World Cup Churches: 13. France

Continuing a series of blogs heading round the 32 qualifying countries in the 2022 World Cup - I will pick out one church in each one.  I am not going to choose only churches that are to my liking.  This is an exploration not a recommendation! To see all in the series select the label 'World Cup Churches' below.

'La Porte Ouverte Chrétienne de Mulhouse' is a reminder that France is not quite as Roman Catholic - or, following the Revolution - so secularised as might be assumed.  Unlikely though it may seem, the Open Door Church qualifies - at least by European standards - as a Megachurch, the more so because Mulhouse is not a very big city.

Why choose this church for my France blog?

Partly because it revises some views of France; partly because it briefly became one of the best known churches in Europe.

For anyone familiar with the spiritual geography of France it will come as no surprise that Mulhouse is the site of this type of church.  Mulhouse is deeply connected with the Protestant Reformation and as part of Alsace - and adjacent to Germany (today) and Switzerland - it belongs in a different relationship with Protestantism than most of France (Click here to read about it).

For anyone familiar with Covid-19 (that's all of us isn't it?) this church is also known as a super-spreader.  Until the pandemic, being a super-spreader was somewhat the intention of every church, and certainly every evangelical/Pentecostal megachurch.  Regrettably an enormous church conference week yielded an enormous spread of Covid 19 in its earliest known arrival in France and the church suffered national notoriety for a while.

It did illustrate the strange reality that even apparently innovative churches find it very hard to change direction quickly - a criticism more easily aimed at traditional churches.  By the time of the event the wisdom of cramming singing, coughing people into an airless room for hours was established as unwise.  But canceling a Conference or (as we all later experienced) stopping the singing is an innovation beyond innovators.

Covid taught as all a lot about ourselves.

My Covid Walk: 6. Benghazi

If, instead of walking the North London suburbs and parks day by day the past year I had set off south and a little east and kept walking (across the Mediterranean too) I could have reached . . . Benghazi.  My first speculative Covid Walk took me to potential danger in Mariupol (Here).  Benghazi, for all its Mediterranean breezes and sunshine, is a great deal less safe as my destination.  Let the UK Government explain . . .

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advise against all travel to Libya. This advice has been in place consistently since 2014. If you’re in Libya against this advice, you should seek to leave immediately by any practical means.

All travel to, from and within Libya is at the traveller’s risk. Local security situations are fragile and can quickly deteriorate into intense fighting and clashes without warning.

In August and September 2020 both Tripoli and Benghazi saw demonstrations against deteriorating living conditions and corruption. Pockets of violence were seen, with reports of civilians being shot and wounded.

Here, then, is the confirmation that travelling in one direction is not much use if it takes you to the wrong destination.  Atheist readers please consider.

Is it Covid-safe?

Benghazi is not the kind of place where this is the main issue - but that's not because its safer.

On the Plus Side:

Weather (but Lanzarote was good too!) - and fantastic history, now not easily discoverable on the ground in these disrupted times globally and locally.   In fact, if all went well, it is by far the most interesting place of my six walks so far.  

On the Minus Side:

Civil unrest erupting at times, guns that are used too much and general lack of security, especially for someone who's walked in from England.

Has it got a Football Team?

Several, who play in the Martyrs of February Stadium (Even the football stadium's name hints at troubled times!). Al-Ahly have been very successful in the Libyan Premier league.  However unsurprisingly the LPL has not successfully finished all its recent seasons - and not because of Covid-19.

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Probably not.  Unlikely to have an internet presence for obvious reasons.  I could visit the Coptic Orthodox or a leftover-from-Italian-colonial-days Catholic church.  Simon of Cyrene came from near here and in the early years of Christianity this was one of the most Christian areas on the planet so it represents quite a sad story.

Prospects out of Ten:

Two.  Just too dangerous right now - but it would be a great city to see if it was safe.

My Covid Walk: 5. Lanzarote

Had I walked in one direction during Covid year (and been able to walk on water) where would I have reached?  As we have seen, and will see, not everywhere is an improvement on the woods, parks and suburban streets of North London.  

But had I headed broadly south and a little west I could have reached - Lanzarote!  Now we're talking...

From the Daily Telegraph 

'You can go to the Canaries at any time of year and have good weather more or less guaranteed.  It gets windy sometimes, and storms aren’t totally unknown, but most of the time it is sunny with an average temperature of around 22C. Even when the islands are at their hottest, in July and August, the temperature is usually only in the mid-twenties centigrade. Whenever you go, it is nearly always warm enough to swim and sunbathe.'.

Is it Covid-safe?

The Canaries have had their bad weeks, but things are improving now.

On the Plus Side:

Warmth, seaside, mountains and just a great holiday destination.

On the Minus Side:

Not much to report on the downside.

Has it got a Football Team?

Unión Deportiva Lanzarote are the island's most notable team, but of course the Canaries as a whole have two leading clubs on Tenerife and Gran Canaria who have played at the highest level in the Spanish League system.  Lanzarote has a much smaller population.

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Lanzarote Christian Fellowship seems like an amalgam of evangelical Anglicans and New Frontiers so that seems to land somewhere near me http://www.lanzarotechristianfellowship.com/ There are Baptist Churches on the more populous islands.

Prospects out of Ten:

Ten.  Lanzarote would be a great result from a year's walking.

My Covid Walk: 3. Shannon Island

Where would I have reached if my year of walking in various lockdowns had been in one direction instead of daily ambles around North London?

My third idea takes me North West.  This would have required mostly walking on water and, even more alarmingly, above the place where the Titanic failed to stay on the surface, let alone me.

Leaving the physics to one side, would I have reached North America?  The answer is YES!

Shannon Island.  I couldn't make it to Canada or the U S of A, but the eastern coast of Greenland is in reach - and that includes Shannon Island, which I choose because I was born in Ipswich, Suffolk.  Let Wikipedia explain: 

Shannon Island is a large island in Northeast Greenland National Park in eastern Greenland). It was named by Douglas Clavering on his 1823 expedition for the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon, on which he served as midshipman under Sir Philip Broke. Broke was born at Broke Hall, Nacton, near Ipswich. He was educated at Ipswich School, where a house was later named in his honour.

Is it Covid-safe?

Couldn't be safer. 

On the Plus Side:

Social distancing (from humans - there are none).  Wildlife to look at but . . .

On the Minus Side:

. . . the wildlife is dangerous!  I can't outwalk a polar bear !  Also cold and windy even in summer.

Has it got a Football Team?

No (Greenland itself only just about has a football team).

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Er, no.

Prospects out of Ten:

Two.  Safe and beautiful in some ways but lonely after such a long walk . . .

My Covid Walk 2. Arkhangelsk

If, during my year of walking in the pandemic, I had walked in a straight line sort of North East (and across water) I would have reached Arkhangelsk (or Archangel as traditionally in English atlases) in the Russian arctic.

Encyclopedia Britannica says . . .

Founded in 1584 as the fortified monastery of the archangel Michael it was the first port of the Russian Empire to conduct trade with England. The port reached the height of its prosperity in the 17th century but subsequently declined with the founding of St Petersburg (1703) and the exorbitant customs dues introduced by Peter the Great to divert trade to his new town. Arkhangelsk later revived with the building of a railway from Moscow in 1898.

Is it Covid-safe?

Not too sure about Russian cities, but this April it is moderately OK - at least it has big city medical facilities. 

On the Plus Side:

Emerging from its winter deep freeze with a riverside promenade and some sights to look at if they're open, including the brand new Orthodox Cathedral which is part of the Russian Nationalist resurgence.

By Екатерина Борисова - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68543618

 On the Minus Side:

Fairly bleak urbanscape and a winter to avoid at all costs (for 6 months).

Has it got a Football Team?

Bandy (sort of Ice Hockey) is unsurprisingly the thing here - but it has/does have some low level football - as far as I can tell the only professional team went out of business in the 1990s.

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Yes, at least two, including the Arkhangelsk Bible Church which appears to meet in part of a shopping centre.

Prospects out of Ten:

Five.  Based on arriving now in late April into tolerable weather, and finding someone who knows about the city's positive historical connections to England and so is anglo-friendly.

My Covid Walk 1. Mariupol

I've been walking.

During the past year most of us have.  Exciting destinations like East Finchley, Friern Barnet, Bounds Green and Hornsey.

But what would have happened if I had just kept walking in one direction in a Forrest Gump-like fashion?

First, I'd have walked a long distance away, and secondly the results are, at best, mixed!

Heading East (for these purposes I can walk on water of course) I would be at MARIUPOL.

Wanderer777, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Wikipedia says . . .

Mariupol lay within a broader region that was largely devastated and depopulated by the intense conflict among the surrounding peoples, including the Crimean Tatars, the Nogay Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Muscovy. [More recently] The city was seized on June 13, 2014 by Ukrainian troops, and has come under attack several times since.

Is it Covid-safe?

Ukraine is not doing very well at the moment. 

On the Plus Side:

It's by the sea!

On the Minus Side:

Russian border tensions are rising in the news this week.

Has it got a Football Team?

FC Mariupol haven't shaken the world, but are a respectable representative of a steelworks city.

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Ukraine has one of the largest Baptist communities in the world, and some remarkable churches.  Here the link to one http://domboga.com/index.php/o-tserkvi

Prospects out of Ten:

Two.  Based on the prospect of a walk with a Baptist pastor along the beach.

Psalm 121: Hope from the Hills

 'I lift up my eyes to the hills,  Where does my help come from?'

Psalm 121 has long been a favourite psalm for many people.  To me it evokes one word - 'Scotland'.   Apart from having live there and the hilly landscape I think it also derives from the Scottish Psalm settings in which I first sang this psalm.

For good measure, here are some Scottish hills:

Whichever way you do the geology, hills are old.  They are also very big.  The Psalmist seems a little awed by the danger he faces, but when he looks to the hills . . . re remembers that his God is the Maker of hills. 

'My strength comes from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth'.

After such a daunting year it is a good thing to look at the hills, and to look beyond them to their Creator.  And to be strengthened by Him.

Psalms in Lent: Psalm 30 Joe Biden's verse?

 It was a great day for our annual Church Motto Text when, in its first month, it was the (lone) Scripture quoted in the new American President's inaugural address.

He chose it for much the same reason, I imagine, as we chose it: looking ahead from within the reality of weeping to a future joy.

As we continue reflecting on the Psalms in Lent it is worth noticing a correction I made when (on my sole preaching Sunday of 2021 so far) in the opening service in January I indicated that this is part of a two part verse.

What (for brevity) we chose not to put on our card - and which for secular purposes Joe Biden probably never considered quoting - is the other, qualifying part of the poetic stanza:

For his anger lasts only a moment,

    but his favour lasts a lifetime;

weeping may stay for the night,

    but joy comes in the morning.

Ah, there is God after all.

It is not some anti-gravitational life force that pulls human hope up out of weeping.  It is the grace, the favour of God.  

Nor, it should be added, is weeping an unforeseen problem foisted on a victim God and his human creation.  It is a consequence perhaps of judgment, perhaps of withdrawn favour (which is similar but not quite the same).

Put another way, our Motto Text is not a lot of use unless we also see God there.  And so we pray . . .

Fallow

I was looking back a year and noticed that last January I highlighted this beautiful song with Sandra McCracken.  And on reflection it is hard to imagine a song that was more appropriate, a few weeks before we were plunged into the fallow life of Covid.

I love the simple truth of this song.  Not every Sunday is a high experience.  Not every Church is in revival.  There is more to the Kingdom than days of feasting . . .

Thanksgiving Wisdom: 2. Scripture and Knowledge

The coronavirus virus has done strange things to people's view of science.  People have disregarded it and depended upon it all at once.  Not two groups of people, one disregarding, the other depending, but a kind of overlapping internal confusion.  

Christians have struggled with this too:  praying for a cure from science and from God and not sure if God likes science.  Praying to God about the worrying data and fearful modelling while wanting to ignore the fear and trust 'the promises'.

John Robinson offered this wisdom to his people: 

When we avow the Scriptures perfection, we do not exclude from men common sense and the light of nature.  Yea, we ... beg of God as necessary for their fruitful understanding the light of His Holy Spirit.

Or to put it another way. the Scriptures teach us that God is the giver of all good gifts, so the benefits of science are from Him.  The work of scientists using the light of nature and common sense is no less from God than the Biblical promises they (maybe unwittingly) fulfil by supplying us with more safety. 

Thanksgiving Wisdom: 1. Not Back to Normal

In this week of Thanksgiving in America, I'd like to look back to the Pilgrims from whom the festival derives.  They have become lost in the current ferment of the United States, a later political creation, but 400 years ago a body of people set sail on the Mayflower (well, they actually set sail on another ship first) to join other settlers on the shores of the New World.

Many were from a church in Holland that had been formed from Christians fleeing England, and they have become known as the Pilgrim Fathers. The majority of the Church in Leiden, Holland stayed back, as did their Pastor.  It was the younger, more adventurous who set sail, yet the harsh conditions took many of their lives in the opening years of settlement.   Thanksgiving was born out of gratitude for their first Harvest.  

John Robinson, their Pastor, never did the journey from Holland (though he had previously fled England of course).  Yet his wisdom and determination played a large part in the Mayflower story and I want to look at a few things he said or wrote:  first this, from a letter to a sympathetic English nobleman who had supported them throughout:

It is not with us as with other men, whom small things can discourage, or small discontentments cause to wish themselves at home again . . . we hope not to recover our present helps, neither look ever to attain the like in any other place in our lives . . .

This quotation reminds us of wisely adopting a pilgrim spirit in this world.  Covid-19 has left everyone wanting to recover normality - these pilgrims understood they were giving up a lot in order to go forward.

As the disciples might have done when they left their nets by Galilee to follow Jesus. With Jesus most of the good things are in front, not behind.

Baptists for a pandemic: 3. Joseph Binney

Augusta, Georgia' figures in the modern media each year.  It's golf course annually hosts one of the four great world Tournaments.  It is known for its pristine beauty - a far cry from a windy links course on the coast of Britain, for example.

Augusta is, for America, an old city.  It sits on the border of South Carolina.  In the mid 1800s it was part of the increasing influence of the Baptists, though also pointedly in their North-South divisions regarding slave ownership.

Pastor Joseph Binney and his wife arrived at its First Baptist Church because they had been unable to stay in Burma (today, Myanmar).  Ill health had cut short their missionary endeavours.  

The safer environs of Augusta did not turn out to be safe however.  In 1854 an epidemic of Yellow Fever arrived in the city.  You can be vaccinated for Yellow Fever today - but there is still no medical cure if the mosquitos win.  

Deaths were reported, and the people of the city fled.  The Binneys left the city but lived nearby, Joseph returning each day to minister to the sick and dying.  The missionary who had been defeated by ill-health, was found in its midst.

Almost inevitably, Joseph eventually caught the fever.  

He survived.

He not only survived, but recovered sufficient strength to leave Augusta - and return to Burma as a missionary!

Here was a man, a family, whose calling was stronger than their challenges.  May we be like them.

Baptists for a pandemic 2. John Bunyan

When Church of England envoy Terry Waite was held captive in Beirut by Hezbollah in the late 1980s he famously received a postcard from well wishers in England.  It bore an image in stained glass of John Bunyan writing in prison.  The meaning was - good can come from confinement.

It is impossible to overestimate the literary and spiritual value of Pilgrim's Progress, a book so skilled that people of any religion and none can enjoy it while deep-thinking Christians can mine it and children can engage easily with its story.  It is inevitably still mentioned in lists of primary English literature.

Yet Bunyan spent about 12 of his 60 years in gaol.  He was primarily known in his day as an Independent/Baptist preacher but his lasting fame belongs to his writing and his writing owes much to his years of lockdown.

Very unwise it is of us to dismiss lockdowns as unproductive.  Had Bunyan been a Baptist Pastor today he would have been out of prison more but, if he had written anything, it probably wouldn't have outlived him.  I feel I know - I've read what today's preachers write . .. 

Baptists for a pandemic: 1. Thomas Grantham

I have been reading about some Baptists who I think are very useful for our pandemic season.

First, and on one level most interestingly, I begin with Thomas Grantham.  That I hadn't heard of him on July 12th will be obvious from my blog of that day.   But that is to my shame.  For Thomas Grantham was very well-known in the 17th century.

It is important to note that what I am about to reveal is not at all unique to Thomas.  He was the most famous advocate of the position because at the time because he was, well, famous.  His book Christianus Primitivus was one of the great early Baptist theologies.

Thomas Grantham represents a marked strand in Baptist history that rejected congregational singing.  As Baptists, more than most, we are bewailing our loss of freedom to sing in the pandemic.  It is peculiar to note that our forefathers were quite strongly opposed to the practice.  One cantor singing a Psalm was the preferred rule.

We imagine Thomas Grantham to be very 'strict', but that turns out to be false.  Thomas Grantham held the view that 'Christ died for all', which was a 'General' Baptist 17th century interpretation, creating an openness and evangelistic edge that many stricter Baptists (and others) rejected.

The next time I complain of a year without congregational singing I will remember that some of the most formative years of Baptist fellowships were decades without congregational singing.  So no excuses for us complaining that we can't go on like this!

God in the Garden 3. Seeing Beyond

When we arrived at our house and to this garden there were one or two potted leftovers from previous residents. 

They were either flowering or livening up toward that happening.  It was nice to have a garden hose (our previous house didn't have an outside tap) to help them on their way.

One pot, however, looked a lost cause . . .

Looking at the single flower at the bottom and no apparent buds anywhere else it appeared a waste of a good pot.  I made a mental note to get a good plant for it the next year.  But i watered it anyway.

And suddenly in July - over about two days - it turned into this,  A riot of flowers that essentially buries the leaves!

This has helped my in pandemic ministry.  It feels alot like the leafy, productless pot.  But the watering goes on; perhaps obedience, perhaps habit, perhaps desperation, perhaps faithfulness.

May the God who made and cares for the flowers, care for all of his work in the hearts of mankind too.

God in the Garden 2. Hidden Problems

It even surprises me.

When we filmed the Easter Morning pandemic recording in the garden there was the awkwardness of a derelict pond motor cupboard, used by a previous resident to create a flowing water feature.  It is clearly many years into its decay.

'Why,' I wondered, 'have I never fixed it?'   

I ventured my best explanation - that in the summer it was hidden, because in truth I could hardly remember thinking about it in days in the garden over the years.

And so it proved to be.  I simply hadn't realised how totally the greenery in the pond left the old cupboard out of sight and out of mind.  Here it is in the summer:

That is why it is never fixed!

As we thought about at Easter, the reason for the coming and sacrifice of Jesus is because sin is never hidden from Him - it required action.  The reason why humankind can be equivocal about, blase towards or disinterested in the great salvation Jesus achieved is because we simply cover up our sinfulness to ourselves and among ourselves.  It doesn't need fixing, so we don't need Jesus.

This strategy fails to take account of the end of the story - where what God sees is the basis of our eternal accountability.

God in the Garden 1. Life from the Cross

Like Church leaders of all kinds, I spent significant lockdown time broadcasting from the garden.  I'm very blessed, especially in London, to have a garden.

Maundy Thursday - what a long time ago that feels - our family was in lockdown with Covid in the house.  For our online Maundy Communion (watch here) we needed a cross.  As it happened, my wife had made her own from two old garden twigs because she had done her school's online Easter talk.  We used that very stark-looking cross.

When summer came, we sat in the garden in happier circumstances - and one day looked at that cross:

Out of the apparently dead wood was growing a flower.  It is a fantastic picture of the hope that God offers during a dead year, and that he always offers through the cross to the soul who turns his way.

Pandemic Parables 6: Whether or not we're indoors . . .

Jesus also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” 

This is perhaps the most encouraging of parables for the church in a pandemic.  The list of what can be done in building relationships for the Kingdom is very much shorter.  The possibilities for the winter ahead are filled with uncertainties, and even next summer is tough to plan towards.  Whilst some expressions of Christianity are more content with a low-key private or contemplative approach, Baptist and Evangelical Christians have always viewed life as seizing opportunities and working for them when they are missing.  More like Jesus' Galilean ministry than his earlier Nazareth days of carpentry.

Another parable I cited was about the sower sowing the seed.  It reflected different kinds of soil productivity.  This little parable from Mark's Gospel is about providence.  The farmer must do something - sow the seed - but then cannot really do anything.  Whether locked down (asleep) or up and busy, the soil produces the grain.

This does not entirely reflect modern agriculture - but it brilliantly reflects 2020 church work.  Thank you, Jesus!

Pandemic Parables 5. Accountable to myself

Today I availed myself of the Government's 'Eat Out to Help Out' scheme.  Walking around a sparsely populated city block I say a mainly empty cafe and took up the offer of the half priced lunch.  I would have eaten anyway, which seems to me to point up the ludicrous nature of the scheme - but if you're a tax payer - thanks!!  It was nice.  

My table had a QR code.  This was how I was to register for the NHS Test and Trace scheme.  As a diligent enforcer in our church, I felt i ought to co-operate, even though it was hardly prominent.  But I'm not great with QR codes, so after a few complications on my phone I gave up and enjoyed my sandwiches anyway.  As far as I could tell I was the only person in the Cafe even trying to use the code.

That's how we like it.  An important regulation - qualification - that we can choose to ignore.  In the end, it's my decision.

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son . . .

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

My hunch is that, in the minds of very many people Jesus, the Gospel, salvation, being born again,  believing all figure like the Kingdom of Heaven's QR Code.  Maybe we should attend to him/them but in the end, let's wing it - 'after all my great grandad went to Church' (actually mine didn't as far as I know).

The question arises whether God's judgment and final entry into Heaven's Kingdom will operate with the laxity of the cafe I visited - or indeed the Government's own enforcement.  If so, a great deal of sin is going to be part of that kingdom and eternity looks very uninviting for us all.   But as Jesus' parable points out, God's Kingdom will ultimately require the right clothes - it is a Wedding Banquet, not a Cafe.  Being dressed right is the only way in, and the only way to be dressed right is to put on the new clothes the King has provided, Jesus, the Gospel, salvation, being born again,  believing.

Pandemic Parables 4. Working with what you've got

So we can't sing; we can't have refreshments, we can't stay long in church, we can't sit near each other, greet each other, touch each other, share communion bread, baptise, organise events for invitees, visit people in their homes, serve people indoors at a soup kitchen . . .

“Again, here is what the kingdom of heaven will be like. A man was going on a journey. He sent for his slaves and put them in charge of his money. He gave five bags of gold to one. He gave two bags to another. And he gave one bag to the third. The man gave each slave the amount of money he knew the slave could take care of. Then he went on his journey. The slave who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work. He earned five bags more. The one with the two bags of gold earned two more. But the man who had received one bag went and dug a hole in the ground. He hid his master’s money in it.

“After a long time the master of those slaves returned. He wanted to collect all the money they had earned. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you trusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have earned five more.’

“His master replied, ‘You have done well, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you trusted me with two bags of gold. See, I have earned two more.’

“His master replied, ‘You have done well, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man. You harvest where you have not planted. You gather crops where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid. I went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You evil, lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I have not planted? You knew that I gather crops where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money in the bank. When I returned, I would have received it back with interest.’

“Then his master commanded the other slaves, ‘Take the bag of gold from him. Give it to the one who has ten bags. Everyone who has will be given more. They will have more than enough. And what about anyone who doesn’t have? Even what they have will be taken away from them. Throw that worthless slave outside. There in the darkness, people will weep and grind their teeth.’

Ah.

So the Kingdom of God is not about what we have or haven't got.  It's about what we do with what we have.