Graham Brownlee

In the week of the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day landings, we have commemorated sacrifice made to achieve a greater good.

Many important issues are raised in reflecting on this. What was the greater good being sought? The extent and nature of the sacrifice? How can we ensure that good is preserved without the ravages of war in the future? What are the threats to our common good today?

The Queen made an interesting observation in her speech at the state banquet attended by President Donald Trump: “After the shared sacrifices of the Second World War, Britain and the United States worked with other allies to build an assembly of international institutions, to ensure that the horrors of conflict would never be repeated. While the world has changed, we are forever mindful of the original purpose of these structures: nations working together to safeguard a hard won peace.” 

Here she blended welcome and respect for President Trump with a firm reminder of the purpose and value of international institutions. The latter which are so decried by many populist leaders of our time.

Let’s make a connection:

“Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defence of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 1: 15 – 18, NRSV)

Here Paul observes that many preach the gospel (the good news of Christ) for noble or selfish motives. Rather daringly he concludes, what does it matter as long as the gospel is proclaimed.

Now in the case of the Christian good news, surely bad motives and practises discredit the good news? Yes, but the good news is bigger than the messenger and which of us ever promotes the good news without elements of rivalry and envy? We will find ourselves being asked to encounter people of questionable motives for the sake of the greater good.

What does that tell us? Whether our good news is the Christian gospel, or international relations, or environmental protection motives it will always be mixed and if the good cause is bigger than the rivals we must be prepared to engage with diverse and even antagonistic parties for a greater cause. The goal is paramount and the agenda is bigger than the participants.

Hopefully, powerful participants will recognise the importance of coming together for a greater goal and adapt their approach to foster partnership. Otherwise we are all the worse off and the goal may not be achieved. This is something of the reminder the Queen was offering to Donald Trump. It is one to bear in mind in UK politics also in church life.

For the sake of international relations, environmental policy and the Christian gospel we will need to engage with people of different emphasis and motives. If we fail to do this greater sacrifices and higher prices will need to be paid.

This asks us to keep our good aims and goals in clearer view and to tone down our rhetoric and posturing to allow people to find common cause. This is a tough ask, in seeking models and motivation Paul was drawn to Jesus Christ:

“Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. ⁵ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,⁸ he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2: 4 – 11 NRSV)

Graham Brownlee, June 2019

We have embarked on a series of services on Sunday mornings looking at ‘Being with’.

Try this thought – God’s chosen goal from creation onwards has been to be with us. From walking in the Garden of Eden – to being present in the Holy Spirit, from being in the temple to being among us in Jesus Christ. God has always willed to be with us, there is no place God would rather be and no better place for us.

The thread running through this is that being with God is not a state of fellowship, spiritual depth or a warm feeling on the way to something else. It is our destination.

There are many tasks before us and many things to be done. These are times when we work together to achieve something or work for others to make a difference. These are vital and essential actions – whether in campaigning for social justice or going out in evangelism. But they are actions on the way to a greater goal that people will dwell in relationship with God enjoying time, openness, hope, love and justice.

This perspective puts overcoming isolation, breaking down barriers and sharing reconciliation at the heart of the gospel. We can become so preoccupied about our tasks and actions for people and we can forget what they are about in the first place.

Here are a couple of subtle ways in which seeing things in this way deepens some of our core messages as Christians:

“God had to come personally to live and die for us.” We explain that only God was good enough to make this sacrifice, but thinking is terms of ‘being with’ we can also say that God had to come and do this because being with God is life as it was always meant to be. If God isn’t fully present in bringing salvation, then it cannot be life as it should be. It is simple as that – it has to be God!

In the midst of the toughest pastoral situations, we find ourselves searching for a credible prayer: “May God be with you” we murmur, wondering whether this is enough. We are conflicted that we couldn’t pray that God will heal and step in and change everything. But thinking in terms of ‘being with’ we realise that God being with us, is not a second-best option when facing a lack of healing – it is the best it is the way of living and experiencing life as God intended. This is not to negate the possibility, power and importance of healing and watershed changes but to realise that they are steps on the way to God being with us.

I guess to paraphrase Jesus – believe in me because I am with you and you know me and if you have to trust me because of the miracles and things I do. Have a read of John 10 and see that the debate Jesus was having there was to show that belief is first and foremost about knowing Jesus and trusting – as sheep know a shepherd.

So, in this current series on Sundays we are taking a look at what this means for us as Christians, for our connections with other people and for wider society. To consider that in all our endeavours it is the will of God to be with us, among Christians, in the midst of society and through all creation.

Graham Brownlee, March 2019

The motto of the high school I attended in my youth was “spes durat avorum” which translated means “let the hope of our ancestors endure”.

Now as a teenager that never struck me as the most spiritually insightful or the most exciting motto one could have for a school. But looking back now I think it is one of the best.

My school was the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Hexham – now a High School – founded in 1599 by ancestors who had hope that in founding a school they would give greater opportunity for poor children; provide good education for a growing merchant and farming class in Northumberland, to extend learning to more children and as Good Queen Bess looked down on us in the dining hall – to make sure a good protestant grounding was shared by all.

In this sense the ancestors who founded my school hoped to bless children and society through education. It was a benevolent and charitable purpose. I imagine they expected the curriculum to equip the children to find employment and contribute to a flourishing and stable society.

Now many years on, what do we hope education will bestow on our children? Is the same as in 1599?

The needs of society and our understanding of education have certainly changed in 420 years. But I venture to say that we still have great ambition for learning. Yes, it is to gain knowledge, but it is also to gain wisdom and understanding. Not just to know stuff but to grasp why. I hope it includes shaping values with character and not just skills. I desire young people to be grounded as resilient people and not just prepared for a specific job or exam grade.

This is not an impractical hope, in fact it is thoroughly pragmatic and rational. I know that young people in school today will not have one career for their whole working life, they will have 2 or 3 at least – so they need to gain flexible tools for living through education. I also recognise that as we get older we become hardened and resistant in our values and character. The time to be formed is in our youth. So schools need space to develop, to explore and to practice values.

It is a challenge to blend practical and relevant education with the nurturing of character, values and resilience. But more than ever this is what we should offer our children. This is what I wish to bestow on future generations. This is what I hope we can find in our schools – primary, secondary and colleges alike.

The challenge and opportunity to shape character and nurture values is not one left to schools alone. It is a responsibility shared by communities and families too. So I hope for stronger partnership between families, churches, other institutions and schools for a better and fuller education.

It is an aspiration that demands all our efforts. I believe that to work together in new and innovative ways would be an outworking of the same dream that our ancestors had when they founded my school all those years ago.

In this way may the hope of our ancestors, who built education in this country endure.

 Graham Brownlee, February 2019

 

So a baby is about to be born in this brutal and brilliant world.

A baby come to be the Saviour of the world. This is weird, a way to put the world straight which is either breath-taking in its naivety or profoundly wrong-footing the powers that be.

At the first nativity, Israel was gripped by a face-off between the powers of Herod, religious institutions and Roman empire. This gridlock was further entrenched by internal divisions between these conflicting groups. All the nativity characters were in the sway of these battling players.

One thing was for sure, the power struggle between Herod, religious authority and Rome wasn’t going to beat swords into ploughs, nor going to enable everyone to sit in their own space without fear – to paraphrase Micah 4: 3,4. Indeed the actions of these people would only make matters worse.

Race forward a couple of thousand years and the powers that be in 2018 are in a similar gridlock, riven by internal division and seeking to secure their position rather than grasp the common good.

It could be argued that the political parties and structures today started with a noble intent for justice, improvement and opportunity which they have lost the ability to pursue. So, whilst challenges and opportunities of the environment, care for an ageing population, technological innovation, developing education to equip our young people await attention our politicians are fighting blow by blow to exhaustion over Brexit and businesses are producing winter results showing declining Christmas trading. Then in a few days as the seasonal holiday comes, senior religious leaders will speak messages of peace and goodwill which seem like nice thoughts in a festive bubble. But the vital connections don’t seem to be made.

Maybe we need a radically alternative that is indeed breath-taking in its naivety and profound in wrong-footing power.

Back at the first Christmas it seemed that God was saying that the institutions of monarchy, state and religion were unable to meet the challenge and so nothing short of the personal act of God from the bottom up would bring the transformation, heart change and new order.

It seems that then as now the great powers were casting long shadows rather than light. Then and now a new order was needed. Into that comes the raw vulnerability of the Christ child, gifted with gold, frankincense and myrrh with all their meaning, destined to be the cause of the falling and rising of many. God’s act of hope in those precarious times came to pastoral farm workers, working northern families and Persian magicians, which would be taken up by fishermen, tax officials, revolutionaries and one or two scholars.

The outbreak of hope cut across cultural and social boundaries and it blossomed in homes, streets, hillsides, lakesides and meeting halls. Then in flowed unstoppably into the corridors of power. And all these connections began with a personal encounter with Jesus and an intentional commitment to his message. Then and now this is hope in precarious times.

Similar connections are being made today not in parliamentary chambers or quarterly business statements but in classrooms, streets, homes and around meal tables.

So in this brutal and brilliant world there are two Christian messages:

Firstly, that the powers of religion, state and multinationals cannot bring light in darkness. These powers shouldn’t be thrown away but reordered and recover why there are here in the first place. We need new connections.

Secondly, that the crucial connection that makes all else possible is with Jesus Christ.

This is hope in precarious times – that God has done something different and that we can break the cycle.

Graham Brownlee, December 2018

 

“Baby Shark” is a song and dance that has captured the attention of young children and families this year. It has had over 2 million hits on Youtube.

Margaret Brownlee wrote some Christian words to the song – many others have done this – so this is just one version. The children at Fairburn View Primary School in Castleford performed this at their nativity. Have a look and listen at their version and share with your friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7aTziRVsJM&feature=youtu.be

 

Just in case you couldn’t pick up the Castleford accents:

Baby Jesus do do do

Mummy Mary do do do

Daddy Joseph do do do

Shepherds came do do do

Wise men travelled do do do

In your head do do do

Merry Christmas to you you you!

 

Graham Brownlee, December 2018

 

If things go according to plan, Margaret and I will become grandparents for the first time on Boxing Day! So, a new perspective comes into our lives.

With my new identity I have noticed that there are no grandparents in the Christmas story. Now I am not arguing for 2 new fabled figures around the crib. But adjusting to becoming a grandparent has got me thinking and praying.

As I await a birth, I am so aware of the vulnerability of it all. I am sure I felt this on becoming a parent, but it has come back deeper. This coming birth brings such a mix of expectation, uncertainty, joy, anxiety. As I look on as a grandparent, I see this mix of emotions not so much in me but in the parents to be. This is a massive thing they are experiencing, they are feeling vulnerable as they prepare. The new child will be vulnerable too.

The other thing that strikes me is the number of adjustments to be made. The arrival of one new life is going to change the whole rhythm, balance and shape of family life for the parents. Nothing will ever be the same again. They can decorate room and get all the necessary equipment but there is so much more to adapt to.

In Advent we expect a birth and we prepare our nativity. There will be no grandparents in the scene. But there are major vulnerabilities in our Christian story, there are huge adjustments that the child will demand.

We know in the Christmas story the vulnerability and adjustments are not just for a family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus but in the life of God in human form and in the consequences, demands and transformation Jesus will bring among people and in the world.

Well, with just under 5 weeks to go, our apprehensive daughter and her partner get to the stage of saying “We wish the baby was born now” – bring it on. As grandparents we wonder: “Do they know what they wish for?”

I guess the same wishes and questions belong to advent and Christmas too!

Graham Brownlee, November 2018