On Mondays through Lent, +Libby and +Malcolm are hosting online forums to reflect together on the gospel readings set for the principal service of the previous Sunday.

Lent 3 Reflection - Monday, 4 March 2024

It continues to be a privilege to gather on Monday mornings and evenings with colleagues, lay and ordained, from across the diocese to study and reflect on the gospel readings set for the previous Sunday.

We moved from Mark’s gospel to John for the 3^rd Sunday of Lent. In John’s gospel we recognised that the entirety of Jesus’ ministry is an integrated whole. Even this early teaching, his public ministry and first ‘signs’ directly connect to his passion, crucifixion and resurrection to come. What’s more, all of Jesus ministry arises from Passover as the fulfilment of God’s saving work for all humanity.

We realised in this passage the challenge that we exercise tyranny as well as suffer tyranny. That means the presence of God is not always easy or reassuring to us.

We noticed in the gospel passage, that the disciples remember inherited teaching to understand Jesus better in the aftermath of this occasion. The perspective of a long view enabled them to make better sense of current events. We recognised that again in the commentary that after the resurrection they remember this teaching to understand Jesus better then too. We were encouraged in our own stumbling and evolving understandings of Jesus in reading that it was only after his death and resurrection the disciples, even though they were with him in the moment, began to understand, in retrospect, with hindsight what Jesus meant by ‘this temple’.

We spoke of wanting to connect the disciples experience to our own experience of coming to scripture. We considered how we might encounter Jesus’ life and teaching as if for the first time to discover how to proclaim afresh in this generation the good news of the Kingdom.

We wondered where is ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ in this passage? We recalled the John Bell song, with the words:

Jesus Christ is raging, raging in the streets, where injustice spirals and real hope retreats. Listen, Lord Jesus, I am angry too. In the Kingdom's causes let me rage with you. 
John L. Bell and Graham Maule © 1988 Wild Goose Resource Group, The Iona Community, Glasgow G51 3UU

We found hope in the word’ overturned’ as it suggests that is nothing beyond Jesus’ intervention and transformation. We asked ourselves, therefore, what are the injustices that Jesus would ‘overturn’ today?

We further wondered what is the ‘clutter’, the accumulation of stuff or practice (even that with good intention) that separates us and others from God, that requires Jesus to clear out? It seemed that all the readings (not only this set gospel) of the 3rd Sunday of Lent came together around a theme of not being distracted from God and the need to keep God at the centre. We saw that in the 10 commandments offering framework to keep God’s people’s attention on God and in in Paul’s writing about both the foolishness of world and the trappings of religion distracting us from God.

If Jesus overturned the currency of the temple, it was to replace it with the currency of Kingdom, which is love. We were struck by the evocative language of this passage. In the graphic description we can almost hear the coins scattering, clinking, rolling across the floor. Jesus was pouring away the currency of coins that belong to a regime that took people away from God to replace with the currency of God’s Kingdom values.

John 2.13-25

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’

His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.

On Mondays through Lent, +Libby and +Malcolm are hosting online forums to reflect together on the gospel readings set for the principal service of the previous Sunday.

Mark 8.31-38
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Reflections on the reading from Mark
‘said this all quite openly’, ‘took him aside and began to rebuke him’, ‘called the crows with his disciples and said to them’ - different approaches for different conversations and encounters.
Notice that Peter able to express how he feels clearly – Jesus has created a safe space for questioning and listening, for disagreement as healthy aspect of community.

nb relationship with Peter not undermined (a few days later accompany Jesus at Transfiguration).

Jesus spoke robustly into articulation of misinformation; he broke down tendency towards ‘group think’ and broke open disruptive or damaging discourse in silos or factions = model of Pastoral Principles.

Sometimes see in own circumstances an echo of Peter’s difficulty in accepting situations that don’t match our expectations.

Perhaps Jesus was able to resist temptation to avoid the path to Jerusalem in the context of the community of disciples – so looked to his community to find strength to speak his ‘no’ to Satan.

‘take up your cross’...

Anything that is difficult in life, Anything that I’m disagreed with about
- ‘martyr complex.

But needs to fit with ‘fullness of life’.

Navalny conversion from atheism to Christianity.

Risk of thinking that what we struggle with or that our burdens are doing the work of the cross ie conferring salvation – only Jesus’ death and resurrection has won that.

Nothing we can give to ‘pay for’ our salvation. Jesus making clear, pointing in direction, of what will give life (in all its fullness for eternity) ie his own suffering, death and resurrection.

Bishop Libby and Archdeadon Matthew will each spend a night sleeping rough in support of the YMCA's Sleep Easy campaign.

They are among those who aim to raise awareness of the plight of those who have no home to go to, and to raise funds to support efforts that will enable the YMCA to continue its vital services to those who are facing homelessness in Derby City and Derbyshire.

This year, the local event will take place at the home of Derbyshire Cricket Club on Friday, 8 March, and both Bishop Libby and Archdeacon Matthew will be given a cardboard box to use as shelter for the night.

Bishop Libby, who has taken part in previous Sleep Easy events, said: "I am pleased again to be among those supporting this local charity in raising awareness and much needed funds to tackle homelessness and its long-term impacts.

"We may have an uncomfortable night in many ways, but that in itself gives opportunity to reflect on why we are participating, and experience – just for one night – something of what it is like to be sleeping rough.

"Please do participate in Sleep Easy if you can, either by registering to join the event at the Cricket Ground or safely in your local context as Neil is in Wirksworth (see below).

"And please support the work of Derby YMCA and its partners like the Padley Centre by donating through my JustGiving page and raising awareness.

"Together we can support this vital work being done locally, combat the scourge of homelessness, and offer hope to those who find themselves suffering its impacts and consequences”.

Archdeacon Matthew, taking part in his first Sleep Easy, said: "I actually have very little appetite for sleeping under the stars in this way - but that's the whole point, really!

"For me, it's one night and doing it through choice, whereas every night in Derby and Derbyshire, more than 200 hundred individuals who have temporarily found themselves without a place to live, have no choice but to either turn to the YMCA and the Padley Centre, or sleep rough under cardboard."

Archdeacon Matthew will also be posting on Facebook from the cricket ground during the event.

Sleeping in the churchyard

The Revd Neil Griffiths, vicar for the Wirksworth Team Ministry, has also chosen to sleep out for the Sleep Easy campaign.

Before becoming a vicar Neil worked with housing organisations and YMCAs, and longs for a time when no one is homeless or poorly housed.

Neil said: "I will be bedding down in the churchyard at St Mary’s Church in Wirksworth and I hope the weather is as kind as the people who have already donated money."

Chris says God called him to being a churchwarden because of his love of helping other people.

All of us are invited to follow Jesus and to serve God faithfully in our everyday lives, and some people are called to serve God in a specific ministry or role.

• Five things you need to know about being a churchwarden
• The role and responsibilities of being a churchwarden

If you feel a sense of calling, a nagging voice inside your head, see our Vocations page for information about how to explore what God is calling you to do.

Chris, a church foundation governor at a Derbyshire primary school, tells us about his calling and his involvement with the school.

All of us are invited to follow Jesus and to serve God faithfully in our everyday lives, and some people are called to serve God in a specific ministry or role.

If you feel a sense of calling, a nagging voice inside your head, see our Vocations page for information about how to explore what God is calling you to do.

Ian, a vicar in the north of Derbyshire, shares his faith journey and reveals that he never thought he 'had what it takes' to become ordained!

All of us are invited to follow Jesus and to serve God faithfully in our everyday lives, and some people are called to serve God in a specific ministry or role.

If you feel a sense of calling, a nagging voice inside your head, see our Vocations page for information about how to explore what God is calling you to do.

Mina, a priest in Derby, reveals that she had a couple of false starts before understanding what she was being called to do.

All of us are invited to follow Jesus and to serve God faithfully in our everyday lives, and some people are called to serve God in a specific ministry or role.

If you feel a sense of calling, a nagging voice inside your head, see our Vocations page for information about how to explore what God is calling you to do.

On Mondays through Lent, +Malcolm and I are hosting online forums to reflect together on the gospel readings set for the principal service of the previous Sunday.

Yesterday we gathered for the first time to study and explore Mark 1. 9-15

We considered the wider context of the passage which is set between a concise introduction to ‘the good news about Jesus the Messiah, Son of God’ that condenses all of God’s work in salvation history into a few verses describing the vocation and ministry of John the Baptiser and a simple narrative of the calling of the first disciples.

We noted that, like all Mark’s gospel, this narrative is distilled into few words but replete with both a driving momentum and profound meaning.

We reflected on Jesus’ growing understanding of his own relationship with the One who calls him ‘Son’ as it is set so explicitly between the prophets and the disciples. And we reflected on his emerging vocation being shaped by that relationship.

We thought about how our individual relationships with God, and our subsequent vocations are transformed, or more fully understood and received, when set in context of relationship with God’s people, those who have gone before us and those who travel with us.

We thought about this passage being read during Lent and what we might learn from it to aid self-examination and penitence.

How does this passage help us to be honest with ourselves and with God?

What can this passage teach us about the times when we are in difficult, ‘wilderness’ places?

We read here that Jesus is called ‘beloved’ but then driven into wilderness. It was not failure or fault that led to wilderness; he was not being punished.

Maybe we are not to interpret such experiences with guilt expect them, and pray that when we do experience then that somehow ‘angels will be with us’ too.

We took comfort from this passage that we need not pretend before God when we find ourselves in places we might not choose to be.

We considered how Jesus met the grace of God in both the highs of the affirmation of his baptism and in the lows of temptation in the wilderness.

We recognised that in both our struggles and our successes the Kingdom of God may come near.

There were some specific phrases we wondered about: what does that mean that the ‘heavens were torn apart’?

What would it feel like to experience such a thing? Why are we told that Jesus was ‘with the wild beasts’?

Are they part of the threat of being tempted by Satan or part of succour of the angels who ‘waited on him’?

We concluded, as the passage itself does, with a yearning to discover and participate in the life of the Kingdom of God.

We returned to where we began our reflections, thankful for the opportunity again through Lent to re-examine the invitation to repent and believe and so share more fully in ‘the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God’.“

First Sunday in Lent: Mark 1.9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

Vocation means discovering what God has called you to be and do, asking the question:

What is God’s plan for my life?

All of us are invited to follow Jesus and to serve God faithfully in our everyday lives.

To discover more about what this might mean for you, please see our Everyday Faith page.

To begin a conversation about what this might look like for you, we recommend you speak first to your vicar or chaplain.

Do I have a specific vocation?

Alongside our everyday faith, some people are called to serve God in a specific ministry.

You can find out more about some of these ministries in our vocations videos:

You can also find more information about vocations and calling here:

• Vocations | The Church of England
• Stories of Calling | The Church of England

If you would like to explore a potential vocation to a specific ministry with someone from the diocese of Derby vocations team, please contact: vocations@derby.anglican.org

Am I called to be a priest or deacon?

The process of exploring a potential call to ordination in the Church of England is explored and assessed locally and by the national church.

It is a two-stage process which includes regular meetings with a member of the DDO team locally, exploring the qualities required and the areas which will be assessed nationally at Stage 1 (online mini-interviews) and then at Stage 2 panel (2 days of assessments and interviews; often residential).

More information can be found here: Understanding Discernment | The Church of England

And if you want to begin a conversation about ordination, with the Diocese of Derby vocations team, please contact: vocations@derby.anglican.org

Am I called to be a licensed lay minister (LLM)?

The process of exploring a potential call to licensed lay ministry (sometimes called a lay reader) is explored and assessed locally.

It involves meeting regularly with a vocations adviser, and attending our LLM(R) course, during which the qualities required and the areas which will be assessed at interview at the end of the first year of the course are explored.

More information about the course can be found here: Discipleship-Training at the Diocese of Derby

To begin a conversation about licensed lay ministry, with the diocese of Derby vocations team, please contact: vocations@derby.anglican.org 

Am I called to be a foundation governor?

Foundation governors are usually nominated by the related PCC. Speak to your vicar, existing foundation governors, and PCC about what the role might entail.

You can also find out more, including a role description, here: Foundation Governor Appointments – Derby Diocesan Board of Education (derbydbe.org)

Am I called to be a churchwarden?

Churchwardens are elected annually under the provisions of the Churchwardens Measure 2001 by the Annual Meeting of Parishioners. Speak to your vicar, existing church wardens, and PCC, about what the role entails.

You can find out more here: Churchwardens - Roles and responsibilities - Diocese of Derby (anglican.org)

See also: Can I be a churchwarden?

Head out into Derby on a Friday or Saturday night and you’re more than likely to run into a group of volunteers looking out for revellers in need.

They are Derby’s Street Pastors - trained volunteers from a variety of local churches who provide a visible, reassuring presence for everyone in the city centre. They work in teams of three or four and are out and about, prayerfully patrolling, from 10pm – 4am.

Street Pastors has been operating in Derby since 2009 and the volunteers have become a well-respected and greatly appreciated part of Derby's nightlife.

They work together with the police, door staff and Derby CCTV, responding to calls to offer non-judgmental, understanding support through listening, assisting and, where necessary, putting their first-aid training into action.

And on other occasions, the help they give can be as straight forward as making sure someone has water to drink and a way of getting home.

One such volunteer is Steve Johnson. 

As someone who did his fair share of over-induging in his youth, Steve said: “Being a Street Pastor is insane and yet unbelievably rewarding - the nervous anticipation of wondering what you will encounter during the night really gets the adrenaline going.

“Committing to putting my faith into action, it is a privilege taking God’s love and grace into our city streets, meeting and talking to people their own context.”

Now, the organisation is looking to recruit some new faces to ensure it can continue to provide the level of service needed in the city.

Steve’s take on being a volunteer is that when a great night out turns into a time of distress and vulnerability, Street Pastors make sure those who have perhaps allowed themselves one too many, get home to their families safe and well.

He said: “To be a Street Pastor, I think you have to love your city, the people, the buildings and the culture. 

“In my youth, we never had these kinds of organisations around, but there is a new generation who enjoy our night-time economy that only know Street Pastors, and the warmth and love towards us is awesome.

“Together with lollies, bottles of water, flip flops and spikies we go out into town having put on the full armour of God, offering up our prayers for our fantastic city.”

If you are interested in learning more about being a Street Pastor, pop along to the open night being held at Derby City Church, Curzon Street, Derby on Monday, 5 February 2024 at 7pm, or contact them at streetpastors@derbycitymission.org.uk. 

Derby’s Street Pastors operates as a franchise of the national Street Pastor scheme that is run by the Ascension Trust under the management of Derby City Mission. 

For details of Street Pastor teams at other locations across the Diocese of Derby, visit the Street Pastors website.