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THEBAPTIST TIMES Thursday,August 24,2006

How important is God to us?

TIM HEARD

Faith matters

Knowing and being known, part 4 THERE is a saying that we all have our cross to bear. Well I have two! The first is my name, Timothy. In biblical times, naming a child was important. The name said something about the life and times of the family, or something of the hopes and aspirations of the parents for the child. I do not know if that was in the minds of my parents when they named me Timothy – honouring God. (Equally, I am unsure what was in their minds when they gave my brother the name Philip, which means loving horses.) Sometimes it feels like a tough call to live up to the name ‘honouring God’. That is cross number one. The second cross is like it. At my baptism, someone gave me a book with a Bible reference in it. Now, the Lord has told us what is good.What He requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God (Micah 6:8,GNB).

It matters little which translation you take this from, the thrust is the same.Justice is something to be done – it is part of the requirement of God for those who bear His name. In the preceding verses, Micah gives a hyperbolic description of worship that has gone mad in an attempt to please God. God’s idea of worship is a simple prescription: active justice, constant merciful love, humility with God. It sounds easy but it is hard to make real. It takes all our talk about God and asks us to do something positive and real in our world. It asks us to be active participants in the building of God’s worldview, yet without seeking publicity or praise. It is a requirement that will get us into trouble. Active justice will mark us out from those around us, inside and outside the Church. It will set us over against the powerful and will mean that we antagonise those who say ‘justice’, just as long as it happens somewhere else. It will mark us out from the religious. We will be uncomfortable with worship that

sucks up to God on Sunday and says goodbye to Him at the church door. It is strange that talk of knowing God in action has taken us back to the issue of worship. That should be no surprise. The word worship is about the way we demonstrate our sense of the value,or worth,of God. It is about a demonstration of the importance of God to us. Clearly, this is not something to turn on and off depending on the day of the week or our location. Borrowing from the apostle Paul, let me give you an example from marriage. In the wedding service, we make serious promises of total mutual commitment. Our total love and fidelity for our spouse is not dependent on them being in the same room as us. In fact, our commitment takes on the greatest depth and reality in the times when we are apart and the opportunities to forget are greatest. That is when ‘forsaking all other’ becomes reality. In the same way, worshipping God on Sunday or at our midweek meetings is fine, but the reality test of the worth of God to us comes in the mess and ambiguity of living through the week, in all those choices between good-ish and bad-ish. Our worship is expressed in the supermarket aisles as we eye up pairs of jeans for £4 and ask only if they have our size – not about the manufacturing place or process. God is with us, but may be

Picture: Photostogo.com

Challenge – How many of us are prepared to give up the 10-minute commute from comfortable suburbia to join the local community in their crumbling terraces?

not for us, as we decide where to bank or which coffee to drink, where to live and as we choose schools for our children. There is Christian proclamation as we peruse the recruitment ads or go to the Job Centre. It is good and right that Christians have been at the forefront of the Fairtrade movement and more recently

been involved in campaigns like Make Poverty History. Despite great media coverage and fine promises, there is still much to do. We say that we want to witness to the challenging community that lives near our church but never comes in. How many of us are prepared to give up the 10

minute commute from comfortable suburbia to join the local community in their crumbling terraces? If the Church moved into the neighbourhood, the neighbours might just move into the Church. Tim Heard is pastor of Wirksworth Baptist Church, Derbyshire, and Derbyshire Baptists mission facilitator

WORDS FOR WORSHIP

Airport chaos

The holidays season. Crowded airports. Excited children. Delays. Strikes, fear of strikes and threats of strikes. And then an unbelievable security alert.

So we pray: For groups of people so frustrated because nobody listens to their problem that they are driven to such lengths at a time when they know they can achieve the widest publicity and

perhaps a chance to be heard. For travellers who are inconvenienced, whose holidays are marred, and especially for those who find travel most trying: the disabled, those with young children, and the elderly. For airport staff whose work and free time are disrupted. Especially for those who have to confront the public and sort out the problems to everyone’s advantage, with maximum haste and minimum fuss. For crews whose private lives are also disrupted and threatened but whose

prime concern still has to be a professional job, a cheerful smile and the security of the passengers. For managers, politicians, diplomats and security forces who have to balance the concerns of the few with the needs of the many, and short-term reactions with long-term solutions.

Father, grant to all patience and understanding, enable the strong to support the weak, and help us all to increase our love for those whose suffering is greatest. AMEN

PRAYER FOCUS • BMS WORLD MISSION

Dan’s getting going in Guinea

ANEWBMS World Mission long-term mission worker will join the growing team in Guinea next week, hoping to help expand church youth work in that West African country. Dan Pratt is linking up with BMS partner organisation,the Evangelical Protestant Church of Guinea (EPEG), training its youth leaders and facilitating its varied work with young people. After a year of training,and even longer in preparation,Dan can’t wait to get going. He will spend the first few weeks travelling around the country being introduced to the EPEG youth leaders whom he will be working with.It’s an essential time for Dan to build friendships and see how things work. Dan’s base will be in a village near the town of Kissidougou in the south-central forest region of Guinea, near to the border with Sierra Leone. It’s where fellow BMS long-termers Arthur and Nicky Magahy, and their two children,also live.

He’ll initially stay with a local Guinean family, which will give him a first-hand understanding of the culture. He says, ‘I’m hoping that I adapt quickly to having no electricity, fetching water from the well and fighting off the interesting insects and animals.’ Dan was one of 14 long-term mission workers in training at BMS’ International Mission Centre (IMC) during 2005-06. It not only gave him the opportunity to research his interest of how Christian evangelism and discipleship are applied to Islamic communities in West Africa, but was also a valuable year in terms of preparing for mission. He got to know many people who are passionate about mission and admits he was ‘blown away’ by the level of support that BMS offers to its workers. ‘It is reassuring to know,’ adds Dan, ‘that when I’m in Guinea, there will be a whole network of people back in the UK supporting and praying for me.’

After finishing IMC in June, Dan spent three weeks in Paris at an intensive threeweek French language summer school, which served as an opportunity to brush up on his French grammar before going into a French-speaking situation in Guinea. As well as Dan and the Magahys in Guinea, BMS also has Sarah Hall, a longterm nurse, based at the Medical Centre in Macenta. Project assistant Sarah Harris joining her there in January. Dr Eric Bafende, a BMS-supported partner worker from D R Congo,is also at the centre. For more information, log on to: www.bmsworldmission.org/guinea. Please pray: • That Dan will stay healthy and remain safe, as he travels around Guinea and adjusts to life there. • That relationships between Dan and youth pastors in Guinea will be quickly built, and that culture and language won’t be a barrier to developing these. • For wisdom for Dan in knowing how to develop youth work with EPEG.

WHAT’S ON

Thursday, September 14, London The Beat Goes On JOIN THOUSANDS of campaigners for trade justice just days before Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn attend IMF and World Bank meetings in Singapore.The day will include a march to the Treasury,a rally with speakers and musicians,and prayer.Meet at noon at Geraldine Harmsworth Park,London.Nearest tube station is Lambeth North.For details and to register,log on to Christian Aid’s campaign website:www.pressureworks.org.uk.

Wednesday, September 13-Friday, September 15, Camarthen By the Well A CONFERENCErooted in the historical and day-to-day realities of Christian life in Wales.It will explore challenges facing the churches in Wales,and will offer the chance of sharing experience and ministry and mission.The event costs £170. For further details contact Sion Rhys Evans at the offices of Cytun: sion@cytun.org.uk

Friday, September 22, London The Marriage Conference Designed to equip people to lead The Marriage Preparation Course and the Marriage Course in their home,church or community.The courses are based on The Marriage Book by Nicky and Sila Lee and will be held at Holy Trinity Brompton, London For details,log on to:www.htb.org.uk/conferences, e-mail:htbconferences@htb.org.uk,or call:(020) 7052 0440.

Tuesday, 19 – Saturday 30 September Philip Yancey on tour THIS celebrated author rarely tours Britain,but to coincide with the release of his new book,Prayer:Does It Make Any Difference? published by Hodder and Stoughton,Saltmine Trust is hosting a tour across the UK.The programme will be supported by special guests and hosted by Dave Pope.Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office:(01384) 454808.For a full list of tour dates and venues,log on to:www.saltmine.org.

Saturday, September 30, London Around the World in 60 minutes THE London Baptist Association’s annual assembly is billed as an event for all ages and includes activities for adults and children including worship,prayer,information and inspiration. To be held between 3.30pm-6pm at Haven Green Baptist Church,Castlebar Road,Ealing,London W5 2UP. For further information,log on to:www.londonbaptist.org.uk.
THEBAPTISTTIMES Thursday,August 24,2006

feature • 13

Communion:a feast for all? Who can take part in the Lord’s Supper? Anthony Clarke looks at the open table policy many operate

IHAVEmany memories of communion, but two from my early years stand out. In the first, we visited, as a family, a small Baptist church. After the majority of the service, led by a lay-preacher, my father, a Baptist minister, was approached to lead communion, at which point we children were ushered out. Some years later,at 17,I was staying away from home on my own for the first time, and attended a Baptist church in Cheltenham. I had recently decided to be baptised, and on that Sunday morning I shared in communion for the first time. Who should be welcomed at the communion table has been a controversy for much of our history and one that still brings out strong feeling today. From our origins in the early 17th century, the majority of Baptist churches practiced closed communion – that is only those who had been baptised as believers were welcomed, although there were a few notable exceptions such as John Bunyan. Restricting communion in this way was sometimes described as ‘fencing’the table. The issue was brought into sharp focus at the end of the 18th century onwards with the wider development of an open table – where Christians of other denominations were welcomed. Ministers such as Robert Hall from St Andrew’s Street Cambridge,forcefully made the case for ‘open’communion,the norm today. A typical service in a Baptist church, however, is still likely to ‘fence’the table in a spiritual way. When introducing communion, an invitation may be offered by the minister or leader, often welcoming ‘all those who love the Lord’. Communion is therefore a meal for those who are disciples of Jesus and ‘open’communion means that this meal is open to Christians from all traditions rather than just those baptised as believers. But there are still restrictions, and these concern the commitment and faith of those participating. In reality, in our churches, this is left to individual consciences. The invitation is made, perhaps with a comment allowing people to let the elements pass by,and the bread and wine offered. There is no discussion about the faith and commitment of those participating. But the one area in local church life that often does raise more pressing questions concerns children, especially those who are regularly present and involved. Is communion always celebrated in their absence,and if not are they allowed to participate?

From my conversations with ministers it seems that this is a key area of contemporary practice that continues to question and expand our theology. Children often want to participate and feel rejected when they are not allowed.

So ‘open’ communion is open for some, but not for others. Should this be the case? Our understanding of communion as Baptists has grown over the centuries, and we need such development to continue,not just to respond to the specific requests of children, but to ask again whether our understanding and practice of communion is actually biblically-based. Should communion, practiced as obedience to the command of Jesus, be the meal for some, those already committed, or should it be a feast for all? Let me look at three other commands we find in the New Testament.

Examine yourself One key passage for understanding communion is 1 Corinthians 11. Here Paul records what are commonly known as the words of institution. He also has some very strong words for those who do not treat this meal in the right way and specifically those who eat and drink in an ‘unworthy manner’,(verse 27). This suggests that communion is a very significant matter, and is the normal text used to indicate that the table should be ‘fenced’, so those who are not Christians and who cannot thus examine themselves, do not participate in an unworthy manner. But when we look more closely at the context behind these words, we may come to a very different conclusion. The social context of the day and Paul’s particular language may suggest one or both of two scenarios. Either the rich and wealthy, spared the rigours of work, have met early in one of their homes and, by the time the poorer have arrived after work the rich are well in to both dinner and the breaking of bread. In which case, Paul’s injunction is that they should wait for the others (verse 33). Or, meeting in the homes of one of the wealthy members, those of a similar social standing have eaten, reclining in the dining room, whereas those of lower standing have to eat, probably simpler food, standing in the hallway. Here then Paul’s command, written to the wealthy and powerful, is that they should welcome the others. Either way, Paul’s fierce words are for those in the church who have made a

Picture: Phil Creighton

Meal time – ‘Rediscovering the place of communion in the mission of the Church will actually enhance its place in our fellowships and challenge us to give more time to careful planning of this aspect of our worship’

mockery of communion precisely because they have excluded others. This is the specific reason for self-examination – I have excluded others – rather than a general confession. This is not to say, of course, that we should not engage in a more general process of selfreflection before communion, but simply that this is not what Paul means here. It is ironic then, that a passage that has been used so much to ‘fence’ the table and exclude others from it, was written to address the very situation in which an elite were excluding the rest. It is a passage that has much to say about inter-church relationships, but nothing at all about fencing the table from those who do not believe. In fact it challenges the very idea of a ‘closed’table.

You give them something to eat Communion practice is mainly derived from this passage and the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper. But in seeking to develop a biblical understanding, should other passages be given a greater weight than is normally the case? The Last Supper clearly retains central significance because here Jesus gives new meaning to sharing bread and wine. But the very fact that it is the ‘last’supper alerts us to the fact that it is the climax of many meals recorded in the Gospels. One significant incident is the feeding of the 5,000,which begins in Matthew, Mark and

Luke with Jesus’ challenge to the disciples, to give the crowd something to eat. We cannot but notice the similarity in language, as Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it. But the Gospels are full of other occasions when Jesus shared a meal with people from the whole spectrum of society: dinner at Matthew’s, an evening with Simon the

Paul has some very strong words for those who do not treat this meal in the right way

Pharisee, a meal with Zacchaeus, water at the well with the Samaritan woman. In these incidents, Jesus breaks taboos and challenges the accepted behaviour by offering a radical welcome to those on the margins. And this ties in well with our understanding of communion as a celebration of the Lord’s death,a death for those in need of God’s forgiveness and grace, which Jesus exemplified in his table fellowship. We may also reflect on the way that the Passover tradition that so shapes the Last Supper was deliberately inclusive, as children and guests were gathered into the family. The ‘Last’ Supper, with Judas present, is the climax of Jesus’ practice to welcome and include.

Go and make disciples A third command is the risen Jesus’s commission to make disciples, which will include baptism. It is often assumed that there is a strong connection between baptism and communion, the first being the sacrament or ordinance of initiation and the second of continuation, as is exemplified in many denominations. In some ways it makes sense, with the once-for-all act of baptism coming first. This is particularly true in a Christendom setting, when all would have been baptised as infants. But we must ask what biblical warrant there is for this particular connection between baptism and communion. The answer it seems is very little. We must also ask whether baptism and communion function in the same kind of way. Whereas baptism is a clear boundary marker in which faith in Christ is declared, communion need not act in this way, and has done so through the tradition of the Church. If we were to break this particular link between baptism and communion and allow the two sacraments to stand on their own, the way is open for communion to be rethought.

Communion will always be a significant and ongoing encounter with the risen Christ for those who are his disciples. This is not in doubt. But can it also be more than this? In the light of our brief look at some key biblical passages, and with concern for the mission of the church in

contemporary culture, I urge that it should be. We can think positively and deliberately about communion being a significant place of encounter with God for those on a journey towards God, perhaps near the beginning of this journey, who are not at the point of a confession of faith. In a famous phrase, attributed to John Wesley, communion can be a ‘converting ordinance’. For some in our churches this has been the case, for it was in sharing bread and wine that they first received God’s grace. The concerns of others will be that this will downplay communion and make it less reverent. This need not be the case. Rediscovering the place of communion in the mission of the Church will actually enhance its place in our fellowships and challenge us to give more time to careful planning of this aspect of our worship. It may also help us to think in more creative ways, both about how children are included and grow in the church and how we engage in culturally relevant mission. One example would be using bread and wine in the context of a meal in a home to which others can be invited. Such experiences of tablefellowship link directly back to biblical accounts, not as the end, but as significant points in the journey. So,let us rethink the biblical basis for communion, that an ‘open’ table might really be a feast for all. The Revd Anthony Clarke is a tutor in community learning at Regent’s Park College 􏰀􏰀 see Open Line p9