Context
In a week where there seems to have been much destruction, or destructive influences, we search for hope beyond the destruction.
- Friday, 16th November sees the return of the popular annual BBC charity event, Children in Need.
- Friday also welcomes the UK release of the second instalment in JK Rowling’s magical Fantastic Beasts stories, with the The Crimes of Grindelwald. This film sees teacher and former pupil reunited, as Professor Albus Dumbledore enlists the help of Newt Scamander to stop dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald from driving a destructive wedge between the magical and non-magical worlds.
- This week, in the eyes of many MPs, will signal ‘Judgement Day’ in terms of a viable deal for Brexit, before the fast approaching opportunity for a summit meeting of UK and EU leaders to decide our fate. This is the time when we find out who really speaks for us, as we reach deal-or-no-deal breaking point.
- Wildfires are continuing to destroy everything in their path in the US state of California, and the death toll rises beyond anything on record.
Reflection
Who will change the future? This is the question posed in the pre-release advertising for the next highly-anticipated film in the wizarding world saga, written for the screen by Harry Potter author JK Rowling. However, it is a question that is not irrelevant to our own non-wizarding world as citizens of the UK, when time seems to be running out for the formation of a deal for our future in the withdrawal from the EU. Who will change our future for us? Or, perhaps more significantly, what shape will that future take? Who in the political world will play the devious role of Grindelwald and drive a wedge between our worlds – worlds which, although not without their problems, have been reasonably happy to co-exist until now?
Over the weeks leading up the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, we have been reminded of the importance of honest and true relationships. Alongside those recorded on rolls of honour, we have remembered those who have done so much to build up relationships in Europe and throughout the world between peoples and nations in the wake of two destructive world wars.
Changing the world or the future, one small step at a time, is at the heart of the BBC’s annual charity fundraising event: Children in Need. A combination of entertainment and fundraising, designed to touch the hearts of the populace in the UK and raise awareness to the plight of many children with extra needs, this Friday night’s program will encourage people to give financially. But the giving goes beyond our purses and pockets, as we witness those who make a gift of their lives to support such children. These are people – doctors, nurses, care-workers, family members, and more – who almost magically change a child’s future for the better, while looking for the best in potentially destructive situations. As we watch on Friday evening, I dare say we might feel that we too have received a gift, as we are permitted a small glimpse at their stories.
Jesus sits gazing at the Temple. He is accompanied by Peter and his brother, Andrew, along with the brothers James and John. He talks to them about the destruction of that which is familiar, using constructs of humanity for his illustration. The Gospel writer builds his story around the concrete (or stone!) reality of a building at the heart of the Jewish faith, which in the minds of the disciples will surely stand for all eternity. Within his story Mark builds the metaphor that becomes a reality at the heart of the Christian faith – the destruction of Jesus himself. What do the disciples glimpse of a changing world in that moment as they sit there together, looking across at the Temple? Do they really grasp that they are sitting beside the one who will change the future of the world?
Jesus warned them against those who might mislead or deceive or distract people from the path he was trying to build for his disciples to guide others along. People, sadly, can be unintentionally misleading, as well as deliberately so, and they set others on the path to unwitting destruction. Jesus says to be aware of such people – the Gellert Grindelwald’s of this world. In the latest Fantastic Beasts film, the reason Albus Dumbledore asks the seemingly innocent Newt to find Grindelwald is best summed up in something Dumbledore says to Newt: ‘You know why I admire you, Newt? You do not seek power. You simply ask if a thing is right.’
Part of what Jesus says about wars, earthquakes and famines, on the face of it sounds really wrong! Bad stuff will happen. But, in an almost throwaway remark at the end of Mark 13.8, Jesus implies that God’s new world is waiting to be born. We are called to trust that, have faith for the future and offer to play our part in the story to help things turn out right.
Prayers
Psalm 16 would seem to be a prayer of trust in God, asking for continued protection, possibly arising out of experiences of suffering, distress or destruction. Try reading through and praying the psalm for each different situation in the news this week where there is destruction in one form or another:
- for those whose lives have been destroyed by the wildfires in the US state of California;
- for children or young people who have had their childhood destroyed by illness or abuse;
- for those who mourn the destruction of the relationship between the UK and the EU.
This simple responsive prayer could be used at the end of prayers of intercession.
God who moves beyond the stone walls of temples and churches,
where people are victims of war or political manipulation;
remind us we are brothers and sisters.
Where your children are hurt by abuse,
broken by disease or burdened by disability;
give us compassion to care for each other.
Where communities are destroyed by the forces of nature;
help us to be good neighbours.
Where nations are divided through arrogance or misdirection;
strengthen us to do the right thing.
Today
we gift our lives to you.
Tomorrow
you gift to us the future.
Amen.
Questions
- Reflect on images of destruction in the world this past week. How do we hold on to and live out the vision of Jesus in a destructively messy world? In the face of distress and suffering, where does God in Jesus allow us to see hope? What signs do we see of God’s new world waiting to be born?
- How might the destruction of our church buildings, such as the Temple in Mark 13, enable us to begin to live hope-fully as the resurrection body of Christ?
All-age activity
Ask: Who watched BBC’s Children in Need on Friday evening? What parts of the programme particularly struck a chord with you? Talk about some of those helped by the fundraising of Children in Need. Where something positive grows out of a negative situation, what would you want to thank God for?
Young people
Take a look at the different characters in the new film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and explore which characters have destructive tendencies, how do they exhibit themselves and how do they affect others. If your young people are unfamiliar with this film, try the ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, or any of the stories about Harry Potter. Which characters which we see alongside Jesus in the gospels might be said to have destructive tendencies? How do they affect others and how does Jesus relate to them?
Tim Lowe is a minister of the United Reformed Church, serving with St Andrew’s Roundhay, in Leeds. Tim is interested in all forms of visual media as expressions of exploring faith. He also loves making time to sit down and watch Children in Need with his whole family.
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