Try Simplicity - By Hattie Hodgson-Crome

Try simplicity… that can feel like a tall order in a world that feels like it’s getting more complex every day. When I wrote my sermon last week, the threat of war in the Middle East was bubbling. By the time I spoke, and broke open Jesus’s words about what we treasure, the conflict and violence had broken. Ever since, our news bulletins have been full of analysis, questions, second-guessing what global leaders are thinking and intending, and yet more horror. 

On Sunday, I told a story shared with me by a friend many years ago. Swiss theologian Karl Barth, who wrote and thought so richly and deeply about the relationship between God and humanity, was asked towards the legend of his life to sum up what he knew of God. The story goes that he replied with the words: “Jesus loves me, this I know, because the Bible tells me so”. 

Karl Barth was doing his thinking, and learning about God in amongst the horror of Europe, torn apart by two world wars. It feels even more significant, given what’s going on in the world, for us to reflect on, to learn from, how he summed up his theology, his understanding of God. 

Because, however much we learn, however deeply we think, however complex faith, following Jesus can sometimes feel, at its heart, our relationship with God boils down to that simple, powerful truth:  we are loved beyond all measure, and that love can and does transform us, and the world.

In the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount that we heard in church on Sunday, we hear some clear instructions about what we treasure, what we value: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 16:21). “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 16:24). 

What would a world look like if it was truly shaped by God’s values? What would it look like if we truly saw every person as unconditionally blessed? Every person as carrying dignity and worth? Every person as someone to be honoured, rather than measured? Right now, it feels like, perhaps more than ever in my lifetime, the answer to this question is firmly ‘not like the one we live in now!’. 

The feeling of powerlessness in the face of global, or even local events is a pervasive one (and one I’m very familiar with at the moment!). But, this lent, in the spirit of ‘try simplicity’ I’m trying to lean into the example that Karl Barth offers. Where is my treasure? From where am I receiving my fuel? From the knowledge that Jesus loves me, and you and everyone.

I’m trying to hold firmly to this, to turn back, again, towards God, allowing that love, that relationship to transform me, and praying that others feel that overwhelming, all powerful love too. 

Kyrie Eleison - Lord have mercy

Christe Eleison - Christ have mercy.