One of my contemporaries, a bishop, who has just recently died, coined a very useful aphorism: "We need to believe more and more about less and less!" This was not something that either of us would have voiced at the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century when we were studying for ordination. Just after the war the Christian church was in an ascendant position theologically, reaping the benefits of two decades of scholarship in the New Testament. But it became clear by the end of the twentieth century that the church at large had too much baggage to carry along - outdated theological theories born of the conflicts of the reformation - liturgical revivals of the 19th century which, in hindsight, were clearly romantic medieaval ideas not at one with the New Testament figure of Jesus the Lord. So, to 'believe more and more about less and less' means to sort out in our minds what is essential to Christian faith and practice today and to leave to one side, to misquote a phrase from Hebrews, '[the human traditions] 'which cling so closely ... looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith...'

It was comparatively easy in the solitude of Ewell monastery to take this to heart - to believe that at the heart of life there is this Lord. It was indeed an explosive idea which only gradually manifested itself in our commitment over the years. For humanly speaking the monk has no tools other than what everyone has in ordinary life, to come to the nub of Christian faith. So it is even more clear to me now in London, among the crowds thronging the tube, that what is essential for Christian faith is to have a clear understanding of the person of Jesus as Lord.

At the centre of Paul's arguments with the churches he founded in Asia Minor was the clear statement that to belong to Jesus was to overthrow the bondage to gods of the time, the world 'powers' and the 'elemental spirits' which jostled for supremacy over human life. To leave their false lordship was to put oneself under the lordship of the risen Lord. But we have to ask today, 'How do we perceive this lordship of Jesus?' It is a question which runs concurrently with questions about what God is like. Do either of them manifest a sort of authoritarian dictatorship over humans and the universe? Is it a part of recognising the lordship of Jesus that we can appeal to him, and to the Father, to relieve us of our problems, whatever they are, personal or international? In other words, "What position does Jesus the Lord have in today's world?"

It may seem to many of our contemporaries that, like the cathedral church of Southwark in the picture above, dwarfed by the sky line of large buildings, Jesus has a very diminutive role in the amazing world of science, thought and the arts of the 21st century. Perhaps this view has been magnified by that all too human element amongst Christians of looking backwards to our ecclesiastical traditions; looking to how, out of the fire of terrible controversies, we have emerged faithful - but at what cost? The cost of Jesus out of focus in many ways for us today.

Like the God whom Jesus called Father, Jesus is our contemporary. In the integral world of our homes, our work and our life in society, he is there. 'There' as the one who, as Lord, understands, empathises with us in every situation, as the meaning of who we are and of our future. There is perhaps one human conception which is able to characterise this relationship of the person of Jesus the Lord to us all - friendship. A friend is one who is intimate with us, supports and encourages. She/he, is not seen from any angle as a ruler over us or who dictates to us. Friendship is a divine attribute of great beauty, looking with hope when, humanly speaking there appears to be no hope. Briefly, it is a manifestation of love, embracing, without smothering, our whole person. To believe that Jesus is Lord is to state a conviction that he is that friend of humanity, with us on the streets and homes of London or in the tragic places of conflict as well as of joy in our world today. Out of that conviction that we are loved by him is born true worship - a total response of mind and body. To become aware of this is surely that eureka moment which has huge consequences for us all.