John Davies - Notes From a Small Vicar

Christian Family Values - an incendiary approach

Jesus, who his followers expected to bring peace to the troubled family of Israel, tells them that he will do the opposite. Jesus, who his friends saw as one who expressed love and care for those closest to him, throws a grenade into the heart of the family home. In the light of this passage, the concept of Christian Family Values is blown apart. And it would not be so daunting if it were a one-off, if elsewhere Jesus affirmed the family in conventional terms. But the reality is that he never does. [...] It is clear that when it comes to traditional family values, Jesus will not affirm them. But instead he will assert the dawning of a new way of human relating, which is not a lesser way but a greater way. It is the way of the kingdom of God. The essence of Jesus’ teaching is that in the kingdom of God, loyalty to himself takes precedence over family loyalty. Why such teaching, and why so assertive?

- from today's talk, Christian Family Values - an incendiary approach.

Dressed for action: Mary Sumner

Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes’. (Luke 12. 37)

 And when Mary married George Henry Sumner, she married into the family of the great slave trade abolitionist William Wilberforce. She, like her clergyman husband and Wilberforce himself, would have struggled with some of the scripture texts which seem to heedlessly accept slavery as a given, just as many scripture texts seem to blithely demote women and describe poverty as an unalterable fact of life. But being a keen student of the scriptures Mary would have dug deeper to find the undercurrent of grace which is always there for those who read the Bible through the lens of the values of God’s kingdom.

Mary would have read on from where Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes,’ to hear him complete his sentence, saying, ‘truly I tell you, [the master] will fasten his belt and have [his slaves] sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them’. (Luke 12. 37)

As he does so often, here Jesus turns the values of the world upside down, challenges its oppressive practices and offers a model for another way of being altogether - a way of human flourishing where both slave and master are liberated to live together in an equality and unity of grace. This is a kingdom in which both woman and man are equally valued, where poverty is challenged and overcome.

And as Mary sought to apply these values of God’s kingdom to her situation, a timid young woman finding strength in these scriptures to follow her heart and develop her vision, so now today the Mothers’ Union ‘provides a network through which women can serve Christ in their own community - through prayer, financial support and actively working at ... grassroots level in programmes that meet local needs; lobbying local and national governments on issues affecting family life and campaigning to challenge legislation that neglects the vulnerable and marginalised.’ 

- from my talk for a special Mothers' Union service, Dressed for action: Mary Sumner, today.