Before the Foundation of the World

Jul 14, 2024Sermons

Ephesians 1: 3-14

Before the Foundation of the World

I want to tell you the truth about everything in the universe and then explain why that matters for your life together at All Saints and in Child’s Hill. I want you to imagine two great arches, one inside the other. The inner arch I’ll call, ‘The story we usually tell.’ The outer, larger, arch I’m going to call, ‘The more encompassing story.’
The story we usually tell goes like this. There’s a man and a woman in a garden. They eat an apple – and everything goes wrong from then on, like earthquakes, wars, and England not winning a men’s international football trophy in 60 years. God tries to fix it with Noah and frankly a bunch of complete animals. Then God gets serious with Abraham and Moses and a covenant. And to be fair, that lasts 39 books of the Bible, but somehow things remain sub-optimal. So God sends Jesus, God from God, light from light, and Jesus dies on the cross and all the bad stuff goes away. Which means when we die, we’ll be fine. God’s got this. That’s the inner arch.
Here’s the outer arch – the more encompassing story. It goes like this. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are totally absorbed by the most wondrous things we can imagine: utter adoration, complete belonging, sheer joy. And that perfect pattern of love for one another becomes effervescent: the Trinity finds itself wanting an other to share this joy, an other for the Trinity to be gloriously with. So the Trinity’s shaped to be with that other. And we call this the incarnation, which is God being so shaped as to be in relationship beyond the Trinity. And that triggers creation, because there needs to be a theatre in which God, the incarnate one, whom we call Jesus, meets that other. And because Jesus needs to belong, there’s an Israel out of which Jesus comes, as much as Jesus comes from God. And because creation is finite, and nothing in it lasts forever (whereas God does last forever), God prepares a time when the being-with-us that God embodies in Jesus will ultimately become a forever thing, and we and everyone else and the whole creation will be taken up into forever to be with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which is what we call glory, or heaven. That’s the outer arch.
Now as soon as I describe the more encompassing story you can begin to see what’s wrong with the inner arch, the story we usually tell. I’m not talking right now about the history and the science, how the act of creation worked and whether there really was a fall. I’m looking at two main problems. The first is, if Jesus becoming incarnate is the most important thing about God, let alone the most important thing about humankind, isn’t it a bit of a problem that it only comes about by an unfortunate accident – that’s to say the fall, which was never supposed to happen? And while we’re about it, here’s the second problem: if Jesus came to fix all the things wrong with the world, earthquakes, wars and England’s footballing woes, how come those problems seem as much with us as ever 2000 years after he came?
I want to suggest that both of these flaws come down to the same problem, and it’s the main thing that distinguishes the story we tell from the more encompassing story. The inner arch is a story all about us. It only gets interesting when we come on the scene; what matters is our problem with the ways the world isn’t perfect; Jesus comes like a plumber we summoned to fix a pipe; and now we want our money back, because the pipe’s still leaking. Now this is what I want you to notice. When we turn to the outer arch, the more encompassing story we find a story that’s all about God. It begins with God having a great time. It ends with God having a great time. It still has Jesus in the center of the story: but Jesus doesn’t come to fix our problem. Jesus comes because that’s in what we might call the DNA of God – the effervescence of the Trinity that spills over into incarnation and creation. This is the key point: there was always going to be a Jesus, because there always has been a Jesus, from before the foundation of the world. Jesus doesn’t come like a plumber to fix our pipe: that would be to define God and the whole story by a deficit. Jesus comes because God wants to be with us. That’s to build the story around an asset – the greatest asset of all: God’s effervescent glory.
I want to draw your attention to something you might not have noticed, but turns up in today’s New Testament reading. Three times in the New Testament we hear the phrase ‘before the foundation of the world.’ We find it John chapter 17, First Peter and here in Ephesians 1. In each case it means the same thing. It means God chose to be incarnate in Jesus before there was any creation. In fact, it means that God’s intention to become incarnate in Jesus was the reason for creation. All of which sounds fine and dandy, until you realise what else it means, but doesn’t actually say. And that is, that Jesus couldn’t have come to fix the results of the fall – because God’s decision to become incarnate in Jesus was made before there ever was a fall. So all those theories that make out Jesus had to die to fix the problem of evil, sin and death – they miss the crucial revelation made three times in the New Testament itself that that wasn’t why Jesus came. Jesus came to be with us in time so that we could be with him forever.
I wonder if you remember the short introduction to the footwashing scene at the Last Supper in John’s gospel. Let me read you the whole sentence. ‘Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.’ He loved them to the end. That’s what happens on the cross. Jesus loves us to the end. The fact that Jesus didn’t come to die to fix the sin problem doesn’t make the cross less important. It makes it more important. Look at it this way. God creates the world to be with us in Christ. God prepares to bring the world finally to an end and to be with us forever. The whole story is about being with, beginning, middle and end. But here’s the crucial moment in the story. God becomes incarnate in Jesus and dwells among us. Jesus meets us in our fragility, our folly and our fecklessness. He is Immanuel, God with us. Then suddenly he’s surrounded, arrested, assaulted, condemned, crucified. Now’s the moment. If he escapes to the Father now – if he can’t hack it and because of physical pain or total humiliation or the unthinkability of death he gets swooped up by angels – he’s then detonated, demolished and discredited the whole story – the whole reason for creation, the whole destiny of eternity together, the whole purpose of the incarnation: if Jesus can’t stay on the cross, even in the face of being abandoned by the Father, the whole initiative to be with us now and always goes up in smoke.
The cross is the ultimate test of whether God is serious about us. And what it shows in the face of agony, desertion, abandonment and isolation, is that God is so serious about being with us that God is willing to jeopardise being with God. No more we doubt thee, glorious Lord of life – Jesus is so committed to being with us he endures separation from the Father. And the Father is so committed to Jesus being with us he endures not being with Jesus. And in the great mystery of being with, the Spirit remains with the Father and the Son. And two days later the Spirit reunites the Father with the Son and God with us in the resurrection.
Look at that. No fancy atonement theory that distorts God and goes against the true reason for creation and incarnation. No humancentric story that’s all about Jesus fixing our problem. Just God; just God being with us; just God being with us whatever happens; just God being with us into, through and beyond Jesus’ death and ours. Just God being with us forever. That’s the gospel. That’s the gospel like you never heard it before.
Now I promised I’d explain why all this matters for your life together at All Saints and in Child’s Hill. Everything you do is about being with. It’s about being with God; being with yourselves; being with one another; being with your neighbourhood; being with creation. What’s wrong with the world and with us are the things that inhibit our being with one another. You’ve just been through a significant loss in your community, and you’ve rediscovered that sometimes grief can make you more alive, more grateful, more aware of how precious it is to be with one another. Like every church in the country, you’re learning what it means to be with one another across theological, social, racial and political differences. But this is the point. When you’ve discovered that from before the foundation of the world God chose to be with us in Christ, and that our destiny is to be with God and one another in Christ forever, every single tiny gesture that enables us better to be with one another is pointing to the reason for the universe and the purpose of all things. That’s what it means to be All Saints. That’s what it means to be church. That’s what God intended from before the foundation of the world.

The Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Preached at the Feast of Dedication 2024

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Privacy Notice – General

Your personal data – what is it?

“Personal data” is any information about a living individual which allows them to be identified from that data (for example a name, photographs, videos, email address, or address). Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and other legislation relating to personal data and rights such as the Human Rights Act 1998.

Who are we?

This Privacy Notice is provided to you by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of All Saints’ Child’s Hill which is the data controller for your data.

The Church of England is made up of a number of different organisations and office-holders who work together to deliver the Church’s mission in each community. The PCC works together with:

  • the incumbent of the parish (that is, our priest-in-charge);
  • the bishops of the Diocese of London; and
  • the London Diocesan Fund, which is responsible for the financial and administrative
    arrangements for the Diocese of London.

As the Church is made up of all of these persons and organisations working together, we may need to share personal data we hold with them so that they can carry out their responsibilities to the Church and our community. The organisations referred to above are joint data controllers. This means we are all responsible to you for how we process your data.

Each of the data controllers have their own tasks within the Church and a description of what data is processed and for what purpose is set out in this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice is sent to you by the PCC on our own behalf and on behalf of each of these data controllers. In the rest of this Privacy Notice, we use the word “we” to refer to each data controller, as appropriate.

What data do the data controllers listed above process?

They will process some or all of the following where necessary to perform their tasks:

  • Names, titles, and aliases, photographs;
  • Contact details such as telephone numbers, addresses, and email addresses;
  • Where they are relevant to our mission, or where you provide them to us, we may process
    demographic information such as gender, age, date of birth, marital status, nationality, education/work histories, academic/professional qualifications, hobbies, family composition, and dependants;
  • Where you make donations or pay for activities such as use of a church hall, financial identifiers such as bank account numbers, payment card numbers, payment/transaction identifiers, policy numbers, and claim numbers;
  • The data we process is likely to constitute sensitive personal data because, as a church, the fact that we process your data at all may be suggestive of your religious beliefs. Where you provide this information, we may also process other categories of sensitive personal data: racial or ethnic origin, sex life, mental and physical health, details of injuries, medication/treatment received, political beliefs, labour union affiliation, genetic data, biometric data, data concerning sexual orientation and criminal records, fines and other similar judicial records.

How do we process your personal data?

The data controllers will comply with their legal obligations to keep personal data up to date; to store and destroy it securely; to not collect or retain excessive amounts of data; to keep personal data secure, and to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and to ensure that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

We use your personal data for some or all of the following purposes:

  • To enable us to meet all legal and statutory obligations (which include maintaining and publishing our electoral roll in accordance with the Church Representation Rules);
  • To carry out comprehensive safeguarding procedures (including due diligence and complaints handling) in accordance with best safeguarding practice from time to time with the aim of ensuring that all children and adults-at-risk are provided with safe environments;
  • To minister to you and provide you with pastoral and spiritual care (such as visiting you when you are gravely ill or bereaved) and to organise and perform ecclesiastical services for you, such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals;
  • To deliver the Church’s mission to our community, and to carry out any other voluntary or charitable activities for the benefit of the public as provided for in the constitution and statutory framework of each data controller;
  • To administer the parish, deanery, archdeaconry and diocesan membership records;
  • To fundraise and promote the interests of the Church and charity;
  • To maintain our own accounts and records;
  • To process a donation that you have made (including Gift Aid information);
  • To seek your views or comments;
  • To notify you of changes to our services, events and role holders;
  • To send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you. These may include information about campaigns, appeals, other fundraising activities;
  • To process a grant or application for a role;
  • To enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in a particular geographical
    area as specified in our constitution;
  • Our processing also includes the use of automated systems when you visit our website including cookies to help improve your experience when browsing our website and personal identifiers from your browsing history to enable us to assess the popularity of the webpages on our website, further information about our use of cookies is available on our website (https://www.allsaintschildshill.com/cookie-policy/)
  • Our processing also includes the use of CCTV systems for the prevention and prosecution of crime.

What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

Most of our data is processed because it is necessary for our legitimate interests, or the legitimate interests of a third party (such as another organisation in the Church of England). An example of this would be our safeguarding work to protect children and adults at risk. We will always take into account your interests, rights and freedoms.

Some of our processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation. For example, we are required by the Church Representation Rules to administer and publish the electoral roll, and under Canon Law to announce forthcoming weddings by means of the publication of banns.

We may also process data if it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, or to take steps to enter into a contract. An example of this would be processing your data in connection with the hire of church facilities.

Religious organisations are also permitted to process information about your religious beliefs to administer membership or contact details.

Where your information is used other than in accordance with one of these legal bases, we will first obtain your consent to that use.

Sharing your personal data

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential. It will only be shared with third parties where it is necessary for the performance of our tasks or where you first give us your prior consent. It is likely that we will need to share your data with some or all of the following (but only where necessary):

  • The appropriate bodies of the Church of England including the other data controllers;
  • Our agents, servants and contractors. For example, we may ask a commercial provider to send out newsletters on our behalf, or to maintain our database software;
  • Other clergy or lay persons nominated or licensed by the bishops of the Diocese of London to support the mission of the Church in our parish. For example, our clergy are supported by our area dean and archdeacon, who may provide confidential mentoring and pastoral support. Assistant or temporary ministers, including curates, deacons, licensed lay ministers, commissioned lay ministers or persons with Bishop’s Permissions may participate in our mission in support of our regular clergy;
  • Other persons or organisations operating within the Diocese of London including, where relevant, the London Diocesan Board for Schools and Subsidiary Bodies;
  • On occasion, other churches with which we are carrying out joint events or activities.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We will keep some records permanently if we are legally required to do so. We may keep some other records for an extended period of time. For example, it is current best practice to keep financial records for a minimum period of 7 years to support HMRC audits. In general, we will endeavour to keep data only for as long as we need it. This means that we may delete it when it is no longer needed.

Your rights and your personal data

You have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

When exercising any of the rights listed below, in order to process your request, we may need to verify your identity for your security. In such cases we will need you to respond with proof of your identity before you can exercise these rights.

  1. The right to access information we hold on you
    • At any point you can contact us to request the information we hold on you as well as why we have that information, who has access to the information and where we obtained the
      information from. Once we have received your request we will respond within one month.
    • There are no fees or charges for the first request but additional requests for the same data may be subject to an administrative fee .
  1. The right to correct and update the information we hold on you
    • If the data we hold on you is out of date, incomplete or incorrect, you can inform us and your data will be updated.
  1. The right to have your information erased
    • If you feel that we should no longer be using your data or that we are illegally using your data, you can request that we erase the data we hold.
    • When we receive your request we will confirm whether the data has been deleted or the reason why it cannot be deleted (for example because we need it for our legitimate interests or regulatory purpose(s)).
  1. The right to object to processing of your data
    • You have the right to request that we stop processing your data. Upon receiving the request we will contact you and let you know if we are able to comply or if we have legitimate grounds to continue to process your data. Even after you exercise your right to object, we may continue to hold your data to comply with your other rights or to bring or defend legal claims.
  1. The right to data portability
    • You have the right to request that we transfer some of your data to another controller. We will comply with your request, where it is feasible to do so, within one month of receiving your request.
  1. The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time for any processing of data to which consent was sought.
    • You can withdraw your consent easily by telephone, email, or by post (see Contact Details below).
  1. The right to object to the processing of personal data where applicable.
  2. The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Transfer of Data Abroad

Any electronic personal data transferred to countries or territories outside the EU will only be placed on systems complying with measures giving equivalent protection of personal rights either through international agreements or contracts approved by the European Union. Our website is also accessible from overseas so on occasion some personal data (for example in a newsletter) may be accessed from overseas.

Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

Contact Details

Please contact us if you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the information we hold about you or to exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints at:

The Data Controller,
All Saints’ Church
Church Walk, Child’s Hill
London, NW2 2TJ
Email: [email protected]

You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

If you have any question regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.