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Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

Tag: christianity

  • A New Age Has Dawned

    mayberetiredpastor

    A New Age Has Dawned

    7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.

    Revelation 20:7-8 New Testament, The Bible.

    The Millennium  is the period of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth in the book of Revelation of the Bible. It comes prior to a final explosion of Satan’s rule before the New Creation is inaugurated. Exactly how this is to be understood in actual historical time is much debated. In the New Testament, time has two forms: chronos time which corresponds to measured, chronological time, and kairos time which measures teleological significance. The Millennium seems to be this second kind of time (although the church holds a variety of understandings of it) in which there is a period of time (not necessarily 1000 chronological years)  in which the rule of Christ can be seen to be hold sway which then gives way to a period when Satan is allowed to exercise power. We seem to have entered just such a transition from the Millennial rule of Christ to the rule of Satan.

    The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the savage war against the Palestinians by Israel are remarkable not only because of the suffering they inflict on ordinary people but because of the unashamed lying by the Russian and Israeli authorities. Even as the world can see with its own eyes through nightly news reports the unjust suffering inflicted by the Israelis and Russians so they categorically deny and lie without shame as they propagate their “truth” to the world. This leaves many open-mouthed and astonished at their sheer brazenness. The world wonders how they can get away with it.  

    The two world wars of the 20th century led to the establishment of an international framework of conventions and laws whose aim was to prevent not only war but the kinds of atrocities that were perpetrated by evil men in the name of national interest.   Institutions such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice were established so that law in the widest sense (such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions) would govern the affairs of the world and not the whims of megalomaniacs. National leaders were no longer immune from accountability but were subject to international law. But, as with all law and convention, these are only as effective as the enforcement that is applied and in the present time those with the power to enforce have no interest in doing so and, in fact, seek to undermine that international order at every turn.

    The United States is the one power in the world capable of enforcing the international order of the 20th. century but, with the election of President Trump in 2016 and then his re-election in 2024 the United States chose to turn away from that international order and usher in a new age. President Trump governs through lies and falsehood and has no interest in the international order of the preceding century. His rise to power has ushered in a new age where the truth is irrelevant and falsehood is unashamedly lauded and enables Putin and Netanyahu. It is the age when the Father of Lies – Satan himself – rules (1).

    A significant part of President Trump’s support has come from conservative Christians in the American church. It is this very part of the church that would most avidly affirm that they seek the rule of Christ and the Millennium in history, and yet it is their actions that have brought an end to the, arguably, Millennial rule of Christ of the 20th century and the freeing of Satan from his chains in the 21st. century.  The Bible is, of course, a book of hope and promise, and while Revelation predicts the resurgence of Satan it also promises the end of his power. It also promises judgment when all will be judged according to their deeds and justice will be enacted. The irony that it is conservative Christians that have enabled the unleashing of Satan’s rule is not lost in the Bible. All will be judged (2).

    1. John 8:44, New Testament, The Bible
    2. Revelation 20:7-15, New Testament, The Bible

  • The Promised Land Forever?

    mayberetiredpastor

    The Promised Land Forever?

    The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.

    Jeremiah 18:1-8, Old Testament, The Bible

    According to a recent poll, 82% of Israelis are in favour of expelling the Palestinians from Gaza (1). The validity of the poll is disputed but there can be no doubt that a significant fraction of Israeli opinion is in favour of not only the expulsion of the Palestinians from Gaza but also from the West Bank. The reasons for this may be mixed but it is clear that for many in Israel, and especially the Israeli government, it is a theological conviction – as one Israeli woman put it in a recent BBC interview, “God gave us this land” (see e.g. 2). But they are not alone in  holding this belief, it is a view held by some Christians outside of Israel whose attitude is that Israel is justified in anything it does to “recover” the lands given to it by God.

    Such a belief is based on a profoundly faulty understanding of the Bible. The promises of God are considered, in this belief, as unilateral and unchangeable, but the relationship between God and His people is actually defined by covenant. God’s promises to His people are covenant promises. There are two sides to a covenant, on one side, God promises to uphold His obligations provided that the other side – His people – uphold theirs. Since God is faithful and does not change, the question  is will the people be faithful and uphold theirs? The whole history of the people of Israel in the Bible is that they consistently fail to do so, and as a result, they lose their privileges under the covenant. God’s graciousness is evidenced by the fact that He repeatedly offers the people a way back.

    The prophets in the Bible constantly rail against the people of God warning of their many failures and the consequences if they fail to repent and keep the covenant. The quotation above from the prophet Jeremiah is one such warning. Here, the famous example of a potter and how the potter shapes and decides the fate of a piece of pottery is used to drive home the point that God can and will punish the people if they fail to keep the provisions of the covenant. Jeremiah’s prophecy is particularly relevant to the question of the “Promised Land” because he explicitly warns that the land will be taken away from the people which is exactly what happens with the Babylonian conquest.

    For those holding a theological view of the ownership of Gaza and the West Bank, the unbridled vengeance carried out by the Israeli government since the Hamas attack and the deliberate programme of ethnic cleansing places them far outside the covenant and thus beyond the privileges of the covenant. The covenant demands better of the people of God.

    Since Jesus Christ, the only way back to the covenant is to recognise that He is the Son of God and own Him as Lord and Saviour (3).  And, in the renewed covenant, the Promised Land can now be seen as merely a pre-figuring of the true Kingdom which comes only with the new creation. There is nothing special about the patch of land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean, no special rules apply, and certainly no difference in the ethical and moral treatment of the land and its people.

    1. “Yes to Transfer”, Haaretz, 28th. May, 2025
    2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d1j3v2y3mo
    3. Gospel of John, 3:18, New Testament, The Bible

  • I Don’t Know How To Love Him

    mayberetiredpastor

    I Don’t Know How to Love Him

    “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

    Gospel of John 13:34-35, New Testament, The Bible.

    Our minister made a bold song choice this Easter. He closed the Maundy Thursday service with the song Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) from Jesus Christ Superstar. Bold because it is musically demanding, but the church is gifted with some superb musicians; bold because it was not what the congregation expected; bold because at the time of its release over fifty years ago it was highly controversial drawing outrage from many Christians (I was there!). The vocalist and keyboardist gave a powerful rendition of the song but all I could hear were the screaming rock vocals of Ian Gillan of the original studio cast. Despite its unsavoury reputation in the church at the time, Jesus Christ Superstar taught me more about the gospel than all the years I had spent in Sunday School put together! For the first time, I understood that Jesus Christ was truly a man, a real person. That, for Him, the anticipation of dying on a cross was something that horrified Him, He did not, then, know the reality of the resurrection because He had not lived it – it hadn’t happened yet. He was in the same position as we, having to trust God.

    Two songs from Jesus Christ Superstar have stayed with me through the years. The boozy disciples’ song  that so deftly paints what the Last Supper might have been like (Look at all my trials and tribulations, sinking in a gentle pool of wine …) and the song, I Don’t Know How to Love Him sung once by Mary Magdalene and once by Judas.

    Look at all my trials and tribulations might (and did) strike some as irreverent but, for me, it was, and is, a warning not to take the sacrament of the Last Supper (or Holy Communion depending on what tradition you hail from) lightly. It reminds me to take time as I eat the bread and drink the wine (alcoholic or not) lest I share in the drunken oblivion of the disciples. It is the reason I find the fashion for supermarket communion (1) amongst some churches objectionable – theirs is the very essence of the disciples’ boozy song in Superstar, completely oblivious to what is going on.

    But it is Mary’s and Judas’ song that haunts me most. In Mary’s voice it is a song of tender love and devotion, but, also of confusion and bewilderment as she wrestles to understand exactly what she is feeling for Jesus – it is almost mediaeval in its sensibility towards Jesus Christ.  In Judas’ voice, it is a song of angry despair. He sees the good in the man whom he has followed for three years and wants so much to see Him succeed  and yet believes that the path He has set is so wrong. Judas wants to love Jesus but he is only able to betray Him.  And so, for me, the song expresses the inadequacy of my response to Jesus. Having followed Him for over half-a-century, I still find myself painfully aware how far short of truly loving Him I am, and yet still He fills my life with grace.

    I am grateful to our minister for his bold and inspired choice of song for Maundy Thursday. It has helped me reflect more deeply on the grace that has been poured out for me.  

    1. https://diaryofamayberetiredpastor.blog/2024/07/15/supermarket-communion/

  • Jesus Wept

    mayberetiredpastor

    Jesus Wept

    I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!

    Romans 9:1-5 New Testament, The Bible.

    Palm Sunday. Two thousand years ago, a man stood overlooking Jerusalem and wept. He wept because a people whose history should have led them to the light of God chose, instead, spiritual darkness. They welcomed Jesus as King but then crucified Him as blasphemer. They would not acknowledge the gift of divine grace that was being offered to them.

    Today, little has changed. Jerusalem remains the city over which Christ weeps. Its leaders still do not understand the grace to which their inheritance points and they continue to act as if they were children of darkness (1). The Old Testament teaches clearly that the orphan and the widow and the stranger are protected by God, but they kill and destroy the orphan and the widow. They starve a people into submission. They go back on their promises. Such a people, the Old Testament prophets say, will be broken beyond repair because they have turned away from God and done evil (2).

    The Jewish people are privileged because they were given the commandments of God and they were taught by Him in intimate and direct relationship. They were destined to be a people of light bringing goodness and blessing to the world. They were prepared to welcome the Son of God. Many Jewish people today live in the light of their inheritance bringing blessing to the world, but Jerusalem and her leaders have turned away from their inheritance. That way leads only to judgement.

    1. The Gospel of John 8:42-44, New Testament, The Bible
    2. The Book of Jeremiah 18:9-10, Old Testament, The Bible

  • Hostile Environment

    mayberetiredpastor

    Hostile Environment

    5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

    2 Peter 1:5-7 New Testament, The Bible

    Recently, BBC News ran an article highlighting the struggles some people have had to prove their British citizenship even though they had lived in the UK all their lives and their parents were British Citizens (1). One man was happily employed in a well-paying job but on applying for his passport for a trip abroad he was suddenly told he was not a citizen and had no right to live and work in the UK. His employer had no choice but to sack him and he spent years in the wilderness having no official status, becoming homeless and severely depressed. It has taken years for his citizenship to be acknowledged and he has been left still traumatised by his experience. Other examples were given. Despite all the fanfare surrounding the “Windrush Generation” and how the Home Office would put right the unfairness suffered by that generation, their children and others still suffer. They suffer because of the “hostile environment” culture put in place at the Home Office by the then Home Secretary, and subsequently Prime Minister, Theresa May. The “hostile environment” means that instead of assisting applicants to determine their status the Home Office makes it as difficult as possible in the hope that people will give-up and leave the UK so “helping” to make the immigration numbers look “better”.

    The Bible passage quoted above would be familiar to most Christians who would generally seek to apply them to their lives as individual human beings. This is good as far as it goes, but the message of the gospel means that virtues such as these are not intended to be confined to a person’s private, religious life. They are intended to spill out of the individual and to shape society. Consequently, Christians seek to shape society so that it exhibits goodness, knowledge, love etc. The Bible is perfectly clear about the treatment of foreigners and immigrants. God defends their cause and we are to love them (Deuteronomy 10:17-19, Old Testament, The Bible).

    Theresa May is well-known as the daughter of a Church of England minister and has publicly stated that she is a Christian (2). It is difficult to understand, then, how she could have thought it was godly and Christian deliberately to develop a culture of hostility in the Home Office. We often bemoan the state of our society and the world in general, but if Christians, particularly those with worldly influence, ignore or refuse to seek to embed the virtues of the Bible into our culture and do the exact opposite we have no right to complain.

    We must not confuse virtues with issues. Issues are the matters of policy – gay marriage, assisted dying, immigration etc. – virtues are about the kind of society we want to be, it’s fundamental culture – goodness, gentleness, mercy, honesty etc. Christians may differ and divide over issues but about virtues we should be of one mind and heart.

    Christians say they desire to see God’s Kingdom come. When we  support or even promote a culture antithetical to biblical virtues we work against the Kingdom and betray our King.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May
    2. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93lzl1vpeqo

  • Not A Matter Of Right And Wrong

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    Not A Matter Of Right And Wrong

    12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; 13 let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

    Romans 13:12-14, New Testament, The Bible.

    Off the cuff remarks can be dangerous. We inadvertently say things we would never dream of saying in a more considered manner. These “Freudian slips” can also reveal deep, unsettling truths about ourselves or about our view of the world. Last week, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, made an off the cuff remark in response to a reporter’s question. He said  that “it is no longer a matter of right and wrong”. I confess that I have forgotten whether the context was the uproar concerning the so-called “loop-hole” exploited by a Palestinian family to gain entry to the UK or the aftermath of the White House ambush of President Zelensky.  But, the remark stands out as a deeply revealing comment about the state of our world at the present time. Right and wrong no longer have any role in the international relationships of our world. President Trump’s State of the Union address made clear what matters: “America will be rich again!” was his triumphant cry which was greeted with huge applause and cheering from the majority benches.  

    So many biblical texts spring to mind in response to such a declaration (the parable of the rich fool Luke, 12:13-21; serving God and Mammon, Matthew 6:24; the root of all evil, 1 Timothy 6:10, to name but three) that it seems unnecessary to state how unbiblical and anti-Christian such a world is. Except that so many apparently professing Christians appear to be in complete agreement with such sentiment. The world is in a very dark place.

    Last time, I wrote that Christians need to speak the light of truth in the darkness, so, the Palestinian family did not exploit a loophole but followed Home Office procedure to the letter and fully within the law (1); President Zelensky is not a dictator and did not start the war.   But truth is more than words. It is also about how we live our lives. Our daily acts that demonstrate who we are following and which reveal the light of a different Kingdom ruled by different laws: not bowing to Mammon, the god of wealth; welcoming the outcast and stranger; treating others as we would want to be treated; receiving and giving grace; serving one another and not grasping for ourselves.

    It is the season of Lent, the period of fasting in the church calendar before the celebration of Easter. The true fast that God desires is the breaking of injustice, the releasing of the oppressed, the breaking of every bondage, the sharing with the poor and hungry,  homing the homeless and clothing the naked (Isaiah 58:6-7). Every small act that contributes to these pushes back against the darkness that is enfolding us.

    1. https://www.declassifieduk.org/rights-and-wrongs-over-gaza-judgment-exposes-starmer/

  • Rachel Wept

    mayberetiredpastor

    Rachel Wept

    When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

    18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
        wailing and loud lamentation,
    Rachel weeping for her children;
        she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

    Matthew 2:16-18 New Testament, The Bible.

    Matthew’s Nativity account contains the harrowing account of the massacre of the innocents, the result of the actions of a ruthless political leader. Mary and Joseph had to flee with Jesus to escape Herod’s persecution and, as many a sermon has pointed out, Jesus began life as a refugee.

    Herod the Great, the politician in question, was a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler. The killing of unnumbered young children mattered not the least to him in  the pursuit of his political objectives. That was twenty centuries ago. Today, the land is again ruled by a ruthless and uncompromising Jewish ruler whose actions are orders of magnitude greater in ruthlessness than Herod’s. And once again the words of the prophet Jeremiah can be aptly quoted – Rachel indeed weeps once more for her children as Prime Minister Netanyahu pursues his political objectives with little, if any, regard for the price paid by thousands of innocent families.

    His excuse is that it is a matter of self-defence, and in this he has been supported by many we would have hoped would judge better, arguing that the right to self-defence trumps all other concerns. Others do not see it in the same way and are appalled at the tragedy and loss inflicted on innocent families. Regardless, whatever human courts might say there is one court which no ruler, no government can avoid. Against the rulings of this court there is no appeal.

    The Bible declares that vengeance must be limited to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21:23-25) a limit that has been contemptuously breached by the Netanyahu government. More critically, it is clear that, by making His Son share in the tragedy of the massacre of the innocents, God has declared in favour of the innocent and the persecuted.

    Jeremiah’s prophecy is simultaneously a word of comfort and promise to those who have suffered, and, a divine judgement against those whose deeds have poured out tragedy on the lives of those who weep. While Netanyahu’s government may hold human courts in contempt they will be held accountable to the one court that matters: they will each, individually and corporately, have to give account before God Himself.   

    As for you mothers who weep, your cries have been heard; the Lord God Almighty Himself will hold your persecutors to account.

  • People Of The New Song

    mayberetiredpastor

    People Of The New Song

    And they sang a new song, saying:

    “You are worthy to take the scroll
        and to open its seals,
    because you were slain,
        and with your blood you purchased for God
        persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
    10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
        and they will reign on the earth.

    Revelation 5:9-10, New Testament, The Bible.

    An outraged Daily Telegraph headline sometime in the summer last year demanded to know why a church had decided to drop the word “Church” from its name. At about the same time, one of the congregations I had initiated at my last church had set about renaming itself.  This set me off on a train of thought concerning the significance of names, particularly in relation to churches. Why do people choose the names they do for their churches or congregations? What does it mean for them and why does it matter? I tend to lean towards the functional and utilitarian with a quirky twist, hence, simply using the time at which the new congregation met on a Sunday as the name (7:15!) seemed perfectly adequate to me and when it started meeting at a new time it simply added a little quirkiness and mystery to the congregation! Clearly, this did not sit so well with others who, well, need something more approachable and human? (My wife thinks the Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon and I bear some remarkable affinities, although not, perhaps, in brain power!).

    Names are to do with identity and, so, outraged of Tunbridge Wells above presumably felt some attack on their communal identity when the local church decided to drop the word “Church”. When it comes to groups or organisations, names need to communicate something about what they are, and people need to be able to identify with these groups or organisations. What should a church or congregation seek to communicate as it describes itself? What should Christians seek to communicate about themselves? For good or bad “church” and “Christian” are themselves names deeply embedded in our culture  and loaded with thousands of years of meaning – some of it not very flattering – but once, they were new, freshly minted, communicating something vibrant and fresh and unexpected to the wider culture. The Bible itself testifies to this newness in its very division into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The “New” Testament is the book about the church, about the Christians – something new and unimagined. Is there a way of re-capturing this freshness and newness?

    The book of Revelation – the last book of the Bible – has, as one of its threads, the depiction of worship in heaven. It is about the songs that thread eternity and underpin the fabric of creation. In this sense, it is nothing new in the literature of the Bible. Worship in heaven is timeless and universal, never ending and never changing, but then Revelation introduces something quite remarkable, quite stunning: a new song is heard! The timeless, unchanging worship of heaven is changed! What has brought this about? It is Jesus Christ, His death on the Cross and His resurrection has caused heaven to break into new song, new worship, and the writer of Revelation leaves us in no doubt as to the significance of this as he ends his book with the description of a new heaven and a new earth – a new creation taking the place of the old because a new song is sung.

    In choosing names for themselves, Christians have not, as far as I know, ever chosen the name “People of the New Song” but that is what they are, and it is an identity that perhaps would help them to be as new and as fresh as they were all those centuries ago.  What song will Christians sing going on into the New Year?      

  • God Chose A Side

    mayberetiredpastor

    God Chose A Side

    This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

    Matthew 1:18-19,  New Testament, The Bible

    Maybe it’s because I have been watching a lot of police dramas set in the middle of the last century that these verses have hit me with particular vehemence this Christmas. The best of these address social issues prominent at the time, but even those that don’t reflect cultural norms that are disturbing from the perspective of sixty years in the future. Something that repeatedly strikes me is how badly women were treated at every level of society – not only as victims of crime but simply in everyday life ( I recommend the series Inspector George Gently as a series that powerfully addresses the issue of the day while providing absorbing crime drama).

    It’s not new, of course, to recognise that Jesus’ birth was surrounded by controversy but our celebration of the festival obscures and sugar-coats the nature of His birth. It doesn’t strike us with the force that Matthew’s original readers might have felt. The truth is, the circumstances of Jesus’ birth were shocking and Matthew does not shy away from it. Mary, a young girl, supposedly a virgin, is suddenly discovered to be pregnant. Joseph, her fiancé, reaches the obvious conclusion and decides what any man in his position would have done (and would still do today) – he annuls the engagement. He is a kind man and aims to do so quietly to spare Mary, but it is clear what he, and any other person, believes.

    Reading these verses again I was struck by the realisation that, when He sent his Son amongst us, God chose a side. Of course, we are well aware that in being born as a human being Jesus was humbling Himself to an incomprehensible degree, but, even so, we identify Him with the “good”, “upright”, “moral” (middle class!) people. We fail to recognise that from the very beginning God chose to be identified with the outcast, the despised, the damned. God caused His Son to be born in such a manner that He would be known as the son of a woman who had become pregnant by someone not her fiancé or husband; she was a woman who had made an “unfortunate” mistake; a flirt, a slut, a whore. Jesus, in short, was a bastard. In the mid-twentieth century this would have condemned her.  It’s clear, that this judgement was in the background of Jesus’ story all through His life. The gospel of John, chapter 8:19,41, only makes sense if the Pharisees were referring to stories of Jesus’ illegitimacy. Jesus’ dubious parentage was clearly widely known. God chose a side.

    In the birth of His Son, God chose to stand with all those judged and damned as unworthy by society. He chose to stand with the outcast, the immoral, the weak, the poor.  When I look at the church today I wonder if we, in our moral judgments and condemnations, really stand on the same side as God chose or whether, in Jesus words in John 8, we belong to a different father?

  • A Christian Country?

    mayberetiredpastor

    A Christian Country?

    … to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

    14 ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
        and on earth peace, goodwill among people!’

    Luke 2:11-14 New Testament, The Bible.

    We really enjoy watching the detective series “Death in Paradise”.  Set in the gorgeous Caribbean, each episode begins with a grisly death followed immediately by the jaunty reggae theme tune of the series! The incongruity always makes us laugh and is possibly our favourite part of each episode. Because we enjoy it so much we also follow the spin-offs and we have been re-watching series one of “Beyond Paradise” which follows two particular characters from the original series as they re-settle in the UK. We didn’t intend to do so, but we found ourselves watching the Christmas special just as Advent began. So, wholly appropriate!

    This year has seen the release of more data from the 2021 census. One of the headlines has been the report, for the first time, that less than half of the population identify as “Christian” leading to much discussion around the theme of “the UK is no longer a Christian country”. I have even been contacted by friends from the Far East bemoaning the “shocking” news.  But Christmas specials, like the one we watched last week, should, perhaps, make us pause a little before writing-off the UK as a Christian country.

    This particular episode of Beyond Paradise ended with the community gathering in the town square for their Christmas celebration.  They rejoiced and celebrated peace and goodwill to all. Above all, It was full of hope for the future and, as these things are designed to do, left the viewer with warm, joyful feelings.  “Serious” Christians tend to be cynical about the Christmas season as celebrated by the wider community, and, indeed, the modern Christmas season includes much dross, but, yet, carol services are full and churches tend see more people than at any other time of the year; it is the time of year when people give most to good causes and, we, as a wider community, seek to recognise those who have quietly served their communities through the year.   

    It may be the case that the numbers of people identifying themselves as Christian has fallen below half the population but as a nation we still hold closely to key elements of the message of the angels. In that sense we remain very much a Christian country. It is cultural but it is an act of faith baked into our cultural foundations, maybe this is the reason why many in the world still want to come to the UK despite the many disincentives – the message of the angels is still heard by them in this collective act of faith.

    This isn’t to claim that this is a nation that knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, but that hasn’t been the case since the middle of the last century – if not longer. But the fact that so much of the gospel message is still retained is an encouragement to the church to continue proclaiming the full gospel of Jesus Christ so that the smouldering faith still held by the nation can be fanned into life: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born amongst us; lived amongst us; gave His life for us on the Cross; and was raised again on the third day so that all who believe in Him shall not die but have everlasting life! This is why we celebrate and rejoice at Christmas time.