Highbury
Congregational Church
Congregational Church
A place to
share Christian friendship,
explore Christian faith and
enter into Christian mission
share Christian friendship,
explore Christian faith and
enter into Christian mission
John
A series of sermons preached between Christmas and Easter 2006 at Highbury by Richard Cleaves.
It was linked to the new visual Bible, The Gospel of John.
Matthew, Mark and Luke see Jesus as the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets.
As John opens with a celebration of the creative word of God and the larger than life Son of Man we are in the world of the third section of the Hebrew Scriptures ... That is the world of the wisdom literature.
The wisdom that is explored in the books of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs and elsewhere in the so-called ‘wisdom literature’ of the Old Testament has been defined as ‘the ability to cope.
That’s the theme we have taken up in our series of sermons on John’s Gospel in the Spring of 2006.
1 Jan Wisdom and the abilitiy to cope John 1
8 Jan Coping with something new - John 2
15 Jan Coping with the Big Questions of the Meaning of life John 3
22 Jan Coping with differences in the church John 4
29 Jan Coping with the question of euthanasia John 5
5th Feb Coping with Religion
19th Feb Coping with our own frailty and weakness
John 7
26th Feb Coping with feelings of oppression John 8
5th March Coping with Growing Up - a Celebration of Baptism - John 9
12th March Parade Service
19th March Coping with Pastoral Care John 10 Psychiatrist, Kate Blazey reflects on Mental Health, Mental Illness and the church’s Pastoral Care
26th March Church weekend away - a visiting preacher
2nd April Coping with bereavement John 11
9th April Palm Sunday and a look
Forward to a major new series on the BBC for Easter about the miracles with David Waters who researched the programmes.
16th April Our Celebration of Easter
It was linked to the new visual Bible, The Gospel of John.
Matthew, Mark and Luke see Jesus as the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets.
As John opens with a celebration of the creative word of God and the larger than life Son of Man we are in the world of the third section of the Hebrew Scriptures ... That is the world of the wisdom literature.
The wisdom that is explored in the books of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs and elsewhere in the so-
That’s the theme we have taken up in our series of sermons on John’s Gospel in the Spring of 2006.
1 Jan Wisdom and the abilitiy to cope John 1
8 Jan Coping with something new -
15 Jan Coping with the Big Questions of the Meaning of life John 3
22 Jan Coping with differences in the church John 4
29 Jan Coping with the question of euthanasia John 5
5th Feb Coping with Religion
19th Feb Coping with our own frailty and weakness
John 7
26th Feb Coping with feelings of oppression John 8
5th March Coping with Growing Up -
12th March Parade Service
19th March Coping with Pastoral Care John 10 Psychiatrist, Kate Blazey reflects on Mental Health, Mental Illness and the church’s Pastoral Care
26th March Church weekend away -
2nd April Coping with bereavement John 11
9th April Palm Sunday and a look
Forward to a major new series on the BBC for Easter about the miracles with David Waters who researched the programmes.
16th April Our Celebration of Easter
Life, Love and Euthanasia
... Making connections with John 4:45 to 5
... Making connections with John 4:45 to 5
Signs and their Significance
In John’s Gospel an incident or a couple of incidents in the life of Jesus are usually followed by lengthy teaching from Jesus. In John 4:45 to 5:9 the two incidents are both acts of healing, the first of which John describes as ‘a sign’. The teaching that Jesus goes on to share in the rest of chapter 5 brings out the significance of the two events.
Making Connections
Making connections between what we read in the Bible and what’s going on in the world around us brings the Bible alive and enables God’s Word to speak right into God’s World. In the week leading up to Sunday, 29th January two items of news caught my eye. There seemed to be connections to be made with this section of John’s Gospel.
God is Love
Pope Benedict XvI’s first encyclical took many people by surprise. Benedict XVI took as his theme something that binds Christians together when he could so easily have taken some doctrinal theme that is distinctive to Roman Catholicism. His theme goes to the very heart of the Christian Faith. God is love. He appealed to people of faith to turn away from those whose behaviour suggests their god is full of hatred and violence and live out in their lives a faith that gives expression to love.
In John’s Gospel an incident or a couple of incidents in the life of Jesus are usually followed by lengthy teaching from Jesus. In John 4:45 to 5:9 the two incidents are both acts of healing, the first of which John describes as ‘a sign’. The teaching that Jesus goes on to share in the rest of chapter 5 brings out the significance of the two events.
Making Connections
Making connections between what we read in the Bible and what’s going on in the world around us brings the Bible alive and enables God’s Word to speak right into God’s World. In the week leading up to Sunday, 29th January two items of news caught my eye. There seemed to be connections to be made with this section of John’s Gospel.
God is Love
Pope Benedict XvI’s first encyclical took many people by surprise. Benedict XVI took as his theme something that binds Christians together when he could so easily have taken some doctrinal theme that is distinctive to Roman Catholicism. His theme goes to the very heart of the Christian Faith. God is love. He appealed to people of faith to turn away from those whose behaviour suggests their god is full of hatred and violence and live out in their lives a faith that gives expression to love.
“Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free; it is not practised as a way of achieving other ends.[30] But this does not mean that charitable activity must somehow leave God and Christ aside. For it is always concerned with the whole man. Often the deepest cause of suffering is the very absence of God. Those who practise charity in the Church's name will never seek to impose the Church's faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. He knows that God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and that God's presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is to love. He knows—to return to the questions raised earlier—that disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike; it is an attempt to do without God. Consequently, the best defence of God and man consists precisely in love. It is the responsibility of the Church's charitable organizations to reinforce this awareness in their members, so that by their activity—as well as their words, their silence, their example—they may be credible witnesses to Christ.” Pope Benedict XVI, God is Love (January 2006)
See the BBC news report that appeared on our web site during the week.
In both the healing of the official’s son and the healing on the sabbath what motivates Jesus is his compassion, kindness and love for people who are hurting. That love knows no bounds: whether Gentile or Jew all receive the love of God in Jesus as he brings healing into the world. There is an echo of John 3:16: God loved the world so much that he gave his son ... And now he is the one who is bringing healing into the lives of hurting people.
Life
As Jesus begins his teaching and brings out the significance of the two signs we have just witnessed there is another echo of John 3:16. Not only is it that love that motivates the healing, but the healing has to do with ‘life’, that life eternal that begins this side of dying, is not conquered by death, and finds its fulfilment the other side of dying. It is ‘the Son’ who gives life to whomsoever he wishes. (see especially, John 5:19-24). The life Jesus gives comes from God. It is indeed what Jesus is all about as the Son of Man has his feet on the earth, his head in the heavens and bridges God and a world of need. (See John 5:27 and John 1:51).
Love, life and euthanasia
That invites the next connection with the week’s news. Earlier in the week The BBC carried a moving and, for many, disturbing interview with Anne Turner, 66, a GP suffering from a terminal illness bringing with it severe pain. She and her family were interviewed as she went to Switzerland to bring an end to her life. The Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, gave a Christian response that prompted me to make connections with the passage we have been reading this week. It again was one of the BBC headlines on our website.
the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend Richard Harries, told the BBC it was not right to always accede to a person's every request.
In both the healing of the official’s son and the healing on the sabbath what motivates Jesus is his compassion, kindness and love for people who are hurting. That love knows no bounds: whether Gentile or Jew all receive the love of God in Jesus as he brings healing into the world. There is an echo of John 3:16: God loved the world so much that he gave his son ... And now he is the one who is bringing healing into the lives of hurting people.
Life
As Jesus begins his teaching and brings out the significance of the two signs we have just witnessed there is another echo of John 3:16. Not only is it that love that motivates the healing, but the healing has to do with ‘life’, that life eternal that begins this side of dying, is not conquered by death, and finds its fulfilment the other side of dying. It is ‘the Son’ who gives life to whomsoever he wishes. (see especially, John 5:19-
Love, life and euthanasia
That invites the next connection with the week’s news. Earlier in the week The BBC carried a moving and, for many, disturbing interview with Anne Turner, 66, a GP suffering from a terminal illness bringing with it severe pain. She and her family were interviewed as she went to Switzerland to bring an end to her life. The Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, gave a Christian response that prompted me to make connections with the passage we have been reading this week. It again was one of the BBC headlines on our website.
the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend Richard Harries, told the BBC it was not right to always accede to a person's every request.
"We would not accede to the request of a teenager if they asked for help in killing themselves," he said.
"I know that if a person is old and debilitated and worried about the degenerative nature of their disease that is very difficult.
"But I would want to try to convince them that even if they got into a state where they were very dependent and felt very helpless and useless, their life was still precious."
Bishop Harries said many people had found caring for elderly relatives in the last phase of their life difficult, but rewarding.
"There has been a real deepening of a relationship, or things that have gone wrong in the past have been put right," he said.
"Who knows what good things can come out of the last phase of a person's life?"
How do we cope with the question of Euthanasia?
As I read the signs Jesus did and the significance he saw in them for me there can be no question.
I reject euthanasia – life is the gift of God.
In the face of suffering we are committed to healing: that is why Christians have always been committed to medicine. The founders of our Cheltenham General Hospiital just over 150 years ago were motivated by their Christian faith as they demonstrated in the commissioning of a wonderful sculpture of The Good Samaritan that now stands in the Keynsham Rd entrance to the hospital. Today (29th January) is world leprosy day. The Leprosy Mission states that its goal is ‘to eradicate the causes and consequences of leprosy’
That commitment to healing is motivated by the kindness, compassion and love that is the hallmark of the ministry of Jesus.
But the wonderful advances of modern medicine often lead to a dilemma. Do we prolong life even suffering continues or do we ‘let nature take its course’?
Our society’s loss of confidence in the conviction that there is life beyond dying together with the growth of litigation has, one sometimes senses, leads one sometimes to wonder whether we over-use intrusive treatment to prolong life when the true kindness and compassion that is committed to healing would involve withholding that treatment?
The alternative involves accepting the risks that come with palliative care
It was someone with profound Christian commitment who established the hospice movement and the development of modern palliative care, very much as a reaction to the awfulness of pain and lack of care offered to those in the last stages of terminal illness. Dame Cicely Saunders died only last year. Her legacy has left its mark ... But it too has suffered at the hands of a society that has lost its conviction about life beyond dying, and at the growing threat of litigation leveled at those in the medical professions.
A Christian commitment to palliative care starts with an affirmation of life before dying and life after dying. It is motivated by the compassion, kindness and love that is at the heart of Jesus’ healing ministry.
A Christian commitment to palliative care, however, needs to be prepared to take risks.
In the face of the extremes of suffering and pain that sometimes accompany terminal illness it is proper expression of that compassion, kindness and love to prescribe drugs that will lessen that pain even when there is a risk, even a probability that a particular drug will lessen the length of life this side of dying.
An Alternative to Euthanasia in the face of the threat of litigation - the living will
Litigation is not the answer: it is the problem.
Legislation to allow euthanasia is not the answer.
I am drawn to the possibility of encouraging what has been known as a living will. I have been supportive in my pastoral ministry of people who have felt prompted to draw up what they have described as ‘a living will’. This is the kind of thing I would say in mine:
“In the event of being diagnosed with a terminal illness that results in extreme pain and suffering I would not want to have intrusive treatment that simply prolongs life this side of dying, I would rather let nature take its course.
“To alleviate thatpain and suffering I would value palliative care even though that carries with it the risk that my life this side of dying will be shortened.”
Life, Love and Euthanasia: John 4:45 to 5 offers us a framework
First, our commitment is to life - the life that is lived this side of dying and the other side of dying. That means that in the face of terminal illness we do not have to prolong life at all costs or delay death for as long as is possible
Second, our commitment to healing is prompted by compassion, kindness and love. That means in the face of a terminal illness palliative care is an appropriate expression of that kindness, compassion and love even if it should carry with it the possibility of shortening life this side of dying.
Third, our Christian conviction is prompted by a faith that is founded on Jesus Christ and on the very love that is the nature of God. That means that in the face of a terminal illness we may be sure that the love and compassion that surrounds us this side of dying is as nothing compared to the love and compassion that will be ours to share the other side of dying.
I reject euthanasia – life is the gift of God.
In the face of suffering we are committed to healing: that is why Christians have always been committed to medicine. The founders of our Cheltenham General Hospiital just over 150 years ago were motivated by their Christian faith as they demonstrated in the commissioning of a wonderful sculpture of The Good Samaritan that now stands in the Keynsham Rd entrance to the hospital. Today (29th January) is world leprosy day. The Leprosy Mission states that its goal is ‘to eradicate the causes and consequences of leprosy’
That commitment to healing is motivated by the kindness, compassion and love that is the hallmark of the ministry of Jesus.
But the wonderful advances of modern medicine often lead to a dilemma. Do we prolong life even suffering continues or do we ‘let nature take its course’?
Our society’s loss of confidence in the conviction that there is life beyond dying together with the growth of litigation has, one sometimes senses, leads one sometimes to wonder whether we over-
The alternative involves accepting the risks that come with palliative care
It was someone with profound Christian commitment who established the hospice movement and the development of modern palliative care, very much as a reaction to the awfulness of pain and lack of care offered to those in the last stages of terminal illness. Dame Cicely Saunders died only last year. Her legacy has left its mark ... But it too has suffered at the hands of a society that has lost its conviction about life beyond dying, and at the growing threat of litigation leveled at those in the medical professions.
A Christian commitment to palliative care starts with an affirmation of life before dying and life after dying. It is motivated by the compassion, kindness and love that is at the heart of Jesus’ healing ministry.
A Christian commitment to palliative care, however, needs to be prepared to take risks.
In the face of the extremes of suffering and pain that sometimes accompany terminal illness it is proper expression of that compassion, kindness and love to prescribe drugs that will lessen that pain even when there is a risk, even a probability that a particular drug will lessen the length of life this side of dying.
An Alternative to Euthanasia in the face of the threat of litigation -
Litigation is not the answer: it is the problem.
Legislation to allow euthanasia is not the answer.
I am drawn to the possibility of encouraging what has been known as a living will. I have been supportive in my pastoral ministry of people who have felt prompted to draw up what they have described as ‘a living will’. This is the kind of thing I would say in mine:
“In the event of being diagnosed with a terminal illness that results in extreme pain and suffering I would not want to have intrusive treatment that simply prolongs life this side of dying, I would rather let nature take its course.
“To alleviate thatpain and suffering I would value palliative care even though that carries with it the risk that my life this side of dying will be shortened.”
Life, Love and Euthanasia: John 4:45 to 5 offers us a framework
First, our commitment is to life -
Second, our commitment to healing is prompted by compassion, kindness and love. That means in the face of a terminal illness palliative care is an appropriate expression of that kindness, compassion and love even if it should carry with it the possibility of shortening life this side of dying.
Third, our Christian conviction is prompted by a faith that is founded on Jesus Christ and on the very love that is the nature of God. That means that in the face of a terminal illness we may be sure that the love and compassion that surrounds us this side of dying is as nothing compared to the love and compassion that will be ours to share the other side of dying.
