Words for Worship

Ministry Today

 The trouble with fire

is you never know

what it will burn.

 

For, as we see

the Olympic torch

going round the world,

we are not sure

for what cause

it is burning

and who might it burn.

 

Well, we might

valuably learn

from a man

who once

had been

a deadly German U-boat commander

in the first world war

before becoming

a Lutheran pastor.

 

During the early Nazi era

it is said of him

that he was

an equivocal opponent

of fascism.

 

Nevertheless in time

his opposition

caused his arrest

and incarceration

in Sachsenhausen and Dachau.

 

Years later,

he agonised over

what he should have done

earlier

and it is these thoughts

that give us

some of the most haunting words

of the 20th Century.

 

Moreover, they are

our warning for today

of the flame of 1936.

 

Here  are these words

in a poetic form:

 

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

 

HYMN…………….

 

Thinking about it,

in the bible,

most disputes

get resolved.

 

For, in a way,

it is not just

the book of God’s relationship

with man

but also God’s will

being eventually done.

 

And the giving into that fact

Of God’s invincibility

in our own lives

may well be the start

of true wisdom.

 

The calm, honourable

and self-offering wisdom

of Abram in this story

read to us by……….

 

First Lesson- Genesis 13.1-11

 

Anthem

 

Now the early church

knew the dangers

and sometimes

the necessity

of disputes.

 

So while it was

in bitter dispute

with the Jewish authorities

in Jerusalem,

they did all in their power

to keep factiousness

far from their own community.

 

And we

therefore

see that they too showed

calm, honourable

and self-offering wisdom

in maintaining

their life-boat community.

 

Here to read to us

of their act

for harmony is…………………..

 

HYMN………………….

 

Chad

 

Sometime ago

friends of ours

called their new born son –

Chad.  

 

And I have to admit

I had never heard

of anyone

being given

that name before.

 

Indeed I knew

this word only to mean

something

that shot to prominence

in 2000.

 

Because chads

became world famous

during

the United States Presidential election

that eventually

saw George w Bush

become the 43rd President.

 

For, if you remember,

there had been problems

with the Florida voting machines

with many not giving

a clean punch

to the electors’ card.

 

The result was that,

overnight,

the everyone

was talking

of the bits of paper

that didn’t come out

that are called 'chads'.   

 

However things then

took a grotesque turn.

 

For sometime

during this shambles

it was noticed

that there

had once been

a Celtic saint

of this very name.

 

Not only that

but this Chad too

had been involved

in a disputed election.

 

Not surprising then

the urban myth

sprung up that Chad

was the patron saint

of disputed elections.

 

Well, myth or not,

Chad’s personal history

has much to say

about disputes

within communities.

 

His example stands

as what we must insist on

from governing powers

in these disputatious times.

 

And his actions too

ever stand

as the Christian way

for our common life

so as to

retain its unity

through the love of Christ.

 

Now Chad was born

in Northumbria,

probably around A.D. 620.

 

He and his  
three brothers

studied at Lindisfarne

under Aidan.

 

However, it was when

King Oswin of Northumbria

called him

to be the Bishop of York

that Chad ended up

in hot water.

 

For the problem

was that Oswin's son

had already appointed

another worthy priest,

Wilfred, to the See.

 

Wilfred nevertheless

had decided on

a rather long sabbatical

in France

and had obviously

switched his cell phone off.

 

Well,  if that wasn’t confusing enough,

the situation then became

even more muddied.

 

Because, Chad was duly installed

using the liturgy

of the old Celtic church

rather than

the newer and now predominating

Roman one.

 

So when Wilfred did turn up –

he found his appointment

usurped.

 

However,

to cut this tale

of dark-age church politics short,

Wilfred chose instead

of rather messily disposing Chad,

to retire to the abbey of Ripon

until the matter

was decided

by higher church authority.

 

And eventually

when Chad was proven

to be in the wrong,

he took the honourable course.

 

For he said

in his letter to Theodore:

"If you know

I have not duly received Episcopal ordination

, I willingly resign the office,

for I never thought myself worthy of it," –

and it was this honourable act

that saved a community’s unity.

 

 

I remember a tale

told by John St John Stevas

when he was

a government minister.

 

For on the day

his party lost an election,

he had to return

to is former ministry

to give back  his official seal.

 

He was conveyed there

in his government car,

the doorman opened the door

for him

and he was greeted throughout

with due respect.

 

But once he handed over

what he had,

he found the official limousine gone

and he had to tap

the self-same doorman

for the taxi fare home.

 

The guard on the British lion

had changed.

 

But here

like clean water

and a stable food supply

is something

we take for granted.

 

And it is

when an election causes

a change of government here –

we have no doubt

that one group of people

will hand over power

to the other.

 

We never fail in Britain

to witness people

showing the same honour

as did Chad.

 

 

But not so

in many parts of the world.

 

For across the globe,

elections

at the moment

are disputed,

rigged or just postponed.

 

People are also

finding themselves disenfranchised,

intimidated and oppressed.

 

And so today’s Saint

has a timely reminder

for us.

 

Because just as Aidan

showed us

the need for love

of the less fortunate

even undeserving,

Chad reminds us

of another loving duty.

 

This time it is to

remind political groups

that in honourably standing down

from office

only nobly  demonstrates

their honour

in having led.

 

It is to challenge governments

who disenfranchise

and intimidate

and oppress

by declaring them despots.

 

And it is to denounce regimes

that deny people

their legitimate expectations

and pronounce them evil.  

 

Yet this command

from Chad’s example

should be no surprise to us.

 

For, while rightly,

we have a concern

for other’s personal salvation,

the Bible calls us

also

to be concerned

about communities’ salvation.

 

And it has to be said

that the only way today

to ensure

a nation’s genuine harmony,

wholesomeness and mutual valuing

is to call for

free and fair elections

respected by all.

 

Because these are indeed

the true weapons

against powerful little men

playing god,

against faceless

and Godless ideologies

perpetrating inhumanity

and against wicked forces

visiting ill

upon the defenceless.  

 

In fact, for us

to demand anything else,

is to ignore

that warning of Niemoller

to ourselves.

 

Moreover,

to keep quiet in prayer

and voice

when confronted

with any totalitarianism

is to learn

the hideous truth of words

that is often

attributed wrongly

to Burke:

 

It is necessary only

for the good man

to do nothing

for evil to triumph.  

 

 But if we leave

the murky business

of politics aside,

what has the Chad story

to tell us

of our personal Christian behaviour?  

 

 

Well, I am pleased

to report that Chad

who made honour

such a saintly quality

did receive

his just reward.

 

Since Theodore

did indeed recognise

in him

a holiness and an ability

that should not be discarded

lightly.

 

And therefore in time,

he arranged for Chad

to become bishop of Mercia.

 

As a result, Chad

is remembered today

for establishing

the church

and now cathedral

at Litchfield.

 

He lived there

in quiet simplicity

until his death

three years later

from bubonic plague

in 672.  

 

 

But mikkleson

on writing of this strange

and far off disputed election

focuses on another man

of saintly honour.

 

Because he suggests

that applause also

needs to be given

to Wilfred.

 

For if we think about it,

his sacrifice was arguably greater

than Chad's.

 

He goes on to say –

remember, Wilfred

came back from Gaul

only to find another priest

serving in his duly appointed place.

 

We don't know how

he handled this news —

whether he made a great fuss,

a small fuss,

or no fuss at all —

but we do know

he retired to an abbey,

leaving Chad to  
manage the bishopric of York

for an additional three years

until  Theodore showed up

to set things to rights.

 

Put another way,

he did not force the issue

to the point

where a sacred community

was ripped asunder

with painful division.

 

If honours are then

being given out

for relinquishing

that which didn't belong

to the relinquisher

in the first place,

there should then be

even greater honours

accorded to the one

who stepped back

from what he'd duly

and properly been appointed to.

 

Here then is the example

we may need to follow

in disputes

in our personal relations

with friends, family and groups.

 

For, of course,

we have the right

to state our case plainly.

 

But then

in the interests

of a greater harmony,

we may like Winfred

need to step back

and wait for right

to be seen on our side.

 

For, to do so,

is to retain

an often fragile harmony

which those less strong

desperately need.

 

To do so,

despite being vexed,

is to keep calm

and confident communication

going

just like a Celtic saint.

 

And to do so

is often to stand aside

to make room

for another’s greater will –

and that is

of course

Jesus Christ’s.

 

Since in the end,

to do so

is to prove wrong

pastor Niemoller’s

second pronouncement:

 

Ask the first man you meet

what he means

by defending freedom

and he will

privately

say

defending his standard of living.

 

 Let us resolve then

to pray persistently

and speak up confidently

for those

who are involved

in disputed elections

or seek legitimately

the real freedoms

such elections would bring.

 

Let us also

make up our minds

to learn afresh

from Chad and Wilfred

in our personal relationships.

 

And that is to know

when to stand firm

and when to step down

even when

we are in the right

so as to allow God salvation.  

 

Therefore,

resolutely and unequivocally decided,

let us pray

lovingly

a short prayer

that has been dedicated

to Chad’s memory

and indeed Wilfred’s example.

 

 

Almighty God, for the peace of the church,

your servant Chad  
relinquished cheerfully

the honours

that had been thrust upon him,  
only to be rewarded

with equal responsibility:

Keep us, we pray,  
from thinking of ourselves

more highly than we ought to think,  
and ready at all times to step aside for others,

that the cause of  
Christ may be ever advanced.  

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN……………

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
  

 

 

Chad’s Honour