Reflection From Rev Chris Humble John 14 15 - 21

John 14. 15-21

v20 “I am in the Father, you in me and I in you”

Do you remember learning about Venn diagrams at school? I vaguely do. Using my compass and a pencil drawing those concentric circles interlocking with each other. Jesus’ words here sound a little like a Venn diagram, I think. He and the Father are intimately connected he says, as are we disciples and Jesus himself. And St Paul’s words at Athens recorded in Acts 17. 28 (another lectionary reading for today) remind us that “in God we live and love and have our being”. You cannot easily separate the three circles, for we and Jesus our Lord are all held together in the over-arching love of God. This is a representation of inter-connectedness. Perhaps the Coronavirus epidemic has reminded us that we are all in this together.

Methodists should need no reminding that we are all part of a connexion (the word spelled with an x as it was in seventeenth century English and it was used to describe people and preachers who were connected to John Wesley, so we sometimes speak of Methodist ministers as one of John Wesley’s preachers). The origins of the word connexion are about sharing a common purpose, being joined together (as many of Charles Wesley’s hymns emphasize eg “All praise to our redeeming Lord who joins us by his grace” HAP 753/StF 608).  Just as we have been reminded that we are all in this lockdown together in regard to the Coronavirus, so we might need to be remember that we are in this business of living the Christian life together with other disciples of Christ. We are not solitary individuals even if we have been socially isolating!

There is something in the prevailing culture here in the West Durham Circuit which speaks frequently of “chapels”. I know that some (not all) of our buildings have that word carved in stone over the lintel from a date in the nineteenth century. As a Darlington District boy I am familiar from my childhood with the word “chapel”, but something about it troubles me. The over-use of the word “chapel” in our vocabulary could be seen as painting an unhelpful picture. A “chapel” might be construed as less than a “church”, a less significant place of worship. It can often be used to distinguish and divide, so for generations people know whether they are “Church” or “Chapel”.  But chapels are sometimes found as private buildings as in a large country house or a Bishop’s Palace or  in a school or college.

Some of our assumptions however do not bear the weight of the story. In the early days of the Methodist movement,  the Methodists who gathered in Methodist preaching houses for hearing a sermon with two hymns only, were still expected to attend the Parish Church. Indeed furthermore,  John Wesley forbade Methodist meetings at a time which clashed with the Parish Church Service time. For the first Methodists attendance at preaching services was to supplement their faithfulness, in theory at least, as loyal Anglicans, and regular attenders at the Parish Church. They were not seen as separate but integrally connected. So, the first registrations for Methodist preaching houses by magistrates was a mixed picture from county to county as different magistrates ruled variously whether the Methodists were dissenters or part of the CofE, because it appeared to some that the Methodist leaders were so evidently  two Anglican clergymen, John and Charles Wesley!  The only way to register the buildings they used, if registration was deemed necessary, was through the Dissenting Toleration Act of 1689. Charles Wesley wrote on the back of the first registration “I protest” because he refused to see himself as a “Dissenter”!  He regarded himself as a loyal Anglican to his dying day, and sent for his parish priest on his deathbed. Of course, there is a lot of water that has flowed down the river since those days. The use of the words “church” and “chapel” to describe our buildings has been varied according to what period of history we consider and which branches of the Methodist family we are referring to.

Since the Methodist Church Act of 1976 we have been using more regularly that very word “church” to describe our buildings.  I do remember the significance of that Act in our family because my father came home from the last ever Trustees’ Meeting under the old system and declared it was “the end of an era” as a new system and structure was brought into being by an Act of Parliament. Out went the terms Society Stewards, Chapel Stewards (who looked after the property), Poor Stewards who looked after the arrangements for the Lord’s Supper and collection for the Poor Fund, out went the Trustees’ Meeting (who held the custodian trusteeship) and the Society Meeting in favour of new terms- Church Stewards (note the title), Property Stewards and Communion Stewards, and the Church Council (again note the word) as managing (not custodian) trustees. Out went the Quarterly Meeting and in came the Circuit Meeting.

Let’s not forget the Venn diagram! Over the years I have encountered many people who seemed to care passionately about their “chapel” but seemed less interested in what happens in other places of worship, be it other Methodist “chapels” or churches of other denominations. And more than once or twice I have been left wondering whether they ever really believed in “the Church”, by which I mean that which we profess in the words of the Creed, “the holy catholic Church”. People, I often find, might betray their rather small-mindedness (and weak ecclesiology) by spelling the word Church always with a small c! Of course, I recognise that other disciples of Christ can be frustrating, sometimes they seem to think differently to me, but they are probably thinking the same the other way! Our baptism into Christ’s flock and into that “rag bag of saints and fatheads” as one Bishop once famously put it, reminds us that we are a mixed bag of folk, but we are all supposed to be trying to follow Christ. We may well see things differently but there is something that binds us together that is profound. We have to learn to get along with each other. We need to work at realising and manifesting our inter-connection as churches and as individual Christians with other Christians. In a circuit we are connected together whether we like it or not. We are diverse (probably not enough) but we should encourage each other and build each other up (another famous phrase of Charles Wesley).

John 14.18 speaks of the Holy Spirit as an Advocate. Now the Scottish legal system still has this title in common usage. It contains within it that sense that an advocate stands alongside you pleading your cause, making the case, defending you in a court of law. Jesus seems to be saying that this is part of the role of the Spirit, who will be with us , alongside us, on our side, for us, not aloof or distant. Indeed Jesus says the Spirit of Truth will be with you and in you ( v 17). The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer is a powerful force. How do we experience this today, I wonder as we find ourselves awaiting the Feast of Pentecost.

Jesus also promises not to leave us orphaned. I have no experience of being an orphan but my mother died when I was 18 and my father when I was 37. I have to admit that it did feel quite strange at that relatively young age to become the senior member of the family. Jesus goes on to say “in a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me”. The ascension of our Lord was yet to happen but he does seem to indicate that we, who are his followers, will still “see” him. But how? We will see Christ in the signs of his presence at work in the world, in the life of the Church, in our communities and in our own lives and those around us. This surely reminds us that we are to keep our eyes open so we do not fail to spot the action of our Lord. “There’s a spirit in the air, telling Christians everywhere, praise the love that Christ revealed, living, working in our world” (326 HAP/ 398 StF).

As we prepare to celebrate the Ascension of our Lord (21 May), Aldersgate (24 May) and Pentecost (31 May) may we give some attention to the relationships we have, to our inter-dependence as we strive to discern, name and bear witness to the signs of the kingdom of Christ among us.  If it helps try drawing a Venn diagram of those people you most relate to.

And whatever Venn diagrams you come up with, may we always strive to love Christ and keep his commandments (v21); or if you prefer in the words of Charles Wesley “he bids us build each other up and gathered into one, to our high calling’s glorious hope, we hand in hand go on” (HAP 753/StF 608)

Grace, love and peace,

Christopher Humble