Letting in the ‘foreigners’ – Part One

Recently, whilst discussing immigration with an Islamic friend, the phrase, "Without justice there can be no peace,” cropped up.

Developing this, my friend pointed to the British justice system and how it comes from the biblical principles that shaped us as a Christian country and birthed in us, as a nation, a strong sense of biblical law, justice and fair play. This offers a peace which attracts many to our shores.

Across out nation many have drawn lines about who is and isn’t welcome to our country and almost everyone I meet has an opinion about immigration. Christians often ask the same questions about ‘who’s in or out’ and we find them drawing lines too as they think about who’s welcome in Church and the cost of admission.

The problem is that we want our world, our nation, our churches, clubs, and groups to be places where we feel comfortable and ‘in control’. We want it done ‘our way’ because we want to belong and feel that the place, and us, are special and we want to keep it that way. Things were exactly the same in the sixth century BC and many of the religious people (as Jews) were keen to keep their religion free from outsiders - people who were different from them - just as much as we are today.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah spoke about this very topic (Isaiah 56.1, 6-8) and to make sure the people took notice he began his conversation with the words, “Thus says the Lord God.” (Not sure it works for our nation in the same way today!).

In this passage the people of God are told to:

i. Maintain justice  and do what is right: this will attract others (outsiders),

ii. Recognise that those ‘foreigners’ who come, if they act rightly are welcome and accepted by God: and so should be accepted and welcomed by those who are already members,

iii. God calls those who love Him to be inclusive, gathering those for whom Church is foreign into the family: all should be welcome in Church, remembering in god that inclusive does not mean permissive and that whilst all may ‘come as they are’, they should expect to leave made different.

This passage asks the question: “Do we want to share God and make Him known or are we keeping Church and our ‘religion’ for ourselves by drawing lines and deciding who is acceptable according to our own attitudes and traditions?”

We cannot (and must not)  stop the love of the God we follow from overflowing to others drawing lines in the sand to contain, constrain, and reject them. Others might be different to us and yet, should they come to God and recognise and regard and honour Him then the promise of that something special at the end of it all (in the Isaiah passage it's the 'holy mountain' for which we should read ‘heaven’) is theirs also.

We don’t possess God, we share Him – a message for today’s Church and for the citizens of our nation with regard to being part of our society as we realise that this also applies to the many ‘foreigners’ who have come, contributed and made Britain Great. Being part is about more than being in a place: It is a state of mind and heart.

"Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant - these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered."

Isaiah 56.1, 6-8

The way we act determines the way people see our God!

Journal: Monotheism, tritheism and Islam

One of the things that Christians appear to either struggle with or ignore has to be made real in the form of the Trinity! If we look to the words of Deuteronomy 6.4 (the shema) we find ourselves faced with the statement: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one'

No doubt or hint of equivocation to be found here - and we believe that God is consistently one, one substance, possessing three distinct and separate natures. There have been, and still are, people who have one God and then the other two as subjective and inferior, other have three gods. God as the Creator and the Holy Spirit and Jesus as created was dealt with in the Church Councils - Sabellius, Arius, modal stuff where there's three form - each existing like ice, water and steam - all this stuff was dealt with and lines were drawn to uphold the Trinity as something solid, sound and consistent.

The thing is that many don't understand the concept and outworking of the Trinity at all and if this is true for the Christians, how on earth do we expect Muslims and others to understand that we Christians and not a bunch of polytheistic - well tritheistic - sorts?

This was the task before me as I taught at an Islamic school yesterday. The school was good in so many respects, the children were disciplined and well-presented, generally attentive and to be honest - pretty much everything you don't always expect from a state school (in my experience).

Moving on to the classroom, the questions were though out and a dialogue was established. I did stuff in a year nine class and then a mixture of years nine and ten - boys in the first, girls in the second - and I think ( hope, pray!) that we all got something from the experience.

One of the best ways to understand your faith is to try and explain it to others and having had friends from many faith (and no faith) groups and nationalities I have often had to become an apologist for the things I believe to be true and found in Christianity.

So in all, a stimulating and most excellent afternoon was had - after an invigorating shower in the morning (indulged in whilst fully clothed in a graveyard with others) - some administration (which, like the poor, it seems will always be with us - followed by some study, some music practice and then a rather interesting Bishops Certificate course where the topic on offer was 'the Trinity' (how's that for a coincidence?).

So a day in which to give thanks for so many things.
For those I have engaged with.
For the places I have found myself.
For the conversations had.
May the things that divide us be made things that bring understanding and respect.
The things that we use to condemn others never be turned against us.
And may the love of God, and of his image made real in the person before us, never be weakened by the meanness of our hearts.

Journal: Men's breakfast, A party and more

Had a go at a men's breakfast today - good turn out and great fun. Really weird when I find myself about to stand up and still not sure what I'm supposed to say. But it went and I was reminded of so much that God has done in my life. Memories of blind seeing and other amazing things were dropped in front of me as I played the cards before me.

It's odd but when I think of the various phases of my life and the opportunities I have been given, and how easily we forget them as time moves on, I realise how blessed I am. And have been - for so many years as a Christian.

Phase two of the day was taken up with funeral visits and related stuff - also encouraging and fun before we hit the last phase in which we had a birthday party and filled the church building. Talked to many new people and had a really energised evening.

Kept coming back to the 'is there a man amongst you who'd offer his son a stone if he asked for bread or a snake is he asked for fish? If we, being awful can give our kids good things, how much more will God, who is good, give his kids?

Sunday looks 'interesting' with fives services in two different locations - nine of them home - some of the natives looked restless when they found I wasn't going to be with them. Needs so Prayer, wisdom and stuff I reckon.

For today's bread - the forgiveness I have been shown (and shown), the trust rather than test that has been today's walk and the ability to touch people with You love.
Lord accept the praises and thanks of a simple man.

Saint's Days: Fake News

Once upon a time, in a land of volcanoes and dragons, lived a Viking Chief by the name of Trump the Newsslayer. Trump was named after the Viking tradition of noting the first response of the Father upon seeing the new addition to the family. Oxblood the Great's father slew an ox in his son's honour. Rollo was named after his Father passed around a tune of chocolate toffees in celebration. Erik the Red - well his dad just painted the town red and partied for days. But sadly, for Newsslayer, his Father having partied hard during the labour merely stood and emitted noxious fumes at the news.

And so it was done!

Trump was a man who instilled fear in many of the people around him and eschewing the words found in the book of Ecclesiastes in one of the Bibles his forebears had removed from an Island on the East coast during one of their conquests, he treasured the songs of fools and the approbation of the weak-minded rather than the company of the wise.

But his name was made, not by slaying dragons nor by his good words or actions, but by engagement with 'fake news' wheresoever it might be found - even creating it where none was to be found so that the challenges could be laid down. From Bowling Greens and their tragedies through to awful non-happenings on the shores of the Viking lands - Trump's voice was heard!

And although rape, loot and pillaging had gone out of fashion across the globe, the poor were still fair game (especially when so many of them perhaps foolhardily followed him) and the rich and wealthy (of whom ironically, he was one) were a good target against whom to mobilise the rabble and appear valiant.

Suffice to say - 'Fake News' was never eradicated - in fact so much of the contemporaneous writings of the Newsslayer's time describe something rotten not in the state of Denmark but in the town of Washing (aptly named because over the years that it existed there had been  much whitewashing and washing of dirty linen to be found there).

So today - as we remember that martyr to the truth - the irrepressible saint of fake news and the opponent of so many - let us offer up a prayer in his honour:

Trump the Newsslayer

Loving Lord, Living Word, 

Today as we remember Trump.

Fill our words with wisdom, 

May our keystrokes be struck with honesty and integrity. 

May we pursue those who misrepresent the truth,

And hear the voices that need be heard over the noise of deceit,

Keep us faithful to the the goals of justice, mercy, and humility,

And strengthen us to overcome obstacles, 

And withstand the chattering and posturing noise of fools,

In the Name of the Living God. Amen.

ps. Apologies to real Vikings and their descendants everywhere ;-)

pps. Watch out for the many great stories in the 'Annals of Trump' (Coming soon)

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools; this also is vanity.

Journal: A peaceful end

Life is fragile at times and today I am reminded of this in the funeral visits done and the death of a friend . . . and when we are gone, what is there that remains?

memories, loved one, our children, friends, monuments to our abilities, lives changed? We take nothing from the world but we leave so much behind as a testimony to our having been here. And beyond? The words, "Death where is your sting: Grave where is your victory?" loom large.

The sting of death is obvious and the victory is found in the Christ - but the immediate pain, confusion, hopelessness are the stumbling block along the road that leads us to the cross.

So many challenges today:

How do we as ministers make sense of the stuff people experience for the people experiencing it?

How do we proclaim the love of the Christ in real and tangible ways?

How are we to live as salt and light to the world?

News that one of ours has had her motorised wheelchair stolen - a cynical and callous act leaving an old woman housebound and a victim  - adds to the challenges as some would love to leave those who took the thing wheelchair bound and the fallout is everywhere around us. But is this justice or revenge? What punishment fits the crime and, should they find those behind the theft, what punishment will they receive?

Justice and revenge, settling scores, acting the right way - more challenges for the community and for those who seek to guide and shape the public responses to be what they should be.

Lord - in your mercy - hear our prayers - and meet our needs.

Thank goodness for Micah 6





This place of reflection is here initially for me to dialogue internally and gain insight and perspective. It first appeared as an extension of this blog for some of those looking at creating their own journal as part of the their journey to discerning vocation. The Morning prayer is there also for that same purpose: to create the discipline of prayer. Dialogue, insights and experience of others concerning this entry is always welcome - all grist to the mill.

Sunday is a fun day

The day began with an 'early' Communion and ended with a Taizé Communion and, sandwiched in between them, was another Communion and an Epiphany service - and as a result the day just flew past in the blink of an eye. Looking at the clock, day aone, I realised that it had been, almost the toe minute, twelve hours from beginning to end and yet it didn't feel like it at all.

I was grabbed by a member of the parish a few weeks back and given a ticking off about how it wasn't hard work but long hours that killed us. But the problem is that each of us has a different idea of what constitutes 'long' I guess.

Today was about Christ becoming known to the world as the Magi come knocking with their gifts but unless we, the Church, are out there telling the world about Him, how will they hear or have that 'scales falling from the eyes' moment? We have a task before us indeed - and I wonder if we are doing it as well as we should?

Lord, this has been a great day; one in which I have been privileged to open the Scriptures and celebrate the risen Christ, and I thank you for it. But it has been a funny day. An unsettled day too as each of the Communion services were slightly out of kilter: the service sheets were wrong in one (Praise the Lord I had a set from elsewhere in the car), the means by which the candles could be lit were non-existent (must learn to carry a lighter), the order sheets had totally vanished in another service (rushed and printed a new set!!), a page was missing from another service (but the memory had the words on the internal paperwork), one of the people leading was missing, and ... well you get the picture I'm sure.

In former days I would have regarded the bumps in the road as 'attack' whereas now I just regard it as mere organisational tremors. But as I reflect in a most excellent day I am pondering whether these bumps might not still be attack. OK! We managed to pretty seamlessly deal with all but the candles, but these things which take my eyes off of the important and cause me to break step, who does it work for? This has made me realise how lax I have become at praying before, and for, a service and lulled me into a sense of false reliance upon others - and the more weak links we introduce, the more likely it is that something will break down.

Lord, help me find the balance between collegial and shared and abrogation. Help me to rejoice in the joy of having so many people involved in the service (we had eight different voices making our main service run yesterday - and it was brilliant) but not forget my duty to ensure that it flows well. Help me to train, equip, release and inspire those around me - and also not forget that sometimes it's the bumps that help us to climb. A shiny polished slope is destined to keep us in the shallows rather than take us to the heights!

One of the joys today was found in small numbers - for in one place with our 'special' service on offer we barely filled a quarter of the building and yet, talking to people afterwards, I realised that what we had done was immensely valuable as it made Church accessible for those who came to a place where it might not have been expected to be.

Church in unusual places - sounds like the New Testament times, doesn't it?

Lord for the needs, the pain, the confusion and the bumps - I thank You.

For the joy of working with others - I give you praise.

Give me patience, grace and love for the day ahead - be with me every step of the way, just as You were today :-)

No heat but plenty of fire

two great services today - the challenge of circumcision and being part of a family of faith is a really tough one for it makes calling a real issue and additionally turns us around to look at what it means to be family too.

Today was a privilege, I only hope I took the opportunities that were before me and did justice to the challenges today presented. Two different congregations and so two different, and yet in essence the same, messages in a day of challenges which saw late starts, later starts and no heating.

Commitment looks like turning up for a early service, especially when the weather is poor and the season cold - we need to cherish our early service congrations for they are not the old stalewarts but the bedrock! For those who came to the 'main" service in a cold church, this is another facet of commitment that deserves to be nurtured and treasured. How do we pastor our sheep and be the good shepherds God, and they, desire?

This appears to be on God's books as a season of nurture and for treasuring those who make up our churches. A season of caring for the newcomers and for raising the bar in terms of Bible knowledge and lifestyle choices for all who follow Jesus, the Christ.

Lord, help me to reach the lost and to treasure every encounter this year. Bring me divine appointments and make me slow to engage with the dross of everyday church life, choosing instead to be present at the partying that surrounds new birth and the discipline of our calling.

Help me to make my diary a tool that assists rather than a chain that constrains and keeps me stuck in the dungeon of excessive work. I have nothing to prove and nothing to give but my love and worship, help me to take more time with you and to calm the daily rush of oft unnecessary toil.

Help me to cherish being part of a physical family and to walk the centreline that divides the two, putting neither to the sword and fulfilling that which I should be doing and giving opportunities for that which I desire to be doing.

Church should be a party not a homework session - a place of love, acceptance, and tolerance. MY this be the reality for me and the people I serve and the church of which I am a member.

Hallelujah

Saturday? Isn't that your day off?

Of course the answer is 'No!' When I served my Curacy it was made very clear that unless Saturday was my official day off, it was a working day. It can be a lighter day than the weekdays, but it most certainly isn't a day off.

I know that I struggle with the concept of days off some weeks as the pastoral needs tend to encroach and amazingly condense my 'off' time but the problems are many and varied in that I don't have a job, I have a calling. Not only that but what I do with a dogcollar I would happily have done without one as a Christian had I ended up working in the City until retirement.

'My church' is mine because I belong to it rather than own it! This is a lesson some I encounter, ordained and lay, need to learn.

Today I have engaged in some subversive Christianity and made Jesus, the Christ, known in some unusual (for Church) settings and in some amazingly God-filled settings. I have found myself greeted and acknowledged by children and adults alike and I like it. Not because I'm a celebrity (although I'll sign copies of the diocesan magazine if you want me to :-). ) but because I am part of a community - and that is the key.

Looking to see what God is doing in the lives around me; getting in step with His mission (the misseo dei is never to be missed) and reaching out to people with no visible need (always and often the neediest) my job is to make 'Christ Known'

As I reflect on the day I ask myself so many questions:
Where did I make Christ known today?
Did I do it well or did I make Christ look wrong and foolish?
Was I a 'fool for Christ' or just a fool who happens to be a believer?
Who did I bless by my presence and who would have been more blessed without it?
What has today taught me and was I willing to learn it; and willing to apply it tomorrow?

Today I took the opportunities I took, but know I could have perhaps taken more. God grant me the wisdom to see the lines I can, and should cross, and those where I need merely to pour you healing presence and step back. Help me to reach out and touch the broken with your love - to listen more - to rest in you and enjoy the scenery just a little.

I love You Lord - you float my boat and rock my socks off - you tell me that all might come near and how nothing separates Your creation from You. I just need to make Church understand that now :-)

Time for Zzzzzzzzzs - bring on tomorrow and make it a little more challenging still, I'm far too comfortable!!

Wear your poppy with pride

Today is 'All Souls Day', the day we remember and give thanks for the lives of all who have 'gone before' and as we do we commend them to God (may they rest in peace) and look towards the return of Jesus, the Christ - reaffirming our hope in the resurrection.

As you think of those whom you know, or know of perhaps if they left this life some time ago, can I encourage you to think ahead for just a moment to Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday (the 11th and 13th of November in preparation of those two days add a poppy avatar to your social media presence?

There are a number on the Vic the Vicar blog - all you need do is go to a search engine and search for:

Vic the Vicar poppy avatar + the name of the cap badge, branch or organisation

(REME, Signals, Int' Corps, RAF, etc.)

If you, or a loved one, served in a branch of the forces or have an affiliation with the cadet organisations and the like - take a look you'll find a poppy there - there's even one for RTTW.

And if you don't find the poppy you need - add a comment and it will be there ASAP.

Let us remember those we love before God and comment them to His sure keeping trusting in the resurrection and the unending love of God.

As requested - one fire chaplain poppy - one Catering Corps - two ATC poppies


(other requests most welcome):

The 'ALL' lives matter conundrum

I was recently privy to an interesting, yet depressing, display of passion as some people engaged in a discussion over the 'Black lives matter' campaign. One person, advocating civil disobedience and action to highlight the plight of black people, was incensed when another responded with the observation that, "All lives matter."

This comment, in the ears of the campaigner, apparently diminished the offence against blacks and supported the shooting of black men in the US and the discrimination against blacks, and the death of black people in custody, in the UK.

In a bid to bring some balance and reason to the debate the questions, "So are you saying black lives matter more?" was asked. This brought a silence which gave me the chance to make the observation that the 'Black Lives Matter' campaigners themselves say that there is a silent, yet implicit 'too' at the end of the statement - of course it would be helpful if the implicit was made explicit as this would stop some people from adding an emphasis that adds a match to the interracial conflicts that so trouble us.

Having managed to bring about a momentary hiatus in the debate, so one piped up with a comment about the number of whites killed by blacks and vice versa - a gift of a point because it gave me the opportunity to point out that the majority of murders are intraracial (in the US this is 93% of black murders and 84% of white murders) - so not a true statement at all.

What we need to understand is the fact that in the US there have been a number of black people killed by the police and that this campaign is a response to that - especially in the light of judicial, institutional; and even populat support from some (presumed white) communities - for it seems there are grounds to assume that in some places they do count blacks lives cheaply.

This movement is an attempt to address some of the attitudes regarding black people, and there are obviously many (in the US and the U.K.) for where I live I have heard the following speak of black people as being more prone to crime because  it's part of their culture.

The reality is that some places and some people display prejudice and act wrongly towards certain people groups. Take a look at the press and you'll see stories reporting these against people with different skin colours, sexual orientations, religions and more beside. All of these people matter but in the setting in which crimes and inequity occur, it is right to highlight the underlying issue behind the abuse.

The Church is great at standing up for campaigns and making a stand on just about everything (other than it seems at times the Gospel) but we need to be a voice for understanding, compassion, justice and mercy. Micah 6.6-8 (one of my 'live by' passages) calls us to exhibit humility: A call to make sure that no one person, people group or class regard themselves, or are regarded as more than equal.

Micah calls for justice: So we treat all people rightly and equally.

He calls for mercy: which means that rather than seek revenge or to settle scores, we turn the other cheek and regard those before us as we would have others regard us.

"Black lives matter' is not a response against whites, neither is it an attack on the police, the institution that is the state, or any other group who have authority: It is a plea to make all lives matter universally and whatever group is being acted against wrongly in particular.

and we, the Church, should be championing that cause.

Weathering the Fury ..

Or: How the BBC help wrong people stir up a storm!

I am getting just a little fed up with the emails asking me to support a petition to have Tyson Fury (someone I had to check up on to see who he was before this all happened) removed as a nominee from the BBC Television's Sports Personality of the Year competition.

Now, just in case you're as much in the dark as me over this chap, he is the heavyweight boxing champion of the world - so I guess you do have to acknowledge that he has done something of note in his own sport; after all, world champion means something doesn't it?

Now the man has been nominated for being able to box, that's what won him the title not his ability to live a good life or to be a great orator or a lifestyle model. In fact, some of the top sportsmen and women in their fields have been some of the awfully poor lifestyle models there can be.

After all I can remember being at games where a certain goalkeeper was subjected to a chant referring to him not being on the pitch, 'Whose Missus is he sleeping with?' being the cry. More than one footballer has been the focus of sexual transgressions being sung about by opposing fans since then, but then that's what they do (fans and footballers) it seems.

The same has been true of of other footballers falling foul (no pun intended) of the law:

Arsenal Skipper Tony Adams spending time in jail for drunk driving - but still loved and admired. 

Joey Barton spent time in, and behind, bars for assault and the like - but to many he found forgiveness as soon as he found the net!

Luke McCormick caused an accident which killed two children - but time (and skill) meant he found himself back in the game after a spell on the sidelines - think he became captain 
somewhere too!

In boxing, the man with half Fury's name, although possessing a punch, some bark and plenty of bite - Mike Tyson - and after being convicted of rape, still made it back and is still, it seems, lauded by some despite this most awful of crimes.

An American Football player apparently kills his wife, has a car chase but is still admired by many.

I could go on but can't think of that many of the top of my head. The thing is that there are many flawed people in the upper echelons of sport and many of these have been largely ignored. BUT of course once certain lines are crossed then a certain agenda in lit up and followed such that the person is targeted, vilified, and campaigned against to have them removed from this competition. Cages are rattled and people are incensed and enraged by the activists that a bloke I have never heard of might end up not being in a competition I don't really have much interest in (even though I love almost all sport).

I've read the bloke explaining himself and what he seems to be saying is part of the cultural upbringing he had. This doesn't make it right and it doesn't appear to be stuff that I'd personally endorse but what the hey. who made? Let's stop and think about it for a minute: If 80,000 people who are apparently campaigning to have Fury chucked out of the competition all voted for another candidate - like Hamilton who apparently drives a car for someone or other on weekends or perhaps an athlete I've never heard of or some chap who apparently likes swimming, then 'job done', no need to chuck the bloke out - just humiliate him into last place! Perhaps we should be campaigning because Mo Farah has an Islamic sounding name or some other absurd and bizarre connection?

I like Fury's observations on it all: "Hopefully I won’t win BBC Sports Personality of the Year as I’m not the best role model in the world for the kids, give it to someone who would appreciate it.'  Yeah, me too!

The problem is that those baying for blood appear to have no concept of justice or mercy, and most certain don't entertain any concept of humility either! Seems they regard their views as authoritative and valid when what they really are is just good old-fashioned rabble rousing types. They'll be bringing out the guillotine next - still, means the wife can get some knitting done in the crowd I guess!

And to clergy and other people of influence who support such awfulness - shame on you (Jesus, and Santa, are watching you know!). Life should be about influencing people to act and think rightly, not about smashing windows or burning books or dragging people off  to camps and the like - and that, sadly, is the path that those who are encouraging the revenge-laded, acrimonious attacks on Fury are taking us down. What at first glance   appears to be just another public outcry finds resonance with those who rose up in the Germany of the thirties and stirred up things - I'm surprised they havent tried to arrest the bloke!

I'm certainly not for anyone acting wrongly against others and so think Fury needs to rethink the communications and belief side of his life to mirror the Christ he claims to follow - I also think we need to stop letting the bigots and rabble-rousers draw our society into equally wrong behaviour ... and now, as then, many good people are being swept along whilst other good people hide their faces or look the other way rather than stand and face attack themselves by speaking out for what is right: and this is all it takes for wrong to triumph.

Pax

Why don't the wicked just can it?

When we wil we mean 'Never Again'?

A simple question: One answered by someone who should have known better with the words, 'Oh, we meant in Europe!'

Well, take a look at Europe and pray and then think and then make a measured, balanced and right response.

Amnesty Internation and Gaza

A challenging image and a testing question - especially for us as Christians as we seek to bless Israel and yet stand with the words of Micah, Leviticus and many other places calling upon us to live with humility seeking justice with mercy and loving our neighbours too!

I understand the rockets and am appalled at the lack of proportionality from Israel (and the proximity of civilians where due to space the 'human shield' challenge is often circumstantial rather than purely designed in hypocrisy) and wonder which is the chicken and which is the egg.

A challenge for prayer and reason for us all methinks:

The darkness becomes more obvious

The words of John 1.5:

The light shines in the darkness - and the darkness . . .

are probably some of the best known words from the Bible; everyone appearing to know it.

This and, 'It's always darkest before the dawn,' are definitely two of the top trite phrases of 2014 thus far. Used by well-meaning folk who are seeking to bring some cheer and hope in what appears to be a cheerless and rather hopeless world.

We need only to open our newspapers or turn on the TV or radio to realise that we live in a world where the darkness is becoming more obvious and the light, which my scientific training and empirically derived knowledge of the properties of darkness and light tells me the light is destined to win, is appearing to be overcome!

Experience, from working a hundred feet or more underneath London, tells me that even the smallest light (literally at the end of the tunnel) can dispel the blue-black that swamps you once your Tilley lamp (a pressurised paraffin lamp) goes out. As the light vanishes the darkness greedily washes over you and your senses, swamped and confused by the loss of light, renders you totally lost. Hearing is affected too - and standing between the two tracks - you begin to feel the panic rise, just a little, in the pit of your stomach and that little space at the back of your brain.

Apart from the bizarre knowledge that being a smoker would mean you had a lighter to see momentarily with (and destroy for longer any chance of seeing in the longer term) you stand still and, collecting whatever composure you might be able to muster, reach out to the side of the tunnel. Your hands seeking two copper wires which, should you have the field telephone to hand, would enable you to communicate with people who, oblivious to that which you're experiencing, are living in the light!

These two wires also tell you which you're going - East or West - something that offered you a little control in an otherwise potentially out of control situation. Feeling them on the right of the tunnel meant you were facing East. This knowledge allowed you to start the journey to the nearest station and safety.

Having read the news, seen the dawn break and experienced the relative darkness that is night be dispelled it seems to me that the spiritual darkness is slowly, like fog on the Thames, creeping in and gaining the upper hand. It's removing clear vision and touching the emotions and muddling the senses. Our clear sense of direction, whilst intellectually maintained, is replaced by something more akin to panic!

So how do we proceed in a world:

Where war crimes abound in Syria, Iraq, Israel and Gaza?

Where innocent lives are taken by lunatics armed with weapons provided by more powerful lunatics?

Where ordinary people in an affluent Western world find themselves relying on Food Banks to survive?

Where 'drug resistant' Malaria and untouchable Ebola virus are tightening their deadly grip*?

Well, of course I would say this, the answer is simple.

We pray - we keep calm - we act like Jesus tells us to act - we give our money - we give our time - we tell it as it should be told (excuse me Israel, you're not acting like God's people, you're acting like very naughty unbelievers - love The Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself, humility, justice and mercy - and that sort of thing) - we tell our politicians what we feel they should be doing to make things right - we teach our children right from wrong - and (you know what the 'and' is don't you?)"

It's not really dark at all - try removing you head from under the covers and you'll not only see the light dispel the darkness but you'll also see it's probably later than you think too!

This is your 'Happy Friday' wake-up call ;-)

* I got pinned in a corner at a party by a medical researcher some years back. A nice chap who told me how if we spent just 2% of the money the world spends on weapons and armament, how we would eradicate malaria, polio, diabetes and the other 'popular' diseases in the world - doubt this scenario has changed much!

Israel - Palestine: A test from God?

Let's begin by making the pro-Israel folk smile as I say that those who fire rockets into Israel from Palestinian territory should stop their actions - they are surely wrong!

And now let's upset the pro-Israel folk by saying that the shelling of a hospital by a tank (this is not artillery errors - but determined and despicable aggression) and the fact that those killed by Israeli action now exceeds 500 - of which something around 170 of them were militants (against Israeli losses of 18).

The bottom line is this: It's time to stop!

Even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has criticised the Israelis for their engagement in the densely populated area of Shejaiya last Sunday. Something he calls, 'An atrocious action!'

So here we are - two peoples, One previously displaced and another currently displaced acting in the classic force and immovable object scenario; something Cliff Fenn, our mechanics lecturer when I was an apprentice, broke his hand demonstrating (fist and blackboard - blackboard wins!!!). Once again, with the same scenario, played out differently, there is only pain to be found).

Here we are in the situation that 'God's people' and 'not God's people' are lined up against each other. One supported by the West and the other by the Arab nations.

The Jews have it as their historic homeland - the others are one of two groups:

i. Those who settled during the mid seventh century Arab conquests, or
ii. Those who were there before the conquests began alongside the Jews and remained after they left

Those in 'i'. are 'modern' settlers (after all they've only been there for some 1,350 years) but those in 'ii' have a much longer claim to be there. But it's not about who was holding the ball when the whistle blew or who dropped it. It's not about whose ball it is!

So some questions:

As the inhabitants of a land who have been moved off to facilitate the creation of the nation of Israel do the Palestinians (hereafter called 'arabs') have any claim to the land?

Does Israel's claim that a promise from God that the land would be theirs forever mean that the issue is cut and dried?

A radio interview with someone who was historian and expert on this subject presented the idea that Palestine and Philistine are synonymous and this people group (who date back to Abram's times) having married other non-Jewish (for which we can read Muslim) people are the descendants of the Palestinians and this being parallel occupants with the Jews gives them a valid claim for the territory (what they had until the West acted to remove them)!

So those who support the 'God's promise' route turn to their Bible and the Patriarchal Narratives (Genesis 12 to 50) - their point of interest being God's promise to Abram (Genesis 15.18-21):

'On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” '

Before you can ask a question (and without missing a beat)  they continue with another passage. This time it's Joshua 13.1-6 that interests them:

'Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, 
“You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess. This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath, all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. 
I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel.'

'How's that then?' they ask - feeling they have made their point and welcoming any challenge that comes from their place of God-appointed possession having been confirmed.

Great! God has promised them a land and the way forward is to turf out all the tribes who get in the way as the move forward and possess the land. So they've gone and the land is clearly the rightful possession of the Jews.

But what's that Sooty? Sweep says that the Philistines didn't go and were still there when we open the book of Judges. Let's have a butcher's at chapter three:

'Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. 
These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 
They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.'

Blimey - could it be that they (the Philistines) were there before the promised land was promised and after it was possessed too?

I am struggling with the clause:

'They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.'

Struggling because if the Palestinians are a test to see how God's people respond and seek to keep His commandments and live as He would have them live - I have to say I think they've failed the test badly. In fact I think they're on a 'U' grade at the moment!

I keep coming back to Leviticus chapter thirteen (verse thirty-four):

'When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.'

Now I believe that Jerusalem has an important part to play in the life of Jew and Christian alike.
I believe that it will be the centre of things that herald the coming of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah.
I pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the spiritual entity that is Israel.

But it seems to me that the modern nation state and the spiritual nation, who keep God's word, are two very different animals. One I can bless - the other I can but despair over.

Of course, I'm happy to be proved wrong - and happier still to find the BBC reporting of what is a contravention of all conventions of wars and Laws of Armed Conflict

A postscript
I was going to use this in my next post but think it might be of assistance within this blog post - it's Leviticus 19.17-18:
'You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbour, lest you incur sin because of him.
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.'

Beggars the question someone else asked jesus regarding this: 'Who is my neighbour/"

Israel - how do you see it?

In various discussion with others over the issue of Israel and Palestine I found myself writing this to explain my position:

 The origins of the nation (with or without a God) are set in time and the religion of the Jewish people and their identity is inseparable and has, on many occasions, been the source of great opposition throughout the ages - finding its culmination in the Shoah. The happenings in the Ancient Near East put upon them (from others - not self-assigned),  or at least confirmed, the 'chosen people' label. Something I think, from the early dealings, might just be right.

The blood guilt felt after the War (1939-45) resulted in the the Israel we see today (modern Israel) and that which Balfour proposed  towards the end of the First World War was done - a formalised homeland for the Jews; and like the Samaritans almost two thousand years before them, the Palestinians became displaced. Winners and losers - and one had the backing of Western might. Not the best solution but  there was never going to be one.

The problem is (for me) that some acted to do God's job for Him and so putting the Jews back where "they ought to be' is up there with those who seek to rebuild the temple. It fits the conditions of prophecy physically and yet the key, as the God I cannot leave out tells us, is not the outer (physical) condition or appearance but is the heart and this is where the conflict ( // to the greater Jihad of Islam) really begins.

Modern Israel is a physical reality and, if the broadcast on it I watched a couple of years back is true it is a generally secular state. This means that Israel is but an ersatz offering in the spiritual sense.

I listened to a most interesting discussion on the World Service recently. Interesting and disturbing because it sounded like something that preceded Kristallnacht as the US Jews were portrayed as those who controlled the bulk of the nation's wealth. Shylock-like they hold the US to ransom and by dint of this ensure US (and UK where apparently the situation is the same) support for modern secular Israel. A worrying listen in every sense.

I understand that the placing of the Jews back into Jerusalem, a place found in Palestine, fitted the bill and fulfilled the Seder hope of ' next year in Jerusalem' - the cry of a displaced people but of course, like the Jews the Palestinians aren't going to go away as they take upon themselves the displaced label - but they haven't the warrant of the West and the emotional credentials that the Shoah brings, have they? 

But no one thought of that when the homeland became a nation did they? And so the scene is set and the conflict continues without charity or understanding from Israel and with bitter recriminations and a blood feud to settle from Palestine. (This is where God's 'leave none alive' policy in the OT saved lives - but that was something for then, not now!)

I find myself turning to the prophet to the Jews, Micah, and his call that those who would please God and live as His would exercise humility, seek justice in everything they do (and are) and exercise mercy - see little of that from them. Nothing of the stuff that confirms being God's people just the actions of people defending the rights of ownership without exercising the responsibilities YHWH would desire from them. My view will undoubtedly be unpopular with Zionists (Christian or otherwise) who, in the same way that many Americans fail to see their nation's actions as wrong, do the same with Israel.

The view that Israel, right or wrong, is always right because they are God's people is in itself wrong but if they are then surely God will call them to account and in the now see them live in a place where blessing them is difficult. I think that goes for those who support them too.

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good

The answer is probably, 'Quite a bit, but what for this time?'

And the answer is that on a day when Rolf Harris is found guilty of sexual offences against girls it appears that others are coming forward to add to the allegations as Harris, like Savile, crashes and burns and, quite rightly, is brought down.

But what confuses me is a conversation on a radio programme where an 'expert' from some group was talking about the fact that compensation was the key to many of those abused 'finding their healing' - a comment that stopped me in my tracks and brought my full attention to what was being said (it was almost background noise until then).

The speaker continued along the lines that it was act of stripping the abuser of their money and possessions and possessing what had been theirs that brought 'healing' for many. It's not just about justice, it's about 'getting your own back'.

A small voice in the back of my mind reminded me of Romans 12 (17-end):

'Never pay back evil with more evil. 
Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. 
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. 
For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD. 

Instead, 
If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. 
In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.'

Years back I encountered many who had been abused (and a few who had been abusers) and saw them come to a place of wholeness and healing through the power of God's love. What I saw during that period was that those who sought revenge and harboured bitterness, malice and a desire to inflict pain were brought down by various afflictions in body, mind and spirit. Those who found a place of forgiveness and peace within themselves were the complete opposite, they flourished and grew. Not theory but true, empirical, evidence of the mechanisms that bring healing.

I guess what we are seeing is the fruits of our emerging post-Christian society. A society where (Micah 6) justice and mercy are put aside for revenge and malice (but don't think these two awful traits are not found in Christians or that I'm knocking those who are not Christian. I could take you to the homes of many in the town I inhabit who have these traits sharpened, honed and perfected ;-(  ).

Once more it all comes down to the fact that we always have a choice in the way that we think and behave.

Prevention or something more sinister?

I listened this week to a most unsettling interview relating to Jimmy Saville and how, having reached five hundred potential victims of his brand of wickedness, we should be turning our attention to those who gave the man access to the people he abused. One of those speaking said that they would like to see a new law created to prosecute the people who 'stood by' and let act as he did. Now, to be honest, I thought that being an accessory to such things was already illegal so I was a little surprised.

My surprise turned to something approaching despair as the person continued to say that we should punish everyone who had been in charge of the hospitals and other places because 'they needed to be made to pay for what they had done.' What followed had little to do with justice but appeared to be all about revenge. It had little to do with ensuring such awful acts never happened again, learning from the impotence, weakness and sloping shoulders syndrome that aided the bloke but everything to do with 'making them pay'.

'Those who stood by and did nothing should be ashamed,' they said; and indeed those who knew  should for it is true that stupidity and weakness is often at the root of shame. They continued, 'And no matter how old they are, they should be prosecuted and made to pay!'

 Pay?

Pay with what?'

The Bible tells me that those who permit wickedness are judged by God to be as guilty as those who do it. But don't take my word for it, let's look at Ezekiel chapter three (17-19):

'If God says to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t warn them then they will die and you're responsible. But if you warn them and they continue sinning them then their fate is in their own hands, but you, having done the right thing, have saved your life.'

But of course this is a 'then' penalty and, wanting 'justice' in the 'now' it is simple for us to be an imprecatory people and being generally a godless people too - to seek redress, vengeance and a desire to inflict painful responses - rather that that which is right.

Justice rather than revenge. Mercy rather than something more primal. A knowledge that their is accountability, that even in the world of Christian Grace there is a judgement - a 'day of reckoning' - brings with it a justice that is tempered by mercy. Lacking in this knowledge brings something by which the whole world dies just a little bit more.

The beginnings of the harvesting of the fruit of a world where God is perceived not to be: The basis by which Burke's, 'Evil triumphs when good men fail to act,' is both the effect and the cause as the feedback persists and the noise becomes deafening.

Getting our minds right about immigration

Many years ago I placed a poster on the staff noticeboard advertising a meeting for those who wanted to support a 'Britain for the British' group of which I, with my Dutch name, was the Chairman. The Secretary was a chap with a German name and the Treasure was a bloke of Polish extraction.

Few got the joke at first but the point, from our side at least, was clear - three European names attached to three people who couldn't be more British (Cockney, East London and West London respectively) if they tried. Yet there they were, the National Front types, making their claims that immigration was the curse of our nation.

Today I have heard the same views (from a different, sanitised, party) and heard about how it is in the national interest to restrict access - and I don't disagree that when it comes to economic migrants there is merit in this thinking, especially when it means that those whose lives are threatened or are disadvantaged.

In my reality, ever since Windrush's West Indians started arriving, there has been disapproval for those people who, 'Were coming over here and taking our jobs!'  This is what I knew to be the case (as a ten year old) and it was reinforced by Powell's 'River of Blood' (and who knows, perhaps he will be proved right one day I guess) speech and the resultant (1971) Immigration Act (where access for dependent's was restricted) and it is confirmed again today by UKIP (what a fine and upstanding political party they are) and the poster below:

Nothing like the bigotry of days gone by at all:

What does the Bible have to say about it all I wonder? Leviticus 19 says:

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

Zechariah 7 has something to add too:“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

The presence of people from other lands has made my birthplace (London) the wonderful place it is. From the Hugenots and the Jewish settlers (Old Jewry in the city has a wonderful synagogue) through to those from other places today. All that we should ask is that whilst bringing their cultures they embrace, and live within, ours with respect and that we return the compliment.

It is to our pride and credit that we, as a nation, have sent our men to battle for the weak and oppressed and opened our arms to them. 

Please do not support unfair attitudes to immigration - use your brains and hearts the way God intended.

Blue Sky Thinking - Counter Cultural

Now here's is something that I believe to be true: