Mike's Blog

The Walk On By Society

2011-11-25T11:24:00.000Z

Civic duty has been in the spotlight this week, drawing into the debate a campaigner who has dubbed us the 'walk on by society'.

Guy Dehn of 'Witness Confident' - a charity that aims to help people take a stand against the culture that fuels street violence - was quoted in reference to proposed plans for overhauling the system of registering to vote, which might lead to even fewer people turning out at elections.

This week has also seen the unveiling of a startling report on the lack of quality care for the elderly within society. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has judged that the low standard of treatment of thousands of older people in home care essentially breaches their human rights.

Does all this suggest that the concept of civic duty is past its sell by date? That we may aspire to be the 'big society' but what we have instead is the 'walk on by society'?

Do we have a right to be cared for? And whose responsibility is it? The state? Except it appears that the government cannot cope with the level of demand placed on it by an increasingly ageing population.

The family, then? But as David Willetts argues in his book, The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future - And How They Can Give it Back, there has been a breakdown of 'the social contract'. Put simply, 'what you give to the next generation depends on what you received from the previous ones'. Indeed, Scripture emphasises the formative significance of relationships within the household, and the success of the 'big society' will undoubtedly depend on how well the 'small society' of the family thrives.

Beyond that, civic duty involves the obligation to uphold the public good as opposed to pursuing one's private interest. I live in relationship with, and dependence on, others. My action or inaction affects others. My choices carry consequences, not only for myself but for others. Of all citizens, it would seem, Christians should be ideally placed to tackle the 'walk on by' mentality. The scope and implications of the gospel suggest nothing less.

thanks to Jason Gardner (LICC)

Power to the People ! ?

2011-11-02T15:51:00.000Z

Thanks to Roger Johnson for this:

So a group of anti-capitalism protestors with a less than clear message pitch their tents and sleep outside (or some of them do as the police’s thermal imaging cameras have shown), bring St. Paul’s Cathedral to a halt, trigger the resignation of two of its senior staff and leave the Church of England in a position of acute embarrassment because of its less than decisive response to the issues being raised. Even now I wonder whether the Archbishop of Canterbury who advocates the introduction of the Tobin Tax (a tax on currency transactions) and the Bishop of London who has been ‘flown’ in to run St. Paul’s in the wake of these resignations, are actually singing from the same hymn sheet.

I say this, not to add to the plight of the Church of England with whom I have some sympathy, but to demonstrate that even the small, insignificant voices of the general public can, in fact, have world-changing consequences – and why not? Decades ago, the sight of Robert Lindsay dressing up as Citizen Smith and raising his revolutionary fist in the air with the cry of ‘power to the people’ was seen by many as an out dated and hopeless figure. But, is ‘people power’ seeing a resurgence?

The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has secured the unanimous backing of his cabinet for a referendum on the eurozone debt rescue plan, leaving other European heads of state in fits of fury after they negotiated long and hard to secure a bail-out package which is now in jeopardy. But why shouldn’t the people of Greece have their say? Why should the financial gurus tell the Greek people what hardships they should face in the future when they, along with many other highly paid executives, see their salaries increase by around 50%?

This all begs the questions, ‘have the common people got it right?’ Can we leave the big questions in the hands of so-called experts any longer? Has it all come home to roost for the financial institutions who plunged us into this crisis in the first place. Has the great institution of the Church of England found itself unable to answer the question ‘what would Jesus do?’ for fear of losing its financial backing from the very people being criticised by the motley bunch of protesters camped on its doorstep? Is the axe hanging over the great institutions which have underpinned so much of society for so long?

Maybe we are seeing something for which Christian people should rejoice. Perhaps this is a sign that God has had enough and his Spirit is sweeping across the globe in an unprecedented way. Didn’t Joel prophecy that God would ‘pour out his Spirit on all flesh’, even the lowest of the low? Is this the moment when the Spirit fans the flame into an inferno? I remember that 2,000 years ago the religious and political establishment were rocked by an uneducated, Galilean peasant who eventually met his fate on a cross. However, the movement he founded, which has little to do with the erection and maintenance of large buildings in big cities, has grown ever since in the hearts of his followers – people upon whom the Spirit has been poured out as prophesied.

The Greek debt crisis will no doubt rumble on for some weeks now with the world’s financial markets cascading out of control and the politicians losing sleep. They will be asking themselves if it is right to use their taxpayers’ money to bail out a country which has consistently overspent. But with Ireland, Portugal, Spain and now Italy perilously close to melt-down, why don’t they simply give in and cancel everybody’s debt and be done with it? After all, that’s what Jesus did! (Isaiah 53:6, Luke 15:22-24, 1 Corinthians 6:20)

As the staff of St. Paul’s and the European leaders try and dig themselves out of these messes, I am reminded of the parable which Jesus told of a rich man who sat in his luxurious house, seemingly oblivious to the plight of the beggar at his gate (Luke 16:19-31). The point of this parable is that in God’s Kingdom roles will be reversed. It was the poor beggar who was favoured by God while the rich man faced eternal torment, pleading for the poor beggar to bring him relief.

It seems to me that the staff of St. Paul’s have missed an amazing evangelistic opportunity when they could have presented the true message of the gospel, not only to the protesters outside, but to the world’s media.

Spending time with God

2011-10-13T15:00:00.002+01:00

"I will meditate in thy precepts." -- Psalms 119:15
There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on his Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon thethings of God, because we thus get the real nutrient out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times.The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation,tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve,and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this,and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing,reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their 'quiet times', and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in thy precepts." C.H.Spurgeon

The Economics of Death and the Sanctity of Life

2011-10-11T16:16:00.001+01:00

I just had to copy this one....from LICC. George is SO right. :

Strangely, the global economics crisis has done a disservice to campaigners for the legalisation of euthanasia. As we knuckle down for a worldwide recession, facing the misery of slashed public services, rising unemployment and flat-lining growth figures, it’s difficult to imagine political leaders telling us to cheer up because they’ve made it easier for us to kill ourselves.

That really tells us all we need to know about the mindset of those who favour voluntary euthanasia, or ‘assisted dying’ as it’s now branded. Their motivation is less about compassion than consumerism. In a booming economy, in which consumption and instant gratification are the motors of growth, we worship at the altar of Choice. We can buy our lifestyles and satisfy all our material needs with unbounded credit. And if we can buy the way we live, why should we not order the way and time that we die?

Now that the consumerist harvest is withering on the vine, we’re re-assessing all kinds of ethical standards. Among these is the nature of what really constitutes human life and its validation. People of faith – not just Christians – feel instinctively that there is something disordered in helping or encouraging another human being to die. We seek justification for that instinct in the rather vague phraseology of ‘the sanctity of life’, an expression that is thrown back by euthanasia lobbyists, who have also misappropriated the word ‘dignity’.

So we must say what we mean. And it is this: we believe that everyone, without exception, is made in God’s image – which means that no life, however physically diminished or materially deprived, is worth less than another. That principle enjoys its recognition in the way we nurture, cherish and comfort those who have come to depend utterly upon the able-bodied.

Furthermore, we reject morally the notion that those who are frail, elderly or terminally ill in some way have elected to suffer if they reject an assisted death. That is why it is not only virtuous for a society, but also holy for human beings, to pour all their efforts and resources into the loving work of palliative care rather than the concept of death as a clinical treatment.

These articles of faith are too precious to fail; we need them to live on in the hearts and minds of our legislators. They define us as a people and as a civilisation.

George Pitcher

George Pitcher is an Anglican priest and author of A Time to Live: The Case Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (Monarch, 2010).

GET BACK

2011-07-12T12:34:00.002+01:00

“Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner, but he knew it couldn’t last. Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some California grass. Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.” These were the opening words of the last chart-topping Beatles hit in the late 1960s. Having seen their popularity slump somewhat and their divine right to reaching the number 1 slot in the week of release questioned, they stormed back with what I believe was their best single. The zany lyrics which seemed to capture the spirit of the age and the syncopated rhythm stuck in my mind for years. I know there are baby-boomers out there taking issue with me but …

The theme ‘get back’, however, was nothing new. The Bible contains a number of ‘get back’ incidents which can reveal a great deal about human nature and the will of God. As Elijah sulked in his cave after being hounded out of Israel by Queen Jezebel, God told him to ‘get back to where he once belonged’ (1 Kings 19:15). Devoid of the faith which had routed the prophets of Baal and gripped by a sense of self-righteousness, Elijah was a mere shadow of his former self. Thinking his career was over and that he had nothing more to offer God and the people, he needed this wake-up call from God.

After the resurrection when the disciples of Jesus were crouching fearfully in Jerusalem, the word came through Mary Magdalene for them to ‘get back to where they once belonged’ – in this case Galilee, where Jesus would meet them (Mark 16:7).

Two disciples of Jesus were crestfallen as they walked to Emmaus only to be met by the risen Jesus. After an electrifying supper they could not contain their excitement any further and they went back to where they had come from – Jerusalem (Luke 24:33).

The Lord spoke to the church at Ephesus reprimanding them for having lost their ‘first love’. He urged them to return to their earlier ways with a stern warning of the consequences of disobedience (Rev 2:4,5).

Do you ever feel like that? Are the pressures getting to you? Do you feel everyone is against you and there’s no point struggling on? It’s not uncommon to feel this way, especially when your main concern is the welfare of others and little or no appreciation is given in return. Sometimes in these situations our minds play trick on us. The opposition seems larger than it actually is and our sense of self-worth is diminished. We don’t actually become worthless overnight believe it or not. It’s also when we feel at our weakest that our God-given strength shines through in a new and more powerful way (Romans 8:26, 1 Corinthians 1:25 & 2 Corinthians 12:9). Indeed, too much self-confidence can be a dangerous thing, especially in the Christian life (Psalm 138:6 & Proverbs 21:4).

The ‘examen’ is a form of meditation attributed to Ignatius of Loyola (1491 – 1556), a Spanish soldier who, during a period of convalescence from a serious injury, turned to Christ and later founded the Jesuit movement. The idea is to reflect at the end of each day on the things which have happened, how you responded and what God would have you learn from your experiences. It is good for us also to take stock of where we are in life. A useful exercise in times of stress is to look back over your life and identify the times you have been successful and happy. Ask what contributed to those situations – what were you doing that worked well and what gifts did you bring to the situation? Sometimes we forget how gifted we actually are and the many blessings which God has showered upon us.

Perhaps during those periods of quiet over the summer, on the beach or up in the hills, taking a look back over your life would be a useful and therapeutic exercise. Take time to offer your hurts and disappointments to God in the assurance that his love longs to heal you. Ask God what robbed you of your inner peace and let him show you the hidden secrets which only he can see. But don’t forget at the end of the holiday period to ‘get back to where you once belonged’.

(thanks to Roger Johnson for this)

Come

2010-12-17T09:26:00.000Z

"Come unto me."
-- Matthew 11:28

The cry of the Christian religion is the gentle word, "Come." The
Jewish law harshly said, "Go, take heed unto thy steps as to the path
in which thou shalt walk. Break the commandments, and thou shalt
perish; keep them, and thou shalt live." The law was a dispensation of
terror, which drove men before it as with a scourge; the gospel draws
with bands of love. Jesus is the good Shepherd going before his sheep,
bidding them follow him, and ever leading them onwards with the sweet
word, "Come." The law repels, the gospel attracts. The law shows the
distance which there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that
awful chasm, and brings the sinner across it.

From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are ushered into
glory, the language of Christ to you will be, "Come, come unto me." As
a mother puts out her finger to her little child and woos it to walk by
saying, "Come," even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you,
bidding you follow him as the soldier follows his captain. He will
always go before you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you
shall hear his animating voice calling you after him all through life;
while in the solemn hour of death, his sweet words with which he shall
usher you into the heavenly world shall be-"Come, ye blessed of my
Father."

Nay, further, this is not only Christ's cry to you, but, if you be a
believer, this is your cry to Christ-"Come! come!" You will be longing
for his second advent; you will be saying, "Come quickly, even so come
Lord Jesus." You will be panting for nearer and closer communion with
him. As his voice to you is "Come," your response to him will be,
"Come, Lord, and abide with me. Come, and occupy alone the throne of my
heart; reign there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to thy
service."

CHSpurgeon

Jesus said to him, "If you can believe.” Mark 9:23

2010-09-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

This man’s son was demon possessed…..and he was dumb. The father, having seen the futility of the attempts by the disciples to heal his child, had little or no faith when Jesus turned up, and so, when he was called on to bring his son to him, he said to Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Now there was an “if” in the question, but the poor struggling father had put the “if” in the wrong place.
Jesus, without demanding that he retract the “if,” kindly puts it in its right place. It’s as though Jesus was saying: ‘There should be no ‘if’ about my power, no ‘if’ about my willingness, the ‘if’ lies somewhere else.” “If you can??”. “No, friend, it’s ‘if’ you can believe…..all things are possible to those who believe.” The man’s trust was strengthened, he offered a humble prayer for an increase of faith, and instantly Jesus spoke the word, and the demon was cast out, never to return.
There is a lesson here which we need to learn. We, like this man, often see that there is an “if” somewhere, but we are perpetually blundering by putting it in the wrong place. “If” Jesus can help me-“if” he can give me grace to overcome temptation-“if” he can give me pardon-“if” he can make me successful? No, “if” you can believe, he both can and will. You have misplaced your “if.” If you can confidently trust, just as all things are possible to Christ, so all things will be possible to you.
Faith stands in God’s power, and is clothed in God’s majesty; it wears the royal apparel, for it is faith the King delights to honour. In the power of the Holy Spirit, faith becomes mighty to serve, to dare, and to suffer. All things, without limit, are possible to those who believe. Can you believe today?
adapted from C.H Spurgeon

Spurgeon at his best!

2010-05-24T09:38:00.009+01:00

These are powerful words from 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon.....
"He led them forth by the right way."
-- Psalm 107:7

Changeful experience often leads the anxious believer to enquire "Why
is it thus with me?" I looked for light, but lo, darkness came; for
peace, but behold trouble. I said in my heart, my mountain standeth
firm, I shall never be moved. Lord, thou dost hide thy face, and I am
troubled. It was but yesterday that I could read my title clear; to-day
my evidences are bedimmed, and my hopes are clouded. Yesterday I
could climb to Pisgah's top, and view the landscape o'er, and rejoice with
confidence in my future inheritance; to-day, my spirit has no hopes,
but many fears; no joys, but much distress. Is this part of God's plan
with me? Can this be the way in which God would bring me to heaven?
Yes, it is even so. The eclipse of your faith, the darkness of your
mind, the fainting of your hope, all these things are but parts of
God's method of making you ripe for the great inheritance upon which
you shall soon enter. These trials are for the testing and
strengthening of your faith-they are waves that wash you further upon
the rock-they are winds which waft your ship the more swiftly towards
the desired haven. According to David's words, so it might be said of
you, "so he bringeth them to their desired haven." By honour and
dishonour, by evil report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty,
by joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace, by all these
things is the life of your souls maintained, and by each of these are
you helped on your way. Oh, think not, believer, that your sorrows are
out of God's plan; they are necessary parts of it. "We must, through
much tribulation, enter the kingdom." Learn, then, even to "count it
all joy when ye fall into divers temptations."

"O let my trembling soul be still,
And wait thy wise, thy holy will!
I cannot, Lord, thy purpose see,
Yet all is well since ruled by thee."

****************************************************

"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me."
-- Psalm 138:8

Most manifestly the confidence which the Psalmist here expressed was a
divine confidence. He did not say, "I have grace enough to perfect that
which concerneth me-my faith is so steady that it will not stagger-my
love is so warm that it will never grow cold-my resolution is so firm
that nothing can move it; no, his dependence was on the Lord alone. If
we indulge in any confidence which is not grounded on the Rock of ages,
our confidence is worse than a dream, it will fall upon us, and cover
us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion. All that Nature spins
time will unravel, to the eternal confusion of all who are clothed
therein. The Psalmist was wise, he rested upon nothing short of the
Lord's work. It is the Lord who has begun the good work within us; it
is he who has carried it on; and if he does not finish it, it never
will be complete. If there be one stitch in the celestial garment of
our righteousness which we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost;
but this is our confidence, the Lord who began will perfect. He has
done it all, must do it all, and will do it all. Our confidence must
not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do, but
entirely in what the Lord will do. Unbelief insinuates- "You will never
be able to stand. Look at the evil of your heart, you can never conquer
sin; remember the sinful pleasures and temptations of the world that
beset you, you will be certainly allured by them and led astray." Ah!
yes, we should indeed perish if left to our own strength. If we had
alone to navigate our frail vessels over so rough a sea, we might well
give up the voyage in despair; but, thanks be to God, he will perfect
that which concerneth us, and bring us to the desired haven.
We can never be too confident when we confide in him alone,
and never too much concerned to have such a trust.

2010-04-28T10:43:00.015+01:00

Like your steak well done?

Let me tell you a story....it’s a true story, this one. Well....I might have embellished it a bit.

Elijah decided enough was enough. The evil king Ahab had reigned for too long. The wicked priests of Baal were teaching the people of Israel do do all sorts of wrong things, deeply immoral things, even murder.
‘Why did you do that?’
‘Baal told me to.’
Worshipping Baal was an excuse to do what you like.
‘Forget God, he’s just a spoilsport.’
Sound familiar?

Now Elijah was just an ordinary man from Tishbe, might just as well have been Roxby. But God had appointed Elijah to change things and the time was now. So came the famous contest on the top of a mountain, big crowd, TV crew, the lot. The odds looked stacked against Elijah from the start. He was God’s only prophet. And there were 450 priests of Baal. But we know something they didn’t. When God is with you anything’s possible.

A big lorry rolls up: ‘Delivery for Mr Elijah: 2xdead bulls. 2xfelled trees. 2xspades. 2xaxes. 2xmeat cleavers. 3000xbottles of spring water.’ You could see the crowd were puzzled. Could it be an early Masterchef? But no matches. And what’s with the bottled water?

‘Now all you 450 wicked priests of Baal come here,’ said Elijah.
‘Listen all you people who’ve come to watch. Get this on TV. If Almighty God is the Boss then do what HE wants. If Baal is the Boss then do what HE wants.’
Huh?

Right.. Two separate barbecues. Recipe for each: Dig a trench. Chop up trees. Place in trench. Chop up bulls. Place on wood. Cook bulls.

Problem……no matches....can’t light fire!
But that was Elijah’s plan, ‘This barbecue says God’s the Boss, that one says Baal’s the Boss,’ he said. ‘No matches. If Baal lights his fire, he’s the real one. If God lights his fire, he’s the real one.’

Ready, Steady, Sacrifice.

OK so the wicked priests of Baal got cracking with their favourite fire-raising dance:
‘Come on Baal
Don’t make us wail
We really musn’t fail
Fire this bull from his nose to his tail.’
2 hours later: ‘Come on Baal’ etc x 3
And what happened?
Nothing, zilch, nicht
Not even a singed eyebrow.
Where’s Baal gone then? On a journey? To the loo?

Now all this time Elijah had been sitting by his chopped up bull apparently doing nothing.
‘Right you 450 wicked priests of Baal come here and watch. Now you wondered what the bottled water was for didn’t you? Pour them over my bull and wood.’
‘Right…..do you think this lot will burn?’ No answer.
Now Elijah didn’t do any fire-raising dance, no happy-clappy-lets-see-if-we-can-get-God-going, no headbanging or anything like that. He just waited until all eyes were on him and then said ‘Almighty God, please do it.’ And God did.
Total cremation. Zap. Bull, tree, water all gone. Just a hint of steak in the air….rather well-done.

Impressed? So you should be. Our God can do the impossible…..have you discovered that for yourself?

He really is God Almighty…. NO BULL !

(PS…it’s in the Bible: 1 Kings Ch 18)

Does God believe in me?

2010-01-15T16:45:00.001Z

Doesn’t it feel good when someone loves you…. believes in you?

Someone once said, ‘Ask not “ Do I believe in God?” but instead…..ask “Does God believe in me?”

That’s a question I explored a few weeks ago, with Trinity Chapel full of 11 and 12 year olds. We considered Billy Elliot and the huge sacrifice his father made to get him into Dance School. Brilliant film.

As we launch into a New Year, it is a mind-blowing question to think about.

Because if God DOES believe in me that means His infinite resources are there for me! Wow!

‘This is love…..not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son….’ 1 John 4:10

If, then, God believes in me it is always ‘and’ and never ‘but’.
‘But’, you say……
‘And’, God says…..

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid…….Matthew 10:30
And underneath are the everlasting arms. Deut 33:27
And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God. Romans 8:28

May you have enough faith to grasp this truth. It will take you through 2010 and beyond.

God believes in me!

Links to my most recent sermon...see other blog

2009-10-06T14:22:00.000+01:00

I received this the day after delivering the 'more of my cup overflows' message of 1st October...see my Sermons blog.... then the item below it (Spurgeon) was received on 6th October. Both came by e-mail. Read them alongside the sermon. Mike

When I read the book of Acts, I see the church as an unstoppable force. Nothing could thwart what God was doing, just as Jesus foretold: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The church was powerful and spreading like wildfire, not because of clever planning, but by a movement of the Spirit. Riots, torture, poverty, or any other type of persecution couldn’t stop it. Isn’t that the type of church movement we all long to be a part of?
So much of what we see today is anything but unstoppable. It can easily be derailed by the resignation of a pastor or an internal church disagreement or budget cuts. Churches we build only by our own efforts and not in the strength of the Spirit will quickly collapse when we don’t push and prod them along. I spent years asking God to be a part of whatever I was doing. When I read the book of Acts, I see people privileged to play a part in what God was doing.

Recently we held a discussion about how to solve some of the evident problems in our church. One of our pastors spoke up and said, “I think we’re trying too hard.” He went on to share of the supernatural things that had taken place through his prayer life. At that point, we decided to stop talking and thinking. The next hour was spent intensely in prayer. We never got “back to business” that day.

While there is a time to brainstorm and think and act well using the gifts God has given us, far too often we never get to prayer (much less start, end, and allow it to permeate all that we do). Let’s pray that God would build his church, an unstoppable force, empowered and sustained by the Holy Spirit.
Francis Chan

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst."
-- John 4:14

He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him
now, and to content him for evermore. The believer is not the man whose
days are weary for want of comfort, and whose nights are long from
absence of heart-cheering thought, for he finds in religion such a
spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation, that he is content and
happy. Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; place him in
a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away
from friendship, he will meet the "friend that sticketh closer than a
brother." Blast all his gourds, and he will find shadow beneath the
Rock of Ages; sap the foundation of his earthly hopes, but his heart
will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord. The heart is as insatiable
as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to
overflowing. There is such a fulness in Christ that he alone is the
believer's all. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the
all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more-except it be for
deeper draughts of the living fountain. In that sweet manner, believer,
shalt thou thirst; it shall not be a thirst of pain, but of loving
desire; thou wilt find it a sweet thing to be panting after a fuller
enjoyment of Jesus' love. One in days of yore said, "I have been
sinking my bucket down into the well full often, but now my thirst
after Jesus has become so insatiable, that I long to put the well
itself to my lips, and drink right on." Is this the feeling of thine
heart now, believer? Dost thou feel that all thy desires are satisfied
in Jesus, and that thou hast no want now, but to know more of him, and
to have closer fellowship with him? Then come continually to the
fountain, and take of the water of life freely. Jesus will never think
you take too much, but will ever welcome you, saying, "Drink, yea,
drink abundantly, O beloved."
Spurgeon

Brokenness

2009-08-10T11:52:00.004+01:00

'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.' PSALM 51:17"
A world that celebrates success doesn't see value in broken things. But God brings beauty out of brokenness. For a plant to rise from the soil the seed must be broken. For a baby chick to experience larger life the shell must be broken. Even a thoroughbred horse must be broken; it must learn to respond to the tug of the rein and the sound of the master's voice.
Getting the idea?
After a humbling encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road, Paul re-evaluates all the religious activity he once boasted about and calls it 'dung' (Philippians 3:8). And you don't brag about dung, you're repulsed by it.
Brokenness is the work of God by which He strips us of self-sufficiency so that the character of Christ may shine through us. Now don't misunderstand; being broken doesn't necessarily mean experiencing some tragedy. Many people suffer tragedy without drawing closer to God or even acknowledging Him. Indeed, the same sunshine that melts the butter hardens the clay. The issue in brokenness is not so much our circumstances, but our response. What is God trying to teach us? True brokenness is when He strips us of self-sufficiency to the extent that we've no strength left to fix ourselves. When God blocks every exit we try to take and we come to see that He alone is our answer, we make a life changing discovery. 'And what's that?' you ask. When God is all you have - God is all you need! Bottom line: God's power is reserved for those who have given up trying to do it in their own strength or to accomplish it for their own ends!
Paul writes: 'Now may...God...sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord' (1 Thessalonians 5:23 NAS).
This word 'sanctify' means to be 'set apart,' to be used exclusively for God's purposes. Paul describes it as 'the high calling of God' (Philippians 3:14). And it happens from the inside out! Notice, our fleshly body comes last in order of transformation for a very simple reason. The problem with a thief isn't his hands, it's in his mind or spirit, which tells him stealing is okay. His mind tells his hands what to do. So if you transform his spirit his hands will follow suit. Otherwise you can handcuff him and take him off to jail, but he's still a thief inside. Too many of us want to get victory over bodily sins without being truly transformed within. But God starts with our spirit because that's the part of our being that makes us conscious of God; that 'connects' with Him. When God sets us free in our spirit, then our emotions and our body begin to fall in line. If you're a parent you know how differently your children respond to discipline. One child will collapse in tears, whereas another will stand up and defy you. God will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to break us of our self-sufficiency so that the life of Jesus can be demonstrated through us. And we determine how long the process takes, by our submission or resistance. Paul prayed, 'Lord, what do You want me to do?' (Acts 9:6 NKJV). Today, make that your prayer!

Sometimes God allows us to hit the bottom in order to discover that He's the rock at the bottom. Gideon faced an army of 135,000 troops with just 32,000 men. And 22,000 of them left the battlefield and went home when he offered them the chance. Do the maths. Gideon's thinking, 'There's no way we can win!' Then God explains: 'The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me' (Judges 7:2 NAS). There it is again, the age-old battle of ego that we all fight daily. It's why the Lord's Prayer ends with: 'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen' (Matthew 6:13). Where does our power come from? God! Who should the glory for our accomplishments go to? God! How long does this arrangement last? Forever! God had to break Jacob of self-sufficiency so the 'Israel' within him could come out. Sometimes God has to take you down before He can raise you up. Moses was called the meekest man on earth. But it took forty years of living as a shepherd in the wilderness to detoxify him of pride and get him submitted to God. Only then was he ready to stand before Pharaoh and perform miracles that demonstrated God's power - and vindicated Moses! Brokenness doesn't mean being a wimp, suffering from an inferiority complex or having a case of low self-esteem. No, brokenness means praying, 'Lord, if this job is going to get done, and done right, You're going to have to do it through me. So my trust is in You.'

We don't always know the reason for our trials, but God revealed to Paul the reason for his 'thorn in the flesh.' It was to keep him from being 'exalted' (See 2 Corinthians 12:7). Success can be intoxicating, and intoxicated people aren't known for being too bright or trustworthy! What happens when you get a thorn in your flesh? It hurts. And you'll let everything else go while you focus on removing it. Three times Paul prayed for God to remove the thorn, but God had another plan. You see, God is at His strongest in us when we are at our weakest. When Paul discovered that God's power in his life was tied to the thorn that afflicted him, he responded, 'I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities...For whenever I am weak, then I am strong' (2 Corinthians 12:10 NRS). In other words, 'If it's for my good, bring it on, Lord!' If you've a thorny person in your life from whom you've prayed to be delivered and it hasn't happened, maybe God wants you to experience His grace and power through dealing with that person. But you won't experience this until you move from pain to praise.
The Bible speaks about 'the sacrifice of praise to God' (Hebrews 13:15). A sacrifice means that something has to die on somebody's altar. So if you want to experience God's grace and power in your life, you must be willing to die to self-interest, ego, and independence.
There's nothing wrong with asking God to remove your thorn. But when your prayer for deliverance turns to praise, you're on your way to power, because God is giving you grace.
Word for Today © 2009: This devotional is produced by UCB, free of charge available for the UK and Republic of Ireland at UCB Operations Centre, Westport Road, Burslem, Stoke on Trent, ST6 4JF. .

The Power of Negative Thinking

2009-07-29T16:56:00.000+01:00

Roger Johnson writes:

I remember that back in the 1970s, many Christians were reading Norman Vincent Peale’s book “The Power of Positive Thinking”. Vincent Peale claimed to be a Christian but some critics suggested his book was strong on motivational psychology but weak on theology. However, there was a real need in those days to find something positive to say and think about life. There were many books written about spiritual depression and it seemed as though some Christians were struggling to cope.

I don’t think the situation has changed much since then and it may even have got worse as we square up to the realities of life with global warming, the credit crunch and many other depressing issues in the world. But do we realise what a powerful and crippling force is contained within our minds when we are beset by negative thinking?

It is not only Christians who suffer from negative thinking. A whole church fellowship can adopt a negative disposition, especially when numbers are declining to the extent that the fellowship is no longer viable. But is the remedy simply to adopt a new positive mindset or is that too simplistic an approach?

The New Testament has much to say about positive thinking. Jesus made some incredible claims in Mark 11:23,24 when he said

"Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

We may not have too much experience of mountains cast into the sea and therefore may conclude that Jesus was speaking metaphorically. But the notion that the answer to prayer is there for the taking as long as negative thoughts don’t creep in is quite stunning. It does help, however to read the next few verses because Jesus goes on to talk about the need for forgiveness. Undoubtedly, a spirit of un-forgiveness, resentment or bitterness can cripple our souls and lead us to negative thinking.

St. Paul takes up the same theme in his letter to the Philippians. “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil 4:8). He then goes on to conclude that “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)

I believe we need to sit down quietly from time to time and analyse whether our thinking has become negative and, if so, why that is. Let’s look at the challenges which are ahead of us and ask ourselves whether we fear them or relish them – can we see the mountains standing in the way or do we see opportunities waiting to be grasped?

'my cup overflows' .....further thoughts

2009-06-17T12:28:00.003+01:00

John Wesley in his Thoughts upon Methodism (1786): "I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist. However, I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of a religion without the power. That will undoubtedly be the case unless they holdfast to the doctrine, spirit and discipline with which they first set out."

We might have the 'doctrine', but what happened to the 'spirit' and 'discipline'?
I talked on Sunday about 'my cup overflows', Ps 23, and that we need to allow God to unblock the wells and release the flow of His Spirit once again in our lives, Church and society. This begins with allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to us specific sins so that we may repent of them. (see link on right to my sermons)

These are the questions that you would be asked if you were in one of John Wesley’s Band groups:
What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
What temptations have you met with?
How were you delivered?
What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?
Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?
(Reference: John Wesley’s Class Meetings: a Model for Making Disciples, by D. Michael Henderson, Evangel Publishing House, 1997, pp. 118-9)

also:

John Wesley’s “Questions for Self Examination”
1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression
that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a
hypocrite?
2. Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to
me in confidence?
3. Can I be trusted?
4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
6. Did the Bible live in me today?
7. Do I give the Bible time to speak to me every day?
8. Am I enjoying prayer?
9. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith?
[ conversation starter questions ]
10. Do I pray about the money I spend?
11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
12. Do I disobey God in anything?
13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience
is uneasy?
14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
16. How do I spend my spare time?
17. Am I proud?
18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as
the Pharisees who despised the publican?
19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a
resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about
it?
20. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
21. Is Christ real to me?

be sure your sins will find you out’

2009-06-08T09:20:00.000+01:00

Roger Johnson writes:
We went last night to see J. B. Priestley’s excellent play, ‘An Inspector Calls’ at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham. For those who haven’t seen this, the play revolves around the shameful acts of a family being exposed by a bogus police inspector. Bit by bit the sordid tale of their seedy private lives is revealed leaving the family in a state of shock and shame. There is, of course, a nasty sting in the story’s tail as well as a sober warning to us all. I bumped into some old friends after the performance and wistfully mused, ‘be sure your sins will find you out’.

Afterwards I couldn’t help but think of the present turmoil in the House of Commons as some MPs are facing a similar agony over the way they have handled, or mis-handled, their expense claims. Today we will be casting our votes and no doubt many will be voting in reaction to what the Daily Telegraph has been exposing over the last few weeks. I have heard some MPs suggesting that what they do in their private lives has no relevance to their work as an MP. It seems now that we can all revert to pantomime mode and say emphatically, ‘OH YES IT DOES!’

But, is it true? Do our sins always ‘find us out’? The psalmist starts off by thinking not in Psalm 73:1-14. He (or she) was bemoaning the fact that he (or she) had lived a righteous life in vain. In contrast, when we read 1 Samuel 12:1-15 we find a man of some stature, King David, exposed by the prophet Nathan with regard to his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Indeed David did suffer the consequence of his sin but had it not been for an Old Testament equivalent of the Daily Telegraph (Nathan), he may well have got away with it.

I suppose the current MPs expenses scandal raises serious questions about whether the Daily Telegraph has done us a service or disservice, bearing in mind the damage done to the country’s political reputation, but that’s for the historians to reflect upon. My hope and prayer is that those MPs who have embarked upon a political career for the right reasons will recover from this mess and that our democracy will be purified and strengthened as a result.

By this time tomorrow morning the news will tell us what effect this sorry mess has had upon our political life. We could end up with MEPs who are completely unrepresentative of the mainstream views of the British people, simply because they have filled the moral vacuum left by the traditional parties.

So let’s leave the last, and sobering word to the psalmist – “For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish; thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee” (Psalm 73:27). I wonder how much the psalmist was adding his (or her) own emotional veneer to these words.

Our Common(s) Lot

2009-05-22T12:24:00.003+01:00

Thanks to Nigel Hopper of LICC for this well thought out view of the matter of MPs' expenses:

'I think it is a dreadful example of the House of Commons as a whole - which as a whole is responsible for the mess we are in - trying to scapegoat one man who was trying to represent what he thought were their views on what should be done.'

Frank Dobson certainly isn't alone in detecting a whiff of hypocrisy in this week's tumultuous and historic events at Westminster, which saw Michael Martin become the first Speaker of the House of Commons in more than 300 years to be effectively forced out of office.

There is, however, another scapegoat in the current crisis over MPs' expenses, one on which everyone seems eager to lay their hands: the system. The applause that greeted Speaker Martin's later (and longer) statement to the Commons last Tuesday, in which he outlined interim changes to the parliamentary expenses claims system, is indicative of the honourable members' conviction that the system needs to change.

There is now cross-party agreement that MPs should no longer be able to claim for, among other things: mortgages that don't exist, homes they do not live in, and houses in which their ducks do.

This is tragic.
It is tragic because such things shouldn't have to be spelt out. The system, designed to ensure MPs aren't left out of pocket for legitimate expenses incurred in the course of their work, isn't the problem. The creation of such a system is good, very good. The problem is the selfishness and greed of those who abuse the system in order to fill their pockets. Justifying their actions with reference to the letter of the law, they wilfully disregard the spirit of the law.

In other words, the real problem here is what the Bible calls sin.

To cast the present scandal in terms of the words of Jesus, it is from within, out of the heart, that greedy expenses claims come (Mark 7:20-23). Making a scapegoat of the system may be to join the Pharisees in cleaning 'the outside of the cup and dish', but inside remaining 'full of greed and self-indulgence' (Matthew 23:25). The system, like the Daily Telegraph, can expose sin, but it can't do anything about it. Only Christ can do that. Ultimately, there is no solution to the scandal of MPs' expenses apart from the scandal of the cross.

Not that we should sit in judgement. The current crisis begs the question of our own integrity. Be it in regard to our own work expenses, or anything else, we must all contend with the truth that our actions betray our allegiance. As we do so, we might find we have more in common with the Commons than we thought.

Learning from Football

2009-05-11T09:50:00.002+01:00

Without wishing to turn off all those who detest football, I have to say that I think the church can learn a great deal from the way a successful football team operates. It is fascinating to watch the post-match analysis and to see how the losing team’s defense has been torn to shreds by a well organized, well disciplined, attacking team. Defenders are left stranded in no-man’s land as attackers run into yawning gaps in the penalty area and pounce on the ball, slotting it home with precision accuracy.

Well it’s not just football teams that operate like this. Any athlete has to be focused, disciplined and in top shape if they are going to compete with their rivals. But with a team game like football, the secret is that every player knows what job they are there to do, they have trained tirelessly to perfect their particular skill and are totally focused upon the game plan for the match.

It is just as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12 where he likens the church to a body. Each member of the body has specific gifts and each member relies on the others. The eye and the ear have different functions, as do the hand and the foot and the body simply won’t operate as a body if that were not so. The likes of Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez could not achieve their high goal-scoring records if they didn’t receive good support from their midfielders. No team would win matches if their defense was consistently weak.

Knowing your strengths
So, what does this say to the church? Again, with reference to St. Paul’s teaching, everyone in the church needs to know their strengths. They need to know what part God has called them to play in the work of the kingdom. Too often Christians look with envy at other high-profile colleagues and say, “if only I could be like them”. Take time with God and close friends to discover your own special calling.

Relying on others
We also need to learn how to rely on one another more. Too many Christian leaders suffer from stress because they take too much onto their own shoulders instead of allowing others to share that load. There are many willing volunteers in our churches who, if asked to take on a small role, would gladly agree – and probably do it far better than expected.

Having a Game Plan
Every church needs to review its mission in this rapidly changing society in which we live. If the church simply turns up on a Sunday to do the same things as it did 50 years ago, it soon loses touch with the community around it. We need to regularly look afresh at the needs of our communities, investigate mission opportunities, and to re-evaluate our strengths in terms of the people who are part of the church. I notice that a number of Fresh Expressions of Church, both in this district and further a field, have re-invented themselves. They have learnt lessons from the early years, adapted to the changing situation as new people have joined and redefined their goals accordingly. If a church remains static, it can vegetate.

Training
Just like the top footballers, every Christian plays a specific role and needs to work hard to hone their particular skills. God has not assigned each one of us gifts on a random basis. But we will only operate at peak efficiency if we practice our skills and make the most of who we are. Ambition can be unhealthy if it is pursued at the cost of those around us. But if we are ambitious to fulfill God’s calling, then everyone profits.

So, where is your church in all of this? Are you languishing in the lower leagues, turning up on a Sunday just to play the game? Or are you always seeking to make the most of the opportunities around you and re-shaping your mission in order to meet the challenges before you?

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

2009-05-06T09:48:00.002+01:00

I decided to do a 60 mile walk in 30 hours to raise money for Christian Aid! Click DONATE for more info... then sponsor us, please!

How I Caused the Credit Crunch

2009-05-01T11:35:00.002+01:00

It was me. That's what a bright, young, Eton- and Oxford-educated former banker called Tetsuya Ishikawa, who spent seven years at the forefront of the credit markets, admits about himself. During a banking career within some of the world's major banks, he structured and sold subprime securities to global investors. Now he confesses all in the form of a novel that is taking the bestseller lists by storm.

The title of his book, How I Caused the Credit Crunch, is as intriguing as its contents. Too often during the current financial crisis the emphasis has been on technical problems of risk management, and on what technical fixes now need to be imposed. Ishikawa's book provides, in contrast, a vivid reminder that financial markets are not the workings of cold mechanical forces, but of warm flesh and blood. Reflecting human choices, they have innate moral dimensions.

What is true of financial markets holds true for the rest of the economy. The attempt to understand and to operate in markets through the suspension of moral judgement forces economics and business into a moral vacuum that eventually suffocates them. Because they are essentially about relationships, markets require sound morals to survive. The credit crunch is as much a wake up call to the destructiveness that can occur when morals go wrong as 9/11 was to the destructiveness that can occur when religion goes wrong.

But attempts to use bad morals as an excuse to eliminate moral responsibility from markets - whether through the imposition of secular worldviews or of mechanical fixes - will be as misguided and counterproductive as the attempt to use examples of bad religion as an excuse to banish religion from public. For most people in the world, religion is the magnetic field in which they set their moral compass. It is the context in which they perceive and pursue visions of the common good, stimulated by the sense of personal moral responsibility that religion tends to engender.

This is what inspired Mel Gibson to ask the camera crew of his blockbuster The Passion to film his hand as that of the centurion holding the nails that were driven through Jesus' wrists. Gibson's act reflects a mindset Ishikawa's book can help stimulate. For while his spotlight is on bankers, Ishikawa insists that 'we are all responsible in our small way' and that 'the arrogance of the [banking] industry has gone out. There is a greater sense of humility'. Were we all to embrace such humility, the green shoots of recovery would be sooner to appear.

Peter Heslam (LICC)

It was Good

2009-04-28T11:14:00.001+01:00

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Genesis 1:31

Good.
There can be no mistaking how God evaluates his creation. The affirmation comes six times - to make sure we don't miss it. The repetition makes it clear that each part is good, climaxing a seventh time with the statement that the sum of the parts is 'very good'. God doesn't just create the world; he creates the world good - very good.

That the word is applied to stars and seas and trees and turtles suggests that something more than moral good is in mind. Think good in the sense that Genesis 1 itself implies: a well-ordered, beneficial, fitting, beautiful, teeming-with-life, everything-in-its-place goodness - from the intricate parts to the immense parts - all of it good.

Nor is the goodness of creation to be limited to 'nature'. Human society and culture are also embraced, with the goodness of work and marriage affirmed as spheres in which we may serve God - the architect at her desk, the baker in his kitchen, the mother in her home, the teacher in his class, the husband and wife in their bed. All of it good.

Alas, things don't stay good. But the evil that comes later is not an inevitable or necessary part of the fabric of the world, or of human beings, and the Bible anticipates a time when evil will be removed. Meanwhile, we have a strong clue that salvation is not about being released from an evil body for a non-material existence. We may expect that the salvation Christ brings is not from the world but a salvation for which the world was made in the first place. A new creation no less.

For Christians, it is a reminder on the first page of the Bible that our faith is world-affirming, that we may delight in the goodness of God's created order. And it should come as no surprise when God wants to show up in areas of our lives from which he has sometimes been excluded - our careers, our friendships, our studies - since it has all been designed with our well-being in mind, as a place of blessing for us.

Much more than a claim about the process by which life came into being, a biblical perspective on creation involves a response of praise to the God on whom the whole of life depends, and who is the source of all things good.

Antony Billington(LICC)

Death and the Language of Life

2009-03-20T11:42:00.001Z

Unusually for stiff-upper-lipped, euphemistic Britain, lately our nation has been ringing with discussions of death. From our coffee shops right up to the corridors of power, the normally unspeakable is being spoken of. And how could it not be when everywhere you turn, it seems, there are headlines or photographs diligently documenting the latest stage of Jade Goody’s tragic terminal decline? As she herself acknowledges: ‘I’ve lived in front of the cameras. And maybe I’ll die in front of them. And I know some people don’t like what I’m doing but at this point I don’t really care… it’s about what I want.’ Love her or loath her, you have to admire the candid way she has unmasked a cultural taboo, stared it straight in the eye and forced us to do the same.

The media’s reporting of Jade’s plight has been increasingly permeated with religious language – double-page spreads containing references to Jesus, angels, heaven, new stars in the night sky, and the like. At first glance this may look like the best advert Christianity’s had in years; but it’s also an indication of the extent to which biblical theology has been usurped by a kind of ‘folk theology’ in our culture. Such language is, of course, the vocabulary of people’s best intentions; but all too often it’s a wholly inaccurate translation of Christian belief. And unless we can sensitively articulate a corrective when the opportunity arises, misinformation and misunderstanding will perpetuate.

Being disciples of Christ and his gospel, we have a mandate to probe through the haze of sentimental ‘folk-theology’ as we respond to the questions it provokes from our children, our colleagues and our friends. If we are too quick to welcome the naming of God in the public arena without due consideration to the context, we can become complicit in his domestication as an impotent spectator to the human predicament – a far cry from the suffering servant and risen Lord and King revealed in Scripture.

We must be prepared to unpack the glorious good news about Jesus with tact and integrity, lest the News of the World be taken as the gospel truth. When it comes to expressing our Christian faith, we rightly speak of the need to ‘walk the talk’, but sometimes it’s important to ‘talk the talk’. It is therefore imperative that we know who and what we’re talking about, in order that our language reveal truth and not conceal it.

Naomi Skinner (LICC)

modern proverbs

2009-03-06T09:34:00.000Z

“When your outgo exceeds your income, the upshot may be your downfall.” - American broadcasting legend Paul Harvey, who died at an Arizona hospital on Feb. 28, 2009

“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” - Coretta Scott King

“Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” - English proverb

Paul: Of Mice and Men

2009-02-23T12:26:00.001Z

Since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through, and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Romans 15:23-24

The best laid plans o’ Mice and Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy
wrote Robert Burns. And most of us – although we might not know the exact meaning of the Scots word agley – know what he meant. In spite of believing in God’s providence and guidance, our best-laid plans frequently go agley. We might assume that Paul – that great man of God – had no such problems. But we’d be wrong.

The churches in Macedonia and Achaia had made generous gifts, which Paul was taking for the relief of the believers in Jerusalem. But thinking ahead to his next journey, he confidently planned to go to Rome and then on to Spain. Even as he travelled towards Jerusalem, however, the omens were not good. In every city, he told the Ephesians, the Spirit warned him of imprisonment and hardship (Eph.20:23), and prophetic voices reinforced these warnings. So it was hardly a surprise when, on reaching Jerusalem, he was arrested, and handed over into the custody of the Romans.

What, then, of his plans - plans, no doubt, made in faith and with prayer?

Paul did reach Rome – though not in the way he expected. As far as we know, he never got to Spain. But towards the end of his life he was able to claim that he had ‘finished the course’ (2 Tim.4:7).

How liberating it is to know that we can amply fulfil our calling even when things turn out differently from our hopes and expectations. Disappointment, failure, tragedy – everything from revolution to a broken ankle – may make our plans go agley, and sometimes change the whole course of our lives. But the Lord, who can see so far beyond our horizons, is constantly at work to achieve his purposes in other ways and through other people.

And even in redundancy and disability…(and I would add 'retirement'...Mike)no Christian is redundant in God’s economy, and no Christian is disabled from blessing others.

Helen Parry (LICC)

A timely word

2009-02-17T10:00:00.001Z

(The Message)

But God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you.
He's gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right—everything.
Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.
Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road." You'll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You'll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, "Good riddance!"
God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Isaiah 30: 18-23a (from 'The Message')

Honouring inheritance

2009-02-17T09:58:00.000Z

Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12

Margaret Killingray (LICC) writes:

All the new discoveries in DNA and genetic inheritance* have given me some sense of the continuities from parents and grandparents right back to human origins, of genetic parameters within which we function as human beings. But our wider cultural and social inheritance comes from our wider social upbringing, and our parents whether linked to us genetically or not.

These thoughts have brought a new focus to the final clause of this command. The call to respect and esteem our parents is linked to long life, to land and place and therefore, by extension, to the inheritance of cultural and social patterns of behaviour and the handing down of these to children and children’s children. When the majority of sons and daughters in any society take the command seriously, then they are contributing to stable social structures that encourage human flourishing. Healthy relationships between the generations are a crucial source of stability, especially in a time of accelerating change.

My father and mother are long dead; the obligations have been discharged. Apart from still having a momentary flash on Mothering Sunday that I have forgotten to send her a card, I am at peace about them. I am grateful for a warm and easy-going pattern of upbringing, for security and affirmation, for support and for their letting go. It is only now that I have become fully conscious of that gratitude, realising that I have to some extent honoured them by incorporating what I learnt from them into my own patterns of parenting.

The word used is honour, not obey. Honouring doesn’t carry overtones of blind obedience. Honouring our inheritance involves assessing and reconsidering the patterns of living we have inherited before we pass them on. Sometimes it involves repudiating, and, indeed, seeking to redeem, destructive patterns of parenting and socialisation. We may honour our parents and yet act in different ways. We inherit a mixed bag – genes we can’t change (yet) – but we can seek the Spirit’s power to understand and transform, and, in the process, honour all that has been handed down to us.

contentment

2009-02-03T10:06:00.001Z

On the theme of contentment....see my latest Sermon (link on the right)

An American consultant was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."
The American then asked, "Why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican said, "Well, I catch enough to feed my family."
The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor."
The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard graduate and Icould help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"
To which the American replied, "15-20 years."
"But what then, senor?"
The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions, senor? Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

CEO Obama - Good to Great?

2009-01-23T15:10:00.002Z

In 2001, Jim Collins wrote Good to Great, arguably the most influential business book of the decade, pored over in the offices of NGOs and charities, as well as in the gleaming HQs of multinationals. Collins analysed what turns good organisations into great organisations. One of his key findings was that the character of the CEO was vital. Two qualities distinguished the great leaders from the good, the bad and the mediocre. It wasn't their ability to cast a vision or their personal charisma or their soaring communication skills - all of which Obama has in brimming measure.

No, the two key characteristics of the truly greatest leaders were humility and iron focus. Humility - because the humble leader puts the needs of the organisation before personal preferences, ego needs or whims. Iron focus, because great leaders always retain crystal clarity about their long-term goal. The resonances with the character of the one who came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many are hardly surprising.

On Tuesday, Barack Obama made it abundantly clear what his goal is: to pass on the torch of the historic American understanding of freedom to the next generation, not as a spluttering wick but as a blazing beacon. It is this focus that has led to swift decisions about Guantanamo Bay, about torture and about transparency of government spending. It is this focus that has led him to reach out to Muslims and to choose his cabinet on merit rather than party affiliation.

But Barack Obama also seems to be a humble man. And that means he can have people around him who don't agree with him about everything. Obama chose Rick Warren to lead the Inauguration Prayers, effectively making him Billy Graham's successor as chaplain to the nation, but Rick Warren is against abortion and gay marriage - key issues for Democrats. Similarly, Obama's humility enables him to understand the way that America's reputation has been tarnished and to eschew the jingoistic, missile-rattling flexing of military might and offer an open hand to anyone who will uncurl their fist.

Humility and focus. Does Obama have anything to teach us in the pursuit and living out of our God-given gospel mission? You betcha. Will he prove to be a great President? Who knows? But he's made a great start. And he even knows how to party.

Mark Greene(LICC)

Name-calling

2009-01-19T11:50:00.001Z

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Exodus 20:7 (NRSV)
Margaret Killingray (LICC) writes:
When I taught in East Africa in the 1960s I discovered that names meant a lot. Looking down the register, I could tell who were Gujarati speakers, who were local east coast Swahili speaking Muslims, or who were Catholic or Protestant. Sometimes you could spot when they were born, like the elderly man we knew whose middle name was Verdun. In the UK names have ceased to mean so much.

God's revelation of his name involves a revelation of his character and his heart. It is possible for us to know him - this one God, in Trinity, because he has told us who he is and what he is like. In revealing himself he has made himself vulnerable - vulnerable to misinterpretation, to blasphemy, to careless expletive, to endless representation in the art and literature of the world, to speculation and reinvention and to wayward imaginative reconstruction.

'Don't swear,' was the simple Sunday school version of this commandment, but it is not just about casual blasphemy by non-believers. It's the people of the covenant who are being addressed from Mount Sinai, who might misuse his name, distort the truth about him, and trivialise him: by corrupt or trivial worship; by judicial courtroom oaths before perjury; by the commercialisation of religious ideas and symbols; by using his name to pressurise the faithful to give money; by easy adaptation of God's truth to please more liberal ears.

We carry the name of the Lord; he makes us his children and we are called 'Christians'. If people know we are Christians and we deny his character in our lives, ignore him Monday to Friday, and trivialise both sin and its forgiveness, for example, then we misuse his name.

We need to take this commandment seriously and ask whether our lives, our evangelism, our communal worship, or simply our silent denial among irreligious colleagues, involves the misuse of his name. But if we are seeking to love him, with heart, mind and strength, he is always ready to forgive the stumbling lapses of our inadequate understanding of the name that is above all names.

labelling

2009-01-13T16:42:00.001Z

Ron Willoughby suggests we have a break from 'labelling'.

I have a confession to make. I'm not normally inclined to confess to an audience I can't see, but confess I must. I'm a labeller. (My computer says it should have two l's, I think one would suffice.) No matter how you spell it, that's what I am. Well, actually, now that I think about it, that's not who I am, it's what I do. I label people. Maybe you know some labellers yourself.

Labellers live and operate as if everyone fits into nice, neat, definable, knowable categories. By assigning someone a label or labels it gives the assigner a sense of security, knowing, maybe even of power. We have Ian or George or Sybil all figured out once we can give them a label or two. 'Well that's George. He's a southerner after all.' 'Ian's an evangelical, would you expect any less from him?' 'Of course Sybil's a good student, she's Asian.' Then we all nod knowingly, as if that word, or those words, captures the essence or explains the behaviour of George or Ian or Sybil.

I remember when I pastored in the United States, people would come to see me and they'd begin their conversation with: 'Well Ron, my problem is that I'm your basic OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) . . .' or 'I think I might be a manic . . .' or 'I've had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) my whole life.'

It used to blow my mind how we sum ourselves and others up. Who taught us to talk like that? And when did we become convinced that we could adequately synopsize the totality of our or another's existence by a label or two or ten?

It happened to me a few months ago. (Now don't tell anyone this, it's kind of embarrassing.) A buddy of mine from the States was over for a visit. We were chatting about whom I worked with and that sort of thing, when I get to telling him about this fellow I work with that I respect a good bit. I said something like 'Yeah, he's an Irish Evangelical Missiologist . . .' (I told you it was embarrassing.) I just paused and we both laughed. When did I start talking like that? When did I start talking about other people like they were brands of cereal or appliances or something other than living, breathing, complex, mysterious, human beings?

What I should have said about my colleague was something like: 'Yeah, he's originally from Ireland. Been through some stuff in his life. He came to Christ as a teenager, so he hasn't forgotten what it was like to be lost. He loves Jesus. He's an intelligent man who will challenge your worldview.' That's what I should have said.

Notice the difference? The former lacks a certain humility, don't you think? And I remember reading in the Bible somewhere that humility is a pretty good idea. Come to think of it, Jesus said something about those of us who follow Him should serve one another. Labelling and stereotyping doesn't strike me as terribly servant-like.

So, here's my proposal. I propose we go one week without labelling others. I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but I think we can do it. Just one week. We'll put words like conservative, liberal, traditional, modern, post-modern, charismatic, etc. all in our vocabularic closet. (I know vocabularic isn't really a word, but I'm a tutor so it's ok.) What do you think? Then we'll be free to get to know people and we won't have to pretend that we have them all sorted. And maybe, just maybe, along the way we'll discover that following Christ is easier without the use of labels.

It's just a thought.

Ron Willoughby - Tutor of Contemporary Christian Studies CLIFF COLLEGE

Paul: sweat-rags and miracles

2009-01-12T11:49:00.001Z

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Acts 19:11-12

What are we to make of these verses? Are they true? Or is Luke describing the superstitions of a gullible people? And don't we immediately catch a whiff of the medieval faith in the relics of the martyrs?

This, Luke tells us, happened during the period when Paul was teaching daily for two years in Ephesus. Clearly the Holy Spirit was at work, drawing people from near and far to hear the word of the Lord, and imbuing that word with power.

And thus, it appears, the Spirit's power overflowed in extraordinary ways. The Spirit, we know, 'blows wherever he wills'. And at certain times, in Scripture (as in Luke 5:17) and history, he breaks out in remarkable ways.

Although the apostles didn't write much about it, it seems that manifestations of the Spirit in works of power were taken for granted in the early church. Indeed Luke's very use of the word 'extraordinary' implies that the church was familiar with 'ordinary' miracles.

I once heard a challenging sermon series entitled 'the naturally supernatural life': I prefer the phrase 'the supernaturally natural life'. The natural life - the life that we live here, on this earth, day by day, in our human relationships and duties. But supernatural in the sense that beyond the everyday - the world of politics, of commuting, of conceiving babies, of climbing mountains, of hiring and firing staff - is the power of a Holy Spirit whom we cannot predict or control. People are healed, people are set free and the good news is preached to the poor.

We mustn't allow our rationality to submerge our expectancy. In the US best-seller The Shack, the protagonist, Mack, reflects on his seminary education: 'It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and the uncivilized, while educated Westerners' access to God was mediated and controlled by the intelligentsia'. The more we expect, hope for and pray for, the more we are, in a sense, giving the Lord permission to work in the everyday in ways that we cannot understand.

To our faith and hope let us add expectancy, and ask the Lord to surprise us in 2009.

Helen Parry (LICC)

This year; persevere

2009-01-05T16:11:00.002Z

Thanks to Word for Today* for this superb series on PERSEVERANCE, launching us into 2009:

"We will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 NIV

1) Perseverance means succeeding because you're determined to, not because you're entitled to. Achievers don't sit back and wait for success because they think the world 'owes them.' No, if you're wise you'll ask God for direction, stand firm on the word He has given you, go forward and refuse to quit. You must adopt the attitude of the man who said, 'We are determined to win. We'll fight them until hell freezes over, and if we have to, we'll fight them on ice.' Recalling the trials he'd faced, Paul said: '"I started, and I'm going to finish. I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door...And that's not the half of it"' (2 Corinthians 11:23-28 TM). One word describes Paul; relentless.
2) Perseverance means recognizing that life is not one long race, but many short ones in succession. Each task has its own challenges and each day its own events. You have to get out of bed the next morning and run again, but it's never exactly the same race. To be successful you must keep plugging away. It's said that Columbus faced incredible difficulties while sailing west in search of a passage to Asia. He encountered storms, experienced hunger, deprivation and extreme discouragement. The crews of his three ships were near mutiny. But his account of the journey says the same thing over and over: "Today, we sailed on." And his perseverance paid off. He didn't discover a fast route to the spice-rich Indies; instead he found new continents. The scriptural key to success is running the race each day (Hebrews 12:1-2).
3) Perseverance is needed to win the prize . It's said that Walt Disney's request for a loan was rejected by 301 banks before he finally got "yes." But because he refused to quit, he built the world's most famous theme park. At a sales convention the manager said to 2000 of his firm's sales force, 'Did the Wright brothers ever quit?' 'No!' they responded. 'Did Charles Lindburg ever quit?' 'No!' they shouted. 'Did Lance Armstrong ever quit?' 'No!' they bellowed. 'Did Thorndike McKester ever quit?' There was a long, confused silence. Then a salesperson shouted, 'Who in the world is Thorndike McKester? Nobody's ever heard of him.' The sales manager snapped back, 'Of course you haven't; that's because he quit!' Quitters never win, and winners never quit.
4) Perseverance turns adversity into advancement. Paul writes, 'Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel' (Philippians 1:12 NIV). Paul didn't give up; he rose up! How did he do it? He found the benefit to him personally that comes from every trial. One Christian author writes: 'Today we're obsessed with speed, but God is more interested in strength and stability. We want the quick fix, the shortcut, the on-the-spot solution. We want a sermon, a seminar or an experience that will instantly resolve all problems, remove all temptation and release us from all growing pains. But real maturity is never the result of a single experience, no matter how powerful or moving.' Growth is gradual. The Bible says, 'Our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters...and we become like him' (2 Corinthians 3:18 TM).
5) Perseverance means stopping not because you're tired, but because the task is done. Diplomat Robert Strauss quipped, 'Success is like wrestling a 1000-pound gorilla. You don't quit when you are tired; you quit when the gorilla is tired.' When you're fresh, excited and energetic you work at a task with vigour. Only when you become weary do you need perseverance. The Apostle Paul recognised this: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Fatigue and discouragement are not reasons to quit, they're reasons to draw closer to God, rely on our character and keep going. We underestimate what it takes to succeed. When we haven't counted the cost we approach challenges with mere interest; what's required is total commitment!
6) Perseverance doesn't demand more than we have, but all that we have. Author Frank Tyger observed, "In every triumph, there is a lot of try." But perseverance means more than just trying or working hard. Perseverance is an investment. It's a willingness to bind yourself emotionally, intellectually, physically and spiritually to an idea, purpose or task until it has been completed. Perseverance demands a lot, but here's the good news: everything you give is an investment in yourself. Each time you do the right thing - seek God, work hard, treat others with respect, learn and grow - you invest in yourself. To do these things every day takes perseverance, but if you do them your success is guaranteed. As author Judy Wardell Halliday said, "Dreams only become reality, when we keep our commitments to them."

ENEMIES OF PERSEVERENCE

Perseverance is a trait that can be cultivated, and the initial step to cultivating it is to eliminate five of its greatest enemies. These are:

1) A lifestyle of giving up. A little boy was promised an ice cream cone if he was good while accompanying his grandfather on some errands. The longer they were gone the more difficult the boy was finding it to be good. 'How much longer will it be?' he asked. 'Not too long,' replied the grandfather, 'we've just got one more stop.' 'I don't know if I can make it, Grandpa,' the little boy said. 'I can be good. I just can't be good enough long enough.' As children we can get away with that, but not as mature people, and certainly not if we expect to succeed in what God's called us to do.

2) A wrong belief that life should be easy. Paul told Timothy he must 'endure hardness, as a good soldier' (2 Timothy 2:3). Having the right expectations is half the battle. Clinical psychologist John C Norcross found the great characteristic that distinguishes those who reach their goals from those who don't; expectation! Both types of people experience the same amount of failure during the first month they strive for their goals. Members of the successful group don't expect to succeed right away; they view their failures as a reason to re-commit and re-focus on their goals with more determination. Norcross says, 'Those who were unsuccessful say a relapse is evidence they can't do it. They are the ones who have a wrong belief that life should be easy.' Bottom line: 'We count them blessed who endure' (James 5:11 NKJV).

3) Lack of resiliency. Harvard professor George Vaillant identifies resiliency as a significant characteristic of people who navigate the different seasons of life from birth to old age. In his book Aging Well he writes, 'Resilient people are like a twig with a fresh, green, living core. When twisted out of shape the twig bends but it doesn't break; instead it springs back and continues growing.' That's an excellent description of perseverance. We must not become dry, brittle and inflexible. We must draw on God's grace and endeavour to bounce back no matter how we feel.

4) Lack of vision. Everything that's created is actually created twice. First it's created mentally, then it's created physically. And where does our creativity come from? God, our Creator, who made us in His likeness (Genesis 1:27). A God-given vision will keep you moving forward when nothing else will. The lack of one will stop you dead in your tracks.

5) Lack of purpose. Rich Demoss remarked, 'Persistence is stubbornness with a purpose.' It's very difficult to develop persistence when you lack a sense of purpose. Conversely, when you have a passionate sense of purpose, energy rises, obstacles become incidental and perseverance wins out. World champion boxer Mohammad Ali said, 'Champions aren't made in the gyms, they are made from something they have deep inside them; a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina. They have to be a little faster, and they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.'

This year; persevere

FROM Word For Today New Year 2009
The daily devotional Word For Today is available free of charge for the UK and Republic of Ireland from UCB, Broadcast Centre, Hanchurch Lane, Stoke on Trent, ST4 8RY. Tel: 01782 642000. Email: ucb@ucb.co.uk www.ucb.co.uk

HALLELUJAH !

2008-12-19T15:13:00.002Z

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

2008-12-10T10:33:00.003Z

‘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

2008-12-05T10:52:00.001Z

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

2008-12-02T14:34:00.002Z

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?

2008-12-01T10:47:00.003Z

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)

Charles Darwin

2008-11-21T12:00:00.002Z

Most people have an opinion of Charles Darwin. And those that don't will have by this time next year.

As the Natural History Museum opens its doors to a new Darwin exhibition, a year of lectures, events, publications, debates, and exhibitions gets underway. Even the most devoted Darwinist might be a little tired by December 2009.

For some, Darwin is the great liberator, a scientific Moses leading his benighted people out of the intellectual slavery of superstition and ignorance. For others, he is the great Satan, architect of a theory that led to atheism, materialism and genocide.

Neither picture is remotely accurate.

Darwin himself was a rather ordinary man. He did have extraordinary gifts of observation, patience, association and speculation. And he was also remarkably courteous and respectful (qualities not immediately obvious in some of his modern disciples). But beyond that, he lived a somewhat conventional, mid-Victorian life.

He did lose his Christian faith but, in truth, that faith owed rather more to the ordered, rational, natural theology of William Paley than to any personal, Christ-centred conviction. 'I do not think that the religious sentiment was ever strongly developed in me,' he admitted in his Autobiography.

Moreover, he lost it for a good reason - not so much his theory of evolution (although that played a part) but more because he witnessed his favourite child, Annie, aged ten, die a slow, painful and degrading death. Few people, no matter how strong their faith, could endure such a loss without severe doubts. In this, as in so much else, Darwin has much to teach us.

Darwin's Christianity was more philosophical than theological, built on the seemingly secure foundation of universal human reason, rather than on the particularities of the Christian story, let alone the counter-intuitive scandal of the incarnation and crucifixion. Yet, as soon as Christianity moves away from the foot of the cross and loses sight of the crucified God, it became defenceless against accusations of suffering and injustice. No amount of philosophical justification or arguments for the immortality of soul is enough. The pain, the sense of injustice, the sense of loss becomes overwhelming. Christianity stands by the cross or it doesn't stand at all.

In truth, Darwin's own faith never stood anywhere near the foot of the cross. But which of us can say ours does?

Nick Spencer (LICC)

KNOWING FOR CERTAIN

2008-11-11T11:18:00.006Z

SUNSET ON THE PEMBOKESHIRE COAST PATH MJ2006

IT'S INTERESTING HOW THIS KEEPS COMING BACK AGAIN......SEE PREVIOUS BLOGS AND SERMONS ON 'I KNOW THE PLANS...'(JER 29:11).
WE ARE REMINDED YET AGAIN THAT IF GOD KNOWS THE PLANS, THAT IS ENOUGH FOR NOW, EVEN THOUGH WE CANNOT SEE AT PRESENT.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own.' Genesis 15:12

Being one person (or one family, one community, one small business) in the middle of a very big picture can be very disturbing. 'My hands are tied', 'I cannot change the outcome', 'I don't know how to protect myself', 'I don't know where to turn', 'I don't know what to do'.

God had given Abram grounds for ambitious expectations about the future, a belief that his dynasty would make the world a better place, a sense that he had a big part in God's plans, but he could see nothing. He had only glimmers of understanding that any of this would happen. There was only darkness. He could not see the big picture. So, God said to him, 'Don't worry - I know what will happen to you. Just know for certain that these are my plans for you and they will work out. in the long run.'

Abram would not see any of these long-term plans work out, nor, incidentally, would he know that the promises would only be fulfilled completely at the end of time. The picture is much bigger than the son who has not yet been born to him, much bigger than his descendants, much bigger than the children of Israel living in the Promised Land, or exiled from it. The picture is the whole of human history.

We cannot see the whole any more than Abram could - and his calling was special and unique. We cannot tell what part in God's plan our little moments play. We, too, sometimes are in places of darkness. But we can know for certain that the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ is wholly trustworthy, will keep all his promises and will make sure that his best of all plans works out in the end. Meanwhile, as an essential part of that plan, we walk with him circumspectly, ethically, and joyfully, even in the dark, knowing that we are writing our own unique and highly significant story into God's big one.

THANKS TO Margaret Killingray (LICC)
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An astounding story !

2008-11-05T10:06:00.005Z

It was either the most astounding coincidence, or an act of God; literally. The small Methodist Church needed a new building, so when somebody donated a piece of land they accepted. It was low-lying land so they constructed a wooden church and put it up on brick pilings. Days later a storm lashed the town and the locals witnessed something amazing. The church building, still intact, was afloat! The flood had lifted it off its pilings and sent it down the road. At the town centre, as dozens of people watched helplessly, it made a sharp, inexplicable right turn and continued on. Finally, in the same decisive manner it veered off the road, it headed straight for a vacant lot and stopped dead in the centre! The flood waters eventually receded but the building is still there. In fact, 130 years have passed since the church, now called Providence Methodist Church, floated itself to the most desirable location in town. What’s amazing is this: The lot where it settled had originally been the congregation’s first choice for their building, but landowner Sam Sadler turned them down. The morning after the flood, he presented the pastor with the deeds to the land! ‘”For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass”’ (Ezekiel 12:25). No doubt about it; when God makes up His mind, nothing gets in His way!
Thanks to 'Word for Today'www.ucb.co.uk

Remembering all of you

2008-11-03T10:34:00.002Z

Barmston, East Yorkshire MJ2004

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. Phil.1:4, 7

Astonishingly, Paul, who met so many people on his constant travels, appears to have remembered the individual Philippian believers, holding them all in his heart, and 'longing for them with the affection of Christ Jesus' (v.8). He wrote to the Philippians from prison; yet, far from going on about his own problems, his concern was focused on them.

Innumerable people come into and out of our lives, year after year. But how many of them do we consciously remember? Of all the people that I have known, the one with the most phenomenal memory is John Stott. Over the years, in his teaching ministry, John met thousands of Christians all over the world. When a man from India, say, whom John had met three years before in Chennai, came to London to attend a course at LICC, John would welcome him by name, and then ask by name after his wife and children. An extraordinary memory and meticulously kept records, no doubt. But also an extraordinary love. A love that cherished every individual. A love that prayed.

The story is told of a young man who forgot an appointment with John. When he rang up, mortified, to apologise, John replied, 'I used to forget engagements too, until I started praying through my diary every morning'.

We are often embarrassed when we forget people - particularly if they remember us! But there is a more frequent - indeed, almost daily - forgetfulness, which is less excusable. When I forget a phone call, a neighbour's operation, or a colleague's child's illness.When my personal concerns stop me from listening to someone else's. isn't it often though a lack of prayer and a lack of love?

In a climate in which people don't really listen to each other, and so readily forget others' needs, an outstanding witness to Christian love is simply this: to remember and to ask: 'Is your wife better?' 'How did your son do in his exams?' 'How did that difficult meeting turn out?'

And sometimes one can say, 'Would you like me to pray for you?' And surprisingly often the answer may be 'Yes'.

Helen Parry (LICC)

Why Go To Church?

2008-10-21T12:15:00.006+01:00

FONTEVRAULT CHAPEL, TINTAGEL MJ2006
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A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

St Patrick’s Breastplate

2008-10-21T11:48:00.002+01:00

This poem/hymn attributed to Patrick (5th Century)may seem quite strange to us today.
But I challenge you to pray it... it is immensely powerful.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of the holy Virgin,
In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.
I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort, [i.e., at home]
Christ in the chariot seat, [i.e., travelling by land]
Christ in the poop. [i.e., travelling by water]

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

Helping those who are sorry they messed up

2008-09-26T12:32:00.003+01:00

'IF A MAN IS OVERTAKEN IN ANY TRESPASS...RESTORE SUCH A ONE IN A SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS.' GALATIANS 6:1

When somebody messes up, God says; 'Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.' But what if they've disgraced themselves and provided fodder for the sceptics who already think all Christians are hypocrites? Why bother with somebody like that?
Firstly, : Because the Bible says, 'If a man is overtaken [caught by surprise]...[consider] yourself lest you also be tempted.' If it happened to you you'd want somebody to help you, right? And if you're thinking you would never embezzle money, have an affair or slap a child in anger, think again. When you're under financial pressure, sleep deprived, lonely and depressed, or your marriage is on shaky ground, you might be surprised what you'd do. Paul says, 'We are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so...self-confident...You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else' (1 Corinthians 10:12 TM).
Secondly, : Because Jesus is your example. While He had no time for Pharisees who hid their sins under a religious facade, not once did He condemn anybody who was 'overtaken' by temptation and failure. When they repented He forgave and restored them. Theologian Victor Shepherd writes: 'When we're face-to-face with someone who's been surprised because trespass overtook them, do we deflect their shame back into their face, or do we own it as ours? Do we rub their nose in it, or do we absorb it, put an arm around them and affirm our solidarity-in-sinnership? Do we regard ourselves as superior, or do we say, "Take my hand...I know the way to the cross?"'
The word trespass comes from the word 'misstep,' which means to take a step in the wrong direction or to make an error in judgement or conduct. When you lose your footing or you slip on an icy sidewalk, you didn't intend to fall but now it's happened and you need help to get back up again. That's the kind of trespass the Bible talks about when it says, 'Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.' In Greek the word restore has two shades of meaning:
1. Resetting a broken bone. Paul says, 'Christ makes us one body...connected to each other' (Romans 12:5 GWT). When you think about it, your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. By reinstating a brother or sister who has been overtaken by sin, you help to heal their pain and enable them to become a vital, functioning part of Christ's body again.
2. Removing a tumour. Malignant tumours are life-threatening and spiritual tumours are soul-threatening. By removing one you not only help save somebody, you obey the Scripture, 'Bear one another's burdens, and...fulfil the law of Christ' (Galatians 6:2 NKJV). And make no mistake, sharing their shame and humiliation is a burden. Nevertheless, 'We should do it... [giving] special attention to those who are in the family of believers' (Galatians 6:10 NCV). In God's army we are not supposed to shoot our wounded. Indeed, if the wounded can't find mercy in the ranks of the redeemed, where are they going to find it?

The Word for Today 25/26 Sep 2008 www.ucb.co.uk

shift to thrift

2008-09-22T12:22:00.005+01:00

It has often been said that Jesus talked about MONEY (in one form or another) more than any other subject. In our culture the challenge comes to us something like this: 'What are you doing with your money, posessions, gifts, skills and time? Are they invested for God's glory?'
On the other side of the coin (!) is the issue of debt. How about this for a question?: 'Are you getting credit for something you really need, and can you afford to repay it?'
Peter Heslam (Director, Transforming Business, Cambridge University) has written this excellent article on 'thrift', which I recommend you read more than once. Entirely pragmatic, he also effectively tackles the knotty question of 'laying up treasure on earth' v 'putting your money to work' . What do you think?

Recovering Thrift to Solve the Credit Crisis

The credit crunch stems from a deeper moral and spiritual crunch. At stake is a virtue on which capitalism depends - thrift. Resolving the crisis will involve a recovery of this virtue.

Most westerners have long had access to grassroots saving institutions, such as building societies and credit unions. But recently, while commercial banks have focused their investment opportunities on 'high net worth individuals', financial institutions targeting the 'sub-prime' market have proliferated. The growth of this anti-thrift sector is partly responsible for the high levels of consumer debt that have become an accepted feature of advanced economies, but now threaten to undermine them.

This raises questions not only about the morality of debt, about which today's moral and religious leaders are generally outspoken, but also about the importance of thrift, about which such leaders are generally silent.

Despite this silence, Hebrew and Christian scriptures support a theology of thrift. Literally, thrift means 'prosperity' or 'well-being', meanings encompassed in the Hebrew notion of shalom, which is central to the biblical theme of redemption. True, Jesus warned against laying up treasure on earth. But his warning is against greed and miserliness, which undermine thrift. In fact, the fear that generally accompanies these vices is evident in the words and actions of the third servant in Jesus' parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). This servant's fear, based on a harsh picture of God, led to actions that were unimaginative, unproductive and risk-averse.

In contrast, the fearless words and actions of the two servants who 'put their money to work', reflect a God who inspires the imagination, productivity and risk-taking that characterize the thrift needed to convert barren money into fruitful capital. Having made this conversion, which underlies all investment and entrepreneurship, these two servants are welcomed into God's shalom economy: 'I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.' Their thrift leads to stewardship and happiness. This resonates with two further meanings of thrift: 'prudence' and 'providence', words that appear in the names of two large companies that began as explicitly pro-thrift institutions: the Prudential and Friends Provident.

Opinion formers emphasizing 'happiness' should draw inspiration from the way happiness is obtained in Jesus' parable, to mount a public education campaign on thrift, linked to government-backed bonds to be sold at National Lottery ticket outlets. Millions of consumers, currently bombarded with gambling and credit options, would thus be offered the freedom and opportunity to save. This is the freedom and opportunity of the market economy - an economy built on thrift.

I know the plans.... PAUL and GUIDANCE

2008-09-15T14:31:00.007+01:00

'Well, obviously not this way....'

We've been challenged by God so much recently about Jeremiah 29:11 'I know the plans I have for you' says the Lord.... (see parallel 'sermons' blog and also below).
I got this article today from LICC which takes us a further step along the way...

Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us'. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Phil.16:9-10

At a critical juncture in Paul's life, thwarted and unsure, he received an unambiguous vision. And so began the journey into Europe of the good news of Jesus.

Luke tells us that immediately before this, heading north towards the provinces bordering the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Paul and his companions were 'hindered by the Spirit'. These few verses in Acts show us that guidance wasn't a simple matter for Paul. Only three times do we read that he had a vision. Often he was no doubt guided by common sense, as, in this same chapter, when, arriving in Philippi, they sought out the Jews by the river 'where they expected to find a place of prayer' (v.13).

When Paul set out on his first journey, the Spirit spoke to the church, not to him personally. So he and Barnabas were sent out ('by the Spirit') together. Perhaps the decision to go first to Cyprus was simply because that was where Barnabas came from. Later, a quarrel between the two of them resulted in their going off in different directions - and thus two evangelistic teams grew out of one.

Elsewhere, Paul describes himself as being stopped by Satan from going to Thessalonica (1 Thes.2:18); the visit to Jerusalem recorded in Acts 15 was not part of his plan, but was dictated by circumstances; his longed-for arrival in Rome was not according to his own agenda, but as a prisoner, under guard.

Most of us struggle with guidance, particularly when critical decisions have to be taken. Paul's experience shows us that there are no simple, formulaic solutions. So appropriating to oneself a single verse or example from scripture can be very unhelpful. Even more unhelpful is the friend who says, 'God guided me like this, so he will guide you in the same way'.

God had a purpose for Paul's life, but it wasn't a blueprint. Motivated by his calling, and his love of Christ, he constantly 'pressed towards the goal'. Sometimes his guidance was clear, sometimes not. Whether or not we have a clear calling, or explicit guidance, we, too, seek in everything to govern our lives by the principles of Christ.

thanks again to LICC (Helen Parry)

The Power of Story

2008-09-12T15:30:00.001+01:00

A hotel executive tells this story:

'The hotel I manage is located near a renowned hospital. Recently, we noticed that a man and a boy were visiting regularly and surmised that they were father and son, and that the son was undergoing treatment at the hospital. One evening, the father sent the boy up to bed and called over the head waiter. "My son is about to start chemotherapy tomorrow," he said. "He's really upset at the prospect of his hair falling out, so he's decided to shave it all off tonight. I'm going to do the same to support my son. When you see us tomorrow morning, please don't react."

'The head waiter was touched by the story and briefed his colleagues. The next morning, father and son came down with bald heads, feeling rather nervous. But, as they went in to breakfast, they gradually realised they weren't the only ones who looked a bit different that day. No fewer than ten members of staff had shaved their heads out of solidarity with the boy.'

'That,' she concluded, 'is how my staff live the corporate value, "Show you care."' (As reported by Hashi Syedain in People Management magazine.)

It's no surprise that business is beginning to exploit so movingly 'the power of story' for its capital gain. It's only natural, surely: we make sense of life by sharing stories with each other, so why shouldn't we make sense of our work in the same way? It seems there is life after 'death-by-PowerPoint', after all.

And what of our faith? We talk much, in Christian circles, of 'the power of story', as custodians of the Greatest Story Ever Told (GSET). But do we still prefer to leap to the 'moral' of the tale, rather than inhabit the story itself - with its unresolved tensions, suspense and wonder?

It takes courage to reflect upon our own story: where we've come from, the characters who've played their parts, the times when the plot has twisted for good or bad. And it takes creativity to demonstrate how it fits with the GSET - the masterful narrative that imbues our smaller stories with meaning, yet is somehow, mysteriously, shaped by their very unfolding.

Hardest of all, perhaps, is to attend, with grace, to the story of others. Yet surely the power flows most fully between those who are usually denied a voice, and those with ears to hear. Thank you for listening.

Brian Draper (LICC)

Hero or model?

2008-09-09T08:40:00.002+01:00

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

I had a friend whose father was a very well known church minister. She had two heroes, her father and the apostle Paul!

Paul a hero? Yes, surely - a man courageous, single-minded, passionate, motivated by love for God and humanity. A man who changed the course of history, launching a movement that has shaped human values and behaviour for 2000 years.

But are our biblical heroes intended to be models for all Christians at all times? What about Jacob, Samson, Jephthah, Ruth or Daniel? All were used by God in significant ways. We can learn positive lessons from some, but mainly negative ones from others. These were real fallible people, behaving in certain ways in particular circumstances. God used them, certainly, but that doesn't mean that we, whose personalities and situations may be different, should seek to emulate them in everything.

So what did Paul mean when he wrote 'Follow my example', or when he resolved to make himself 'a model for you to follow' (2 Thes.3:9)? Never is he so arrogant as to set himself up as perfect: in each case he is illustrating a particular principle that he embodies in his own behaviour. So we do not have to imitate Paul's personal attitude to women and marriage, for example, any more than we have to imitate Gideon's experiments with a fleece (Judges 6:36ff).

Even in the case of Jesus, we don't know WWJD (what would Jesus do?) - all we know is what Jesus did. And perhaps what we need to know is what Jesus would have me do. Jesus washed his disciples' feet, and told his disciples to do the same (John 13:14-15). Some Christians, in spite of shoes and changing culture, obey this literally (though more as a ceremony than an everyday act of hospitality). But each of us, according to our personalities and circumstances, must seek to live out Jesus' example of humble servanthood.

In a society that is desperately short of positive, wholesome role models, all of us - in our gloriously different ways - should be seeking to embody the principles of the gospel, which were so perfectly exemplified by Jesus and earnestly pursued by his less-than-perfect apostle, Paul.

Helen Parry (LICC)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3170908278495640769

Stick to the plan

2008-08-27T10:49:00.015+01:00

sunrise Scarborough
MJ 2007

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'I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU.' JEREMIAH 29:11

Today God is saying to you, 'While in process, stick to the plan!'
Nothing takes God by surprise. He's a master planner.
Joseph discovered that when your family turns against you, your friends let you down and you finish up in trouble, God still has a plan. Looking back Joseph could say, 'You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good' (Genesis 50:20 NIV).
When your situation seems too hard to handle and downright impossible to explain, remind yourself that God said, 'I know the plans I have for you.'
Some of us are not sure God has made up His mind about us, so we keep trying to earn His favour. Give it up! Receive the truth that God, for Christ's sake, has decided to bless you. And when God decides, temporary situations or the actions of others don't change His decision. There's nothing the enemy devises against you that God hasn't already made 'a way of escape' for. Paul writes, 'God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it' (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Observe that:
(1) In times of testing you discover how faithful God is.
(2) He knows what you can handle.
(3) He will 'make a way' so you can exit this season stronger, and ready for what He has next. So stick to the plan.
The fact that you have a problem is a sign that you have a promise. It's only a matter of time before God reveals the solution.
Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, yet He didn't stop him. He could have summoned twelve legions of angels to help Him, yet He didn't call on them. Under the weight of our sins He cried from the cross, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' That's because He understood it was all part of God's plan for Him. His words, 'God, where are you?' teach us that:
(a) You can be in God's plan, yet at times feel overwhelmed and alone.
(b) When God doesn't answer, you must stand on the Word He has given you.
(c) the pain of this season will eventually give way to the joy God has awaiting you on the other side of it.
So stick to the plan; that's what disciples do. The word 'disciple' means to be disciplined. It means sticking to the plan when you're under attack. It teaches you how to function when you don't feel like it.
The enemy will come against the plan of God in your life, because that plan is like a hedge of protection around you. As long as you stay in God's plan, nothing that the enemy does can destroy you.
So, when you feel like you've reached the end of your rope tether and you can't go another step, do what Jesus did; - pray, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit' (Luke 23:46 NIV). Give it to God! Look up and say, 'Lord, I'm trusting You to do what I cannot do. Bring me through this. Here it is; I'm turning it over to You. My life, my future, and my all are in Your hands!'

Peter proved that as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus and stick to the plan, you won't go under.
Notice:
(1) Before you get into something, make sure it's God's will for you! Peter said, 'Lord, if it's you, bid me to come to you on the water' and Jesus said, 'Come.' Before you take on something like water-walking, pray and be sure God's in it. In other words, get God's plan and stick to it.
(2) Don't expect everybody in the boat to go with you. Water-walking is a lonely calling; it sets you apart from those who are timid and security-minded. It also tends to bring criticism from those who think you're making them look bad by contrast.
(3) If you wait for good weather you'll miss your moment. When Jesus said, 'Come,' they were in the middle of a storm. Face it; we'd all like the stars to line up, or some big donor to underwrite the whole project before we make a move. But how often does that happen? Peter wasn't walking on the water; he was walking on the Word! What has God told you to do? Stop waiting for ideal conditions and start doing it!
(4) Don't expect a mistake-free performance. Nobody walks without fluctuation. The Bible describes its heroes in one sentence: 'Whose weakness was turned to strength' (Hebrews 11:34 NIV). All the great men and women of God you admire, go through sinking spells when they cry out, 'Lord, save me.' And do you know what? He does! And He'll do the same for you.
Peter didn't walk on the water all by himself, he did it with Jesus. Today Christ invites you to walk with Him and experience His miracles.
Why don't we see more MIRACLES in our lives?
Because:
(1) We don't pray and believe God for them. Jesus said, 'If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you' (John 15:7 NKJV). Your prayers give God an invitation, an entry point and a channel through which His miraculous power can flow to change your circumstances. But you have to pray and believe Him to do it!
(2) We think the day of miracles is past. The Scriptures declare, 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever' (Hebrews 13:8 NKJV). In reality there never has been 'a day of miracles,' there's only a God of miracles, and He never changes. So don't limit Him!
(3) We allow sin to sabotage our confidence. John writes, 'If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him' (1 John 3:21-22 NIV).
(4) We look at the situation instead of the Saviour and our faith falters. When Jesus told Peter, 'Why do you doubt?' He was saying, 'Don't allow this storm to overwhelm you. I'm right here with you. Your problem is under My feet, therefore it's under your feet too. Just keep your eyes on Me, keep walking by faith and stick to the plan!'

Thanks to 'The Word for Today' Aug 2008 www.ucb.co.uk

A new earth?

2008-08-26T11:28:00.004+01:00

sunset MossYard
Solway Firth MJ 2005

Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land shall bless by the God of faithfulness, because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my sight. For I am about to create a new heavens and a new earth. Be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating. Isaiah 65:16-18

'I believe in the resurrection of the body.' However many millions have repeated those words in every continent and time, in thousands of languages, we still have a tendency to believe that heaven is somewhere above the bright blue sky and that's where our disembodied souls go leaving their bodies and the earth behind.

But we also say, 'I believe in Jesus Christ, who on the third day rose from the dead'. If Jesus' battered dead body could come alive again and be gloriously restored, so that he could stand beside the lake in the early morning and cook breakfast for his friends, then I believe the words of the Lord that come to us from Isaiah and are repeated by John in Revelation. There will be a new earth and I, as part of the physical universe, will live in it in a new body.

All the delights of our earth will be restored and recreated. The fractures between God and humanity, between human beings, between humanity and the natural environment and between God and his creation will be mended,* totally and for ever, through the cross of Christ, who is the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

Sunset and rainbows, roses and redwoods, paintings and music - all will be ours to enjoy, unspoilt. The damaged earth healed, the lion eating straw beside the ox. Perhaps we will all understand and rejoice in the poetry of each others' languages; perhaps we will meet and recognise with joy 'the infant that lived but a few days' (Isaiah 65:20). Maybe we will live in cities - the promised new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2).

When we pray, 'Your will be done on earth as in heaven,' we are 'invoking a blessing in the land', and promising to do all we can to continue the process of restoration and redemption that Jesus began on the cross, not just in individual lives, but in the world around us. Our work, whatever we do, is to make our earth more like his heaven until he comes again in glory and creates a new earth. Margaret Killingray (LICC)

The Interface

2008-08-18T11:48:00.003+01:00

Introducing www.theinterface.org.uk: where Christianity meets Culture

Is the UK populated only by cynical people who are unable to have faith in the sincerity of others? Where are the people of hope? The writer of this article asks if she is alone in thinking that the current media approach to politicians and leaders of large institutions is demeaning and cynical.
Does believing in God lower your IQ? A recent declaration stated that intelligence is a predictor of religious scepticism and that a high IQ turns academics into atheists. What do you think?
These are two of the issues under debate on the interface website. The site was created with the aim of providing a friendly space for Methodists to discuss hot news topics and their implications for our faith.

www.theinterface.org.uk

Staying in God's Presence

2008-08-06T11:41:00.002+01:00

How long should I stay?

“…THEY SOUGHT GOD EAGERLY, AND HE WAS FOUND
BY THEM…” 2 CHRONICLES 15:15 NIV

You’ll keep returning only to a place of pleasure, so stay in God’s presence until you create memories strong enough to keep bringing you back. If you don’t, you’ll be lured away by lesser things. Memories of the good times he’d spent with his father were what eventually brought the Prodigal Son back home (Lk 15:17). And the right memories will draw you back into God’s presence, time and time again. “How long should I stay?” you ask.
(1) Until you’ve truly repented. Listen: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…” (2 Cor 7:10 NIV)
(2) Until your mistakes have been dealt with. Listen: “People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy” (Prov 28:13 NLT)
(3) Until your anger subsides. Listen: “…My [own] peace I now give…to you…stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed…” (Jn 14:27 AMP)
(4) Until your fear leaves. Listen, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you,” (Isa 41:10 NIV)
(5) Until your pain is healed. Listen: “I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord…” (Jer 30:17 NIV)
(6) Until your strength is renewed. Listen: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa 40:31).
(7) Until change begins. Listen: “But we all…beholding…the Lord, are changed…from glory to glory…by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18)
(8) Until you understand His plan for your life. Listen, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11 NLT)
(9) Until you recapture your motivation. Listen: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living…be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Ps 27:13-14 NIV)
(10) Until you receive His wisdom. Listen: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you” (Ps 32:8 NIV)
(11) Until new ideas are born. Listen: “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you” (Isa 42:9 NIV)
(12) Until Christ becomes the centre of your life. Listen: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps 37:4 NIV).

Have you been spending enough time in God’s presence lately?

thanks to UCB.co.uk THE WORD FOR TODAY

Living hope

2008-08-04T11:40:00.002+01:00

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

Just over 100 years ago, looking forward to the 20th century, Thomas Hardy heard the song of a frail thrush on a bleak mid-winter evening. He wrote:

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

Hope. Surely we, too, have few grounds for hope. In spite of the vast technological progress of the past century, in spite of unprecedented prosperity, people are more depressed, the inequalities of the world are as great, resentment and envy breed hatred and potentially apocalyptic terrorism, and a new economic crisis threatens our comfortable lives. Most people, particularly in the West, seem to be deeply pessimistic about the future, often hidden behind a mask of cynicism.

And yet it is hope that Peter describes here as the distinctive mark of the Christian, a mark so distinctive that it will arouse curiosity and elicit questions. Always, he writes, be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

So what is Christian hope? Peter is clear about its origin: we are born again, he declares, into a living hope, into a heavenly inheritance (1:3-4). This is not just pie in the sky when I die: it is based on the historical fact of Jesus' resurrection, and on the merciful character of God. But it is far more than the individual assurance of salvation. It embraces the whole world. It is a hope that God can change individuals and that through them he can change societies; that God has good purposes for people and nations; and that eventually he will make all things new.

What is it that makes you different? That's a question that we shall never hear while we affect the cynicism of those who, being without God, are also without hope. Perhaps being prepared to give an answer doesn't involve a prepared formula for presenting the gospel, but a spontaneous response from a heart overflowing with hope.

Helen Parry LICC

God in Everything

2008-07-16T09:11:00.002+01:00

Thanks to Roger Johnson for this:

I’ve just returned from a staff meeting where the opening devotions centred upon the theme ‘God in Everything’. People shared how they had experienced God in the simple, everyday things of life. We reflected upon our journey to the meeting and the way in which we had been surprised by a special moment in which God’s presence came upon us unexpectedly.

For some it was a smile shared with a complete stranger at the petrol station or when walking in the street - for another it was a sudden flash of sunlight on a desolate landscape – for another it was sad news being received in a gentle and warm manner.

Many books have been written about the way God has shown up at the most unexpected moments – a time of depression, a time of bereavement or a similar time of struggle when we felt that God was distant. It’s not that God plays ‘hide and seek’ with us but rather that our expectation of God’s presence is too closely tied up with good times and not difficult times. The Bible is full of divine encounters which happened when people were at a low ebb – Elijah in the cave, Job assailed by disasters, Simon Peter after the resurrection beside the Sea of Galilee – you can probably add many more.

Sometimes God breaks in to our lives in strange incidents which only become meaningful months or years later. I remember when I was a very young Christian that I was in a Christian bookshop in Cambridge. As I browsed the shelves I knocked a book on the floor. As I stooped down to pick it up, although I knew nothing about it, I felt compelled to buy it. The book was ‘The Imitation of Christ’ by Thomas à Kempis. It was only later as I started to benefit from these ancient meditations that I realised I was treading a well-worn path.

As some of us will be winding down for a summer break, perhaps this is a time to ask God to reveal himself to us in new ways which will energise us when we return in September. The photo at the top of this bulletin* is a reminder of the beauty, harmony and intricacy of nature – something which, if only we take the time to observe, is rich with revelations of God’s nature. Jesus was constantly pointing people to natural things around them when explaining the truth about the Kingdom of God – a man sowing seeds, yeast in the bread, mustard seeds, birds of the air and so forth. Indeed he helped us to realise that the Kingdom of God, rather than being ‘otherworldly’ can be experienced in the ‘here and now’.

Stephen Cottrell in his recent book ‘Do nothing to change your life’ advocates regularly switching off and doing nothing for three minutes in order to experience God’s presence in your life. He stood on a London station giving out egg-timers to help people to do this.

There’s no better time than on holiday to practice the discipline of seeking God in the unexpected and everyday moments of life.

*the photo is mine, not Roger's, and shows part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path West of Cardigan

Driven to Distraction?

2008-07-11T11:46:00.006+01:00

Youngest daughter is currently learning how to drive. I hope she passes her test sooner rather than later !!

Teresa Clarke finally passed her driving test this week - after 27 years. It was the thirteenth test she had taken, after a total of 450 hours of tuition, at a cost of £15,000. Naturally, she was delighted; or, as her relieved driving instructor put it, 'she went absolutely bananas.' Well, wouldn't you, after 27 years?

Truth is that many of us would have given up long before. However, despite all the setbacks she encountered, Mrs Clarke insists that she, 'never wanted to give up learning to drive.' The primary reason why her success is newsworthy is because such perseverance is a rare thing in our 'instant society'.

Perseverance, of course, is the hallmark of true discipleship (Luke 9:62). However, in seeking to demonstrate the relevance of the Gospel to contemporary culture, we need to be careful not to create the impression that culture is the authority that authenticates the Gospel. Rather, as those believing in the divine authority of Scripture, we should seek to help people view culture through the lens of a biblical worldview, in order that they see things for what they really are.

In the case of Mrs Clarke this means celebrating her achievement for what it is - perseverance in passing her driving test - but steering clear of the temptation to interpret it as what it is not - an object lesson in persevering in discipleship. We don't need Mrs Clarke passing her driving test to teach us to persevere in discipleship - Jesus does that in the Bible. However, Mrs Clarke is an example of the difference a commitment to a biblical worldview makes in everyday life.

Mrs Clarke, you see, is a committed Christian, and it is in this context that her perseverance in learning to drive should be understood. 'I'm looking forward to taking people to church, to not having to ask my husband to take me shopping and to going to see my daughters', she commented after passing her test. Her perseverance in learning to drive was motivated by a desire to serve others, relieve them of their burdens, and be a blessing to them. These are thoroughly biblical values - testimony that Mrs Clarke's faith has informed her thinking as regards what's worth persevering with in life. In our 'instant society' she refused to 'conform to the pattern of this world', but was 'transformed by the renewing of [her] mind' (Romans 12:2).
What do our ongoing commitments say about our perseverance in the faith?
Nigel Hopper (LICC)

Take it to the Streets

2008-07-04T10:41:00.002+01:00

On Wednesday Church Leaders from Scunthorpe met with Les Isaac, founder of 'Street Pastors' in the UK.
Arrangements are under way to train and introduce Street Pastors in Scunthorpe, probably on Friday and Saturday nights, maybe as soon as Christmas.
Watch this space for more info.

Today I got this article from LICC (Godincidence!)

Being a policeman is not an easy task. Take the other night, for example; the PC visiting the youth group I help out with had the unenviable task of giving a talk on police policy for stopping and searching young people. A fairly routine PR exercise for the boys in blue, but in this instance the speaker knew not only that many of the youths had first hand experience of being stopped and searched, but also that it was he who had carried out those searches.

Talk about making yourself vulnerable to criticism.

And, of course, this wasn't just a routine chat. In the light of 17 deaths due to knife crime in the capital alone this year, stop and searches will become more frequent; so improved dialogue between young people and the police is an extremely positive step.

But there is another solution to seeing crime on our streets reduced: flip-flops.

This is the story of a Christian woman who carries flip-flops around in her handbag. She has done so ever since meeting an inebriated young woman on the streets at pub and club turnout time (when the potential for violence is at its highest), who'd lost those fancy, but ever so flimsy high heels she was wearing. So the Christian woman resolved that whenever she went out at night in future, she would take a supply of flip-flops, to help revellers in a similar state get home safely.

Of course, this woman wasn't alone; she was part of one of the many Street Pastor teams that are rising up around the country. These teams - coalitions from churches - man the pavements outside bars and clubs, and take care of those minor incidents that swallow up so much police time. Like making sure vulnerable, single women get home safely, and that rows don't escalate into fights, and calling an ambulance when it's absolutely necessary.

This isn't about random acts of kindness; it's about intentional kingdom living (Matthew 25:31-40). This is living out God's rule of compassion and mercy on the streets, and giving hope to paramedics and police, as well as the punters in the pubs.

It's fantastic that police forces are keen to dialogue with churches and youth groups. But, as the Street Pastor initiative has been doing, let us be equally keen to initiate talks, and bring rescue to our violent streets, by seeking to actively serve those who serve us so willingly.

Jason Gardner

Prince Caspian - Leadership Under the Lion

2008-06-27T09:38:00.000+01:00

Narnia returns to the big screen this week as Prince Caspian opens in cinemas nationwide, a week after hitting the very, very big screen of the O2 arena at its UK premiere. The new film sees the Pevensie children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - summoned back to Narnia by the eponymous hero, who is rightful heir to its throne. But it is an occupied and embattled Narnia to which they return. True Narnians are now a persecuted minority, and the murderous usurper, Miraz, rules by fear, division and violence. Cue lots of CGI, fantastical violence, elaborate sets and beautiful scenery; together with some subtle details that will please die-hard fans of the book.

And, of course, Aslan.

The story is, in many ways, about leadership.

Caspian, much like the biblical David, is being hunted by a former father figure (see 1 Samuel 18-26). His desire to avenge his true father is partly responsible for the devastating defeat at Miraz's castle. Peter, as High King, is called to release Caspian into kingship. Instead, he commandeers the army and pulls rank on Caspian. He quickly loses faith that Aslan will save them; attacking the castle, defensively digging in, and calling up the ghost of the White Witch are all pursued as alternatives to waiting for, as Edmund remarks, the one who 'really defeated the White Witch'.

Yet the most significant kind of leadership is demonstrated by the youngest, Lucy, who, after a few false starts, heads out alone to find Aslan. When she finds him, she discovers that if she had followed the lion to begin with, even in the face of the others' opposition and doubt, the tragedy at Miraz's castle might have been averted.

That even the most insignificant person has a responsibility to seek the true King, regardless of their official status, or whether anyone else believes them, is a key theme in the original Prince Caspian novel. Lucy does seek him and, as a result, Narnia is restored and Caspian completes the transition from sheltered Telmarine prince to King of Narnia, under the favour and protection of Aslan. Even Peter completes his task and hands Caspian his beloved sword, 'Rhindon'. All this makes for a surprisingly satisfying and engaging film which, while its Christian symbolism is more understated than that of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, still carries a refreshing fragrance of truth about life - and leadership - under King Jesus.

Christina Winn (LICC)

Hope and Faith against the odds

2008-06-17T09:13:00.021+01:00

"Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God."~William Carey

Thanks to Av for giving me the transcript of this BBC Sunday Worship the other day.

Here's the Link to the transcript: here
Listen to the whole service here: audio

There is real honesty. The future presents massive challenges, and yet the hope and faith and confidence in God shines out. Take time to read it (or even more time to listen!), especially the sermon by Peter Hullah, who is the Headteacher, and the bit by Tracey Barford.

Be inspired!

Revival and Healing

2008-06-16T22:36:00.006+01:00

< Todd Bentley in action.

You may have heard of Todd Bentley and the 'Florida Outpouring'. Roger Johnson, Evangelism Enabler for the Nottingham and Derby Methodist District takes a look:

From time to time we hear of places where revival and associated healing miracles break out in profusion. A few years ago we had the Toronto Blessing, a manifestation which surrounded the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. Church leaders debated long and hard about its authenticity and reflected upon the division caused within the Vineyard movement as a result of this. Peculiar stories emerged about how people were given gold fillings, experienced unusually bodily actions (shaking, laughter, quaking and so forth) and this naturally put some Christians on their guard about the whole thing. However, Toronto Blessing hotspots broke out in this country too.

Well this isn’t going away. Only recently, God TV (not a channel I have access to) have been featuring the most recent phenomena – the Dudley Revival. Inspired by the ministry of the Canadian healing evangelist, Todd Bentley (who ministers regularly to crowds in excess of 10,000 in Florida), the church in Dudley is packing hundreds into their meetings and experiencing Toronto-like manifestations along with dramatic healings.

Now, I don’t know where you stand on all of this, but it has always perplexed me why God should choose Toronto rather than East Midlands or Stanstead and why certain people have an overdose of spiritual gifts while other equally faithful ministers and evangelists struggle on in relative obscurity bearing little fruit in comparison.

Is it Revival?
For me revival is about the fulfilment of the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven”. Can we therefore say that what has broken out in Toronto, Florida and Dudley is revival? It may be the first-fruits of it but until society has been transformed in a measurable way, surely it is premature to use such a word.

Unconventional?
For respectable, middle class, British Christians with a fair smattering of the ‘stiff-upper-lip’, this all has an air of unorthodoxy. Todd Bentley is covered in tattoos and body piercing and has engaged in child abuse. I don’t know which theological college he went to or who he reports to. I also have concerns about itinerant evangelists who leave a trail of emotionally hurt people in their wake.

But let’s be honest. All this could have been said about Jesus. He was not part of the religious establishment, had no theological qualification to boast about, went from town to town at will, rarely went back to visit those he had healed and was, by the standards of the day, unconventional (healing on the Sabbath – tut tut!). Much to the disdain of the religious authorities, Jesus attracted the kind of crowds they could only dream of.

Verification
I suppose that the real test of the authenticity of these ministries lies in verification. If statistics show that those who come forward for healing have been verified, by health professionals, as healed and their lives have been changed to become more Christ-like, what can we say against it? If, as a result of these outpourings, churches across the nation become more open to the healing work of the Holy Spirit in the same way as the charismatic movement has touched all denominations and streams over the last few decades, then surely that’s something to welcome.

A Word of Warning
In spite of all this, I can well understand the Christians who look at the stage antics of Todd Bentley which, frankly, fit more comfortably with shamanism (see here) than Methodism, and question whether these manifestations are genuinely God-inspired. We know that Christianity does not hold the monopoly on healings and miracles. I’m reminded of those sobering words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23). So, what do you think?

Judge for yourself
Here are a few useful links about the latest phenomena:
Todd Bentley Florida Healing Revival
Dudley Revival Fires
Studio Discussion on the Florida Outpouring Christianity Magazine – July 2008

Thanks to Roger for opening the discussion...

There's a lot of bizzare stuff going on, and we need to be careful.

However, I'd like to quote some Scriptures for reflection:

'John, meanwhile, had been locked up in prison. When he got wind of what Jesus was doing, he sent his own disciples to ask, "Are you the One we've been expecting, or are we still waiting?" Jesus told them, "Go back and tell John what's going on:

The blind see,

The lame walk,

Lepers are cleansed,

The deaf hear,

The dead are raised,

The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.

"Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!"'

Matthew 11 v2-6 The Message

'By their fruit you will know them'. Matt 7 v20 NIV (just before the 'Lord, Lord' bit).

and '...fruit that will last' John 15v16 NIV

Comments back to me here or to mike@mjoyce.co.uk.

Roger Johnson LINK:

http://www.district-evangelism.org.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=b0597dac649bc84a1d9bd2b2dc1e99da

Courage and Conviction

2008-06-13T20:51:00.000+01:00

TOPICAL CHALLENGE FROM LICC:

The reason we talk about having the 'courage of our convictions' is because there are consequences that flow from those convictions - and not all of them happy ones.

This week, in an interview with The Times, George Bush reflected on his presidency and expressed regret that the rhetoric he used in regard to the Iraq war has created a legacy for him as 'a guy really anxious for war.' Had he known back then what he knows now, about the consequences of his language, he would have taken a different tone.

Hindsight, of course, is a wonderful thing. However, it's also, by definition, what's never available to you when you'd value it most. This makes the biblical insistence on counting the cost, and weighing the consequences of our actions at the outset a real pearl of practical wisdom (e.g. Luke 14:25-35).

You may or may not agree with the wisdom of David Davis's decision to stand down as an MP in order to stand up for his convictions in regard to civil liberties, but we can affirm that he does at least appear to have made his decision in full awareness and acceptance of the possible consequences. Having stated his intention to resign and force a by-election he went on to say, 'Now, that may mean I have made my last speech to the House.'

Indeed he might. For whilst there have been many voices of support for Mr Davis's 'brave' and 'principled' stand (though note the observation of the BBC's Nick Robinson that 'Courageous is code in Westminster for bonkers'), there's also been no shortage of more cynical responses - 'the stunt of a vain man' being but one example.

David Davis's decision was not a faith-based decision. Christian faith, however, if it is properly engaged with the whole of our lives as per the biblical vision, will inevitably lead us where we do not want to go - into times when we feel duty-bound to 'swim against the tide'. Jesus had warned the apostles that the world would hate them on account of their conviction about him (John 15:18-25). Accordingly, in Jerusalem they were flogged for having the courage of their convictions (Acts 5:40). The nature of the consequences we must embrace in taking a stand for Christ might not be so barbaric, but that doesn't mean the experience of them will be any more pleasant. Nevertheless, Christ invites us to mould our legacy as faithful followers as we live, rather than look back regretfully over a life less extraordinary.

Nigel Hopper LICC

Father and son

2008-06-12T10:14:00.005+01:00

Turn on your sound and take a quiet moment and watch this.
Let it speak to you.

'The same gentle hands hold me when I'm broken...'

.

Back to the Roots

2008-06-02T12:53:00.002+01:00

Thanks to Cell UK for this article.
Do you agree with Bill Beckham?

Dear friend
Renowned British historian Arnold J. Toynbee concluded that civilizations self-destruct when they no longer have a spiritual base for moral actions and ethical decisions. “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.”

Many modern day prophets confirm Toynbee’s research: Western civilization is facing the danger of self-inflicted spiritual wounds. The West has aimed the pistol of humanism at its head, has placed the bullet of unbelief in the chamber of the gun and has its finger on the secular trigger.

The only questions are: Will the West actually pull the trigger? If so, when? After pulling the trigger will the death throes be immediate or drawn out? Some of us also wonder if the West can reverse the suicide process and the death wish? Can and will God intervene through the Church one more time?

The god of humanism

The West is suffering consequences in the 21st Century for things that went terribly wrong in the 19th and 20th Centuries. These wrongs attacked the core roots of society. Aleksandr I. Solyhenitsyn recognized the importance of roots: “In order to destroy a people you must first sever their roots.”

The 21st Century West has returned to the roots of ancient familiar gods. These ancient gods were reborn in the vacuum left when 19th Century man rejected God as the absolute for his thinking and 20th Century man rejected God as the absolute for his life and actions. Three of these major gods have grown into a 21st Century pagan unholy trinity: humanism, materialism and hedonism.

Humanism is “any system of thought based on the interests and ideals of man.” Materialism is the doctrine that “everything in the world, including thought, can be explained only in terms of matter.” Lived out to its conclusion, materialism means that Man is a machine with no soul. Hedonism is “the self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure as a way of life.”

Humanism is the root deity of this unholy trinity. All of these gods are expressions of the first sin in the Garden of Humanism: “You will be as God.” During the 20th Century Man in the “Christian” West reverted back to the most primitive sin: Man is the absolute and center of the universe. Solyhenitsyn described this root god as: “Rationalistic humanism or humanistic autonomy; the proclaimed and practiced autonomy of man from any higher force above him.”

Roots

The West will not think its way out of this situation, work its way out, spin its way out, spend its way out or educate its way out. Familiar and trusted social and political structures are now powerless to save the West. The West must return to its Judeo/Christian roots from which it was born and from which it has detached.

The West cannot reconstitute or re-root itself because it has rejected the very soil from which the roots have grown: Christianity. Only the Church can re-root Western Civilization. Therefore, the Church must be the ethical and moral root of Western civilization. The first step to saving the West is not to change civilization but to change the Church within civilization.
If the Church withdraws from society it condemns the West to its slow suicide.

Therefore, the church must engage society but not at the point of law and conflict. The church cannot maintain ethical influence in society because of favorable laws and the cultural pressure of a Christian majority. The church must become the roots of society by its love, truth and justice. The Church must speak the truth in love and must love to live the truth.

Roots are unseen and under appreciated. Roots do not share in the glory of the flower or the fruit. Roots find their place down in the dirt and the darkness of death.
The Church must once again out-live, out-think, out-love and out-die all other philosophies and belief systems down at the roots!

Yours for His Kingdom
Bill Beckham

You in your small corner

2008-05-28T12:10:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Margaret Killingray (LICC) for this:

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. The wealth of nations shall come to you. Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you. Isaiah 60:1-10 (extracts)

When my neighbour's third child was born, the three year old, watching his new sister in the bath, asked in a puzzled voice, 'But, what's Maisie for?' We all laughed, but it is, actually, a serious philosophical question. What are we for? Purpose gives shape to life; purpose drives us and gives us fulfilment. Even limited purposes can divert us from everyday anxieties - organizing a holiday, packing and planning, for example. Serious loss of purpose can often lead to listlessness and depression, whether it's job loss, children leaving home, or even the end of a purpose that has been a hard grind, the award of a degree, or the achievement of a planned expansion of operations. What are we for?

Isaiah's wake-up call challenges Israel to be what they were meant to be. And this challenge, this call to take up God's purpose is a big biblical theme, often using this metaphor of light, shining in the darkness, bringing the dawn. 'You are the light of the world, the city built on a hill that cannot be hidden, a light shining before others', Jesus told his disciples. We have this purpose, those who belong to the Lord, as individuals, in our families and friendship groups, in our neighbourhoods and at work, but above all, in our fellowships. Peter in his first letter applied all the great Old Testament titles of promise and purpose - a priestly kingdom, a holy nation - to the new Christian fellowships. What Israel was called to be then, we together - the body of Christ - are called to be now.

So even when our limited purposes fail us, the children leave, retirement has come, achievement is not what we thought it would be, then more than ever, our greater purpose, to shine for our Lord in every circumstance, should bear us up and carry us through.

How many of you remember singing, 'Jesus bids us shine with a pure, clear light, like a little candle burning in the night. In this world of darkness, so let us shine, you in your small corner and I in mine'? That's what Maisie's for!

God's perspective?

2008-05-16T12:46:00.001+01:00

As we come to the end of Christian Aid Week, here's a challenging (and even controversial) article from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity:

Disaster Relief

"This report contains images that some viewers may find distressing."
This is a line that our television newscasters have to deliver with alarming regularity. Barely are we coming to terms with pictures of lifeless bodies floating in filthy water in Burma when we are confronted with pictures from China, of bodies buried under tonnes of rubble after the earthquake. Both sets of pictures tell the story of thousands of lives lost and of human misery in epic proportions.

The fact is that, even in a world over which God is sovereign (a theme reiterated throughout the Bible), suffering seems to strike utterly at random. The tension implicit in this statement is one affirmed within Scripture. The 'preacher' of Ecclesiastes, who takes the existence and sovereignty of God for granted in his observations on life, concludes that 'time and chance' happen to everyone (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

It is right that our engagement with, and response to, such events takes the form of generosity and compassion towards those affected. After all, another repeated emphasis within Scripture is the requirement that God's people become neighbours to those in need.

So why, when confronted with the news of the cold-blooded murder of some of his fellow Jews by the Romans, did Jesus' response apparently lack all compassion? Linking the senseless slaughter with the random deaths of 18 people crushed when a tower collapsed at Siloam, he dismissed any attempt at establishing a direct link between suffering and judgement, before shooting the warning to the messengers, '.unless you repent, you too will all perish' (Luke 13:1-5).

Perhaps our inability to discern compassion in this response reflects the ease with which we allow worldviews other than that of Scripture to inform and shape us. According to a biblical worldview, God is in the process of renewing his creation. And whilst Scripture precludes neat equations of human suffering with divine judgement, it nevertheless insists on the reality of the latter as part of the outworking of God's purposes for the cosmos. Viewed from this perspective, doesn't Christ's warning look as much like compassion as do his healings, or foreign aid arriving in Burma, or rescue teams working tirelessly in China?

Christ's warning is an example to us of cultural engagement of the very best kind - that which broadens human horizons to take in the reality of eternity. But let's be under no illusions; this kind of connecting with culture won't do anything to enhance our street-cred; except, perhaps, in the place where the streets have no name.

Nigel Hopper LICC

Street Pastors

2008-05-14T11:24:00.003+01:00

Following a meeting this morning it looks like Street Pastors will be coming to Scunthorpe.

Follow this Link http://www.streetpastors.co.uk/WhatisaStreetPastor/tabid/96/Default.aspx

It's early days yet, but consider whether God may be calling you to this work.

Co-ordinators will also be needed as well as people who will stay up (almost) all night to pray for the Street Pastors when they are out and about.

Watch this space.

Take my Son

2008-05-12T08:58:00.001+01:00

A variation on a story you have probably heard before, but it contains a message worth repeating:

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had
everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often
sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very
courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was
notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A
young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son
gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to
safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often
talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this
package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think
your son would have wanted you to have this.'

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by t he
young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the
personality of his son in the painting. The father, was so drawn to the eyes
that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered
to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son
did for me. It's a gift.'

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to
his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them
any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his
paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great
paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his
gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid
for this picture?'

There was silence.
Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous
paintings. Skip this one.'
But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will
start the bidding? $100, $200?'
Another voice angrily, 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see
the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!'

But, still the auctioneer continued 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'

Finally, a voice
came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man
and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting.' Being a poor man, it was all
he could afford.
'We have $10, who will bid $20?'
'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'
'$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?'
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son.
They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'
A man sitting on the second row shouted,
'Now let's get on with the collection!'
The auctioneer laid down his gavel 'I'm sorry, the auction is over.'
'What ab out the paintings?'
I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a
secret stipulation in the will. I, was not allowed to reveal that
stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned
Who ever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the
paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!'

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the
auctioneer, His message today is:
'The Son, the Son, who'll take the Son?'
Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON, WHO EVER
BELIEVES IN HIM.... SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...John 3 v 16

THAT'S LOVE

New sermon blog..

2008-05-09T12:14:00.016+01:00

I now have a blog for my sermons:
I hope God blesses and challenges you as you read them.
click this link for my recent sermons

Copy this link into your browser and add to your favourites (or sites to avoid!):
http://mikejoycesermons.blogspot.com/

A time to die?

2008-04-28T12:32:00.007+01:00

(see earlier blogs on this subject)

Someone said to me the day after father-in-law Len was taken to hospital having suffered a massive stroke: ‘You know what used to happen before hospitals; the old doctor would come round and give ‘em an injection…a bit extra…you know.’
Whether that was true or not, it was certainly possible. After all, we now know how easy it was for Harold Shipman…..
I am not suggesting for one moment that my friend mentioned above was advocating euthanasia, but it’s appeal is obvious.

I have read many of the arguments for euthanasia, and I remain firmly convinced that it violates the command ‘You shall do no murder’ Ex 20 v13.

I know of people lovingly caring for elderly relatives who range from needing a little extra help to completely gaga, and do so for years without complaining. Those who care for the latter must often pray to God that He would take them to be with Him. And it doesn’t happen. My heart goes out to them as they labour on unseen (but seen by God) month after month and year after year. For them I have included the link at the end.

From my own recent experience I want to say this:
Len taught us, as he lay there unable to speak, that there is a reason why the prayer for release may not be answered as soon as we want it to be…..
The time will come, but it is not yet.
The days we spent around Len’s bed (and Cindy and her twin sisters held vigil cheerfully without sleep all night on the last night) was so precious that we would not have missed it for all the world.
We all, including his wife Joyce, had prayed for him to go on his journey, but he lived for four further days…times when tears were shed, of course, but also times of celebration, wonderful memories relived, laughter, hugs, around the bed. Len was listening, and when the sedation was wearing off, he made it known.

I think in those ‘extra’ days we caught a glimpse of heaven. Certainly we reaffirmed together our Christian HOPE.

Scott Peck in his best-seller, ‘The Road Less Travelled’, describes love as something to be worked at:
'Love, in short, is work, and the basic form this work takes is attention. When we love, we attend to the growth of others …. love requires important work and great effort!'

The ‘Let’s have done and be off’ attitude doesn’t fit, does it.
Hard though it may be sometimes, we must ‘wait on the Lord’. There are yet things to be learned…

LINKS:
A link for those who care for elderly relatives:
http://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/pdf/supportnet/SN-CaringForElderlyRelatives.pdf
A link for the bereaved:
http://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/pdf/supportnet/EFIUnderstandingBereavement.pdf

The Duck &the Devil

2008-04-22T11:21:00.012+01:00

Story time....
There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it.
He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes" But Sally said, "Grandma , Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fish ing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help" She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.
Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."

Thought for the day and every day thereafter?......
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is ...You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.
He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness; He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.

When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you!

Share this with a friend and make the difference in someone's life today....and check it out in the Bible: Romans 6v14 and 8v1

You're hired!

2008-04-21T10:18:00.006+01:00

I came across this item from LICC:
I sacked Simon Smith. Yep, I gave this week's hapless contestant on The Apprentice his marching orders. OK, the TV evidence is that it was the lovable epitome of all things shrewd and opportunist, Sir Alan Sugar, who fired him - but at least I was there to back up his decision. As part of the studio audience for The Apprentice: You're Fired!, the follow-up show that interviews each week's victim, I got to wave my red card at Simon when the mob was asked how we'd have handled him.
In Sir Alan's opinion, the ex-Army man - currently a satellite engineer - was amiable and industrious but simply out of his depth as a leader in the project he'd been assigned. I heartily agreed and, though I have no proven business acumen myself, I stand by my TV-ordained right to make flash judgements based on the slightest of slanted evidence.
It got me thinking, though. How, when it came to the biggest job on earth - building the kingdom of God - did Simon Peter get hired to provide the foundation? Sure, he was bolshie, spoke his mind and was proactive when it came to exercising faith. But was he the best choice? Could Jesus have chosen only Peter for that position?
As for the rest of the apostles, did they exhibit qualities not found in other fishermen, tax collectors and would-be insurgents? And here's where I have a problem with the Great Commission: Jesus seemed to be telling the Eleven, 'My family business has an aggressive expansion directive. Not only are you hired, I want you to get out there and hire anyone you come across, and train them so they can hire anyone they come across and train them so - well, you get the idea.'
What kind of discernment is that? What kind of business sees fit to hire anyone and everyone and train them to train others regardless of experience?
It seems Jesus had this intention from the start. Right at the outset, his job offer came with a career development package. 'Come, follow me,' he said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.'
For Peter and Andrew, it was about swapping one family business for another. They chose wisely. So did Jesus. Which still leaves me wondering: What is it about you and about me that makes God take one look at us and say, 'You're hired'?
Jason GardnerI sacked Simon Smith. Yep, I gave this week's hapless contestant on The Apprentice his marching orders. OK, the TV evidence is that it was the lovable epitome of all things shrewd and opportunist, Sir Alan Sugar, who fired him - but at least I was there to back up his decision. As part of the studio audience for The Apprentice: You're Fired!, the follow-up show that interviews each week's victim, I got to wave my red card at Simon when the mob was asked how we'd have handled him.
In Sir Alan's opinion, the ex-Army man - currently a satellite engineer - was amiable and industrious but simply out of his depth as a leader in the project he'd been assigned. I heartily agreed and, though I have no proven business acumen myself, I stand by my TV-ordained right to make flash judgements based on the slightest of slanted evidence.
It got me thinking, though. How, when it came to the biggest job on earth - building the kingdom of God - did Simon Peter get hired to provide the foundation? Sure, he was bolshie, spoke his mind and was proactive when it came to exercising faith. But was he the best choice? Could Jesus have chosen only Peter for that position?
As for the rest of the apostles, did they exhibit qualities not found in other fishermen, tax collectors and would-be insurgents? And here's where I have a problem with the Great Commission: Jesus seemed to be telling the Eleven, 'My family business has an aggressive expansion directive. Not only are you hired, I want you to get out there and hire anyone you come across, and train them so they can hire anyone they come across and train them so - well, you get the idea.'
What kind of discernment is that? What kind of business sees fit to hire anyone and everyone and train them to train others regardless of experience?
It seems Jesus had this intention from the start. Right at the outset, his job offer came with a career development package. 'Come, follow me,' he said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.'
For Peter and Andrew, it was about swapping one family business for another. They chose wisely. So did Jesus. Which still leaves me wondering: What is it about you and about me that makes God take one look at us and say, 'You're hired'?
Jason Gardner LICC

A time to be born, and a time to die... Ecclesiastes 3v2

2008-04-10T15:31:00.015+01:00

My father-in-law Len’s funeral was on 8th April.

First, let me tell you about another 8th April, a long time ago, which fell on a Good Friday:
At about 1.30am my wife Cindy began to feel a bit uneasy and started wandering around the bedroom. So we got the neighbour to come and look after our little daughter Sarah and drove to Hospital in the firm’s Mini. Cindy didn’t sit on the seat for the whole journey, the traffic lights were all thankfully green. Ten minutes after we arrived, our son Matthew was born. Five minutes later, the call went up… 'Quick, there’s another…' and Stephen came into the world. We went in expecting one baby and came out with two! It was an unforgettable day !

The 8th April this year was also an amazing day…. The little chapel at Huttoft was packed with 200 people (it only holds 150).People remarked later that they had never been to such a funeral. It was a real celebration of Len’s long life. Many memories, yes, but also a resounding affirmation of Christian hope…. ‘Len is now with his Lord’. As Mother-in-law stated when she viewed his coffin the day before… ‘He’s not there, y’know’ and not for one moment did she doubt that we should be celebrating his promotion to glory.

Len’s brother’s funeral was on 22nd February, a number of years ago. It was a sad day for him. He propped himself up in a corner of the church and endured a grim memorial service. He came away thoroughly depressed by the whole thing.
While he was there, Cindy and I had been visiting the hospital again! Joanna was born in the afternoon and Sarah phoned to tell Len and Joyce just as they arrived back from the funeral. Len’s low spirits evaporated and he was full of joy.
Jo was to be the last of his grandchildren…(thereafter great-grandchildren began to appear...no.8 is due next month). It was a day he always remembered and often spoke about.

O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalm 30 v3-5

Learning from Len

2008-04-02T12:42:00.013+01:00

My wife Cindy and I were using the time travelling back and forward to Boston and by her dad Len’s bedside for talking about lots of things. He had had a severe stroke on Easter Monday and was later taken to hospital at Boston.
The Morning Worship of the previous day was still in our memories. We talked about how it had come about that I had ended up leading worship at my home church of Winterton (instead of Scotter, 17 miles away) because of the early morning snow of Easter Sunday.
I had preached on 1 Cor 15, especially ‘ If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people the most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:16-19’ and talked about the sure hope (certainty) that we have of the resurrection of the dead. I had included the following (in italics) in the message:

A dear friend had died. At the funeral service a signer
was present to help some deaf people understand. As the
meeting went on the speaker was frequently using the
word ‘hope’. The sign - it was observed - was crossed
fingers. However the speaker began to talk about
Christian hope - the certainty of life beyond the grave.
And as he did so a different sign was being introduced:
hands clasped together in rock-like certainty.
In the New Testament the word for hope means something that
is in the future which is certain. It is not, as in normal English
usage, something that might happen if we are fortunate. The
rock-like certainty of the New Testament use of the word is what
the signer was communicating at the service.
Peter, who saw the death and resurrection of Jesus, writes
with excitement as well as certainty about our hope.
Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ! In
his great mercy he has given
us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance that can
never perish, spoil or fade-kept
in heaven for you, who through
faith are shielded by God’s
power until the coming of the
salvation that is ready to be
revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5
‘Praise’ is Peter’s word, because we have been born again into a living hope.
Unlike virtually everything in this life, what we have been given
in Christ is something that can never perish, spoil or fade. Our
hope is guaranteed on the basis of Christ’s resurrection from
the dead.
May the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace as you trust in
him, so that you may overflow
with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
God is a God of hope. So it is possible to ‘overflow with hope’
says Paul in Romans 15. He gives hope. Christians need
not wallow in gloom or despair. The power of the Holy Spirit
within us is what enables us to exhibit hope. Death is the most
despairing of life’s events. Yet even here, or especially here, it is
possible to have hope for the future. Christians are people who
have a certain and a living hope.
That’s the difference.

I finished the Easter service by introducing one of my favourite hymns, ‘I know that my Redeemer Lives.’
I know that my Redeemer lives; What joy the blest assurance gives!He lives, He lives, who once was dead;He lives, my ever living Head.
He lives to bless me with His love, He lives to plead for me above.He lives my hungry soul to feed,He lives to help in time of need.
He lives triumphant from the grave, He lives eternally to save, He lives all glorious in the sky, He lives exalted there on high.
He lives to grant me rich supply, He lives to guide me with His eye, He lives to comfort me when faint, He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.
He lives to silence all my fears, He lives to wipe away my tears, He lives to calm my troubled heart, He lives all blessings to impart.
He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly Friend, He lives and loves me to the end; He lives, and while He lives, I’ll sing; He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.
He lives and grants me daily breath; He lives, and I shall conquer death: He lives my mansion to prepare; He lives to bring me safely there.
He lives, all glory to His Name! He lives, my Jesus, still the same. What joy the blest assurance gives, I know that my Redeemer lives!
I sensed the Spirit reminding me of the reason why I like the hymn, and I said to the congregation that there are two words in this hymn which are MOST important…’I know’.
It is not head knowledge, but heart certainty.
John Wesley had been in the Ministry for years before that day he refers to as his conversion, when he wrote in his journal:
‘I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death’.
That’s it. That's the difference…that assurance... not head knowledge, but heart certainty.
And as we journeyed early last week, we reflected on that.

The really good news gospel

2008-03-26T12:02:00.006Z

If you are a watcher of the blog of Martyn Atkins, President of the Methodist Conference, I apologise for repeating what you have already seen.
But for the sake of a wider audience....

The really good news gospel - Easter message from the President

Donald English used to say that death and resurrection is not simply what happened to Jesus but is the deep movement God implants in all creation. The Christian God is a God of death and resurrection.

Like many I have been challenged by poignant examples of death - its reality and hard consequences - and blessed by wonderful examples of resurrection - and the hope and joy it brings. I will never forget a conversation with a Sierra Leonian man, bearing the scars of the rebel war in the 1990’s so powerfully depicted in the recent film Blood Diamond. He thanked me fervently for bringing the gospel to his land - he talked to me as if I was one of those first Methodist missionaries to West Africa! He explained with deep emotion how he had received Christ quite recently, in the war years, and this coming to faith had enabled him to begin to forgive those who mutilated him - and, as I learned a little later, killed his wife. I was moved to tears. In all his pain and lasting disability he knew that Jesus was alive, and there was hope in his life. He knew in a deep way that the gospel of Christ truly is good news.

More recently, when in Uganda with MRDF, I met Christian folk who have so little, who live with the reality and proximity of death and suffering in a way I do not, yet who remind me more than most of the life and hope of Christian faith. Death and resurrection belong together.

Or I think of some friends who have died in recent times. They knew their prognosis. They lived with the stark consequences of their impending death, for themselves and especially their loved ones. And at just the time when hope might be most lacking in these dear people and those who love them, they talk of the nearness of Christ, the wonderful love and forgiveness of God, the comfort of their faith, their trust in Jesus, the salvation he freely gave and their hope of heaven. In the most traumatic situations of life, it is often those going through them who embody and make clear that the Christian gospel truly is good news.

Death and resurrection is also evident in the life of our churches. I was at Walworth Methodist Church some weeks ago. A church with a venerable past, ‘Clubland’ had a great ministry among local youths and others in that London neighbourhood. But there came a time when almost all signs of life disappeared, and a long three days of darkness ensued. But resurrection has come and new life bursts out everywhere. Methodist Christians, young and old, many (originally) from various parts of West Africa and beyond, share life and worship that exudes the good news gospel. “Our world lives with death and resurrection in many ways and in many places. An ‘average’ news broadcast gives cause to both weep and rejoice. In places of death and darkness we must continue to weep with those who weep and ‘look for the morning’ as people of resurrection faith and hope. With those who rejoice in life and hope we must celebrate and point to God, the giver of it all.

Our Easter faith is not death or resurrection, it is death and resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is not a reversal of death. It is much more than that. The risen Jesus is known by the scars of crucifixion. He is the Living One Who Died. But now he is alive forever. And, marvellously, he stands today with this needy world in the reality of death and the promise of new life. This ministry he shares with us, his Easter People Church, a people bearing the marks of both death and new life. A people who know and live out the profound truth that death and resurrection life both lie deep in the purposes of God, in whom all things will be well.
Alleluia!

blog of President and Vice-President:
http://www.methodist-presandvp.blogspot.com/

He is not here. He is risen

2008-03-25T11:09:00.005Z

ON 16 FEBRUARY 1977, Archbishop Janani Luwum of Uganda had a meeting with President Idi Amin, whose murderous regime he had opposed outspokenly. After the meeting, the Archbishop was driven away, along with two government ministers. Uganda Radio announced that the three of them had been arrested, and the following morning it was stated that they had died in a car accident.
In fact, they had been shot on the orders of Amin. A funeral service planned for the following Sunday was forbidden by the government, and the Archbishop's body was not released. Nevertheless, thousands gathered at the cathedral on Namirembe Hill, and the service went ahead around an open grave.

Standing over the empty grave, Luwum's successor, Archbishop Wani, repeated the message of the angel that we hear at Easter: "He is not here. He is risen!"

"He is not here. He is risen!"
And, according to Matthew, the angel adds: "He is going ahead of you to Galilee."
To seek the risen Christ is about moving on; "to go ahead to Galilee".
to live
in hope..
"Christian hope", Jürgen Moltmann writes, "sees in the resurrection of Christ not the eternity of heaven, but the future of the very earth on which his cross stands." "Those who hope in Christ", he continues, "can no longer put up with reality as it is. Peace with God means conflict with the world, for the goad of the promised future stabs inexorably into the flesh of every unfulfilled present."

Janani Luwum understood that belief in the risen Christ entails a commitment to a better world, to"the Kingdom of God". Such a commitment will mean from time to time challenging the powers that be....resulting in our unpopularity, damage to our reputations, desertion by our friends, and worse. For Janani Luwum, it meant martyrdom.

As they gathered round the empty grave of their Archbishop, murdered and risen, they sang of another world, better than this one at its best. That world, too, is promised, and Moltmann will forgive us for sometimes pining for it. But - one world at a time - it is in this one, this Easter, that we must seek the risen Christ.

thanks to John Pridmore. I have edited and added to his article at http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=53492

The Crunch and The Cross

2008-03-20T16:05:00.014Z

When America sneezes, the infection quickly spreads through the global financial system. As a result of her recent 'credit crunch', lenders and debt junkies alike worldwide are being crushed by the weight of defaults. Greed has suddenly given way to fear, destroying the market value of major banks that have looked at their reserves and found they have none. Slashed interest rates confront us with the truth that money is not as valuable as we thought.
Writing off - or, if you prefer, forgiving - bad debt is painful, and our global interdependence means we all share the pain. It has become personal for me. No longer is it a distant problem of troubled banks; now it's a friend of mine out of a job. Now it's people I know who can't get a mortgage. My own savings are at risk and shrinking in value.
A fund manager said that the Western financial system needed 'a clean-out of Augean-stable proportions' but added that 'we have no Hercules.'

If only the current crisis were all a legend that a suitably legendary hero could put to right. The problem is that the crisis and the pain it brings are real. And so it's a real hero we need.
That's where God comes in. The greed, deception, fear, denial, guilt and collapse of trust that lie at the heart of the current credit crunch are symptomatic of the crisis at the heart of humankind. This is an all too public and corporate demonstration of a normally private and personal reality. It was to deal with this reality - the reality of sin - that Jesus went to Calvary.
In stark contrast to our desperate attempts to escape liability, on the first Good Friday he willingly embraced the cross, experiencing all the terror and pain of the cosmic 'crunch point'. There, the global bad debt of sin was paid, with the only currency that never devalues:
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:19)

Have a blessed Easter!

PS. Don't miss 'ThePassion' ..http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thepassion/

Thanks to Paul Valler (LICC)

avoiding EASTER Saturday

2008-03-17T15:55:00.005Z

The teacher and writer Alan Lewis used to talk of workshops that he’d led on the theme of Easter. The trouble was, he said, that groups were happy to talk about Good Friday but then they wanted to jump forward to Easter Day as quickly as possible. That long hiatus of Easter Saturday, when Jesus lies alone in a borrowed tomb, was to be avoided.

Was that, Alan wondered, because we simply don’t like talking about death?

And yet, he said, if we believe that God lived in and through Jesus Christ then it’s important for us to think not only about what was happening to Jesus, dead and buried, but what was happening to God… also dead and buried. It’s a tough idea to get your head round – that God, too, experiences death on the cross and “knows how to die”.

Alan came to understand that the God’s aloneness and despair on Easter Saturday is precisely that part of the Easter story that most closely mirrors so much of our own human experience. Three events of the last century, he suggests, bring into focus the sense of despair we so often feel about our world:

Auschwitz....... Hiroshima........ Chernobyl

Three events that represent the possibility of soulless inhumanity, a nuclear winter and, at Chernobyl, “the terrible possibility of planetary death… the ultimate eco-catastrophe”.

“Who and where is God if God’s power and love can sustain such losses and accede to such defeats?” Alan asks. Is God uninterested, absent or dead?

Does such bleakness as we often experience in the world around us, such inhumanity that screams daily from our newspapers, such injustice that we seem powerless to prevent, offer another possibility?

For Alan, despair and pessimism, “the collapse of confidence” and “the abolition of optimism” creates the possibility of a different way of looking at tomorrow. A way not of fragile, shattered optimism but of strong un-killable hope.

“For hope, finding space to flourish in the very absence of optimism, is the courage not to be swallowed by despair but, in frank acknowledgement of rampant evil and negation, to trust in the possibility for life and creativity amid and beyond that malign [super-power], though assuredly not in its denial or avoidance. The very realities which banish confidence and legitimise despair also invite a hopeful embrace of love’s living power to prevail in history.”

Alan liked to say that the only truly authentic Easter hymn was one that begins “Now the green blade rises from the buried grain”. It speaks of hope (not optimism) present in all our Easter Saturdays of death and despair, ready to push through and grow once more in the shape of God’s love.

The question is: if the aloneness and despair of Easter Saturday is precisely that part of the Easter story which most closely mirrors so much of our own human experience why, then, is it the part of the story that Christians most usually skip over?

More Information
Quotations taken from Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday by Alan E. Lewis (published by Wm B Eerdmans Pub Co.)

thanks to the Methodist Church website for this article

Gethsemane

2008-03-12T13:00:00.008Z

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What was the agony of Gethsemane?
The Son of God sweating blood.
What was the pain he felt deep within
Which tore at every fibre of his being?
Men and women face death each day,
Afraid of the transitory suffering
of the journey to the unknown.
But he knew his destination and purpose.
The joy set before him,
The sure hope which he would cling to
...through the blackness and torture
and the last enemy’s last stand...
contained in the lonely cry
‘Your will, not mine…’

DEFINING and DOING PRAYER

2008-03-04T16:08:00.009Z

Thanks to Pete Atkins for this Devotional on prayer...Pete is a founder of what is now the nationwide Mission Shaped Ministry Course...I'm on the course, and enjoyed being on the receiving end of this inspired word last night. Don't just read it once...take time with it and let God speak to you as you reflect:

To pray is to breathe
Relationship with our Father in Heaven is what brings us life

both on earth and for eternity;

prayer is one of the gifts from God for expressing and deepening relationship with Him

– without it we die inside,

we are cut off from our source of life

and our souls start to shrivel.

This gift is permission and means to communicate and commune

with the creator of all things,

the redeemer of our souls,

the lover of all mankind,

the King of Heaven.

In prayer we speak and listen,

ask and receive,

are quiet or shout,

pray in words or in silence,

focus on the needs of others

or our own situation,

use what is written

or respond in our own words,

use our mother tongue

or the "tongues of men and angels".

We can sing or say our prayer,

pray wordlessly

or in groans too deep for words.

We can dance out our prayer,

draw it,

paint it,

write it down,

write it in the sand

or encapsulate it in the flame of a candle.

In prayer

we approach the God who loves us

and who draws us nearer;

we acknowledge our dependence upon Him,

our desire to hear Him,

to give thanks to Him,

to pray our confession when we mess up

and to receive again the joy of forgiveness.

Prayer can be …
…a season of devotion

...or a 3 second request for help,

it can be impregnated with intense feeling

or be a cerebral and passionless event.

Prayer can be on our own

or with others.

Prayer can be inspired by nature or beauty

..or by desperation and suffering.

Prayer can be inspired by our own joys, needs or sorrows

..or the difficulties and heartaches of others.

Prayer, like worship, is a way of life

..not an occasional foray into a spiritual realm.

Seeking to see vision fulfilled without prayer

is like going to war with

no strategy,

no map,

no armour,

no weapons

and no communication with headquarters.

But of more importance

is that seeking to see vision fulfilled without prayer

is to seek effect above relationship.

Closeness to Him is what He desires of us most
…it’s what Jesus came and died to restore.

Seek His face before His hand.

Seek the giver before the gift.

In our love for Him and His for us

lies the source of the power

of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Kingdom is within us

and only to the extent it has come in us

will the Kingdom come through us.

The Kingdom of God in us is measured by

our submission to the King,

our love for the King,

our likeness to our King,

our relationship with the King,

our communication with the King,

our life of prayer.

In prayer we align ourselves

to the will of heaven

and pull away from the gravity

of our own desires,

our self centeredness,

and our perspective.

In prayer God invites us

to sit beside Him in heavenly realms

and gain His perspective,

share His heart

and commit ourselves

to the accomplishment of His will.

In prayer we can ask

or groan,

or plead

or wrestle,

or agree

for His will to be established,

for His Kingdom to come on the earth

– including in our hearts,

our territory,

our realm of responsibility,

our lives,

our families

and our Churches.

We pray on our own and we pray with those who share our life
We pray

as one of the two or three gathered together in His name

and we pray

as one of the thousand

gathered together to worship the King,

to cry to heaven,

to plead for the nation

or for the future of our children.

To pray is to live
…and to breathe,

and to allow Him

to be our all in all.

Then as we obey in prayer,

we see our dreams unfold,

His love made known,

His Kingdom established,

the captives set free,

addictions broken,

light come in the darkness

and the lost found.
…and as we pray, Heaven comes upon the earth

A prayer of hope (from Hope for Hull ’08)

2008-02-22T10:37:00.001Z

(based on Psalm 69 v.13 Living Bible translation)
Lord God, as we look out across this area we see so much that needs to be done, so many who need to be helped in body, mind and spirit.
Our time and resources are limited and often inadequate; sometimes we just don’t know what to do.
But we will keep on praying to you, O Lord.
For now is the time!
You are bending down to listen.
You are ready with a bountiful supply of love and kindness.
Now answer our prayers for this place and its people, as you have promised.
Strengthen and encourage us to stand together for you as we seek to bring fresh hope to these communities where you have placed us.
We ask this in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ – Saviour, Healer and Restorer of Hope.
Amen
visit http://www.hope08.com/Group/Group.aspx?id=59485

Prayer is the key to revival

2008-02-21T16:44:00.003Z

I'm off to the national Methodist Lay Workers' Conference, so I'm blogging ahead this week!

Prayer is the key to revival:

In September 1857, a man of prayer, Jeremiah Lanphier, started a businessmen’s prayer meeting in the upper room of the Dutch Reformed Church Consistory Building in Manhattan. In response to his advertisement, only six people out of a population of a million showed up. But the following week there were fourteen, and then twenty-three when it was decided to meet everyday for prayer. By late winter they were filling the Dutch Reformed Church, then the Methodist Church on John Street, then Trinity Episcopal Church on Broadway at Wall Street. In February and March of 1858, every church and public hall in down town New York was filled.Horace Greeley, the famous editor, sent a reporter with horse and buggy racing round the prayer meetings to see how many men were praying. In one hour he could get to only twelve meetings, but he counted 6,100 men attending. Then a landslide of prayer began, which overflowed to the churches in the evenings. People began to be converted, ten thousand a week in New York City alone. The movement spread throughout New England, the church bells bringing people to prayer at eight in the morning, twelve noon, and six in the evening. The revival raced up the Hudson and down the Mohawk, where the Baptists, for example, had so many people to baptize that they went down to the river, cut a big hole in the ice, and baptized them in the cold water. When Baptists do that they are really on fire!*

There are no charismatic preachers or leaders in this story. Just a man called to pray.

Will you pray?

2 Chronicles 7v14 is a tremendous promise:

....if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Let's get serious about prayer!

*thanks to http://www.40-days.com/revivalstories.php

'PRAY WITHOUT CEASING' vigils

2008-02-20T14:05:00.004Z

Last year I drew up some guidelines for 24/7 prayer. Let me share them with you:

Here I am…
How do I pray?
What do I say?

First….remember God longs to speak to us far more than we long to speak to Him!

Second….you’re here to hold vigil. Jesus and the New Testament writers often use the instructions; ‘Watch and Pray’. When your ‘watch’ ends pass the baton (a wooden cross or something appropriate) to the next person and say to them, ‘Watch and pray’

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Third….light a candle. Jesus is ‘the Light of the World’. In a desperate world we proclaim victory over dark powers and affirm our Christian Hope. And we ourselves are ‘lights’……as having been in His presence we go out to reflect His glory. (2 Cor 4v6)

Fourth….. pray (briefly is fine) with others present. Maybe you want them to pray for you or for a problem you have. Just ask. And vice versa….be ready to pray for them.

Fifth…..as you are quiet before God, pray for each person or situation that comes into your mind. You may admit to God that you don’t know what to pray….just say ‘Lord, here is N……you know their needs. Please touch them.’

Sixth…..If, like most of us, your mind wanders….offer to God those thoughts, especially the things you are most concerned about, leave them with Him, and experience His peace. (Phil 4 v6-7)

Seventh…. Don’t be surprised if God speaks to you. It probably will not be audible, but as you are quiet before God a thought may be implanted in your mind. Test it (because there are ‘voices’ other than God’s). A particular sin may be highlighted to enable you to repent of it before God. (again…test it…. If it’s from God, it will be specific). A particular course of action may be revealed to you in answer to a dilemma you have prayed for.
Share these with others if you feel you can, and don’t be afraid to ask if you’re uncertain.

Eighth*…..

*this isn’t a complete list ! You can add to it !!

Unanswered prayer

2008-02-14T17:20:00.006Z

Even if you feel your prayers aren't being answered, God is still right by your side. When we ask God for something (whether it’s healing for a loved one, world peace or a parking space), it’s because it’s important to us. So why might God give us something as trivial as a parking space, when a loved one’s cancer isn’t healed?

We don’t always get what we ask for, no matter how ‘good’ we believe our cause to be. This is hard to accept—but beware of the term ‘unanswered prayer’. Just because we don’t get what we want, how or when we want, doesn’t mean God doesn’t hear and isn’t responding in some way.

Accepting that there is a God is a huge leap of faith in itself. Once there, we can accept that God is massive, made of love and purity, all-powerful, and far beyond our human understanding. Therefore, we must also accept that we can’t really understand what God’s up to. Like the butterfly that beats its wings in Brazil and causes a tornado in Texas, we can’t know what part we play in God’s great big universal plan.

As painful as it is, sometimes God doesn’t seem to answer our prayre because the answer we really need is ‘No’, or because God is teaching us something. Wouldn’t life be weird (and chaotic) if everyone got everything they asked for? Watch the movie Bruce Almighty!

Sometimes we can look back and see how God drew us closer through ‘unanswered prayer’—that what we ended up with was more valuable, and was, in fact, the answer to prayer of a different sort.

Unanswered prayers will include things that aren’t God’s will (that your enemies will die, for example!) or things we think we want, but which won’t be good for us (like winning the lottery). Remember that God’s will comes before our own needs and wants; that’s why the Lords Prayer says, ‘Your will be done’.

What about people who persevere in heartfelt prayer for a sick child, only to watch that precious child die? It’s hard to explain that away as a lesson. Why didn’t God step in? What did the child—or the parents—do to deserve it? How could God be so cruel? The answer, of course, is that he isn’t. And this ‘unanswered prayer’ is almost impossible to explain. All we can do is remember that when Jesus asked God to spare him before he was crucified that prayer wasn’t answered (it was answered in a different way: he was resurrected three days later.)

We can’t always understand what God is doing—if we could, would we really want him to be our god? No matter what difficulties or even tragedies you may face, turning your back on God because of ‘unanswered’ prayer isn’t the right response. Usually, we are closest to God when we turn and sob onto his shoulder, and let him comfort us in our pain.

Nothing will be perfect until we’re united with him after this life is over. Until then, let’s not stop talking to God in prayer.

This article is found at http://www.church-on-the-net.com/reference/unansweredprayer.aspx.

Reproduced with thanks. Do visit this excellent new website.

Try praying TRIPRAYING !

2008-02-08T12:45:00.000Z

Continuing with our series on prayer:

I encouraged a group of Ministry Students to try this last year. It proved of immense value. I hope they are still doing it (do let me know.. if you're reading this, EMMTC students! ).
Tripraying is about joining with two others to pray as a three. It’s also about your group of three connecting with the wider church through the tri praying network as part of the wider church. As members of the body of Christ we need each other. When we share our faith journey together, we grow in our relationship with God and with others.

Jesus says: ‘When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there’ (Matthew 18:19-20).
So tri praying - or praying in threes is biblical and we can expect God to act in us and through us as we spend time with him and pray for people and situations around us.

Our prayers are more effective as we pray as a team and we can ask for his kingdom to come as we ‘think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works’ (Hebrews 10: 24,).

We all struggle at times and prayer can be hard work. Having the support and encouragement of two others is invaluable. ‘By yourself you're unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn't easily snapped’ (Ecclesiastes 14:12). Committing to pray with two others helps us to be disciplined, accountable and to keep going.

How to get going:
Ask two other people if they would like to commit to praying together as a three.
Agree to meet - on a regular basis for prayer (at least once and preferably twice a month). You could keep in touch more regularly by phone or email as well.

When you meet:
1. Let your friends know how your faith journey is going and pray for each other.
2. Pray for three friends who aren’t yet Christians.
3. Identify a ‘Big issue’ – a situation that really needs God’s touch, his intervention or his solution. Pray for these together

thanks to 40 days http://www.40-days.com/trypraying.php

Get this Prayer Classic

2008-02-05T12:32:00.001Z

Whatever book you may choose to read on the subject of PRAYER, you will find in it somewhere reference to a book which came out way back in 1931; 'Prayer' by O.Hallesby*. This is a wonderful Christian Classic. I have a 1951 hardback copy given to me in my teens (no I wasn't in my teens in 1951 !) by my old Sunday School teacher. I have included various quotes below. The book appears to be in print again. Do get a copy. Your prayer life will never be the same.

Hallesby quotes:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20
I doubt I know of a passage in the whole Bible which throws greater light upon prayer than this one does. It is, it seems to me, the key which opens the door into the holy and blessed realm of prayer. To pray is to let Jesus into our hearts. This teaches us, in the first place, that it is not our prayer which moves the Lord Jesus. It is Jesus who moves us to pray. He knocks. Thereby He makes known His desire to come in to us. Our prayers are always a result of Jesus' knocking at our hearts' doors.
Prayer is an attitude of our hearts, an attitude of mind....

What is this spiritual condition?

What is that attitude of heart which God recognizes as prayer? I would mention two things.

In the first place, helplessness. As far as I can see, prayer has been ordained only for the helpless. It is the last resort of the helpless. Indeed, the very last way out. We try everything before we finally resort to prayer.
Secondly, faith.
It is written, 'But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.' Hebrews 11:6.

Without faith there can be no prayer, no matter how great our helplessness may be. Helplessness united with faith produces prayer....

You have more faith than you think you have. You have enough faith to pray; you have enough faith to believe that you will be heard. Faith is a strange thing; it often conceals itself in such a way that we can neither see nor find it....
Prayer consists simply in telling God day by day in what ways we are helpless.... Only he who is helpless can truly pray.... Helplessness united with faith produces prayer.
To pray is nothing more involved than to let Jesus into our needs. To pray is to give Jesus permission to employ His powers in the alleviation of our distress. To pray is to let Jesus glorify His name in the midst of our needs.

There come times when I have nothing more to tell God. If I were to continue to pray in words, I would have to repeat what I have already said. At such times it is wonderful to say to God, "May I be in Thy presence, Lord? I have nothing more to say to Thee, but I do love to be in Thy presence.

The secret prayer chamber is a bloody battle ground. Here violent and decisive battles are fought out. Here the fate of souls for time and eternity is determined, in quietude and solitude, without another soul as spectator or listener.

See to it, night and day, that you pray for your children. Then you will leave them a great legacy of answers to prayer, which will follow them all the days of their life. Then you may calmly and with a good conscience depart from them, even though you may not leave them a great deal of material wealth.

*for info on this little known writer: http://www.prayerfoundation.com/books/book_review_prayer_o_hallesby.htm

PRAISE HIM !

2008-01-29T12:44:00.000Z

High up on the Wolds, we looked across the Ancholme Valley towards Winterton. It's usually a good view, but at 8 o'clock this morning the mist completely obscured our town. We prayed as we looked into the mist, knowing that the people we were praying for were right there, even though we could not see them, or their houses.

How important it is that we pray

EVEN WHEN WE CANNOT SEE.

The Psalmist prayed to God in HOPE and his prayer became a song of praise:

But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.
I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come.
Your power and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? Psalm 71:14-19NRSV

Verse 18 in the AMPLIFIED Bible speaks to me !! (in more ways than one) …

Yes, even when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not, [but keep me alive] until I have declared Your mighty strength to [this] generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come.

Waiting on God

2008-01-23T09:40:00.000Z

How long have you been waiting for God to answer your prayers? How long will it be before His promises are fulfilled? I for one easily get impatient.

Here's a lesson for us in waiting on God, praying continually, and trusting He will act in His time:

After three years, I went up to Jerusalem. Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. Gal.1: 18, 21

Paul was a man of action, who didn't let the grass grow under his feet. Immediately after the stoning of Stephen, he went to the high priest, asking for letters of authority to the synagogue leaders in Damascus so that he could arrest any there 'who belonged to the Way'. Confronted by Christ on the Damascus road, however, and called to proclaim the gospel, Paul 'at once began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God'. Same man, same urgency.
The book of Acts compresses the time that Paul spent in Damascus. But in his letter to the Galatians, Paul says that it was not until the third year after his conversion that he went to Jerusalem (Gal.1:17-18). The urgency of the Acts narrative dissolves into an indeterminate time spent in 'Arabia'. When the Jerusalem visit finally happened, Paul no doubt felt that his time had come, and he recalls in Acts 22 (v.17-18) his dismay when, as he was praying in the temple, the Lord told him to leave immediately because his life was in danger. Accompanied to Caesarea, Paul was then sent up north to Tarsus, in the province of Syria and Cilicia, where he spent the next ten years.
Whether in the desert east of Damascus, or in Syria and Cilicia, this passionate, driven man spent up to fourteen years in obscurity, before his primary ministry opened up before him. Bear in mind that by this time - in an age when life expectancy was low - Paul must have been well into his 40s.
Why did God allow - or ordain - these long delays? Reading between the lines, we can deduce that Paul needed teaching - first, to understand the gospel in all its richness, and second to learn to submit his will and his temperament to the lordship of Christ.
God's sovereign purposes may well conflict with human reason, with our passion for plans and programmes. In our driven age, let us not fight against delays, but use times of unemployment, sickness or disappointment creatively, with gratitude, to learn more of God and of what it means to be conformed to the image of his Son.
thanks to Helen Parry (LICC)

PRAYER

2008-01-17T14:41:00.002Z

I want to encourage you through these blogs to get serious about prayer (and fasting...it's Lent on Feb 6th !)

My experience of prayer is like that of Jacob (Genesis 32 v24-30), a varied mixture of struggle and blessing! Though long in the tooth as a believer, I still find it hard to tune-in to the 'still small voice', and really listen to God....

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'His Isles' was a national prayer conference held at Swanwick organised by the Prayer Association for the British Isles.

Here's a few of the highlights:

From Kenya came a word from the Lord that 2007 would be a year of preparation for the nation and that 2008 would be a year of harvest. But there are three things that God hates and that we need to urgently pray about as a nation - our deception, our bloody hands and our idolatry.

Later another prophecy came that God is putting in place a net across our nation but that at the moment the net isn’t strong enough to hold his power. What are we doing to build ‘networks’ with police, teachers, local authorities as well as other churches?

How many of us have ‘planted seeds’ into people’s lives which we are still waiting to see the fruit of? God says that the seed is still to come forth…keep praying!

In 1966 when the Evangelical Alliance acknowledged the Charismatic Movement, one prophecy given paralleled this to Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days after receiving the Holy Spirit at his baptism. Jesus came out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. The Church is coming out of a 40 year wilderness in that same power. Keep praying!
with thanks to Lou Ashford (September 2007)

We MUST get serious about prayer NOW.
What better time to recover our prayer life than this Lent.

William Arthur, a leading Methodist of the 1850s argued that the primary need of the ministry is the power of the Holy Spirit; he believed that it’s absence is our corporate responsibility. 'Prayer is the condition of obtaining this power. Prayer, prayer, all prayer – mighty, importunate, repeated united prayer'. He goes on to insist that a Church’s members must be ‘mighty in prayer’.

So we need to pray, to cry out to God, to wrestle in prayer, to pray all night if necessary. To refuse to ‘let go’ until the blessing is ours.

What if, together, we say this through the 40 days of Lent:

Lord Jesus Christ,
driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit,
I come to you aware of my frailty
and reluctance to fight temptation.
Make me, by the same Spirit,
determined to discover you
in stillness and activity,
in order and chaos,
when alone and when in fellowship,
in weakness and in strength,
when uncertain and when certain,
when needing help and when giving it.
Wherever I am and whatever I am doing,
I pray that the Holy Spirit will help my unbelief,
and grow faith in me....
such faith as will release in me
prayer without ceasing. Amen

Seeking faith and speaking words I never thought I'd say

2008-01-11T12:13:00.000Z

As it's that time of year when Methodists join with other local churches in an Annual Covenant Service, let's explore what it's about.

First an interesting observation:
‘We observe that in some places significant numbers of members absent themselves from the Covenant Service believing it to set a higher standard for discipleship than that which permitted them to become members.'
Philip Drake

The Introduction
‘Christ has many services to be done:
some are easy, others are difficult;
some bring honour, others bring reproach;
some are suitable to our natural inclinations and material interests,
others are contrary to both.’

The Covenant Prayer
I am no longer my own but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,

exalted for you, or brought low for you;

let me be full, let me be empty,

let me have all things, let me have nothing:

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours.

The Covenant Service is acknowledged to be one of the jewels in the Methodist liturgical crown. The enthronement service for the present Archbishop of Canterbury used it at a solemn moment of the liturgy. It was adapted from earlier traditions and introduced into Methodist worship by John Wesley as a means of regularly reaffirming our commitment as disciples and followers of Jesus. Yet it is now felt by many to be too difficult and too intense.

It's clear that this affirmation is a serious one that embraces the whole of our life, in all its parts. Most people find it quite tough to say, and really mean it. In our culture we tend to prize our ability to make decisions and choose our own path in life. It can feel very hard to give that up. But this prayer is like a love poem. It is about surrendering to God in love and joy.

The service, which is full of the assurance of God’s love for us, in whose power alone we are able to undertake such promises, includes a profound meditation on how we can discern what is being asked of us. It is clear that the ‘many services’ Christ may ask of us could involve social reproach or financial hardship. But there is a beautiful balance, which suggests the possibility that our calling will include undertaking activities that we enjoy and that will bring us prosperity and honour. It is impossible to rule out hardship. It is about genuinely offering ourselves – ‘no longer our own but yours’. It is the giving up of our own powerbase and right to choose which is so hard.

People have resisted the phrase ‘put me to suffering’, as if God deliberately willed us to experience pain. However, the word simply means the opposite of ‘doing’; it is the state of waiting or passivity, of ‘being done to’ in some way, and parallels the next phrase, being ‘employed’ or ‘laid aside’. The desire for control, power and choice is a very strongly encouraged stance in our society, and it is not surprising that we resist truly offering God our willingness to let both activity and passivity be ‘for you’. However, to believe that God cannot be served except in active ‘doing’ will lead us to marginalise those whose calling is now to lay things down, or who do indeed have to endure suffering in the modern sense. The revised version of the prayer clarifies the point by referring to ‘all that I do, and in all that I may endure.’ *

The Covenant Prayer (revised)
I am no longer my own but yours.
Your will, not mine, be done in all things,

wherever you may place me,

in all that I do, and in all that I may endure;

when there is work for me and when there is none;

when I am troubled and when I am at peace.

Your will be donewhen I am valued and when I am disregarded;

when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking;

when I have all things, and when I have nothing.

I willingly offer all I have and am to serve you,as and where you choose.
Glorious and blessèd God,Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

you are mine and I am yours.

May it be so for ever.

Title of this blog is ‘Seeking faith and speaking words I never thought I'd say’...

Song lyrics from Prince of Egypt featuring the original version of 'When you believe'..... Leon Jackson's recent number one.

Try this link:

http://www.thelyricarchive.com/lyrics/whenyoubelieve.shtml

* edited version of extract from Methodist Conference Report 'Time to Talk of God'

Thirteenth Night

2008-01-07T16:49:00.000Z

The tinsel and flashing lights are gone. Welcome to 2008, blog readers !
I reckon there’s a challenging year ahead for the Joyces:

Driving Lessons begin when our youngest turns 17 shortly. Recollections of the previous three learning to drive (before and after passing tests) bring a smile (or was it a grimace?) to the old phizzog.

Also we’re destined to be grandparents for the 4th time in May.
A boy or a girl? They have chosen to wait until he/she arrives to find out. Wisely….daughter in law’s close relatives have produced 9 boys and 0 girls so far….so no pressure !

Our parents continue to thrive. We’re fairly unusual in our age-group as we’ve still got all four….in their 70s, 80s and 90s. Will they all survive 2008, and stay healthy? It will be a miracle if they all do.

…and that’s just family life.

…work, church and community activities would occupy a few sheets of A4, so let’s not go there today !

Last night a small group of us meditated upon that ancient hymn, ‘Be Thou my vision’ *
The last two lines in one translation read:

‘Christ of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, thou ruler of all’

That says it all for me.
How about you?

*http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/b/b021.html

Hope of the world, Mary's Child

2008-01-01T20:40:00.000Z

Before we leave Christmas behind may I share with you this picture, which I introduced to our new Men's group just before Christmas.
I was reading about this statue in a book 'Nativities and Passions, by a contemplative writer Martin Smith, and found this picture on the net. Smith was on retreat at Burford Priory just outside Oxford. Every day he prayed in the chapel before this statue of the Madonna and Child. After returning home, a few days later he took out the photo of the statue: and looking again at the child Jesus facing out towards the viewer, his arms spread out with the back of his wrists against his mother’s shoulders..... for the first time he sees what the artist was attempting to show. The naked child Jesus has taken the form that he will take when they nail him naked to the cross. And so he writes:
"If there is any image of the mother and child to stay with, this must be the one. We can linger with this image because it tells the truth, and only the truth can set us free.
It is an open secret that the innermost experience of many at Christmas is soreness of heart, soreness at the bitter sufferings of the world. A quick fix of Yuletide cheer and a day’s hilarity, and then there is the morning after the night before. The mystery fixed in this statue of Mary and her child is not the quick fix. Mary asks us to take a long look at her baby, his arms stretched out on the cross of her body. Look, she tells us, this is God coming into the world to keep us company in the worse that can befall us. This is love in crucified companionship coming to bear the world’s pain in pierced hands."
The statue forces us to connect Christmas with the mature Christ, to connect Crib and Cross, to realise that they are both made of the same wood. And it is only when we do this that the remarkable story of shepherds and stars, wise men and donkeys can become a story with the power to save, a story with the power to address real human need.... this is a story about the world’s healing.... about God’s desire to reach out and bring home the lost....about HOPE for a world that has little of it.

As Christians, this treasure, this Good News is ours to share. Let's do so in 2008.

Happy New Year to you all!

liverpool nativity

2007-12-21T13:38:00.000Z

Did you see Liverpool Nativity?....absolutely superb in every way. I often think, 'How would Jesus have been born into our culture?' This gritty, down to earth performance portrayed that concept brilliantly:

At a time when the traditional nativity play is reported to be under threat of extinction in our schools, there is something deliciously subversive about the city of Liverpool choosing to inaugurate its year as the European Capital of Culture with its own, unique take on the story of Jesus' birth.
Last Sunday's Liverpool Nativity was a contemporary retelling of the old, old story on a grand scale. Famous Merseyside faces joined together with relatively unknown local actors and members of the Liverpudlian public to tell a tale of an asylum-seeking Joseph and his café-worker girlfriend, Mary, struggling against oppressive local government to bring God's Son into the world.
Like so many traditional nativity plays, this one was not without humour. It was, however, refreshingly free from the sentimentality that routinely smothers all trace of the true wonder of Christmas in more traditional productions. There was no place here for 'Away in a Manger' with its incarnation-defying 'little Lord Jesus' who wakes without a whimper in response to the lowing of inconsiderate cattle.
In fact, there was no place in the Liverpool Nativity for any of the carols and songs you'd normally expect to hear in a nativity play. Instead - and this was a central feature of the production - the story was interpreted through the popular music of various Liverpudlian bands, such as Echo & the Bunnymen, the La's, the Zutons and, of course, the Beatles.
Naturally, this meant that each song was being used for a purpose other than that for which it was composed. John Lennon did not write 'Beautiful Boy' as a description of the newborn Christ-child, for example - but nonetheless in this new context that was what his lyrics became.
Maybe some purist fans of these bands will regard such borrowing as akin to blasphemy, but isn't the choice of music for the Liverpool Nativity a creative attempt to celebrate Jesus' birth in song? In this regard, it is entirely faithful to the account of his birth in Luke's Gospel, where key characters - Mary, Zechariah, the angels, Simeon - just can't help but burst into song in response to what God has done.
May God give each of us the imagination during this festive season to discern and declare the significance of seemingly ordinary words and events in the light of the timeless, awesome truth that is the real meaning of Christmas!
Nigel Hopper (LICC)

I'd like to record a thankyou to the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, (who so often write the sort of articles I wish I could) for permitting me to reproduce their writings. May the Lord prosper your work!

To all readers of my blog.....a very Happy Christmas. May Jesus be born in you. 'This is love indeed--we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins..' 1 John 4:10

What are you waiting for?: An Advent reflection

2007-12-17T11:19:00.000Z

Read these when you have a quiet moment:

" It was the first week of Advent 2005. I was living as part of the Urban Seed residential community in the heart of central Melbourne.
I attended the Amnesty International Candlelight Vigil at the Alexandra Gardens for the condemned Australian Van Nguyen. Having acted as a drug mule in order to pay the debts of his brother, he had been captured and sentenced to death in Singapore. Over three years the case had sparked the usual polarised debate about the death penalty. Having exhausted official appeals and in spite of pleas for clemency, he was to be executed the next morning by the Singaporean Government.
I carried with me to the vigil a heavy wooden cross. The Credo Cross was built by a member of our community the day we heard that one of our close friends, a key volunteer at our open lunch for disadvantaged people, had been found dead from a drug overdose in a laneway close to our home. As most from our households gathered and mourned in silence that day, all that could be heard from our apartments was the sound of banging from the fire escape as the commemorative cross was constructed..
Since that time, it has become an icon for our community, a symbol to cling to, a trusted companion when the pain of the world falls upon us like a hammer. We use it regularly during our prayers and worship gatherings, at weddings and at funerals. We take it with us when we attend the various protests and vigils that regularly take place in the centre of the city.
And so it was with me this night. I held it for Van. The vigil was quiet but moving. We lit our candles and made our prayers for a stay of execution and for the life and souls of the condemned, the condemners and ourselves. At its conclusion I headed home.
Carrying the cross upon my shoulder, I was walking past Flinders Street Station when a group of people carrying a video camera thrust a microphone in my face.
"What does Christmas mean to you?" they asked
I supposed that they must have been Christians, looking for "vox pop" responses, perhaps for some sort of Christmas presentation.
"What does Christmas mean to you?"
"Well…" I started, a little surprised by the interruption. (It can be hard to think on your feet, especially when you’re carrying a cross through a crowded city!)
"You might notice I’m carrying a cross." I continued…. "You see, I am a Christian and it is because of this that I’ve been to the vigil for Van Nguyen, who is to be executed tomorrow."
I spoke of my opposition to the death penalty. I spoke of how Jesus was also victim of a state execution but that through his example of non-violent love he showed a way of life that triumphs over death. That this demonstrated that sometimes power could be weak and that what seems weak can be the most powerful force in the world. "And so", I concluded, "I guess I believe in a world of grace, not the cold, hard, hand of the law."
"Errr OK!"…..the interviewer looked a little confused. "That’s good; but what would you say Christmas means to you?"
There we both stood.
Waiting…
Me, with a cross upon my shoulder, waiting for him to comprehend.
Him, with a camera on his, waiting for an answer he wanted to hear.
Waiting…
It’s Advent again…..what are you waiting for? "
by Kate Allen and Marcus Curnow (Urban Seed, 2005)

Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for.
We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus.
We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the Ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory.
We are always waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.
Waiting for God is an active, alert -- yes, joyful -- waiting.
As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.
Henri Nouwen,
In Joyful Hope: Meditations for Advent

The golden compass

2007-12-14T12:11:00.000Z

The furore surrounding 'The Golden Compass' continues:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2999647.ece
I haven't seen it yet (I have read the books), but trying to get people to stay away because they might abandon their faith or conclude that God is dead, is not the answer.
As suggested in LICC's excellent article below, everyone should go and see it, and if that results in them reading the books so be it. Like the Da Vinci Code, His Dark Materials trilogy is fiction. It is only the gullible who are taken in by them without asking questions.
So, go and see the film, and let's start conversations.....
.

Anyone who has seen The Golden Compass in the last few days without having read the novel it's based on may well feel bemused by all the fuss being made about it in certain quarters. Although it has been accused of 'selling atheism to kids', it seems innocuous enough. The principal problem with the film, in my opinion, is that the story has been mangled to the point of being nearly incomprehensible.
So, why have emails been circulating warning of the danger posed by this Christmas blockbuster and calling for a boycott of it? The answer is that this is the first of a trilogy, His Dark Materials, and the story becomes increasingly uncomfortable for Christians. In Philip Pullman's books, what begins as a struggle against an oppressive, totalitarian - and religious - regime escalates into full-scale rebellion against God himself.
The film's director, Chris Weitz, admits that they made compromises in filming the first book, toning down controversial religious aspects. Although he insists that the success of The Golden Compass will allow him to stay faithful to the subsequent books, he dismisses as 'ridiculous' suggestions that there is an atheist agenda.
Pullman himself is indignant about all the fuss, and calls his accusers 'nitwits'. He has often spoken of his atheism and his disdain for religion, but protests that he's just trying to tell a story that raises questions. Questions such as 'Is there a God?' and 'What is our purpose?', he says - questions that are central to His Dark Materials - are the 'most important of all'. Inevitably, he has a particular take on them; but such questions are fundamental and we shouldn't be afraid of asking them, or considering someone else's answers - even when they are profoundly different from our own.
Knee-jerk reactions, scaremongering and intemperate words benefit nobody and reflect poorly on the church. They simply confirm Pullman and others in their prejudice against us. If we are confident in the truth of the gospel, we should listen carefully to others' perspectives and respond positively where we can, critically where we must, and always in a way that is characterised by grace.
Pullman writes brilliant fiction with a strong moral core. Millions have read his books and millions more will see the films. Let's grasp the opportunity, engage with them seriously and make the most of openings to discuss these most crucial of questions.
Tony Watkins LICC

The task before you is never greater than the power behind you!

2007-12-07T12:44:00.000Z

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks!
Lots of activity; many ups and downs:
Having returned from the bereavement course in London I then had to prepare for and deliver an All age worship on Sunday morning ( a sheer delight)
…followed by two days in the office as my assistant was on holiday
…then Games Club where we are working with a large group of mainly unchurched kids to produce ‘Cinderella’ in the New Year (going well)
…followed by newly established Men’s group (great fellowship)
…speaking to the Womens Fellowship about what a Community Chaplain is (will someone please tell me)
…then meeting 48 Year 7s at the Church on a RE trip (pop, crisps and Mr Bean. Then they asked me loads of questions. It was great!)
…then away down South to babysit our 3 young grandchildren for the weekend (such fun…they are a laugh a minute!)
….394 shoeboxes loaded and transported to Grimsby (what a vital work this is, bringing joy to kids at Christmas..see picture above and http://www.samaritanspurse.uk.com/occ/index.asp)
….our Community Carol Concert with me in the band (fantastic—not me, I mean networking with all these folk in the community)
…. Games Club and Men’s meeting again
…. Christmas Lunch at Church, apron and all !
…and for most of this week my assistant has been off sick so I’ve been running the office.
....and I've probably forgotten several things.

My wife has been every bit as engaged as me, often involved in the same things.
So, when will we get the Christmas shopping done? When will I get the tree up? Fix the wash basin tap?
Who knows, but we’ll get there.

In all of this frenetic activity I still get some biking in to keep in trim, and most important of all, still somehow find time to ‘Wait upon the Lord’, though not as much time as I would like.

Judith reminded me of this word from Isaiah 40 (thanks Judithhttp://www.wilmslow-worker.blogspot.com/)

"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

When necessary we can, in God’s strength, walk, run or soar… and as I reflect on these past days I have indeed been ‘on eagle’s wings’. Not that everything has gone perfectly, far from it.
But it is supremely true that the LIMITLESS resources of the Holy Spirit are at work in and through us if we will just say ‘Yes’(http://pauseforprayer.stblogs.com/finding-god/special-prayers/)

PS Finally got the tap fixed and the tree up at the weekend!

Experiencing loss

2007-11-27T15:29:00.000Z

Last Thursday I went to London on a one-day Bereavement Course run by CRUSE.

…..An exceptionally useful and enlightening day, and I hope that I will be able to use what I have learned for the benefit of others. But it was also of help to me I have to say. None of us go through life without some experience of painful loss….the hardest to bear is invariably the loss of a loved one, but there are lots of other things that can happen to us which bring about dramatic changes in our daily lives.
Recently, the Lincoln Branch of Norwich Union (formerly General Accident where I had started work in 1970) closed. I went over to meet former colleagues, and effectively say goodbye to them all at once! I had continued to do business, with people who had worked with me back then, for most of 37 years. Now it feels so strange to have ‘lost’ them, a kind of mini-bereavement.
People retiring, moving house, friends who go away all experience loss. Sometimes we call it by another name; such as ‘homesickness’, but there is no denying that, as with a death of someone close to us, we need enough time (and time is no measure) to come to terms with it…..a process where we may be going round a spiral, up and down, until there is a return to ‘normality’….things will never be quite the same, but we have learned to get on with life.

On the bereavement course there was an interesting variety of people, three prison officers, three crematorium workers, a solicitor, an infant school counsellor, a helpline operative for carers, and others. I was the only church worker there (I have a feeling that there were one or two ‘hidden lights’ there, though, because I could see it in their faces). The trainer often asked me for a view on issues….that was a challenge! One of the trainees raised a point about an individual who had been bereaved some months before and was clearly being far too demanding on her. I held my counsel while the others investigated further and discussed around the table. Finally, I was asked for my view. I said ‘Say to this person… "What makes you think that the whole world revolves around you?"’ …that caused great amusement. On reflection the circumstances where it would be right to say something like that are, I would suggest, quite rare. WWJD? I have since questioned myself "Did I really say that?….surely I would never say that to a bereaved person!". But I had started the day by asking God to give me the right words to say in all circumstances, so however risky the strategy I trust it must have been the right one. I should like to have been there to see the outcome....
Words can heal or hurt, encourage or undermine. To verbally go 'on the attack' is not something we should ever do lightly. Jesus did it on a number of occasions, but always to jolt people into recognising their folly (as with his friend Peter...'Get behind me satan!'Mark8v33.....but he didn't then dump Peter. On the contrary he continued to encourage and challenge him). Just occasionally we all need a sharp word of warning; 'Look out!' 'Stop there!' 'Be careful!', don't we?.....to keep us alert or to bring us back to our senses.

How about some comments?

link to CRUSE:
http://www.crusebereavementcare.org.uk/about_bereavement.htm

What's your ideal Christian community?

2007-11-25T17:05:00.000Z

Rarely have I read anything that ticks as many boxes for me as this. The challenge is in the last line.... Am I prepared to give everything to try and make it happen?
Impossible? When we say 'Yes' to God, the impossible happens... Luke 1 v 37

"I want to be part of a community that I love and that loves me. A place where
we get past the polite niceness, beyond the pretence and the masks, and get
really irritated with each other. And then stick at it and stick together.

I want to be part of something that is marked by its welcome, its hospitality and
its inclusiveness. A place with fuzzy edges, where no one decides who belongs
and is ‘in’ or ‘out’. I want to be part of a group of people who are obsessed with
Jesus, rather than Christianity. A place that is passionately focussed on Jesus
and learning to live as followers of his way in real life today. A place where
we’re becoming more like Jesus as we learn the ancient spiritual disciplines and
work together to make them part of our lives.

I want to belong to a community where I can be myself, warts and all.
A place that, on the one hand will accept me as I am right now, but on the other
hand will provoke and inspire me to become more of what I could be. A place
where my brokenness, fears and habits are part of the process. A place where
we hold on to the ‘ideal’ but also celebrate the ‘real’.

I want to be part of something that treats people like adults. A place that values
everyone’s experience and perspective. A place where people are motivated by
love rather than guilt. I want to be part of a community that is both of our culture,
so that it connects with the language, images, music and experiences of
everyday life; but one that also goes against the grain of our culture because we
serve one another, live sacrificially and cross boundaries of class, age and colour.

A place that makes the difference in the things that feel too big for us as individuals.
Whether that’s the hassle my kids will get when they can’t wear designer
trainers or the impotence I feel in the face of ethical and environmental
issues.

A place that makes us yearn for justice and beauty. A place that equips us for
life in the worlds we live in, and gives us the fire we need to change them.
An oasis in the desert......but at the same time..... a desert in the oasis.....a place that makes us more thirsty for Jesus and His kingdom.

Of course my dream is impossibly idealistic, but I’ve decided that even if we
never get there, I want to give everything to trying."

Richard White. ( Leadership Link. Cell UK)

You can do it!

2007-11-19T16:10:00.000Z

Anita Roddick once said:
“If you ever think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never been to bed with a mosquito.”

Discovering glory in everyday life.....

2007-11-19T12:36:00.000Z

I just had to bring you this on a cold November day:

GLORY = when your messiah drives a minivan by timothy paul jones

Heat shimmers upward from the pavement, birthing miniature mirages that dance madly between bumpers and fenders in an endless chain of automobiles. A revolving bank sign reveals that the time is 4:12pm,….Oklahoma on a late summer afternoon…
The conflicting messages on the bumper stickers and the varying rhythms of the heads bobbing above the drivers’ seats divulge the diversity of this area. Hummers and Harleys wait alongside mud spattered pickup trucks and compact cars past their prime.
Nothing here seems glorious. It is an ordinary afternoon filled with ordinary people trying to find their way home amid the hubbub and hullabaloo of their ordinary lives.
My seven-year-old sits beside me in the car, face upturned as she sings along with the latest single by U2. As our car curves to the right, something on the opposite side of the intersection seizes Hannah’s attention.
‘Look!’ she points towards a battered minivan, a fading remnant of that brief moment in the 1980s when Americans inexplicably used the words minivan and cool in the same sentence. ‘Look! There’s Jesus.’
I glimpse just enough of the vehicle’s lone occupant to grasp the reason for her momentary delusion. The driver is long-haired, bearded, and olive-skinned, white teeth glinting through a gentle smile.
The Jesus of a thousand Sunday School take home papers.
Without thinking I smile and reply; ‘No, Hannah. That wasn’t Jesus. It can’t be. Jesus lived on earth a long time ago….almost two thousand years ago. It was just someone who looks like the paintings of Jesus.’
‘But,’ Hannah is staring through the rear window, eyes still riveted to the minivan, ‘It was Jesus! I saw him.’
‘No, Hannah,’ my tone is harsher than I intend. ‘It wasn’t Jesus. It couldn’t have been.’
The minivan vanishes into the jumble of vehicles crisscrossing the intersection, and Hannah coils back into her seat with a whisper, ‘But Daddy, it was.’ As her moment of childlike wonder chokes in a sea of grownup logic, a gentle murmur wends its way past the dry bones of a soul that once found magic wands in the branches of ordinary trees and glorious wonders amid the stars of a common sky.
What if she’s right?
What if God’s presence is nearer than I ever imagined?
Years of rational thinking and theological training recoil at this thought, this alien intruder from a childhood long past. God in a minivan! That’s as absurd as…..as…. The other voice—the voice of childlike wonder----whispers again, As absurd as the glory of God erupting from a burning shrub on the far side of a Middle Eastern desert? As absurd as the Messiah, enfolded in the flesh of a peasant’s baby, tumbling into a feed trough in Bethlehem? As insane as the King of the Universe screaming from a wooden stake, stabbed like a dagger into the heart of the Hill of the Skull? As crazy as all the other wonders that you claim to believe, that you’ve embalmed in the pages of your theology but that you’re unwilling to look for here and now?
‘But then again, Hannah.’ I hear a voice speaking and realise that it must be my own, ‘who knows? Maybe it was.’ And suddenly an ordinary afternoon is filled with extraordinary possibilities. For I find myself realising anew---even, in some shadowed corner of my soul, believing---that God is always present, always available, even in the moments when I least expect it.
What I am experiencing is a reminder of glory.

From ‘Hullabaloo' by Timothy Paul Jones. Used by permission.
More information about Hullabaloo, as well as musical playlists:
http://www.timothypauljones.com
Order copies of Hullabaloo here.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0781444837?tag=timothypauljo-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0781444837&adid=0P2WGPJX8P2Y846AECCX&:

TROUBLE !

2007-11-16T11:01:00.000Z

Freak incidents involving animals topped the list of the most bizarre claims made to insurer Norwich Union last year, with food-related prangs also featuring highly.
"A frozen squirrel fell out of a tree and crashed through the windscreen on to the passenger seat."
"The car was parked when a reindeer fell on the bonnet of my car."
"As I was driving round a bend, one of the doors opened and a frozen kebab flew out, hitting and damaging a passing car."
"A herd of cows licked my car and caused damage to the paintwork."
"While I was waiting at traffic lights, a wasp went down my trouser leg which made me hit the accelerator and prang the car in front."
"A cow jumped on my quad bike."
As an Insurance Broker, I reckon the funniest incident I ever had to deal with was a household claim where the guy’s dog had chewed up his false teeth. He came into my office and tried, with no teeth in, to describe what had happened….

As Christians we should not be surprised when trouble comes. It may be hard to take at the time. I remember, at the age of 19, disconsolately sitting in my car with a burned out clutch outside the Royal Albert Hall, wondering what to do next. I had a New Testament there and opened it at the first chapter of James;
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance.. Perserverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature, and complete, not lacking anything."
That was like God speaking directly to me!
The car was repaired for £25 (2 weeks wages at the time) and I got it back from London, of course.
That was a lesson I never forgot, and so when more serious trouble comes along, as it does from time to time I’m ready for it !

"I've told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you'll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world." Jesus. (John 16 v 33)

NON ANGLI SED ANGELI

2007-11-08T12:03:00.000Z

11th November....Remembrance Day.
2007....the year we remember the abolition of slavery 200 years ago.

Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy was a First World War Chaplain. He wrote many poems around 90 years ago in and around the trenches.
Below is an excerpt from Studdert-Kennedy's long poem NON ANGLI SED ANGELI, recalling the encounter between Pope Gregory and ‘Angles’ (English slaves) when he famously stated ‘not Angles but Angels’.
In editing it, I have found that Studdert-Kennedy, though long dead, directly challenges many aspects of our society today (even abortion). PC he is not. Some might say he glorifies war but does he?.... and maybe today we glorify peacetime when in fact evil abounds amongst us, and slavery takes new forms.
comments welcomed

He saw it with the eyes of Christ, and spoke
in all unconscious prophecy, the doom
of slavery, which these same blue-eyed boys
would one day die to banish from the world.
And I have seen them die in these last days:
Yes, I have seen their bright blue eyes grow dim
with agony, yet never lose their smile,
The dauntless smile of Angles that reveals
their angel souls, and crowns them Kings by right,
the destined saviours of the world from sin,
and from the curse of tyranny which kills
the souls of men, and turns them into slaves.
The day of tyrant kings is dead, and thrones
shall nevermore dethrone men's souls.
But now a dull inhuman monster takes their place.
The minotaur of Mammon tears the wings
from new-fledged souls and flings them bleeding down
to dogs of greed and lust.
To him they are dead hands, machines that make machines,
and grind out gold to swell the coffers of the rich.
So Satan takes new forms, and when he finds
the sword is weak, too weak to win brave hearts
as slaves, creeps snakelike in, in time of Peace,
to fetter free-born men with golden chains
and lead them helpless captives down to hell.
O England, when this wave of war is spent,
and rolls back baffled from thy rocky breast,
wilt thou be strong to slay the Minotaur,
and strangle that great golden snake that crept
in time of Peace about thy home to kill,
with venom of low greed and lust of wealth,
the soul of Freedom and the heart of Love?
Shall wealth still grow, and woe increase to breed
in filthy slums the slaves of poverty?
Shall senseless pride and vulgar luxury
by gilding over evil make it good?
Shall souls be only hands again, dead hands,
That toil for wealth that makes none rich save those who need it not?
Shall men still seek in drink a refuge from the burden of their strife,
And from that dull monotony of grey
that shadows half our cities from the sun?
Shall women still be bought and sold, like dogs
upon the streets, because the wage they earn
by work will not keep bodies for their souls?
Shall children come to birth, too weak to live,
Not even hands of strength, but feeble hands,
that clutch at life and die--just born to die
and cry--cry shame upon the grimy world
that murdered them?
If this be what must come,
then blessed are the dead who die in war,
Their bodies shattered, but their souls untouched
by slime of sin, unpoisoned by the snake,
For war is kinder than a Godless peace.
O England, let this message from the past
ring down the ages like a trumpet call,
Not Angles these but Angels, souls not slaves,
let not thy wealth be counted in base coin
but in chaste mothers, comely maids, strong men
with kindly eyes, in sound of children's play,
and in those happy aged ones who stand
between the seas of life, and, looking back
and forwards, vow that human life is good.
So must our land be reckoned rich or poor.

LINKS:

Studdert-Kennedy's poems:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/dasc/TUB.HTM

modern forms of slavery:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/slavery/modern/modern_print.html
http://paulfield.com/cargo/
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx