Counterculture - finding a balance and making a change

MUSIC: Be Thou My Vision – Van Morrison

Hello and welcome to Sunday Worship. I’m Sean Stillman – the International President of God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club, which was founded over 50 years ago.

God’s Squad grew out of the Jesus Movement, of the 1960s and 1970s, that emerged from the counterculture of the time, and sought to return to the practices of early Christianity.

Our service today reflects how the spirit of Jesus’ call to his followers to live a radically different life, can at times be complex and uncomfortable, yet valuable.

My hope is that there will be something that resonates with you. Something that brings hope in the uncertain times we’re living in and also something that challenges us on what it means to follow Christ today.

MUSIC: Pioneer – Nancy Honeytree

We thank you Lord for this day, and that none of us escapes your gaze. We thank you, that each one of us is precious in your sight. We thank you that there is not one of us, who is more or less deserving of your love than another. Where so much of what is happening in our world right now, un-nerves us and causes us to worry, I pray that in these moments shared together, we’d be reminded of what the Psalmist imagined, for us finding security, living under the shadow of your wing. Amen

For the majority of my 35 years in ministry, I have willingly embedded myself in the sub-culture of Motorcycle Clubs. Back in 1953 in the cult biker movie starring Marlon Brando, ‘The Wild One’, Mildred turns to Johnny of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and asks, “Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?” The iconic response came back, “Whad ya got?”

Rebellion has always been part of the myth and reality of motorcycle clubs. Early incarnations found them kicking against the empty promises of ‘freedom and prosperity for all’ in post war America. Behind the myth, there’s always been the reality, even to this day, of a yearning that demands, ‘There’s got to be more to life’.

As the west was becoming more and more individualistic, this was one community that asked, ‘is this as good as it gets? And, it’s into this context I and God’s Squad members minister - a context where we don’t always like what our mates do, but we do understand what they are looking for and what believe. They may not share our faith, but they have come to like what we do among them as chaplains and padres.

As the squeaky clean son of preacher, this wasn’t an obvious fit. But this is where I’ve found my people and my call beyond the walls of the church.

MUSIC – Go Forth Into the World In Peace (Rutter) – Cambridge Singers

It hasn’t been a straight forward ride. Almost 30 years ago now, myself and two companions were badly beaten at a motorcycle club gathering, as a result of an incident that sparked up because of the anger that existed towards the church.

As my wounds healed it dawned on me - I give this up, nothing will have changed. What if Jesus really DID mean ‘love your enemies’? Unless they see an alternative response, the cycle of anger would persist. We didn’t give up. I and those with me, had an opportunity to model something different. That’s what we have tried to do within God’s Squad over the last 30 years in the UK.

Jesus brought the radical message of the alternative Kingdom of God into a context of a brutal Roman empire and a self-obsessed, often self-serving religious system that penalised the poor and vulnerable. He challenged the cycle of violence and what power looked like, and modelled something different.

Within the Gospels, those initial mandates of Jesus, are at their core a radically subversive call, that life can be entirely different. An invitation to look at a completely different life, an alternative kingdom, with an another way of rebellion.

Our first reading reminds of the simplicity, and the goodness of God’s provision at the outset.

READING – Genesis 1:27-31

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. 

Within the context of God Squad serving our friends in motorcycle clubs in a chaplaincy capacity we’ll often get invited into their space. And I got together with a few of my mates from the road and we shared our experiences.

REFLECTION 1 - God’s Squad Motorcycle Club

MUSIC – Speak O Lord – Keith and Kristyn Getty

Our next reading from Matthew’s gospel, captures the challenge from Jesus, as unhurried acts of mercy come to the forefront in worship and service of God.

READING – Matthew 25: 31-40

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

In a recent visit to Manchester Bruce Springsteen called upon the ‘righteous power of art and music in dangerous times’.

MUSIC: Land of Hope and Dreams – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

So often it is the artists amongst us who capture the cries from the underbelly of a community. They ask the difficult questions, look for new possibilities, and often see a welcome for those who would otherwise go uninvited.

One of those looking for new possibilities to find a welcome for all is graffiti artist Stephen Lamb.

REFLECTION 2 - Stephen Graffiti Church

MUSIC: Blinded by your Grace – The Kingdom Choir

Our preacher this morning is Dr Clair Linzey, Deputy Director, at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, she shares with us her experience of being on the fringes of Christianity and the shift that is now taking place…

Until I was eight, my father was chaplain to the University of Essex. I grew up surrounded by students and institutional Christianity. The community at Essex was inclusive, politically progressive, and, led by my father, well-versed in the issue of animal rights. I was raised to believe that God the Creator loves all creation, and that as Christians our role is to care for creation, especially animals, as God would want us to. It was not until I was much older that I realised this was a deeply counter-cultural view within Christianity.

Veganism and Christianity in one sense maybe seen as odd bed fellows. Indeed, the treatment of animals and the environmental crisis have often been seen as a direct result of the Christian interpretation of human dominion given in Genesis 1. And yet it is in that very passage that we see the clear link between Christianity and veganism. Humans are (1) made in the image of God, (2) given dominion and then (3) given a vegan diet – “every plant yielding seed.” So, what kind of dominion do we see then in the Biblical narrative? It’s a dominion in which not just humans but all animals are given a vegan diet, a diet suited to a peaceful creation. It is this peaceful, harmonious, vegan creation, that God proclaims to be “very good.”

The idea of counterculture within Christianity is perhaps an odd one too. We see in the second reading that Christ is on the side of the poor, the weak, and the oppressed. Those marginalised in society and culture. Jesus says. “Just as you did it to one of the least of these … you did it to me.” The least of these: A powerful notion, God at the margins. An idea sometimes lost in modern day living, where Christianity is infused into the formation of our education, legal, and political systems. Yet, the model given in Christ is inherently counter cultural - solidarity with the marginalised.

In a time in which billions of animals are killed every year for food, entertainment, and research, it is hard not to see those animals as amongst the least of these. An animal inclusive Christian perspective begins by asking other Christians to see the reality of the suffering and death of billions of marginalised animals. For many the use and abuse of animals is so widespread that the animals have become invisible. Seen in this light, the reality of animal lives is a million miles from the peaceable kingdom.

A creation inclusive Christian perspective simply suggests that animals should be included within our moral and theological concern. That the more Christ-like way to be in the world, as much as is possible, is one of peace and non-violence. Non-violence to God’s other creatures as well as other humans.

This is not just a position held by some modern-day Christians, but actually many Christians over the centuries have tried to live in a non-violent way with other animals. Saint David, the patron saint of Wales was just one of many vegetarian saints who did so. He led a vegetarian monastery in which animals were not even allowed to pull the ploughs in fields.

Over the last 10-15 years I have witnessed a remarkable shift in perceptions of vegetarianism and veganism. As a child, outside of the Essex chaplaincy, ridicule felt like the defining response to vegetarianism. But now, Christian concern for animals is in a place of discussion. Vegan options are now standard in most restaurants, where once there were few vegetarian options. Animal blessing services once a novelty now commonly happen in most parishes - these ideas are no longer on the fringes.

Yet, veganism in particular remains a challenge. Veganism, unlike other moral decisions, requires a moral choice multiple times a day. Deciding not to eat God’s other creatures, remains a radical proposition for most Christians and deeply counter cultural to the traditional post church Sunday roast!

Not eating animals in a world in which animal exploitation has become so commonplace as to be almost invisible is an act of service, of sacrifice. But is that not what the model of Christ lays out for us – to do for the least of these. Indeed, is that not the very image of God we are given in Jesus – the higher sacrificing themselves for the lower. The counter cultural message of Christianity is not that it is easy to live peaceably, but rather that it is costly. That we may also need to sacrifice for the good of all creation, as Jesus did. This is not to say it is easy, in a decidedly unpeaceful world, the choice of peace is both costly and hard. But we can all start small – and try to make little changes towards a peaceable kingdom.

The message of the gospel used to be so radical and counter-cultural that Christians were martyred for their beliefs. As Christianity has become subsumed into our foundations, it is easy to overlook the radical, counter-cultural ideas at its core. Doing for the least in our world is a counter-cultural idea. Living peaceably with others and creation is a radical notion, as is the suggestion that God’s other creatures have value, dignity and rights. But, perhaps it’s time to give it some thought…

MUSIC: Brother Sister, Let Me Serve You - The Northumbria Community)

We come to you as we are; some of us weary, some of us anxious, some of us burdened.

We come to you in sincere but fragile faith Lord God, because we carry some fears and some doubts.

We doubt that we’re doing a very good job of looking after the world you have given us.

We doubt that we’re doing a very good job of creating the kind of communities you envisaged.

We doubt that some of the conflict around us can be fixed.

Forgive us our silence, our inaction, our mistakes.

But we come to prayer in faith because we believe as reliably as the sun rises, and the sun sets, that you Lord God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are in our midst.

You are here in our; weariness, anxiety, doubts, fears, failures, confusion and incompetence, just as you always are.

May these moments of reflection cause us to worship, trust and serve you where you have placed us.

Where our leaders have to make ongoing decisions on behalf of the community, we pray that the needs of the most vulnerable will not be overlooked.

May our leader’s actions be honourable to their office and their motives be righteous and just. May our own actions also, look to the needs of those around us.

Help us to know what it fully means to love you God, with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Amen

MUSIC: The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours) - Matt Maher

Remember the story I told you about at the beginning? The guy who instigated the violent confrontation – well, 25 years later he apologised and invited me into his family home to pray with his family. The secrets of the Kingdom of God are found in such things.

May we be willing to be awakened in Christ to serve the Lord in this week ahead.

May the ongoing gifts of God’s grace, mercy and peace be upon you, upon those you love and those you share your community with,

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Amen