The footsteps of Chad

If you live in the Midlands of England and have any interest in the history of the region, you will realise that the area is more or less that covered previously by the Anglosaxon kingdom of Mercia. You may also be aware that this was a pagan area for a long time, with one of the more prominent of its rulers, King Penda, resisting Christianity well after the surrounding kingdoms had been largely converted. He didn't persecute the Christians, however, and even let them operate to some extent in his area of influence, which stretched well beyond the borders of Mercia. Yet with a pagan king, any missionary work was very slow.

After Penda was killed in battle, in 655 AD, his son Paeda reigned for a year in the south of the kingdom under Northumbrian overlordship. Paeda had become a Christian a couple of years earlier and actively invited in missionary work, by all accounts with some success. After he died, his brother, Wulfhere, took back control of the whole kingdom and eventually requested a bishop of their own for Mercia. The semi-retired Chad was appointed in 669 AD and became the fifth Bishop to operate in the region, but the possibly the first to make it his home. He set up his base there by establishing a monastry at Lichfield, as well as another in the north of what is now Lincolnshire. This enabled him to set about preaching the Good News of Jesus in earnest.

Chad is generally credited with 'Christianizing' Mercia. This is perhaps a little unfair on those who had undertaken the initial pioneering work, but he does indeed seem to have been the first to take this on as his core ministry work and to see major success. This is in part down to his approach of walking. Given the option, he would always travel on foot, even for long journeys. This meant that he was amongst the people. He didn't keep himself aloof, working from his study in one of the monastries, but went to where the men, women and children were, telling them the message of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and following that up with pastoral care.

Let's not imagine that he walked along the pavements and verges of major A roads from Lichfield to the huge conurbation in Birmingham and then perhaps up to the big city at Stoke-on-Trent and then across to Derby and Lincoln. Cities, such as they existed were small, most of the population worked the land from their homes in the numerous villages, many well-known place names today didn't exit then; there were large areas of forest and the fens were a vast undrained wetland. Non-essential travel was for the intrepid or determined. Chad was probably both, with a clear intention that this large kingdom would be evanglized and discipled as much as humanly possible in his lifetime. In fact he had his own core group of seven or eight disciples whom he trained to continue his work.

This region, which is currently my homeland, owes a great debt to Chad's humility, courage, holiness, energy, godliness and gifting as an evangelist. In the two and a half years that he was bishop here, the population changed from predominantly pagan to mainly Christian. Yes, Christianity is lived out in church, which is the gathering of Jesus' friends; it is lived out at home, where we can pray, study and worship alone and with family, without the distractions of the outside world; but it is also lived out in the streets of the towns, villages and hamlets around us, as well as on the airwaves and internet connections between us, which is where it grows as we preach the Good News, testify to what God has done in our lives, heal the sick and look after those in need. A quick search uncovers lots of links to internet articles with names containing 'the footsteps of Chad', and for good reason. Let us follow in his footsteps across this nation and take the message and power of the gospel to those we meet.

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Are you being chased?

Do you sometimes feel like this man? He's being chased, or perhaps he's chasing someone else. Maybe he's out front and trying to stay there, or else he could be at the back of the pack and attempting to catch up. Whatever his position in the race, he knows that he has to keep running or else other people will prevent him from winning.

Do you ever feel as if circumstances are conspiring against you to prevent you from doing what you want, or even need to achieve? Does it seem sometimes as if you're being hounded? Does it get to the point where you think perhaps something or someone wants you to be living in a way other than what you've set your heart upon? Sometimes it just means that we have to be single-minded and determined, pushing aside all negative thoughts and doubts. At others, though, there's a good reason why we seem to be failing to achieve our destiny - because it's the wrong destiny that we're chasing.

Sometimes we need to stop asking, "Why is this happening to me?" as if to say that everything is going wrong and we surely don't deserve all this stress. We should then instead be asking, "What is all this for?" because there might be a purpose in the way things are going. I was once at a meeting where there was a very good, and extremely funny, talk about someone resisting, fighting, evading, wrestling all that was happening to him until he couldn't escape it anymore. At that point he finally realized that he had 'found God'. Found God? God had found him rather, and wouldn't let the man go until he knew that he had been found.

It's funny that we say that we've found God when he has been working on us almost constantly for perhaps years. Yes, we then realise that God is there with us and has been for a while, because he found us. Maybe, though, you haven't yet 'found God'. But perhaps you know that something is chasing you. Eventually all the pointers and evidence may come together and you will know that he has been following you and now caught you. Saul of Tarsus didn't give in that easily, of course: Jesus had to stand in front of him in a blaze of light and confront him rather embarrasingly in front of his companions (Acts, chapter 9, verses 1 - 9). Let's not get to that point.

Sometimes God is chasing us because we're running from knowing him at all (like Saul); at others he's chasing us because we know him but are running from something that he's asking of us (like Jonah - chapter 1, verses 1 - 3). It's not an uncommon experience, one way or another - in fact so much so, that there's a famous poem about it:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Up vistaed hopes I sped;

And shot, precipitated,

Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,

From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

But with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbèd pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beat - and a Voice beat

More instant than the Feet -

'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.'

And so it continues and the narrator explores more and more ways to evade God for 176 lines, until finally:

Halts by me that footfall:

Is my gloom, after all,

Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?

'Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,

I am He Whom thou seekest!

Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.'

(Francis Thompson, 1890)

If you think that God is chasing you for some reason, I urge you to stop running and listen to him. If you haven't yet found him, then you can read about how to do that here. If you've known him for a while but are resisting him in some way, now is the time to give in. Like Francis Thompson, you will then find that he is good, kind, loving, merciful and gracious.

A soft heart

Why do we do what we do? Why do we say what we say? Why do we behave as we do? Do we want more money or a promotion at work? Do we want others to know that we're right, or intelligent? Is it that we're jostling for position in a world that will leave us behind if we don't keep ahead of the game? Do we live our lives the way we do because we centre them on ourselves? Perhaps we wouldn't want to use the word 'self-centred', but a lot of what we do or say, and the way in which we do it or say it, is probably to do with protecting or enhancing our own position in society. That's the way much of the western world works and the UK Government's polices over the last few decades have often tended to reinforce that behaviour.

Some of you reading this might be teachers, carers or health workers; those and many others are great jobs to do with looking after or developing other people. How much of what we do in those jobs, and in the rest of our lives, is actually about us, though? Maybe you work in a shop, or do late shifts to keep the country's electricity supply working; if so, the rest of us really appreciate that, but how much of the motivation for such employment is to do with our own interests rather than serving the community? Probably the vast majority of us do what we can to be sensitive to others and help as much as realistically possible, but also make sure that our families and our own lives are put first. That's completely natural, and much of the time right. Family is very important to God. Of course, there have been, and will be, many acts of great heroism when people have completely selflessly put themselves in harm's way to save others, but I think we'll all recognise that that isn't the norm.

As we look through Luke's Gospel, we see that so much of what Jesus did was out of compassion for others. So far we've reached chapter 7 and he has already healed many people (e.g. Luke's Gospel, chapter 4, verse 40) and cast out a lot of demons (e.g. Luke 4:41). Generally he ministered to those who came to him and in that case he healed everyone (e.g. Luke 6:19). Occasionally he would reach out to those who didn't specifically ask him, but in whom he could see faith or who couldn't make the first approach (e.g. Luke 5:31-37). Why did he do this? Why spend so much time looking after people? We are told over and over again that it was because he had compassion on them. He loved people and didn't want them to be ill or demon-possessed. Later on in his ministry, he even fed two large crowds when they were hungry (Luke 9:10-17; Mark's Gospel, chapter 8, verses 1-13). Yet he didn't force himself on anyone; that was to be a hallmark of his ministry. Ultimately he took this approach of unconditional love to a conclusion that was completely at his own expense, as he allowed himself to be crucified in our place. He also taught that we should have the same attittude, even to our enemies (Luke 6:27-36).

Of course, Jesus had harsh words for people at times. Those who didn't want to know about his message, who didn't want to change their ways, who felt that they were righteous and didn't need some carpenter telling them how to live (Mark 6:3). He warned them many times about the perils of ending up in Hell (e.g. Luke 13:22-30). Yet those who came to him were always accepted and he changed their lives. The sinner (probably a prostitute) who came to him, cried over his feet, dried them with her hair and kissed them, as well as pouring expensive ointment over him (Luke 7:36-50), was not the sort of person that a rising religious leader would normally let near him in public, but Jesus allowed her to do this and then forgave her her sins. She wasn't ill, she wasn't demon-possessed, she wasn't hungry, but she had thrown herself on his mercy and worshipped him because she wanted to be forgiven her past life and go forward clean as a new person. So that's what Jesus gave her - a fresh start - because he loved her and could see through what she had become into her broken heart.

If we have options as to how to behave, the correct one to choose is the way of compassion. The New Testament is full of teaching about the importance of love, famously for example, from Jesus (Matthew's Gospel, chapter 22, verses 34-40; Luke 10:25-37), Paul (Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 1-13) and John (John's first letter, chapter 3, verses 11-20). Let us keep our hearts soft towards others. And when we are the ones in need of compassion, if we go to Jesus we shall find that he is still willing to love us - his heart is forever soft towards those who seek him.

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