HALLELUJAH !

This Christmas, musicians seem to be queuing up to sing 'Hallelujah'. Out in front is X-Factor winner, Alexandra Burke, who selected the song for her breakout pop release. But hot on her heels is Jeff Buckley's sparse and passionate version, currently being championed by highbrow fans of the late singer, protective of what they consider to be his definitive rendition. Down the years the song has proved an inexorable draw for performers as diverse as Willie Nelson, k.d. Lang and Susanna & Her Magic Orchestra, with dozens of versions having been recorded since Leonard Cohen's gruff original.

What should we make of 'Hallelujah', with its biblical references and insistent refrain?

Cohen's song tracks the sad descent of a relationship from seduction to cynicism, via obsession. Identifying with the songwriter, David, who is then tempted by Bathsheba, he uses the biblical story as a metaphor for the ignition stage of a passion, escalating in verse three into an intensity of lust and desire, and referencing Samson along the way. Verses four and five capture the realization that love can be tiresome, with even sex failing to move the writer any longer. Finally, we hear Cohen reflecting back on a life of love, having been led 'cold and broken' to suspicion and discouragement.

Cohen's love appears driven by lust, and so we should not be surprised that he ends up so disillusioned with it. Far from being a pop song, it is a sensitive and poetic attempt to encapsulate the trajectory of a love in six verses, allegedly culled from 80 candidates.

From a Christian perspective, the deep irony of the song is that Cohen was onto something in each plaintive chorus. Whilst we might feel that in all versions of the song the 'Hallelujahs' sound hollow, in our 'Praise the Lord', we recognize God for who he really is. If we expect another person to supply needs that should properly come from God, we will be disappointed. Supremely, when Jesus was born, a vast and immeasurable act of love was initiated by God to save a lost humanity. We did not earn this love, we do not deserve it, and we are left to exclaim:

'Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live' (Psalm 146:1-2).

Hallelujah, indeed!

John Lee(licc)
LYRICS:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/hallelujah.html

How to pray when you’re worried

‘DON’T WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING; INSTEAD, PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING…THEN HIS PEACE WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS. ‘ PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7 NLT

Are you worried today? Have you lost your peace of mind? Begin to pray this prayer until it takes root in your heart and becomes your fixed attitude:
‘Father, You told me not to be afraid because You are with me, You will uphold me, and those who come against me will not succeed (Isaiah 41:10-11).
You said no evil would come upon me, nor any plague touch my home for You have ordered Your angels to protect me (Psalm 91:10-11).
You said when I walk through rivers of difficulty (when I’m ‘in over my head’) You won’t let me drown, and when I walk through fires of adversity (when ‘the heat is on’)You won’t allow me to get burned for You are watching over me (Isaiah 43:2-3).
You said no weapon formed against me shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17). I cannot keep the enemy’s weapons from being formed, but I know You will keep them from prospering.
You said if I ask anything according to Your will, You would grant my request (1 John 5:14-15).
You said when I walk in obedience before You I will be blessed when I come in and blessed when I go out, blessed when I lie down and blessed when I get up (Deuteronomy 28:6).
You told me to give all my troubles to You and You would take care of me (1 Peter 5:7).
So here they are!
Today I’m standing on Your Word.
You said it!
I believe it!
That settles it!
Amen.’

Thanks to The Word for Today www.ucb.co.uk. See also my Sermons blog.

Treasure Hunt

THE MIST CLEARS ON THE PEMBOKESHIRE COAST PATH 2006MJ

Thanks to Brian Draper of LICC for this little 'gem'

This week, I had a lucky find. I was walking a muddy path that circumnavigates the village of Pleshey. (I was at a retreat centre, and had only managed lunch and a quick sit down before I needed to get up and 'do' something.) It was so achingly cold out that I put my hands in my pockets; and there, among the keys and loose change, sat a little stone. Puzzled, I pulled it out; then, I remembered.

Some time ago, my five-year-old son found this sparkly purple object and with great delight came running up to share it with me. 'I've found treasure!' he exclaimed. 'And you can have it.'

At the time, my mind must have been on other things - dwelling somewhere in the past, perhaps, as I sifted an old conversation for anything remotely hurtful (something I'm good at), or stretching into the future to worry about how I could survive my next few work projects.

I can't even remember where he found the stone; I just remember his words. I must have put it in my pocket oblivious, unthinking. But as I wandered lonely, with only the blur of a deer and a brace of pheasant for company, the little stone finally had my attention. Treasure. My son had found treasure and had given it to me.

A string of words were carried in on the chill breeze. 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' Jesus.

Somehow I knew, there and then, that I treasured so much nonsense: security, possessions, 'happiness', reputation; I realised, too, how, through fear of losing such 'treasure', we can end up burying it, stashing it along with our hearts in the boot of the car we've bought on HP, or the foundations of the house we've almost killed ourselves to 'buy', in the boardroom where we've built up our personal stock or in the wrong bedroom where we've massaged our wounded egos.

Sometimes - especially in these times - we need a treasure map to find where we have misplaced our hearts. Sometimes, we may find real treasure in the most unexpected of places, like the pocket of an old pair of jeans. But always, surely, we need a little stillness and space, to help us recall and recover those things of great price we didn't realise we'd been given, but which we'd been carrying all along.

Movement, Institution, Museum

WOLLATON HALL


Roger Johnson writes:
I recently visited the Industrial Museum at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, and was fascinated by the items on show there. There were old bicycles (penny farthings), old motorbikes, telephones and a whole host of machinery used in days gone by. It made me reflect in particular on the telephone and how things have moved on since they were first introduced into the public arena.

With the uptake of mobile phones, BT can see little point in maintaining boxes which are little used and often vandalised. They have become museum pieces. Recently we have heard stories of how communities have asked BT to save their red telephone box. Some people have become so attached to them that they put carpets and flowers inside – but they rarely use them for the purpose for which they were intended. A similar story surrounds Post Offices. They are much loved and often provide a sense of community spirit – but some are little used and costly to maintain.

Is this a picture of the Church? Very often we hear stories of churches which face closure. When the community catch wind of these plans they are in uproar protesting, ‘You can’t close OUR church!’ But do they use it? Often the answer is ‘no’, except at Christmas or for weddings and funerals. In other words, they don’t use it for the purpose for which it was intended.

Christianity started out as a movement – founded by Jesus, inherited by his apostles, and spread by the proclamation of the message of salvation through Jesus, often at great personal cost until, one day, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine. From here on, it has been argued that Christianity progressed (if that is the correct word) from a movement to an institution, supported and encouraged by the state.

It is good to reflect upon the difference between a movement and an institution. Movements are founded by visionary people and are furthered by the sacrificial actions of those who believe in the cause. They are forward-looking and will seize opportunities presented to them, even if it involves risk. An Institution is supported by a body of people who fund it, manage it and put programmes in place to keep it in the public eye. The danger here is that the visionary zeal and sacrificial actions of its founders can disappear. If, like telephone boxes, they ceased to be used for the purpose for which they were intended, then there is a danger that they could disappear altogether and become Museum Items. Museums, in contrast to movements, are backward-looking and delight primarily in what lies behind them.

Is there a danger that some churches have progressed from movement through to institution and now risk ending up as museum items? It is a sobering thought that some churches can be well managed and have a number of activities in their weekly programme and yet are declining.

At the heart of the Christian Church is the gospel of salvation. If members have lost their zeal for this central message, then no matter how busy they may be, they may no longer be moving forward with God’s Spirit to reach those who need this message most. The Church was founded sacrificially by Jesus in order to be the agent through which a missionary God would establish God’s Kingdom here on earth (Matthew 6:10). This is our primary calling.

Perhaps it is a time for some churches to reflect upon how and why they were first established – what is the ‘birth narrative’ of the church – and ‘are they still faithful to their calling?’ It is sad to see churches drift aimlessly along from movement through to institution and end up as museums, fondly remembered by their community but no longer serving a useful purpose. Someone once said that they had visited a number of churches with ‘a great future behind them’.

Let us remember in this period of Advent that God has not lost his missionary zeal and that the world is just as much in need of the establishment of God’s Kingdom as ever. Come, Lord and renew us in our primary calling.

Roger Johnson is District Evangelism Enabler of
Nottingham & Derby District of the Methodist Church

Paul: What's new?

All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. Acts 17:21

In the crowded Athenian marketplace of ideas there was still room for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do we sometimes feel that there is no room for it in our novelty-seeking, information-packed society?

Many people hold this view, most often on the grounds that the gospel is old, out-dated, out of touch with the spirit and values of the age. Such parodies of the gospel will remain as long as people perceive the church as a gloomy dark building, echoing with emptiness. Or as long as Christians believe, in the words of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, that the debate about global warming is 'a tool of Satan being used to distract churches from their primary focus of preaching the gospel'.

When the apostle Paul arrived in Athens, he found a city very different from any that he had been to before. There was apparently no synagogue, nor even as in Philippi a place where the Jews met for prayer. There was no equivalent to the common Jewish culture, which generally formed the background to Paul's preaching. The Greeks didn't take seriously the stories of their gods: hence the Athenians' fascination with the latest ideas.

The differences between Paul's presentation of the gospel in Athens and the speeches that he made in other cities have been observed by many commentators. Four points seem to be particularly relevant here.
First, Paul was polite about the Athenians' worldview: 'I see that in every way you are very religious' (v.22).
Second, he picked a single tenet of their belief to use as his starting point: 'I found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD' (v.23).
Third, he used as his 'text' something from their own popular culture (even though his strict theology might have dissented from it): 'As some of your own poets have said, "We are his offspring"' (v.28).
And fourth, having thus met them on their own ground, Paul built a bridge to the heart of the gospel.

Our greatest opportunity lies in the fact that the old gospel is ever new: it offers what everyone is looking for - hope, security, identity, freedom from guilt. Our greatest challenge is to make people understand that this is so.

Thanks to Helen Parry(LICC)