Weird stories – and opportunities

Towards the end of January, and I set out on what, in recent times, was a ‘weird’ opportunity: to visit some TISCA (The Independent Schools Christian Alliance) schools in person and to hold regional meetings without depending on Zoom and a screen. And what a joy it was!

The strongest shot in tennis?

Revd Martin Poole, a governor at Ballard School, spoke at the South regional gathering at Castle Court Prep School. His enthusiastic accounts of sharing stories at school assemblies ranged from showing us how to ‘tell the Bible’ using the fingers of one hand (a thumbs up for encouragement, an index finger to point to things needing attention, the middle finger – taller than the others – to be Jesus, a fourth – the ring finger – for commitment, and then the little finger for prayer), how to divide 19 camels fairly between a sheikh’s three sons (my maths was mightily challenged) and also how to use sport to tell the gospel. The latter illustration was very effective: what’s the strongest and often the winning shot played in tennis? This is, of course, the serve. Our service as Christians is often what draws others to Jesus.

The meeting at Castle Court was also remarkable for the overflowing excitement shared by staff from several schools, but especially Castle Court, of being able to have fellowship together (over a very fine meal I should add). Some schools have been unable to have in-person staff meetings until very recently and whilst we remain in awe of what technology can do to bring us together, there is nothing to replace seeing others face-to-face.

Weird stories

On our tour we took in two other schools before going to King’s Bruton for the South West regional meeting. We were treated to BBC sitcom writer James Cary’s musings on weird stories in the Bible. Here’s what Revd George Beverly, chaplain at King’s, wrote after the event:

Have you ever considered how the Bible is jam-packed with weird accounts: Baalam’s donkey talking! The transfiguration! Absalom’s long hair getting tangled in a tree, leaving him stuck hanging until he was captured! The physical resurrection of many bodies from tombs in Jerusalem when Jesus Christ rose back to life – and they walked around Jerusalem talking to people – a bit like zombies!

What do we do with such accounts? Shy away from them? Focus on the more “rational” sections of Scripture? Try and explain them away as deceptions that tricked supposedly gullible people thousands of years ago? No – none of those are wise or responsible approaches to make. We believe in a God who made the very laws of science, who is all-powerful and created everything. Thus, He is not constrained by such laws. The very fact He brings about miracles, shows he is God. And on Thursday evening, it was lovely to welcome James Cary, Christian writer, speaker and comedian to speak at TISCA (The Independent Schools’ Christian Alliance) regional meeting hosted at King’s. James sits on the Church of England’s Archbishops’ Council, hosts numerous podcasts and writes comedy for the BBC (e.g. Miranda, Hut 33, Bluestone 42, Think the Unthinkable) often alongside Milton Jones. James commended us to not shy away from the weird and controversial aspects of Scripture. God has given us these passages and they richly overflow with the message of His gospel love. Moreover, as teachers/chaplains/staff in schools, we are surrounded by children and teenagers whose world is immersed and full of an obsession with the weird and wonderful. Consider: Star Wars, Marvel, Narnia, Harry Potter and so much more. Best of all, as we engage with Scripture’s stranger segments, it often prompts genuine discussion and enquiry between pupils and staff – and isn’t that wonderful! What could be more important and fascinating than debating and discussing the message of the One who claims to hold the answers to life’s biggest questions?!?!

So, our challenge to all is to seize opportunities to engage in the weird and wonderful in the Bible – and to do the ‘weird thing’ of meeting up again in person! (COVID secure, of course…)

(Lead article in the Spring 2022 edition of ‘TISCA News and Views’)

A timely word

A recent daily devotion led me to Proverbs 15:23, ‘A person finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word!’ In the NLT version it reads, ‘Say the right thing at the right time’.

I was in London this week taking my 88 year old mum to a musical as a birthday treat. Mum is a Londoner and she hadn’t been to the City, let alone live there, for many years. She is proud of her place of birth and it didn’t disappoint! Looking somewhat lost in the street, someone stopped and helped us find the theatre. On the crowded tube, Mum was given a seat three times and, on the last occasion, the young man who had given up his seat took the time and trouble to wish us a pleasant evening as he left the train. Mum was thrilled with ‘the timely word’.

Whilst from a radically different era and setting, our experience this week reminded me what Victor Frankl, a former concentration camp inmate, wrote: ‘We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances’.

Let’s choose to smile and to give that ‘timely word’, even to strangers, even if we are rebuffed or ignored. I suspect we shall find our attitude and our words accepted many more times than they are ever refused or scorned.

You’re on mute! Or…

It is the fate of lockdown. We cannot sing, play or make music together, but if ever there was a chorus that has rung out like a clarion call on Zoom’s sound waves over these COVID times, it has been the unequivocal mantra: ‘You’re on mute.’ We’ve all done it; we’ve all been there – we chat into the void and wonder why there is no sympathy for what we’re saying, but it’s because we’re not using our voice in the right way: to borrow the axiom of yesteryear’s technology, we’ve not ‘adjusted our set.’

Amidst the maelstrom of 2020, now leaking inexorably into ’21, there have been many voices which have vied for attention and a multiplicity of issues, personal and social, have screamed to be heard. But as individuals and communities representing the voiceless in our nation and world, there are times when we might look in the mirror and lament: ‘you’re on mute.’ It is easy to accuse others of being on mute: the government, the councils, the powers that be – we claw for answers to this crisis and claim that ‘they should have spoken earlier.’ And for some of us, maybe as we turn our faces heavenward, our cry might be: ‘Lord, why are you on mute; why don’t you answer? Why are you causing us so much pain?’ At times, the psalmist echoes such sentiments, as in Psalm 28: ‘To you I call, O Lord my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me, for if you remain silent I shall be like those who have gone down to the pit. Hear my cry for mercy as I call for help.’

Pete Greig, author of ‘God on mute’, provided this powerful reflection as he wrestled with this issue: ‘I asked for strength that I might achieve; He made me weak so that I might obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things; I was given grace that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I received nothing that I asked for, all that I hoped for. My prayer was answered, I was most blessed.’

To hear, as God hears and to see as God sees, is indeed an ‘adjustment of our set’ – our mindset, our perspective and the way we view the world and ourselves. It could just be that we’re being called to listen in new ways – first to hear the pain within His heart; and then the overflow from this eustachian canal will be to hear the needs on our doorsteps and give them our voice.

When words and numbers are inadequate

Mere numbers

I wonder if the following sequence of numbers will appear in a future sports’ quiz with the corresponding question being, what do these mean: 601000216000610120621466210000104410060004? Perhaps a clue will then be given, as follows: 74 off 42? 1 off 17? Any ideas? One last clue: 67 for 10 and then 362 for 9…

These numbers, as you may now have guessed, even if you are not a sport lover let alone a cricket fanatic, relate to England’s amazing / historic / unbelievable / superhuman (you choose the adjective) Ashes’ Test match victory over Australia at Headingley this past weekend. (The figures above, in order, relate to: firstly Ben Stokes’ ball by ball display after the ninth and penultimate English wicket had fallen; secondly, he scored 74 runs off the final 42 balls (having managed only 2 runs off 50 balls the previous day); thirdly, Stokes’ final partner at the crease, Jack Leach, scored only 1 run off 17 balls he faced; and, finally, England’s woeful 67 all out in their first innings and then their 362 for the loss of all but the final wicket in their second innings which saw them pull off probably the greatest sporting ‘Houdini’ trick in history.)

These heroics are all the more remarkable given how badly England had played in their first innings – their worst score in Test cricket for nearly 70 years. Understandably, they were being written off as ‘humiliated’, ‘inept’, ‘woeful’ (etc.) – until, that is, the extraordinary display by Ben Stokes and Jack Leach under a cloudless sky on the afternoon of Sunday, 25th August 2019.

Mere words

Clearly, I don’t need to add to the many wonderful summaries in the Press of this fine sporting achievement. I do, however, want to pick up on a few, wider, observations. Ben Stokes himself was lost for words when first interviewed after the match. His England team were elated but also appeared shell-shocked. I need not comment on how the Australians were feeling. The sports writers in the Press also seemed speechless but it didn’t take long for their craft to kick in. Kevin Garside in the iNewspaper, writes: This was not just England’s moment, or cricket’s. This was one for the whole world of sport to savour, demonstrating the capacity of an ostensibly trivial pastime to say something profound about humankind…Stokes gave expression to genius and might rightly be considered as accomplished in his field as Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonardo da Vinci or Vincent van Gogh were in theirs. Garside, and others of his ilk, then invoke the language of faith to try and sum up Ben Stokes’ exploits: not a mere mortal, a worker of miracles, someone who has achieved the impossible – the person who resurrected English cricket in its darkest hour. Mere words, indeed, are inadequate, even meaningless – as are the statistics.

My simplistic ‘take’ on all this is: Stokes couldn’t have achieved what he did without the rest of the team and especially Jack Leach (and to Stokes’ credit, he did so acknowledge this); the Test-match crowd at Headingley also played an incalculably important part in exhorting Stokes et al; this achievement was also made possible by Stokes’ hard work (apparently without match in the current England team) – as well as his skill, self-belief and never-say-die attitude; if was also made possible by Australia, the opponents, faltering and eventually falling short themselves.

The truly unique moment in history

And so, what do we ‘mere mortals’ learn: it’s good to utilise inherent strengths and skills – and often this is only possible with dogged hard work. It’s vital, also, to share a responsibility with a team, a family, colleagues, a church – and to give credit where it’s due. We need to embrace the difficult task – even welcome it – as a means of strengthening ourselves and learning humility when we have to pick ourselves up yet again. Ultimately, as a Christian, I should be aware of the cheers and encouragement of the ‘cloud of witnesses’, seek to throw off anything impeding me and push on to reach the goal of completeness in Christ Jesus (cf Hebrews 12:1-3). That is the true miracle based on the most amazing event in history – ever: the Resurrection. No words, no numbers, can sum up that singular, unique, ultimate event.