In the world

When a Belfast parish sent out a questionnaire about church membership one respondent replied: “Church of Ireland – but disconnected.

It sounds like a contradiction in terms. But we know what it implies.

Last week the Archbishop of York suggested that people these days are becoming more and more disconnected not only from church but also from any sense of morality and spiritual values.

The Archbishop pointed to the media culture with its so-called “reality shows”, to the celebrity culture that thinks nothing of paying £50,000 for a night out and to a shallow spirituality that wrestles with the Da Vinci Code while ignoring the New Testament.

It’s a mix that one commentator described as “the elevation of the fake” and the promotion of lifestyles of “gross excess, self indulgence and vulgarity.”

Not a pretty sight. It seems that society is in danger of living on the surface of things, seeking self-aggrandisement, grasping at designer labels and rooting values in status symbols.

As Jesus came to the end of his earthly ministry he gathered his disciples around him and prayed for them. It was an act of deep concern for them. It was also about affirming them in their faith and digging them in, rooting them in the knowledge and assurance of his continuing presence with them. By the help of God they would fulfil their vocation as disciples and hold fast to faith and the truth of the Gospel..

However Jesus also recognised that they would face all kinds of evil and very real dangers. They were a tiny, vulnerable group of people surrounded by suspicious Roman authorities and targeted by the Jewish establishment.

Yet they lived with purpose and commitment “showing forth your Name”. “Name” meaning the character of God – showing forth the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Our Lord’s vision of the church,  “Through you I will bless all the nations”, sounds like a tall order but in fact it is more a “marching order” that has stirred the church through the centuries. In the Name of Christ the church holds up a vision of a just and gentle world, restored and at peace.

And with that vision the Church goes into the world, sent, for Jesus says, “I have chosen you”, “I am sending you”. These are resounding affirmations of God’s purpose for the church to be “the salt of the earth”.

St Paul wrestled with images and words to explain this truth. He used two enduring pictures. One of the church as a building that is still under construction, resting on foundations laid by the prophets and held together by the Risen Christ, the cornerstone.

The other picture is of the church as Christ’s Body – still growing and dynamic with each one of us a part, responsible and responsive.

In both of these images the church is active and working out its purpose, being built up and growing. 

It is alive in worship, in service, in forgiveness, in love and in ministry.

And it works and witnesses to the Gospel within society. Our Lord’s images of this work are far removed from ideas of popular culture. No smash hit, blockbuster revelations. No mega campaign notions. No grand performances.

Rather we are encouraged to understand the work of the church as deep-rooted in the hearts and minds of all faithful people. 

“Thy kingdom come” as a tiny seed in a garden of weeds, as a pinch of yeast worked into bread dough, as a sprinkling of salt on meat.

Jesus did not leave an organised global network of followers. He knew a handful of salt would gradually work its way through society, into all the world.

The American evangelist Dwight L Moody once said, “of one hundred men, one will read the Bible, the ninety-nine will read the Christian”.

The Russian writer Solzhanitsyn, who came to faith in prison, was a powerful example of how one Christian, one grain of salt, could be a powerful influence for good.

In communist Russia anti-religious fury razed churches, banned religious instruction, imprisoned and killed priests. It was said that religious faith had been stripped away from society. Ten’s of millions of people perished, social and moral chaos was rampant.

Salzhanitsyn said: “Men have forgotten God: that’s why all this has happened”.

So like a battered child – in the years following the Stalin era- Russia found it hard to believe in love and justice. Nevertheless today there are signs of hope.

The seeds of faith nurtured by past generations did not die. Churches thrived in Russia’s penal colonies; freedom of worship is now a reality. On Easter Day this year Christians gathered in Red Square to sing hymns, Bibles are readily available and churches are being restored.

There’s a similar story told in China. When the missionaries were banished in the 1980s it was thought the church in China would shrivel up and die. Then there were some 750,000 church members. Today there are 35 millio

As someone said: “The Church in China and the Holy Spirit fared quite well on their own.

God is working his purpose out. There is much construction going on from Belfast to Beijing. The building up of faith and moral and spiritual values is a costly service of the Gospel. The Body of Christ is growing and reaching out in Christian aid to a needy world

“I have sent them into the world” with all its dangers and greed and prejudice and selfishness. “I have sent them” as a grain of salt, as a pinch of yeast, as a tiny seed

So we pray: “God of peace, be present, near us

Fix in all our hearts your home,

With your gracious presence cheer us

Let your blessed kingdom come.”

Amen