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From the Editor ‘Jesus lets others share in his greatness and glory’ Donald Trump or merry Christmas? Which would you prefer to write an editorial about? So picture the scene: a baby in a wooden cradle. Moodily lit, joyful parents. Reverent visitors, with gifts ranging from the fluffy to the glittering. Angels, even, glimpsed in the corners. I’m hardly the first person to notice this, but the Gospel of Matthew doesn’t half throw a gory spanner into this warmest of scenes. A genocide. The execution of toddlers. A family displaced. A government that will do absolutely anything necessary to eliminate threats to its power. I suppose Matthew is bringing a number of things to the story here. One is that Jesus is not the Heavenly One dressing up as a human being. In Jesus, God enters personally into all the brokenness and brutality and bitterness of human life, and then raises it up into God. As Athanasius said, ‘God became what we are so that we might become what God is.’ Another thing Matthew brings to the story is that there are two kings in it, Herod the Great of Judea, and the King of the Jews whose birth is written in the sky. The earthly king is driven by fear and jealousy, rules through violence and devastation, and has to destroy anyone who might diminish his might and glory. The heavenly king is driven by love – is love. His greatness and glory are not lessened by letting others share in them. He submits to violence to bring healing and life. A third thing Matthew brings is that Jesus’ story recapitulates Moses’. Escaping a royal massacre of children leads eventually to a journey out of Egypt, and later in his story, Matthew will show us Jesus on a mountain delivering new instructions to the people. Jesus is not just a baby in Bethlehem, but the messenger of God calling us to walk in his way – the way that leads away from the palace and the armed guard towards the cross, away from fear towards hope, away from violence towards healing and life. May we follow. There, I managed to get all the way to the end without mentioning Mr Trump. Stephen Tomkins, Editor Reform magazine 86 Tavistock Place London, WC1H 9RT 020 7916 2020 reform@urc.org.uk www.reform-magazine.co.uk Editor Stephen Tomkins Graphic Designer Chris Andrews Content Editor Laurence Wareing Book Reviews Editor Ian Fosten Art in Focus Curator Meryl Doney Local Digest Editor Laurence Wareing Head of Communications Andy Jackson ADVERTISING Jo Asher: jo@jam-associates.co.uk 01858 681358 SUBSCRIPTIONS Church House 86 Tavistock Place London WC1H 9RT 020 7520 2721 reformsubs@urc.org.uk www.reformsubs.co.uk Reform is published by the United Reformed Church: 020 7916 2020 www.urc.org.uk Reform welcomes unsolicited articles though publication is not guaranteed. Nothing in these pages may be reprinted, in whole or in part, without permission. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the United Reformed Church. Acceptance of advertisements does not constitute an endorsement either by Reform or by the United Reformed Church. ISSN 03067262 Printed using vegetablebased inks, by Bishops Printers, Walton Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 1TR December 2024 / January 2025 / Reform / 4
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News Church Life Review group drafts finance restructuring proposals A proposal for a major new financial resourcesharing mechanism in the United Reformed Church was trailed in an update from the Church Life Review in November. Other developments include trials for a local church helpline and for charity accounting software, and the establishment of a resource-sharing hub. The Church Life Review is a collaborative reflection on the structure and operation of the URC with the intention to ease the burden on local churches and allow greater focus on the Church’s essential mission. The November update announced that the review’s finance group had drafted a ‘high-level proposal’, which would be circulated around the regional synods. A consultation on the proposal with synod treasurers and trust company convenors is planned for April or May 2025. The proposal includes a vision for the kind of services that could be funded by the money it releases. As well as the financial resource sharing, the review’s Steering Group is setting up two ‘living labs’, or trials of new ways of working: a local church helpline in North Western Synod, and charity accounting software with South Western Synod. The intention is to measure their impact on the lives of local churches, and explore the infrastructure needed to support them. Another project underway in this stage of the review is the development of a resources portal. A questionnaire has gone out to synods and local churches, seeking to understand what local churches are struggling with most, what resources currently exist within the synods, and where the gaps are. The findings are to be presented at a consultation at Kents Hill Park in Milton Keynes in November 2024, exploring an operating model for the resources portal, and options for new ways of providing shared services beyond the resources portal. The Steering Group has approved a plan for case studies looking at lay church workers, to help them understand the best models and infrastructure needed to support them. This includes ‘cases where the synod is employer on behalf of the local church(es), cases where the local church is the direct employer, places where a need for a lay worker has been identified but not realised, and places where models were trialled but failed due to a lack of infrastructure’. Myles Dunnett, Programme Manager, Church Life Review group (pictured) asks: ‘If you know of an academic researcher or research organisation who might be interested in this, please do let me know.’ A consultation on creating new churches, ‘Conversations at the Crossroads’, is planned for January 2025. Proposals on all these areas of the Church Life Review are to be brought to an extraordinary General Assembly in November 2025. Mr Dunnett invites anyone who has questions to get in touch on churchlifereview@urc.org.uk Andrews : ©Chris Photograph Faith groups divest for COP29 Operation Noah reports that 27 faith institutions announced their divestment from fossil fuel companies on 12 November as the COP29 climate talks began in Azerbaijan. They include the first Catholic dioceses in France to divest. In total, 570 faith institutions around the globe have made a commitment to end fossil fuel investments over ten years. The United Reformed Church voted to divest from fossil fuels in its central funds at its Mission Council in May 2019, and all URC synods had divested by July 2022. December 2024 / January 2025 / Reform / 5 News in Brief URC Prayer Handbook: 2026 submissions open The editors of the 2026 United Reformed Church Prayer Handbook are seeking contributions under the theme ‘Touching God’. The Revd Dr Susan Durber and the Revd Jonnie Hill have invited prayers which express gratitude for, or a yearning to experience, the touch of God in our lives – ‘moments when the sacred mystery of God breaks into the everyday, filling it with awe and wonder’. Prayers that celebrate the sacramental nature of all life, affirming the presence of the divine throughout the world we share. The deadline for submissions is 21 February 2025. More details on the URC website, see bit.ly/ URCPHB2026. The 2025 Prayer Handbook is available from urcbookshop.co.uk CofE-Methodist agreement marks 21 years Leaders of the Church of England and Methodist Churches gathered on 4 November to reaffirm their commitment to the AnglicanMethodist Covenant, signed on 1 November 2003. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell, said: ‘Our differences, in the great scheme of things, are minor’ and they welcomed the challenge to work further towards ‘unity in love and fellowship’. The celebration took place at Methodist Central Hall Westminster. Retired housing posts The URC seeks applications for the roles in the Retired Ministers Housing Society Board. See page 44 for more information.

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From the Editor

‘Jesus lets others share in his greatness and glory’

Donald Trump or merry Christmas? Which would you prefer to write an editorial about? So picture the scene: a baby in a wooden cradle. Moodily lit, joyful parents. Reverent visitors, with gifts ranging from the fluffy to the glittering. Angels, even, glimpsed in the corners.

I’m hardly the first person to notice this, but the Gospel of Matthew doesn’t half throw a gory spanner into this warmest of scenes. A genocide. The execution of toddlers. A family displaced. A government that will do absolutely anything necessary to eliminate threats to its power.

I suppose Matthew is bringing a number of things to the story here. One is that Jesus is not the Heavenly One dressing up as a human being. In Jesus, God enters personally into all the brokenness and brutality and bitterness of human life, and then raises it up into God. As Athanasius said, ‘God became what we are so that we might become what God is.’

Another thing Matthew brings to the story is that there are two kings in it, Herod the Great of Judea, and the King of the Jews whose birth is written in the sky. The earthly king is driven by fear and jealousy, rules through violence and devastation, and has to destroy anyone who might diminish his might and glory. The heavenly king is driven by love – is love. His greatness and glory are not lessened by letting others share in them. He submits to violence to bring healing and life.

A third thing Matthew brings is that Jesus’ story recapitulates Moses’. Escaping a royal massacre of children leads eventually to a journey out of Egypt, and later in his story, Matthew will show us Jesus on a mountain delivering new instructions to the people. Jesus is not just a baby in Bethlehem, but the messenger of God calling us to walk in his way – the way that leads away from the palace and the armed guard towards the cross, away from fear towards hope, away from violence towards healing and life. May we follow.

There, I managed to get all the way to the end without mentioning Mr Trump. Stephen Tomkins, Editor

Reform magazine 86 Tavistock Place London, WC1H 9RT 020 7916 2020 reform@urc.org.uk www.reform-magazine.co.uk

Editor Stephen Tomkins Graphic Designer Chris Andrews Content Editor Laurence Wareing Book Reviews Editor Ian Fosten Art in Focus Curator Meryl Doney Local Digest Editor Laurence Wareing Head of Communications Andy Jackson

ADVERTISING Jo Asher: jo@jam-associates.co.uk 01858 681358

SUBSCRIPTIONS Church House 86 Tavistock Place London WC1H 9RT 020 7520 2721 reformsubs@urc.org.uk www.reformsubs.co.uk

Reform is published by the United Reformed Church: 020 7916 2020 www.urc.org.uk

Reform welcomes unsolicited articles though publication is not guaranteed. Nothing in these pages may be reprinted, in whole or in part, without permission. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the United Reformed Church. Acceptance of advertisements does not constitute an endorsement either by Reform or by the United Reformed Church. ISSN 03067262

Printed using vegetablebased inks, by Bishops Printers, Walton Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 1TR

December 2024 / January 2025 / Reform / 4

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