I am someone who from time to time stays in hotels, normall of the Premier Inn or Travelodge variety. Over the last 5-10 years I have noticed a common and rather sad theme in our hotels. No Bibles. It used to be the case that in the vast majority of hotel rooms you would find in a side draw, usually by the bed, a Bible normally provided by The Gideons International.
Established in 1898 by two businessmen (John H Nicholson & Samuel E Hill) who were sharing a hotel room found they also shared a common belief in Christ, and during prayer time both men felt the call to develop a Christian Association of male Protestant commercial travellers to “..exist as an advocate for the lost, to bring them the saving knowledge of the Word through not only placing and distributing Scriptures, but also through personal witnessing and by associating together for service…”. It is estimated that over 2 billion bibles have been distributed during the life of the Gideons (named after the military leader and Judge in the Bible itself), although their UK branch has effectively been split into different organisations as Gideons International is a male only organisation, and potentially falls foul of the Equality Act etc.
The great sadness I feel is that hotel customers are denied the opportunity to read a Bible. Often when people stay overnight they seek out comfort and inspiration something the Bible is almost uniquely good at-it doesn’t cost the hotel anything as they are provided free, but it is another example of our ‘post Christian’ and largely secular society, especially in the West. That said it has been coming for some time. Keeping of the Sabbath changed fundamentally with the introduction of the Sunday Trading Act in 1994, and then in 2004 the Blasphemy laws were withdrawn. Ten years later the Travelodge Hotel chain became the first to formally announce that they would no longer have Bibles in their UK rooms. When asked to explain this in 2014, they stated that the UK was becoming increasingly multicultural and “we didn’t feel it was appropriate to just have the Bible because there are people of other religions…”.
Other Hotel chains such as Premier Inn and Ibis seem to have followed suit, and hotel Bibles have largely gone the way of landline handsets, biscuits, and a physical front of house reception with staff!
There is also a business side to hotel chains’ unwillingness to provide the Bible to their customers. Most hotels are chasing the ‘Millennial ‘(30-44 years old) and ‘Generation Z’ (under 30 years old) demographic. That age group look for different things in the places they stay compared to say the ‘baby boomers’ (60-75 age group) – free Wi-Fi, digital check-in, mobile apps, mobile key access and plenty of USB and charging sockets. Having access to spiritual guides such as the Bible is not high on their list- the last Census showed that just around 4% of ‘Generation Z’ adults were religious.
It is another reason that the church and ourselves as Christians should be looking to promote and embrace Bible apps such as ‘You Version Bible’, ‘Bible Gateway’, ‘The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel’ or podcasts such as ‘The Profile’ etc- at least they are available via hotel Wi-Fi if not in physical form! Otherwise how about when staying in a hotel asking the staff if they can provide a bible-you never know it might catch on!
Like I suspect a lot of people, I have recently finished viewing Season 4 of ‘The Chosen’, the multi season Christian historical drama series based on the life of Jesus and those that knew Him, which continues to entertain, move and inspire people and is on course for 1billion people to have watched the series-equivalent to 12% of the world population -quite extraordinary.
Anyway, as we approach just over the half way point in the series, we encounter Jesus as he starts to become frustrated with his disciples’ inability to understand and act out his parables. He teaches perhaps one of the most difficult of his 40+ parables, that of the Workers in the Vineyard that is only mentioned in Matthew 20:1-16.
So let me set the scene: Jesus is in the house of Martha, Mary, Lazarus with his disciples and he teaches those present this major parable. It goes like this:
“The kingdom of heaven is like the master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard, recruited some and agreed to pay them 1 denarius a day. Three hours later he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, he told them “you, go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you, so they went. Another three and six hours later the master did the same. After 11 hours he went out and found others standing. He said to them “why do you stand here idle all day?”-they said “Because no one has hired us”. The master said “you, go into the vineyard too”. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first”. So when those hired after 11 hours came, each of them received 1 denarius , and those who were first hired thought they would receive more, but each of them received just 1 denarius. They grumbled at the master of the house saying, “these workers who have just started working and you’ve made them equal to us who’ve been here all day in the scorching heat. The master replied “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree to work for me for 1 denarius? Take what belongs to you and go-I chose to give to the last workers the same. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me or do you begrudge my generosity?”. So, the last will be first and the first, last”.
Now the disciples struggle with this concept because they think either a) the master has been cheated and/or b) it suggests that heaven is unjust.
To our human eyes and mind the parable suggests heaven is run on different terms to what we expect, and we would be right. Heaven does not do human ‘justice’ as we would understand it – as Christians we would not be paid or rewarded based on the amount of time we have been Christians, or the amount of good works that we perform. ‘11th hour Christians’ will get the same reward -of everlasting life – as those who have been in the faith for decades. Take as an example the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43)- his interaction and faith in Jesus can probably be calculated in just a few dying moments, but Jesus promised him he would be in paradise with him. That is God’s generous choice. We become Christians with the promise of forever being with Him, and we need to let go of the idea that we or others are more or less worthy of that wonderful offer.
It is about God’s grace and His measurement is not an earthly one for it is a truly Heavenly one- but as the disciples found out, none of this is easy to understand. Jesus and heaven have a different value system to what we currently have on earth and Jesus’ frustration is that they (and we) quite often ‘don’t get it’!
To see ‘The Chosen, there are a variety of ways to view it -all free!- a) on ‘The Chosen’ App, b) online at https://watch.thechosen.tv/ or c) on ‘The Chosen’ You Tube channel-happy viewing!
I was struck recently by something that the Rector of Buckingham (Rev Will Pearson-Gee) raised in written questions to the General Synod last week. In essence he was asking “Where are all the men in church?”. He referred to the need to attract men back into the pews, and that in some church services the congregation was “overflowing with widows”.
It has been established that around 65% of churchgoers are female and that since the Pandemic it is men more than woman who have not been returning in the expected numbers and it seems to be something unique to Christianity. In other faiths such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism it is men who outnumber the women usually by 70% to 30%. In the last British Social Attitudes Survey, it concluded that “at every age” men were less likely than women to say they had a faith, went to church or believed in God.
Why is this? One of the arguments put forward is that women are more attracted to the sentimental elements of our faith whilst in general men prefer the intellectual and rational aspects of the Christian story. Certainly, I find as a man that few of my sex/gender show interest in or are attracted to our faith compared to my female friends. I suspect part of it is that men, even in today’s society, find it harder to talk openly about their view of God, Jesus and faith in general, and would far rather talk about something else like football, beer or work. In a previous church I went to in Kent, wives were known to complain that the excuse their men gave them for missing church was that they watching the Sunday morning repeat of ‘Match of The Day’! Women on the other hand tend to talk more openly about their feelings from an earlier age than men and are happier to discuss their personal faith and their Christian journey, seeking out guidance and help. My experience is that quite often Men ‘suffer in silence’ reluctant to join Life Groups or talk to someone when they seek some spiritual guidance.
In a lot of ways little of this is new. In the 19th century people wrote that the Anglican church was being ‘femininised’ by the number of women in congregations and that church practices were changing to a less masculine way, and of course in some ways that is good.
Clearly as a Church we need to be inclusive and fewer men lead to other issues. In the most recent research over 90% of children follow their fathers into going to church compared to less than 20% of their mothers. Fewer men in church also reduce the chances of Christian women finding their husbands and having to look outside of their faith in their relationships.
Back to the Rector of Buckingham who has argued that the Church needs to develop its resources to practise evangelism among men. One thing he does at his church has been hosting BBQs with Harley-Davidson motorcycles driving in to create that engagement. It’s certainly unusual but with our emphasis on children and young peoples’ ministry there is a danger that we are overlooking the loss of our menfolk. As the Rev Pearson-Gee has noted “if you spent some of the money used to attract more children and young adults on men’s ministry, you’d get the children and young people thrown in”. It’s certainly food for thought….
The Paris 2024 Olympics that we are now fully into is often known as ‘The greatest show on earth” with 11,000 athletes taking part from 206 different countries, it is living up to that billing. However, the wise athletes realise despite all the dedication that being an Olympian requires, that there is a more important race to win.
Faith and sport often go together – perhaps the most well-known example has been Eric Liddell, who 100 years ago won the Olympic 400m title even though it was not his favoured event. This was because the heats of the 100m were held on a Sunday but as a Christian, Eric, despite being under huge pressure to compete, refused to compromise his faith-a wonderful example of obedience to the Lord. He later became a missionary in war torn China-something he felt was more important than running for personal and national glory. He was imprisoned during WWII where he continued to spread his faith in action by helping those in need but died in 1945.
100 years on and his Christian example can be seen throughout the Olympics, no more so than in the shape of Adam Peaty the incredible Team GB swimmer. He has won 3 Olympic Gold medals, he has been World Champion 8 times and European Champion 16 times – all whilst still in his 20’s. Truly extraordinary. However, despite all of those achievements Adam did not feel fulfilled. It is a familiar story of a highly gifted person who outside of their area of expertise wondered who they are and realise, as we all do at some stage in our lives, that we are missing something-God.
Adam was redeemed thanks to a sports chaplain, Dr Ashley Null, who took him to church and that helped to heal him, who by this time had taken a break from his sport due to his mental health breaking down. He found something special there saying “I didn’t have a community outside of sport and I found solace and fulfilment in God and attending church”. Over a period of time, he got things back in order and has returned to swimming but this time things are different. He said recently that everyday conversations with himself and prayers keep him inspired to use his God-given gift of swimming. He summed it up by saying “For me, the only fulfilment and the only peace is every Sunday at church”.
As you watch Adam hopefully bring more success back to Team GB and God, look at his muscular body because on it is a large tattoo of a cross with the words “into the light”. It says it all.
