The word ‘Christian’ means ‘Follower
of Christ’. As Church and as a Christian community we are aspiring and I hope attempting,
imperfectly, to follow Jesus. Not an easy task! I am often astounded that we
dare even to state such an aim.
If our intention is to follow
someone then the first question which needs asking is a geographical one, where
is he? Where can we find this Jesus?
The New Testament gives us a clear
but challenging answer,
Jesus most often placed himself at
the edge, at the edge he is a compassionate servant to the poor, the
marginalised, the ill, the possessed and the forgotten. But his presence at the
edge is much more than that, Jesus incarnates not just as a human being but more deeply than that as a human being at
the edge. The mystery of the incarnation is that whenever we exclude, oppress
or ignore another person it is with these very people that Jesus seeks to be
incarnated. To follow Jesus is to be a moving people, moving towards the periphery, incarnating ourselves, at the
edge.
But Jesus is also present at the
centre, he does not live there but he does make regular visits. At the centre
he is a courageous prophet speaking truth to power on behalf of those at the
edge, taking the risk of being smacked (and sometimes actually being smacked) by
those who neither want to listen or to let others hear.
As Christians we are called to attempt
to follow along such an incarnational path, to reject the lure of the comfortable, to spend most of our time at the
edge, to be compassionate, patient and servant-like to the victims of our
society. The asylum seekers, the homeless, the addicted, the depressed, those evicted
by the bedroom tax, those far from a familiar home, those separated from
family, those on zero-hours contracts, those crippled by debt, those forced
to pay exorbitant rents and energy bills; we are called to be among those
without hope.
We are called to occasionally take
trips into the centre, to protest, to criticise, to be among the 75’000 at the
conservative party conference lobbying for the NHS, to be among the 25 at our
local drone factory protesting about killing in Pakistan and Afghanistan, to be
outside the DSEI Arms fayre in London, to write to those imprisoned in the pursuit
of right, to write letters to our MP and MEPs.
To attempt to be a Christian is to seek to be incarnated with those at the edge and to risk rejection from the centre, not
an un-daunting calling ....... We have a long distance yet to travel.
