Think Question Believe

The priest and Franciscan Monk Richard Rohr published a book called ‘Falling Upward: A spirituality for the two halves of life’.In it he speaks of something long defined by philosophers and more recently by such psychologists as Carl Jung, as the first and second halves of life.In the first half of life, we are naturally and rightly preoccupied with establishing our identities – climbing, achieving and performing. We all try to do what seems like the task that life first hands us: establishing an identity, a home, a job, relationships, friends, community, security, and building, both a foundation and a ‘container’ for our lives.But too many of us stop there. As Bill Plotkin, a psychologist, and wilderness guide once observed, many of us learn to do our ‘survival dance’ but we never get to do our ‘sacred dance’. How sad that is.If we as a society were wise, we would do well to remember the enormous contribution that the oldest among us can make to our community life.In the story of Simeon and Anna, we hear how they came into their own in old age. Their testimony was revolutionary, shocking to conventional minds and systems.For the job of a prophet is to challenge, to test the fads and fashions of today against a measuring rod of long years and experience.Something, if they chose to, that the older among us could do in our present age……

First broadcast in January 2026.A doctor friend once said that our life consists in juggling four balls, our physical and spiritual/emotional health, our families and friends and the last ball - our work, money possessions. The first three balls, he said, are made of glass, but the irony is we spend more time worrying about and protecting the fourth ball - which is also the only one made of rubber – so it can bounce back.You can usually tell what any society cares about by its largest buildings. In medieval times the Cathedrals were the awe-inspiring monuments of their times. Later the Victorians enshrined their municipal and philanthropic ideals in great public works - water, power, hospitals. Today what are our greatest buildings - office blocks and shopping malls. Those who wish to sell their goods and services exhort us to be demanding customers, for whom good is never good enough. To be discontented, and dissatisfied. No one wants us to stop coveting and craving ever more possessions it seems. Except maybe that small still voice inside, telling us that we surely are meant for higher things.

Patriarchal societies and let’s face it most still are, to a greater or lesser extent, can sometimes be very unjust, especially to women. It beggars the imagination that a man can deem himself more manly because he oppresses and is violent towards someone who is physically weaker than himself, but such has been the culture and practice of countless numbers of men throughout history – who have bullied, abused, intimidated and dominated their way through life, when in fact it was a woman who bore them and gave them life and so often extend to them acts of kindness that they little deserve.History and church teaching has served Joseph badly. Sadly, consigned to a bit part, and rarely depicted as anything other than a dutiful attendant, in reality, he must have been a remarkable man who proves himself to be a very resourceful protector and guide. He cares for his family, protects them and provides for them, and moreover he provides such a model of fatherhood, that when Jesus seeks to name God, he uses a word that he utters with respect and love, Abba, Father.He stands in stark contrast to the terrible scourge of violence in the home and in close relationships – the places that should be the safest we know, that we should see as a haven, sanctuary – our homes – not places of refuge at all. And our church communities are by no means immune.That is why it is so important that we take a lead on this issue in the church since it is so easy for certain people, certain neighbourhoods and classes to feel that it has nothing to do with them.Victims and their abusers are everywhere, among us, standing right next to us – and we might never know. It is time for us as individuals and as communities to rise up against this terrible betrayal of violence and abuse….

John the Baptist presents a heroic but tragic figure. Crying out in the wilderness, giving voice not only to his own heartbreak, but also to the pain and suffering of all his people.However much the Romans might be bravely resisted, it was almost inconceivable that they might be repelled.Almost.For men like John still tried, still hoped, still preached that whatever worldly power the Romans might possess, nothing could withstand the might, in echo of Isaiah’s words, of ‘the one who is to come’, the promised Messiah.For some Jesus was a disappointment, those for whom military might could be the only mark of the Messiah. Far from Isaiah’s notion of the Suffering Servant, they expected nothing less than a second King David, a victorious warrior, triumphant general, a kingdom of this world. Jesus was an impossible claimant to the title; impossible and scandalous. A betrayal of the very ideal.Today new fractures are emerging. In certain countries and certain political cultures we are seeing the emergence of what might be called Christian Nationalism, where the faith of Jesus is being twisted and contorted into a reversal, a perversion of all that he stood for – hatred in place of love, racial discrimination instead of compassion , the glorification of the obscenely rich and the denigration of the poor, the celebration of the gun instead of peace.

Tensions have always been intrinsic to the Christian Church, think of the controversies surrounding slavery, race, divorce, women’s role in the church, one could go on.On the one hand there are those, like Peter, who believe the Church should have boundaries and borders, acting like a fortress, which can only care for and protect those within, by defining, identifying and excluding those who are without. That the old ways need to resist the challenge of the new, if not forever, then certainly for as long as possible – church as a perpetual rearguard action – holding back the winds of change and compromise – fidelity to the past.On the other hand, the modern counterparts of Paul, who believe that the Truth the Church professes can only be so if it is universal; that to be the Good News, it must, of necessity, be so for all.That the central revelation of Christianity is that all notions of tribalism, social, ethnic and gender distinction were swept away, by the life, teaching, ministry, and new life in Jesus.Could we not learn from the example of Peter and Paul? After all they too believed they were fighting for the future of the Church, and their visions were very different indeed.Each would come to pursue their own mission, their own calling, trusting that Providence would, in time, resolve any inconsistencies, reservations and doubts that they might harbour.They had neither a shared policy, nor shared theology, but simply a mutually recognised commitment that each would serve the Gospel, as best he could, in his own way, and what the Holy Spirit would bless, it would bless.

There is a familiar expression that someone has a ‘bright’ idea or a ‘lightbulb moment’. Or that someone’s performance was ‘electrifying’, or the atmosphere in the theatre was ‘electric’ - We can have a ‘burning desire to succeed’, or we can have a ‘blazing row’, emotions can become ‘inflamed’, and someone can have a ‘fiery temper’, or a ‘burning hatred’. We might compliment a performer by saying there were ‘on fire’ last night.The Pentecost story is perhaps, hopefully, one of the most obvious and uncontentious employments of metaphor in scripture – but from it we can draw a wider lesson – that we do ourselves, our world, and the original writers of scripture a terrible disservice, if we cannot allow their use of metaphor to enrich, colour and deepen our understanding, and instead insist upon simply a literal surface level reading of the stories that they strived for so long to craft and create.So, what is at the heart of Pentecost? What is significant, of prime importance for us?

A Bishop was once reported in the press to have commented that the resurrection was about a ‘conjuring trick with old bones’. Bishop David Jenkins was branded the ‘unbelieving Bishop’ and the satirical TV puppet show ‘Spitting Image’ even had a sketch of him persuading God to become an atheist.That misquote of the Bishop has cascaded down through the years, following him wherever he went – the problem is – he never said it.In fact, what the Bishop of Durham had said was that the resurrection is ‘so much more than a conjuring trick with old bones’ an entirely different statement.Because Bishop David was trying to get us to focus on the meaning, the significance of the resurrection, on the transformation of the disciples and the growth of the Christian community, and potentially of ourselves, rather than obsessing about overly literal interpretations of the experience of Jesus, real or embellished, after his death.The secret to practising resurrection is in letting go of the artificial self, the person we pretend to be, the masks we wear, the possessions that trap us and giving ourselves to something greater than ourselves.The Jewish theologian Martin Buber tells the story of an ageing pious man, Rabbi Susya, who became fearful as his life drew to a close. His friends chided him saying “What! Are you afraid that you’ll be reproached for not being Moses” “No,” the rabbi replied. “That I was not truly myself”.

I wonder, not only about the first Easter, but especially the Easters that soon followed, those of the first and second centuries, when Christianity was still so new, so radical and relatively untouched by the worlds of wealth and power. And the people who spoke of themselves as following ‘the Way’.We now live through a time when Christianity seems under threat as never before, at least in the West, and there is an emerging generation who regard, often rightly, some of its past beliefs and prejudices as socially and morally toxic.So, is it still possible to speak of new life and new hope? Is resurrection still a story we can tell?In fact, I believe that there are signs that the Christian faith has still very much to say to our world and to help shape the future of mankind. But it requires us to look to ‘The Way’ once again, to prioritise not what we claim to believe, but what we do, how we act, how we live out Jesus’ great commandments of love.