‘learning, with our neighbours,
to discover & re-tell our stories within God’s Story’
You can LISTEN to this week's readings and reflections here.
Genesis
2:4b-9
In the day that
the Lord God
made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of
the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for
the Lord God
had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the
ground; 6 but a stream would rise from the earth,
and water the whole face of the ground— 7 then
the Lord God
formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8 And
the Lord God
planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had
formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is
pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of
the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Revelation
22:1-2
22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
A ‘cutting’ of tree wisdom (Genny Tunbridge)
Leaves are (generally) good news for
humans. The fresh green of new leaves in spring inspires us, their dappled
green canopy shades and calms us in summer, the riot of colour in autumn
delights us, and the fallen leaves are fun to crunch through (though some find
them a nuisance!). And they help produce the oxygen we breathe. But all these
are beneficial by-products of the leaf’s purpose and life cycle.
A leaf is a living, breathing solar
panel, creating food for the tree through photosynthesis. Using energy
from sunlight it converts water and carbon dioxide into glucose, producing
surplus oxygen as a by-product. Under the leaf’s waxy protective top layer are
veins, which transport the water and sugar and support a spongy layer holding chloroplasts,
containing chlorophyll, the pigment which absorbs the sun’s energy.
(Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light but reflects the green light, which is
why leaves appear green). The underside of leaves are porous, with stomata
(tiny pores) drawing in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen and excess water.
It seems wasteful that most trees
throw away these little miracles every year, then spend energy growing new
ones, but during cold, stormy winters leaves are potentially dangerous. The
water needed for photosynthesis may freeze, stopping leaves working and causing
serious damage; while a tree in full leaf risks being toppled or broken by a
strong gale. The tree prepares by withdrawing nutrients from the leaves
(including the chlorophyll, resulting in changing colours), storing them in the
roots, then shedding its leaves and going into hibernation until spring.
Introduction to the theme (Al Barrett)
‘Evangelism’ is a word that I’ve spent a lot of my life
avoiding. It too easily conjures up, for me, the idea of pressured sales
techniques, and the kind of street preachers in Birmingham city centre that
shout aggressively through loudspeakers. The word ‘evangelism’ is about sharing
‘good news’, but it often doesn’t feel like good news when you’re on the
receiving end of that kind of thing.
There are a number of reasons why we’ve chosen to link
evangelism with the leaves of the tree. One reason is because it’s
through the leaves that a two-way exchange happens between the tree and the
wider world: leaves ‘breathe out’ oxygen into the atmosphere that we humans and
other animals need to be able to stay alive; but leaves also ‘breathe in’ the
carbon dioxide that we humans produce in such horrifically large quantities.
Trees are the world’s respirator, life support system – which is why we so
desperately need to fight against the deforestation that continues apace. When
the book of Revelation talks about the leaves of the tree of life being ‘for
the healing of the nations’, it touches on a very literal, ecological reality. It
points us towards the shalom (peace, justice, healing) that we’re
seeking for all creation, that’s at the heart of our ‘good news’. But these
‘healing’ leaves are also part of a delicately balanced ecology, a two-way
process of ‘breathing out’ and ‘breathing in’.
Evangelism isn’t, despite the street preachers’ shouting,
about a one-way ‘broadcast’. It’s about a two-way relationship:
listening as much as speaking, learning as much as teaching, discovering as
much as showing. In our ‘growing tree’, we’ve described it as ‘learning, with
our neighbours, to discover & re-tell our stories within God’s Story’. We
approach our neighbours, expecting to learn as much from them as they from us,
expecting them to have God-given wisdom and insights that will stretch and
challenge us. We might have caught glimpses of parts of the jigsaw puzzle
picture of reality that they haven’t – but they will have seen parts that will
come as news to us! We need to journey together, to discover God’s Story
in all its fullness, and to discover how our own stories fit together, within
God’s Story.
Another reason we’ve chosen to link evangelism to the leaves
of the tree is that the particular glimpse of God’s Story that we Christians
have been given is the story told in the pages of the bible: a story which
begins with a story of a garden full of trees, and ends with a vision of a
city, centred around a tree – a tree recognisable from the story of beginnings,
the Tree of Life. And somewhere in the middle of the story there are both a
tree and a garden too, where both death and life come into the sharpest focus.
What might it mean for us, to discover and re-tell our own stories between the
garden and the city, in the company of these trees which mark our origins and
our future? That is the question that we have to consider when we think about
‘evangelism’. It’s a question that invites us to use our imaginations, to get
in touch with our inner poet, as much if not more than the rational, analytical,
scientific parts of our brain. The ‘good news’ isn’t a formula to calculate, an
equation to solve – it’s a story to enter, to explore, to discover, to live and
breathe.
Reflection (Tim Evans)
I wonder what comes to mind when you hear the
world 'evangelism?' In my experience it's a word that many
people recoil from unless they would count themselves as an
'evangelist.' I studied history and you soon realise that evangelism and colonialism have
often been bedfellows. This begs the question about whether is a 'redeemable'
term or one we should potentially move on from.
The biblical image of the evangelist is therefore
perhaps one we have lost sight of when we encounter colonialism, moralism,
social control, emotional manipulation, street preachers, televangelists, alter
calls. In the world of the Bible the term evangelist was simply to describe a
messenger sent from the battlefield who proclaimed news of victory and sought
to bring the experience of that victory to the city i.e who shared that which
was already true in the death and resurrection of Jesus that faith, hope and
love have triumphed over fear, evil and death for everyone and
everything.
My own journey has been a bit of a roller
coaster. When I first became a Christian and for a good few years afterwards I
wanted to tell everyone about my faith and convince them to believe and
experience what I had. I was so excited about my faith, the difference it
had made to me, I felt I had found the key to the meaning of life, that I
took every opportunity to talk about it. I even went to the point of working
for a missionary organisation. But after a couple of years working there,
that's where things began to change for me as I began to ask myself some tough
questions:
1. Was the Christian faith a set of beliefs
which people needed to convince themselves to believe?
2. Was evangelism about rescuing people from the
eternal fiery furnace? Bad news before Good News.
3. Where did my passion and commitment to social
justice fit in?
4. Was getting people to believe what I believed
really about them or making me feel more secure in myself and what I
believed?
5. Working with people, all of whom had stories and
some quite painful to share, the traditional narrow model of sin, free will and
salvation didn't seem to do justice to their experiences of life
6. I knew people of different faiths and no faith
who seemed to act in a really 'Christian' manner and Christians who didn't.
So I left that organisation, found some spaces for
study and reflection, and slowly began to rebuild how I saw my faith and how
it connected with others. Here's now how I might attempt to answer those
questions I asked of myself.
1. The early Christians were called followers of
The Way - more of a journey than a destination, praxis of action and reflection
than getting people to believe a set of propositional truths. We can share our
journey with others not worrying about whether we have it all together or
the answers to every question.
2. The story of God wasn't really about 'heaven and
hell' with evangelism the way you got people from one eternal destination to
another, but about the kingdom now and the kingdom to come in which all things
are ultimately included
3. Social justice (including environmental justice,
racial justice etc) was absolutely intrinsic to what God was up to in the
world. Calling people to serve the cause of justice is evangelism!
4. The truth was that whenever someone I knew
started to follow Jesus it made me feel a little more smug and a little less
insecure! As I have grown older and more secure in myself and my faith, I find
myself more able to simply live a life of integrity. How and who we are is
evangelism. I am always up for sharing perspectives about my faith, but being
really open to being shaped by the perspectives and stories of others.
5. Listening properly and valuing the stories,
experiences and questions of others and trusting that God is present with them.
Where appropriate sharing some of my own story or my understanding of the story
of God and engaging in that reciprocal conversational process where we can
learn and discover together.
6. Noticing the kingdom of God being at work in
whoever and wherever it is to be found, and valuing the culture, traditions,
beliefs, language people want to use to describe how and why they act in the
world.
Our readings are about the tree of life at the
beginning and end of the Bible. Experiencing life in the way God intended
appears to be core to the creation story and the story of the reconciliation of
all things. Peace with God, each other and creation, the vision of Shalom. They
are like bookends. Between those bookends we have the story of the people of
God, the sending of Jesus and the story of the early Church. But we also have
our own ongoing stories and the stories of our family, friends, neighbours and
communities. The interaction of these stories mean that we and all our
relationships are part of that ongoing story of God and discovery of life. Of
course the fact that we are between those bookends means that our stories
are often painful and difficult, that things which are non-shalom are part of
our experience and our stories and we can discover God in those moments
together too.
So my own journey has taken me to a place where I
find hope in the overarching story of God, the reconciliation of all things. I
find comfort in the sense of God being present with us in the now and that the
kingdom of God is present in the world for us to discover in all kinds of
people and places. I find purpose in seeking to be part of that story of
seeking justice, well-being, integrity, harmony that the Bible describes as
Shalom.
What does all that mean for evangelism?
- valuing our own story
- connecting to people, listening to and sharing stories
- exploring the story of God together with our neighbours valuing each of our experiences, perspectives and insights
- trusting that all our stories and the story of the world is caught up in the story of God who renews all things.
What does it mean for you?
Reflection (Ruth Harley)
I don’t
know about you, but I love a good story – whether it’s a film, a book, a TV
programme, or someone telling me about something funny that happened to them
last week, or how they met their partner. There’s something about stories that
draws us in and makes us want to know more, to know what happens next.
Stories and
story-telling are key to evangelism. When we share our faith, we aren’t just
sharing a set of rules to follow, or a set of intellectual statements to assent
to, or even a set of values to live by. We are sharing something of the story
of God and the people of God, the story of our lives and how we have known and
experienced God.
Stories are
powerful things. We are all shaped and formed by the stories we tell – about
ourselves and about others. Every family, every community, every group of
people has a set of shared stories. Often we tell those stories when we get
together. Often we hand them on to our children. Often those stories begin:
“remember that time when…”
Scripture
is part of the shared story of the church, and when we read the bible, when we
revisit the stories we know so well, often we are engaging in that kind of
“remember when…” story-telling. Remember when God let us into freedom… Remember
when God answered our prayers… Remember when we were lost and wondering where
God was… Remember when God did something we never expected to see…
And when we
tell those stories to and with people who haven’t encountered them before,
that’s an important part of inviting people into the shared life of the church,
into the story of God. But it’s not the only way stories work evangelistically.
In Godly
Play, when we tell a bible story, we often ask “I wonder where you are in this
story?” But I sometimes think we should turn that question around “I wonder
where this story is in you?” Because the stories of scripture, the story of
God’s love for us and God’s redeeming, healing, re-creating purpose, is not
just something we remember – it is something that shapes and transforms us, and
which lives in our own stories too.
Part of the
task of evangelism is to be attentive to where God is present in our own
stories and in the stories of our neighbours – to recognise and point out where
God’s story is entwined in the stories people already know and live by. Perhaps
in moments of forgiveness, or peace or joy, perhaps in stories of struggle and
tenacious clinging to hope in the face of adversity, perhaps in everyday
stories of love.
And part of
the task of evangelism is to recognise the stories we are living and creating
right now. When we look back on this strange time, what will be the stories we
tell: “remember when…”? What will be the
stories our neighbours tell? Where – by our actions and words - are we weaving
the love and hope and grace we have received from God into the shared stories
of our community?
Our reading
from Revelation speaks of the leaves of the tree being “for the healing of the
nations”. Our task is to take the great story of God’s healing love which we
have received, to dwell in it and allow it to dwell in us, and to share it not
only by telling and re-telling, but by allowing it to transform the way we
live, so that we are continually creating new stories of healing, wholeness and
hope, in which others may recognise the love of God, and know themselves to be
loved.
5th Gospel (Paul Nash)
At
the children's hospital we have been inspired by the verse from Revelation 22
which talks about "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the
nations" (v2).
The
altar cloth which was a gift made especially for us, picks up this verse and has
been the inspiration for us to have prayer trees during the different seasons
of the year. We have these prayer trees in chapel and also do one for our
annual memorial service. All of these are put together and maintained by
our wonderful honorary chaplains. As patients, families and staff put up
their leaves they not only reflect their prayers but their hopes and wishes and
downright cries of desperation.
Being
able to facilitate the writing of these prayer leaves is one of our expressions
of seeking to communicate to our hospital community, that God is interested in
them, concerned for them, loves them. We have become used to using rituals,
activities as ways of expressing and showing and giving people the opportunity
to respond to God's love for them. These prayer trees and leaves are a reminder
that God is for them not against them, available to them, not indifferent to
their needs. They are missional and evangelistic in their very nature, as they
symbolise the presence of God in places of pain and struggles.
The offer to pray for others is clearly showing a
pastoral concern but it is also an evangelistic resource. This became very
clear to me during my curacy in Aston when we used to go door-to-door in the
multi faith community explaining to people that we were having a prayer meeting
at church and was there anything we could pray for them. in my initial fear and
anticipation, I would have never anticipated the warmth from virtually
everybody we offered this to, and the tears that came to so many eyes that the
church and God was interested in them. The leaves of the trees continue to be
the healing for the individuals in our nations.
Questions for reflection / discussion
As I read / listened to the
readings and reflections for this week…
·
what
did I notice, or what particularly stood out for me?
·
what
did they make me wonder, or what questions am I pondering?
·
what
have they helped me realise?
·
is there anything I want to do or
change in the light of this week's topic?
On this week’s theme – growing evangelistically
(‘leaves’):
·
In
what ways am I noticing myself [or us as a church community] growing evangelistically
(discovering and re-telling our stories within God’s Story) during this time?
·
What
are the things that are helping me [or us] grow evangelistically at the
moment?
- What am I noticing at the moment that it would be good for us, as a church community, to nurture and develop, in the coming months, to help us continue to grow evangelistically?
- What is not happening at the moment, that am I missing, that would usually help me [or us] grow evangelistically?
- Is there anything that is not happening at the moment, that we have an opportunity to let go of?
Any other reflections…
A prayer for this journey:
God our
Maker, Jesus our Grounding, Holy Spirit our Living Water,
in you is our hope, in you is our life, in you we grow and flourish:
in the changes, challenges and uncertainties of our world,
help us to reach down deep, as we root our trust in you;
help us to reach out wide,
in loving connection with our neighbours near and far;
and may we see and share your goodness
as the life of your kingdom springs up in us, around us and beyond us.
Amen.
Activities
/ conversation-starters with young (and not-so-young!) people
- If you are
able to get out, go for a walk and see how many types of leaf you can
spot. Notice the different shapes, sizes, colours and textures. If you are
with others, you could have a competition to see how many different leaves
you can find in a certain time, or over a certain distance.
- Have a go at
creating some leaf-rubbing art. Collect some leaves, and place them face
down underneath a piece of paper. Rub over them with a crayon so that the
outline and texture of the leaves becomes visible on the paper. Experiment
with different types of leaves to see which ones work best. Try using
different leaf shapes to create a picture or pattern.
- This week we
are thinking about sharing stories. How many ways of sharing a story can
you think of? You could include ways that use speaking, writing, drawing,
making, and much more…
- Using one or
more of the story-telling techniques you have identified, try telling a
story:
-
Tell a story from your own life. Try to include something about where
you think God is in the story.
-
Tell a story about Jesus from the Bible. Try to choose a story which
you think has something to do with your life at the moment.
Find somebody to share your story with – either in person, or by phone or Zoom.
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