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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Everyone’s Invited

God’s invitation to the best world for everyone (Mark 9.38-50).

Context

• Pen Farthing’s animal rescue operation from Afghanistan is being investigated while UK nationals and former interpreters who weren’t evacuated feel abandoned.
• Amnesty International calls out COVID vaccine inequality as the UK’s Business Secretary warns of a harsh winter for poorest families in Britain; PM assures us it’s a short-term problem.
• China announces it will stop funding coal-fired power plants overseas and a Cornish hospital turns PPE into litter pickers.
• Michaela Coel urges writers to be bold and dedicates her Emmy to all survivors of sexual assault as Prince Andrew is served papers for sexual assault and specialist survivor services continue to see a rise in reporting; while musician, Frank Turner, invites us to ‘Be More Kind’.

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

• ‘Write the tale that scare you, that makes you feel uncertain, that isn't comfortable. I dare you.’ Michaela challenges us in her Emmy speech. Survivors like her, and Virginia Giuffre, and the 54,000 young people who’ve shared their stories on Everyone’s Invited, are facing their fears and their tales may makes us feel uncomfortable. Is that discomfort one of the stumbling blocks Jesus was talking about? Yet victims of child abuse and sexual violence are surely first of the little ones that come to mind. How do we bring God’s safety and love to victims of abuse?
• Who’s invited into God’s Kingdom? Everyone, says Jesus. Yet often we seem to create situations where we have to choose between the important and the unimportant, the deserving and the undeserving, even animals and people! Is another stumbling block the fact that we are creating hierarchies of need, rather than doing our best for everyone? What is our role in creating a society, a world where resources are distributed fairly – from vaccines for poorer countries to those facing fuel and food poverty at home this winter?
• And as nations gather at the UN Assembly, climate change features again, perhaps the biggest stumbling block facing our world right now. From green energy to recycling PPE, we can all play our part; can we also be brave at holding our leaders and corporations to account for their part in making this world the best it can be for everyone? If greed is at the root of many of these issues, is that the kind of barrier Jesus meant lies between us and God?

 

Questions for discussion

• Who are the people and groups who are not invited to the world table at the moment?
• How can we make our communities safer for children and others experiencing abuse?
• What are the main stumbling blocks you see between the world right now? Between you and God?

Jane Chevous is an activist, writer and sailor, and co-founder of Survivors Voices. She researches and writes about abuse, theology, mental health and the sea.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

Along with half of the country, I was glued to the US Open Tennis, earlier this month. Emma Raducanu’s meteoric rise to super-stardom was thrilling to watch.

In the aftermath, it was striking that Britain – a nation which has recently imposed tighter restrictions on immigration – opened its arms and hearts to a young woman born in Canada, to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother.

This is not intended as any kind of comment on our government’s policies, but it seems to me that life becomes fuller, richer and more exciting when we welcome people from outside our own little group. On the other hand, shutting out everyone from outside makes life smaller, darker and meaner. We’re seeing that in Afghanistan.

In Mark 9.38-41, Jesus’ disciples notice that someone from outside their group is casting out demons in the name of Jesus. They’re shocked and they try to stop him, because he’s not one of them. But Jesus points out that even though this man is not one of their ‘crowd’, what he’s doing is great. In fact, God is at work through him.

In a world where opinions seem to be becoming more and more polarised, people are often suspicious or hostile towards those who look, think or behave differently from them. We might fall into that trap ourselves. But perhaps we would actually benefit from being more welcoming towards people we don’t normally associate with – at school, at college or at work, for example. It’s just possible that God might be doing something in them, too.

Questions to think about

• Who outside our own little groups might God want us to welcome?
• What might he be doing already in and through those people?

Written by Simeon Whiting, a freelance writer, based in Birmingham.

 

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