York & London

Last Saturday I got back from a week in York taking part in the York Student Outreach, though, as one of the organisers pointed out, this year's team could more aptly be termed the York postgraduate outreach. This was a great chance to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones. There were about 24 of us on the team, 13 of us staying together in one house, which is good fun but tends to lead to lack of sleep. Breakfast together was great. Once I work out how to post photos, I might give you some close up shots of bacon, tomato and porridge.

What we were there to do was to conduct a variety of activities to communicate the Christian faith, in conjunction with St Michael le Belfrey church. In the afternoons we did various things, including doing questionnaires in York Minster and on the street, and hosting an open microphone session, where anyone was welcome to come and ask questions. Since few people seemed inclined to do so, we ended up talking to each other over the microphones and letting the crowds listen in on our conversations. This worked especially well when Rolando, our Peruvian team member, was able to chat to Mark, who had visited Peru, in Spanish. There was a collection of Spanish girls listening in excitedly and Mark was able to interpret for non-Spanish speakers.

In the evenings we ran a live music café, described by our flyers as "a café with music that's live". We held this in the church, creating atmosphere with tables, lights and music. We tried to get to know our guests, including a fascinating mixture of international visitors, local young people and people who were to some extent socially marginalised for one reason or another. Just to give a sample of our conversations, one student from Poland informed us that the five possible destinations in the afterlife were heaven, hell, purgatory, astroplanet and reincarnation. To which Charlie valiantly replied, "I'm not sure about astroplanet but I don't think it's in the Bible".

On Thursday morning, we heard the news of the bombings in London. One of my friends who was on the outreach team works for St George the Martyr church in Holborn, the nearest church to the bus bombing in Tavistock Square, and there were other members of the team who lived or worked nearby. Throughout the day, team members were phoning or texting contacts in London, but after an hour or so of watching the news and praying together in the morning, we got on with the day. I thought it might be helpful to post here a brief thought slot I did in the café on Tuesday (before the bombings):

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A few years ago the band The Verve had a number one single with the song Bittersweet Symphony. I think that one reason this song struck a chord with so many people was because it reflects the pain and confusion many of us feel in our lives. The lines which stand out for me say:
"Well, I never pray, but tonight I'm on my knees.
I need to hear some sounds that recognise the pain in me."
What this song is saying is that we feel a need for something or someone greater than ourselves to understand the pain in our lives.

This café is run by a group of student volunteers. We are all Christians and we believe that God understands human pain, because he came into this world as a man called Jesus. The Bible says about Jesus, "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2:18). Jesus suffered like we do - he got tired, he got hungry and thirsty, he had to struggle against temptations to do wrong, and he felt grief at the death of his friends. But Jesus' greatest suffering was when he was put to death on the cross.

If you have seen the film The Passion of the Christ, you will have seen something of the immense physical suffering Jesus went through. Jesus took our human suffering upon himself. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, a man called Isaiah predicted how Jesus would die. He wrote, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4). Jesus understands our suffering because he suffered our pain, but there is something unique about Jesus' suffering. The key to understanding this is that Jesus didn't just suffer with us; Jesus suffered for us, achieving something for us that we could never accomplish.

The ultimate cause of the suffering and pain of our lives is that the whole world has been damaged by our rebellion against God. When Jesus died on the cross he suffered the punishment we deserve for our rebellion, so that if we trust in him we are not punished but are forgiven and made clean.

And the great news is that Jesus didn't stay dead. He came back to life three days later and is still alive today. Because of this, Jesus can give a new kind of life to anyone who comes to him, and one day God will create a whole new world where there is no more death or crying or pain.

To finish where we started, the Verve sing:
"Well, I never pray, but tonight I'm on my knees.
I need to hear some sounds that recognise the pain in me."
The Bible says that someone does recognise our pain. Actually, Jesus doesn't just recognise our pain but has experienced our pain, taken it on himself and defeated it for ever. Because Jesus understands, it's worth praying to him for help. Thank you for listening.