You're hired!

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

He is not here. He is risen

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