? This doesn’t fit with him feeding the hungry and bringing good news to the poor (Luke 4:18-19). Rather, he shows that Mary’s act reveals who matters to her. How do we use the resources we have to reflect our core (gospel) values?

Like the poor, violence has always and likely will always be in the world. But the web and social media as well as the evolution of gangs mean it’s a daily stark reality for young people and children today to unprecedented levels. We cannot so easily talk about the innocence of childhood anymore, with the exponential rise of peer-to-peer abuse and online sexual abuse, and the most common age of victims being 13-14 years. The Adolescence series showed there are no simple explanations or solutions. How do we have the difficult discussion with children about what really matters to them?

 

Questions for discussion

Where can we see signs of hope in difficult times amongst our congregation? Our neighbourhood? Our world?

What really matters to us as a family, as a community, and how do our actions and use of resources reflect that?

How do we support children and young people to hold onto what really matters, in a world that exposes them to danger and harm? What protection, comfort and hope can we offer?

Jane Chevous is an activist, writer, sailor, and leader of Survivors Voices. She also researches and writes about abuse, survivor theology, mental health and the sea.

For more thoughts on the Church's role in counter-acting the rise of misogyny read: The problem of masculinity and/or listen to/watch the associated podcast: Redeeming Masculinity, with Revd Will Van Der Hart.

 

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

This week the Minecraft movie opened across the UK. Given its success since its origins in 2011 it is amazing that it’s taken so long for a film to be made. Minecraft is one of the best-selling, most played video games of all time with about 150 million users per month. It’s so popular because it’s such a great game.

Like many other computer games, Minecraft is played intensively for hours upon end. Those that play it obviously have an absolute passion for it. And what people commit most of their time and money to is often what they are most passionate about. Right?

In John chapter 12, Mary (one of the unsung heroes of the New Testament) takes perfume and pours it on Jesus to honour him. Judas is scandalised, saying it was worth a year’s wages. However you calculate that, in today’s money it is a huge amount. You can imagine many of us saying the same thing today if such a thing were done.

Now if Jesus was just a really humble, insightful, socio-political activist then this indeed would have been a scandalous waste of money. But Jesus says something difficult for our contemporary ears: ‘You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.’  Mary, Jesus says, was recognising his own infinite worth but also unconsciously prefiguring his death and the value of that.

This passage calls us to follow Mary and develop and demonstrate a passion for Jesus’ honour that will look odd to contemporary culture and even possibly shock the church.

Dr Gareth Crispin is the BA Mission and Ministry programme lead at Cliff College.

 

See also:

	Minecraft Church: Revd Kevin Colyer's article on how churches can use gaming to explore faith and build community.
	COMING SOON: A holiday club resource that uses blocks and games to explore ways to build God’s kingdom.

 

Views expressed are the authors' own. Hypertext links to other websites are for the convenience of users only and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by Roots for Churches Ltd.

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