A year in review
A busy month is now over. We had a wonderful celebration on St Matthias’ day and the celebration of Ascension marked the transitions of the churches seasons throughout the year. In the last week of the month we had the Barnet Multicultural Day jointly organised and hosted by St John’s Church and the Barnet Multicultural Centre, in fact in the course of the last week of May we probably had around 2500 people from our community pass through our doors in two annual events.
There will no doubt be some who think that this is not a good use of our church, there may be some who think that we should not let those who are not Christian use our facilities, be they those of St John or St Matthias, especially if in doing so we have to rearrange our furniture a little bit. The reality is that in both of our churches many who would not normally consider themselves welcome within our sacred space or our property are in fact made welcome.
As I was looking out at the hundreds of people from so many different cultures and religions pass over the threshold of St John’s and thought how sad it was that I have heard many people articulate the view that we should not let people of other faiths use our church, our sacred space, because they would not let us in theirs. When it comes to living our lives or making choices there cannot be many of us who take as our starting point what another community or person thinks or how they behave.
I am reminded of the time when I was talking with a bishop from the Sudan many years ago who told me that what I did not realise living as I do in the west was that when it came to the churches ethical teaching on human sexuality his main concern was what his Muslim neighbours would think of him. Christian morality and ethical teaching is not determined on the principle of what a majority might think is right, or what is the norm in another community, it is based upon the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. Put simply just because some else chooses to behave in a particular way does not mean that I must follow their example, if my next door neighbour behaves in an anti social manner does this mean that I should to should behave in the same way?
There were many wonderful moments and conversations on that busy day at the end of May and here are a couple. One from a member of St John’s who looking out at the church grounds full of people enjoying a spring afternoon in London said “ I love it that all these people are here and the church is full of people enjoying themselves” . At the end of the day speaking to a young Muslim woman she confided to me “I never thought I would ever be in a church as we are taught it is a sin to enter one but here I am” And here is a last thought, this tiny country of England has done so much to shape and change for ever the character and nature of the world, maybe in our own way we still doing this as we celebrate and bring together cultures and religions that have never in all their history stood side by side and looked upon each other as friends.
Peace and blessings