Devotions

Rev Gav

Division

Luke Luke 11.15-23

Some of the crowds said of Jesus, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.’ Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? — for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Reflect

The part of today’s Bible Reading that jumped out to me was how ‘a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand’ and how ‘house falls on house’.

This week the Anglican Church appointed a new archbishop — Dame Sarah Mullally. Now, I belong to several church social media groups and I have been utterly shocked and dismayed by the reactions and comments from some who claim to be Christians. In my naivety, I did not expect to witness such a level of vitriol, nastiness, and spitefulness. What I read made me sick to my stomach because it was antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ, as I understand it.

Many Christians took offence that the new archbishop is a woman, others because of her inclusive stance, others because she is pro choice, and others because of her poor handling of a clergy matter when she was Bishop of London. Nearly all the comments were from men and nearly all claimed that they were being ‘biblical’.

I can accept that people have different points of view but such opinions should be shared with humility and love, rather than with judgmental, hate-filled language. What hurt most was that these comments were coming from fellow siblings in Christ. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and sadly, it seems likely that the Anglican Church will become further divided.

What should be a wonderful celebration of the Anglican church finally trying to catch up with equality and inclusivity, is being marred and ruined by those who seek to undermine and cause division — and why do they want to do this? It is because the appointment of Archbishop Sarah is a threat to a misogynistic and patriarchal power-base.

At Fab Church we hold together people with different opinions and we do so with love. In the same way that a broken link in a chain-link fence causes the fence to become breached by predators, or a missed link in a knitted item of clothing causes it to unravel, so we must protect ourselves against division. Division doesn’t just cause the house to collapse in on itself, it becomes uninhabitable. In the same way, divisions in the church repel people (particularly young people) from Christianity and from opportunities to meet Christ, and when it does this the church stops being the sanctuary and spiritual home people so desperately need.

Even though Fab is not an Anglican Church, what should be our response to divisions in the church? It is to love, and to keep on loving — to never stop welcoming, listening, and caring for others — no matter who they are and how they express themselves. We know how the story ends. Love will win, and as Jesus said, ‘Whoever is not with me is against me,’ we must ensure we are with Christ and on the side of God’s love. Therefore, dear friends, pray. Pray for peace and reconciliation, that we, who are children of God, might be united and one in Christ.

Pray

Holy God
We thank you
for the appointment of
Archbishop Sarah.
May she be filled
with your Holy Spirit
and endued with
wisdom and courage.
Protect her from
those who seek to
bring about disruption
and division in your Church.
Through Christ
our redeemer.