Letter from our Minister - July 2009

Dear Friends,

As I sit down to write the news is filled with the account of the death of the “king of pop”, Michael Jackson, aged 50, following a suspected cardiac arrest during the night.  One fan described his loss as the “death of music”. Although perhaps overstated it is nonetheless difficult to underestimate Michael’s influence on the pop world, from his early exposure with his brothers as the Jackson Five through to the production of his iconic work “Thriller.” The originality of his singing voice combined with extraordinary dance routines (including “moon-walking”) and cutting edge video creations to accompany his music have stood the test of time. The director of the MJ fanclub acknowledged that what will endure will be the musical legacy of Michael Jackson. Indeed for fans that was true even when he was alive, ignoring the worst of his foolish actions and the torment of his inner struggles that seemed to dog his life following parental pressure in the early years of the Jackson Five. For those who neither followed his career or an interest in pop music Michael Jackson will no doubt be remembered for the way in which repeated surgery drastically altered his looks resulting in an unsightly disfigurement, most noticeably of his face.

In an age when image and looks are everything Michael Jackson’s visage did not dent his career,where for fans his music allowed him to create the image he became.

What a contrast to the two-part programme on BBC running at the end of June, “Famous, Rich, and Homeless.” Annabel Croft, along with four others including the comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli and Coronation Street’s Bruce Jones, faced 10 days of being on the street in London to experience being homeless. Annabel said “pavements do not make good mattresses.” Perhaps in their struggles to live as homeless, and including for 3 days to live alongside a “buddy” (someone who had been homeless for decades), they glimpsed some of the tragedies that create those who are “homeless”. Although the footage was dressed up with musical backgrounds by the BBC it was not difficult to glimpse the rawness of the experience for these “celebrities” as you looked into their eyes, at times welling with tears. “Looks” were seen to show how invisible someone can be once they are half-tucked into a sleeping bag in a doorway. “Image” so easily creates a stereotype, which society would for the most part either ignore or shun. For those taking part it was a discovery of those who are really no different to “us”, although as Bruce Jones laid a flower on a grave marked “526” it was clear that for some they are different, being nameless and ignored by “us”.

There is a sharpness and a starkness in reading Paul’s words to the church in Rome with this in mind:

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

Certainly the homeless persevere: that much was true for each of the “buddies” in the documentary. For any of us who have stopped long enough to sit and chat with someone out on the street in London you will have discovered the particular character forged through the harsh circumstances of being homeless. But hope? For the homeless filmed, hope remained dim at best, at worst being more of the same. Of course Paul speaks of a hope which is forged through an experience of God’s love, which declares that all are loved by God and fashioned in his image. “Image” is indeed everything for the Christian: that we are called to become more “Christ-like”, where the reality of struggles as for Jesus allow for the demonstration of something more than what we see at the moment.

What will we see when we look at those around us? Are our glasses tinted with preconceived stereotypes, or is there an openness to glimpse the way God views those we see? And once we “see” can we sit alongside those who are weighed down, or walk with those who are straining to escape or overcome their present experience of life? For many of “us” there are no facile answers or easy short-cuts to what we find in life. Yet a hope for Life which is given to us from God can help us to “see” those who might remain unseen, and to speak to those who might otherwise remain nameless. As one popular hymn puts it the challenge for us is to, “Let me be as Christ to you”.

Revd Andrew Mills