(Readings were: 1 John 5:1-6 and John 15:9-17)
We’re immersed in the letters and gospel of John, and this week — as last week — we’re up to our eyes in love. In this church, our great preacher on love is Father David, and I think he made a good case for it last Sunday.
Now, I am not very big on love; in all honesty I think love is so very complex that I’m not more than about 30% sure what it is. Love has never been my thing, to be truthful; but I am very good at problem-solving, so that’s the track I’m heading down today.
Back in 2011, Alan Titchmarsh interviewed Prince Philip in a programme called Prince Philip at Ninety. I watched that in a Travelodge on the Ouse Bridge in York, and Prince Philip said something in that interview that I have never forgotten.
Alan Titchmarsh pressed him to talk about his relationship with Prince Charles — now our King, of course — specifically, he wanted to explore the rumours that it was not an easy relationship.
And Prince Philip said that there are basically two kinds of people — pragmatists and romantics — and he said that he was essentially a pragmatist, where Prince Charles was essentially a romantic; so they saw the world very differently from each other.
I can easily imagine that to be true, but what caught my attention was that it made me realise that I, too, am essentially a pragmatist. Problem-solving and finding work-arounds has been the story of my life. I am not a dreamer.
So when I am confronted by texts like our readings today, dizzying stuff about love and laying down your life and bearing fruit that will last and conquering the world, I don’t think “Yes!” or “Hallelujah!”
I think, “How the heck are we going to do that, then?”
If you are essentially a romantic, you are probably already okay with John the Evangelist, who paints his canvas on a cosmic scale, whose spirituality flies high — that’s why the evangelical creature that represents him is the eagle — and whose vision of life and love and glory is pretty much off the charts. He’ll speak to your soul.
But if you are, like me, essentially a pragmatist, I wonder how you responded to this from our epistle:
“And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.”
Or this, from our gospel:
“I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.”
Right. Gosh.
Pragmatists are, of course, very disappointing to romantics; horribly down-to-earth and not very charming. A sharp eye for the budget, be that of money, time or energy. It was Gandhi who said, in his book Experiments in Truth, “Without properly kept accounts it is impossible to maintain truth in its pristine purity,” and that’s how you know Gandhi, in contrast to his friend Rabindranath Tagore, was essentially a pragmatist. He was interested in the detail, and in figuring out how to put stuff into practice.
So St John is telling us that we’re going to be conquering the world, bearing fruit that will last, and furthermore that the Father will give us whatever we ask in the Name of Jesus.
Really?
Well, let me say that I am a Bible kind of Christian. I do believe what’s in this book.
The Bible speaks into our lives with great power. When a Bible is presented to the monarch at their coronation, the archbishop says this:
“receive this book,
the most valuable thing that this world affords.
Here is wisdom;
This is the royal law;
These are the lively oracles of God.”
And I absolutely believe that. So when it says we’re going to be conquering the world, bearing fruit that will last, and that the Father will give us whatever we ask in the Name of Jesus, I assume that to be true. We just have to figure out how to do it.
I want to suggest an approach that may help. Five things.
Let’s start with “his commandments are not burdensome.” Seriously? What like, “be born again”, “take up your cross” and “unless someone gives up everything they have, they cannot be my disciple”? “Take my yoke upon you; my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”
Well maybe these are not burdensome, maybe his burden is light, if he’s carrying the burden. So my first suggestion, as a pragmatist, is — Phone a friend. Get help. The first indispensable essential for actually living this stuff is to get in touch with Jesus and keep in touch with him. Turn to him. Talk to him. Listen to him. Invite him in to your heart and life. I mean that simply and literally, not figuratively. Take some time out to sit down quietly in your room, by yourself with him, and talk to him; ask him in; give your life to him — I mean, you might as well; it’s too hard to do it by yourself. So, thing one is: Phone a friend. Get help.
Thing two, is start with something small. What is small? You are. When the epistle says “whatever is born of God conquers the world” (off you trot, do it then) — I put it to you that the world is not entirely external. It is also within you, as indeed so is the kingdom. Start by conquering the world that is in you while you’re gearing up to changing society and overthrowing the government. Begin at home. What do you think needs changing? Are you sick of corruption and lack of integrity? Get to work on your own pretensions and minor dishonesty. Cultivate authenticity in your own life. Are you sick of cruelty and violence? Start with your own minor meanness, the little unkind things you say and do. Start small. Begin with yourself. Work on what’s familiar.
Thing three, is begin with what is near. There are reasons Jesus told us to love our neighbour. For one thing, if we all do that then the social revolution happens overnight and the kingdom of heaven is made manifest on earth. Or, to look at it the other way round, the whole thing grinds to a halt before it gets off the ground if we don’t do that. Start with what is nearest to you. Love your neighbour. And that isn’t necessarily easy is, it? Some of us can’t stand our neighbours, and not only that but have you met our families? But then, as the fairly awful James Dobson once said, “If your Christianity doesn’t work at home, it doesn’t work: don’t export it.” So begin with what is near.
Thing four is, pace yourself. A master builder once said to me that men need tea breaks. If you don’t let them have tea breaks they burn out. Or, as my grandma used to express it, there was a man who had a donkey; he discovered he could make it do more work for longer if he gave it less food. Then he discovered he could make it work even longer with even less food. He’d just got it to the place where he could make it work all day with no food at all, when the donkey died!
Be kind to yourself. Take tea breaks. You can’t change the world all at once, this is a lifetime commitment, you’re going to have to factor in a snack and have some fun, or it will all go badly wrong and you’ll be unbearable. Pace yourself. You have to, because this is for real.
And then thing five, my last one, is get correctly aligned. What Jesus said, “the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name,” he did absolutely mean. But the “in my name” part is important: it’s not “anything you ask full stop”.
To know what you can ask in his name, you have to get to know him, notice what he’s like, how he lived — how he died — who he was. To make the miracle happen, you have to be correctly aligned. You have to be plugged in to the mains to let the power flow through. But if you are, it will. I can assure you.
So that is my pragmatist’s starter for ten on how to conquer the world:
Phone a friend — sit down with him and ask for his help.
Start with something small — like yourself.
Start with what’s near — like your neighbour.
Pace yourself — take tea-breaks.
And get yourself correctly aligned. Walk in his way.
And then, you know — all the stuff about love — if that leaves you as bamboozled as it leaves me, it’s worth remembering this: to all practical purposes, love and kindness are almost indistinguishable. While you’re waiting for love to take off in your heart, you can practice a bit by being kind. It’s pretty much the same thing.
I hope that helps. It’s a big project, but he thinks we can do it.
Jesus walked. And he stopped. What is the speed of love?
We’ll get there.
