Weekly Blog 

Here our minister shares a weekly reflection: 

Sunday, 14 September 2025 — Lamenting Political Violence and Seeking Peace

As regular members of the congregation and readers of this news sheet will know, I place a high importance on exploring important events in light of the Scripture readings. This can become challenging (and sometimes depressing!) when our news is dominated by crisis after crisis, and when our world seems to be getting increasingly divided as the views of ‘left’ and ‘right’ become more entrenched.
 
This week has seen these divisions spill out once more in an act of awful violence with the shooting of Charlie Kirk in Utah, so soon after the murder of Democrat politicians in Minnesota in the summer. We are right to lament such horrific killings, and to pray for loved ones left behind in their grief. We also know all too well that we are not immune to such acts in the UK, with the murders of Labour MP Jo Cox and Conservative MP Sir David Amess occurring within the last decade.
 
You would think that these events would lead politicians, influencers, and the media into a time of reflection, with the desire to lower the temperature and bring about unity in the face of deplorable acts of violence. Yet, instead, we see the likes of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Nigel Farage stoking more fear and division, blaming all of their political opponents on the left for Charlie Kirk’s murder, without an ounce of introspection.
 
In response, as followers of Jesus, we must denounce such political violence, and the further stoking of division in pursuit of political gain that has followed it. Curtis Chang, founder of ‘Redeeming Babel’, an American campaign group that seeks to help Christians engage politically in ways that bring left and right together, wrote this in his response this week:    
The Bible is unequivocal: every human being bears the image of God (Genesis 1:27). This truth leaves no room for violence like the one America has just witnessed. To take another life in anger is to deny the worth God has placed upon them.
 
He is clear that violence and the silencing of political opponents is not the way of Christ. Our readings this week point us in a similar direction. Jesus tells the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. If our God recklessly pursues the lost, seeking after the restoration of each and every person, then there can be no space for killing our enemies, or even giving up on them, no matter how reprehensible we find their politics.
 
We must instead keep on working towards peace and playing our part in the restorative mission of God in our world. Redeeming Babel wrote the following prayer in the build up to the American elections last Autumn, and it seems a good place for us to finish:
 

Heavenly father,
As we journey through this season, we seek your presence to guide our steps.
In a world that so often pulls us apart, we long for your unifying spirit to
bring us together. Teach us to walk patiently with one another, embracing
humility and gentleness in all that we do. Let us bear each other's burdens,
even when our paths diverge and our perspectives differ.
 
Lord, help us to lead with kindness, to listen with compassion, and to speak
with grace. May we be slow to anger and quick to forgive, choosing
reconciliation over division and understanding over judgment. In moments of
uncertainty and conflict, fill our hearts with the courage to seek peace and
the wisdom to pursue healing conversations.
 
Where there is hurt, let us be agents of restoration. Where there is fear, let
us offer comfort. Where there is misunderstanding, let us sow clarity and
trust. As we move forward, step by step, may we become a reflection of your
love—walking together, even when the way is steep.
 
May your presence go before us and among us, binding us in a spirit of unity.
transform our communities into places of hope and renewal, where every
person is valued and every voice is heard.
 
In the name of Jesus, who calls us to walk this path of love, we pray. Amen.

Sunday, 07 September 2025 — Costly Discipleship

Are you sitting uncomfortably?
 
This week’s gospel reading contains some fairly challenging words from Jesus. He says that:
 
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27 NRSVUE)
 
Jesus points to the high cost of discipleship, in a context where he was on his journey toward his crucifixion in Jerusalem, as the civic and religious powers sought to silence him. Luke writes this up for early listeners to the gospel, who lived in a context of persecution, where becoming a follower of Jesus could carry a heavy cost, including separation from family. They also believed that the second coming of Jesus was imminent, so there was no need to plan for the future and to seek the wellbeing of future generations.
 
We live in quite a different context in the UK today. For the most part, becoming a Christian does not require the leaving behind of family members, and does not result in persecution. However, being faithful to Christ still comes at a cost, especially in an atmosphere where many call for the care of the nuclear family and British citizens first, at the expense of those most in need.
 
To carry our cross today means to live sacrificially in ways that show love beyond our family units, and to give hospitality to those in our society who are scapegoated, and those who have been failed by our evermore threadbare social safety nets. It means living and working in ways that value people over profit and convenience. It means choosing to spend our money in ways that bring life rather than destruction. It means speaking out against injustice and seeking to bring Christ’s hope and peace where others sow division, fear, and hatred.
 
In our relatively sheltered Western societies, following Christ in such a way has not come at such a high cost in recent decades. However, we have still acted sacrificially as a congregation: supporting those who have had been refused leave to remain in the country, working restoratively with the homeless, and standing alongside the LGBTQ+ community in a Baptist Union that is generally more conservative.
 
However, with the increasingly strident cracking down on protest by first Conservative and now Labour governments, and with more emboldened xenophobic and divisive nationalism taking root, the cost of discipleship here is likely to increase. Indeed, we have witnessed firsthand the price that many Christians have been willing to pay in order to campaign against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and arms sales to Israel, and also in drawing attention to the climate crisis.
 
This week in response to the gospel readings we might respond in two ways:
 
1.Prayerfully reflect and ask ourselves: ‘What price we are willing to pay in order to faithfully follow Christ?’, recognising that giving things up can be a difficult and painful thing to do.
 
2.Give thanks for the many people who have stepped forward in a wide variety of costly ways to follow Christ, as they have sought to show solidarity with creation, victims of injustice, and those who suffer in our world. May they be encouraged and know God’s presence and blessing with them in all that they do.

Sunday, 31 August 2025 - Refugees: Speaking Out

We’ve had a few weeks now of increasing tensions flaring up regarding the use of hotels to provide accommodation for asylum seekers. This week, more Union Jacks and English flags have been flown or graffitied on to white surfaces across the country in a campaign organised by far-right agitators, and Nigel Farage chose to announce Reform’s immigrant deportation policy in Oxfordshire.
 
It is therefore very fitting that our scripture readings in the lectionary this week speak of hospitality, welcome, and sharing a table with those who have nothing to give. Whereas we often have a tendency to only give our money, time, and energy to those who will be able to repay us or give us something in return, Luke’s gospel encourages us to be open-hearted and gracious to those in the greatest need.
 
In a nation that seems ever more divided, with many using their political platform to incite suspicion, fear, and fundamentally racist responses to asylum seekers and refugees, it is easy for us to be overwhelmed by the task before us. So, I wanted to point to some positive responses to the current levels of toxicity that have been taken in the past few days.

• Steven Croft, Bishop of Oxford, has written an open letter to Nigel Farage which can be found here.
• Asylum Welcome has written an open letter that calls for unity and compassion in Oxfordshire. It has been signed by over 2000 people so far, and you too can read & sign the letter here.
• I came across a blog that tells of how a church in Hodge Hill, Birmingham, responded to a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers by sharing cakes and flowers. It’s encouraging to see people inspired by their faith speaking out in defence of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

I’m going to close by sharing a poem I came across by Brian Bilston that flips hateful rhetoric against refugees on its head:
 
Refugees by Brian Bilston
 
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way

(now read from bottom to top)
 
Arrest of James Grote on Bonn Square
 
On Sunday afternoon, following our service, James Grote was arrested on Bonn Square for protesting against the genocide in Gaza and in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action. James has since let us know that he was treated well in custody at Abingdon Police Station, before being released on unconditional bail. He gives thanks to those who have reached out in concern to him over the few days offering their care and love. 

I have worked with the Baptist Union in preparing the following statement on behalf of the church. It is also available on the church website under latest news:
 
On Sunday August 24th, one of our church members, James Grote, was arrested outside the front of the church for protesting in support of the proscribed group ‘Palestine Action’. You can find an account of what happened here, published by the Oxford Mail.
 
James is a retired Baptist minister, and now regularly attends New Road Baptist Church. On Sunday, James independently sat on Bonn Square in peaceful protest, before being forcibly removed by the police, and taken into custody.  
 
As a church community, we are rooted in the Baptist tradition of dissent and are supportive of the right to engage in non-violent protest. Like James, we too are appalled by the genocidal actions that we witness on a daily basis in Gaza. As such, we fully affirm the statement released by the Baptists Together in July 2025 concerning Gaza, Israel, The West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is available here.
  
I have been advised to remind church members and others at New Road that to publicly support Palestine Action is an illegal act that may have serious consequences for you as an individual and for the church as a whole. Therefore, words in support of James need to be chosen carefully, and if anyone approaches you with queries about James the recommended course of action would be to point them to the church statement, to our minister Jon Keyworth, or directly to James Grote.
 
We continue to offer our prayers and love to James. We continue to long for an end to the senseless acts of genocide that are being carried out in Gaza and seek after a just and lasting peace.