Metro Lyfe

Again, there were 6 or 7 people present and the conversation over coffee and muffins was light and general. We turned to conversation about the significance of a risen Lord by looking at an image of the empty tomb which was reproduced on a small card. The image was from the perspective of someone from within the tomb, looking out through the entrance to the world outside. The image prompted discussion not so much about the tomb and the events of Easter morning, but rather about what the world now looks like seen from within the tomb. What was the impact of resurrection upon the world which we attempted to survey from the perspective of the Jesus who arose and prepared to go from the vacated tomb into the waiting world. What impact does the empty tomb have on our world, and how can the knowledge and experience of the resurrection in our lives impact the world we inhabit? We considered areas where death and decay seemed to be at work and the opportunity we had to witness there to the light and life of Christ. We recalled the plight of those who were victims of injustice and hate and recognised that Christians living in the light of the resurrection of Jesus needed to be actively at work to offer hope and love as well as challenging the systems which oppress and dehumanise. Our prayers, spoken aloud, were for those around us, that the renewing power of the risen Christ would reach into their lives and needs.

Metro Lyfe

Phillip Yancey’s book ‘What’s so Amazing about Grace,’ is an eye-opening book on many counts, but as I think about our work here I am reminded of a powerful illustration he uses. The missional task is not to cleanse the sinful atmosphere with the exterminating spray of the pest-control agent but rather, as dispensers of grace, to fragrance the atmosphere with the atomiser of the perfume jar. (p. 158)

Metro Lyfe

Following a recent visit to the Bluewater shopping mall in the Thames Gateway area, I have been struck by the similarities between the Metro Centre and Bluewater. On tghe web there is an interview with Malcom Cooper, the chaplain there who talks about the challenge and opportunity of witnessing within an environment not of spiritual desolation, but replete with spiritual awareness and potential:

There was a rather uncomfortable time when Bluewater opened. One bishop declared it a Temple of Consumerism. I didn't like that approach. Yes, the building may have things that look like church steeples, but they are not. And once you start putting labels on places you are on dangerous ground.I'm not saying Bluewater is necessarily a 'clean' place, but it is a place where the human community meets, and where there is humanity, there is God. The clerical community ignores that at its peril. Some of my brothers and sisters in the clergy do not agree with me. Some believe I am sleeping with the enemy by working here. Others, thankfully, share my view. I don't believe you need to be sitting in a pew to talk to God - you can just as easily be in Marks & Spencer. There's folk that think places like Bluewater must be Godless places. But if we believe God is anywhere we have to believe he is everywhere.

Metro Lyfe

Our focus at today’s Metro Lyfe gathering continued to be the cross. Liz had prepared some images of the crucifixion on small cards based on those in ‘The Christ we Share’. These stimulated some profound reactions in people who talked about the images which spoke most powerfully to them about the death of Christ. In particular a number of people were deeply affected by images which portrayed the raw pain and extreme distress of Christ. Others were moved by the variety of images of Christ coming from different ethnic backgrounds and were struck by the universality of this Christ and the power of his cross to touch people in whatever context. To study such evocative mages of the suffering of Jesus in the midst of a Starbucks coffee shop seemed at one level incongruous – the enormity of Christ’s agonising and universal suffering at Calvary seemed too grand a theme to be considering over coffee and muffins while people nearby read the daily papers and laughed at jokes. And yet at another level it seemed the most appropriate place of all to be engaging in this act of devotion around the cross, for it took place at the very centre of human life and experience, not removed from it. On this occasion there were 6 or 7 people present, of different backgrounds, and the concluding prayer time took the form of silently praying that the transforming power of the cross of Jesus would touch the lives of those around s and those passing by on the way to Primark and HMV.

Metro Lyfe

Met up with Rachel Deigh, a Methodist Minister in Croyden. Rachel and a small group are meeting every Sunday afternoon in a coffee shop in Croyden and attempting something similar to Metro Lyfe, but in an independent coffee shop. We talked about some of the specific activities we had used to engage people with faith issues and to explore spirituality, in terms of resources (ice-breakers, discussion starters, multi-sensory activities etc). Rachel’s experience is similar to ours, that the beginnings of the venture are painfully slow and small.

I have to keep reminding myself that when we are trying to engage with unchurched people in the course of their everyday lives we can’t expect rapid results. We need to recognise that there are no short cuts, but that being incarnational means taking time and coming alongside people with a genuine concern for them as people whom God uniquely loves and not as potential for a church we are determined to establish for its own sake. This needs to be done for the sake of the Gospel, for God’ glory and the furtherance of his purposes, and out of love for those we seek to reach. And I reflect also on the need to combat a desire to meet expectations, my own or others, that there need to be numbers to provide evidence of success. We need to be doing this because God asks us to do it and trust that God will bring to himself those whom he will. As in 1 Corinthians, we may be planting seed and watering but God is the one who will cause growth to occur. How do we reconcile the natural desire that many people should know God and experience God’s love, with an acceptance that only God often blesses the small things? Somehow we need to hold both of those things in tension.

During the week I have been considering again and re-reading Alan Roxburgh’s little book about liminality and mission. I think that I understand it better this time round. The church is caught in a ‘double loop’ as the Christian community first experiences marginalisation, but then shares in the uncoupling of the foundations of culture itself. Roxburgh notes that the church is currently ‘in liminality,’ and suggests that, ‘Rather than seeing this as a great failure and loss, it is a work of the Spirit inviting the church to rediscover its missional heart in unimagined and unexpected places.’ The missional potential of liminality transformed by the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom is awesome in its possibilities. Perhaps what we are doing here is discovering our missional heart in an unexpected place?

Metro Lyfe

As tomorrow is Passion Sunday it seemed appropriate to turn our attention in our Metro Lyfe meeting today to the Cross and its contemporary significance. To lead into this we read from 1 Corinthians 1, and then looked at an extract from Steve Chalke’s book, The Lost Message of ‘Jesus.’ We focused on the section which has proved so controversial in which he talks about the difficulties with a penal substitution view of the atonement, and in which he includes a reference to Eli Wiesel’s story about a young Jewish child executed in a concentration camp. We had an animated conversation about the various ways of understanding the cross in which we felt reluctant to dismiss penal substitution but recognised that it was not the only model and that it needed to be held alongside other models, especially Christus Victor. The cross is too complex and its modus operandi too deeply located within the heart of God for any one explanation to be satisfying. We explored Chalke’s reservations and felt that his allegation of divine child-abuse did not take sufficient account of the mystery of God’s trinity. We were challenged by the thought that the suffering of an innocent victim received divine approbation might be a stumbling block for the poor and those on the margins of society who feel themselves to be such innocent victims. We spent time in prayer using two long pieces of paper to form the shape of a cross, and on which we placed post-it notes on which we had written the names of people and situations where we wanted the power of the cross of Jesus to bring healing and transformation. Gathering around the cross and bringing to its restorative potency the needs of the world around us, seemed to assume an almost sacramental significance.