God is
God is, He is as He is in Jesus, so there is hope
In February, 1984 Downing Street announced the name of the Bishop of Durham elect. He was Professor David Jenkins of Leeds University. This was to be a time when the new Bishop of Durham was to be severely criticised as a "doubting Bishop". He had, before the announcement of his appointment, been interviewed for a BBC programme, Credo. He had been asked to discuss current mainstream theology.
In order to achieve a baseline he initially dealt with the interpretation of the Resurrection stories, the symbolic and mythological nature of the story of the Virgin Birth and the existence of miracle stories in all religious traditions. In his book, "Free to Believe" he said later, "As I understood it, I was merely trying to clear unnecessary obstacles out of the way in order to get on to discussing the real issues of living in faith today. All the points I made were in the mainstream of Christian theological discussion and had been so for over seventy years."
In other words, if any other mainstream theologian had sat in his seat the discussion would have gone much the same way. Only because he had been appointed Bishop of Durham did the press pick up on the Credo programme. To top it all, three days after his consecration in York Minster there was a serious fire in the South Transept. "Is this God’s response to the consecration?" was the question posed by the press. Only bad news and controversial news is good news for the press and on they went reporting on lots of angles on the event.
Theologians and many others in the mainstream of belief generally doubt the Virgin Birth. The facts of the Resurrection are regularly doubted by the most ardent Christians. There are many doubts cast concerning the birth of Jesus narrative. Yet these doubts do not for a second diminish the personal faith of those who express them. The former Bishop of Durham has a strong personal faith in a risen, living Jesus. Other leading scholars express doubts and most students for the ministry learn at college of the doubts surrounding what the Bible says. But none of this lessens the status and stature of the Bible. None of this lessens Jesus in the hearts of those who lecture on theology.
But let me digress to a story told by David Jenkins which is the reason for this posting. Jenkins had been often told that his sentences were too long. Once, when lecturing to some students, one of the class came to him and asked him to sum up what he had been saying. At the beginning of the next lecture David Jenkins told his class what he had been saying previously. He had reduced it and reduced it until thirteen words were before him. These were as follows: "God is, he is as he is in Jesus, so there is hope."
For me these do what David Jenkins intends them to do. He said, "These sentences are what I would call signposts into belief. The central point is that they emphasise that all faith starts from the reality of God. The question is, how do you get on to that reality?" These are the words of a scholarly Christian whose life and belief is centered in Christ.
The sentence challenges the preacher to use them as the basis of a three point sermon. So, firstly we have "God is". This has been accepted as truth since long before Christianity. From night classes in Archaeology I remember learning about pre history people being aware of a great creative force that controlled their successful activities as hunter gatherers and later as settled farmers. We Christians call that force, God. "He is as He is in Jesus" leads us to speak about personal experience which has confirmed for us where we stand and what is, for us, the nearest thing to a picture of God. That picture is seen in the ministry and teaching of Jesus. That Jesus was an exceptional man is not in doubt. The only debate is about whether that exceptional person is the incarnation of God. Christians have a firm belief that this is true. They see a constant reflection of the Father in the Son both from scripture and personal faith and experience. "So there is hope" is the conclusion we come to, having accepted the previous statements. To accept the three in one statement involves faith, hope and love. I am not speaking of blind faith but of faith in something we see, in the words of St Paul, "through a glass dimly." Hope is something that children can teach adults about. They are great on hope and see it in very simple terms. It is we who complicate matters. Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you turn round and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.
We adults complicate everything in our lives. If only we would simplify what concerns us we should be able to move on in faith. The fact is that the Christian faith is a very simple thing in essence. It is based on love which we emulate in Jesus. The whole of our life is a learning experience. We never reach a point where we know all we need to know and then call ourselves equipped to manage alone. Christians in community are constantly helping each other to solve the problems which arise. We are constantly showing each other the way forward or, as the Bible puts it, "The Holy way."
Whatever we learn we pass on to others. It is the most natural thing in the world. We share our lives and our faith, thus showing others the value of looking for Jesus in order to make sense of life. Christians everywhere know the truth, that "God is, He is as He is in Jesus, so there is hope. What we then do is pass on this knowledge to others, that their lives might take on greater purpose through the acceptance of God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
In February, 1984 Downing Street announced the name of the Bishop of Durham elect. He was Professor David Jenkins of Leeds University. This was to be a time when the new Bishop of Durham was to be severely criticised as a "doubting Bishop". He had, before the announcement of his appointment, been interviewed for a BBC programme, Credo. He had been asked to discuss current mainstream theology.
In order to achieve a baseline he initially dealt with the interpretation of the Resurrection stories, the symbolic and mythological nature of the story of the Virgin Birth and the existence of miracle stories in all religious traditions. In his book, "Free to Believe" he said later, "As I understood it, I was merely trying to clear unnecessary obstacles out of the way in order to get on to discussing the real issues of living in faith today. All the points I made were in the mainstream of Christian theological discussion and had been so for over seventy years."
In other words, if any other mainstream theologian had sat in his seat the discussion would have gone much the same way. Only because he had been appointed Bishop of Durham did the press pick up on the Credo programme. To top it all, three days after his consecration in York Minster there was a serious fire in the South Transept. "Is this God’s response to the consecration?" was the question posed by the press. Only bad news and controversial news is good news for the press and on they went reporting on lots of angles on the event.
Theologians and many others in the mainstream of belief generally doubt the Virgin Birth. The facts of the Resurrection are regularly doubted by the most ardent Christians. There are many doubts cast concerning the birth of Jesus narrative. Yet these doubts do not for a second diminish the personal faith of those who express them. The former Bishop of Durham has a strong personal faith in a risen, living Jesus. Other leading scholars express doubts and most students for the ministry learn at college of the doubts surrounding what the Bible says. But none of this lessens the status and stature of the Bible. None of this lessens Jesus in the hearts of those who lecture on theology.
But let me digress to a story told by David Jenkins which is the reason for this posting. Jenkins had been often told that his sentences were too long. Once, when lecturing to some students, one of the class came to him and asked him to sum up what he had been saying. At the beginning of the next lecture David Jenkins told his class what he had been saying previously. He had reduced it and reduced it until thirteen words were before him. These were as follows: "God is, he is as he is in Jesus, so there is hope."
For me these do what David Jenkins intends them to do. He said, "These sentences are what I would call signposts into belief. The central point is that they emphasise that all faith starts from the reality of God. The question is, how do you get on to that reality?" These are the words of a scholarly Christian whose life and belief is centered in Christ.
The sentence challenges the preacher to use them as the basis of a three point sermon. So, firstly we have "God is". This has been accepted as truth since long before Christianity. From night classes in Archaeology I remember learning about pre history people being aware of a great creative force that controlled their successful activities as hunter gatherers and later as settled farmers. We Christians call that force, God. "He is as He is in Jesus" leads us to speak about personal experience which has confirmed for us where we stand and what is, for us, the nearest thing to a picture of God. That picture is seen in the ministry and teaching of Jesus. That Jesus was an exceptional man is not in doubt. The only debate is about whether that exceptional person is the incarnation of God. Christians have a firm belief that this is true. They see a constant reflection of the Father in the Son both from scripture and personal faith and experience. "So there is hope" is the conclusion we come to, having accepted the previous statements. To accept the three in one statement involves faith, hope and love. I am not speaking of blind faith but of faith in something we see, in the words of St Paul, "through a glass dimly." Hope is something that children can teach adults about. They are great on hope and see it in very simple terms. It is we who complicate matters. Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you turn round and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.
We adults complicate everything in our lives. If only we would simplify what concerns us we should be able to move on in faith. The fact is that the Christian faith is a very simple thing in essence. It is based on love which we emulate in Jesus. The whole of our life is a learning experience. We never reach a point where we know all we need to know and then call ourselves equipped to manage alone. Christians in community are constantly helping each other to solve the problems which arise. We are constantly showing each other the way forward or, as the Bible puts it, "The Holy way."
Whatever we learn we pass on to others. It is the most natural thing in the world. We share our lives and our faith, thus showing others the value of looking for Jesus in order to make sense of life. Christians everywhere know the truth, that "God is, He is as He is in Jesus, so there is hope. What we then do is pass on this knowledge to others, that their lives might take on greater purpose through the acceptance of God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
posted by Keith Alexander at Saturday, December 31, 2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home