A QUESTION OF FAITH

With Rev Simon Wearn of Holy Trinity Hinckley WHAT world do you live in?

In asking, I’m not making a personal comment about you being spaced out or distant ... but where do you feel at home? What do you think about? Where are your emotions excited?

I think we all spend time in parallel universes – stories set in another world, with characters we can relate to, even feel close to. It might be a soap we dip into each day, a computer game that we’re immersed in, or a book we’re gripped by.

These worlds are great fun to engage with – giving us the chance to explore new characters, to consider how others feel, and to engage with issues, which we don’t usually encounter. They can be an escape from the routine of life, or a distraction from current troubles. But, they can also have a darker side – exposing us to a brutality we are otherwise shielded from.

Why do we get drawn in? It may seem safer – to experience a make-believe world, rather than our own. It might combat a sense of aloneness, and we engage in a bigger story.

But if these ‘other’ worlds are so gripping, what effect does it have on us? It’s worth stepping back to consider – how does this affect my ‘real’ world relationships? Is it a point of engagement with others, and does it make me aware of issues or struggles that others face? Or, has it made me more withdrawn, less sensitive to the suffering of others, and more concerned with my own desires and ambitions?

Jesus told stories. Stories to get our imagination working, and to get around our own defences. One such story is about a vineyard, for growing grapes, that is prepared, planted and protected by its owner – and then let out to tenants. When harvest came, and the rent was due – he sent his servants to collect, but they were beaten and rejected. He repeated this until he sent his Son, “They’ll respect my son” he thought. But they saw it as their chance to take the vineyard for their own, and they killed him.

Hearing the story, we engage with the care and provision of the land owner, and react against the injustice of the tenants. How do we feel then, when God accuses us of being like the tenants in his world? Receiving from him, but not responding to him, even rejecting him?

The story gives us a new perspective on the world, but from God’s position. It also considers what happens when two worlds meet? Will we respond to God or reject him?

Which story will you be caught up into? The story of a parallel, imaginary universe, or the true story of the whole world – the story Jesus tells?