A little belatedly - I am now on Annual Leave and didn't get this posted on Sunday.

We ended our series with a very brief look at Esther, before trying to identify what we thought God might be saying to us through the series as a whole.  

The key phrases that stood out for me in response to the series as a whole were...

• 'Don't judge a book by its cover'
• 'There is always a 'people group' who are in 'exile', whether marginalised, persecuted or otherwise 'othered'
• 'The story of Ruth was the first story I remember from Sunday School; I have always loved it.  I now realise there are always new things to learn from it' (someone in their 80s )

A lot of folk were particularly drawn to the story of Ruth, though David (a younger son and a flawed human) and Esther (a woman in an exploitative/abusive/patriarchal situation) and Daniel (old and bold) got a few mentions.

It felt like a good series, and in some senses a timely series.  I think folk will be glad to be back to normal (not least as I've made them think quite hard!).  I am grateful to them for engaging with what may have felt a challenging and very different approach to scripture and worship.

Here, should you want then, are the Esther questions...

• What comes to mind when you think about the story of Esther:
  • Do you think it is a true story, is it a myth or a mixture of the two?
  • This is one of the stories of the exile (when the Hebrew people were in Babylon (Persia) why do you think they are included in the Bible?
    
    
• Scheherazade and Esther?
  The ‘Thousand and One Nights’ or ‘Arabian Nights’ is a well-loved collection of folk tales of Persian origin, described as being told by a young woman called Scheherazade to a king who was choosing his bride in a similar way to that described at the start of Esther. Some Persian traditions say that Schererzade was the mother or grandmother or Xerxes, and that this influenced the story of Esther. Some scholars see the similarity as a cultural influence.
  • How much do you think that the stories we read in the Bible are shaped by or reflect the culture and context in which they were first told or shared?
  • Do you think there can be truths to discover from traditional folk tales and legends, if we are able to ‘suspend disbelief’?

• ‘#MeToo’
  • The ‘#MeToo’ movement was a response to the abuse and exploitation of women. Some Bible stories involving women certainly appear exploitative to modern readers.  Do you think there the story of Esther, and her predecessor Vashti, might be like this?  For example, think about the behaviour of the King both in dismissing Vashti or using a beauty contest to select Esther.
    
    
• Where is God in this?
  • The original Hebrew text of the book of Esther is one of only two books of scripture that never mention God by name (the other is Song of Songs). Did you know this already?  If not, does it surprise you?  Either way, what might this story say to us about God?
  • There is a Polish, Jewish ghetto prayer from the time of the Third Reich that, translated into English, says this:
    
    

I believe in the sun, even when it isn’t shining

I believe in love, even when I can’t feel it

I believe in God, even when God is silent

What do think about this prayer?  How, if at all, does it chime with your own experience? 

• For Such a Time as This…
  • Have you ever used these words, or something similar, and if so, why was that?
  • Have you ever tried to make sense of events, or to find a ‘meaning’ for something that happened? How did that feel?

• What do you like or dislike about the story of Esther and why?

It's that annual 'I really must clear this desk, tidy this office, and recycle all this stuff' day. So, finally, all the Advent resources have been re-shelved;  Lent, Holy Week and Easter are back where they belong; the new stash of stuff I bought to replace the stash of stuff I bequeathed last year had been put in a box (so I can forget I have it and buy more net year!).

Annual leave begins officially on Monday (though Vicar School time kind of ended on Wednesday) and I have four whole weeks of not doing either of my roles... which is very odd but very needed.

Just need to get my house and garden tidy enough for tomorrow's church barbecue, conduct Sunday's service and then, DV, I'm done!

Sunday will be the fourth and last of my little series on Sunday School favourites, with a very quick (and woefully inadequate) look at the story of Esther.

What has struck me as we've shared these stories is the way the Holy Spirit is still very active even when my logic for the series was about as deep as 'these are four well known stories beloved of Sunday schools, two men, two women, job done'

We had David the week of the general election, and Ruth as the headlines on migrants/refugees/asylum seekers continued to dominate the news.  We had Daniel with thoughts of freedom of religion and peaceful protest, and end with Esther just as across the ocean a woman might face the 'for such a time as this' challenge.

As a church we've hosted a General Election hustings, agreed to refresh a room for use as a Warm Hub, begun a thorough-going review of police and procedures, welcomed oodles of visitors to our services, and been faced with questions of how to respond in a 'Jesus' way to complex matters.  And yes, for the umptieth time in my life, there have been the 'for such a time as this' allusions about my own ministry.

As year one of bi-vocational ministry draw to its end, and I have four weeks away from both roles, it's certainly been an adventure so far.

So, today, I'll cherish the 'hmm' moments and be grateful to the one who calls and equips me to do this stuff the best I can. 

Tributes have, rightly, been paid to Revd Dr Brian Haymes, who died last week.  See here.

I first came across Brian when I was a NAM and he was leading a session for us on sermon preparation.  It stayed with me, largely, if I am honest, because it felt so utterly unrealistic for those of us serving small congregations that still expected two full services a week.  There simply weren't enough hours in the week to produce one sermon of the standard Brian described, never mind two.  But even so, there were good 'take aways' that have stayed with me - an abiding memory of him saying that we should seek to hold the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other (not uniquely his idea) and to do so, using whichever newspaper our congregation members read.  One NAM from Merseyside quipped that in his congregation that would be the Racing Post.  Fleetingly, Brian looked nonplussed, but he smiled, took it in good part, and carried on... grounded, contextual preaching was the heart of his message.  He was right.

Since moving a year ago, I had begun to get to know Brian as a 'real person' not just some Baptist Giant (literally and metaphorically) as I was invited to join a ministers' book group that met in his home.  Amidst such intellectual giants (I think everyone else had a PhD) I could have felt hopelessly inadequate, but Brian always, graciously, gave me a voice. Perhaps more significantly, for me at least, he welcomed us around the table in the family kitchen for steaming bowls of soup, sandwiches and homemade cake.  Here we would 'chew the fat', he would ask after the college, the church, the Union, always hopeful, always risking disappointment, and always true to his Baptist convictions.

Brian had promised me the opportunity to choose books from his library, something we never quite managed to arrange.  But instead I carry the memories of reading books published in the 2020s and discussing them in Brian's home - that's way more precious.

Brian preached well (teaching and encouraging others to do likewise) and kept the faith, now he enters his eternal rest, a good and faithful servant whose work here is done.

Today began feeling like everything that might go wrong would, but in the end it was really wonderful, with people packed in and at least seeming to enjoy themselves.

When I arrived, nothing was set up by way of tech., so I had to get it all out and set it up - that's fine, not a problem, just it was the first time I've needed to, and a few glitches arose along the way...

Then I realised that I had forgotten to print off the quiz... and had left the craft activity at home... ah well, I thought I can work around both of those...

So, I didn't make the fruit kebabs, instead substituting 'making Daniel snacks' to replace the craft....

And instead of the quiz, I thought, well we can just see what people can recall about Daniel... but in the end that was abandoned as people kept piling in from all sorts of people-groups and I opted to invite people to share where they had come for today, and where they were born, recognising that many have moved away from their place of birth and many have not.  It just about connected to the theme.

When we go to the sharing time, there were some great inputs - from questions about why Daniel refused to eat the royal food, to an account of how a dream of Jesus had lead to someone becoming a Christian, to beginning to think about why this set of stories is part of scripture.  

It was a truly remarkable morning with so many people we needed more chairs, had to open the doors to avoid overheating, and almost certainly had slightly obstructed fire exits (I chose not to look!).  Revival in Railway Town?  Just maybe!

Anyway, for any loyal readers who are interested, here are today's discussion questions:

• What comes to mind when you think about the story of Daniel:
  • Do you think it is a true story, is it a myth or a mixture of the two?
  • This is one of the stories of the exile (when the Hebrew people were in Babylon (Persia) why do you think they are included in the Bible?
    
    
• Dreams, visions and supernatural signs
  • In some cultures and religions dreams are taken very seriously even today, but we in the west usually don’t. What do you think about dreams, can they be significant?
  • What other Bible stories can you recall where dreams or visions were important?
  • How do you think God ‘speaks’ to people – or to put it another way, how might we discern the ‘Mind of Christ’?
  • The book of Daniel is an example of ‘apocalyptic’ writing – referring to the end of time. As such it is very difficult to understand, and there is a risk of dodgy or dangerous interpretation.  How do you think we should handle such parts of scripture and why?
    
    
• Thinking about religious freedom
  • Baptists right from their earliest days placed a very strong emphasis on religious freedom – even if they believed other people to be wrong, they should still have the right to practice their own faith. Do you agree with them? Why do you think this?
  • Daniel and his friends very publicly continued to practice their own religion, e.g. eating a vegan diet rather than the food offered by the court officials; e.g. refusing to bow to the statues, and insisting on praying three times a day. Do you think you would feel brave enough to do this?  Why is that?
  • In some parts of the world, it is dangerous to be a Christian (or indeed other faiths), risking arrest or even execution, yet people still express their faith. How might western Christians show their support?
  • Many people seek asylum on religious grounds; most are honest but, sadly, some are not, how can we be ‘wise as serpents and innocent as doves’ in our relationship with other people who claim to share our faith?

• Personally (mainly for private pondering)
  • Have you ever had to stand up for your beliefs as a follower of Jesus in a way that felt costly? Recall how it felt – would you do it again? Why is this?
  • Are there times when it is right to remain silent about your faith, and instead live out the values quietly? Some overseas mission partners have to do just this e.g. in Nepal, Afghanistan and South Korea.
  • How important for you is freedom of conscience (not just religion), and how far would you go to maintain it?

What do you like or dislike about the story of Daniel, and why?