PCI General Assembly

Address of Incoming Moderator Dr Donald Patton
to the Opening Session of the 2008 General Assembly

'Making a Difference'

photo of Rev Dr Donald Patton It is now ten years since the Good Friday Agreement, eighteen months since the Saint Andrew's Agreement and one year on from the reformation of devolved government at Stormont. The Troubles have left us a legacy of complicated and thorny issues to deal with. Many still continue to bear the scars of personal grief and loss. We wish Lord Eames and Denis Bradley well as they draft their report -- Dealing with the Past. But also we take heart that today old and bitter enemies are working together in government. Our prayers are with them as they work to achieve a settled and shared future for all. Meanwhile, for the most part, we are able to breathe the air of peace. The recent business - investment conference hosted in Belfast gives us hope for a brighter future.

To a large extent the widespread violence, daily tension, and despair which characterised past years has gone. This has come about because of a new way of thinking. All sides have sought a new way of working together for the good of all. There's a new way of living because there's a new way of thinking that is making a difference.

In all of this Christians and the Christian church have played an important, if not always appreciated, part. Locally and internationally Christians have prayed, and have encouraged key players to think positively and creatively -- to seek ways of reconciliation, co-operation, understanding, forgiveness -- all key themes of the Christian gospel.

This is the major theme -- a new way of thinking -- of the opening chapter of Paul's letter to the Church in Thessalonica. He tells us the gospel of Jesus Christ which he preached, brought a new way of thinking to those who formed the Church in that city.

There's an exuberant sense of excitement and joy in what Paul says here, "... our gospel came to you..." (verse 5) He recalls the opportunities he had of preaching in the local synagogue and then of sharing in Jason's house where he had lodged.

"... you welcomed the message with joy..." (verse 6) He savours again the joy of leading individuals to Christ and watching their growth in their new-found faith.

The gospel of Jesus Christ makes a difference. It certainly did to these people. They lived in a flourishing trading city of 200,000 people. It was a meeting place of cultures and religions. As Paul shared the Christian gospel there were those who "turned to God from idols"(verse 9) They exchanged the living for the dead; the true for the false -- they left their idols behind. The gospel also challenges the idols of our modern day of which there are many:

We worship at the shrine of materialism believing that things can save us. The more we have, the better life will be.

It often appears that science is the determinant of not only what can be done but also of what should be done. The Christian voice has to compete with many others to make itself heard. There are many who want to know what the Christian viewpoint is on the issues of the day and in particular what our Church's view is. Instead of lamenting a perceived decline in our influence, we need to think carefully, create new networks of influence, and communicate persuasively.

Belief is narrowed only to what we can see and touch. 'If I can't see it or touch it then it can't be real and I won't believe in it.'

Each one manufactures his or her own 'truth' -- 'if it suits me I do it. If it's right for me then it's right. I am my own god.'

Speaking of 'rights' these too often lack a balancing emphasis on responsibility

The result is often confusion and disconnectedness.

We can see this in various ways.

The credit crunch and the consumer crunch are exposing the clay feet of the god of materialism.

With no agreed philosophy gluing society together there is an increasing sense of lostness and of drift -- there are no dependable signposts to guide people through the journey of life. As Rudyard Kipling put it:

They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a path through the woods
Before they planted the trees.

Family life has broken down creating fragmentation and instability in society. There are fewer healthy models of the relationships that provide a secure environment for the formation of steady character and emotional stability.

No light shines on what lies beyond the end of the journey of this earthly life. People are left with oblivion and despair.

At the same time, there's been a growth in the market place of competing spiritualities to satisfy the hunger for transcendence.

This gives us opportunity to speak the Christian gospel into our society just as those first Christians spoke to the competing philosophies and lifestyles of New Testament times. It provides the big story of God's truth in which our personal stories find meaning, significance and purpose. It brings us the good news of the God who searches for us and who in His Son's self-sacrifice on the Cross shows us our worth and brings freedom from idols that deceive. It speaks with authority. It convinced these believers in Thessalonica. They stepped onto the Way that is Christ, abandoning the dead end paths they had been following.

The gospel brings us home.

Ken Gire tells a story of a little girl who lived on the edge of a deep forest. One day she goes exploring alone. She wanders deeper and deeper in until she entirely loses her way. Night is coming on. She panics but no-one hears her screams and distress.

Meanwhile a search party has set out. Her father, neighbours, volunteers penetrate the forest. When night comes on they give up. At dawn the next day her father resumes his search. Eventually he sees her sleeping on a rock. He calls out her name and runs to her. She wakens, sees him and throws out her arms to him crying 'Daddy I've found you. I've found you.' She has come home. (Quoted in Jesus Among the Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias p.187)

The Christians in Thessalonica had come home. Instead of darkness -- light. In place of despair -- hope. The Gospel is God's Satellite Navigation system to guide us through this life and in His beyond finally says 'you have reached your destination.'

No wonder the Thessalonians rejoiced. So much so they couldn't keep their new found faith to themselves. Paul says, "the Lord's message rang out from you" (verse 8).

They shared their story -- and so must we.

They faced a huge task. They were very small in number. They were persecuted, dismissed, laughed at. Yet they were not daunted. They persevered (verse 3).

Why?

The motto on Belfast City's coat of arms sums it up. It's a quotation from the Latin translation of Psalm 116 verse 12 which reads -- "In return for so much what shall we give back?"

Christian faith and service is gladly given in gratitude to the Lord who gave His very life on the Cross for our salvation.

This is the challenge facing the Church today -- to rise to the task as these early Christians did--

to speak the gospel with conviction and in the power of God the Holy Spirit (verse 5).

to live as though we truly believe it.

John Stott writes:

"No Church can spread the gospel with any degree of integrity, let alone credibility, unless it has been visibly changed by the gospel it preaches. We need to look like what we talk about." (The Message to the Thessalonians, page 44)

The Christian Gospel and Christian grace must not be privatised -- silent and sealed behind the walls of the Church. It must penetrate every aspect of Christian living.

Paul commended the Thessalonians for their faith in God which he says "has become known everywhere" (verse 8) and for their "labour prompted by love" (verse 3).

So how can it show?

Bring a winsome Christianity into your place of work Let it inform how you do your work and how you relate to your colleagues.

Be a Christian neighbour to those around you in the wider community. Christian speaker and writer, Brian Mc Laren tells of a friend who, he says, "taught me the practice of associating with the lowly, of caring for people whom others rejected, of believing that broken, addicted, dysfunctional, and hard-to-love people are important to God and so should be to me as well. (Christianity, June 2008, page 19)

Our Board of Social Witness leads the way in its care for the vulnerable -- children, the elderly, the disabled, addicts, ex-prisoners, to name but a few. Tomorrow evening's conference in this Assembly Hall on 'Lifestyle' will challenge and inform on such issues.

Thinking of Northern Ireland, we have been told recently that:

There are more than 40 peace walls in the cities of Belfast and Derry... The First Minister, Ian Paisley, has commented "any plans to remove peace walls must primarily be a community-driven plan... when those on both sides of the wall mutually come to agreement and say we are taking down these walls " (Belfast Telegraph, Tuesday 13 May p.3)

In other words a new way of thinking is needed to make a difference and to bring the walls tumbling down. We need to open ourselves to people from whom traditionally we have kept our distance, acknowledging our differences, but building a shared future.

Let the difference show in the love and stability of Christian family life and relationships.

Let Christian grit and steadiness show in times of challenge -- through the tears, the strains, the suffering -- powered by the tough grace of the living Christ who suffered Himself.

Make the local church a community to which people want to belong. The Church in Thessalonica was talked about for all the right reasons. Paul says of them "about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other" and he prays that "the Lord [will] make [their] love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else" (3:12).

Last months edition of Country Life magazine carries photographs of rooms in Sandringham, the private Norfolk residence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. We are able to see inside for the first time -- the well stocked library, the Turkish décor of the dining-room -- Perhaps some day these rooms will be open to the public and we'll be able to stand in them.

So the Church invites people in to visit, but far more, to have their names put on the title deeds, to have a deep sense of ownership and belonging. They can if those already within, let the qualities of faith, love, service, integrity, distinguish our churches, evidencing a people transformed and transforming.

These early Christians not only talked the faith, they modelled Christian life and character as they grew in Christ. 'Here's what it looks like' their lives said.

Many today are searching for healthy role models. This opens up opportunities for Christian witness. Christians are to be God's life models. To do this we need vision, dedication and discipline. That's discipleship -- following Christ the ultimate role model and becoming like Him by His grace.

When He makes the difference to us, we can make a difference for Him.