“Remove not the ancient landmarks” Proverbs 22.28 By the phrase “ancient landmarks”, I guess the author of the Book of Proverbs was referring to stone markers like cairns which may have marked out ways for journeying through rough terrain, or markers erected to denote boundaries showing the demarcation lines between different people’s lands. We still have some ancient landmarks of crosses in some moorland landscapes. However, we use the word “landmark” to refer more commonly nowadays to events, as well asstructures, buildings, monuments. So, Remembrance Sunday is a landmark. A significant day in the life of our nation. The war memorial is a landmark in many of our towns and villages, and church buildings remain so, for example. So, we might give directions to a traveller by reference to such landmarks. And 12 months ago no one among us would have even heard of the new landmark Coronavirus or Covid19. “Remove not the ancient landmarks” sounds like something someone passionate about history might say. Well 37 years ago this Autumn I headed off to University to read History. So, I might be a little biased about such things. The year 2020 will go down in history as the year of corona virus. A landmark year and that is before we know the election result from the US Presidential election. As a boy I remember some old men who had served in the First World War. I remember one particular chap who used to frequently complain to my grandad about his feet and his lack of funds (both were retired ironstone miners) “No wonder he has bad feet”, my grandad would say, “he fought in the water-logged muddy trenches of Flanders field!” This reminds me of the poem by Wilfred Owen “Dulce et decorum est” which mentions the bootless soldiers marching towards rest, and the horrendous conditions in the trenches. “many had lost their boots but limped on, bloodshod. All went lame…”. My connection with past conflicts is slim but I remember with pride taking the funerals of some old men in their 90’s when I first began as a minister 29 years ago including one who had fought in a Cavalry Regiment in the First World War because they still fought with horses in WW1. My own grandfathers did not see active service, either too young and still at school, or too old and both in any case in reserved occupations as a miner and farmer. My maternal grandfather did send a Cleveland Bay horse he had bred and trained from a foal to the western front that he sold to the army in 1916. There is a photograph in the family album to prove it! I had great uncles who served in WW1 (one was gassed and never was a well man afterwards) and uncles who served in WW2. Others served in the Home Guard whilst at home in reserved occupations of farming. One served in what was called the WarAg (County War Agriculatural Committee) . My father did his National Service beginning in 1949 with the East Yorkshire Regiment and was stationed in Graz in Austria at the time of the Cold War with British troops tasked with keeping a close eye on the Russians. My son has just gone earlier this year as a recruit in the Royal Corps of Signals and is undertaking training at Blandford Forum at the moment. Today we remember and salute those who served in conflicts past and especially those who made the supreme sacrifice and did not return but gave their all is the service of freedom whose memories we cherish and whose names are recorded on our war memorials here in our towns and villages who served in the British Army, RAF and Royal Navy. I have had the privilege of conducting funerals of some who served in conflicts past. Landmarks, however, are about other challenges too. We live in a world where coming into sharp focus this year have been the “Black Lives Matter” campaign, the deaths of George Floyd and others, the deep divisions in our world and not just in the US with whom we watch and wait for what the next political chapter might bring. The stories of Black History Month and the struggle here in Britain for people of colour to be truly welcomed and feel they truly belong is a work still in progress. All that has been experienced has not been good. And the beheading of French Teacher Samuel Paty as an act of terrorism sparked by a history lesson on tolerance and freedom of expression. And last week three people stabbed in a Church in Nice in France, just because they were Christian. And this week in Vienna, Austria another terrorist attack with a man with Islamic State sympathies killing people at random as they went about their ordinary daily life. As human beings we do not always deal well with those we perceive as different from ourselves be that in colour, race, religion, sexuality, identity. And we have seen landmarks torn down this year of memorials to characters from the past whose stories we are now seeing in a different light. So, Edward Colson’s statue was torn down in Bristol because of his links with slavery and Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College Oxford is under review. His future looks a bit trepidatious. And the latest domestic issue of free school meals in school holidays has brought to the surface some passionate expressions by footballers, authors, actors as well as politicians. Views on the free school meal children’s food in holidays may yet prove to be a landmark. The issues of north-south divide in England seem also to be raising their heads again. The landmarks of peace and justice, of respect for every human life, for life itself and the life of our fragile planet and the causes of climate change calamity brought to our attention by people like Greta Thunberg addressing the UN and other voices like Sir David Attenborough and Lord Sumption on issues in British society too are landmark events. We need to fight for a greener, cleaner, more sustainable planet that we and future generations can enjoy and thrive on and in. We need to make a stand for the landmark values of tolerance, freedom and democracy. Covid19 has brought into sharp focus how vulnerable we are as human beings and how dependent we are on others who offer care and support to us in our need. The creation of the NHS was a landmark event and we rightly have saluted NHS workers this year in a way we have perhaps taken them so much for granted in the past. No more needing to pay the doctor if we are sick and worrying about the cost of contacting the doctor when we feel ill. So, I wonder what ancient landmarks you might not want to see removed from our societies, and what we are going to do to preserve those landmarks, to value them, cherish them, protect them and teach them to the next generation? For this is a work for every single one of us, of passing on the values and guiding principles that really matter. May the landmarks we set down guide our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren into a better world.

Hebs 12 1 “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”

The Bible is full of corporate, communal images. It has lots of stories of individuals but essentially God makes a covenant with a people. Jesus deals with individuals in their various needs but he gathers together a community of disciples. It is that little word we that I want us to focus on. Today is All Saints’ Day , a day set aside for the Church to remember a much neglected doctrine of the communion of saints, something affirmed in the words of the Apostle’s Creed. Sometimes when I hear some Christians speak about a loved one who has died they often give them impression that they have gone to be with the Lord, which is correct of course, but they speak of it as if no one else will be there, just them and the Lord. This seems a far cry from those Biblical images of how well populated heaven might be. Or take Jesus’ words like those recorded in John 14 “in my father’s house are many rooms”. The fact that there are many rooms does of course suggest there are other guests there. Our loved one’s don’t go there to be alone. Like a guest house or hotel or hostel with many residents. So, I offer a bit of a corrective to some people’s thinking. The reality might be that there are those there we are not expecting. Just think of those famous words of Psalm 23- “you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”. Just think of it in this way for a minute. You get to heaven to find you are sat next to your most bitter enemy- for all eternity! It is a sobering thought.

“Since we are surrounded by do great a cloud of witnesses”, notice the plural word “we”, the corporate communal subject, “we” are surrounded not “I”. The Methodist minister and writer of numerous spiritual books, J Neville Ward, once said “you can’t have Christ without the whole catholic Church”. For as Charles Wesley wrote Christ and his members are one. I am, of course, well aware that some Christians can irritate other Christians, but such brothers and sisters are as much a part of Christ’s flock as those we find it easy to get along with because they share our views. To be a Christian is about being part of a corporate group of followers, journeying together. It is not to a solitary vocation that Christ calls us, but to live in community both here on earth and continuing in heaven. By baptism we become part of the Body of Christ, the Church and this never ends. As we used to say in the 1936 Book of Offices Service from BCP “we are very members incorporate of the mystical body of thy son which is the blessed company of all faithful people”. Not a random collection of individuals, a company, wielded together into a body. This is part of the reason why not being able to share in fellowship, as we have previously known, is so hard for many of our folk. We are a communion of saints. Some of us may recall those memorable words of Margaret Thatcher that “there is no such thing as society” which sounded quite odd, given she was raised a Methodist where up to 1976 we used to call our congregations societies with the society meeting and society stewards elected from it. She can’t have been paying much attention at Finkin Street in Grantham in the days of her youth!

So here we are All Saint’s Day 2020. And it is not quite like any other. For this particular year we have experienced mass deaths from the Covid 19 virus, the like of which none of us have seen before. Not since the 1918 influenza epidemic which claimed thousands of lives, this epidemic has claimed millions and over 45,000 deaths in this country so far. Most of us will have known people who have died from it or being affected by it. Other loved ones we may have lost, and we have been unable to attend funerals as we would have wished, with restricted numbers permitted. I lost an aunt in April and we could not go to her funeral. Many people will be grieving without the usual opportunities to grieve with a down-sized farewell of a funeral and no gathering for refreshments and conversations with family and friends, with no chance of the local community gathering to bid farewell as in more normal times.

Even for ministers the need to undertake the gleaning of information over the telephone rather than a physical visit to a family has been part of the new arrangement.

And we are not immune from loss of loved ones too. On the days around this season many churches have special services where those who have lost loved ones are invited back to remember them with thanksgiving. I have lost two aunts and one uncle this last year and a very dear friend. I miss them all, of course. And yet the text I chose reminds us that we are surrounded by such as they, as we journey onward. The imagery of the great cloud suggests something of a presence which is different from physical presence of family on friends on terra ferme but has some similarities. You might not like crowds but most of us will have been part of one at some stage. Perhaps as part of a crowd at a sporting fixture or a concert or other big event. I remember going to a Sixth Round FA Cup Replay as a schoolboy when Middlesbrough played Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux- part of a crowd of 41000. And I have been at Test Matches at Headingley when England played the West Indies with that an even larger of number and Murrayfield when England played and beat Scotland. But the biggest crowd of a non- sporting variety I remember being part of was the Papal Mass for the Beatification of John Henry Newman by Pope Benedict XV1 at Cofton Park in Birmingham. It was even bigger than the top tent at Cliff College on Whit Monday or the first Methodist Ordination I attended at The Avenue, Middlesbrough in 1983 whilst still in the sixth form, when the organist played a wrong metred tune to a hymn that didn’t fit. We had no tickets and only got in because my mother challenged the door steward with how many time’s he had enjoyed a dinner at her parent’s farm when grandad was society steward at Lealholm and he had come as a visiting preacher.

For me it is in worship that I feel closest to that cloud of witnesses that surround us. And particularly when in celebrations of Holy Communion when the communion of saints is most real to be, when the gossamer veil is removed and the thinness of the distance between heaven and earth is shortest. When we recite the Nicene Creed we begin with the words “we believe” and are one with all who profess the faith.

So, as we celebrate All Saints day today and All Soul’s day tomorrow. As we remember all those who have gone before us and cheer us on our way, like the roar of the crowd of home fans at a sports match. Like the swell of the organ and the great alleluia sounding forth from a congregation of joyful worshippers. As we used to sing from MHB “Sing alleluia forth in duteous praise, O citizens of heaven and sweetly raise, an endless alleluia”.

Our Calling: Evangelism (2 Kings 5: 1-14 & Acts 8: 26-40) This morning we’re considering our call to evangelism. Something we believe we are called to both collectively and individually. I wonder how many of you are sitting somewhat uncomfortably at home right now? Feeling a little nervous? Perhaps even tempted to switch off? From conversations with those exploring membership, I know that it is consistently this aspect of Our Calling that people find most challenging, maybe even scary, that they are unsure about and have the most questions on. Whether that word, evangelism, fills you with dread, or whether it excites you, I hope you’ll stick with me as we explore it this morning! I wonder how many of you when you hear the word evangelism get a picture in your mind of someone standing up preaching in public? Maybe that’s not a good picture – perhaps you’re thinking of someone standing on a street corner shouting to try and get the attention of shoppers hurrying by (something that always makes me cringe as it seems to be thrusting something uninvited on someone reluctant). Or maybe it’s a more positive picture – a preacher you’ve heard in chapel who has inspired you. I suspect that many of us get a picture of someone like Philip with the Ethiopian. Something that involves a definite call, a moment of inspiration by the Spirit, a particular passage of scripture that needs to be shared and explained, and a specific outcome – a conversion moment. Perhaps, as we hold that picture of Philip in our minds, we think we could never do that. We don’t have the confidence, the personality, the words, to stand up in front of a group of people and preach. We think we haven’t got the knowledge needed to explain something like Philip. In his letters to the early church Paul describes evangelism as a gift. He identifies evangelists as having a particular calling. Time and again throughout the Bible we see God calling people to do things they never thought they could do, that they tried to make excuses for, that they tried to run away from. But eventually they discover that as God calls them to something, so God equips them by the Spirit, to speak or to act in the ways God is asking. God sees not just who they are now, but all that by the power of God’s Spirit they can be. Maybe as I’m speaking now you sense this is what God is asking of you (however much you don’t want to hear it). Maybe the example of Philip captivates you and excites you and God is speaking to you through that inspiration. As we rethink church, and discern what God is asking of us, are you being called to evangelism in this way? To public preaching? If so, test that out with others, speak to me or Chris about how you can explore this more. So does that mean the Methodist Church has got it wrong? If Paul describes evangelists as having a particular calling then can most of us can breathe a sigh of relief because evangelism is for someone else? Well, no! Evangelism is also about personal testimony. We are called to make more followers of Jesus Christ through working out our faith in daily life and sharing Christ with others. For most of us, the picture of the girl in the story of Naaman is probably a more helpful picture of evangelism to have. This young girl, maybe thirteen or so, has been captured and taken away from her land, her people, her family; from all that she knows. Now she serves Naaman’s wife; the wife of the commander of the army that captured her. She’s in a strange place, among a people who believe different things, no doubt made to work hard and with nothing to look forward to other than a life of slavery. Does she must wonder where God is in all this? Maybe, probably. But there is still faith. When she hears of Naaman’s leprosy, she says to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” One simple sentence that communicates her faith – there is a God, a God can be trusted to act for good, a God interested in foreigners and non-believers, a God who is more powerful than the forces which carried her away. This is her testimony – in spite of everything, she still believes in a faithful God of compassion. And Naaman, his household, the army, the King of Aram, as well as the King and people of Israel, come to know this too. There are many commentators who suggest that Jesus’ words to his disciples at the end of Matthew might be better translated not as “go and make disciples” but as you are going, make disciples. In other words, just what this young girl was doing. As you go about your ordinary daily lives, help make other followers of Jesus. Some of us might do this by public preaching, but all of us can do this through the stories we share with those around us. Like the young girl, a simple sentence that shares our faith in the God we trust. Which means of course, that evangelism is something for all of us! And if this is what evangelism is – the sharing of our personal testimonies about God in simple sentences in the midst of our daily lives – what might we say? Perhaps this is why evangelism makes so many uncomfortable, for it confronts us with what we really believe. Who is this God in whom we claim to trust? For whether it’s in public preaching or personal testimony, evangelism is about sharing the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ. Perhaps this is where we see the various aspects of Our Calling interlinking with each other – if we never take time to reflect on the God whom we worship, then perhaps it’s not surprising that we fail to find the right words or have the confidence to share with those whom we care for or serve, the reason for the hope we have. Like the little girl, these words don’t have to be long or complicated. They only need express our hope, our longing, our trust. We don’t need to have all the answers, or be able to explain everything, only to honestly talk of the God we know. And in this I’m reminded of a story about Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message Bible, author of more than 30 books, professor at Regent College, and pastor. Despite all the words he wrote and spoke, at his funeral two years ago his son said that his dad had fooled people – his books had only one message, words he had snuck into his bedroom at night to say over him as a child; “God loves you. God is on your side. He is coming after you. He is relentless.” Like the words of the girl to her mistress, this whisper into his son’s ear is evangelism. This is a task to which all of us are called – what is the one message that your life whispers into the ears of others? How would you describe the good news we each have to share (so you are ready to share it when the opportunity arises)? The Church exists to make more followers of Jesus Christ • Do we have a clear message? Are the words we use straightforward and meaningful to those outside the Church? • What attracts others to the Christian faith? Are there initiatives we could take to present our convictions? Can we do this with Christians of other denominations? Where should the focus be – on church premises, or in the community? • How can we learn about effective witness from Christians in other cultures? • What can we do to make our premises more welcoming? • Should we consider planting a new congregation in this locality? What are our plans and targets for making more followers of Jesus Christ over the next year?

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mark 10.45 We have all met people who are full of their own importance and we know what reaction rises within us as a response to such displays. Jesus’ disciples were not immune from such weaknesses. Even in the community of faith there are some funny characters! James and John sidle up to Jesus and asks a favour. They want to have the best seats when the kingdom comes. And Jesus has to explain to them that they do not know what they are asking for. They have got the whole thing all wrong. To truly follow Jesus is about serving, about giving of oneself over and over again “to give and give and give again what God hath given thee, to spend thyself nor count the cost to serve right gloriously” wrote Geoffrey Antekell Studdert-Kennedy (better known as Woodbine Willie, the first world war chaplain), because of his practice of handing out Will’s woodbine cigarettes to desperate soldiers in the trenches. Though the gospels of Mark and John are different (that is a question for another day!) the fact that Jesus demonstrates over and over again this important lesson right up to his last night with his disciples shows they were so slow to catch on to his message. At the last supper Jesus gets up from the table and takes off his outer garments, girds himself with a towel and wielding a basin of water kneels to wash his disciple’s feet. There is some protest from Simon Peter. He knows something is wrong here. It doesn’t feel right. Jesus is Lord and Master and yet he performs the most menial of tasks (usually the job of the lowest rank of servant for guests who enter a house). And yet here Jesus is teaching the disciples a great lesson. I love the story of A.E.Whitham (one time President of the Conference) recorded in Gordon Wakefield’s book entitled the Liturgy of St John. Whitham once had a dream, that he was a tourist in heaven and wandered into the museum of that Holy City “There was some old armour there, much bruised by battle. Many things were conspicuous by their absence. I saw nothing of Alexander’s nor of Napoleon’s. There was no Pope’s ring, nor even the inkpot that Luther is said to have thrown at the devil, not Wesley’s seal and keys, nor the first Minutes of Conference or the last… I saw a widow’s mite and the feather of a little bird. I saw some swaddling clothes, a hammer and three nails, and a few thorns. I saw a bit of a fishing net and the broken oar of a boat. I saw a sponge that had once been dipped in vinegar, and a small piece of silver…Whilst I was turning over a common drinking cup which had a very honourable place, I whispered to the attendant, “Have you not got a towel and basin among your collection?” “No”, he said, “not here; you see they are in constant use”. Someone once said to me that Methodists did not wash feet on Maundy Thursday and I quickly drew their attention to the rubric in the Conference authorised Worship Book to the service for that day which clearly states that the service “may continue with the washing of feet”. As so often is the case, we are quick to dismiss something we have never experienced and quick to jump to the conclusion that all churches are just like ours. That our experience of Church is the norm. We base our assumptions on what our experience is and think we can from that deduction make a generalisation. Often our generalisations are sweeping. I once had a church where after I received a Papal Chalice following the visit of Pope Benedict XV1, having attended the Beatification Mass for John henry Newman as the official representative for the York & Hull Methodist District and used the said chalice in a service. I was lambasted in the church council by someone who told me that Methodists had always used little glasses for the communion wine. Now to a bit of a church historian this was like a red rag to a bull. Now since little glasses were not invented until over 100 years after John Wesley’s death, the premise of my friend on the church council is rather hard to defend. Many of our churches are full of chalices from current and former church buildings which at least indicates they had them. For close on 100 years since the first Methodist society was formed Methodists used chalices for the wine. If we were to go back 125 years we would not find any use of individual glasses in Methodism because such a bizarre novelty did not exist. For most of my thirty years in the ministry I have counted it an immense privilege and a highlight of the year to wash feet at the Maundy Thursday liturgy. And am saddened that so few Methodists appreciate the richness of this sacramental action- “for service too is sacrament”. Centuries ago the monarch used to wash feet at the Royal Maundy Service but the condition of people’s feet was regarded as a bit problematic and so giving coins instead with the monarch preceded by a nose gay bearing servant in case the people and their feet stinketh, was an innovation. So, what do we make of this call to serve? The Church exists to be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice is the strap line heading of this section of the Our Calling document. Then follows a series of questions about how we might discover the needs of our local community, how we can better get involved in community groups, how we can challenge injustice in the world and use our premises for the good of the community. We have some very good examples of these things being done in the life of our circuit, but we probably could do better. There is room to improve our community involvement. So, I wonder what plans and targets we might be ready to make? I love the story of CK Barrett whom many will remember in these parts, a Methodist preacher and Doctor of Divinity at Durham University with academic awards and accolades a plenty, a prolific NT scholar and author of many commentaries and books, whose writings will have helped many of us listening today. He was once asked what the greatest honour he had ever had bestowed upon him. He replied that it was to go to the little village chapels in the pit villages of the Darlington District and proclaim the gospel of all redeeming grace. That sounds to me like a man who knew what it meant to serve. I know this to be the case having heard him many times from childhood when he visited annually Skinningrove in honour of his father’s first visit in a horse drawn caravan to conduct a mission in that mining village. As St Francis said many more centuries before “it is in giving that we receive”. When we serve we find all sorts of surprizes and blessings. So with Woodbine Willie, CK Barrett, and countless other disciples of Christ may we give ourselves in the service of Christ, in myriad ways and find blessing in so doing.