A Tour through Westminster

A surprisingly beautiful day in London afforded more opportunity for sight seeing and I spent much of the day touring the city of Westminster.

The Abbey is a remarkable sight, particularly for the stunning architecture spanning 800 years of construction. Far more than St Paul's Cathedral in the City, Westminster is absolutely littered with monuments and memorials. Tombs in St Paul's are confined mostly to the crypt beneath the Cathedral, whereas those residing in Westminster occupy a great deal of floor space in the Abbey itself. Among the noteworthy are Edward I (Longshanks), who did his best to conquer Scotland in the late 13th cent and whose tomb is surprisingly simple; Mary I (Bloody Mary) and Elizabeth I, sisters who share the same memorial; Mary I (Queen of Scots); and Oliver Cromwell. Poets corner, which displays a great many memorials devoted to Britain's many literary giants, including Shakespeare, Tennison, Keats, Carroll, Shelly, and Dickens, is also quite a sight.

Parliament is a spectacular building as well, though I didn't venture inside. I'd like to save that for a day when their in session, which isn't until mid-July, I think. I did, however, witness a woman walk up to the gates and shout at Blair (who wasn't to be seen and probably is in another country at the moment) at the top of her lungs, calling him a killer with blood on his hands. Ah, democracy, so good at bringing out our best and worst.

I happened past Buckingham Palace too. The queen was home, but I didn't see her. She did have a band playing just inside the front gate. That was cool, but you'd think she could afford an iPod and cut down the racket.

Once I got home I looked up a few people in British history that I knew were important but couldn't remember why. I happened across the list of the "100 Greatest Britons," a survey done by the BBC in 2002. Probably there's some kind of cultural thing that keeps me from seeing it, but what kind of people place Princess Diana 3rd on the all-time list of greatest national heroes - ahead of Shakespeare, Newton, and Lord Nelson, whose myriad monuments are almost more prevalent than Union Jacks in the city? Actually, this is probably the same reason why Queen Elizabeth II (the current monarch) is simultaneously 24th on the 100 greatest list and 10th on the 100 worst list.

By the way, after commenting the other day about how unattractive the City appeared, Westminster is much more attractive and looks as an old world city ought, at least in my mind. I'm told that this is because much of the City had been destroyed by fire in the 1600's and then by the air raids during WW2. So, my apologies, London. You're growing on me.

St Paul's Cathedral

I spent the day yesterday at St Paul's Cathedral in London. You may remember this as the one place in London largely unaffected by Luftwaffe bombings during WW2. It's similar to St Peter's in Rome, having the second largest dome in the world (next to St Peter's). It does have a similar feel to St Peter's, without the creepy pope statues staring down at you with the two fingered blessing that looks more like a scolding finger. It does contain many memorials to state heroes, but most of them seem to be in good taste.

Climbing to the top of the dome (the Golden Gallery) is a task, and the view is supposed to be incredible, but it turns out that the city of London is not an attractive city. It's cloudy and many of the buildings are modern steel monstrosities. Oh well. At least you get a good view of the muddy Thames.

This makes it sound like I'm hating London. I don't. It's just not very photogenic, or, at least, I haven't found those spots yet. St Paul's is a beautiful building with loads of history within. Of particular note is the American WW2 memorial in the back of the cathedral, behind the choir. It really is stunning. The very fact that the memorial, financed entirely by British money, is placed in St Paul's is quite moving as a visiting American. It is a stately and humbling place.

Male, Middle Class, White American Speaks on Persecution...

I did preach Sunday morning and everything went very well. Thank you all for praying. It truly was remarkable how everything came together in the morning service as well. Two weeks ago I had been given a passage to preach from: The Beatitudes. I was not particularly excited about this since I've heard or read too many varying interpretations on it and wasn't so sure that I could land on a proper one with my relative inexperience. Plus, I was completely out of range of the kind of resources I would have liked to have had.

Nevertheless, while reading one night a week and a half ago, I felt very strongly that the Lord was urging me to explore the last of the Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Now what was I, a 27 year old from middle class America, supposed to say about persecution? I did manage to put something together for Sunday and was amazed at how well it fit in with the rest of the service, though I had nothing to do whatsoever with these things aligning.

First, before I preached, during praise and worship, a woman in the congregation spoke up and relayed to the congregation a vision she had been having of God kneeding out dough. Although bread turns out sweet and tasty, the kneeding process is difficult and painful. She believed that GSGBC was in the kneeding stage. Then, after I spoke, the worship leader had prepared a song in advance that focused on the same themes I had spoken about. Again, I had not talked to him about this at all. Finally, several people approached me afterwards and told me that it was well done and a timely message.

I'm certain, then, that the Lord was with us yesterday. I'm glad to have been a part of his work and you can be too. What follows is a transcript of my sermon, for those who might be interested. Cheers.

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Great Escape, the true story of a World War 2 German prison camp built especially to house those Allied officers that had given the Nazis the most trouble. The bravery of those RAF officers who tunnelled their way out of the camp (many at the cost of their lives) is truly remarkable. Their story and the movie that popularized it are so renown that this simple tune inspires many.

Here you have two warring armies with diametrically opposed objectives. On the one hand, to be in the German military was to be perfectly in conflict with the Allied forces. Likewise, to be in the British army was to do everything in your power to oppose the Nazis.

After the escape attempt in the movie, several did see freedom, but many escapees were caught and either returned to the camp or killed. One of those killed, Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett, had organized the entire plot. Yet when news of his death reached Captain Ramsey and US Flight Lt Hendley back at the camp, Ramsey assures us that Bartlett’s plan had been a success. He says, “Roger’s idea was to get back at the enemy the hardest way he could, mess up the works. From what we’ve heard here, I think he did exactly that.”

The point is that, although the cost is often high, it is the sworn duty of a citizen of one nation to actively oppose an enemy nation. What I want to explore this morning is that I think the same is true of us as citizens in the kingdom of God; that the nature of Christianity in this world is conflict.

We’re looking again at the Beatitudes, and specifically I want to focus on the last of these – Matthew 5:10. There are a few points about this verse I want to make and then move to apply it to our lives.

The first thing we need to do is to back up a little bit. We’re looking at just one verse, specifically, but we need to pull back some so we can get a wider view of the context and what’s going on here. If we look at the Beatitudes as a whole, we see a series of strange statements: Blessed are the poor in spirit (v. 3); Blessed are those who mourn (v. 4); Blessed are the meek (v. 5); etc. These are not the kinds of people we typically consider blessed.

My brother and his wife just recently had their 2^nd child, Hannah, on Christmas day. Now there’s a blessing: a healthy mother and child, the increase of family. So when you hear about someone who’s having a baby or adopting as Simon and Becky have just done, you think “Oh! That’s wonderful!” But what if you transposed that same reaction onto the context of someone in mourning? Let’s say you run into a friend on the street and you haven’t seen her in quite a while so you ask “What’s new?” And they respond saying that their mother just died; or their father; or husband; or worse yet, a child. Do you then say, “Oh! That’s wonderful!” No! Of course not! So what’s Jesus saying here?

The clue, I think, is in the bookends of the Beatitudes, vv. 3 & 10. The common language in both is “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I do believe that what Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount as a whole is outlining the criteria for citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. This is what citizens of the kingdom of God look like: salt, light, no hatred, no lust, faithful, trustworthy, etc. Look, for example, at Matthew 5:19. That’s the citizenship test.

So it’s clear, then, that at least part of what Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount is defining this new kingdom, this new nation.

Now, part of what this means, I believe, is conflict with opposing nations. John Stott, Rector Emeritus of All Souls Church, believes that the heart of the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 6:8: “Do not be like them.” He believes that the entirety of the Sermon is establishing a counter culture of sorts. “Do not be like them.” But who are “they”? Well, in the immediate context, “they” are the pagans and the hypocrites. Who are pagans? Those who do not obey God, not do they profess to obey God. Who are hypocrites? Those who profess to obey God, but don’t do it. Who’s left? Those of us in the opposing nation; those of us who profess and obey; members of the kingdom of heaven. Thus, “do not be like them.”

If you happen to have a son or a daughter between the ages of 12 and 17, they can tell you the kind of persecution that can come on someone who doesn’t act like everyone else. It doesn’t take much – if your clothes are slightly outdated; if your speech is a little different; if you’re a little overweight; if you are in any way perceived as “not normal” the resultant ridicule can be enormous. It is the normal reaction of a sinful people to lash out at what it perceives as different.

Thus, if we as Christians are to be different from the rest of the world, conflict is inevitable.

So we’ve seen that Christ is developing an alternative nation of sorts, the citizens of which are characterized by obedience to his commands and the traits listed in the Beatitudes. We’ve also seen how it’s only natural that, as we look more and more like the kind of people Jesus describes, we will face persecution. There will be conflict as part of the Christian life. Now let’s see if we can apply this to our own lives here in the 21^st century. There are three things I think we can bring to bear on the present.

First, it seems to me there are two primary reasons for any one person to see hardship or persecution in this life. One is wickedness. The basis of any justice system is that those who do wrong receive just punishment. This should be. Two is righteousness. Jesus was persecuted and betrayed because his righteousness was in direct conflict with the sinful nature of the leadership of his day. If you are somehow lukewarm and in the middle, there’s no reason for anyone to come against you – you’re a moral pushover, irrelevant. So if you find yourself being accused of one thing or another, be sure it is for righteousness, that is, for obedience to Christ, and not for wrongdoing.

Secondly, let’s not be masochistic about this whole thing. The persecution is not the blessing. No, the blessing comes at the end of the verse. “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” As Christians, we have to have this hope extending far beyond this life. Otherwise, if you cannot see beyond the pain of persecution, you cannot endure it. You will always chase after present comforts if you have no hope for a better future. The reason we stick to a diet; the reason we work through university or graduate school; the reason we endure rough patches in our relationships is because we trust that the other side will be that much better if we do. Although suffering can have purifying effects and it can refine our character, let’s not assume that persecution for persecution’s sake is what we’re after. Rather, it is here listed as a natural (and possibly inevitable) by-product of following Christ wholeheartedly.

Finally, a warning is in order. Beware the one who says to you that the Christian life is all about material blessing. Not everyone suffers like Peter did, or like Paul did, or like any other Christian martyr, but nowhere does God promise a comfortable life for those who follow Him. A Christian cannot expect a big house, a healthy family, plenty of money, or even a friendly smile from everyone you meet. What God does promise is everything you need to continue to obey Him – everything you need for the mission He gives you. Although material blessings may come from God, God help us (I mean it) if we begin to equate material blessing with spiritual blessing.

So if you are in a tough spot; if things are rough in your family or at work or at school; if you feel actively opposed as if fighting a vicious enemy; first, do an inventory – are you following Christ’s commands? Then, rejoice, for your citizenship in the kingdom of heaven is secure and your hope is far greater than this present world.