Can't make it to church? 22 February 2015

Here we are at the First Sunday of Lent - and oddly, for those who don't know it, Sundays are not actually part of Lent because Sunday is a 'mini Easter' and so it is always a celebration. So the ashes and the taking up of things (and the subsequent laying down also) are put to one side for 24 hrs - but of course the cross we carry isn't!

And what of our readings? 

All too often we forget that part of our daily worship is to be found in the Psalms and so why not have us start there as we are reminded of Him in whom we put our trust and the cry to be taught the paths of righteousness, that way of the cross, is clear for us, and for those with whom we deal; for surely we deal in the same way with others as God deals with us (don't we?). For, 'All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.'

Psalm 25.1-9

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies triumph over me. Let none who look to you be put to shame, but let the treacherous be shamed and frustrated. Make me to know your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you have I hoped all the day long. Remember, Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions, but think on me in your goodness, O Lord, according to your steadfast love. Gracious and upright is the Lord; therefore shall he teach sinners in the way. He will guide the humble in doing right and teach his way to the lowly. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

So here we are, stepping out on this first Sunday in Lent looking to walk in mercy and truth and what do we find from the readings? Will they offer us more of the same or will they, as sometimes is the case, cause us to wonder where the link is?

Well we have Noah as the focus of our Old Testament reading - the looking back at God having taken things into His own hands and the promise that He will never take direct, hands on, action against the wicked. That's what the rainbow says, "It's hands off from me, I'll send you signposts, and prophecies and people who will stand with you, but you have control of it all!'

And herein lies the answer to the question, 'Why does a God of love let bad things happen?' and the reason for for asking the question, 'Why do you people keep doing bad things?'

Genesis 9.8-17

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.

And the two passages below. The Gospel talking of the start of Jesus' ministry and God's affirmation of Him as He sets out on the road to the Cross - that most active and engaged path of truth, love and mercy  - and the succinct summing up of it from words of 1 Peter 3:

'For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, 

the righteous for the unrighteous, 

in order to bring you to God.'

Add to this the words:

'And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you

not as a removal of dirt from the body, 

but as an appeal to God for a good conscience,

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ'

And 'Bingo!' it all becomes clear and the jigsaw coming together gives us a picture of a God who seeks us to be a people who will not need Him to intervene (because He can't - He's made that promise in Genesis 9 that He won't and He ALWAYS keeps His promises. 

That picture of a people who will not ask why God isn't acting because they are!

A picture that see us making a stand and ensuring that the wrong are stopped in their tracks.

So are we going to be people who complain that God never acts or are we going to be His hands and feet; His arm of love that embrace; His voice that speaks healing and forgiveness into the world and more specifically those around us? Are we willing to take up our own cross and start down the paths of truth, love, reconciliation and denial of self? (Let's pray):

The Collect

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness, so may we know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

1 Peter 3.18-22

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you - not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Mark 1.9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ 

Post Communion Prayer

Lord God, you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven;
by it you nourish our faith, increase our hope, and strengthen our love:
teach us always to hunger for him who is the true and living bread,
and enable us to live by every word that proceeds from out of your mouth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Church - More than services

It is a truth that should be universally acknowledged that Church is about much more than our mere presence on a Sunday or being engaged in the mere delivery of the normal round of services... and yet this truth is not, for some, a reality. The trap is set for so many of us in Church in that we become so bound up with church services and so taken up with our own voices and opinions, being so caught up with whatever Cause célèbre rings our bell, that we lose sight of the very Gospel itself.

Now these are hard and harsh words I know; words that will cause some to suck in their breath and lean upon their indignation and self-righteousness - and in doing so make what I write more true than I would ever wish it to be.

It is so terrible that we might find ourselves occupy a world where we are more taken up with numbers, sexuality, gender issues and politics than we appear to be with the Gospel. So awful that we could turn our pulpits, our eyes and our hearts from the cross of Jesus, the Christ, and preach the world and it's views as holly writ.

The trap of being so caught up with delivering services and being so bound up with emails and meetings and being approved of that we become impotent with regard to the ministry to which we are all called: That of making Christ known and through this knowledge reconciling the world to God.

As we begin our Advent journey I have come to realise that, looking in the reflection that I see of myself in the lives and activity, I need to draw a line and commit myself to preach the only thing I know for sure:

Christ, and Him crucified and risen; for Church is this first and foremost and upon this rock we build.

Not the pathetic struggles over sexuality - not the championing of talismanic approaches to ministry for calling is about being called, not recruiting the young or the BME or women or any other group we might see as good marketing. If we preach the Word and proclaim the Christ and reconcile people to God though Him everything else will surely come together. We may not always use words to do it - for our actions, our witness, and our passion often speak louder than we ever could.

But when we do use words we need to ensure that the profane, the unprofitable, and the usurping of the privilege we have through Christ is not usurped by self.

What is being 'Christian' all about?

"Now that's a very good question," I thought to myself as I struggled to find a reasonable answer and, reasonable or not, I gave one anyway - and this is how it goes:

"In my book Christians are people who, recognising the distance between them and God, are rather grateful that Jesus popped in and did the 'cross thing' because that (the 'cross thing') plays an important part in removing the distance and reconciling us to God.

Not only that but Jesus (whose job title in this role is 'The Christ*') having died pops over to hell (which because we use the term 'descends' must, I guess, be located in a downwards direction) and kindly points out to the bloke what runs the place (hereinafter refereed to satan (not Stan as my spellchecker sometimes suggests) that the only real power he has is death because this is the penalty for his (satan's) only product 'sin' and, having died and come back as alive, means that He (Jesus) has broken the only power he (satan) had.

Then, having come back from the dead he (Jesus) points out that when he broke death He did it for everyone - not en masse but in a one-for-one, real-time, act - so all you need to do is recognise who He is and What He did and (thanking Him) take a 'get out of sin free' card from Him (Jesus) and satan is stymied."

In a shorter form it goes like this:

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

John 3.16

So it's all very simple:

God and us were meant mates but became separated from each other because of sin

Jesus death on the cross breaks the power of sin (death) and restores the relationship between us and God

Accepting that Jesus, the Christ, has done all this and deciding to take the ticket from Him and live in the reality of forgiveness, eternal life and . . .

. . . Relationship with God through, for and with Him (Jesus)

That's what it's all about.

Can it get any simpler?

* Christ not being Jesus' name but a description of the role He occupies in that He, as the Son, comes to this world of ours as a man (that's a reference to His sex and to the fact that He is also human) as the 'anointed one of God' - He is God's solution to all the ills of the world basically.

Acts 29 and Mars Hill Church

I was quite surprised and exceedingly saddened to read the statement from Acts 29  in which they distanced themselves from Mark Driscoll and the Mars Hill Church of which he is a part.

I always struggle with those who take joy in seeing relationships broken and ministries (and ministers) trashed for this honours no one and fuels only more separation and brokenness and the response from Mars Hill (who claim Acts 29 have been wrong in the way they have acted) doesn't seem to indicate that there's going to be any quick solution to this situation.

Living in the West Midlands I'm always stunned when people stop me and ask about issues like this because, and I mean this nicely, we are not in a place that's on the front burner when it comes to Contemporary Church and planting and the like - and yet stop me they do! They ask me about my views (which are usually 'dunno nuffink!') and seek to share the dirt over transgressions and the widely published and much-circulated rumours (which to be honest don't bless or enable me one little bit).

My plea regarding this situation is that we put ourselves in the place of the Acts 29 people, Mars Hill Church, the disaffected members, those who are baying for blood over stuff that was said many years back and Driscoll himself and having understood the issues (if we really need to) pray wisely for peace, reconciliation, restoration, healing and unity.

This is what interests me. We seek to honour God and bring reconciliation to Him and through this with each other - Simple really

So let's not take pleasure in this (or any other issues that might be found) but seek something higher and more honourable and get praying!

healing and reconciliation come through people praying

YOLF!

Wise words on this wondr'ous Easter morn!

You Christians are weird!

A conversation yesterday had as it's challenging moment the expressed view that Christian were 'weird'! Now of course I had to ask what they meant by this and in doing so the float bobbed and the person I was talking with struck - I had Ben hooked and was about to be played. Game on!

Lifting the tip of their metaphorical rod they began the fight:
'Well, just look at the way you accept everything without question and have the idea that everything the world likes is wrong. All you go on about is sin and hell and stuff. Don't you think that makes you weird?'

'Where do you get that idea from?' I asked, trying to gauge the potentially unfolding battle, so they continued,
'One of the people I know says that no one can please god and that I'm going to hell because I don't go to church or read my bible. That tell me god will judge me for everything I do and that unless I accept him I'm his enemy and will be punished. When I pointed out the things they do they told me god had forgiven then and now whatever they did was OK because of Jesus.'

'Hmmm,' said I viewing some stuff I'd recognise as Christian and wondering where to start to unpack this. 'Do I know this person?' So they told me their name and my response was simply:

'Ah I see the problem, it's not Christians who are weird, it's the person you're talking to that is!' And I proceeded to explain that within the many expression of Christian faith there were many weird people but that didn't make Christianity 'weird' or render all Christian 'weird' either. After all, look at the weird people around us, do they make society weird because if their presence or serve to show us what, or who, isn't weird?

So I explained a condensed theology of God, separation, atonement through the cross, reconciliation and living in that new reality. We talked of those who claimed forgiveness and lived as before, taking Christ to the cross on a regular basis, rather than as new creations: The world of hypocrisy where your sins condemn and mine are forgiven.

'That makes sense,' they said, 'I can see what you're saying but don't quite understand it all. Is it just about Jesus then, him dying and coming back?' My response, 'Yep, pretty much - you've got the shape, you just need to adjust your focus to find the detail. And as for the weird bit.' I added as a postscript, 'It's not Christianity or Christians that are weird! it's the person you've been talked at by that's weird - don't judge the church or Christianity or Christ by them. They're their to make the rest of us look normal!'

And with that the hook was gone and I was free and we shook hands and parted friends even though we weren't (yet) brothers - but tomorrow is another day.

I love this ministry stuff - always a challenge, a blessing and wonderful people to engage with, even though some of them are weird!

Church - our core is . . .

Loving others with a love like that which Jesus (the Christ) has shown us to form relationships with those with whom we come into contact (and whom we, like Jesus, seek to serve). Relationships which enable us to come alongside just as the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, does with us by revealing, reconciling, inspiring, motivating (and mobilising) and bringing healing.

This is our individual and corporate calling.

The gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit as He reveals those things to us which separate us from God and one another is no different from that which we are called to do also and this cannot be done from a distance or with those who are distant from us (or vv). It only comes through having a relationship and this means that we need to be accessible and outward facing.

Reconciliation is not what we do but who we are. Reconciling man to man and man to God.

Inspiring people to think, live and respond rightly. So often we fail to respond to others the way that Christ calls us to do and yet it is by our example that others will learn and if they're not in relationship with us, how can they see the examples we are [Mind you knowing the example I can be at times it might be better if they didn't see me ;-) ]  ?

Motivating (and mobilising) those around us, especially those who are distant from God in oh so many ways, is something that we do by being contagious Christians. People see the difference in us and the difference we make because of that difference and want to be part of it. We have had some people who have come into contact with us because of the things that they see and they want to make a difference too! Motivation comes from two directions but we take our model from the Great Shepherd (Jesus) rather than the Western shepherd.  The difference?

The sheep follow Jesus because they know His voice and trust Him whilst with the Western model the shepherd walks behind the sheep kicking them up the behindside until he gets them where he wants them.

Now there's a challenge for some who would be leaders!

Finally we come alongside and bring healing to those around us. Whether it is by affirming them or standing with them in their troubles; taking their part in courts, council offices, social services, debt agencies and the so many other places where being broken, beaten and worthless becomes heightened and despair reaches its lowest point. In weeping with those who are dying or just holding a hand and being a friend. Church and healing are synonymous but of course only where we have the the ability because we are alongside!

So, just to recap, the core business of the Church is:

BEING THERE WITH THE OTHER PERSON

BECAUSE OF CHRIST!

After all - Jesus didn't shout at us from a pulpit but got in the poo and, coming alongside us, swam with us to lead us out of it. New life in Christ comes about by obedient and sacrificial lives in Christ.

Pax

Alert, Loving and Reconciling Watchmen

All too often we find the Matthew passage used as an almost legalistic procedure for bringing a member of the community that is Church to book and yet it is not condemnation and expulsion (as we also find in 1 Corinthians 5) but reconciliation that is the focus. Why? The Ezekiel passage demonstrates the results of sin on person, community and nation. The call to repentance and the call to act as watchmen for one another, lest we all perish, is clear.

If we were to examine the Ezekiel we see it sandwiched between judgment (1) and restoration (34) calling us to look at our response rather than God’s, as is this whole book and these are to be watchmen for the whole and repentance in the individual 9and also of course, corporately, the whole).

So we are first to be WATCHMEN – a sentry or lookout to warn of approaching danger. For a watchman to miss the enemy was for people to perish – it might be one, it might be all – but their blood were on the sentry’s hands. So to is it if we permit others to act in such ways as they lose their lives through enemy action, and we know who the enemy is and what his weapons are, don’t we?

Of course, when we see it and we warn them, how do we convince them of the danger? Living in Libya and seeing a column of dust approaching makes it easy to warn people of approaching danger. But the app on your phone that calls you to gamble, the magazines on the top shelf that cause your eyes to wander, the many possessions calling out to possess you. Not such an easy task.

But God takes great pleasure in repentance and reconciliation, He’s not about punishing, but will if there is a need for this is justice. So we need to be ALERT – Romans calls us to wake from our slumbers and be alert to the fact that the day of judgement is nearer now than when you got out of bed and put our houses in order. To put aside those things that bring us to destruction and live our lives openly in the light – for it is only those things that are wrong that we choose to do under cover of darkness. But time is ever growing shorter and so the need surely becomes ever greater?

So we must work hard to RECONCILE ourselves to one another, for this is one of the ways that we demonstrate God’s love – see how these Christians LOVE one another – and must cry out our warnings to those who are under threat from the enemy.

We do this by the process in Mathew. Interestingly (well I think so) the passage is stuck between the shepherd who leaves his sheep to recover the lost member of the flock (parallels with Ezekiel and the shepherd prophecy perhaps) and the ‘unforgiving debtor’ (you know, the 70*70 forgiveness bit). Reconciliation is about dialogue, awareness, forgiveness and concern and some comments lead people to think it is OK to condemn ‘sinners’ and exclude them, for Jesus uses the examples ‘Tax Gatherers’ and ‘Gentiles’ but I have to ask how He treated these people? Is this not an example that we need to follow rather than stick with the crowd?

It is too easy to leave the lost ‘lost’ and remain in our holy huddles (in empty buildings). It is too easy to engage in righteous anger and conflict. We seek to bring a peace that is more than an absence of conflict – it is the Shalom of God.

May we, and those with whom we live with, worship with and proclaim Christ as Lord together always experience this shalomyness through the Grace of God and our humble desires to live the life that Christ has won for us through the Cross and lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pax

Ezekiel 33: 7 - 11
“Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.
“Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?

Romans 13: 8 - 14
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Matthew 18: 15 – 20
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say to you:
If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Another day in the office!

Whilst looking for some information, I came across this photograph of a dedication of a new standard done recently:

There are many people out there who witter on endlessly about how every November we deny the truth and make heroes out of people who gave their lives worthlessly in the name of making war look noble and worthy of praise. Of course, we don't do that but (working on the assumption that these people either wear slip-ons or get their Mums to do their laces) those who write that sort of stuff seem to think it's true.

The reality is that those who serve do the bidding of the politicians and seek to bring peace and 'do their duty'. The solutions are never military, even when the military have been involved, but are political and soldiers don't start wars, but the certainly have an important place in ending them (and Law of Armed Conflict means that we do so with the minimum loss of life too!).

I've been thinking about what Remembrance is and have realised that it's a hatful of 'R's'.

Remembrance
For if we forget we are condemned to repeat whatever brought us to conflict
For if we forget those who died in conflict (regardless of the situation) them and their sacrifice is soon forgotten.
For if we forget what others have done for us, then we take for granted what is before us (often as a result of what others have done).

Reconciliation
Remembrance is the beginning of reconciliation.
Having seen RAF and Luftwaffe veterans remember their fallen and then, united by the remembering, drink together and find they were no different from the other.
The same with soldiers and sailors in the same setting (but I've not experienced it in the Far East context!) for there is a common bond between those who have served, even when it was against each other and this fosters reconciliation and from that comes forgiveness.

Restoration
Restoration begins with making human those who were dehumanised and seeing them as human, forgiving them as well! In reconciling we have the foundations for restoration of moral and spiritual elements which mean that the likelihood of such happenings that litter our past just that little less likely.

Renewal
I have seen men and women, when faced by all of the above, find that they are not only spiritual beings, but broken spiritual beings. They see in themselves the needs that are met at the foot of the Cross and seeing themselves as Christ sees them, they can be healed, restored and renwed.

Don't ever let anyone tell you remembrance is about glorifying war, it is a mirror to our frailties and potentially the first step of the journey that leads to the Cross and healing for the individual and for our nations.

Pax

ps. the dog-collar in the picture is me by the way - that's my office photo' :)