imagine - Westminster College, Cambridge · imagine Neil’s monthly reflections for the...

imagine Neil’s monthly reflections for the Westminster College community

Number 35 May 2019

“For I know theplans I have for

you,” declares theLord, “plans to

prosper you andnot to harm you,plans to give you

hope and afuture.”

The ProphetJeremiahchapter 29verse 11

Isabelle Hamley is thechaplain to the Archbishopof Canterbury. She grew upin France. Amongst thecountless words written asNotre Dame burned, I’vefound her’s some of themost powerful. In particular,she names something of thesignificance of buildings thatI would echo forWestminster’s impact too:

“...we are people whoremember. We may distortour memories, we may beselective, we may try toforget. But we remember.Sometimes in words,sometimes in pictures,sometimes in habits andsymbols that have the powerto bring out what we haveburied deep. The memory ofa people is not held simply inhistory books. It is held in thevery land they inhabit, in itslandscape, in its buildings.The suggestion I saw...thathistory is always there, we do

not need buildings to remindus of it, is but an expressionof an old heresy, or of adestructive modern trend. Itsuggests that we are butspiritual beings, that thematerial world around us issomething we may use, butthat its destruction orabsence does not matterbecause we, supremebeings, have the power tohold things in our... memory.It also seems to suggest thatwe can make ourselves whatwe want to be, regardless ofwhat is, or isn’t, around us.Both of these assumptionsare deeply flawed. We arewho we are through acomplex interaction of theculture we live in, the historythat has shaped it, thelandscapes we inhabit, thelanguages - verbal and non-verbal - that we speak, thesymbols that structure ourways of thinking andreasoning. And out of all ofthese elements, we weave

narratives that tell us whowe are, why we are here,where we have come from,and, perhaps, where we aregoing. Notre Dame is akeystone of those narrativesof French identity.”

Westminster may be quite abuilding but, of course, itisn’t Notre Dame. And yet,for well over a century,Westminster has also invitedpeople to remember. Set soprominently in this ancientuniversity community,Westminster speaks aboutfaith wedded to learning,welcome ingrained inencounter, God caught sightof in the midst of everything.Our stones, too, speak.Remember, they say.

Stones, Remember

Across the world,extremism thatdestroys people andcommunities hascruelly done its workof terror: shootings inmosques in NewZealand; arsondestroying African

American churches in Louisiana; churchesand hotels bombed in Sri Lanka; asynagogue shooting in San Diego County.

Powerful forces are at work in our world.

Hatred is killing. Lies are common. Someof this wears faith’s clothing. Some claimsGod’s name and blessing. There are manyreasons why our work with people of everyfaith, any faith and no explicit faith matters.Here’s a starkly simple one: if we open ourhearts and lives to others we learn, better,how to live together. As a place devoted toteaching future generations of leaders offaith communities, Westminster’s campusmust always be a place of such encounter.This isn’t just a nice way to use our land ordining hall. It’s a response of hope thathatred cannot overcome.

Hatred cannot overcome