If Jesus was born today, what sort of world would he find?

Twenty-two of us gathered in Chadlington last Wednesday for the last of our series of Advent Suppers, this time on the theme of ‘welcome’ – or perhaps, what it means to offer or receive a ‘well-coming’.  The evening began with a short discussion, during which we considered what the defining characteristics of a welcoming country might be.  Our answers included:

• acknowledging strangers in such a way as to allow communication, even if there are language differences
• showing interest by asking questions in a sensitive, non-aggressive, way
• smiling, and making eye contact
• showing respect and giving dignity
• practical help such as hospitality, and providing information and basic necessities
• being aware of cultural differences eg behaviour normal to us, that might inadvertently cause offence

The TED talk that followed, How to help refugees rebuild their world, was given by Melissa Fleming of the UN Refugee Agency.  It is a strong presentation – and in charting the progress of particular refugees it illustrates well the power of the human interest story to inspire our compassion and empathy (two of our themes from earlier weeks).  It is perhaps human nature to find it easier to respond to individual people or families, whereas the plight of anonymous thousands can leave us feeling helpless.

The talk, recorded in 2014, presented many surprising facts about the ongoing refugee crisis in the Middle East:

• 86% of those fleeing their homes find shelter in neighbouring countries (Lebanon, with a population of just 5 million has 1 million refugees),
• only 14% head for Europe and the West.
• Being a refugee is not a temporary condition – the average length of time is 17 years.
• 50% of refugees are children, for whom there is a scarcity of education beyond primary level.  The lack of funding for secondary, let alone tertiary, education means that a whole generation is being wasted.
• The very people who need resourcing and equipping to rebuild their countries in years to come are being left vulnerable and without hope for the future.

There was plenty of food for thought here to stimulate our discussion during the meal that followed, after which we looked at a number of short bible quotations from both the Old and New Testaments linking the theme of God’s commandments to care for ‘the stranger’ and for each other.  Far-ranging discussion in the groups included consideration of how ‘justice’ can be defined (whose justice is being enforced?); what our responsibilities to refugees might be (do they, for instance, include trying to bring wars to an end?); the effects of changes in society since biblical times with people nowadays more likely to be dislocated from families and places of origin, and the loss of inter-generational living.  As at previous Advent suppers the evening ended with discussion on how to put our responses usefully into practical action.

The series of Advent Suppers has been both stimulating and an excellent opportunity for fellowship.  Special thanks go to all involved in setting up the evenings, those who prepared the hall, cooked and served the very delicious meals and drinks, and washed up.  A Lent series is already being planned!

Marian Needham

ADVENT SUPPER – WEEK  4
16 December 2015

TED Talk – How to help refugees rebuild their world

For discussion before the TED Talk:

What are the defining characteristics of a welcoming country? (Have someone at your table jot down the characteristics you have identified).

Some questions to consider during our meal:-

Discuss your reactions to any of the points the speaker made, and consider the implication for our country, our church community and ourselves as individuals.

Here are some that you might like to consider.

1. What is a refugee/What makes people become refugees?
2. What choices do they have?
3. How extensive is the refugee problem today and where is it concentrated?
4. What responsibilities do we have towards refugees?

If you think we do

What can we do to help solve the problem?

Biblical reflection

God accepts all in Jesus
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations (Greek ethnos), But you have made it a robbers’ den.”  (The word ethnos is the New Testament word for “gentiles.”) (Mark 11:17)

We Were All Baptized By One Spirit
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

Invite the Stranger In
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (Matthew 25:25-36)

Love Your Neighbour as Yourself
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)

Leave Food for the Poor and the Foreigner
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. (Leviticus 19:9-10)

If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us.” (Numbers 10:32)

God Loves the Foreigner Residing Among You
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)

The Sin of Sodom: They Did Not Help the Poor and Needy
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. (Ezekiel 16:49)

Do Not Oppress a Foreigner
Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 23:9)

Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.(Deuteronomy 23:7)

Do Not Deprive Foreigners Among You of Justice
“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:5)

Questions to consider

• HOW DOES WELCOME RELATE TO THE FIRST TWO THEMES OF COMPASSION AND EMPATHY THAT WE DISCUSSED IN OUR ADVENT SERIES?

If Jesus was born today, what sort of world would he find?

A very cheerful and large group gathered for our session this week on What sort of community would Jesus find. We listed to a TED talk by psychologist Sherry Turkle entitled Alone but together – see below for details and questions that we considered. The Bible passage for exploration that followed the talk was 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 in which St Paul examines the body and how each element is related to the whole.

This week people seemed even more relaxed and engaged than last week – with humour playing a very enlivening role at some tables! The talk explored the potential effect that electronic communication and social networking could have on the way people communicated with each other. And how that could affect the way society as a whole worked. Some of us fell more into the category of enlightened electronic Luddites that avid Social networkers, but all acknowledged the potential negative and positive effects that Twitter, Facebook and the like could have. The point raised in the talk about people withdrawing  from company onto their electronic devices where they could create and control their own virtual world, rather than interact with others face to face, had been noticed by everybody. The potential to for this to limit the social competence of  people young and older was also noted.

There was also discussion about whether the fear of intimacy, which had also been raised in the talk, and in the bible passage discussion on how the church worked as a community. Are people fearful of being open to others? Do they expect to engage with others at a deeper level when the join the church community? Does the church encourage and facilitate deeper personal relationships?

There are no slick answers to the challenge of living as a community, especially within the church. Electronic communication had real potential for harm, but equally real potential for building community, if it was used as a powerful and creative tool facilitating and supporting real relationships. There was strong agreement that Jesus would go onto Facebook if he were to come again now, as it would provide a great opportunity for him to reach many.

Next week we will be exploring welcome.   There is still time to sign up – don’t miss out! – you can book your place by clicking here.

Peter Silva

ADVENT SUPPER – WEEK  3
9 December 2015

TED Talk – Connected, but alone?

Some questions for discussion during our meal:-

• Discuss your reactions to some or all of these points the speaker makes, and consider the implications of the situations she describes.‘We’re getting used to a new way of being alone together. People want to be with each other, but also elsewhere – connected to all the different places they want to be. People want to customize their lives. They want to go in and out of all the places they are because the thing that matters most to them is control over where they put their attention.’

  ‘Human relationships are rich and they’re messy and they’re demanding. And we clean them up with technology. And when we do, one of the things that can happen is that we sacrifice conversation for mere connection.’

  ‘And so from social networks to sociable robots, we’re designing technologies that will give us the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. Our ‘flight’ from real time conversation denies the capacity for self reflection.’

   

• Were there any other points that particularly caught your attention? Why? 
• To what extent do you recognise any of the habits, changes and trends the speaker talks about in yourself, and in others you know? What effects has it had on relationships?

Biblical reflection

1 Corinthians 12.12-26

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.

Questions to consider

• What is Paul’s vision for Christian community living in this passage?
• How does it contrast with what’s happening in digital communities and relationships?
• How could we, in the Chase Benefice, respond to the isolation and false connectedness suggested in the talk?
• How can we teach younger people to have and value real conversations?
• Are there ways in which we could use digital communication and connectedness to bring about positive benefits for a community?