Mover of Sedition

A tale of two funerals

2010-07-19T11:00:00.003+01:00

I went to funeral last week. It was for the mother of a friend who was suitably advanced in age and by all accounts was quite a character. She appears well loved by those who knew her and yet there was no more than about 15 people in the little chapel at the crematorium. The short service was conducted by a vicar who had never heard of the deceased until he was approached to conduct this short service. He prayed for the deceased which to me seems pointless.

This all happened 1 year and 2 days after the last funeral I'd attended, that of Jo Norton. The difference could not have been bigger, with a large Church packed with friends & family. A day marked with some sadness for losing a friend, pastor, leader who'd had such an impact on so very many people, but also marked with genuine celebration of the privilege of knowing this amazing woman of God. It was just about the only time I've been at a funeral where the coffin has left the church to huge applause - and it felt right & proper if not just a little odd.

Two very different funerals, two very different people but both very much loved. Both lead by people of faith but only one where the faith mattered to the deceased and the majority of those present. Both important events to the few or the many affected by their loss. Once again I'm reminded of the song by one of my favourite song writer / singers; Glenn Kaiser

"If I leave this world tomorrow, let me leave a little love behind

There is too much pain and misery, too much heartache & too much crying"

Convertible churches

2010-02-21T23:40:00.003Z

It's been quite a while since my last post. Apologies for the absence...

I'm still working through the Gospels. Still getting fascinated by even familiar stories. Like the passage in Luke 5:12 - 27 where some guys take their paralysed friend on stretcher, break in through the roof & get him healed.

I was interested that it was the friends faith that was commended. That they were willing to wreck the place to get in, and that forgiving sin was so very very controversial.

Imagine the scene...

You are sat in a nice church. Not extravagent or ornate. A nice church with nice people in a nice area.

Today you have a guest speaker, a new man in town. You sit facinated that this man seems to teach something you’ve never heard before and yet it so very clearly makes sense. Someone who clearly knows scripture so very well and deciphers it with such certain authority, not wooly and vague, humbly and not arrogant like so very many others. And what is more, you hear that he has been known to miraculously heal all kinds of sick people. Even lepers. By touching them!

You are nicely settled, in your nice church of nice people in a nice area, despite the fact that your guest speaker has attracted such a huge crowd that the place is packed more than you ever imagined possible. You are now aware of a scraping sound coming from above. Then you realise you have quite bad dandruff (despite the ‘Head & Shoulders’). No, sorry, it isn’t dandruff, it’s crumbling plaster. Someone is trying to break in through the roof! The roof for heaven’s sake!

Now you see four big oiks lowering in some cripple on stretcher. These blokes are wrecking your nice church full of nice people by creating a huge unsightly hole in the nice roof and then lowering in a cripple of all things. Now this visitor chappy may be able to heal, even willing to actually touch a leper, but bringing in some cripple who we’d rather not see in our kind of church through the unsightly, unplanned hole in the roof made by the equally unsightly oafsis not something you want to witness.

But this is odd. The nice visiting preacher man is not upset at the unusual changes to your nice church. He thinks the big blokes actually have a lot of faith. Faith that should be rewarded. He doesn’t even mind the cripple, even wants to help him. Maybe worth seeing...

You’ve seen this before. He says that their faith has made them well and off they go... But not this time. He’s declaring his sins forgiven! Who does he think he is? God?

Ahh

So. Question time...

How far would we go to try & get our friends to meet Jesus, have their sins forgiven & get healed?

How are the structures that surround our churches stopping this happening?

How do we “open up” church to those that still need Christ?

Actually, it would be rather good to be in a church that was “convertible”

Blessed be your name...

2009-06-29T23:55:00.002+01:00

It's been a real rollercoaster ride of a few weeks. I guess many of you who will read this will know all about Major Jo Norton, a most remarkable woman of God. Having been very suddenly struck with a brain aneurysm and by much prayer of Godly people survived... for a while

Having been "promoted to Glory" as we in The Salvation Army put it, just as she was due to return home, it appears that some amazing things have been happening. One song that has been much quoted says

Blessèd be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me,
When the world's 'all as it should be',
Blessèd be Your name.
And blessèd be Your name
On the road marked with suffering,
Though there's pain in the offering,
Blessèd be Your name.

The worship group I lead on Sunday evenings sang that yesterday. I felt we needed to. They didn't know Jo of course, and really it's impossible to explain 'Jo Norton' to anyone that hasn't had that experience. But it can be helpful just to say or sing things that you need to believe.

There are a number of Bible verses that have jumped out at me including Philippians 1:21 "to live is Christ... to die is gain". Life is being Christ to those that don't yet know Him, and to those that do - but Jo has the good bit, the gain of death. Romans 8:28 tells us that in all things God works for the good of those that love & follow Him - we've seen at least a glimpse of that.

I don't know what to think just now. I only seem to feel emotion about this when I speak about it. I have an even greater urge to return to what I have to confess as my spiritual home of Wandsworth Salvation Army / Boiler Room. But that may be tainted by current emotion as well as disillusion with my current situation. Sometimes I think that I'm needed there, but at the same time think that I'd no longer have a place.

Grief is confusing. Especially when you don't even know if you have a right to grieve for someone you haven't spent that much time with in the last 8 years. But that will settle with time I guess - it will all make more sense. So best stop waffling

Confessions of the motivationally challenged

2009-04-20T21:40:00.002+01:00

In my reading recently, I've come across one of those incidental details in the Gospels that seems to have struck a chord greater than it may need. I'm still, almost 16 months after starting, doing my reading through the Gospels in a year thing and at this rate it may be one per year.

I was reading in chapter 6 where the 12 come back from a short mission of preaching, healing & deliverance...

"The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves."

So they're getting away from the crowd to get some quality time to 'de-brief' on their recent mission. If they walk they'll be followed on foot and pestered as they walk (maybe pester is the wrong word), so they take a boat trip to some secluded spot.

Their only quality time then appears to be on the boat - the crowd figure out where they're going & are waiting for them (cue feeding of 5,000). It made me think about time away. Maybe it isn't necessary to stop doing stuff totally to get rest - they had some time but it was a part of the journey and not purely time out - very necessary and useful, but not a stop but a restful journey.

My title here is down to the fact that I am by nature a lazy person, or to be polite, motivationally challenged. Sometimes I realise that being motivationally challenged doesn't help rest. I go with the flow, not wanting to make the effort to refuse people. I end up doing more sometimes because I'm just too lazy to say no & argue my point - that and a long standing fear of confrontation.

What I need to learn from this is to know when to take myself out of a situation and to take time out without stopping progress... if I can be bothered?

Christmas thoughts

2008-12-24T23:56:00.002Z

It seems that the last couple of years I've had new takes on Christmas; on what it can and maybe should mean. This being despite what has felt like my busiest season for quite some time, and in part triggered by the realisation that on the first day of one of my 3 non-stop weeks, I managed to pass through Birmingham Snow Hill train station going back to work about 9-10 hours after passing on the way home the previous night. That was a work-busy week followed by 2 church-busy weeks.

One great illustration I am in danger of over using at Christmas came from Alan Norton (not sure where he got it from). It involves getting people to imagine in great detail their perfect Christmas present, then expecting them to thank you because as we all know, it's the thought that counts.

Then I got on to thinking how for some, maybe most people, Christmas is maybe a little disappointing. The hype somehow doesn't match reality. It occurred to me that maybe we have a "it's the thought that counts" mentality. Or maybe it's down to expecting to get a lot, even giving to get if need be.

Maybe we can feel the same about Christ as well as Christmas. It promises peace on earth and goodwill to all men. We don't see that in the way we expect. It isn't that we expect too much of God Incarnate, it's that we expect the wrong thing. It seems to me that we expect Jesus' bringing peace & goodwill to be a do-it-all service when it isn't like that.

It occurred to me that rather than just turning up and in a Disney-esque manner to magic up an idyllic society of love, peace & security, Jesus perfectly demonstrated what this would look like and what it would cost. Peace on earth means we have to not hate or hold grudges - whatever is thrown at us - it's what Jesus did after all. Goodwill to all means that we have to give of ourselves to help all, even the very least & very worst. That's what Jesus did. He didn't give to the deserving only, He just gave everything. Even it meant His own death.

So this Christmas, I hope you know the peace and goodwill that Jesus brings. And the strength to live in peace and goodness o fellow man.

A new take on an old song

2008-10-04T14:49:00.002+01:00

As I think I mentioned earlier in the year, I decided at the beginning of this year to study the Gospels, reading every day to get through them all in a year and making notes in a page-a-day diary. It appears it will take more than a year though, as I'm currently just starting chapter 26 of Matthew.

This, of course, means I've just finished chapter 25 and that scarily familiar passage about the judgement being where the 'Son of Man' seperates like the sheep from the goats with the main message being that "to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me" (verses 40 & 45 NASB). This has been getting under my skin for a while now, aided and abbetted by writers who talk of seeing Jesus in "His most distressing disguises".

Whilst pondering this at a Bible study the other night (it wasn't the subject at hand, but I was drifting as always), an old chorus popped into my head. It's taken on a completely new meaning for me:

Open our eyes, lord,
We want to see Jesus,
To reach out and
touch Him
And say that we love Him.
Open our ears, Lord,
And help us
to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord,
We want to see Jesus.

I can't help but think that the next time I hear this sung, I'll want to take them by the hand to where the homeless, starving, social outcast's and other "least of these" live and say "There you go; reach out and touch them, tell them that you them, listen to them, feed them, clothe them, visit them."

Maybe this chorus isn't so 'nice' anymore. But it is more challenging!

Me & my big mouth!

2008-09-01T19:54:00.002+01:00

Anyone who knows me will by now have realised that I have congenital verbal diarrhea. I often speak without thinking first and therefore I also have chronic foot-in-mouth disease.

Yesterday in Church as we stood to sing I moved, as I often do, to enable the person behind to see the projected song words. The leader saw that a few of us had done that and said that if we wanted to dance we should feel free to do so "After all... David danced before the Lord"

Without hesitation I responded "Yeah! but he was naked!"
I've been smiling ever since. But alas I was wrong... Having just looked it up it appears he was wearing his pants.

2 Samuel 6:14 (NASB)
"And David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod."

A Good Church

2008-08-27T21:57:00.002+01:00

I started composing this whilst considering my frustrations with Church. This is unlikely to be an exhaustive list and yes, I have styled it on the closing passage of proverbs which talks about "A good wife". We are Christ's bride after all. I have deliberately not used the terms 'perfect' or 'ideal' on the basis of it not existing... & our ruining it if we joined.

Please feel free to add other lines as you see fit. Or to disagree. Or to improve.

A good church – who can find?

She has a culture of honesty about her failings

She desires to worship always. And in all ways

Her sung, corporate worship is an expression of her joy in serving God in the community she lives in

She values substance over style

She desires practice over theory

She is desperate to know God, to serve God and to love His people

She upsets the comfortable and comforts the upset

Her friends & allies are the poor, the outcast, the unlovely & unloved

She does not seek change for change sake

She is intolerant of pretence, preferring even the most painful truth

She loves those who hate her and seek her destruction

She cries at injustice, and poverty, and brokenness

She wants to understand God's Kingdom. And make it real – here and now

She is both admired and feared – usually by the same people

She frequently finds herself in trouble

She survives, even thrives, by seeking others needs above her own

She loves truth and will only sing truth

She makes friends of the lowly & is regarded as an enemy by the elite

She rejects earthly riches

She fails in most, if not all of the above

She carries on anyway – to stop trying would be the greatest failure of all

All God's children will rise up & call her blessed

Frustration

2008-08-18T23:55:00.002+01:00

Round & round & round I go
Where I stop, God only knows
Wandering, spinning my plates in the air
Wondering if my slave-drivers ever really care

I work. And I tire
I return to my home
Bush soon rush out to do Church stuff
Just need some time alone

But why do I strive? and hurry? and rush?
Why do I not see my wife nearly enough?
If I were progressing It'd really be fine
But I'm running in circles
From ridiculous to sublime

My life breaks are failing
The cables have snapped
I see my life crashing
I feel hopelessly trapped

Trapped in a church and a job
With nowhere to go
Trapped by my "speech impediment"
I'm unable to say NO

They say I have potential
But I fear my wings have been clipped
Was it them or was it me?
I must break free soon

I see a hope
I see light
I see a better way
But it's not in my comfort zone

I fear I'll fail
I fear letting others down
- those that may be left behind
I fear disappointment
But my desire for change just will not be suppressed

I must move on
- but not let people down
I must change
- but not go back (maybe?)
I cannot carry on like this
I cannot stay the same

"Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."
What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?
Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.

Faith and/in reason (delete as appropriate)

2008-07-26T17:25:00.001+01:00

I had a nightmare journey home last Thursday, but I made the good decision to check the paper shop before heading to the station. I ended up buying a magazine I very rarely buy, the last time being at least 15-20 years ago: it was The New Scientist. I was drawn to an article or series of articles headlined as “What's wrong with reason?”. It had a heading of “seven reasons why people hate reason” inside and included Archbishop Rowan Williams as a contributor so there would be at least some non-anti-religious opinion.

This did indeed prove to be a very interesting read for the 3 hours it took to make my 20 minute journey. It was a recognition that people are steering away to some degree from science & reason and some of the reasons why. There were several honest scientists who admit that there is much wrong with “science” as it's seen by the public and the wrong done, that reason was not always reasonable and is far more limited than the early founders of the Enlightenment would have you believe. That there were & maybe still are extremes of “rationality” that are at least as extreme as any religious bigotry.

Rowan Williams said that “There was a constant risk of slipping into the conclusion... that the unreasonable human didn't count”. That this may have helped contribute toward attitudes that allowed slavery in America and post-revolution France. There needs to be something outside of “instrumental reason” to an older/pre modern rationality which puts “reasonable” into the context of community.

Another Contributor, Neuroscientist Colin Frith, put forward the idea that no-one really uses reason. Most of our computing is made sub-consciously and we then use reason to justify our decisions rather than guide them. Sociologist David Miller showed how science was abused by governments and corporations, leading to more scepticism – his article really was enlightening!

This all fits into much of what I have long thought. That Science can easily become religion, that atheism is a faith (you cannot prove God doesn't exist any more than I can prove He does) and that reason is not always reasonable. The 7th article was by philosopher Mary Midgley and was titled “Reason's just another faith”. She spoke of “scientism” as well as science – that many plausible theories are accepted as fact without absolute proof and that some believe that science can answer everything: “Science then no longer stands for enquiry but for ideology, authority, a general approach to life which demands to prevail in all conflicts: that is, it is turned into scientism.”

“The central question” she says “is about trust. In what do you put your faith?” - indeed.

Me & the puffins

2008-07-22T16:58:00.005+01:00

Those that know me will know that I have a liking for puffins. For watching / looking at puffins, not eating them as they don't taste that good (yes, I really have tried).

Anyhow, I've wondered for a while if there was any particular reason why and having recently returned from a puffin watching holiday, I think I've remembered at least some of the reasons. I see some areas of similarity between me & the puffin, as well as some areas of difference.

Have you ever watched a puffin take of or land? Not for them the graceful flight or powerful soaring of eagles. Take-off's appear to resemble throwing yourself off the edge of the cliff and then flapping for all you're worth. Landing appears to be stopping yourself by sticking your feet out as you hit the nearest rock or entering your burrow bottom-first. No grace, no obvious display of power or majestic swooping. The apparent throw yourself off the cliff, flap like fury to fly, land by hitting something solid to land technique quite clearly ought not to work. They're often called the clowns of the air and it's easy to see why.

I guess the reason I can associate with this is that I often feel like I'm flapping furiously, lacking graceful majesty or obvious power. As I spent an extraordinary length of time (and vast amounts of film) observing my comical friends a few years ago on the Treshnish Isles, off Mull, it occurred to me that these creatures really don't appear to belong in the sky. They just look so out of place.

I often feel as though I'm a bit of a fraud. Somehow, I do the equivalent of throwing myself off the cliff, landing by hitting solid ground, flapping like whatever in between and somehow getting away with it. I don't deserve to be where I am now. I ought to have failed far more spectacularly. I see the many greater people around, many of them good friends, and I see more eagle-like soaring and I assume (rightly or wrongly) through their greater ability or competence. Then I look at the good stuff, where I have succeeded or at least got away with it, and I wonder how on earth I've done as well as I have.

If I'm being realistic, I guess that my image of others soaring eagle-like may actually be less realistic than I imagine. But that shouldn't stop me trying. I may not be an eagle, but I could be a better puffin.

Friends

2008-06-04T21:58:00.002+01:00

Life is hectic, but at last I get back to my blogging - but so much to say so little time!

I've been thinking a lot about friends recently. This was in no small part down to meeting up with an old friend that I hadn't seen since my London days, Martin Weaver. It was so good to catch up, share stories etc.

It made me realise that I really don't have many 'quality' friends where I am now. I'm a bloke, therefore I try to fool myself into thinking that I don't need close friends, but as I've taken the time to look back I've realised that there are some friendships that maybe I either didn't realise how good friends they were or how good it was to have them as friends.

I've also just finished finished reading Jeff Lucas' book "Going Public" which looks at the life of Elijah. When he looked at the relationship between Elijah and Elisha, he saw that it was as teacher/pupil, master/disciple and probably most importantly as friends. I miss that. But maybe I won't see the extent of my current 'local' friendships until I move on again.

I also got an invite to my friend Tracey-Anne's birthday bash which happens to be at the beginning of a holiday week or so. So I got to thinking that this year I will catch up with all my old friends - a kind of 'friends tour'. Some I haven't seen for 7 years or more.

If you're a friend & you don't mind/might tolerate/would like a visit from us - let us know & we'll add to our friends tour agenda.

Philosophical ramblings

2008-04-22T22:33:00.000+01:00

I've been having a rather philosophical moment or two.
I spent today ferrying my lovely wife to Bolton for a course. Once I got back I thought that as I'd spent all day in the car, I'd walk to church for music practice. This led to one of those allegedly random encounters along the canal tow-path. There was a woman, clearly in need of assistance who asked if she needed to call an ambulance. Beside the canal was a woman clearly distressed and even more clearly wet. She'd apparently just crawled out of the canal and said she wanted to die. The ambulance was called, and being next to Tesco, I went in to get something warm for the nearly drowned woman. The ambulance was amazingly quick. They and the police were there in no time at all, with the police trying to stop the woman jumping in again.
It was reassuring to see someone stopping to help. But it also made me think of how easy it is to ignore the distressed, hurt & dying around us. The rescuer lady was clearly upset. But maybe that's OK. Maybe it's better to be vulnerable, allowing ourselves to be hurt or even have our hearts broken if the alternative is to be numb & not feel anything. Then to be able to experience real joy also. To know that you're alive.
It puts my mind back to hearing General John Gowans speaking one time. He said that what surprised him was not how few people turn to Jesus, but how many did. It seems to me that we often sell people a 'lovely' Gospel that says everything will be OK. I've also been chewing over some the other dishonest (if that's not too strong a word) stuff we say or sing.
When I were a lad, I went to a SABAC group (Salvation Army Boys Adventure Corps). There was a SABAC prayer that said:
“Lord Jesus, help me to discover you as the Way, the Truth and the Life and to find for myself that following you is the greatest adventure of all.”
We litter our songs with other such claims and yet at the same time we (and I definitely include myself in this) sanitise our faith, making it safe and easy to handle. On the other hand we also sing songs like “following Jesus is fun” which although is often true, can also be misleading.
I just hope I can continue to be the person that stops to help the distressed. Even when it makes me late for band practice. That maybe I'll even go looking for them – I know they'll be there

Good Friday thoughts

2008-03-21T23:26:00.002Z

I've had a curious Good Friday, leaving me with some odd questions/feelings.

This morning I went with 2 or 3 others to the Churches Together in Kidderminster Good Friday walk. As we were preparing to set off I found myself "volunteering" to carry the cross and a number of things occurred to me.

Firstly I thought that the cross I had to carry was just a little (OK, a lot) tame. The wood was lightweight and very smoothly finished. Not too big and actually quite easy to carry. And that is where my problems started. It all just seemed to nice, sterile & lightweight - it could have been worse of course - had it been on wheels (I've seen that before) I probably would have refused the job. I guess that for their purposes you'd want something that makes it easier to find a cross-carrying volunteer. I just think that's all too easy. In such litigious days it wouldn't make sense to have splintering heavy Oak - health & safety & all that.

As I started leading the procession, it occurred to me that I really wasn't worthy of such an honour. To represent Jesus in such a way with me being, well, me basically. Sure, I know that I'm made worthy through the very sacrifice I was representing, but it just felt an odd mixture of privilege, honour and maybe just a hint of feeling a fraud (emphasis on feeling, not believing).

As I was pondering this, it also occurred to me that in many ways I deserved to carry the cross. Not going to the opposite extreme, believing that I am as good as Jesus, but believing that as the cross represents death then that is what I deserve. The wages of sin is death and without the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus that is exactly what I'd deserve.

Sheep, snakes, doves & wolves

2008-03-13T23:35:00.002Z

I'm continuing with my devotional studies that I started at the beginning of the year. No books or aids other than my NASB study Bible notes. Making my way through the Gospels to look more closely at what Jesus did & said. It really has been quite interesting, to the point where I have actually kept up with it, but seem to be making very slow progress as I'm taking just a few verses, sometimes just one, at a time.

I've been finding lots of those bits that I must have read a thousand times before but never noticed until now, or seen in a completely new way. This includes Matthew 10:16 which I was looking at last night. I tend to read as much as I think will give me thoughts to write to fill a page of my A5 page-a-day diary... This was a 1 verse special

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."

This is not a 'new' passage - I've heard/read it many times before. But would we really be sent as sheep amongst wolves? That must surely be fatal? But maybe some of us will face a mauling in whatever way that may be? Maybe we need to be prepared to be that vulnerable?

It also looks like a heady mix of metaphors with 5 animals in 1 verse (if you have to ask about the hidden 5th animal, be prepared for typical appalling Dave Jones humour). I've often had this niggling problem with the idea of being 'shrewd as serpents'. It almost seems to imply a sneakiness which must surely be un-Godly. Especially as the serpent has such negative implications from the fall of man in Genesis. Not like dove-like innocence; that's an easy one. But giving it some real thought it seems that the shady biblical history of serpents may have skewed my word recognition.

"Shrewd: astute: marked by practical hardheaded intelligence; "a smart businessman"; "an astute tenant always reads the small print in a lease"

Shrewd is not really being sneaky like I may have assumed. Just clever or having your wits about you, but in combination with dove-like innocence.

So now that makes the sheep/wolf thing clearer - combining the serpent & dove aspects can make us less vulnerable when we go out amongst the wolves - but that won't ever make it less scary if we're doing right.

The passing of a great man

2008-02-26T22:58:00.002Z

I'm a big fan of music. I have very varied tastes and I have a big "Christian" music collection but in recent years have become far more discerning.
There are just one or 2 Christian artists I will go out of my way to get. Glen Kaiser and his many projects, Darrell Mansfield and the legend that is Larry Norman. I never did get the oportunity to see Larry in concert having once travelled by train & ferry from London to Belfast for a concert that was cancelled at last minute due to his health - he was replaced by Phil & John who I have seen more times than I care to remember!
Larry Norman struggled for the last 10 years or so with heart problems. He lost the fight last Sunday and is now in a much better place. I hope I meet him sometime when I get there, he was after all "only visiting this planet"

Encouragement or truth?

2008-02-02T23:15:00.000Z

Whilst staying home suffering severe man-flu (that's the lowest form of flu for the uninitiated) thinking that it would have been far more sensible if I'd taken a couple days off sick this week, I got watching Ironside on TV

I often like watching cheesy 70's detective dramas, although no-one comes close to that all time detective hero Columbo.

There was one line that someone used, I can't even remember the context but it's been running through my head all day. Ironside, our brave but wheelchair bound detective was discussing a predicament with a colleague. He made made it clear that the situation wasn't good, to which his colleague replied

"I was hoping for encouragement - not the truth!"

It made me think of the way that attitude is lived out in our lives, including those of us in Church. For some it's the insistance that they want it all to be very simple which can often just descend into intellectual laziness (Jesus did say to love the lord with all your mind Matthew 22 v 37).

Often we just block out the stuff that makes us uncomfortable even when we know it's true. Instead we want to be encouraged, to feel good about ourselves, have a little bit of self belief no matter what it may be based on. It reminded of a verse in 2 Timothy (4v3)

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires"

I hope that I will look for the truth, even if it's uncomfortable, even painful.

A question of perfection?

2008-01-25T21:06:00.000Z

I've been meaning to write a new blog all year!

I decided at the end of last year that starting on January 1st I would start going through the Gospels a few verses at a time to study the words and deeds of Jesus. It's kind of been on my to-do list for quite a while now, so on December 31st I bought a page-a-day A5 diary to make notes and have been keeping up well. If I had the time I'd write most of them up here.

There are 2 things that have become apparent. One of which is a rather interesting trend in my thoughts & writings, the other is re-visiting an old conundrum...

The trend I've noticed is how few answers I've found and the far greater number of questions. I've only just got to the end of Matthew chapter 5 so I've just been starting on the Sermon on the Mount. Some new questions have arisen in my mind and some new understanding on the beattitudes. I'm now going through the next batch of teaching including the really interesting series of "you've heard it said..." followed by "but I tell you..." That is an under preached, under taught part of the Gospels.

The old conundrum is the last verse of Matthew 5: "Be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect". I was half tempted to skip over it last night. Would it be too much or not enough to handle? I mean it's just 1 verse at the end of the chapter kind of dangling after those you've heard it said/I tell you bits. It's also an idea I re-visit every so often. As I chewed it over during the day I decided that it was worth going over again.

I've long pondered the possibilty of perfection. Jesus says we should be perfect, 1 Thessalonians 5 says we may be preserved blameless, yet we all seem to accept that we cannot become perfect. I've longed held that perfection is possible but felt uncomfortable with the idea, like I may fooling myself. To make matters worse, believing that perfection isn't possible makes at least as uncomfortable.

So here's my latest conclusion - which I think has a good balance...

Percfection is possible. There is no reason why you cannot live from this moment on without sinning. Paul wrote in Corinthinians that there is no temptation that isn't common to man and that God always gives a way out of it. To say that sin is inevitable just gives us an excuse.
But possible is not the same as probable. For example - there is a temperature (-273 degrees C) that you cannot go below and at which all sub-atomic activity ceases. Noone has achieved that temperature yet, but we're quite sure that that is the case.
I believe that I could live the rest of my life from this moment without sinning. I also believe that this is unlikely.

I don't think that in saying "be perfect" Jesus is setting an impossible task that will just make us give up when we keep failing. But I do believe that we should always aim for perfection. That when we fail we shouldn't mope or moan but put it behind us (as God does) and keep aiming for the best

The only alternative to this is to write our failings of with the old excuses such as "nobody's perfect" or "I'm only human". The tricky bit is getting the balance right between beating yourself up over messing up (never good or healthy) and accepting second best (or worse).

I'd like to say that if I ever achieved perfection I'd let you al know - but I guess I'd be too humble to tell you!

He giveth & giveth & giveth & giveth...

2007-12-18T00:24:00.000Z

There have been some rather trying situations for some my friends at church recently. We had an ad-hoc prayer meeting on Sunday where we used the song 'He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater'

This has been particularly special for me since my mum died of cancer back in 2000. She really struggled with her faith until her last few weeks. This song was used at her funeral and memorial servces but what really struck me then and still does now, even though all the words seem powerful, is the sond verse:

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength is failed ere the day is half-done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father's full giving is only begun.

Whenever I read or sing this I wonder when I'm really going to believe it. I know that it's true in the theological / theoretical sense, but belief that puts it in action is often something quite different.

One of the many conclusions that I've come to recently, due in part to my reading material, is that if we want to see miracles such as healing, miraculous provision and even salvation, then we need to have given everything. It occurs to me that it's only when we know we have nothing left to give and that we can do no more than rely on God for a miracle, that He steps in.

It makes sense I guess. Why should God do the miraculous just to make life easier?

Money & sex

2007-12-02T14:50:00.000Z

I've been doing more of that uncomfortable reading lately. Not the warm fuzzy 'bless me' material. More the 'ouch that's gonna hurt' type that challenges your whole lifestyle. It started recently with “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claibourne & then I finally got round to reading a book by Jim Wallis called “The Call to Conversion” which asks for a more holistic ideal of conversion (only on 3rd chapter so far). They both do a great job in convincing me that our whole way of selfish so-called freedom is so often at the expense of or possibly just ignorant of the starving & suffering elsewhere. We Christians then make matters worse by failing to recognise this, making religion about experiences and abstract moral rules, but only some areas of morality.

I guess we can't just blame the big corporations or governments. We still buy all the goods we believe we are entitled to with barely a thought to where they come from or what cost they've been to the workers or to the planet or even to our own bank balances or indebtedness to more big corporations.

It's nearly Christmas & I'm as bad as the next man, woman or child at coming up with lame reasons (sorry, excuses) why I must, ought or deserve to have some great gadget. Including the laptop I'm writing on now. We no longer tolerate not getting what we feel we deserve and this train of thought led me to an interesting conclusion which, like many of my 'conclusions' needs to still be thought out a little more.

It seems to me that what we often refer to as the moral decline of the 'world' is really quite closely linked to our excessive, selfish consumerism. If we can turn a blind eye the philosophy that says “we want, we deserve it – to hell with the cost” and ignore the greater costs as well as our own indebtedness, then how on earth can we expect anyone without Christ to say no to anything that they want.

We even find people in the church (although I wonder why that's such a surprise) that also see things this way. The old (but certainly not defunct) ideals of commitment to marriage, sexual morality and honesty can easily go out the window. If we can buy what we like regardless of cost, then why can't we have whatever person we want regardless of cost (to us or others)? So it seems to me that social ethics, sexual morality, honesty and commercial/financial ethics are all linked. Ignoring any of them is sin. If the church looks only at some and neglects the rest then maybe, just maybe the whole thing falls apart anyway.

Entertaining Angels... and demons

2007-10-31T00:05:00.000Z

Hebrews 13:1-6

Let love of the brethren continue.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.
Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said,

"I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

so that we confidently say,

"THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"

Verse 2 says that we may be entertaining angels unaware when we entertain strangers. Then we are told not to love money but to be content with what we have.
I often find it difficult to stomach much of what appears on 'Christian' TV. I guess I always knew that there was a lot of 'prosperity gospel' nonsense out there.
I'd like to think (however accurate that may be) that the angels I'd be entertaining would be the odd-balls & freaks – but I guess that I can understand to a degree how so many people find the greedy man's gospel so appealing. One man who I've observed recently seems to appeal directly to peoples' wallets. You want to be rich – send me money (covenant / faith seed) and you'll be holy-rich!
Some of these people amuse me, others are surprisingly sound. But this man wasn't one of those amusingly giving away holy hankies (sorry , miracle prayer cloths) or tiny bottles of (miracle) spring water which can lead to your financial security or healing. With this man I find myself staring at the screen and with his near-perfect hair, good suit & perfectly groomed beard, I can't help but look for his horns.
It all makes me wonder... If by entertaining strangers we might actually be entertaining angels – if we entertain those that promise riches and flatter our egos – are we entertaining demons?
One day I'll find those horns!!

A most special day

2007-10-01T23:02:00.000+01:00

Today has been a great day & a day of celebration for me & my lovely wife Christine!

I am totally convinced that Christine should have some sort of award or something because she has managed to put up with me as her husband for the last 13 years. Boy does time fly.

God is good - and although I'm far from a perfect husband, I really pleased that he let me have my wife.

One of my all time favourite musicians, blues guitarist & man of God, Glenn Kaiser ( www.glennkaiser.com) puts it like this...

I'm telling you something

I'm telling you now

I've got a love like this world won't allow

It came wrapped in woman, made for me & me alone

God sent her to me, sure as he is on the throne

Her & me - following the Lord from the start

He is the King of my life and she is the Queen of my heart

Recent biblical musings

2007-09-25T23:54:00.000+01:00

One of the things I thought I might do from time to time here is share whatever random - or not so random - thoughts may be running through my head about Bible verses that have stuck out.

2 Things have been running through my head recently. Psalm 73, along with many of the Psalms, is a bit moany in places, but comes to a beuiful conclusion in verse 25

"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you."

I get decidedly fed up with one person on a regular basis that constantly lets me down... Unfortunately it's me. This isn't a sympathy gathering exercise or alse modesty thing - I have an incredible capacity for idiocy usually resulting from laziness or congenital disorganisation.

This reminds me that despite all of my failures and all the nonsense that all too often distracts me I have some things in life that will not or can not change. Even if I lost everything I own & everyone I love I cannot lose God or Him me. He's all I really have in life. I may be distracted by other stuff & nonsense but there isn't anything I desire besides Him.

I've also been considering the Good Samaritan as in Lukes Gospel (chapter 10). But not so much the parable itself, more the interaction between Jesus & the lawyer who provokes the telling of the parable. I have this grand idea that one day I'll write a book studying the interactions Jesus had with people - both followers and those who rejected him.

This guy tries to catch Jesus out with a testing question. When Jesus gives what appears to be a text-book answer "Love the Lord your God... and your neighbour as yourself" (v27) he asks "Who is my neighbour?"

Jesus then tells the now infamous story. At the end he still doesn't answer his original question. He turns the question on its head from who my neighbour is - to how you should be the neighbour that loves.

I wonder how often we don't get our questions answered satisfactorily because we ask the wrong thing?

Starting soon...

2007-09-25T23:43:00.000+01:00

Well, I finally decided to try my hand at blogging.

Don't know if this will ever be read or found interesting / useful etc, so let me know you're out there!

Dave