REFLECTION

'Even more than most of the figures in the Hebrew Bible, Jacob enters the text as a character who is close to reprehensible...the reader has many reasons to consider Jacob less than a moral paragon' Dara Horn, novelist in 'Reading Genesis' T&T Clark 2016 p 171.

Like all the essayists in this book, Dara Horn is Jewish and brings Jewish perspectives onto their foundational texts. In the essay she opens up the narrative as part of the 'revolutionary document' that are the first five books of the Bible. Why? Because the story of Jacob starts with this very unattractive, manipulative 'spoilt' second son but as we move through the story we see the possibility of change, development, repentance and transformation which is in direct contrast to the many 'classical epics' of the ancient world. We see the mistakes that human beings make but that God can work with even the most flawed of people and indeed even through the manipulations and machinations of men and women.

She concludes the essay with these words 'we can read these bare descriptive sentences and see something we hope to be true: a vivid representation of a reality in which people can change. So we look not to the young Jacob but to the old man accepting the providence of God from the hand of his son Joseph to ensure the whole family survive. Perhaps the folly there was of the succeeding generations settling for what was first a comfortable life only to become oppressed under a new Pharaoh 'who did not know Joseph'. We move on too far...

The Romans passage also gives us 'a vivid representation of a reality in which people can change'. Still that 'revolutionary document' that is the story of faith. The story that not only recognises the mistakes and follies and the foolishness that we stumble into as human beings but which announces 'there is now no condemnation' the mistakes, follies and foolishness need not be the last word -

Yet to begin to recognise that the road we are on is not hopeful or life-giving but life-taking and hopeless takes some tussling with - just as Jacob tussled with God. It takes real courage to look at what has gone before and recognise that there need to be changes and that life can be different and transformed.

I am struck that both Jacob and Paul were caught up in circumstances - very different - but not entirely of their own making. The trickster Jacob will in turn be tricked by his uncle into having to work for Laban 14 years to secure his 'first love' Rachel, being tricked into marrying her older sister Leah first. It is as he is freed from the contract that he has his encounter with God and begins to try to settle in Canaan that his faith begins to be expressed. It is not all straightforward even then.

Paul is writing against the backdrop of a period of instability in the world. There have been outbreaks of 'anti-Jewish/Judean' feelings in Alexandria and violence toward them in a town south of Rome. The church in Rome has tensions, as in other places, between Gentile and Jewish believers - this is not a very easy time and Paul was very conscious of his own precarious position. He hopes to visit Rome on his way to Spain and he must have been aware that the journey may not be straightforward. Yet the hope both these men hold on to is that neither of them are condemned for their past actions. Both are transformed human beings, both having had a remarkable encounter with God; Jacob at Peniel and Paul on the Damascus Road.

I am not suggesting that such dramatic encounters are the necessary precursor to faith - if so many of us would not qualify - but these two remind us that there is now no condemnation - for in our encounters with God we can be set free from those things we look back on with sadness and guilt and we can be transformed and look forward with hope.
That also applies to our churches.

There are discussions in all the churches in the UK, in our synod of the URC and each church in the pastorate about how we begin to move into 'the new normal'. We are in a situation not of our making but one in which we need to take seriously the world as it is, not the world as we would like it to be. We need, more than ever, to remind ourselves of our relationships with each other and our care for each other. There will be among each of the congregations a range of thoughts and feelings about the how and when to return to physically meeting but we are urged to think too about those who are unable or who choose not to return at this time. All the churches in the pastorate are sending out a 'Personal Risk Assessment'. It is a tool to help us not only assess our own risk but be mindful of the welfare and well-being of our fellow worshippers. It is not a stick to beat each other with but a reminder that we have individual vulnerabilities and some may realise they are more vulnerable than they might have imagined.

However, there is more to this than just a return to church. Church will not be the same as it was. There will be social distancing, there will be restricted movement and seating, there will be hygiene protocols to follow and there will be no socialising or singing or handshakes. It is going to be very different for those who do return. It also has the potential to cause tensions - just as Paul encountered. Not this time between Gentile and Jewish believers but now between returners and non-returners.

So what can we learn from Paul? Firstly that the church can function with differences and not only function but learn to be church in a different way. Neither the Jewish nor Gentile rituals and practices won out - the church which emerged had elements of both Jewish tradition - reciting hymns/psalms readings and prayers but without the strictures of rules and regulations around food and how to practically live. The Gentiles had to understand that their allegiance could only be to God in Christ Jesus you couldn't add him to the pantheon of other gods. Both had to work through what following Christ meant. So as we move forward with the new shapes of churches with their multi-faceted access to worship - through email, zoom, skype, youtube, TV, printed page and physical presence may we do so in the 'vivid reality that we can change' to be the church in the new reality of our world but still with the ageless message of 'there is the possibility of change, development, repentance, forgiveness and transformation. There is hope!

One of the small details that you may have missed in remembering the parable of The Sower is the phrase from Jesus 'Let anyone with ears listen'. This is the real 'point of the parable' - to listen to what God is saying to us now in this time of Covid 19 for we still have a gospel to proclaim.