Advent Calendar Day 2: St Andrew

-->


Today is St Andrew’s day. Andrew is many things – patron Saint of Scotland, known for being crucified on a X-shaped cross.  He seems to merit a special Google home page for his day (but that could just be a feature of his Scottish association).  He is known biblically for being the brother of Simon Peter, and liturgically (at least in the Church of England) the eve of his feast a Day of Intercession and Thanksgiving for the Missionary Work of the Church.  It is these latter two that I have reflected upon today.

I find I think of Andrew as the older brother of Simon Peter.  Less inclined to jump in with both feet, and thereby finding himself playing second fiddle much of the time.  It was Andrew who brought his brother to Jesus, and in doing so confesses Jesus as Messiah before his brother (John 1.35-42).  But I am an older brother, so perhaps I’m looking for a scriptural model to balance the more famous elder brother (Luke 15.11-32).

Andrew is responsible for bringing others to Jesus.  It is Andrew who brings the boy with the loaves and fishes to Jesus, a partial act of the faith Jesus finds lacking in the disciples (John 6.8-9).  And Andrew, with Philip, brings some Greeks to see Jesus at the Passover festival that sees Jesus executed (John 12.20-22).  John’s Gospel at least seems to depict Andrew as the quiet, behind the scenes, disciple.  He brings people to Jesus and doesn’t make a fuss about it.

I like to think that’s why Andrewtide has become associated with mission.  Because Andrew gets on and does it in a non-showy way.  In an age when evangelism has become a target and a strategy, we need Andrew to remind us that sometimes it’s just about taking people to Jesus and then stepping back.  Of course, the church needs its Peters – up front, visible, making fools of themselves.  But it was Andrew that brought Peter to Jesus.

St Andrew, quiet missioner, back-room staff, bringer of folk to Jesus, pray for us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prayers for Evensong

The BBC were at the Cathedral yesterday, recording our Choral Evensong . I wrote some new prayers for the occasion, which I share here: In the evening of the day, we come to you, O God, bringing those we have met, for your blessing, our hurts for your healing, our sins for your forgiveness, our labours as our offering and our lives as our worship; we come to you through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who became like us, that we might become like him. Amen. Lord Jesus, you call us into your church; help us to leave behind the things we cling to, coax us with the treasure of heaven, and in the age to come, when the first will be last and the last will be first, allow us simply to be found within your Kingdom, and to feast at your table, where there is abundant life for all your world, for with you all things are possible, and in your name we pray. Amen. God of all hope, may the light of your justice search out the darkness of our world; may the power of your love banish al...
Read more

Theology and the Man in Black

Image
I went to hear a paper at the University this evening entitled 'The Apocalypse according to Johnny Cash: Examining the 'Effect' of the book of Revelation on a contemporary apocalyptic writer'. As well as some fine music and lots of humour from YouTube , the paper was examining how we detect the effect of the Bible on the world, and using Cash's The Man Comes Around as a means of doing this. One of the papers themes was that because Cash doesn't name Jesus as the Man (who comes around) he has a weak Christology and leaves his work open to a range of interpretations of who 'The Man' could be - from Cash himself to George W. Bush! Lots of food for thought about how what we say is then heard and repeated in our culture, which has little understanding of the Gospel. But the thing that really stood out for me was the suggestion that it was possible to tell that Cash was really reading the Bible in this song (rather than just regurgitating what his traditio...
Read more

Faith and Struggle on Smokey Mountain: The Michael Ramsey Prize 2016 Shortlist 1

Image
Review of Benigno P. Beltran, Faith and Struggle on Smokey Mountain: Hope for a Planet in Peril (Orbis, 2012). If all the books on the Michael Ramsey Prize shortlist are as good as this, then I’m in for a treat!   It is good to have an author on the shortlist who is not from the UK or the US.   Beltran is from the Philippines.   A Roman Catholic priest, and a teacher of theology, Beltran has also been the chaplain to the most notorious rubbish dump in the world – Smokey Mountain in Manilla.   Here around 25 000 people lived as scavengers, and became a symbol of both poverty and the ecological degradation of the world. This is a deceptively short book.   It is both moving and challenging.   It also covers several different genres.   Most obviously, it is autobiographical.   Benigno Beltran was a Pilipino priest who was sent to study in Rome.   He returned to the Philippines to train seminarians.   On h...
Read more