This week's news
At the time of writing Manchester United’s last match was a 0-3 home defeat to Liverpool, their historic Lancashire rivals at the other end of the Manchester Ship Canal. When David Moyes was appointed last summer, he became the first new leader of Manchester United since 1986, when the pre-knighted Alex Ferguson became Manager.
A knighthood for David Moyes seems an unlikely prospect for one whom many experts consider to be benighted. The vultures are circling overhead as commentators and fans are asking how long he can last. All the time, sitting in the stands, is his predecessor, Sir Alex, looking down stony-faced at events on the pitch. At least Moses had the decency to die before Joshua took over.
A new garden city, to be built at Ebbsfleet, has been proposed by the Government. 15,000 homes are planned on the south side of the Thames Estuary east of the Dartford Tunnel. The location will be able to take advantage of good road and rail links and the Bluewater Shopping Centre. Remarkably, the project has almost universal support; criticisms from opposition politicians are of the nature that this should have happened sooner and that one garden city is not enough. Garden cities were the idea of Ebenezer Howard: Letchworth and Welwyn were the first examples, and they are certainly pleasant places in which to live.
The Ukrainian region of Crimea has voted to secede from the rest of that country and quickly agreed to become part of Russia. The EU and the USA have condemned the referendum as illegal. The ballot paper gave no option for a voter to choose for the status quo to be retained. Sanctions are currently being put in place, although President Putin appears to be unconcerned by the prospect of being unable to travel outside his country.
Rev, the television comedy about an inner city vicar, returns for a third series on Monday. Tom Hollander’s portrayal of the Rev’d Adam Smallbone has been considered by some clergy to be one of the most accurate fictional representations of their life. During this series, Adam will be coping with difficult parishioners as well as the demands of a new baby in the house.
Reflection
Moses, David Moyes and Adam Smallbone are all required to placate ungrateful and unhappy followers.
David Moyes works in an industry in which people quickly fall from ‘hero to zero’. Football is a results-based business and even when a team plays well, if it isn’t winning, the fans and the owner will soon lose patience with the man they have directly or indirectly paid to bring them success. The chant of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ shouted out from the terraces is more often than not aimed at a referee, but sometimes fans sing it at their own manager. ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?’ was the cry to Moses, but it might as well have been ‘You don’t know what you’re doing!’
Vicars are paid less in a lifetime than a top-ranked football manager earns in a year, but many churches demand a similarly unrealistic return on the amount that they contribute via their season ticket (or tithe as we usually call it). If a church fails to thrive, there might be something that the minister can do, but there may well be other factors to be taken into account. People under-performing, and too many old crocks, are hardly David Moyes’ or Adam Smallbone’s responsibility.
Ebbsfleet Garden City is being presented as a land of milk and honey. It will be good if that turns out to be the case, but there will be a long way to go before the new inhabitants get there and form a prospering community. It is inevitable that there will be hiccups along the way.
The Crimean people appear to want to go back to Russia. Time will tell whether the fleshpots of Moscow will taste as good as they remember from the days of the USSR.
Prayer
Our God,
we give you thanks for the lives of those who lead us.
We recognise that just like us
they are flawed human beings
and will not always get it right.
We pray that we will encourage those who lead,
because we believe that
this is what you would have us do,
but also because we know that
they will be more effective with our support.
Our God,
we pray for people who are on the move.
We pray for refugees
who have been moved on from their homes
through natural disaster or following armed conflict.
We pray for those who move from place to place
to find work
and those who are part of a traveller community.
We pray for those who long to move
from inadequate housing
but have yet to find an opportunity to do so.
Our God,
we pray for the people of Russia, Ukraine and Crimea.
We pray especially for those in Ukraine and Crimea
who feel threatened by this new development in their region.
We pray that there will be no escalation
of the aggressive acts that have led to this situation
and that cool heads will prevail.
Amen.
Questions
- Have there been any occasions when you have grumbled about ‘how things used to be’?
- Can you think of ways that you could help those who lead, whether it is in your church, your job or in your local community?
Action
You could watch Rev in a home group and decide how accurately it reflects the life of your church. Do you find Tom Hollander’s portrayal of the vicar to be helpful or unhelpful?
Young People
Moses called the place where Exodus 17.1-7 took place Massah and Meribah, words which mean ‘testing’ and ‘quarrelling’, because that is what happened there. You might like to re-name some places where important things have happened in your lives.
Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film.
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