ST MARK’S LENT GROUP 2008

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

St Mark’s Lent Study Group met every Wednesdaye evening in Lent to explore our relationships, using the Gospel of Matthew as our guiding light, and the experience of the Church in Bangladesh as our example of sharing Christ’s love.

Our church interest in Bangladesh has been inspired because two of our members, Peter and Ellie May, are working there with the Lamb project to improve Bangladeshi people’s health.

Bangladesh has about 150 million people living in an area the size of England and Wales. More than 80 per cent of those people live on less than £1 a day. Corruption is rife, as is flooding and natural disaster.

Life is about making ends meet by trying to get ahead of others. Work is available only on an intermittent basis in the rural regions. Most people live in rural areas on vegetables, fruit and fish.  Most of the people are Bengali Muslims (90 per cent).

The First Session: was led by Richard Todd, on the theme, Relationships in the Family.

Richard gave a moving testimony of his recent visit to the Lamb project. He reported that Peter and Ellie are engaged in front line mission work providing practical care for the poor and marginalised people of Bangladesh.

He talked about grandmother and widow, Kanto Biswas, and how she says she has two families that play a vital role in her life - her blood relatives and her extended church family.

She writes: ‘Families are important….poverty is a burden that causes a lot of tension. My husband died early so my family of eight children has been very, very poor. I am happy to help my daughter-in-law and look after my granddaughter. Life is a struggle but when we are together we are happy.’

“Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:50

Who are my brothers and sisters?

Father of all, God with us,

Help us to respond to this question as we meet you this week through our families and friends.

The Second Session: The Reverend Richard Tuck, Chair of USPG Governors, led us on the theme of Relationships in the Church.

This is a particular challenge for Christians in Bangladesh, as they make up 0.3% of the population. The Church of Bangladesh, part of the Anglican Communion, is part of this tiny minority.

Most Bangladeshi Christians are poor farmers or day labourers, so like most others in the country, their main focus is of making ends meet.

Rev Tuck talked about how the challenge was how to practice Christ’s commands in a subsistence environment. The Church of Bangladesh has a major focus on Christ’s teachings on working to build peace and heal divisions through love.

We realised that in many cases our needs mirror those of the Church in Bangladesh. We discussed what we could and should be doing to work together as a witness to those around us.

In Matthew 20:28 we read: “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant & whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve & to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Lord of the church, teacher of disciples,

You loved your friends to the end,

And gave them the example of leadership through service.

May we who follow you today, accept the radical challenge you still offer,

To your companions on the way throughout all time.

Stop us short if our values go astray,

And enable us to discover in obedience a perfect freedom.

Above all, help us to make your church a pattern for a new world

Rather than a pale reflection of this one.

Third Session: was on the theme Relationships in the Community.

Clare Amos, the Director of Theological Studies for the Anglican Communion, had a contagious enthusiasm for studying the Bible and we were given a fascinating insight into aspects of Matthew’s writings.

She took us right back to the beginning of the Gospel, to the birth of Jesus, and we read of God’s gift of “Immanuel–God with us”, then moved onto the final verses of the Gospel, where Jesus commissions his disciples to “Go into the world and preach the Gospel”, where he reassures them “Lo I am with you always to the end of time.”

We were blessed anew with this complete picture of God being with us in relationship with Him!

We discussed how as Christians we should exemplify Jesus’ teaching in our daily lives, whatever our interpretation is of ‘community’.

The Church in Bangladesh was a great example of how the church can share the love of Christ through practical action. The testimony of Asura Khatun, a Muslim, is a moving one. She lives in an area where the water supply is contaminated with arsenic: “Workers from the Church of Bangladesh come here regularly…they are doing a miracle in treating those whoa re affected….they are the only people helping to address the arsenic problem in  this area….so we’re very grateful.”

“You are the salt of the earth….You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5: 13-16.

Radiant Lord of glory, source of light and life,

You shine your penetrating rays throughout all creation,

And catch us in your glow, refusing to let us hide from your love.

May we learn to reflect your generosity,

Offering a lamp of hope to our neighbours

As we climb hand in hand with them on the journey

Towards the city set on a hill, the glorious city of God,

Where your welcoming grace is made visible to all.

Fourth Week: We considered our Relationship with the environment.

We started by talking about the environment as God’s Creation, moving onto Matthew’s account of Jesus calming the storm when he was in the boat on Lake Galilee with his disciples.

Jesus as God the Creator is showing his divine nature with power over his creation, to the amazement of his disciples. We were challenged to consider whether we would have responded differently if we had been in that boat. Faith under pressure!

Our own Vicar Richard Sewell spoke passionately about his experiences in Bangladesh some years ago. Bangladesh is a low lying country and vulnerable to flooding. Last year hundreds of lives were lost and homes and livelihoods destroyed. Is this another example of the “storm” of Global Warming?

Yet despite their suffering, when water was neck deep on the road, fields were flooded and floodwaters rose to roof level, the church was still at work. One Bangladeshi Christian testified:

“The Church of Bangladesh helped by visiting affected families in a boat to deliver food, medicine, oral rehydration salts and candles. The church also provided blankets and clothes, wood & corrugated iron for repairs. We thank God because he gives us everything. We simply pray for a peaceful life.”

Would our faith be as strong under such pressures? What a challenge to us to rest in God’s care when disasters, of usually much smaller proportions, affect our lives. Do we believe that God as Creator is in control of His creation today? How do we act responsibly to care for God’s creation?

“Jesus got into a boat, and his disciples went with him. Suddenly a fierce storm hit the lake and the boat was in danger of sinking. But Jesus was asleep. The disciples went to him and woke him up. “Save us, Lord!” they said, “We are about to die.”

“Why are you so frightened? Jesus answered, “How little faith you have!” Then he got up and ordered the winds and the waves to stop, and there was a great calm.

“Everyone was amazed. “What kind of man is this?” they said, “Even the winds and the waves obey him.”

Christ, companion and Lord of all,

Saviour and strange stiller of the storm,

You offer a testing strength to all who journey with you.

You invite us to question you, yet you refuse to provide us with easy answers

To the swirling mysteries of life and creation.

We thank you for the challenges and uncertainties you have set before us

For through them you honour the dignity of our human spirits.

Inspire us to respond to our own unanswered questions,

By struggling to make this world a place where all can feel at home,

Where fear will one day be banished and our shared future will be blessed.

Final Lent session was on the theme Our Relationship with God, and led by Revd Jessie, a priest from South India. Revd Jesse works as a USPG officer supporting mission partners in Asia and Oceana.

She challenged us to consider that mission is totally dependent on having a relationship with God.

“Ask and it will be given to you’ Matthew 7:7 .God wants to give to those who ask in faith. He gave his Son ‘Immanuel – God with us’ as the greatest gift of all.

We prayed together with open hands for God to fill, so that in turn we might give ourselves in service to others.

Throughout Lent, we have read and learnt about the impact that the Church in Bangladesh is having on peoples’ lives – the practical outworking of the Gospel. We have been challenged each week as to the impact St Mark’s has on the life of the community of Wimbledon.

Are our relationships with God and one another strong enough to commend Christ to those with whom we come into contact?  Mission is all about relationships. We all need to realise that God loves us.

The Easter message shows the way from despair to hope, from death to life!

Jesus said ‘Love one another as I have loved you’.

And God the Father says: ‘”I have loved you with an everlasting love”