Latest / Chapel Talks / Crazy reckless courage | Matthew 1 | Bishop Philip North

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Crazy reckless courage | Matthew 1 | Bishop Philip North · Chapel Talks

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Let us pray. May the words of my lips and the
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thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be
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pleasing, acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our
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strength and our redeemer. Amen. I'm here under
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sufferance, not because I don't want to be at
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Oak Hill Theological College, but because Oak
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Hill Theological College is in London. I think
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you should sell the site and move to Lancashire.
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Because then I wouldn't have to come to London.
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And the worst thing about going into London is
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going on the tube train. When I worked in London,
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I did so by promising never, ever, ever to go
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on the underground. I don't know what it is,
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but the moment people pass through those barriers,
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normally kindly, sentient people become absolute
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monsters. And I include myself in that. So three
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weeks ago, I got an early train to London. I
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passed through the barriers at Euston Station.
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And as I did so, this young guy barged me out
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of the way like that. He shoved me backwards
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so he could get in front. Well, I was furious.
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I came as bad as him. I thought, you're not going
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to win. I'm going to beat you to this train.
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And so began a deadly race to the finish. We
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ran down the escalators two steps at a time.
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And even though he must have given me 30 years,
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I was keeping neck and neck with him. We came
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along to the flat, shoulder by shoulder, trying
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to barge each other out the way. You could see
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the crowds around watching us. Eventually, when
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it came to the left turn, before we got onto
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the train, he made his fatal mistake. He took
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that corner just a bit too wide, lost concentration
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for that crucial split second. I moved into the
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gap, got on the train as the doors were closing
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and he was outside and I sneered at him through
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the window like this. And that's when I realised
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I got on the wrong train. I was meant to be on
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the Victoria line, I got on the Northern line
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and was three quarters of an hour late for my
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meeting. And frankly, it served me right. Because
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in that moment, I've been seduced by the cultural
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values of the day, the cultural values that say
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winning is everything. People are opposition.
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Move out of the way. People are getting in the
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way of your goals because what matters is what
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you want. That's what the culture tells us. And
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whilst that may have been a fairly trivial incident
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on the tube train, it opens up, I think, a much
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bigger question. How do we lead as Christians
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against the backdrop? of such a challenging,
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complex, and often hostile culture. As leaders,
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we're called to role model the Christian faith.
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How do we do that when the culture is screaming
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at us messages that run so counter to the gospel?
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We live in a culture which says that the clue
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to human happiness is material acquisition. The
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human beings find fulfillment by satisfying human
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greed. And people go on believing that against
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all the evidence, even when that mindset is destroying
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the planet. We live in a culture which says truth
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is relative, personally determined, that laughs
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at any idea of objective values, especially if
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you claim that those are revealed. We live in
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a culture that worships the human body and will
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justify almost anything in the name of transient
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pleasure. We live in a culture which says that
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human ingenuity and science and technology can
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solve all the problems, that through our own
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cleverness we can save ourselves. How on earth
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do we go on faithfully living the gospel in a
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backdrop such as that? How do we lead and go
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on joyfully leading for 30, 40 years when the
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culture seems so inimical to the gospel? You
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see, I've seen too many good, ordained and lay
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leaders fall astray because of exactly that challenge.
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They've become weary and exhausted. Or they've
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drifted into anxiety. Or they've bought into
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the heresy of declinism, which says that the
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future is inevitably a smaller church and fewer
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Christians. Or too many of them have drifted
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into sin, often into grave sin. And the scandals
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that shook the Church of England just before
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Christmas are powerful testimony to that. And
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we'd be naive to think that those problems affect
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only the Church of England. So how do we go on
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faithfully, joyfully, living the gospel against
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such a backdrop? What we need is role models.
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And today the Church presents us with a wonderful
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role model, St Joseph. I find it really intriguing
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that on the morning that Gareth Southgate, the
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former England manager, spoke about the lack
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of good role models, particularly for boys and
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young men, the church presents us with St Joseph,
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whose model of masculinity was such a generous
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and protective and faithful one. I say so at
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the same time, I also recognise there's risks
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in holding up Joseph as a role model. For hundreds
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of years of church history, Particularly in the
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Middle Ages, Joseph was seen as a bit of a joke.
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In the medieval mystery plays, he's almost the
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fool, the cockle wearing the cockle's horns,
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a figure of laughter because he was silly enough
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to allow his new fiancée to get pregnant whilst
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his back was turned. In the Catholic tradition,
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Joseph has rather been overlooked in favour of
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Mary. In the Protestant tradition, both are looked
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upon with a fairly high degree of suspicion.
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And I think that's a pity, because in the Gospels,
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particularly in Matthew's Gospel, Joseph does
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for us a great deal of theological heavy digging,
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and we can learn a great deal from his life.
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Matthew's overriding preoccupation was, of course,
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to use the Hebrew Scriptures. to convince a large
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Jewish audience that the claim that Jesus is
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the Messiah is a legitimate one. And so Joseph,
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the stepfather, is tremendously useful. He links
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Jesus in to the Davidic lie, if just by adoption.
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And also Joseph in Matthew points us back to
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another dreamer, Joseph, in the book of Genesis.
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There are huge parallels between their lives.
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So let's... Look at Saint Joseph for a moment
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and see what he can teach us about being Christian
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leaders against such a challenging cultural backdrop.
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First of all, then, Joseph the Dreamer. Joseph
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the Dreamer. The reading we've just heard. At
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the beginning, Joseph is right in the middle
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of a tricky cultural decision. His young new
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fiancée has got pregnant. He knows he's not the
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father, and so he has a crisis on his hands.
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The culture screams at him, ditch her. The law
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says, ditch her. His family says, get rid. This
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woman has brought shame and embarrassment upon
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him. There's no way he can now go ahead with
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this wedding because Mary is a shameful, sinful
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woman. And for his own respect, he must disassociate
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himself immediately. He's an honourable man.
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He decides to do that quietly. But nonetheless,
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he conforms to the cultural norms of the day
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until he has his dream. In a dream, an angel
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says, marry her. Don't be afraid. This child
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is the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God. Now think
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of that clash. On the one hand, you've got literally
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everybody, every person he knows, every teacher
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saying, Ditcher. On the other hand, he's got
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a dream of an angel. What are you going to do?
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He believes the angel. He believes in his dream.
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I think this is one of the most courageous, outrageous,
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astonishing acts of faith anywhere in the scriptures.
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He runs against the culture. He believes the
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dream. Because he knows that the dream carries
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God's big plan of salvation. If we're going to
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lead against such a complex backdrop, we need
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to believe in the dream. We need to dream big
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and dream bold. Because the culture is not the
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reality. The truth is the dream. The dream that
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carries God's big plan of salvation. Dream big.
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Dream bold. You see, as an Anglican, I have to
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accept I'm part of a church that has too easily
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adopted a survivalist mentality. We tinker. We
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potter around the edges. We seek only to get
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through next month or next week or next year.
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We seem to have bought into the lie that the
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only way is down. I went to visit my former parish,
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which has gone through two decades of decline.
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And it really made me think, what have I spent
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my life doing as a minister of the gospel? Have
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I just been locked into a survivalist mentality?
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What have I actually done? Because our call is
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not to tinker. It is to transform. As Christians
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declaring a gospel of salvation, we are the world's
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only hope. So we must dream big. We must remember
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that our task is nothing less than God's big
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plan of salvation. And like for Joseph, when
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we dream big, there will of course be miscomprehension
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and mockery. How can we believe the dream when
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the whole culture says something different? Maybe
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some of you have faced that in your own lives.
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Maybe you've faced miscomprehension by being
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here today, by honouring God's call. Maybe your
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family don't understand you, think you're wasting
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your gifts, wasting your lives. Faith takes courage.
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But the dream is a dream of joy. The dream is
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the hope of the world's salvation. So dream big,
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dream bold. Those dreams may not come to you
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at night as they do with Joseph. They'll come
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to you when you study the scriptures. They'll
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come to you when you pray. They'll come to you.
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in the family of saints. But what you're called
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to matters. It matters massively. Believe in
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the dream. Dream big. So Joseph, the dreamer.
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Then second, Joseph, the protector. Having believed
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God's voice in the dream, Joseph goes ahead and
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he takes Mary to himself. He marries her. And
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from that moment on, he becomes protector of
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the family, the family that foreshadows God's
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people. And in so doing, again, there's echoes
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of Joseph in Genesis. In the book of Genesis,
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Joseph is the protector of the family. In the
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time of famine, he brings the family to Egypt,
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to the place of safety, awaiting God's time when
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they can return to reclaim the promised land.
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Joseph in Matthew does the same. He protects
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the holy family. He does so as he leads Mary
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in safety to Bethlehem, where she gives birth
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to her child, and then as he outwits Herod, and
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then as he leads the family to Egypt, the place
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of safety, just as his namesake did, awaiting
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the time when it's safe for them to return to
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Nazareth, to the promised land. Joseph is the
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protector. If we are to lead in challenging times,
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we need to remember that our call is to be protectors.
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We're called to protect the family, which is
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Christ's people. Those of you who are Anglicans
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know that very often when bishops lead worship,
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we hold a cruzier, the bishop's, the shepherd's
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crook. And people think, oh, isn't that lovely?
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Isn't that sweet? Isn't that nice? We know all
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about shepherds. We make knitted ones for our
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nativity sets. Shepherds are sweet. Isn't it
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lovely that that bishop's got that cruiser as
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a sign that he's so nice and cuddly and looks
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after us? They're wrong. The crook is a weapon.
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I go into church tooled up. I go ready for the
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battle. The crook, the shepherd's crook. is there
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to beat off the wolves and to keep the precious
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little flock safe. And that's our task as leaders.
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It's to beat back the wolves and to protect the
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flock. And the wolves are numerous. The wolves
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are plentiful. There's lots of wolves outside
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the church. There's many who want to silence
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the Christian voice, who are embarrassed by it,
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who see it as something from the past, the secularists,
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the materialists. They want to silence us altogether.
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Those are wolves that need beating back. There's
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wolves also inside the church. The declinists
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will tell us it's all over. Or those who will
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give greater obedience to a transient cultural
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relevance than to the revealed truths of the
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scriptures. The flock needs protecting from these
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wolves. But we have the weapons. We have all
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the weapons that we need. We have the weapon
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of the faith as revealed to the apostles. We
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have the weapon of saints in the church. Above
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all, we have the weapon of prayer. So in your
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work, pray constantly for protection. Pray for
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the Lord to send the armies from heaven to keep
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you safe. Because be sure, we're sending you
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into a battlefield and you need to be kept safe.
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in order to protect the flock. So Joseph is the
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dreamer. Joseph is the protector. But then thirdly,
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Joseph is the evangelist. My sister, when she
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first gave birth to a child, she lived near here,
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but the baby was born in hospital. And I remember
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very early on, the day after this child was born,
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going to visit her in hospital. I said, this
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is marvellous news. A new nephew, a new child,
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beautiful baby. What are you going to call him?
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She said, oh, we haven't decided yet. A few days
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later, I rang up. Still haven't decided. I suggested
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a few names. You know, Philip's a nice name for
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a boy, I said. A few other names I threw into
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the hat. Took her two weeks to decide to call
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the child Adam. Why on earth two weeks to call
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a baby Adam when someone's already thought of
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it? I don't really know. Naming a child, though,
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as many of you will know, is a critical task.
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It's a big decision, which is perhaps why Joseph
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is locked in indecision. It's his job as the
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protector of the family to name their new baby.
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What's he going to go for? Emmanuel? God with
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us? Named with good theological and scriptural
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pedigree? Jesus he saves? What's he going to
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go for between these two names in this passage
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of scripture? And of course he can't decide because...
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He needs both. The child is Emmanuel, God with
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us, the fullness of God's eternal word, present
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in his world, the incarnate one, the one who
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is fully, totally, utterly perfect in his divinity,
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as he's perfect in his humanity. God has come
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to share our lives in this child. And because
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of that, we sinners can share in God's life.
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The child is Emmanuel. But also the child must
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be Jesus, because he's come to save us. He'll
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give his life for us, dying on our behalf, the
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death we sinners deserve, to release us from
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the power of death and sin, that we might be
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set free. Emmanuel, Jesus. In holding those two
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names, Joseph is the evangelist, sharing that
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good news, which is his adopted son, Jesus Christ.
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And so Joseph teaches us also how to be evangelists.
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You see, to me, it seems to me there's a choice
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against a complex cultural backdrop. One option
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is the catacomb. We can hide away and turn in
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on ourselves. There's plenty of churches doing
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that. Small congregations who become too frightened
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to look outwards and become just a small gathering
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of friends. Those who strive so much for perfection
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in the faith, they forget how to engage with
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the world. Those who use decline narratives as
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a way of running away from the task of proclaiming
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the gospel. An anxious church, riven with divisions,
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turns in on itself, hides in the catacomb. There
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is one option in the face of a hostile culture.
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The other option is to turn around. The other
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option is to engage with the world, to understand
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the culture in order to set it free in Jesus
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Christ. The best response to a hostile culture
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is to evangelize it in the name of Jesus Christ.
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And there are plenty of signs, plenty of evidence
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that that is taking root. Young people, I think,
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are coming back to the faith. I'm just fascinated
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as I wander around Lancashire talking to teenagers
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how they want to know what the gospel is. They
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don't want some watered -down version. They want
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the real thing. Surveys show that this younger
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generation is much more inclined to explore the
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faith than those older than them. Celebrities
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coming to the faith, living their faith out openly.
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Giles Coram, the most recent. I think the question
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is, is the church in our land? ready for that
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kind of revival? Are we actually ready to reclaim
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the nation for Christ, or is our faith simply
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too weak? Let me read to you something. Sam Dickinson,
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formerly of this college, said to me, I told
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him I was preaching at Oak Hill, he said, tell
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him this, he said, tell him Jesus didn't say
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the harvest is only plentiful in the home counties.
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There's a young guy from the south who's gone
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with his family to Blackburn. and has planted
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a church from scratch, 50, 60 strong now after
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just a year and a half of work. It is a beautiful,
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beautiful work that he's doing. And I truly believe
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that when this nation returns to Jesus, and it
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is a when, not an if, when this nation returns
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to Jesus, it's in the unfashionable parts of
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the country that that will happen. The forgotten
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towns, the outer estates, the places blighted
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by poverty, the places that most need a message
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of hope. And when we reclaim those places for
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Christ, we'll reclaim a nation for Christ. So
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that's the best way to deal with a culture at
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odds with the gospel, to be unafraid, to turn
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around, to claim it in the name of Jesus Christ.
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You are. an incredibly courageous group of people.
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You are so bold, it's almost crazy. To go into
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Christian leadership at this moment of our nation's
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history, of our church's history, takes reckless,
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crazy courage. The courage of St. Joseph's. So
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thank you so much for that. And let today, on
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his feast day, let St. Joseph be your inspiration.
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Dream big. Because your dream is the dream of
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God's plan of salvation. Protect the flock and
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do so with courage. Face the world and claim
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it for Jesus as an evangelist. Because the words
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you carry are words of truth. You are the world's
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hope. Because you carry into the world that message
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of salvation that nothing else can bring. Amen.