Acts 40 - MIX IT UP

 

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands." Revelation 7:9 (NIV)

Newham, the East London borough where I live, is possibly the most diverse borough in the country – more than 160 languages are spoken by the children in our many schools and our list of 600+ worship buildings and groups includes everything from Anglo-Catholicism to Zoroastrianism.

There is, thank God, very little inter-faith strife and lots of inter-faith conversation in Newham and I believe it’s such a blessing to us. Here, you don’t need to be shy about your faith – you are positively expected to have a faith and to practise it; most faith groups do not proselytise but are very glad to welcome visitors and proud to talk about their traditions, especially when they’re having a festival.

We are often surprised by the things we have in common – we all want a safe, clean and happy environment for our children and elders; decent, affordable homes and satisfying jobs; respect and freedom, peace and health, physical as well as spiritual – and it’s fascinating to share our hopes and ways of achieving those aims.

We Christians have been amazed to learn that you can go into a Sikh Gudwara at any time and there will be food and drink to welcome you; the tranquillity of our Quaker meeting house is a lesson for those of us who think that faith has got to be about words; and many of our public buildings now have a prayer room, thanks to our Muslim neighbours who pray five times a day, every day. We have had to consider carefully what the Christian church has to offer and are learning to be more open about our Bible and our history.

The Revelation to John is very clear that the New Heaven and the New Earth are like a city, full of people – ’an enormous crowd that no one could count’ – and I believe that life in Britain these days can be a foretaste of that Heaven.

Canon Ann Easter

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40 Acts - TICK TOCK

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves." Romans 12:10 (NIV)

I was ‘that girl’ in a restaurant recently. There I sat, alone, trying desperately not to look alone, at a table for 15. For half an hour. As people kept asking if they could borrow seats.

In a moment of insanity I had forgotten that my friends are always, always late – and I should have added a good 30 minutes onto our scheduled arrival time. True to form, the other 14 arrived en masse half an hour later, and we began our lovely evening.

Don’t think that I am a saint – more often than not I’m on the other side of the time-keeping spectrum. I’m the one who wanders into work 30 seconds past my start time (on a good day), who texts ahead to say that my journey has been ‘disrupted’ by an unnameable disaster, and who can never, ever be on time for church – no matter when it starts.

In those rare moments when I am on time and others are not, I’m reminded how little we value punctuality in our culture, and how much technology is a crutch for our lack of care.

I know I should be on time. I want to be on time. But why is it so important that we are, as Christians?

1. Jesus said we should prefer others to ourselves. Leaving someone hanging around and waiting for you so that you can check Facebook just one last time reveals that you care more about yourself than the other person. Being on time is a simple way to put others first.

2. It reveals your integrity. If we agree to arrive somewhere at midday and turn up half an hour later, we have not been true to our word. Integrity means doing what we say we will do, and excuses don’t help!

Phoebe Thompson

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Where are we on the time-keeping spectrum? Maybe it’s high time we were on time.