Grappling with Grace

If I could....

2012-02-16T10:24:00.004Z

Regular readers of this blog - all three of you - might remember that my "word for the year" is "Choose." Now it's all well and good having a word for the year - or at least that's what some of my friends on the left shore of the Atlantic think - but, if you don't do anything with it, what is the point?

My life is full of choices, and that simple fact is enough to remind me that I am amongst the wealthiest people in the world - the top 5% at worst. I am able to choose what to eat, where and when. I have choices about how to fill my day, what clothes to wear, what work to do (or not), which church to attend (or not) and so on - choices that are simply not available large numbers of people across the world for a whole variety of reasons. I know that I have freedoms that too may people can't even begin to imagine. So the question is, "What am I going to do with that freedom?" Or, put another way, "If I could do anything at all with my life, what would I choose to do?"

Many people, when faced with a question like that, find that the answer trips off their tongues. They'd like to not have to work, to travel, to spend the rest of their lives with that special someone and so on. I'd like all of that too - who wouldn't? But as I reflected on that answer, I realised that for me, at least, there needs to be something more, something that goes far beyond selfishly fulfilling all my dreams.

And that is why my answer to the question of what to do with my life and the freedoms that I am privileged to enjoy is this: I want to live a life that makes the world a better place, a life that benefits people other than myself, a life in which significance is found in giving all I can rather than consuming all I can, a life that brings honour to the Saviour who I follow - Jesus. This is the life I think I would choose if I could.

And the reality for me is that there is no obvious reason why I cannot choose to live that life. The question now is, "How?"

How do I use the talents, training and opportunities that I have to live a life that will truly benefit other people and make the world a better place? What do I have to give, which perhaps no-one else can give? What can an out-of-work, scientifically trained pastor with some writing ability do to make the world, and the lives of people in it, a better reflection of the kingdom of God? Answers in the comments please.

And one more thing - if you pray, please pray for me as I try to find God's answers to those questions. Thank you.

Photo by Leo Reynolds. Reproduced under Creative Commons Licence via Flickr.

Mark on Mondays: Crowds Follow Jesus

2012-02-13T12:17:00.000Z

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

Mark 3:7-12 (NIV(UK))

At first glance, this passage of Scripture seems to have little to say to us. We have Jesus trying to take his disciples away from the crowds, probably to give them some private instruction, but unable to do so because of the huge crowds of people who were following him. True, we have some detail about where all these people were coming from, and by giving us this information Mark tells us that Jesus' fame has spread beyond Galilee.

We have Jesus instructing his disciples to get a small boat ready for him, so that he can escape the attentions of the crowd or, at the very least, maintain some boundaries by preventing unwanted invasions of his personal space.

We have the usual reaction of evil spirits to the presence of Jesus, which is to fall down before him and declare his identity for anyone to hear. And we have Jesus' usual response to this, forbidding the evil spirits to reveal his identity.

What we don't have is anything materially new; nothing that we haven't already been told. Now, you might think that this would give me a problem and, to be honest, originally it did. But as I reflected on what was happening in this passage, it began to remind me of a feature of our own culture which has found its way into Christian thought and behaviour too. What I have in mind is the cult of celebrity.

In this passage Mark tells us that Jesus had become a celebrity. News about what he had been doing had spread all round the region, from Tyre and Sidon in the north to Jerusalem and Judea in the south - quite remarkable when news travelled mostly by word of mouth and nearly every journey was undertaken on foot. People from all these places had come to see Jesus for themselves - or at least to see what he was doing.

In today's media saturated world, the cult of celebrity is thriving as never before. There are people who are famous simply for being famous. I mean, what exactly has Paris Hilton (just one example I could have chosen) ever done to warrant her celebrity status? Now, I guess this would be OK if it had not infiltrated the church which is supposed to be counter-cultural in order to show up the shallowness of the world's ways.

But we Christians are not immune to the cult of celebrity. Crowds of people, Christian people, name themselves as followers of Rob Bell, of John Piper, of Mark Driscoll, and of Brian McLaren. There are whole industries built around marketing the writing and music skills of some Christians. And, sadly, there are numerous examples of the too predictable results of all this; spiritual, emotional and physical illness, family breakdown, and much else besides.

What is more, all this factionalism further divides the already tragically divided Body of Christ - the Church which bears his name. And all this draws attention away from Jesus, the Son of God who lived, died and was raised to life for us - and for all the world.

But here's the thing; human beings are basically social creatures. We need the company of others to thrive, whether that be a small or great number of other people. We want to be accepted - and our need to be accepted makes us vulnerable to joining whichever crowd is "in" this week/month/year. But, when we face this temptation, as we surely will, we need to ask ourselves, "Who is this crowd following?" Only if it is following Christ Jesus should we join it.

Missing the Point - Again

2012-02-11T13:14:00.002Z

*RANT WARNING*

Rant Mode on:

This has been yet another spectacularly bad week in the history of the Church. We've had the annual stooshie in the General Synod of the Church of England about what women can and cannot do whilst wearing clerical garb. We've had John Piper trying to argue that the Church is masculine, and hundreds of his detractors arguing the opposite - all missing the point that Biblical descriptions of the church are every bit as metaphorical as descriptions of God as a rock or a fortress, or the self-description of Jesus as a gate for example.

Meanwhile:

Thousands of people have died today and may or may not have gone to an eternity separated from God because they never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus and decide to follow him.

Millions of people are living in real poverty today, without the basic necessities of life; adequate food and shelter, and clean water, which I, like so many others in the affluent western world, too easily take for granted.

Hundreds of women and children have been sold into slavery this week, trafficked into prostitution to satisfy the perversions of men with no morality.

Countless others work effectively as slaves in other industries; children as young as six or seven years old working a twelve hour shift today in appalling conditions to produce training shoes, jeans, T-shirts and a whole host of other consumer goods that we in the West demand to have provided for us at knock-down prices.

In much of Europe the extended period of extremely cold weather has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people, and thousands more are today faced with the choice of heat or eat - even in England.

Against that background, I have to ask:

Does it really matter whether women can or cannot serve as bishops? I'm not saying that this is unimportant, merely asking whether this argument is truly where the Church should be focusing its energy.

Does it really matter whether we view the church as masculine, feminine or beyond gender? Again, I'm not suggesting that this question is not worth considering. I just wonder if the Church as a whole has better things, more Christlike things, to be doing right now - things that could be considered as building the Kingdom of God.

I also need to ask, "Aren't these petty squabbles and power politics simply a luxury, an indulgence of the western Church, that the world cannot afford?" And even as I type this, I am painfully aware of my own hypocrisy.

When, oh when, are we in the Church going to stop missing the point? When will we learn to truly be salt and light in and for the world? I pray it is sooner rather than later, and I pray that God will do whatever is needed in my life to make me a part of what He wants to do, namely to transform this world into his kingdom, to make all things new and place them under the lordship of Christ.

And I thank God for those individuals and organisations who are doing all they can to make the world into a better place in the name of Christ; to free captives, give sight to the blind and to preach good news for the poor.

Rant Mode Off.

*END OF RANT*

Book Review: Everyday Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

2012-02-08T18:30:00.000Z

The church, which used to be at the heart of community life in much of Britain, has been marginalised. The attractional services which she offers are attended regularly by a dwindling number of the faithful - between 6 and 7% of people in the UK if the latest statistics on church attendance are to be believed (that's approx 4 million people). Regular here does not mean what it used to either - attendance at least once a week is falling. If current trends continue, by 2020 (that's only 8 years away) weekly attendance will decline to only 4% - 1 person for every 25 in the population.

As if that weren't enough cause for concern for the future of the church as we know it, 70% of the UK population have no intention of ever attending a church service for any reason - that's 40 million people, the majority of whom are young. The numbers aren't so bad in the US, although there are an estimated 85 million people there who are not open to church in any way.

The question that Everyday Church tries to answer is; Given that these people are unlikely to ever be impacted by church as we know it, how might they be reached with the gospel?

Chester and Timmins approach this question by engaging with the First Letter of Peter, a letter which was sent to people who, because of their faith, found themselves at the margins of their society. But despite their marginalisation, Peter was confident that these people had something unique to offer their culture - and what was true then is still true today.

So what is it that we have to offer? Chester and Timmins suggest the following:

1) Community. Real Christian community is beautiful thing, founded as it is on the love of God expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. But real community cannot happen in a couple of hours on Sunday each week. If real community is to be built, then it means that Christians need to spend more time together; eating together, praying together; playing together. But the situations in which we do these things shouldn't be exclusive - meals can be shared, films can be watched, and games can be played with people who are not yet believers just as easily as with those who are. By spending time in real community, believers create opportunities for non-believers to come into contact with Christian behaviour and attitudes without ever setting foot inside a church building. And we can do this in our workplaces just as well as in our homes: eat lunch with your colleagues instead of in a corner alone with your Christian book.

2) Care. It is not only Christians who have pastoral concerns and needs. It is not only our families who get sick, lose their jobs, even die. This is the common lot of all humanity, and part of the expression of our faith is that we care for one another. Pastoral care is not the sole preserve of a cadre of professional carers - pastors, ministers, priests, vicars - it is a responsibility given to the whole church. And our care should not only be for those who are already believers. We should, as far as we are able and opportunity arises, care for everyone who comes into our path.

3) Mission. Chester and Timmins see mission as something distinct from evangelism. For them, mission is engagement in the local community on behalf of the local community. Mission is sitting on school boards, cleaning the local river, supporting the local homeless shelter, planting and maintaining a community garden, car-sharing on the way to work - anything that makes a positive contribution to the lives of people around us. In short, mission is simply being good neighbours, good employees, and good family members. It means loving God, loving people and loving life, being positive and hopeful (that is sure of our future) in the midst of a world that is anything but positive and hopeful. If we live like this, people will ask us how we can be so hopeful in a broken world. Which leads us onto

4) Evangelism. It may come as a surprise to many, but I believe Chester and Timmins are right when they argue that evangelism begins with listening to the stories and concerns of others. When we listen well, we will begin to hear the connections and parallels with our own stories and with the gospel story of creation, fall, redemption and consummation. But, instead of rushing in with our answers, we should ask questions - "Why is that important to you?" "How does that make you feel?" "What would be a good outcome for you in this situation?" - and listen some more. It might be that an opportunity to speak openly of Christ will arise, perhaps more often than not it won't. But when the chance does arise, then we can be ready to speak of the reason for the hope we have.

It seems to me that what Chester and Timmins propose is nothing less than rediscovering our true identity as God's people - in this world but in it in a distinct way - and then living out our lives in the light of this identity in plain view of the people we meet each and every day.

I enjoyed reading this engagingly written book. At the same time I found many of my own prejudices and assumptions being challenged, which is never comfortable. Recommended reading, especially for anyone who longs to see apparently unreachable people brought into a saving relationship with Jesus.

Mark on Mondays: The Man with the Shrivelled Hand

2012-02-06T09:37:00.001Z

Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus."

Mark 3:1-6 (NIV (UK))

On the surface this is another story about Jesus flagrantly breaking the Law by healing a man's shrivelled, and therefore useless, hand on the Sabbath, but to my mind it is much more a story about motives.

We begin with Jesus' motive for being in the synagogue. Why was he there? Jesus was there to worship God, perhaps to read from the scrolls, or even to teach if he was invited to do so. There was nothing unusual in this; it was Jesus' regular practise (see Mark 1:21 and 39). All observant Jews would attend the synagogue on the Sabbath, and Jesus was no different.

We can only speculate about why the man with the shrivelled hand was present. Was synagogue attendance on the Sabbath his regular practise too? Did he know that Jesus would be there and so attend in the hope of having his hand restored? Or was he a stooge, part of a Pharisee plot to find a reason to accuse Jesus? The latter is possible, but I think it unlikely.

As to the Pharisees, for them regular attendance at the synagogue was normal. But the presence of Jesus and the man whose hand was shrivelled gave some of them an opportunity to find some reason to accuse Jesus. So they watched closely to see if Jesus would heal the man's hand.

This is quite revealing, not just of their motives, but of their beliefs. The Pharisees had no doubt that Jesus could heal the man's hand; the question was, would he?

I think that what we have here is all the ingredients of a tense, if not openly hostile, atmosphere. And, in this situation, Jesus instructs the man whose hand was shrivelled to stand in front of everyone. Why? I think Jesus' reason for this is simple: he wanted everyone to have a good view of what happened next.

Now Jesus asked his question; a question that revealed what was really going on and tells us that this incident is more about underlying motives than it is about what actually happened.

"Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"

The Pharisees remained silent, although the answer to the question was surely obvious to everyone. Clearly doing evil on the Sabbath was unlawful; it would be unlawful on any day. The same is true of killing, or plotting to kill.

Their refusal to answer the question stems from the fact that their intentions were evil. If they had said that doing good was lawful, then Jesus would be free to heal the man's hand and face no accusation. And they simply could not say that it was lawful to do evil!

So they said nothing. Little wonder that Jesus was angry and deeply distressed. Their hard hearts could not be healed.

But the man's withered hand could be, so Jesus turned to him and said, "Stretch out your hand."

Notice, Jesus did not touch the man's hand. He only spoke to him - and that was perfectly lawful, even on the Sabbath. And for the man to stretch out his hand was also perfectly lawful. So the man's hand was healed and no Law had been broken. What is more, everyone in the synagogue at the time had seen exactly what had happened.

Jesus' would-be accusers were furious. They went out and began plotting with the Herodians - the supporters of the Herods and, by association, of the Roman rule which the Pharisees opposed - how they might kill Jesus. And here we see that age-old rule in action, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Even at this early stage in Mark's gospel, Jesus was making powerful enemies. The tension is building.

Mark on Mondays: Chapter 2 Links

2012-02-06T08:42:00.000Z

After 3 months working my way through Mark 1, Mark 2 went more quickly. Here are the links to the posts:

Jesus Heals a Paralysed Man

The Calling of Levi

To Fast or not to Fast?

People are More Important than the Law

Enjoy.

The Vilification of Bankers: Justified or Jealousy?

2012-02-02T10:09:00.001Z

Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Executive, Stephen Hester.

Mr Fred Goodwin, Former Chief Executive of RBS.

In the current economic climate it is no surprise that stories money are big news - especially stories about people who are judged to have too much money for too little, too great a reward for their efforts.

At the end of last week it was Stephen Hester who was in the sights of the UK national press and politicians. His £693,000 share bonus - i.e. a payment made above and beyond his already substantial salary - was, rightly in my opinion, viewed as excessive and, in the current financial climate of austerity and concomitant fall in living standards for most people, morally indefensible. Eventually Mr Hester stated that he would not be accepting his bonus, despite the fact that he is contractually entitled to it.

Still in the firing line is Mr Hester's predecessor, Mr (formerly Sir) Fred Goodwin. He is the man who led the Royal Bank of Scotland into the financial meltdown which, rightly or wrongly, led the then government to effectively nationalise the bank by taking an 87% stake in it. The outcry against Mr Goodwin eventually forced him to resign his position, but not before he had negotiated an extremely generous severance and retirement package for himself, coincidentally currently valued at £693,000 per annum, which seems to me an incredible level of financial reward for financial failure on so large a scale - a failure which is being paid for mainly by people who never reaped any benefit at all from the boom years of banking.

The usual justification for remuneration packages like these is that "it is the going rate in the industry. If we want the best people for the job, we need to match what they could earn elsewhere in the financial services sector."

This begs the question, "How and when did such excessive reward become normal in the banking industry, and why did no-one do something about restraining both individual and corporate greed then?" However, investigating that answers to this question is a pointless exercise - the horse has bolted, Pandora's box is open and the contents cannot be put back. If the UK or any other national government were to try to unilaterally do something about this, the banks would merely move their operations elsewhere, finding hosts who were more sympathetic to their excesses and less likely to try and curb them. This is a threat that is often made when enforcing restraint in the financial services industry by legislation is suggested.

Whatever the moral rights and wrongs of the rewards received by top bankers for their services, the fact remains that the salaries and bonuses they receive are outlined in their contracts - contracts that only a few years ago we, as a nation, were happy to either approve openly or to simply ignore.

It galls me to have to say this, but these contracts must be honoured unless or until they can be renegotiated. Failure to honour these contracts would be illegal - and the only beneficiaries of such an action would be bankers and other "top executives" and their lawyers.

However, I think it would be valuable if we were to step back a little and see the bigger picture. After all, who is it who is shouting most loudly about this whole business? Politicians and journalists, that's who. And it seems to me that there can only be two possible reasons for their vociferous protests at this time, given their almost complete failure to do or say anything against the culture of greed at its inception. (I can remember the time when the size of bankers' bonuses was a cause of celebration in the national press.)

Reason 1, Distraction: By creating a public outcry against the greed - and the underlying moral bankruptcy - of top executives, the press and political classes of our nation, and others, have succeeded in removing the focus from their own moral failures. It is only a short while ago that the financial greed of some of those who served as our elected representatives was exposed to public gaze, and even today there are those in the Houses of Parliament who would like to return the cloak of secrecy over their expenses, shielding their excesses, sharp practises and self-indulgences from scrutiny.

Journalists too have their reasons for not wanting the gaze of a suspicious public to fall on them. Phone-hacking, currently the subject of the Leveson Inquiry, is almost certainly the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dubious practises employed by our news-gatherers. What other abuses of public trust would come to light if a more in-depth investigation of the gentlemen (and ladies) of the press were undertaken?

Reason 2, Jealousy: It seems to me that the appetite of press, politicians and public is largely fuelled by jealousy. Which of us would refuse to accept terms and conditions as generous as those offered to executives in the banking and other industries if we had the opportunity to do so? Very few, I should think. So I wonder, is the outcry fuelled by the fact that "they" have got something "I" haven't got? You see, it seems to me that most of the vitriol directed against the "haves" in our society is being poured out by the "have slightly lesses" rather than by the "have nots". And why should that be?

Simple. "We" are no better than "they" are. "We" love money too but, not being in a position to exercise the sin of greed to the extent that "they" have, we give free rein to the sin of covetousness instead, wanting for ourselves what "they" have got.

Truly "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." (1 Timothy 6:10)

Mark on Mondays: People are More Important than the Law.

2012-01-30T11:05:00.002Z

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the cornfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some ears of corn. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Mark 2:23 - 28 (NIV (UK))

Welcome back to Mark on Mondays. There was no post last week because I was away on holiday - on Fuerteventura since you asked. However, given that one of the central points of today's passage is about the human need for rest, it seems entirely appropriate that this is how things have turned out.

Today's passage is, on the surface, pretty straightforward but, as usual, there are all sorts of undercurrents to watch out for.

To us, the issue of picking a few ears of corn whilst walking through a cornfield seems trivial. It's the kind of thing you would probably do without thinking. But, for the Pharisees of Jesus' time, it was a serious offence. It was harvesting crops on the Sabbath, and Sabbath-breaking was considered to be very serious indeed. Now that might have been bad enough, but Jesus did nothing to stop his disciples from "doing what is unlawful." This meant that, at least in the eyes of the Pharisees, he was condoning law-breaking, which was the actual substance of the Pharisees complaint.

When we understand that, we begin to see more clearly why Jesus reminds them of David's actions when he and his companions were in need. By taking the consecrated bread, eating it and giving it to his companions, David - a great hero of Jewish faith and ancestor of the expected Messiah - was clearly a law-breaker. Of course, as we can read in the Bible, his law-breaking extended much further than this, and included adultery and murder amongst other transgressions.

But, in the situation described, David had only two choices. He could either break the Law of Moses or he could let his companions starve. Clearly, breaking the Law was the least bad option available. And this is important for us to remember. There are times when breaking the rules is the least bad option available to us. When it is, we should go ahead and break the rules.

What Jesus brings to light here is the relationship between the Law and people. He says that people were not created in order to serve the Law, to carry it as some kind of burden. Rather, the Law was given as an aide and a guide to better human living in the world. So people are more important than the Law. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

But Jesus doesn't stop there. If the Law was so important in the eyes of the Pharisees - and it was - then the one who gave the Law must be more important still, and would be Lord over the Law. Since the Law was given by God, then by claiming to be "Lord even of the Sabbath" Jesus, here referring to himself as Son of Man, makes a claim to equal status with God i.e. to be God.

Suddenly a trivial dispute over a few ears of corn has taken on enormous significance, which we too easily miss by focusing on the details - exactly the mistake Jesus was accusing the Pharisees of.

Dancing Priest by Glynn Young – A Review

2012-01-26T12:07:00.000Z

Dancing Priest is Glynn Young’s first published novel and I,like many others, hope it will not be his last. What we have in the pages ofthis book are several love stories; the burgeoning love of Michael Kent andSarah Hughes, of David Hughes and Betsy, of Tommy McFarlane and Ellen, and ofall these characters (and others) and God. We also have a story of faith in theface of trials, of triumph in and over adversity, of the importance andinfluence of good character, and much, much more.

Like all good novels, this book is a beautifully written pageturner. The quality of Glynn Young’s prose is such that I found myselfengrossed in the story, scarcely noticing the passage of the 4-hour flight onwhich Michael, Sarah et al were mycompanions. The story is well told, with sufficient twists in the plot to keepa readers interest, but….

Like all books this one is not perfect, and there are partsof it that jarred with me, a Scottish reader:

i) Michael and Tommy are British but they are often foundusing American English in conversation rather than UK English. Here in the UKwe use mobile phones, not cell phones. Students in university accommodation arein residences, not dorms. UK cities have city centres, not down-town. Whilethese may seem small matters, ensuring that they are correct helps to set thescene and to make the characters more believable.

ii) The book opens in Edinburgh, where the major charactersmeet at the University. Michael’s family own a small estate some 40 miles fromthe city where, from the hills, you can still see the city in the distance. Iknow the area pretty well, and I can’t immediately think of many places wherethat is actually possible. I appreciate that most readers won’t notice this,but I did. Similarly, an area of north London is referred to as Hampton Heath.I know of Hampstead Heath in north London (my Dad used to take me fishing therewhen he was stationed in London) and Hampton Court to the west of the city, butas far as I am aware, there is no Hampton Heath.

iii) I found it difficult to work out what the setting ofthe book actually is. Whilst the geographic locations are obvious – subject tothe above – what is less clear is the chronology. When is this book set? Muchof the book describes a world that is very familiar to me – mobile phones,lap-tops, Scottish Nationalism, the difficulties in the Anglican Communion ofChurches, Starbucks etc. – but everynow and again something cropped up that left me feeling disorientated. Twoexamples will suffice:

a) In the book the reigning monarch of the UnitedKingdom is James III. To date there have only been two James’s on the UKthrone, and none of those currently in the line of succession is called James.

b) The Olympic Games which form a significant partof the story take place in Athens and are to be followed by games in London. Tomy knowledge, the policy of the International Olympic Committee is to ensurethat consecutive Olympiads are not celebrated on the same continent. This beingso, games in Athens would not be followed by a Games in London.

These niggles aside – and Iappreciate that for most readers they will be minor – I enjoyed reading the bookand I look forward to being able to read more about English, Shoes, Tomahawk,California and the rest in the not-too-distant future.

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

I sent a preview of this to Glynn who made the following responses to points made above:

I changed certain geographic things deliberately. The setting of the McLaren's farm would actually fit the western side of Scotland better than the eastern side. The farm is actually based on An Cala.

I knew about the Olympics and how sites are selected. It's a case of novelistic license to provide a realistic reason for bringing Michael's brother into the story.

I totally changed the royal family. I could say that I wanted to avoid identification with any specific member of the real royal family, but the real reason why will be found in the second book.

Back from Holiday

2012-01-26T12:02:00.001Z

Mrs Believer and I came back from our week in the sun and received a traditional local wlcome home - drenched by the time we had dashed from the arrivals' lounge to the Airport Parking bus-stop.

I come home refreshed and looking froward to the challenges that lie ahead. Watch this space...

Blog Vacation

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000Z

I just thought I'd post a note to let my regular readers - all 15 of you - know that there will be no posts on this blog until 26th January. Mrs Believer and I are heading off for a week's winter sunshine.

To Fast or not to Fast?

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000Z

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"

Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and on that day they will fast.

"No-one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will tear away from the old, making the tear worse. And no-one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

Mark 2:18-22 (NIV(UK))

"Have you fasted and prayed about it?" I've lost count of the number of times that I've been asked that when I've spoken to people about a search for guidance in my life. When I was considering putting myself forward as a candidate for pastoral ministry I was asked several times, "Have you fasted and prayed about it?" More recently, as I've been searching for a new direction for my life and ministry, I have again been asked over and over, "Have you fasted and prayed?"

Now I'm not knocking the spiritual discipline of fasting, but I am questioning the use to which it is put. Fasting is intended to remind us of our dependence upon God for all that we have. It is also good for us to learn to be able to control our bodily desires, so that our wants will not control us and we will learn to be satisfied with what we need.

Somewhere in our Christian psyche we seem to have come up with the idea that if we want God to know that we're really serious about the topic of our prayers, then we need to reinforce our prayers by fasting. Maybe we think of fasting as a code that God will understand. If I fast, he will know that I really, really want what I am asking for - be it world peace, a real end to slavery, or a new gadget.

Or perhaps we think of fasting as some kind of bargaining chip. "I fasted for you. Now God, you need to do your part and do what I want."

In the law of Moses there is only one prescribed fast, one occasion on which God required all Jews to abstain from food. That day was the Day of Atonement. However, following the Babylonian exile four other annual fasts were introduced into the Jewish liturgical calendar, and in Jesus' time the Pharisees fasted twice every week. But why?

To be fair to the Pharisees, they believed that the long-expected Messiah would only come when all Israel was righteous before God. To ensure that they didn't accidentally slip and break a single one of the commandments - all 613 of them - they practised a form of Judaism that far exceeded the prescribed requirements of the law of Moses, and they encouraged others to do the same. But, if they thought that the coming of God's Messiah in answer to their prayers depended in any way on their behaviour, they were wrong. And if they believed that they could hasten the coming of the Saviour - perhaps force God's hand by their righteousness - they were also wrong.

Jesus' answer to those who questioned the fact that his disciples were not fasting is very revealing. If the Pharisees were fasting to hasten the coming of the Messiah, then Jesus' disciples could hardly join them since the Messiah was the one who walked with them and taught them. He was the one who was being questioned. And his presence should have been a cause of rejoicing, celebration and feasting. Indirectly then, Jesus was claiming to be the Saviour that the Pharisees and other Jews were awaiting.

But there's more. The bridegroom will be taken away. He will not leave of his own volition - he will be taken. And then his followers, his supporters, his disciples will fast and mourn. Here then is the first shadow of Jesus' death in Mark's gospel - the first dark note in a story that has been almost entirely joyful up to this point.

What of the new/old parables? What do we make of patches and garments, of old wineskins and new wine?

Jesus came to inaugurate the kingdom of God and to invite us to enter into it. But life in God's kingdom is totally different to the way of life outside it. Kingdom life has different priorities, different aims, different ambitions and different purposes. It is totally new.

And being new, we cannot simply use it as a patch to cover up the tears in our old lives. Christ is not a sticking plaster that we can use to simply hide the mess of our old lives. Christian faith is not an add-on, a lifestyle accessory. We cannot have a little of Jesus and the rest of our lives just the way they used to be - although most of us try to do precisely that most of the time.

Similarly, the wineskins of our old lives cannot contain the new wine of the kingdom, the presence of God's Spirit in us.

No. We must be made new - completely. A little Christianity is enough to show the brokenness of our lives, but it is not enough to actually do anything to change that. With Christ it is all or nothing - we believe or we don't, we cannot believe a little bit. We either accept his rule over all of our lives, or we reject his lordship completely. We either enter into his Kingdom or we remain outside. There is no middle ground, no halfway house, no no-man's land which is neither here nor there.

If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!!

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Stepping out of the Boat

2012-01-12T17:33:00.004Z

"Choose." That's my word for the year. "Choose."

On Sunday, amongst many other things, our pastor (seems strange typing that. Two years ago that was me!) reminded us of the story of Peter walking on the water. He told us that Peter only began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus and instead began focusing on the wind, the waves and the sheer impossibility of what he was doing. However, although Peter's faith wavered, he, alone of the disciples in the boat, had enough faith to actually step over the side. He chose to hear Christ's invitation and act on it.

The theme of the sermon was actually mission - reaching out to our families, our friends, our neighbours and work colleagues. The key text was John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood (The Message). The key to mission is to be incarnational - to live our faith out in our lives, wherever we are, whoever we are. If we don't know any people who are yet to become disciples of Christ, then incarnational mission requires us to go where they are, not to gather together in holy huddles and expect them to come to us.

Mrs Believer and I moved into our lovely new home 16 months ago. When we came we were full of pain - grieving over the loss of my pastorate in XXXXXX and all that went with it, angry at the way we felt we had been treated by people who were, we thought, supposed to help and support us. However, even then we were conscious of the sheer miracle that our being able to live where we are now was. We certainly felt that God had brought us here, even if we had no idea what his purpose in that was.

Since then I have worked as an agency driver, and more recently I have been training myself to be able to take on proofreading and editorial work. The idea behind this was that I would be able to do this work in parallel with ministry, thus being able to be bi-vocational. Of course, that would mean actually finding clients prepared to give me work to do.

So imagine how surprised I was shortly before Christmas when a friend of mine asked me to consider becoming deputy editor for a new academic journal he was planning to publish this year! Brilliant, I thought. The only snags are that it is in a field that I know very little about - computer games technology and programming - and that, for the present, my friend can't pay me! There was a proposal that I might receive a percentage of any surplus that might be generated, but even 100% of nothing is still nothing.

The upside of taking on this work is that I have a client to put on my CV, and I can work from home or from anywhere else with an Internet connection. But is a risk.

So I've been praying about it, asking for guidance. I have also spoken to Mrs Believer about it. The answer on both fronts was basically, "It's up to you. You choose."

So I have chosen. I have chosen to trust my friend, and to trust God to provde my needs. I have chosen to take my first tentative step over the side of the boat.

Today I agreed to take my friend's job offer - and today I feel really calm about it.

Mark on Mondays: The Calling of Levi

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000Z

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him and he began to teach them. As he walked along he saw Levi son of Alpheus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Mark 2:13-17 (NIV (UK))

A simple but true fact that everyone knows is that you become like the company you keep. If you get in with the wrong crowd, hang out with people of bad reputation, then you will get an equally bad reputation for yourself. If you keep company with trouble makers then, when there's trouble, your name will be in the frame. We all know the power of peer pressure, and we all know how easy it is to let our standards slip rather than to stand up for what we believe.

Another way of expressing this truth is that you can tell a person's worth by their friends. It is this thinking that lay behind the teachers of the law who were Pharisees' question, put revealingly to Jesus' disciples, rather than to Jesus himself.

"Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

Although they won't say it openly, the question is really one for the disciples: "You're decent people. Don't get dragged into the company that he keeps. You really don't want to be associated with people like that, or with anyone who spends time with people like that."

"People like that" in this instance meant tax collectors and other social pariahs; those whose work or lifestyle made them unsuitable company for decent people. It is well known that in 1st century Jewish society tax collectors were persona non grata, They worked for the occupying Romans. The money that they extorted from their fellow citizens, over and above what was necessary to cover the tax bill, was often used to pay for a lavish lifestyle of indulgence and excess. Tax collectors made themselves rich on the backs of others. Small wonder that they were despised social outcasts. The only people who would keep company with a tax collector were other tax collectors and social outcasts. And, by associating himself and his disciples with such people, Jesus risked becoming a social outcast himself.

But, where we too often sympathise with the Pharisees and betray those sympathies by our actions, where we see reasons to steer clear of certain people, God sees a reason to get alongside them. Far from fearing becoming like them, God's intention is that by coming alongside us in the person of Jesus, we will become like him; faithful, righteous, holy, gracious, merciful, loving, compassionate etc. It is this intention that caused Jesus to spend his time with sinners in order to cleanse them of their sins, with the "sick" of his society in order to heal them of their sicknesses.

Sometimes I wonder if this is where much of the contemporary church has got it most badly wrong. Church people are respectable, and we are so often desperate to keep up our air of respectability. We seem to expend most of our effort on being thought well of by other people, which is a large part of why we are fearful of going to the outcasts of our society; the drug and alcohol addicted, the homeless, the jobless, prostitutes, criminals and so on. "If we spend our time with them, we will become like them," we think. "If I am seen with him, what will other people think of me?"

But I am part of the church, part of the "we" I have described. And in this, as in so much else, if a difference is going to be made, it needs to start with me. It is not enough to point my finger at you and ignore my other three fingers pointing back at me.

To make a difference I need to be different. I need to learn to care less about my reputation and more about Christ. I need to be hopeful rather than fearful - hopeful that by introducing other people to Jesus, inviting them to keep company with him, they will become like him.

From the Horse's Mouth

2012-01-07T22:09:00.001Z

You know how much of the news these days is taken up with reports of the things that allegedly significant people are going to say later that day, with later bulletins filled with reports that the appropriate people did actually say what we said they were going to say? Well, I'm fed up with it.

I'm also fed up with news bulletins that report what "we" wanted people to have said, rather than what they actually did say.

Which is why I have decided to read Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion for myself, cover to cover. I have a lovely 2 volume set, printed in 1949, which has sat on my shelf for a while, occasionally referred to but never actually read by me.

I know what people say that Calvin wrote. I know what people wish that Calvin had written. But what did he actually say? I'm looking forward to finding out what his views on issues like free will and predestination were, rather than those he is reported to have held. I'm looking forward to wrestling with a viewpoint that will almost certainly not agree with mine about certain issues. I'm looking forward to gaining an insight into the mind of one of the most significant Reformers. And I'm looking forward to discovering the truth about Calvin's writings, not the propaganda put forward by opponents and supporters alike.

Who knows, I might find some things worth blogging about in there too

Choose.

2012-01-04T14:33:00.001Z

Some of my blogging friends on the west shore of the Pond seem to think it a good idea to have a word for the year. Initially somewhat dubious, I nonetheless entered into a Facebook conversation about this and then found myself typing the word "Choose" as a candidate for my word for the year.

Unsurprisingly I was asked why this word and what it means to me.

Looking back over the past few years, I can see times when I have made choices - not always the right ones - and then lived with the consequences. Yes, I do try to make my choices prayerfully, in discussion with Mrs Believer and in line with Christian principles, just before you ask.

However, I can also see times when I've failed to make any choice at all, and so have missed opportunities that could easily have been taken. And the reality is this happens more often than not, since I am notoriously indecisive. The trouble with this is that I end up living with the consequences of other people's choices rather than my own - great when things are going well, but apt to leave me feeling powerless and even victimised when they aren't.

Clearly this can't go on. I can't drift aimlessly through life letting things happen to me and then complaining when I don't like the outcome. I need to take some responsibility myself.

And so, for me, 2012 is the year of "Choose."

Followers of this blog will have read something of the amazing story of how Mrs Believer and I came to be living in this house, in this community in this time. Now it's time for us to choose what we are going to do with this huge blessing and opportunity.

My loyal band of followers will also know that I have been wondering what to do for a living. Again, it is time to choose, especially since a potentially exciting, interesting and challenging opportunity has been put in front of me.

Those are the two main decisions I need to make right now, but doubtless there will be others too. But this year I am going to make the effort to choose for myself, rather than have other people choosing for me. Life could get very interesting....

The music - Free Will by Rush "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice."

Linking up with Jennifer at Getting Down with Jesus.

Also linked with Bonnie Gray at Faith Barista

Mark on Mondays: Jesus Heals a Paralysed Man

2012-01-02T07:00:00.000Z

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralysed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking int heir hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralysed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins ...." He said to the paralysed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

(Mark 2:1-12, NIV(UK) altered)

This passage of Scripture, beloved of Sunday school teachers and preachers alike, is so rich and so full of significance that I could spend weeks of Mondays digging into it and still not have exhausted all its potential. I am tempted to do just that, but having taken 3 months to make my way through Mark chapter 1 (for a list of posts on Mark 1 see here), I think I need to up the tempo a bit.

There are, in the story, three significant groups of people. They are:

1) The friends of the paralysed man,

2) The teachers of the law, and

3) The crowd.

In saying this, I am not trying to minimise the importance of Jesus. Neither am I saying that this event had no significance for the man who was paralysed - clearly for him it was life-changing. What I am saying is that the actions and reactions of these groups of people are significant, and they make a convenient way to explore the story more fully. So let's look at the actions and reactions of these people.

1) The Friends

When these men lowered the paralysed man into the house in front of Jesus, and the teachers of the law gathered there, it appears that Jesus was impressed by their faith - faith that had been displayed in their actions.

These men believed that Jesus could heal the paralysed man, and they decided that this belief needed to be shown by action. It would do their paralysed friend no good at all if they continued to believe that Jesus could restore him to health if they didn't make a move to either bring him to Jesus, or to bring Jesus to him. When Jesus returned to Capernaum they saw their chance. Picking up their friend on his mat, they carried him through the streets of the town to the house where Jesus was - easily identified by the crowd gathered there.

But the crowd gave them a problem. There appeared no way to reach Jesus. Certainly, making their way through the crowd and into the house by the door was not possible. Lesser men would have allowed this to discourage them from their efforts to bring the paralysed man to Jesus, but these men were determined. Nothing was going to stand in their way - not even an impenetrable crowd. So, avoiding the doorway of the house, they made their way up onto the roof, where they proceeded to start taking it up...

... in broad daylight, in front of a crowd of witnesses, including a number of teachers of the law. Today the punishment for breaking and entering is, at worst, a period of imprisonment. In 1st century Palestine breaking and entering brought a more severe sentence. Under the Roman policy of one punishment to fit all crimes, that meant crucifixion. These men risked their lives to bring their friend to Jesus. And is was not as though they could claim that they hadn't done it. There were reliable witnesses. And they could hardly claim mistaken identity either - the people who saw them breaking in were their neighbours and workmates!

These men show us three characteristics of real faith which are all too sadly, and all too often, lacking in our faith; action, determination and willingness to take risks.

2) The Teachers of the Law

If the paralysed man's friends show us some of the characteristics of faith, the teachers of the law show us the face of religion.

When Jesus spoke to the paralysed man, forgiving his sins, the teachers of the law reacted in the only way that they could. In their minds they could not help thinking that this was blasphemy. And they were so nearly right.

In their religion it was an absolute rule that only God could forgive sins, so by telling the paralysed man that his sins were forgiven Jesus was claiming to be divine. This was indeed blasphemy, unless Jesus actually was God.

But, according to their religion, Jesus couldn't be God. God didn't walk around Galilee as Jesus did. God doesn't have flesh and bones as Jesus did. God would not be seated in a house in Capernaum teaching a crowd of fishermen and their families as Jesus was. The logic was obvious. Jesus could not be God, so he could not forgive sins. By claiming to be able to forgive sins, Jesus was committing blasphemy, which was punishable by death - in this case by stoning, as long as the Romans weren't looking.

Now, when the paralysed man stood up in front of them, picked up his mat and walked out, you might expect that the teachers of the law would change their opinion - abandon their rules and their logic and accept the evidence of their own eyes. And, to be fair, it is possible that these teachers of the law did precisely that. But their co-religionists never accepted that Jesus could be God, that he could have authority to forgive sins. In fact, the teachers of the law were among Jesus severest critics, opposing him at every turn and ultimately conspiring in his death.

As I have said, the teachers of the law display the characteristics of religion. They were stuck on rules - rules are risk-free. Their minds were closed - inflexible to the point of refusing to accept the evidence of their own eyes. In the end the teachers of the law decided to eliminate Jesus, because he did not fit into their view of the way things should be. And, as world history has shown again and again, this is too often the way of religion; obsessed with rules, close-minded and inflexible, and willing to do anything to protect its own interpretation of the way things should be - even murder.

3) The Crowd

There's not much to say about the crowd. When they saw the formerly paralysed man walk out of the door in front of them they were amazed. They truly had never seen anything like this before. Rightly, they saw the healing of this man as an act of God, and so they praised God.

But there is no evidence that seeing this man healed resulted in any lasting change in the majority of their lives. It is possible that some of them chose to follow Jesus - to become part of the larger crowd of disciples - but it is certain that many, probably most, did not. If they had, Capernaum would have become a ghost town, which it did not. For most, their faith was here today, gone tomorrow.

And how like them we are! We love it when being Christian means being present when exciting things are going on. Most of us love to be part of the crowd, celebrating the amazing things that God is doing. But we don't seem to have the same fervour, the same love of God when things become routine, even difficult - or is that just me? We quickly get bored with the same old same old, with the result that our faith amounts to little or nothing.

Lord, be gracious to give me the faith of the friends, to protect me from religion and to stop me falling away with the crowd. Amen.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T08:54:00.000Z

Here in the GMT time zone it has been 2012 for almost 9 hours. Of course it's just another day, but somehow January 1st 2012 feels different to December 31st 2011. It is all in the mind, in the way that we humans have chosen to record the passage of time, but where yesterday was about things coming to an end, today is all about new beginnings.

None of us knows what 2012 has in store. If all goes according to our human planning then this year will see the games of the 30th Olympiad take place in London, and in the UK and Commonwealth countries we will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

On a more personal level, I simply hope and pray that the direction of my life will become clearer, and that I will faithfully choose to follow the path that God sets before me, no matter how hard and risky it looks. And for me that will be difficult - on the whole I am a pretty risk-averse person, although I am generally more ready to take risks than Mrs Believer.

Whatever 2012 brings, I pray that it will bring blessings old and new into your life.

RB

Tomorrow is Another Year

2011-12-31T14:02:00.002Z

Well, it's arrived - the last day of 2011. Whilst the rest of the world is simply looking ahead to 2012, here in Scotland we are celebrating Hogmanay. For others midnight can't come quickly enough, here a lot of people don't care too much how far away it is. I'm fairly much in the former camp.

With today being that last day of 2011 it is only to be expected that I have spent some time looking back over the previous 364 days, trying to make sense of where I have been, what I have done, what it all means and why.

So where have I been? What have I done?

I began the year as an agency driver, working for Parcel Force. I stayed in this work until the end of April, but as the days went on it became increasingly obvious that if I was ever going to do something with all the training I have - as a scientist, as a pastor and preacher - then I wasn't going to be able to achieve it driving vans. I also sensed that this was definitely not what God had in mind for my long-term future.

This sense was reinforced in Blackpool, where Mrs Believer and I attended the BUGB Assembly. There we were both challenged - independently - to let go of the past and begin moving towards the future. Exactly what that future might be we were not told. We're still waiting.

And, by and large, that's what we've been doing - waiting. I've been undertaking a distance learning course in proof-reading, which has been keeping me busy. Towards the end of the year I've been writing more than I have for some time, both theology and, to my surprise, some poetry.

In summary, 2011 has been the year of waiting and healing.

I wonder what 2012 has in store for me.

Are You Still Looking for a Miracle?

2011-12-28T10:57:00.000Z

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
There was a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all people might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every person was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" From the fulness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

(John 1:1-18)

That's it. Christmas is over for another year - unless you are one of the few who realise that Christmas Day is only the first of twelve days, and that Christmas doesn't actually end until Epiphany, January 6th. The turkey and all the trimmings has been consumed. We've come through the days of turkey sandwiches, turkey vol-au-vents and turkey curry, and have, perhaps with a sense of relief, reached the first day of no turkey.

The presents are all unwrapped. Many of them now lie discarded, broken and/or forgotten. Christmas jumpers have had their annual outing. The CDs of Christmas songs have been played, and now can be mercifully hidden in the drawer until next year.

All that remains is to pay off the credit card bill - hopefully in time to be able to use the credit card to pay for the summer holiday - and to once again make the New Year resolution about losing some weight, beginning with the pounds that we have piled on over the festive season.

But why do we do it? Why do we go to all this trouble in the middle of winter? What is the reason for our excess? Why do we gather our families together, everyone present for the first time since last Christmas when we swore (perhaps literally), "Never again"? Do we do it in the hope of creating a miracle?

I think we do. We hope that this year our gifts to one another might somehow be the cause of lasting happiness. We hope against hope that this Christmas might see a cessation of hostilities between Uncle Derek and Uncle Albert. We hope that our excess consumption will somehow fill the gaping hole in our lives, satisfy us as never before. And, if we would be honest with ourselves for just a moment, we know that these longings, and countless others, are simply the triumph of hope over experience. The miracle that we put so much effort into trying to create never happens.

In trying so hard to create a miracle for ourselves, we miss the miracles that are given to us each and every day, but especially at Christmas. This famous passage from John - the prologue to his gospel - reminds us of not one miracle, but several. Here are a few of them:

i) The miracle of creation. John is not writing a science text, but he is absolutely clear, as am I, that the existence of the universe is the result of the sovereign choice of God. The universe is not here because of some cosmic accident.

ii) The miracle of life which is sustained by God. That there is a universe is amazing enough. That there should be at least one planet where conditions are exactly right for the existence of carbon-based life is a miracle of an entirely different order. And that God himself both gives and sustains that life, willingly entering into a relationship with his creation, particularly the human part of that creation, is simply mind-blowing.

iii) The miracle of the Incarnation. The true light was coming into the world. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word came into this world. He set aside all the splendour, majesty, power, authority, honour, praise and worship that was his by right and entered into the muck and filth, the sweat and toil, the joys and sorrows that are the stuff of life in this world.The Son of God became fully human. Even trying to think about what that means has my brain frying.

iv) The miracle of invitation. The point of the Incarnation, the reason for Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and eventual return is to offer to ordinary human beings (and, when all is said and done, there is no other kind) the opportunity to enter into a different quality of life - life as the children of God.

v) The miracle of the self-revelation of God. No-one has seen God, but in Christ, the Word become flesh, God is revealed to us. If we truly know Jesus, then we know God. God want us to know him, and he takes the initiative to make that possible by coming to us, by reaching down into our world, by bringing light into our darkness, by touching this earth with his physical presence, by revealing himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Are you still looking for a miracle this Christmas? Here are five to be going on with, given to us freely by the creator of all things, God himself.

Mark on Mondays: Chapter 1 Links

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000Z

For anyone who is wondering about Mark on Mondays, there is no post today. Fresh posts will resume on January 2nd, 2012.

If you can't wait until then, here are the links for the posts on Mark chapter 1:

The Good News Proclaimed

Calling the First Disciples

Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

Jesus Heals Simon's Mother-in-Law

Jesus Heals Many People

Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place

Healing a Leper

The Gift: A Guest Post at Learning From Sophie

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000Z

Thanks to Laura Anne for putting together a 24 Days of Christmas blog party, and for the invitation to take part in it.

My post, entitled "The Gift" can be seen here.

While I'm here - and you're here too - let me wish you a Merry Christmas. May it be filled with joy and blessings. If you don't really celebrate Christmas, then I hope and pray that today will bring you joy and blessings too.

A Christmas Headache

2011-12-23T20:24:00.001Z

On Sunday morning our church will be hosting a joint service with the Polish church that meets in our building.

On one level this is absolutely brilliant - we shared their anniversary celebrations a few weeks ago, and they shared in ours a week later - and will serve to bring the two churches closer together.

But there is a problem. We need to find carols - and tunes - that can be sung in both Polish and English. That shouldn't be too tricky, should it?

Have you stopped laughing now? Good.

One of the suggestions from the Polish folk was the carol Gdy się Chrystus rodzi. The trouble is that, until we checked it out on Youtube, neither Mrs Believer nor I had ever heard of it. And we only had the Polish words to work with. Here it is:

Anyone have any clues as to how we might do this in English? Babelfish doesn't do Polish, and Google translate was, shall we say, entertaining!

Delivering the Goods

2011-12-21T12:39:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago I told you about how Mrs Believer and I came to be able to buy our fabulous new house - you have read this post, haven't you? Well, go on then. I'll wait.

Naturally, I needed to find a job, at least to keep me busy and stop me from going over and over what had happened to us, if for no other reason. But what is an out of work pastor to do? What skills does he have that would be in demand in a recession?

The answer, it turned out, was driving, coupled with a fairly good sense of direction. I signed up with an employment agency and they sent me out when there was work available.

My first day's work as an agency driver did not go well. I was sent to a relatively nearby warehouse, given the worst van I have ever driven and a pile of parcels to deliver. I did have a hand-held electronic device that was supposed to help by allowing me to scan the parcels and record customers' signatures, as well as being a sat-nav, but it stopped working at my first drop.

My next work assignment was the height of glamour - delivering clean sanitary bins and removing full ones from various establishments. I've seen more women's toilets than I care to think about - and some of them were none too clean. There are pubs, cafes and restaurants I won't go into having seen the state of the female facilities.

Eventually the agency sent me to drive for Parcel Force - the parcels delivery arm of Royal Mail. It took a wee while to get used to the way things are done there, but, as Christmas approached, I found myself with a fairly regular route. And guess where that was...

That's right, I was given a route that included the town to which I had so recently moved. I drove along every street in this town, learning my way around my new environment and being paid to do it.

Do you think God might have something in mind?

And the video? Madness again. Whilst I hated driving the LDV Nexus foisted onto on my first day's driving, the LWB Mercedes Sprinter that Parcel Force gave me was a joy to drive.

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This post is part of the "God-bumps and God-incidences" community being hosted for The High Calling by Jennifer Dukes Lee at Getting Down With Jesus.

Mark on Mondays: Healing A Leper

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000Z

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

(Mark 1:40-44 (NIV(UK))

Leprosy is a terrible disease. It kills the sufferer's peripheral nerves, making them unable to feel pain, heat etc, and leaving them susceptible to unknowingly suffering injury and subsequent infection. Left untreated, leprosy can cause horrific disfigurement. It is little wonder that it was one of the most feared diseases in the world. Even today, although treatments are available, leprosy is the cause of immense suffering to many people, particularly in the Third World.

Fear of leprosy meant - and still means in many places - that sufferers were segregated, forced to live their lives away from the rest of society. In the Israel of Jesus' time, suffering from leprosy made you ritually unclean. No-one would touch you because to do so would transfer your uncleanness to them too. And in Jesus' time there was no cure, no way of controlling the disease and preventing its progression. Effectively leprosy was a death sentence, and once you had been diagnosed as a sufferer, people often treated you as though you were dead already.

Given that this was the case, we can begin to see the sheer enormity of the event described in these verses from Mark's Gospel. First, a man with leprosy comes to Jesus. He breaks all the societal, cultural and religious taboos of his time to present himself before Jesus. He risks rejection and humiliation to come to the one about whom he has heard much; Jesus who can heal the sick and drive out demons; Jesus, who teaches about the presence of the Kingdom of God and demonstrates that presence in his actions. The man comes, driven by desperation but fuelled by faith. Because, as he says, he believes that Jesus can make him clean. He believes that Jesus can make him whole. He believes that Jesus can give him new life. But this can happen only if Jesus is willing to do it. If not, then all this man has to look forward to is progressive worsening of his symptoms and a lingering death.

Jesus is willing. He reaches out and touches the man. That is really significant. Jesus could have healed him simply with a word, but he reaches out and touches the unclean man. We have no idea how long it had been since this man had been touched by anyone. To him, Jesus' touch must have been so incredibly affirming. But it was more than that. Jesus' touch brought not just affirmation, but complete healing. The unclean man is made clean.

I can't say for sure why it was that Jesus told this healed man not to spread the news of what had happened to him. He told him to go and show that he had been made clean, and then to offer the required sacrifices as an appropriate sign of his thankfulness for what had happened in his life. But despite Jesus' admonition, the man seems to have gone and told anyone and everyone who would listen to him, meaning that Jesus could no longer enter any town or village quietly.

And that was a problem, because this was early in Jesus' ministry. This was not the time for him to be stirring up the opposition that would ultimately result in his death. He had so much still to do, so much still to teach his disciples, so much still to show them - all of which was put at risk by this man's disobedience.

In contrast to the healed leper of this incident, Christians are commanded to tell others of our faith. We are to always be ready to give the reason for the faith that we have, always ready to speak of what Christ has done for us. And yet, how often do we remain silent? How many opportunities do we let slip? And what is it that we put at risk because we are not willing to risk being ridiculed and rejected?

Because of this man's story, people came to Jesus from everywhere. Who is waiting to hear the story of what Jesus has done for you before they will come to Jesus?

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Mark on Mondays is taking a break until the New Year, when we will continue into chapter 2!

Advent 4: Love

2011-12-18T11:00:00.000Z

The fourth Sunday in Advent is traditionally a day on which we pause to consider love. Now I could write an awful lot about love - in fact, over the years I have. I've preached about love lots too. In my opinion there are few greater subjects to speak about than the love of God.

But for all my words, written and spoken, I have not managed to completely capture the sheer enormity of God's love. I have not been able to fully express my wonder that I - even I - should be the object of a love so amazing, so divine.

I am not alone in my failure. Some of the greatest minds in history have tried - and failed - to fully and adequately describe the love of God. Compared to their efforts I sometimes feel that my own are like mere scratchings in the sand, fit only to be washed away by the next tide.

But although I know I cannot fully describe the love of God, although human language is too poor a vessel to carry such wonder, I must at least try. I simply have to issue the invitation to you to pause and reflect on God's love for you and for all that he has made.

So set aside all that you know of human love, for it is but a pale reflection of God's love, and consider with me a love so great that it expressed itself in the creation of an object to have love lavished on it. This was the impulse behind creation - God, in love, sovereignly called into existence that which is not God in order that his perfect love might be experienced and enjoyed by that which is not God.

Set aside all that you have experienced of human love which, even at its best, has mixed motives and consider with me a love so pure that it is expressed in service to others, with no hint of self-seeking in it.

Set aside all that you know of human love and consider a love so great that it caused God to take on flesh and dwell with us.

Consider love so great that he willingly took the risk of being born into poverty and squalor at the wrong end of a Palestinian home.

Consider a love so great that he took the risk of being helpless, defenceless in the face of a king who would seek to snuff out his infant life - and who would stop at nothing to achieve this aim.

Consider a love so great that he became incarnate as a child in a refugee's family.

Consider a love so great that he chose to grow up in obscurity rather than hog the limelight.

Consider a love so great that having lived a life of service to others he willingly went through a mockery of a trial and suffered a hideous death on the Cross.

Consider love so great that even death could not destroy it.

And now consider, this is the scale of the love of God for you. This is what he went through to show you the full extent of love. This is the love that is offered to you, not just at Christmas, but each and every day of your life, from now into eternity.

Now consider your response.

Four Candles?

2011-12-17T09:15:00.000Z

In honour of tomorrow being the day when four Advent candles are lit in churches and homes across the world, here's one of the best ever Two Ronnies sketches.

Hard to believe it's 35 years old!

My First Ever Guest Post

2011-12-15T09:21:00.000Z

... will appear on Learning from Sophie as part of the 24 Days of Christmas blog-party. At the moment it is scheduled to appear on Christmas Day. But you don't want to wait until then to go over there when you could go now and read the other posts in the series.

Rumours of a Book

2011-12-14T10:38:00.001Z

Way back when - in fact it was 28th June 2010 - I hinted that one of the things I intended to try and do was to write one or more books based on the preaching that I had done in the six years that I was a pastor. This intention was based on three things: first, many people who heard me preach were kind enough to say that I have a gift for it; second, one gentleman who was a regular member of our congregation told me that my preaching showed maturity beyond my years and experience and I should consider trying to have my sermons published; and third, as I am not currently in paid employment of any kind, I actually have the time to do something about working my sermons up into a more readable, less preachy style.

Having the time is one thing - using it well is quite another. And so I find myself, almost 18 months down the line, no further forward than I was last summer. But it is time for that to change.

What am I going to be working on? First up, I am going to re-write my proposed in-depth look at 1 Corinthians 13, which I currently have in first draft. As things turned out, my final sermon series was based on this most-famous passage of Scripture, which I took in a direction that I haven't come across elsewhere - although I doubt my viewpoint is original in any way. Hopefully my way of expressing the truths that I have found there will be.

So, there you are - rumours of a book. Now, do I hear rumours of a publisher?

Mark on Mondays: Jesus Prays In a Solitary Place

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000Z

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed, "Everyone is looking for you!"
Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come." So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

(Mark 1:35 - 39 (NIV UK))

There are some passages in Scripture that preachers simply shouldn't be allowed to speak on - for the safety of their congregations. My experience of hearing people preach on this passage (and its parallel in Luke 4:43-43) has persuaded me that this is one of them. Asking your pastor/minister.priest/vicar/lay preacher to give you a sermon based on this passage is like putting a stick in the hands of a sadist. Most times it's just not going to end well.

It is a rare preacher indeed who can avoid putting the entire congregation on a massive guilt trip when this passage turns up in the Lectionary. The topic of prayer, coupled with the idea of getting up very early in the morning - while it is still dark - is just too hard to resist. I have been on the receiving end of such a verbal beating about prayer myself - more than once.

Now, before you all go getting worried about my prayer life, I need to tell you that I believe in prayer. I believe that God hears our prayers and answers them. I believe that prayer leads to change - most often in me when I am praying. I believe that prayer is absolutely vital to the life of faith. And I believe that this passage clearly illustrates the importance that Jesus placed on prayer.

But I don't believe that early morning prayer is holier, or more effective than prayer offered at any other time. I don't believe for one minute that Jesus necessarily intended us to copy his example of getting up early in the morning to pray. If it works for you, that's great, but please give us lesser mortals, who are barely functional early in the morning, a break.

Yes, this passage is about prayer, but it is not about early mornings! Jesus got up early in the morning and left the house because he wanted to be alone to pray. Remember, he was probably staying in Simon's house - with Simon, Andrew and Simon's mother in law, and possibly James and John too. Remember that Galilean fishermen's houses were probably only one roomed affairs - two rooms would have been luxury. And remember too that just a few hours earlier practically the whole population of Capernaum had been gathered around the door of this house, bringing all the sick and demon-possessed people in the town to Jesus for him to heal their diseases and drive out the demonic spirits that caused so much misery to so many people.

Jesus got up early in the morning, while it was still dark, because it was the only way that he could leave the house without being seen. The issue for him was not the time. It was the need to be alone, which is why he went to a solitary place. After a period of intense activity in the spotlight, Jesus needed time to be on his own, time to recharge his batteries, time to reconnect with his Father, time to remind himself and/or be reminded of his purpose, and early morning was when he could guarantee such a time.

I have been a pastor and I know that pastoral ministry can involve periods of intensive activity in the public gaze. Christmas is one of those times, but they can occur completely unexpectedly too. In the middle of the activity it is easy for a pastor to lose focus, to forget why he/she has been set apart. It is too easy to get caught up with activity for its own sake, and forget that for activity to be productive it has to have a goal. And it's not just pastors who face these pressures - teachers, businessmen and politicians, amongst others, are prone to become so busy doing things that they forget why they are doing them.

And, for me, the core message of this passage is that we all need time away from the spotlight, away from activity, away from the demands of others to recapture our focus, to remind ourselves of who we are and why we do the things we do. If Jesus needed to make time for this, who are we to think that we don't? If we don't make this time we are apt to lose touch with God, with those whom we love and who love us, with those we are called to serve, and with ourselves. I know this from my own experience, and my failure to follow Jesus' example here is part of the reason why, as I am typing this, I am not currently in a position of pastoral responsibility. You don't have to make the same mistake, and I hope and pray that you won't.

Having taken time to be alone with God, to refresh himself and recapture his focus, when the disciples find Jesus he is able to be clear about what they must do next. His mission is not to spend time with the people who are looking for him; it is to go to the people who have yet to hear the kingdom message preached and yet to see its power in action. And so, rather than going straight back to Capernaum, Jesus goes on a tour of Galilean villages, teaching in their synagogues and demonstrating the power of God's kingdom.

So let me close by asking you a few questions. Are you clear what God's purpose for your life is? Are you focused on that, or has your vision become blurred in a haze of activity? Will you make the time you need to be alone with God and have your spirit refreshed and your vision sharpened? Or are you happy to risk burning out, losing everything - your vision, your call, your health and your family - by simply refusing to follow Jesus' lead.

Praise God, I seem to have my health back and I didn't lose my family - but it was a close-run thing. Please, please don't make my mistake.

Advent 3: Joy

2011-12-11T11:00:00.000Z

There is something desperately wrong with the way that we prepare for Christmas. I've noticed it in years past, but this year it seems particularly prevalent. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of one whose coming is "good news of great joy for all the people," there is a distinct lack of joy.

Where there should be joy, we find fear; the fear that the economy is going to continue to get worse; the fear of losing our jobs, maybe our homes; the fear that paying for Christmas will leave us in debt for months; the fear of giving the wrong gifts; the fear of upsetting someone by forgetting to send them a Christmas card; the fear of ruining the Christmas dinner; the fear of failing to make everyone happy.

Where there should be joy, we find sadness; sadness over friends and family who shared last Christmas with us, but who are absent this year for one reason or another; sadness that changes in circumstances mean that we are not as involved in people's Christmas as we used to be; sadness that we cannot give as much as we would like.

Where there should be joy, we find drudgery. We have turned so much of our celebrating into chores to be done; I have to write and send these cards; I have to buy gifts for this person who I only ever see at Christmas; I have to make a Christmas cake, a Christmas pudding, mince pies etc; I have to put up the tree and decorate it; I have to endure the works Christmas outing - again; I have to, I have to, I have to. And overlying all of that, I have to be seen to be enjoying myself, to be happy.

And there we come to the nub of the problem; we expect to be happy at Christmas and we expect it of everyone else. But happiness is an emotion which ebbs and flows, and we have as much control over it as King Canute had over the advancing tide. Try as we might, we simply cannot make ourselves - or anyone else - happy.

Happiness is not the same thing as joy. Real joy goes far beyond our emotions. Joy is an attitude, not an emotion. True joy is a core part of who we are and we can practise it. This is why Paul was able to exhort the Philippian church members, "Rejoice.... I will say it again: Rejoice. Paul wrote these words while in chains in prison. It was possible that he would soon be on trial for his life, but he was still able to tell his Christian brothers and sisters to rejoice.

But this joy was not to be plucked randomly out of thin air. Joy was - and is - to be built on a firm foundation, on an unshakable belief. Paul did not simply tell the Philippian believers to rejoice. They were to rejoice in the Lord always. Their joy - and ours - should be built on the fact that God is with us.

And that, ultimately, is what Christmas is about. That is the "good news of great joy for all people" that was announced by an angelic host to fearful shepherds on a hillside near Bethlehem.

"The virgin shall be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)

The birth of the Christ-child was the fulfilment of these words. In him God is with us - and because God is with us we can be joyful even when we are not happy.

Faithful Waiting

2011-12-08T07:00:00.000Z

I had the privilege on Sunday evening of preaching in the church where I am now a member. Having spent much of last week thinking about how waiting is such a central part of Advent, it seemed only natural that I should speak about it in my message.

I chose to base my message on Luke 2:21-35. This passage tells the story of Jesus' presentation in the Temple forty days after his birth. Of course, this is not usually an Advent reading, but I think that in Simeon we see several characteristics of the the kind of faithful waiting that Christians are called to live out in our lives.

First, Simeon was waiting expectantly for the coming of Israel's consolation, i.e. the one who would bring salvation to God's people. As a righteous and devout Jew, Simeon was well aware of the promises of God, promises which spoke of a prophet like Moses and a king from David's line who would come and deliver God's people. But Simeon didn't only have these promises to hold onto. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see this promised saviour, God's Christ, before he died. And so Simeon must have lived every single day of his life with the expectation that today could be the day when he would see God's promise fulfilled.

As Christians, we believe that the Christ for whom Simeon was waiting was none other than Jesus, who was crucified, died, buried and raised from the dead, and who then ascended into heaven. This Jesus promised that he would return, and it is this return that contemporary Christians, in common with all of the faith who have gone before them, await. But do we wait expectantly, as though every day could actually be the day when the promise is fulfilled and Christ returns? How different might our lives be if we did live like that?

Just think how excited the children in your neighbourhood, your school, your church, are as Christmas approaches. Now, what we are waiting for is nothing less than the full establishment of God's kingdom, which will be marked by an end to hunger, suffering, death, crying and mourning. How much better is that than any number of brightly wrapped gifts under a tree? So how come we don't seem to be excited about it? Didn't Jesus say that if we wanted to enter into the kingdom then we would need to become like children? Perhaps this is one of the ways in which adults need to learn from them, to put aside our airs and graces and be real for a change.

Back to Simeon. The second mark of his faithful waiting was his attentiveness. On a specific day at a specific time the Holy Spirit prompted him to be at the Temple. More than that, the Spirit must have guided him to Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Why do I say that? Well, the Temple courts were always crowded with hundreds of people going about their worship, not to mention the priests, money-changers, sellers of doves, pigeons, sheep, bull-calves and so on, as well as all the animals and birds. In the midst of all that Simeon had to meet exactly the right family. Of course he was guided to them!

The challenge to us is clear. Are we paying attention to God's leading in our lives? Or do we miss the gentle nudges and the still small voice which is prompting us?

Finally, Simeon's waiting was marked by obedience. It's no good having instructions if you don't follow them. It's no good being prompted by the Spirit of God if you don't obey him. Simeon could have decided to go shopping. He could have decided to sit at home. He could have decided that the risk involved in going to the Temple and finding the Christ in the middle of the crowd was just too great - far more likely to miss him than to find him. Simeon could have found any one of a number of excuses to disobey the Spirit's leading ... but he didn't. He obeyed God's Spirit and went to the Temple, where he met Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

Again the challenge to us should be obvious. When we are prompted by the Spirit, do we do what we believe we have been told to do, or do we find a dozen or more excuses - reasons to not obey?

In summary, Simeon waited expectantly for God's promise to be fulfilled. He waited attentively, listening for God's guidance in his life. And he waited obediently, following the prompting of God's Spirit. And I don't think it is too much of a stretch to think of Simeon waiting like this for weeks, months, possibly even years before Christ's birth.

Today Christians know what we are waiting for - Christ's Second Coming. The question is, "How are we waiting?"

Our House (In the Middle of Our Street)

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001Z

Mrs Believer and I are privileged to live in a beautiful home that was completed only 14 months ago - I say completed although there is still one room where I need to lay the top-flooring. It was the right house at the right time in the right place, and by rights we should never have been able to afford it.

Nineteen months ago I parted company with the church where I had been the pastor for six years. It wasn't my choice, but tensions between me and the church's deacons had been increasing for some time and I was advised to resign. It was not what I would have chosen to do, but I was really left with no choice.

Terminating my pastorate meant that I had to leave the church's manse. The church were very gracious in this, giving us 6 months to find somewhere to move to. But finding a new home is a very stressful business - especially when you are working to a deadline.

In our favour were two facts: i) we had some savings that we could use to help us to pay for our new home, and ii) we had a house in a different place that we could either sell or, if necessary, move back to.

Of course, neither of those options was going to be straightforward - if buying against a deadline is stressful, selling is even worse. And, just in case our situation wasn't stressful enough, we had people living in our other house, and either moving back or selling would mean making them homeless. Moving back would also have meant that Mrs Believer would have lost her job, and so we would have had no income at all. Oh, did I mention the graphic design student who lives with us. Well, we'd need enough space for her - and all her art materials!

So, what we needed was; a) to find a house that we all liked and that had all the space we need;
b) to find a house we could afford which met the above requirements; and
c) for our tenants to be rehoused.

We might also have needed for one or other of us to find a new job.

So we started house-hunting. Two things quickly became apparent. First, houses near enough to Mrs Believer's work for her to be able to keep her job were not cheap. Second, houses with the amount of space we needed were not cheap. But we persevered.

We looked at a few houses over the weeks, but never found one that was right for us. Then we started enquiring about new-build houses. One building company we enquired with told us they had nothing that would be ready in time. Another had sold out completely, but the third - well they had a few homes that hadn't been sold and even one that would be ready precisely when we needed it. We looked round their show home and fell in love with it almost immediately.

But there was a snag. This house was going to cost twice as much as we could afford. So we each spent the next couple of weeks independently trying to convince ourselves that another house, a lesser house, a smaller house, would do. But the reality was, it wouldn't. So we prayed.

And then things started happening.

First, we received a phone call from Mrs Believer's parents. They had a considerable financial investment that was due to mature. If we needed it, they said we could have it now, rather than waiting for them to die and receiving it in their wills. And when I say considerable, I mean considerable - more money than I'd used to buy our previous house with - enough so that, if we could sell that house (and if our tenants could be rehoused) then we might be able to afford the house we loved after all.

At the same time as all this was happening, the builders were valuing our old property. If it was suitable, then they could offer to take it in part exchange against a new house. Well, one morning the phone rang. It was the builder's sales office. They had valued our house - and it was worth £20,000 less than we needed to be able to buy the new home we wanted. How was I going to tell Mrs Believer the bad news? I was gutted ...

"But," continued the cheery voice that had just destroyed my dreams, "we know you won't take that, so we'd like to use some of our headroom and offer you an extra ..."

I had never known what tenterhooks were before, but now I was waiting on them. Arrow prayers filled the air. "Please let it be possible. Please let it be ..."

"Twenty thousand pounds ... and we'll pay the stamp duty for you too. But there is one condition. We need to have vacant possession by ..."

The date given was about six weeks away. If we were going to be able to buy our lovely new home, the one we'd now set our hearts on, then we were going to have to make our tenants homeless.

Reluctantly I rang them to give them the bad news. "Please don't worry about it," they said. "You've done so much for us already. We knew we would have to leave one day - and we've been here much longer than we expected already. Please write a letter so that we can tell the council here that we are going to be homeless, and let's see what happens."

So I wrote the hateful letter - the kind of letter I had hoped never to have to write - and I prayed that somehow God would look after these people who had cared for our old house so well.

Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks later our tenants rang us to say that the council had found them a new home close to where their newly-married daughter was living, and they could move in a week before we needed them to move out.

Now you might want to call all these occurrences coincidence, but I have to agree with Archbishop William Temple who said, "When I pray, coincidences happen. When I don't, they don't."

All of which leaves me wondering, "Why did God go to so much trouble to enable us to live in this house? What is his plan for us in this place?"

And - just in case you think the Madness song is a bit random - our house is in the middle of our street :-)

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This post is part of the "God-bumps and God-incidences" community being hosted for The High Calling by Jennifer Dukes Lee at Getting Down With Jesus.

Advent 2: Peace

2011-12-06T07:00:00.000Z

The theme for our morning service on the second Sunday of Advent was peace, which is something that I have preached on myself in Advents past. Our preacher reminded us of the dictionary definitions of peace: the absence of war or other hostilities; freedom from disturbance; mental or emotional calm - i.e. a lack of anxiety. However, as he pointed out, none of these comes close to describing the peace that is spoken of in the Bible - peace which surpasses understanding.

So, when the Bible speaks of peace, what does it mean? When the promised Saviour is described as the prince of peace in Isaiah's prophecy, what is he talking about?

To find answers to these questions we need to remind ourselves of the too often and too easily forgotten fact that the Bible was written almost, if not totally, exclusively by Hebrews. Apart from a few short passages, the entire Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and whilst the New Testament was written in Koine Greek (note - not 16th Century English), the authors were using this street-Greek to express Jewish/Hebrew thought patterns.

As soon as we remember the Jewish roots of Christian faith then we should realise that our English word "peace" may not be capturing the full meaning of the Greek or Hebrew words that are being translated. In fact, in this case, it is an absolute certainty that the English word "peace" completely fails to do justice to the Biblical Hebrew concept - which is why the standard dictionary definitions above are so inadequate.

The Hebrew word which is translated peace in our English Bibles is "shalom." Shalom certainly can mean an absence of hostilities, tranquillity within and without, but it means much, much more than that. Another word that could be used to translate shalom into English is wholeness - and I think that this captures so much more of what Advent is about.

Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and eventual return are not about a cessation of hostilities between God and humanity. If there are such hostilities, then they are unilateral. Mankind may be at war with God, but God is not at war with us. Jesus came to invite us to enjoy the wholeness of life for which we were created. He said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Fullness of life means so much more than quiet restfulness, the absence of hostilities, the lack of anxiety. Fullness of life means having purpose and direction, a reason for being. Fullness of life includes tragedy and triumph, delight and despair, celebration and sorrow - but it means knowing that in all these situations we are not alone. Fullness of life is built on the knowledge that God is for us and not against us, that his love for us is never-ending, that he delights in each one of us; you, me, everybody - without exception.

So perhaps, instead of seeking peace in this second week of Advent, we should be bold and seek something more.

Shalom!

Mark on Mondays: Jesus Heals Many People

2011-12-05T09:29:00.001Z

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

(Mark 1:32 - 35, NIV(UK))

Last week we left Mark's account of Jesus life with Jesus and his disciples (only four at that stage) being waited on by Simon's mother-in-law. It was the the sabbath, and Jesus had exorcised a demon-possessed man at the synagogue meeting that day - a real live demonstration of the power and presence of the kingdom of God which Jesus said "is near." This is the good news that Jesus called people to believe.

Following the synagogue meeting Jesus went with Simon, Andrew, James and John to Simon and Andrew's home, where Jesus healed Simon's mother-in-law from a fever - still on the Sabbath.

After sunset - i.e. when the Sabbath was over - the people of Capernaum, where these events had taken place, brought all the sick and demon-possessed people of the town to Jesus. It must have been quite a gathering outside Simon's house - the blind, the deaf, the lame, the crippled and so on all brought to Jesus. But why? Why did the people of the town bring their sick and demon-possessed fellow citizens to Jesus?

There can be only one reason. They had seen Jesus drive the evil spirit out of the demon-possessed man in the synagogue, and they believed that what he had done for this man, he could do for their sick friends and relations. They believed that the power of God's kingdom that Jesus had demonstrated wasn't for just a small number of people - it was for everyone. More than that, they didn't simply think that this was the case - they acted on their belief and so they came, bringing those they cared about to Jesus so that he might heal them.

And he did. He healed all who were brought to him that day were healed at the door of Simon's house. Sicknesses of all kinds were healed. Twisted and broken limbs were repaired, straightened, made useful again. And those whose troubles had a spiritual cause - the demon-possessed - were set free. This is the power of the kingdom of God - and it is available to everyone who seeks it by faith in Jesus. No-one is excluded, no-one is beyond help. The question is - do you believe it? And if you do - have your beliefs spurred you to action?

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

And now an apology. There is no picture accompanying this post because, for some reason, Jesus healing all the sick people in Capernaum doesn't seem to have captured the imagination of an artist sufficiently to inspire him/her to use their skills to recreate the scene for us. Perhaps that is an opportunity one of my readers might like to take up?

What are You Waiting For?

2011-12-01T11:51:00.001Z

As I have already discussed here, waiting is an integral part of Advent. Now that December is here the sense of expectation in many people's lives just ratchets up more and more every day. For others, particularly mothers, it is not expectation that is rising, it is stress. There's still so much to do before Christmas Day and as each day passes there is less time to do it in.

But still we wait for the day to arrive.

All this waiting begs the question, "What are you waiting for?" Not in terms of the "Just get on and do something," response to our procrastination, but in terms of expectations, hopes, dreams, wishes, and prayers - what are you waiting for?

Children in the affluent western world know exactly what they are waiting for. They are bombarded with images telling them what this year's must-have gifts are and they are waiting expectantly for them. They are waiting for new bikes, puppies, ponies(!), train sets, dolls houses and who knows what else.

Young couples in love know what they are waiting for too; perfume, lingerie, and those small tokens of love that only someone who really knows and loves you would think to get for you.

Families scattered across nations, even across the world, are waiting for the opportunity to be together, to celebrate Christmas together - although many might quickly realise why they only do this once or twice a year.

Our waiting is characterised largely by hunger - we are waiting for the things we want. And wanting is part of human nature. Advertisers know this, and so they don't focus their efforts on generating desire in us; instead they try to channel our innate desire, our hunger and thirst, our need for satisfaction, towards their clients' products. "This will satisfy your longing," is their message. Again and again we fall for it, believing the lie that a new car, new coat, new fragrance, new phone, new games console, new ...

... anything, will be the answer to the yearning that is within each one of us. It almost doesn't matter what "it" is, as long as it is new. And so we learn to be good consumers. The irony is - he types on his new lap-top - we all know, deep down, that consumption is not the answer. We all know that no sooner have we received something new than our desire is channelled in a fresh direction. There is something else we must have, almost as soon as the last must have item has been removed from its packaging.

So what is the answer to this? Traditionally, Christians have been taught to learn to curb their desires, to want less. But over at Out of My Alleged Mind (brilliant blog title, I wish I had thought of it) Nancy challenges that way of thinking, arguing that instead of wanting less we should actually want more. You can read her post here.

I think she has a point. If the basis of advertising campaigns is not to create desire, but to channel desire that is already present in us, then the answer is not to deny the existence of yearning and longings, but to learn to re-orient them, to refocus them onto things that really matter, things that really will bring and end to the hunger and thirst that is within us.

So what kind of things are we talking about? Well, consider the sorts of lists that used to be common on the lips of aspiring beauty queens; world peace, an end to injustice, freedom for all, an end to world hunger, no more children (or adults for that matter) dying too young from preventable diseases, etc. Now these are all worthy things, and it is a rare person who doesn't want to see some, if not all, of these. And these are goals worth aiming at, what Jim Collins calls BHAGs - Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. But, as Collins notes from the world of business, to achieve BHAGs means that we have to bet everything we have on them, to risk not just failure but being completely wiped out in the attempt to achieve our aims.

And there-in lies the real problem. The risk involved in trying to achieve our lofty goals is too vast for most of us to comprehend, let alone to actually take on. We are risk-averse people, living in a risk-averse society, which is trying to make us believe that life really can be risk-free. Taking risks involves leaving our comfort zones, doing things we have never done before - and the very thought of it terrifies me! And so we wait. We wait for someone who will risk everything to put our world to rights, to bring peace and justice and freedom for all.

At Christmas we celebrate the coming of one who has taken on that risk - Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came, in his own words, to bring sight for the blind, freedom for captives and release for the oppressed. It is true that today we do not see these things fully achieved, but we have his promise that he will return to complete what he started. In the meantime, we who have committed to following him are supposed to be living as he lived, doing what he did, working towards the goals that he put in front of us.

So what are you waiting for?

On Our National Day Please Pray for Us

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000Z

Just in case you didn't know this is a Scottish blog, written in Scotland. Every now and again there is a clue to that, such as my use of the word "dreich" in a poem or the other occasional slips into Scots vernacular. And today is St Andrew's Day - the day when we celebrate all that being Scottish means; our history - with particular attention to the Battle of Bannockburn, where we won a famous victory over our larger southern neighbours; our culture - although it could easily be argued that Scotland has several cultures; and our heritage. We also celebrate our contribution to the world - anaesthetics, economics, pneumatic tyres, antibiotics, telephones, televisions, tarmacadam, and the Bank of England to name but a few.

Historically, one of Scotland's greatest contribution's to the world has been in taking the Gospel message of God's love displayed in Jesus Christ to every corner of the world. Ours was a nation known for its love of God's word.

But, as I type those words, I have a heavy heart, because I have to emphasise the was aspect of that. Today, as a nation, we are largely indifferent to the Bible, and largely ignorant of what it says. And that makes me terribly, terribly sad.

And that is why I am asking you to pray for our nation. On this day of great Scottish pride when we remember and celebrate all things Scottish - except Robert Burns who has a day to himself - please pray for Scotland and her people.

Pray for pastors, priests and ministers of all our Christian denominations as they seek to keep the light of the Gospel burning in the sight of our people.

Pray for Christians in our workplaces, in our homes, in our clubs and associations, because we are a minority in our land.

Pray that we will remain faithful to the calling that we have to be light in the darkness that has settled in our land, on our people, so that as a nation we might turn back to God and rediscover our former love for his word and Word.

Please, on our national day, pray for us in Scotland. Thank you.

This Gift of Waiting Time

2011-11-29T07:00:00.000Z

The title comes from a line in a poem posted by Sally at Eternal Echoes. You can read if here. Sally has been going through a pretty tough time recently, with lots of uncertainty about the future and some struggles to deal with in the here and now. In many ways she seems to be on a similar journey to the one I am on.

In the midst of her poem, which is an Advent invitation, Sally's words really caught my attention as she challenged me to see waiting time as a gift.

Waiting, of course, is a central theme of Advent. In the first place we are waiting to celebrate Christmas, to give exuberant voice to the joyous news that Christ is come, God is with us.

A second part of the waiting motif, for Christians, is the acknowledgement that we are still waiting for the promised return of Christ, waiting with the expectation that is built on Christian hope. He will come again. The only question is "When?" And the reality for many believers is that he can't come soon enough.

When you remember that many people believe that the Second Coming of Christ will signal an end to injustice, pain, suffering, crying and mourning, that his parousia will result in the full establishment of God's kingdom rule and reign on earth, then it is hardly surprising that some people can appear just a wee bit too eager for Christ's return.

But where Christ's return is generally thought of as a good thing for Christians, we shouldn't forget that it might not be such good news for those who are not believers. If the "turn or burn" brigade are right, then it could be very bad news indeed for many people, some of whom I know and love dearly. We had also better not forget that when he returns Christ will return to judge every single one of us - and that includes me. It is these concerns which make me just a little bit hesitant about wanting it to happen soon. I would much rather wait, thank you very much.

But whilst I am in no particular hurry to see Christ's return, there are a whole lot of other things that I'd like to get sorted out now. For instance, I am currently out of work and out of pastorate. I don't want to say too much about that, except to say that I would really like to return to pastoral ministry sooner rather than later. And if that is not God's will for me, then I really wish he'd get on and tell me what he wants me to do instead. All this waiting is doing my head in!

But why is waiting so hard? Why is it difficult to accept this time of waiting as a gift? Part of it is because I am not as patient as I could be. I'm sometimes tempted to pray, "O Lord, grant me patience - and do it NOW!"

Another part of my impatience is cultural. I live in an impatient society. We want everything now, instantly, this minute. We want instant results, instant gratification, instant pleasure, instant food, instant everything. And when we can't have it, we don't like it very much. Waiting is just such a drag. We tend to see time spent waiting as time wasted. But is it?

One part of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:25 - 26 is patience. It comes right after love, joy and peace. (In the King James Bible the word is long-suffering.) But how does the Spirit grow the fruit of patience in us? Simple. He puts us in situations where we need to be patient. And that being the case, waiting time is time when we are being given a gift - the gift of patience.

Mind you, if I'm not done in the school of patience when this phase of my life is complete, I'll have a thing or two to say about it!

Mark on Mondays: Jesus Heals Simon's Mother-in-Law

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000Z

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

(Mark 1:29-31 NIV(UK))

As a preacher/teacher sometimes you come across passages that have you wondering, "What am I going to say about that?" There are two possible reasons for this:

i) The passage is so complex, so involved or so obscure that it is hard to find and/or convey its meaning. Difficult passages need to be interpreted but, because they are difficult, they are open to a variety of different understandings. Turning to scholarly commentaries may help in this situation, but not always. You may come across as at least many different interpretations of the passage as the number of commentaries that you read.

ii) The passage is so simple and straightforward that an attempt to say anything about it is likely to be greeted with that look which says, "Tell us something we don't already know."

Today's passage is of that second type. The narrative is straightforward - totally lacking in twists and turns, and - given what has gone before - not at all surprising. Jesus and his four disciples leave the synagogue and head for Simon and Andrew's house, most likely to enjoy a meal together. It was the Sabbath, so they could do no work. There was a limit on the distance that they were allowed to walk - the Sabbath day's walk - so a pleasant stroll by the lakeside was not really an option and besides, it was probably quite hot. Going home to rest in the shade was by far the best option available to Law-abiding Jews on the Sabbath after synagogue. But there was a minor snag.

Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever in the house. 1st century Galilean fishermen almost certainly did not have the luxury of more than one or two rooms in their homes, so, naturally, Jesus was told of her presence - probably before they entered the house. It would have saved potential embarrassment. There is no implication that anyone expected Jesus to heal Simon's mother-in-law but ...

... that's exactly what he did. Taking her by the hand, he helped her up and, as he did so, the fever left her. Now healed, she began to wait on the men - entirely in keeping with 1st Century Jewish culture.

Now, over the years, I've heard all sorts of rubbish spouted forth about this passage by people who seemed to be desperate to find something in it that isn't there. However, one idea keeps cropping up over and over again and it is this: Jesus motive in healing Simon's mother-in-law was precisely so that she would be able to wait on him and the four disciples, Simon, Andrew, James and John, perhaps cooking a meal for them into the bargain. A slightly more subtle variation on this thought is that Simon took Jesus home so that he would heal his mother-in-law so that she would wait on them, thus removing the burden of hospitality from his shoulders (and the burden of responsibility from Jesus). My considered response to such arguments is this:

Piffle!

It was the Sabbath. That meant that no work could be done. No-one would prepare a meal on the Sabbath. The Sabbath meal would have been prepared the previous day before sunset, and eaten cold. So there was no need for anyone to do any preparation. There was no need for Simon's mother-in-law to wait on anyone. Her service to Jesus was simply an expression of gratitude to him for healing her, nothing more and nothing less.

So why do people find it necessary to ascribe some kind of impure motive for Jesus healing this woman - or for Simon and Andrew taking Jesus to their homes? Why is it that even today we are still quick to look for ignoble reasons behind other people's apparently self-less actions? Here's why - we do it because that's too often what we would do in their place. When we question other people's motives what is most clearly revealed is not what those motives actually are or were, but the state of our own hearts. This answer is not one that makes me comfortable, because I too frequently and too quickly despise other people's altruism by looking for their hidden agenda, asking myself "What's in it for them? Where's their payback?"

The response of Simon's mother-in-law to Jesus' work in her life is an example to us of the response we need to make to him for his work in our lives too. And yet, far from being grateful to Christ for what he has done for us, in Western culture at least, it is far more likely that we take his work for granted. We spend more time griping and grousing about what we don't have than we do giving thanks for the many blessings that we do enjoy.

Perhaps we need to learn from Simon's mother-in-law - a woman whose name we never learn - and simply offer grateful, loving service to Christ in response to what he has done for us.

And let's not worry about the things we can't do. Waiting on Jesus and the others wasn't much - it was the cultural norm - but it was what this woman could do, so she did it. Will you commit today to doing what you can do as a grateful, loving response for all that God in Christ has done - or wants to do - in your life?

Advent 1: Hope for the Hope-less

2011-11-27T16:57:00.001Z

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Christian period of preparation prior to the celebration of Christmas. It is a time that has many traditions in it: the lighting of candles each week as part of church services; preaching a series of sermons geared to reminding people why this season is so important; writing and sending Christmas cards; choosing gifts for family and close friends to name but a few.

In our service this morning our pastor began his Advent preaching series by speaking about Hope. (I know that next Sunday's speaker will be speaking on Peace, so I guess Joy and Love will follow). Much of what was preached was intended to show us that hope is a good thing. Christian hope is an especially good thing because, unlike the hope of a big lottery win, which will almost certainly never happen, Christian hope is built on the promises of a faithful God.

You might expect that a sermon like that would have left me feeling encouraged, uplifted and hopeful but actually today I feel sad. And as I thought about it, I realised why.

Two years ago I was not part of the preparations for Christmas in the church where I pastored because I was signed off work. Never mind, I had the hope of returning to active pastoral ministry soon after Christmas.

Last year I was up to my eyeballs in work - and snow - delivering parcels so that people could celebrate Christmas. The hours were long and when I wasn't at work I was either asleep or almost asleep. One thing is for sure, I was too tired to think about not being a pastor/preacher, and probably too tired to care very much anyway.

This year I'm again not actively involved in Christmas preparations - and I miss it really badly. When I was in pastorate I loved this time of year, even though it was always really busy - perhaps because it was always really busy. I loved sharing the Christmas story with primary school children. I loved telling them about Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, shepherds, angels and wise men. I loved working with the High School students as they planned and prepared their Christmas service. I loved being able to give Mrs Believer a list of service themes for Advent and then working with her to ensure that most of the carols that people so enjoy singing were part of our preparations. (Yes I know, we shouldn't sing Christmas carols until after Advent, but there are so many good ones that it can take a month of services, and more, to get through them all!) I miss the repeated opportunities to point people towards Jesus, to remind them that without him there would be no Christmas. Somehow, with all that gone, Advent just feels a bit empty - and this year I am not too tired to notice.

Life must have been a bit like that for the Jewish exiles in Babylon. They had lost their homes, their land and their livelihoods. The Temple where they had (sometimes) worshipped God was burned and ruined. As they looked into the future, it is unlikely that they would have seen much to make them optimistic, to give them hope. And it was into this darkness, this despair, this emptiness that the words of Isaiah the prophet rang clear and true:

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her,
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
    double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling,
"In the desert prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the wilderness
    a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all mankind together will see it."
             For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

(Isaiah 40:1-5, NIV(UK))

And there it is - hope for the hope-less, comfort for the despairing, a promise to hold on to. God is coming, so make your preparations because he who has promised is faithful and keeps his promises. And it is to this hope that I will cling. God is coming, Christ is coming, there is light in the darkness - and the darkness has never, can never, overcome it.

Book Review: Stone Crossings by L.L. Barkat

2011-11-23T07:00:00.000Z

Part autobiography, part spiritual reflection, part applied theology, all poetry in prose, L.L. Barkat's Stone Crossings is remarkable. It is subtitled "Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places," and the very first sentences of the book tell you that Barkat knows just how hard some places can be:

"As a child I escape into the creek bed. No-one can touch me here."

It is with these words that Barkat begins to give her testimony. But this is not the kind of sugar-coated "I gave my life to Jesus and all my troubles melted away," testimony that we hear all too often. Neither is it the sensational "I was a drug-fuelled axe murderer but Jesus has forgiven me," type of Christian faith experience beloved of stadium evangelists. No, this is testimony honestly told - brutally honestly at times - with struggles, failings and disappointments revealed in a way that most of us shrink from.

From a childhood scarred by abuse and fear through to discovering love - the love of God, the love of a husband, the joy of her love for her children - healing and forgiveness, Barkat's life has taken some extraordinary turns. And yet, for all of its extra-ordinariness, in many ways Barkat's life story is quite ordinary, her experiences are our experiences heightened and intensified by circumstance, but nonetheless the common experiences of simply being human. For which of us has never felt isolation and fear, humiliation and shame, suffering and doubt?

And it is into these hard places that Barkat gently leads us to find grace, to see God at work in ways that are beyond our understanding at times. Her Biblical interpretation invites the reader to enter more deeply into the passages she uses to show us Jonah's fear of the Ninevites and anger that God should even consider saving them; to show us that God was far more passionate about the state of Moses' heart than about his leadership potential; that a blind man whose eyes are covered in mud is going to have some difficulty navigating his way across Jerusalem to the Pool of Siloam - the list goes on.

So, is there a down-side to this book, a cloud in the sunny skies? I think there is. I read it very quickly, the way I would read a crime novel, wanting to reach the end and discover "Whodunit?" Barkat's easy writing style invites the reader to keep turning the pages, to wade unthinkingly through words which have been chosen and crafted together with great care, words intended to invite us to stop, think, ponder and reflect, to ask the questions, "Have I experienced grace like this in my life? When? Where? Do I want to?" I have had this problem with another of Barkat's books - Rumors of Water - wolfing it down instead of taking the time that such delicious writing deserves to be given, failing to savour the feast set before me. But this cloud says more about me as a reader than it does about L.L. Barkat as an author and besides, it means I'll have the pleasure of reading the book again - and it will be a pleasure.

Mark on Mondays: Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000Z

They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!"
"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

(Mark 1:21-28, NIV(UK))

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

His eyes were dark, but this was not simply the darkness of ordinary Asian eyes. This was a darkness that threatened to suck you into its depths, as though it could remove your very soul. On a hot, for me anyway, day I felt incredibly cold, goosebumps, shivering cold. Looking into those eyes, I saw something alive, but it didn't look human. I have no other word for it. What I saw in that man's eyes was demonic - and it was very, very frightening.

My encounter with a sadhu - Hindu holy man - on the dry, dusty, overcrowded streets of Calcutta convinced me that talk of demons is not just the stuff of primitive superstition, but is in fact very, very real. Now, I'm not the kind of person who is going to see demonic possession as the diagnosis of every ill. I know about manic depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy and a variety of other conditions which used to be thought of in these terms, but which we now understand have physical and/or biochemical origins and are able to treat medically. But evil is real. Evil spirits - demons if you will - are real, and on the streets of Calcutta I knew I had come face to face with at least one.
I also knew that it is a foolish Christian who gets involved on spiritual battles that are beyond their strength and experience, so I quickly made my way back to my guesthouse room, hoping not to come across anything more sinister than a Kali shrine for the remainder of my time in the city that is named for the Hindu goddess of death and destruction.

However, the passage before us today isn't about demons per se. It is, in fact, about authority - the authority of Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus "taught them [in the synagogue] as one who had authority" and compares this teaching with that of the teachers of the law. The ordinary people in the synagogue that day knew the difference - and they were impressed, even before Jesus expelled the evil spirit from the possessed man.

But then Jesus' displayed his authority over evil - in this case over evil spirits. First he commanded the spirit to be silent, then he commanded it to leave its host, which it did somewhat reluctantly.

The people who were previously impressed were now amazed. Jesus' teaching was new to them; not the quibbling of their usual teachers, but bold statements - "I say to you." And he backed his words with action. This was not merely talk about God's kingdom. This was a very real demonstration that the kingdom truly was near - in fact, right there in the person of Jesus - for where the kingdom is, forces opposed to the kingdom have no authority and cannot remain.

Lemon Drizzle Buffins

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000Z

OK - first things first, what is a buffin? Well, in this household a buffin is obviously a cross between a bun (cup-cake) and a muffin - too big to be a bun, but not made with a muffin recipe, hence a buffin. Now, have we got that clear?

Ingredients

6oz (150g) Caster sugar
6oz (150g) Margarine
7.5oz (185g) Self-raising flour
3 tblsp Lemon curd
3 Eggs
1 lemon
4 tblsp granulated sugar.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (375F). For fan ovens a lower temperature will be required. I usually reduce the temperature by 10 degrees C (25F) for my oven.
2. Place 12 muffin cases in muffin pans(s)
3. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the caster sugar, margarine, lemon curd and eggs, then mix until smooth.
4. Place a good tablespoon of the mixture into each muffin case.
5. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until done. A cocktail stick inserted into the buffin should come out clean if it is cooked.
6. Meanwhile grate the rind of the lemon, then squeeze the juice into a bowl.
7. Add the rind and granulated sugar to the lemon juice.
8. When the buffins are cooked spoon the lemon juice, rind and sugar mixture over them.
9. Leave in the muffin trays until cold.

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

Joining with Ann Kroeker for Food on Fridays.

The Life of Bread.

2011-11-15T17:53:00.001Z

Yeast on tepid sugar-water fed,
Murky suspension with frothy head,
Add to bowl with salt, sugar, butter
And milk, lukewarm; then stir in flour.

Push away, fold; push away, fold;
Knead dough smooth on flour-spread board.
Then cover, in warmth set aside
To rest and grow to double size.

Knock back, punch down, pummel, divide,
In tin with metal floor and side
Constrain, there to rise once more,
Then bake hot behind oven door.

When browned and done, set free to cool,
Then slice with sharp serrated tool,
And butter, jam or honey spread,
Taste with delight - the life of bread.

Mark on Mondays: Calling the First Disciples

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000Z

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

(Mark 1:16-29, NIV(UK))

I can remember exactly when I made my first 'decision for Christ.' I was a little short of my 20th birthday and life was not going well. I was studying chemistry at St Andrews University, with biochemistry as my second subject. Up until then I had never really had much trouble in my studies. I'd never failed an exam in my life. And then it happened - I failed the end of term biochemistry exam and my world fell apart.

Now, to put this in context, it wasn't that important. End of term exams were not the same as end of year exams, but if you did well in the end of term exams you could be exempted from the end of year exams. So failing an end of term exam only meant that I had to take the end of year exam, which was bothersome, but not the end of the world.

This was the middle of the 1980's and the UK was in recession. Unemployment was high. At the same time as I was failing my biochemistry exam, my father was out of work and money was short at home. I could have tried to find work and made a contribution to the family purse, but no - I was in St Andrews failing exams. And I just knew that was wrong. Very wrong.

It was around this time, not long after Easter, that I was invited to a guest service hosted by St Andrews Baptist Church, but held in the Town Hall. I went with a friend of mine called Peter. The church's pastor preached a sermon about Jesus' conversation with Peter and his friends on the shore of the Sea of Galilee - not the calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John that we are thinking about here, but the post-resurrection conversation recorded in John 21. And there I was with Peter, hearing the words of Jesus as though they were being spoken personally to me.

I attended church again that evening, when some more friends who were very excited to see me there asked me if I wanted to follow Jesus. I said "Yes" and that was that. But here are some things that didn't happen. I didn't acknowledge the depths of my sin. I didn't ask God the Father, or Jesus, or anyone else to forgive me for that sin. I wasn't taken through the "Four Spiritual Laws." I didn't pray the "Sinner's Prayer." Asked the question, "Did I want to follow Jesus?" I said "Yes."

When I tell some people this, they look at me as though that explains everything. It explains why some of my theological views are not widely held by conservative evangelicals - although my current pastor assures me that they are Biblical. It explains why some of my behaviour is not in line with Evangelical Orthodoxy, why my taste in music still has not been totally redeemed etc etc. In fact, there are some who wonder whether I was ever converted to Christianity. I have to admit, there have been times when I have wondered too!

If we look at the story of Jesus calling his first disciples - Simon, Andrew, James and John - then perhaps I have more in common with them than is commonly believed. It is a simple story. Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee when he encountered Simon and Andrew mending their nets by the lake. He called them to follow him and they did, there and then.

Just a little later, the small group came across James and John. Jesus invited them to follow him too - and they did.

But let's look at what didn't happen. No-one confessed their sinfulness. No-one asked for forgiveness. No-one prayed a sinner's prayer. And here's the thing. If you read the gospels and the book of Acts, at no point will you find any of these disciples of Jesus doing any of these things - except Simon Peter, who confesses his sinfulness in Luke 5:8. And - just to upset my Baptist and baptistic friends - none of them seems to have been baptised either. Which raises the question, "When did these men become Christians?"

According to contemporary conservative evangelical orthodoxy and practice the answer appears to be that they didn't. But there is no possible way that we can deny that these men were used by God to change the world. So perhaps, just perhaps, my experience of 'conversion' was authentic. It certainly seems to have been Biblical. And perhaps, just perhaps, we need to place less emphasis on getting people to confess their sins, to give intellectual assent to our favourite doctrines or to pray the sinner's prayer, and more on inviting them to follow Jesus. Perhaps that way we might be more fruitful in making disciples.

What do you think?

Remembering

2011-11-11T08:48:00.001Z

Today is the 11th day of the 11th month and at the 11th hour I will, as did the guns so long ago, fall silent. I will be remembering:

      Remembering the appalling price of Man's inhumanity to Man.

      Remembering the millions of men slaughtered in the battlefields of the First World War - the Somme, Ypres, Gallipoli, Paschendale ...

Remembering that even though the Armistice had been agreed, the guns went on firing, and men kept dying right up until the last minute.

      Remembering that the "war to end all wars" did not put an end to war, that bloodshed on a truly industrial scale did not put an end to national selfish ambition and greed, and that just 21 years later the world was at war again.

      Remembering my grandfather who, in the Second World War, served in Burma. He only spoke to me once of his experience. He asked me a question that day. "What do you do when you are behind enemy lines and your colleague breaks his leg?" When he asked that, I understood why he had never spoken of his war time service.

      Remembering school-friends who have served in conflicts across the world: Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and others.

      Remembering too that the dead were not only from this country, nor even only from those who were our allies. One of the most moving experiences of my life was standing in front of the war memorial in a Viennese church, reading the names of the thousands of Austrians who died in the two World Wars, most of them unwilling conscripts. Their choice was stark; die at the front or die as a traitor, so they chose the front where they had at least some chance of survival. I have also stood at the war memorial to the heroes of "The Great Patriotic War 1941-45" in Donetsk, Ukraine - a Soviet memorial to some of the millions from that country who died in what we know as the Second World War.

      Remembering the survivors, those whose lives bear the physical, mental, emotional and physical scars of warfare.

      Remembering the families who today, perhaps for the first time, are remembering fathers, brothers, husbands, uncles, sons and, yes, daughters too, who left home to serve their country and did not come back.

Yes, at the 11th hour of this day I will take time to remember, to remember the price that was paid for the freedoms I so easily take for granted, not to glorify war, but to remind myself why, even if I were not a Christian, I would want to do all in my power to prevent further war in the world, and to promote peace and justice for all. This is why I remember, and it is why I ask you to take time to remember too.

The Positive Power of "No!"

2011-11-10T10:45:00.001Z

"I'm just a girl who cain't say 'No,'
I'm in a terrible fix.
I always say, 'Come on, let's go,'
Just when I oughta say, 'Nix'"

She looked across the room at me, her blue eyes piercing the very depths of my soul. I was defenceless. Whatever it was she wanted, I had no choice but to give it to her. The "Yes" was formed in my mind, ready to rush across tongue and teeth, poised to be set free in the world and entrap me.

"Could you just ...?" she asked, and I was doomed.

I used to frequently say "Yes" to things that I shouldn't. I dread to think how often I've been asked if I can or will do something and have unthinkingly responded, "Yes." I say unthinkingly because if I had taken just a moment to think, I might have realised that I couldn't possibly do what was asked. Perhaps I lack the time to do what is requested when it is needed. Perhaps I don't have the ability to do the task well. Perhaps time pressure means that I won't give my best to the job at hand. Perhaps by saying "yes" I am depriving another person of the opportunity to use their skills and gifts, depriving them of the joy of serving another, depriving them of the chance to meet that person's need in a way that I never could.

I sometimes say "Yes," when I really want to say "No." This is a really dangerous habit, and it is one that I still trying to break. Occasionally I say "Yes" because I don't want to disappoint the person who is asking me to do something. Maybe I want them to feel significant. Maybe I don't want them to think that I am lazy. But what ever the reason, this practice has real perils.It can lead to someone expecting me to do something that never gets done, because I never intended to do it. My "Yes" was simply the means to get someone off my back for a few moments. Of course, this backfires when they find that what is important to them has not proved sufficiently important to me for me to have actually done what I said. The initial disappointment and hurt can build into resentment, bitterness and anger – all of which are destructive to our relationships.

Saying "Yes" when I want to say "No" can put me in the position of having to do things that I really don't want to do. It can mean that I end up feeling taken for granted, as though I am expected to do everything, while others just watch and offer more or less helpful advice and encouragement. My sense of being taken advantage of leads me to feel hurt, resentful and bitter, and so it damages my ability to build and sustain relationships.

Saying "Yes" when I want to say "No" often serves to reinforce my sense of being indispensable. "If I don't do it, nobody will." That may be so, but it is no reason for me to try and do everything. Perhaps, if no-one else will do it, it shouldn't be done anyway. Perhaps, if I don't do it, somebody will discover that they can, and that their contribution really does matter.

I rarely say "No" to anything, and sometimes when I do, I end up doing what I have said that I won't do. This is just as bad as saying "Yes," but not meaning it.

Now, imagine if I said "No" more often.

First, it would mean that I would be openly admitting that I have limitations. There are things I cannot do, things I do not have the time to do or to do as well as they should be done, and things that I simply don't want to do because they're not that important to me. This is a scary place to go – it's called being real about myself, being authentic. It means admitting that I am really no different to anyone else! I'm just as ordinary and ornery as every other person on this planet – and just as precious too.

Second, it would mean releasing the gifts that God has given to others, allowing each part of the body to fulfil its function, to use Paul's picture of the church in 1 Corinthians. This is scary too, because it means that I lose some sense of control over what happens and how it is done. Quite why I want to be in control is another matter entirely....

Thirdly, it means allowing some things to be left undone. In our culture we call this failure, but is it really? If we prioritise properly and prayerfully, then what is important will be done. What is not done was probably not that important in the overall scheme of things.

Fourthly, saying "No" more often would potentially mean that I would have Sabbath time, time to rest, relax and recharge.

Finally, if I were to say "No" to things that I am neither gifted for nor interested in doing it would free me to focus my time and energy on the things that I am gifted for and interested in. I would be able to be more of the person that God intended me to be - and less of the person that I and others might think that I ought to be.

Jesus said, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." (Matthew 5:37)

We don't often think of "No" as a positive word. Maybe it's time to change.

So what do you think? Do you say "Yes" when you really mean no?

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

This post first appeared on my previous blog. I have edited it partly to take account of comments that were made when it was originally posted and partly to include some new material.

Please Read This Post

2011-11-09T13:41:00.001Z

Even if you don't usually click through from my blog-roll, please take the time to read this post from Ann Voskamp. It brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. God is just so amazing sometimes!

And no, this blog is not becoming the Ann Voskamp appreciation society. It just looks like that today!

Book Review: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000Z

At a recent conference I learned that reading books makes little difference to life and faith of the majority of mature Christians. In one way this was a relief. I read quite a few Christian books, and many of them make little or no impact in my life once I have finished turning the pages. This book is different.

With her unique and beautiful, sometimes poetic prose Ann Voskamp invites the reader into a journey of discovery. Little by little she peels back the layers of her life to reveal her heart, but this book is not ultimately about Ann. It is about God and about how he reveals his heart to us if we allow him to, if we take the necessary steps to open ourselves to his self-revelation.

What are these steps? Voskamp shares with us what she has discovered. The secret to discerning the heart of God is not to strive and strain for the experiences that this life could offer, but to slow down and be thankful for the experiences, the gifts of grace, that God has poured into the life that you have. For Ann, the most powerful and transformative words in any language are "Thank you," and most people do not speak them often enough to one another, or to God. Our constant thirst for the next experience, the next blessing, the next possession, is robbing us of the joy of the blessings we have. It is ingratitude writ large in our lives and in the life of the world. And the solution to the deep dissatisfaction that most of us live with is, according to Voskamp, simple. All we need to do is to give thanks, again and again, without ceasing.

Of course, this deliberate life of gratitude has to begin somewhere, which brings us to the title of the book. One Thousand Gifts refers to a dare made to Ann Voskamp by a friend - to find 1,000 things to be thankful to God for. In taking up the dare Ann discovered the riches of the life she has - and much, much more - and in the book she shares her journey of learning gratitude and invites us to begin our own.

And that is why this book is different. Thankfulness is not the preserve of a gifted few. It is not limited to some class of super-saints. It is something we can all enter into and, if Voskamp is right, if we do then the way we see our lives, the world and God will be transformed. In turn our lives will be transformed as thanksgiving becomes thanks-living, as grace received becomes grace given to others.

You can read the first chapter of the book here. But why stop there?

Mark on Mondays: The Good News Proclaimed

2011-11-07T06:30:00.000Z

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

(Mark 1:14-15 NIV(UK))

"Preach the gospel." That's the advice I was given when I first began preaching. It was something I promised to do when I was ordained as a pastor. It's what St Francis of Assisi told his followers to do. "Preach the gospel."

But what exactly is "the gospel"? I ask because it seems to me that an awful lot of people seem to have forgotten. "What is the gospel?" is a question that is currently generating enormous amounts of heat in churches, particularly evangelical ones, but whilst there is great heat and great noise, there doesn't seem to be much light being generated.

My recollection of most of the gospel preaching that I have heard is that it consists of the following four points:

1) God created you and wants you to experience his love.

2) Every person is sinful and separated from God by their sin. This means that even though we were created to enjoy a love-relationship with God, we can't. Just in case this news isn't bad enough, the result of sin is that we are all going to die. The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)

3) God, out of his love, sent his Son, Jesus into the world to pay the price of sin by dying on the Cross.

4) We must each repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour. Only when we have done that can we know God's love for us. Only in this way can our souls enter into heaven when we die.

These, probably in slightly different language and certainly with more Bible references, are the "four spiritual laws" beloved of evangelists worldwide. As a marketing strategy for generating "faith" it's almost unbeatable. Identify the need to the customer. Explain how only your product can satisfy their need, then quickly press them into buying the product. Threaten them with unbelievably huge consequences should they fail to make the purchase. Now exit the room hastily, before the client discovers that the product doesn't work exactly as advertised.

This is the gospel, or is it?

In the verses we are considering today the word gospel appears twice. First we are told that Jesus went into Galilee, preaching the gospel (good news). Then we, like Jesus' first hearers, are invited to repent and believe the gospel (good news).

But wait a minute! Jesus hasn't said anything about sin. He hasn't said anything about eternal life or heaven when I die or eternal death. He hasn't told us that we are far away from God and unable to experience God's love for us. If Jesus is truly preaching the gospel (go on, doubt that if you dare) then his gospel looks quite a bit different to the one I learned as a baby Christian. Yes there is a call for repentance, but the similarities end right there. So what is Jesus' gospel? It is there in just six words (seven in the King James version!): "The kingdom of God is near (at hand)."

"What's that? God is not far away, but close to us? His love is not withheld from us until we have done something to deserve it, or at least to welcome it? But that can't be true!"

"Yes it is," says Jesus. "You need to stop doubting it and believe. You need to repent of your wrong belief, your wrong speaking about God. You need to see that the kingdom is close, active among you, in you and through you." This is the gospel, the good news, the best news ever. God is not an absentee landlord. He is close and personally involved in the world he has made. He is at work in the here and now.

And unlike the product that I was told was the gospel, this one does exactly what it says on the tin. This gospel changes lives, changes hearts and is changing the world, if only we have our eyes open to see it. The rest of Mark's gospel is given over to showing us that this is true.

[And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll retire to a safe distance and allow some to descry me as a heretic, some to defend the four spiritual laws, and some to leap to my defence. But before you do that please remember this: I am writing of the things of God and my human mind does not fully understand them. Even if I could fully understand the things of God, my human language cannot even begin encapsulate them or describe them fully. I fully accept that I might be wrong, but I don't believe so. You may disagree, but please do so graciously.]

The Life of Water

2011-11-06T07:00:00.000Z

Dreich drizzle on Scottish hill,
Soaking through woven pores,
Chilling
Walkers ill-clad in fleece and denim,
Which is not proof to me.
Grass-landing
I ooze though peat,
Pushed slowly downwards,
filtered,
I burst free to gurgle and splash
And frolic over smoothing stones,
In burn, stream, torrent, tumbling to
Slow, stately, mature meandering,
Past crops and flocks,
And village, town and city,
Until at last I reach the sea,
Where, laying down my silt-burden
I vanish,
Vapour,
Rising, wind-borne,
cooled, condensed, frozen
To fall
As silent snow on pristine peak.
Compacted, crushed, ceaselessly churning
Until, grinding over corrie's lip
I make my way once more
At glacial pace to ice front's melting,
Crack!
Falling into ocean's rolling, roiling embrace
I am lost.
Sunwarmed I rise again,
To fall once more
As mist or fog, or dew or frost,
Monsoon downpour, or
Dreich drizzle on Scottish hill...

The photo is of Kilt Rock waterfall near Staffin on the Isle of Skye. I was there at the end of June 2011.

PS For a definition of "dreich" see here

Am I a Writer?

2011-11-04T11:37:00.000Z

A friend of mine who is a Graphic Design student generously took on the project of designing some business stationery for me in connection with the proof-reading training I am doing and the editorial training I might do afterwards. The design she has come up with is simple and brilliant, but ...

Just now I don't actually do any proofreading or editorial work. I haven't earned a single penny from these skills I am developing, so can I really call myself a proofreader/editor?

However, amongst many other things I have done for a living I have been a pastor and preacher before - and I've mentioned here more than once that I hope to return to that one day. So I asked my friend if she could adjust her design by removing the proofreading and editorial line and replacing it with "Pastor, preacher, writer."

And then it hit me! I'd just claimed the title of writer for myself! It just slipped out of its own accord. Try as I might, I couldn't take the word and stuff it back into my mouth, swallow it down into nothingness. It was out there. I am a ...writer?

No!

I can't be a writer, any more than I am a proofreader, editor or (just now at least) a pastor. It doesn't fit with my self-image. Yes, I write this blog, and yes, I have written around 300 sermons over the years, but does that make me a writer? Yes, I am starting to play with words more, to rediscover the sheer joy of producing a well-turned phrase, of putting two disparate thoughts together and creating something new, but does that make me a writer?

Quite some time ago I chose to link this blog to the High Calling blog community. I did this because I found there a collection of bloggers whose writing encouraged me, challenged me, stretched me and inspired me in my faith and in my writing. But these people are real writers. There's Ann Voskamp who has a New York Times Bestseller to her name, and L.L. Barkat, who has, amongst many other things, published 4 books. I could go on, but you get the idea. Do I really belong in company like this?

Checking the Internet for writers retreats, I came across a local writers group whose meetings are at a time and place I can make and, better still given my current finances, free! So I wonder, should I turn up to one of their meetings? Or will they be real writers too, people who might be embarrassed by the presence of a word-hack like me? Oh the sheer delight of the angst!

And then, through a link from a link from the High Calling, I came across this blog-post. And there I saw it: a writing strategy that I can follow, not least because I have invented a fairly similar one all by myself.

So now I can relax. I am a writer after all!

The World of the Light

2011-11-01T16:20:00.000Z

I've been thinking a bit about some of Jesus' "I Am" statements in the Gospel of John. For some reason I thought it might be fun to turn some of them on their heads and engage with the new word order, just to see where that might take me. Here's the first product of this playfulness:

Refraction,
Diffraction,
Reflection,
Electromagnetic
Radiation.

Visible,
Invisible,
Indivisible,
Life giver,
Molecules a-quiver.

Particle or wave?
As both I behave.
Bringer of day,
Excited state
Decay.

I am the world of the light.

Mark on Mondays: Driven by the Spirit

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000Z

At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (Mark 1:12-13 NIV(UK))

As a pastor, I have had the privilege of baptising a number of people. In preparing them for baptism I made sure to share with them something that had been said to me prior to my own baptism: "Do not be surprised if the first person you meet on leaving the baptistery is Satan." When I was told this I wondered how that could possibly be true, but it is probably more true than many Christians want to admit. It is all too easy for Satan to slip behind our defences unnoticed in all the euphoria of our making a public declaration of our commitment to following Jesus.

The verses we are thinking about today come immediately after Mark's account of Jesus' baptism. We all know the story of Jesus spending 40 days fasting in the wilderness and then being tempted. I've told it to several classes of schoolchildren to explain something of the origin of the Christian tradition of Lent, particularly the tradition of giving something up for the period leading up to Easter.

(In one class I asked them if they could think of something to give up for Lent one bright young lad said that he'd be willing to give up Brussels sprouts for Lent! Upon questioning, he readily admitted that he didn't like Brussels sprouts. He was really disappointed when I said that I thought it was probably more in keeping with the idea of Lent if he gave up something he actually liked.)

In Mark's gospel we are not given the details of any specific temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness, but we are given a hint that perhaps he was not entirely willing to be there - something that English language Bibles have inadvertently allowed to disappear. You see, where the NIV says that the Spirit sent Jesus out into the desert the verb actually used in the Greek means drove:

At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, ...

Jesus was driven into the desert by the Spirit, compelled to go whether he was willing or not, in the same way as modern-day shepherds in the West use dogs to drive sheep.

The desert - or wilderness - was a place of great importance in Jewish history. The children of Israel spent forty years wandering in the wilderness following their escape from Egypt and prior to entering Canaan - the land God had promised to Abraham and his descendents. Most of this period followed the refusal of those who had left Egypt to enter the land when they first reached the shores of the Jordan river. Their lack of trust in God led to their extensive period of wandering, during which time all those who had left Egypt - except Caleb and Joshua - died. We too often romanticise this as a period of preparation, but it was also a time of great suffering for the Israelites. Every single person who had faltered on the brink of entering the Promised Land knew that they would die in the wilderness. Every single one of them knew that their children would know the grief of their death before they could know the joy of settlement in the Land. The burden of this knowledge must have weighed heavily on them, together with the guilt that they would have known because of their disobedience to God.

Perhaps we should see the wilderness as more than a place of preparation. Yes, Jesus was preparing to enter into his public ministry, but that ministry was to be a ministry of suffering - and what better place to prepare than in the wilderness where so much had been suffered by the Israelites long before the time of Christ? Immediately following his baptism the Spirit drove Jesus to a place of suffering, to face the reality that if he followed the path God had laid before him then he would live a life of suffering from that day forward. And, if that is the context in which Satan's temptations were delivered, then we can begin to see each of them as the temptation to take an easier way out, to avoid suffering and pain and ultimately a humiliating death. (The specifics of the temptations are found in Matthew and Luke, not in Mark, so perhaps we should leave detailed consideration of them for another time.)

What has this to do with us? Well, the same Spirit who drove Christ into the wilderness to suffer deprivation and temptation is at work in each person who names Jesus as Saviour and Lord and in each and every community of believers across the world. If, immediately after his baptism, the Spirit led Jesus into the path of suffering, why do so many Christians expect to live easy comfortable lives - free from pain and suffering? It seems to me that any Gospel presentation that doesn't at least admit that following Christ could make our lives harder than they were before is hardly doing justice to the evidence of Scripture, let alone to the reality that is faced by so many persecuted believers across the globe.

Home-baked Goodness

2011-10-25T15:08:00.001+01:00

Fan-whirred heat passing

across the tin where-in lie

flour, fruit, fat,

eggs, sugar and spice,

lovingly measured, mixed

and made ready for the oven.

Scent fills the house

with the promise of pleasure,

anticipating the joy of

texture and taste,

of lips smacked

and fingers licked.

The picture is of a lemon drizzle cake I made for Angela Almond of Tracing Rainbows and was taken by her.

Mark on Mondays: The Baptism of Jesus

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000+01:00

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

(Mark 1:9-11 NIV (UK))

Having set the scene, Mark now introduces the main character in his gospel - Jesus. This is who this book is about.

We left the story with John the Baptist in the Judean wilderness, baptising people in the Jordan river as a sign of their repentance, and it is here that Jesus enters into the action. But Mark gives us some background that is easily overlooked if we read too fast. He tells us that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, which gives the lie to the idea that Mark's gospel contains no stories of Jesus birth and childhood because he knew nothing of Jesus' background prior to the start of his public ministry.

So Jesus came to John to be baptised - as a sign of repentance? For people who have read the gospel at least once, and especially for people who know that Jesus lived a pure, sinless life, Jesus' baptism presents us with a bit of a problem. Why did someone whose life was lived without sin undergo a baptism that was, at least on the surface, a sign of repentance for sin? The short answer, and I need to keep it short, is most likely that Jesus underwent baptism as a symbol of his complete identification with sinful humanity. He was fully human in every way, except that he was without sin.

The second surprise in the accounts of Jesus' baptism is his anointing with the Holy Spirit. If, as Christians claim and as I believe, Jesus was the Son of God - the second person of the Trinity incarnate and so fully divine - why was he anointed with the Spirit at his baptism? Again, I think the answer lies in Jesus full humanity.

Jesus, who was the fully divine second person of the Trinity i.e. fully God, willingly became fully human. In so doing he voluntarily gave up all the privileges and powers that were his by right of being God and instead chose to make himself dependent on God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. The fancy name for this self-emptying is kenosis and the result of this self-emptying was that Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, needed to be empowered by the Spirit for his ministry of preaching about and demonstrating the dynamic reign of God on the earth, a view supported by Mark Stibbe (see his book Blood and Fire, (London, Monarch, 2001) p. 55).

The significance of Jesus' reception of the Spirit at his baptism is "that from that time the Spirit will be with Jesus as the power to exercise the messianic task." (M. Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts, Then and Now, (Carlisle, Paternoster, 1996), p. 28 - italics his). Jesus had to receive the Spirit in order for his ministry to be truly messianic (G.D. Badcock, Light of Truth and Fire of Love; A Theology of the Holy Spirit, (Grand Rapids/Cambridge, Eerdmans, 1997), p.23).

Remember, this need only arose because the Son of God chose not to act out of his own divinity at any time within the Incarnation (see T.G. Weinandy, Does God Suffer?, (Edinburgh, T&T Clark, 1998), p. 336). "The Son's self-emptying meant that Jesus was compelled to rely on the Spirit." (C. Pinnock, Flame of Love; A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Downers Grove, IL, IVP, 1996), p. 88).

I know this is all getting a bit academic in tone, but this matters. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Jesus anointing with the Holy Spirit at his baptism is a far more compelling sign of his complete identification with, and acceptance of, the limitations of our human condition than his undergoing water baptism was.

So what has that got to do with us? Only this - if Jesus was enabled to proclaim the kingdom of God by word and deed only in the power of the Holy Spirit, then the task that Christians have been given - to proclaim that same kingdom by word and deed - can only be performed in the power of that same Holy Spirit. Which takes us back to John the Baptist's declaration, "I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:8)

John 1:1-3

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000+01:00

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word ..."

... contained all other words and,
by speaking them,
set them free to be,
to swoop and soar and play,
and, in the spaces between them,
to point to greater beauty and grandeur
than they had been given,
to reflect the wonder and majesty of
the Word in heaven who ...

"... was with God, and the Word was God."

Mark on Monday's: John the Baptist

2011-10-17T07:00:00.000+01:00

And so John came, baptising in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and honey. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit."

(Mark 1:4-8, NIV(UK) )

Having (re)acquainted us with the fact that before the Messiah came a messenger would come to prepare the people to receive him, Mark wastes no time in ushering the herald onto the stage. His name is John.

This passage of Scripture is filled with references to the prophet's of old, especially to Elijah. The description of John's clothing matches that of Elijah (see 2 Kings 1:8) and other prophets (see Zechariah 13:4). His diet consisted entirely of foods available in the wilderness. John's call to repentance was intended to turn the people back to true worship of God, just as we were brought to expect by Mark's reference to Malachi's prophecy. That repentance was to be accompanied by baptism was unusual - John's contemporary Jews required converts to Judaism to undergo a number of ritual washings as part of the process of conversion, but baptism formed no part of Judaism's expectations of those who were Jewish by birth.

John clearly made quite an impact, even if we allow for Mark's hyperbole when he tells us that the whole countryside and all of Jerusalem went out to hear John and to be baptised. But going to see John actually required some effort - the Jordan River is at least 20 miles from Jerusalem at it's nearest point. No-one made that kind of journey on a whim.

But, for all his popularity, John was absolutely clear that his role was to point forward to the one who would come after him, the one whose sandals he considered himself unfit to untie, the one who would baptise not with water, but with the Holy Spirit.

And here is a challenge to contemporary Christians. Are we absolutely clear that our role is not to point to ourselves, but to point to Jesus? Do we yearn to be popular, or will we be faithful to the message we have been given no matter how unpopular it makes us? Is my message all about Jesus, or is it really all about me?

Ultimately John's refusal to compromise his message cost him his life. In many countries across the world today - countries like North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and parts of India to name but a few - Christians are still faced with the choice of denying their faith or losing their liberty or even their lives. Their courage, together with John the Baptist's example, should both challenge and inspire those of us who take our religious freedoms for granted to make the most of the liberty we have to speak of Christ in both word and action.

Unemployed

2011-10-12T12:38:00.001+01:00

Unwanted, un-needed, unused,

The skills I have going to waste,

All I have learned,

All I have done,

Discarded.

My horizons draw ever closer

As my life shrinks,

My hopes and dreams

Withering on the branch,

Dying.

Can unemployment really be

A High Calling?

Can choiceless leisure

Ever be a good thing,

A God-thing?

Mark on Mondays: In at the Deep End

2011-10-10T07:00:00.000+01:00

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way" -
"a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight paths for him.'"

Mark 1:1 - 3, (NIV (UK))

I remember the day I almost learned to swim.

My Dad took me to the local pool. We changed into our trunks, showered, splashed through the disinfectant foot-baths and emerged onto the side of the pool. But I didn't stop there. I knew that I had to be in the pool so that I could swim. Everyone else was making it look so easy. So I jumped ...

... straight into the deep end. As the water closed over my head I began to wonder, 'How do I breath down here?' As it became obvious that I couldn't breath underwater my next question was 'How do I get back to the edge?' So I kicked off the bottom and popped through the surface of the water, choking and spluttering. And then I sank again ...

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

In at the deep end. This is how Mark begins his gospel. Before we have had time to recover from the sheer scale and shock of his opening sentence, before we have had time to draw breath, we find ourselves floundering again.

It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

Isaiah? I thought this was about Jesus. How does Isaiah fit into all this?

Mark is here referring not to one prophecy, but to two; not to one prophet, but to two. In the order that they appear they are Malachi, the last of the so-called minor prophets, and Isaiah, possibly the greatest of the writing prophets in the Bible. But the words that Mark leaves out of his prophetic quotations are as important as the ones he gives us. Mark's first reference is to Malachi 3:1:

'"I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty.'

This is God's response, given through the prophet, to the complaints of the people of Israel about the injustice they see all around them. Evil people were prospering, which didn't fit with their expectations of a God of justice any more than it does with ours. In answer to his critics, God promises to turn up in person ... but first there must be a herald, a messenger sent to announce what is about to happen.

Mark's second reference is to Isaiah 40:3-5:

'A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the wilderness
   a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
   and all mankind together will see it.
            For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." '

Again the promise is that God will show up in person, revealing his glory for all of humanity to see, but first must come someone to call the people to make themselves ready.

And so Mark has not left us floundering alone in the deep end. He is preparing us for the appearance of Jesus, the Son of God, but first a messenger must come, who will call the people to make themselves ready for the coming of the Lord.

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

Dad didn't wait for somebody else to rescue me. He dived into the pool and carried me back to the side. It was a couple of years later that I actually learned to swim, but I have never forgotten my first lesson.

Being Vulnerable

2011-10-08T12:00:00.000+01:00

By the time this post appears I will hopefully have done one of the hardest things I have ever had to do - I will have made myself vulnerable to a small group of people that I don't know very well.

These people are my church family. They are the ones with whom I am walking this part of my journey of faith, and of theirs too. These are people given to me to love, to serve, to pray with and for, to share with, to comfort, to support, to laugh with and cry with as together we become all that God wants us to be.

But these people don't really know me - and I don't really know them.

The reason is simple. We spend our time and our energy hiding from each other. We erect our barriers of invulnerability, tell each other that we are fine, make out that unlike other people we have no needs, no worries, no regrets, no dreams, no hopes, no fears. Although we all know that we are broken people - there is no other kind - we refuse to share our brokenness with each other. We refuse to be vulnerable.

But just as if a seed is to grow it must settle in the brokenness of the soil, so if community is going to grow in our church - in any church - then it will grow not out of our strengths, but in our weaknesses; not in our perfections, but in our imperfections; not in the sterile surface of our false smiles, but in the brokenness of who we really are.

So, to the people of the church where I worship just now, to the people of the church that I may be called to serve in the future, and most of all to God, I make myself vulnerable and offer my brokenness. It's all I truly have to give.

Mr Mortimer

2011-10-07T12:19:00.001+01:00

His name was Hugh, but he'll always be Mr Mortimer to me. Not especially tall, but not short; not especially slim, but not fat; medium length brown hair and brown eyes - almost perfectly Mr Average, which fitted well with his profession. Mr Mortimer taught me Maths for 2 years, between the ages of 13 and 15 (my age, not his!).

I'd always been good at Maths, so teaching me wasn't too much of a trial for him, but Mr Mortimer made differences in my life that he'll probably never know about. What I remember most about him wasn't his enthusiasm for teaching - although that was there in abundance. It wasn't his passion for his subject - although he had that a-plenty. No, I remember his love of the university where he took his degree - St Andrews University in Scotland.

I don't think he could help himself. Whenever he spoke of St Andrews there would be a gleam in his eye and smile on his face - one of those smiles that isn't content to lift the corners of your lips, but simply has to include the whole of your face. He told of student families, of walking on the pier, of the traditions that only a truly ancient university has, of friendships made that had lasted through the years. He spoke of St Andrews as if that place, more than any other, had shaped the person that he now was.

And as I listened, I knew I had to go there myself. I knew this was the place for me. Three years later I matriculated - a fresher at St Andrews University - and began to experience all that Mr Mortimer had shared with us at the end of our Maths lessons. And just as his time there had shaped him, so my time in that small, Scottish city on the North Sea coast shaped me, for it was there that I heard God speak to me as I stood desperate and despairing at the end of the pier, there where I was called to be a disciple of Jesus, and there that I first sensed the call to Christian ministry.

St Andrews is a special place for me, and I would never have gone there if it were not for Mr Mortimer. So, to Hugh Mortimer, maths teacher, I want to say thank you for helping me, in ways that you never imagined, to become the person that I am today.

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

This post is part of a High Calling writing project being hosted by Jennifer Dukes Lee at Getting Down with Jesus.

Mark on Mondays: The Beginning

2011-10-03T07:00:00.000+01:00

Brilliant. Bold. Breathtaking. Beautiful. If a piece of art is going to invade our imagination and transform our view of ourselves and of the world around us, which all art worthy of the name should, then it needs to be all of these and more.

Magnificent. Majestic. Memorable. Mind-blowing. If a piece of music, poetry or prose is going to apprehend our attention, engage our eyes and ears, communicate with our consciousness then its first words, phrases, notes or bars have much to achieve as they seek to drag us out of our self-absorption and into the alternative reality that is being presented to us by the composer or writer.

Exciting. Engaging. Exhilarating. Explosive. Truly great art is all of this and more. Think of the opening notes of Beethoven's 5th Symphony - dit dit dit dah - notes so memorable that they were used by Samuel Morse to represent the letter V in his telegraphic code. Think of the opening sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Here is the whole of the book, given to us in just one line, yet done in such a way as to draw us in by leaving us wanting more.

The gospel of Mark begins in much the same way. In just a few words we are presented with the whole, but left wanting more.

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1 NIV(UK))

There is no preamble, no gentle leading up to Mark's bold claims. The pace at which they are delivered is breathtaking. If we begin to comprehend the enormity of these words then our minds are left reeling. This is news, but it is not ordinary news. It is extraordinary. This is good news - gospel - about Jesus, but for whom is it good news? And what is this news? What makes it so good?

The news is this: Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the long-awaited saviour promised to Jews and Gentiles alike, the descendant of David who would rule on David's throne, the offspring of Abraham through whom all peoples on earth will be blessed. If this was the entirety of the news it would be magnificent, but there is more. This Jesus is not merely the Christ; he is the Son of God.

Just how explosive this claim was in the 1st century Roman world is hard for us to grasp. To Mark's contemporary Jews his words were blasphemous; to the citizens and subjects of the Roman Empire they were treasonous. Yet Mark tells us that this is good news, and in the remainder of his book he goes on to tell us why this news is good news for all people in all places at all times.

Brilliant. Bold. Breathtaking. Beautiful.

Magnificent. Majestic. Memorable. Mind-blowing.

Exciting. Engaging. Exhilarating. Explosive.

The opening words of Mark's gospel are all of this and more.

A Wee Reminder

2011-10-02T14:50:00.002+01:00

Just a wee reminder that the first of my Mark on Modays series will appear here tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it.

RB

From the certainty of turmoil to the turmoil of uncertainty.

2011-10-01T11:52:00.001+01:00

This post's title is taken from Khaled Hosseini's book The Kite Runner which I read a couple of weeks ago. The book tells the story of Amir, an Afghan boy who is forced to leave his homeland with his father when the Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan. They flee to San Fransisco via Peshawar, Pakistan, leaving everything behind, including Ali and Hassan, the family servant and his son who had been wrongly forced to leave their home some years before.

Many years later Amir returns to war-ravaged Afghanistan to find Hassan's orphaned son, Sohrab. Rescuing Sohrab from Taliban controlled Kabul is for Amir "a way to be good again," in the words of family friend Rahim Khan. But finding Sohrab is only the start of the difficulties Amir faces as he tries to work redemption for his childhood sins. Eventually the various hurdles - personal, geographic and bureaucratic - are overcome, and Amir is able to take Sohrab from Afghanistan, via Pakistan, to America; from the certainty of turmoil to the turmoil of uncertainty.

For me this was a case of the right book at the right time. Over the last couple of years my own life has also been a journey from the certainty of turmoil - if I had remained in XXXXXX - to the turmoil of uncertainty. In XXXXXX I was a pastor, but what am I now? In XXXXXX I had a position in both the church and the wider community, but now I don't quite know where I stand. In XXXXXX I thought I knew what the future held. Now I have very little idea of where I will be in 6 months, a year, 5 years, or of what I will be doing.

Everything is uncertain, except this: I know that I am loved, by my family, by my friends, but most of all by God. This love is unconditional - I do not have to "be good again." I simply have to be, and that makes the uncertainty bearable - most of the time.

On Forgiveness

2011-09-30T12:15:00.001+01:00

I was browsing the High Calling blog community (click the button to the right for more info) the other day when I came across this post on forgiveness. I think it is something that we all struggle with, so I thought I'd link it here.

Radical Believer Announces ...

2011-09-29T09:59:00.000+01:00

A quick glance at my blog stats tells me that by far the most popular post on this blog is the first one of seven on the Seven Signs in John - Changing Water into Wine. Interestingly, to me at least, some of the other posts in that series are attracting a bit more attention too. I wonder if there are churches or Bible study groups across the world, particularly in the US, who are currently enjoying a series of sermons or studies on the seven signs.

Anyway, the popularity of this material, coupled with the paucity of comments on my last post, which asked you, the readers, what you wanted to see here, and the fact that, although I am a pastor, I'm not receiving many preaching opportunities at the moment has brought me to a point of decision. If I cannot expound the word of God by speech, then I will try to do so in writing.

And so I am happy to announce - drum roll please:

Mark on Mondays

- a series of posts which I hope will be weekly, walking slowly through the gospel of Mark. The first post is already written and will appear on this site on Monday 3rd October, 2011. I hope you will join me.

Not dead - just resting!

2011-09-26T11:29:00.000+01:00

Hi folks! It's been a couple of weeks since I posted on here. Not exactly sure why, except that I don't seem to have been doing much that I think would be of interest to anyone else and I've not really had much to say.

I spent a wee while looking back over my previous posts and - to be honest - they are a mixed lot really. To say that this blog is a bit all over the place would be being kind - although it's a fair reflection of how life has been these last 18 months.

Anyway, anyway, anyway - as Annie would say - I'm thinking about the future of this blog, asking questions like: does it have a future? What could/should I be using it for? How can I improve the quality of what I post? etc, etc. There are many possibilities. I could go on producing fairly random excerpts from my life. I could try to do something a bit more theological - after all I was a pastor for six years and I probably ought to put my theology degree to some use. I could try a completely different style of writing - searching for my 'voice' as it were. Having spoken a bit about the struggles I have gone through since leaving XXXXXX, I could write about the search for a new pastoral settlement - a search that I have yet to enter in earnest, although I have the green light from almost all of the relevant authorities. Or I could just stop producing drivel like this!

I'm pretty sure that I won't be giving up blogging. It's fun being part of a community - speaking of which, if you haven't been reading the guest posts on Laura-Anne's blog, you should. I like to see what people are up to; people I know IRL, people I have met since becoming blog-friends and people I have never met and possibly will never meet. I enjoy the cut and thrust of debate when it is carried out with respect and necessary restraint - which I hope my comments in Archdruid Eileen's post about Darwinism on the Beaker Folk site have demonstrated.

So it's over to you, dear readers. What , if anything, would you like to see here?

Rolling Back the Years

2011-09-11T22:20:00.002+01:00

It's been a funny old week, much of it spent grappling with preparing a ministry profile. I thought outlining my theological principles was going to be tough, but the gifts and skills section really had me stumped for ages. Eventually I asked Mrs Believer to have a go at writing it. (OK, she got so fed up of me staring at a blank screen that she took the lap-top off me and wrote a draft of this part of my profile.) Unsurprisingly, to me at least, her version of me was far more interesting than mine, and will form the basis of the actual profile. So ... I have a full first draft, which a couple have friends have read just to check that the person described bears some resemblance to me. Apparently it does, which is definitely a good thing.

Today was an interesting day. This morning I went to church with Mrs Believer, several music books and a guitar, because I was leading the musical parts of the worship service. It went well from where I was standing, apart from when I forgot I had the capo on and was playing the non-capo chords for one of the songs. Not a good sound! I really enjoyed myself, and it seemed others did too. Quite a few people said how well we'd done, and quite a few also said that they didn't know that I played guitar!

At the end of the service Mrs Believer and I were welcomed into membership of the church in ... well, if you know me, you'll know which church. It's really good to once again be a real part of a local church fellowship, somewhere where the gifts that I have been blessed with can be used in the service of God and others. I hadn't realised just how much I missed this until today.

On the way home we talked about how long it is since I had stood relaxed in front of a congregation with a guitar and led in sung worship. We concluded that it is years - many, many years. In XXXXXX for me to be playing in the service was a matter of necessity, not choice, and only happened in the direst of situations - i.e. no other musicians available. It was definitely not a relaxed or enjoyable situation - preaching, leading and playing all in the same service asks far too much of me and is not something I plan to do in the future.

Looking ahead - I need to finalise my profile and send it to our Ministry Development Coordinator, who will then start circulating it to vacant churches who are seeking a pastor. I have quite a lot of work to do on our new church's statement of faith, largely providing Scriptural basis for the things we believe and in few weeks it's the church's weekend away, which I have been asked to speak at.

Busy, busy, busy but fun, fun, fun.

Praying for a New Church (2)

2011-09-07T07:00:00.000+01:00

If Paul's prayer for the church in Philippi doesn't grab you as a good basis for prayers for your own church, how about this one from his letter to the Colossians?

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14, NIV (UK))

Wow!! Talk about a prayer. Talk about wanting only the best for a church - although that bit about great endurance should give pause for thought. Maybe Paul knew things wouldn't be all smooth sailing for this fellowship, and so he prayed that God would equip them for troubled times ahead. That said, there is much here that any pastor, any church member, any Christian could, and I believe should, be praying for the church of which they are a part. Again, this is going to form a major part of my prayers for the church I hope to be called to in the not-too-distant future.

Praying for a New Church (1).

2011-09-06T20:39:00.001+01:00

As you might have gathered from the previous posts, I am in the throws of writing a ministry profile which will serve as my introduction to churches who might want to consider calling me as their new pastor. Naturally I am praying a lot about this, and about the church to which I might be called. But, since I don't know the church - not even where it is - how can I pray for them?

This is a question I tried to answer when I had the privilege of preaching at the North East India Baptist Bible College in January 2009. I directed the students' attention to Paul's letter to the Philippians where, in chapter 1, we read:

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11, NIV (UK))

It strikes me that prayer like this is powerful. It is full of love for the church, full of hope and direction, future oriented and Christ-centred. As a pattern of prayer for anyone who wants to pray for their church it is hard to better.

This is my prayer for whichever church is, even now, unknowingly praying for me as we wait for God to introduce us to each other. Until then I will pray this prayer often for them, because it says almost all that a pastor could possibly want for his or her church.

That wasn't so bad, was it?

2011-09-02T09:27:00.002+01:00

So yesterday I travelled with some trepidation to meet our Union's Ministry Advisor. We talked a little about the dreaded ministry profile - especially about how much/little I should say about my experiences in XXXXXX. He was very encouraging, telling me that I should:

1) Acknowledge both the good and the bad about my time in XXXXXX.
2) Say something brief about what I have learned and my hope that the experience will enrich future ministry.
3) Not worry about it too much. Apparently there are lots of ministers who have been through this type of thing. Regional ministers' letters of recommendation frequently refer to "difficult last pastorates" etc.

I was particularly relieved to find that I don't have to define my theological position as conservative evangelical, fundamentalist, liberal etc. Instead I am invited to outline my theological principles - much easier for me to do because although I don't know which, if any, of the available labels describes my particular set of non-negotiables, I do know what I believe and why I believe it.

But then there is the section on gifts and skills. Aaaaaaaagh! I hate having to write stuff like this. I am NOT a product to be sold. I am a person to be known, much more than a set of gifts and skills packaged together in a body. Plus, I am naturally hesitant about claiming to be particularly gifted at anything. It's not that I think I am not gifted, just that I don't like to risk being thought an arrogant show-off. For me, the point of giftedness is to use the gifts in the service of the one who gave them, God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and for his glory, not mine.

But I will just have to bite the bullet. Mrs Believer has offered to help me with this - and I have some friends I will ask too. Maybe this will not turn out to be so awful after all.

Taking the Next Step

2011-09-01T08:55:00.000+01:00

Today I will be travelling to see our Union's Ministry Development Co-ordinater to talk over the next steps in my possible return to pastoral ministry. To be honest, I'm just a little nervous about the whole "going back into ministry" thing.

For a start, I have to be honest and ask myself how much of what happened in XXXXXX was my own fault. Naturally I have spent some time reflecting on this and obviously there are some things I could and should have done differently/better. But I still think that to be all that was being demanded of me by some of the powerful voices there I would have needed to stop being myself - and that, in the end, I could not do.

Then there's the whole problem of writing up a ministry profile for circulation to churches who might be interested in calling me to be their new pastor. I have two major challenges here:
Firstly, I can't pretend that what happened in XXXXXX didn't actually occur. It is part of my life story and, whilst I will always bear the scars, I hope that I have learned a lot from the experience and that these painful lessons will stand me in good stead for the future. None-the-less, I can see why any church would be hesitant in calling a pastor with this type of thing on their record.
Secondly, any church will want to know something about my theological stance. Am I fundamentalist? No! Am I a conservative evangelical? Not really! Am I theologically liberal? Again, not really. These seem to be the available theological boxes, and I don't fit into any of them. So what do I say?

Assuming that I can overcome my writer's block and actually produce a profile, and assuming that a church somewhere is prepared to at least give me the opportunity to meet with them, there is still one lingering doubt in my mind. What if it all happens again? I know I am a different person to the one who went to XXXXXX, but am I different enough?

All that said, I still believe that this is what I am supposed to do, so I'll just have to take the next step. Take care of today's troubles today and leave tomorrow until tomorrow.

Now that's just showing off!

2011-08-27T20:34:00.003+01:00

Just a few minutes ago I was treated to the following view from my sitting room window:

The view from our bedroom window is often better, so I duly went upstairs and was able to snap this:

Sometimes I think God is just showing off!

Remembering Robert Owen

2011-08-23T19:53:00.009+01:00

Mrs Believer and I have visitors from Transylvania - the Hungarian speaking part of Romania - staying with us just now. We first met them 6 years ago at the BWA Centenary Congress in Birmingham, England and have kept in touch since. Now we have had the pleasure of being able to bring them to our new home and of showing them some of our beautiful country.

Yesterday we took them to New Lanark. For those who do not know New Lanark is a World Heritage Site where the remarkable achievements of Robert Owen, the early 19th Century owner-manager of the New Lanark Cotton Mills, are rightly celebrated.

Robert Owen was a pioneering social reformer who believed that the way to create a better society lay in education for all and in much better working conditions and benefits for his workers.

Owen put his beliefs into practice at New Lanark, developing it as a model village, an idea later copied by Titus Salt at Saltaire near Bradford, the Cadburys at Bournville, Birmingham and elsewhere. At New Lanark all children were required to attend school until the age of ten - and preferably twelve. Children younger than ten years were prohibited from working in the New Lanark Cotton Mills at a time when child labour was commonplace across the UK.

New Lanark also boasted the world's first childcare facility, developed so that children's mothers could return to work in the mill in the knowledge that their children were being looked after.

The New Lanark village shop was company owned, but where other company owned shops charged high prices for poor quality goods, at New Lanark it was prices that were lower than average and quality that was better. And, unlike at many other companies, New Lanark workers were not paid in tokens which could only be spent in the company shop. They were free to shop elsewhere if they wished. As if that were not enough, a proportion of the profits from the shop went to pay for the education of the workers' children. It was this example that was copied in Rochdale, England where the Co-operative movement was founded.

Owen also believed in the equality of all people. He said:

Given his views on the equality of all people, it should come as no surprise that Owen opposed slavery and the slave trade.

It must have been difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile opposition to slavery with owning a cotton mill, especially given that the main sources of cotton in Owen's time were the USA and India.

Owen's humanitarian views also led him to be a pacifist:

Given his views and his willingness to put them into practice at considerable personal expense and in the face of strident opposition from other mill owners you might expect that Robert Owen was a member of one of the more radical Christian groups - Titus Salt and the Cadburys were Quakers for example - but you would be wrong. Owen was, in fact, strongly opposed to all organised religion which makes his example all the more challenging to those of us who have chosen to follow Christ in our times. His example asks of us, "What are we doing to eradicate such evils as child labour and racism, warfare and exploitation?"

Have You Ever Felt Like a Stone?

2011-08-22T08:54:00.005+01:00

Have you ever felt like a stone? I don't mean one of those outrageously noisy and outrageously rich Rolling Stones. Not Keith or Mick! I mean a stone; small, hard, cold, overlooked, trodden on or kicked around? I guess at times we all have.

Those of us who are more introverted are sometimes made to feel like stones by other people. We are sometimes thought to be cold and hard. Because we don't wear our hearts on our sleeves, because we don't make a public display of our emotions, we are thought to be unfeeling and uncaring, as though nothing affects us from joy at the birth of a new child to the shock of the sudden death of a friend. But nothing could be further from the truth. Not displaying my emotions openly doesn't mean that I am emotionless. Because we are quiet, we are so often overlooked, taken for granted and sometimes, when we are in places that people don't want us to be, kicked around or picked up and thrown away.

I was sitting in church yesterday morning when the pastor stood up to speak and reminded us of something that Jesus said to the Pharisees on Palm Sunday. Of course, this was unexpected in the middle of August, but he (the pastor - Jesus too come to that!) likes to surprise us. When the Pharisees complained about Jesus' followers and the children in the street shouting "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," Jesus told them that if the crowds were silent, even the stones would cry out in praise.

And that made me smile - a huge public display of emotion for me. If the exuberant extroverts would just pipe down for a minute, they might notice that we 'stones' are worshipping and praising too - in our own quiet way. They might notice that we too are moved by joy and sorrow, by triumph and tragedy.

And, like the stones we are sometimes thought to resemble, we too can be worn down by the sometimes incessant dripping of criticism, the carping negativity of those who thoughtlessly drag others down with their words.

Are you an introvert, one of the world's quiet people like me? Then take heart from this. Other people might not notice you. They might not hear your voice singing out praise, but God does. Other people might not think you are of any importance, but God does.

Or perhaps you are an extrovert, striding confidently and noisily through life. Then please spare a thought for the 'stones' around you. We're probably not as tough, as cold and hard, as you sometimes seem to think.

The Blogosphere is a Strange Place.

2011-08-21T10:02:00.003+01:00

The blogosphere is a very strange place. For one thing, it doesn't really exist. It has no physicality. It is merely a bagatelle - a flip-flopping of electrons, a cloud of chips linked by a web of wires.

However, what really brought home to me just how strange this virtual environment is was looking at my blog statistics, an exercise that I just knew I had to do after reading Bradley Moore's post about getting a No.1 Google rating for a post on Shrinking the Camel. Checking my blog stats was a chastening experience. Here's what I found:

1) My blog has received 5,571 page views since I started it - 454 in the past month. Not very impressive really. I mean, I can hardly claim to be making much of an impact with what I write here.

2) My most popular post is Seven Signs in John: 1) Water into Wine. This post is based on a sermon I gave in my previous church, the first of a series based on the so-called seven signs in John's Gospel. Reading it again today I think the message is pretty good, although the ending could be stronger. But, much though I would like to think that this post is popular for its content, the real reason for its popularity is the picture I posted with it of water being poured from a bottle and becoming wine as it descends to the glass below it. This isn't even close to being an accurate representation of the miracle depicted in Scripture.

3) My second most popular post is entitled A Wee Cough. The title is a Scottish joke, referring to the fact that I had no paid work that week. And the attraction of this post? You'd never believe it, but the reason this post is so popular is because it has a photo of a Vauxhall Movano van. I mean, that's not even a very good van!

So like I said, the blogosphere is a very strange place, but I'm happy to be here.

A Christ-like Approach to Rights.

2011-08-16T10:27:00.010+01:00

I've been thinking quite a bit more about the balance between rights and responsibilities, asking myself how I, as a Christian pastor and preacher, would tackle the job of exploring this with a congregation if I were given the opportunity. My first thought was that I would turn to the great Philippian hymn:

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death -
even death on a cross!"

(Philippians 2:5-7, NIV (UK))

Here we have perhaps the most wonderful expression of the humiliation of the Son of God and a call to adopt the attitudes that this voluntary self-emptying (kenosis) demonstrates. In a culture where a significant number of people, from the disenfranchised youth of Tottenham, Peckham, Croydon, Salford and countless other 'deprived' communities where they didn't take to the streets and riot to the wealthy bankers of the City and the too often self-serving politicians in Westminster and elsewhere, demand their rights and evade their responsibilities the attitude of Christ Jesus is a powerful corrective. Perhaps just how powerful a corrective might be seen if we express these verses in the contemporary language of rights.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not desperately cling to the rights
that were his because of his deity,
but set them aside,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made human as we are.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself further,
not demanding his human rights,
but enduring torture and degradation,
having his liberty denied,
suffering an unfair trial and receiving the death penalty,
being put to death by crucifixion,
the most degrading means of judicial execution ever devised.

Here we see Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, giving up his divine rights and his human rights, which begs the question, "Why?" Why did he do this? And there is only one possible answer. He did this from love; love of God his Father and love of the creation, including his human neighbours - that is us.

Now, Christians are those who have chosen to follow this Jesus, to obey his commands and to live and love as he did. It is this Jesus, whom we follow, who said that the greatest commandment is this:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength."

It is this Jesus who also said that the second greatest commandment, almost as important as the first, is this:

"Love your neighbour as yourself."

So the questions to Christians are these - and I ask them of myself first: Are we willing to give up our rights on behalf of our neighbours? Or are we so fixated on making sure that we receive our rights that everyone else can go to hell - perhaps literally? What are we prepared to give up in order to express love for God and our neighbours in a Christ-like way? And what do we cling to, grasping tightly what we cannot keep in order to maintain our sense of self-worth and dignity, to make ourselves feel important instead of finding our significance in the love of God, which can never be taken from us?

On Rights and Responsibilities.

2011-08-10T09:35:00.007+01:00

We live in an age and culture where everyone knows their rights. We know what is due to us and no-one can take it from us.

We have the right to life.
We have the right to freedom from torture and degrading treatment.
We have the right to freedom from slavery and forced labour.
We have the right to liberty.
We have the right to a fair trial.
We have the right to not suffer punishment for actions that were not crimes when we did them.
We have the right to respect for private and family life.
We have the right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the right to express our beliefs.
We have the right of freedom of expression.
We have the right of freedom of assembly and association.
We have the right to marry and the right to start a family.
We have the right not to be discriminated against in respect of these rights and freedoms.
We have the right to peaceful enjoyment of our property.
We have the right to an education.
We have the right to participate in free elections.
We have the right not to be subjected to the death penalty.

In the UK, these are our rights and they are enshrined in law, although the law can be changed.

Of course, there are times when these rights come into conflict, as for example when gangs of people exercise their freedom of assembly and their freedom of expression and, by so doing, remove other people's right to peaceful enjoyment of their property and - as has tragically happened in London and Birmingham - their right to life.

There are also times when by our actions we give up these rights. We give up the right to liberty by committing crimes that are punishable by custodial sentences, for example. We surely give up the right to assembly when we are assembling for criminal purposes like rioting, looting and public disorder. And where do the limits of our freedom of expression lie? It is illegal to make statements that could incite racial or religious hatred - but who decides?

In the midst of all this talk of rights there is another concept that appears to have completely disappeared. I know my rights (actually I didn't know all of them. I had to look them up!) but do I know my responsibilities? Because it seems to me that many of my human rights place responsibilities on me, not least the responsibility to respect the rights of others.

So, the right to respect for private and family life means that I have a responsibility to respect the private and family lives of others. Now if we all exercised our responsibility here, how many gossip rags would go out of business?

My right to marry and to start a family surely gives me responsibilities to my spouse and any children we might have. I have the responsibility to provide for my children, to contribute to their welfare and their education and to bring them up to know both their rights and their responsibilities.

As I said at the beginning of this post, we live in an age and a culture where we all know and demand our rights. But do we know and exercise our responsibilities? Perhaps if we did, scenes like those witnessed on the streets of London, Birmingham, Bristol, Croydon, Liverpool, Manchester, Salford and other places in England could become a thing of the past.

For another reflection on the riots in England see this post on Annie's blog.

Inspiration: Where do you find it?

2011-08-05T12:12:00.005+01:00

Over on Shrinking the Camel Bradley Moore asks, "What inspires you?" What is it that enables you to see beyond the urgent and the routine to see possibilities that others might not be able to see?

For me, the answer to the question comes in many parts. Firstly, there are people who inspire me in different ways; people like Annie who is facing cancer with both honesty and humour (I nearly said courage but she wouldn't want me to say that!) and is surely inspiring others as they too face up to this terrible disease; people like Cat, whose ability to use paper and paint, pencils and a whole variety of other materials to capture something of the beauty and wonder of the world around us simply takes my breath away; people like Laura-Anne, who has turned personal tragedy into something beautiful as she shares her experience with others who face equally difficult decisions. These and countless others have inspired me to try to make the most of who I am and of the gifts that I have to try and make the world a better place.

Then there are books - I find inspiration in all sorts of places. Reading Bill Hybels' Courageous Leadership a few weeks ago inspired me again. I was especially struck by his willingness, in the early days of Willow Creek, to do whatever it took to simply rent the theater where the infant church met for one more week - even if that meant selling tomatoes door to door - so that irreligious people might have the opportunity to meet God. Reading the first chapter of Rubem Alves' "The Poet, the Warrior, the Prophet," has re-awakened my desire to be able to use language creatively, to bring fresh insight and understanding to talk of God, to be able to express something of the wonder and excitement that I sometimes feel when I think about God and what he has done and is doing in my life and in the lives of others around me. Reading Rachel Held Evans' "Evolving in Monkey Town" has left me wondering whether I can turn my dream of becoming a published author into reality. And starting to read Colin Gunton's "The Actuality of Atonement" has reminded me of my BD Honours dissertation - untouched for too long - which I had intended to "do something with." For those who want to know I tried to explore the role of the Holy Spirit in the events of Good Friday. I made a fairly good start - even if I say so myself - but I think there is so much more waiting to be explored, experienced and expressed here that I have barely scratched the surface.

Then there is the inspiration I find in the beautiful landscape of my home country; the inspiration I find in the sporting achievements of people whose abilities so far surpass my own that it is scarcely credible; the inspiration that there is in music of all kinds, music which can comfort and calm us, or shock and disturb us; and the inspiration I find in the work of others who share my hobbies and interests - for example, the incredible and ongoing achievements of Troels Kirk, whose Coastline Railroad fills me with the dream of creating something similar of my own.

Although it could go without saying, it shouldn't - another person who inspires me is Mrs Believer, who believes in me when I don't believe in myself, who supports and encourages me when the going gets tough, and whose love I treasure more than almost everything and anything else.

And last, but certainly not least, there is the inspiration that I find in Jesus, who gave himself completely in obedience to God, who transformed the lives of those he met and who showed us in his life, person and actions what the Kingdom of God looks like. He, more than anyone else I know, is my inspiration, inspiring me to do what little I can to bring something of the reality of the Kingdom of God to the world around me, to bring some taste of heaven to earth and to inspire others to do the same.

Questions, Questions.

2011-08-04T17:38:00.006+01:00

I have now finished reading Rachel Held Evans' book, "Evolving in Monkey Town." So what did I make of it?

First off it is an easy book to read, written in an engaging narrative style. In it Rachel Held Evans describes the shift in her faith from certainty to doubt - a shift which caused her years of heartache and soul searching - and argues that doubt is a more authentic expression of Christian faith than certainty anyway. She states that she is an evolutionist, by which she means that she sees the necessity for Christian faith, both individual and corporate, to evolve and develop in response to the changes in culture and situation in which it is being lived and expressed.

So what caused this shift in her perspective? Questions which Evans says were, and still are actively, discouraged in many US evangelical circles. Questions which caused others to doubt the authenticity of her faith and the certainty of her salvation. Questions like, "Is salvation really primarily a matter of getting lucky in a cosmic lottery?" "Will God really damn to eternal hellfire the countless people from all cultures and times who never had the opportunity to respond to the Gospel?" "Is penal substitution the only valid understanding of the atonement?" "Was Jesus only born to die on the Cross, or did what happened in the intervening years have any importance?"

In my previous post I asked why it is that there is a trend for younger American Christians in the emergent wing of the church to write their memoirs, and why there is no similar trend amongst evangelical refugees in Britain, Europe or Australasia. I think part of the reason is that, in the UK at least, most people's first exposure to Christianity is through school Religious Education lessons, and their first exposure to church is in one of the mainline denominations - Anglican in England, Presbyterian in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Church of Wales, or Roman Catholic across the whole UK - at a wedding, funeral or christening.

It seems to me that the battles which are being fought in US Christianity today took place longer ago in UK and European Christian circles with the result that, for most Christians here, the Christianity we grew up with was much gentler and less sure of itself, more open to questioning and being questioned than seems to be the case across the Atlantic, more invitational and less confrontational, more enquiring and less indoctrinating than many Americans experience.

Another major difference across much of Europe is that church attendance is considerably lower than in the US, meaning that the majority of people have only minimal exposure to Christianity. In fact, given the relatively low profile of most Christians and Christianity in general in Western European society and culture, it is almost a wonder that anyone comes to faith here at all. And perhaps these are the stories we could and should tell, the stories of how we came to faith in a culture and society where Christianity is not taken seriously, where faith is considered to be an entirely private matter and where talking about religion of any kind is taboo.

An Update on Life ... But not the Universe and Everything.

2011-08-01T10:38:00.009+01:00

Things on here have been a bit quiet again recently, largely because I've not had much to say. I was going to say something about the death of Amy Winehouse, but so many other people have written so many words and filled so many bytes of cyberspace that I quickly judged that my own response to her untimely death was almost certainly not going to be missed.

In some ways I feel like I haven't done much over the last couple of weeks, but I'm not sure that that is entirely true. I have listened to both the First and Second Test Matches between England and India on Test Match Special - the only cricket commentary with extra chocolate cake, bus reports, bird-spotting and so much more! So far this has been an excellent series, and the sportsmanship displayed by the Indian team yesterday is an example that so many others, in all walks of life, could do to learn from. Whilst listening I have been working on my Salvador Dali cross-stitch, which is now about half-completed.

On Saturday Mrs Believer and I took delivery of a car to replace my ten year-old mini 4x4. The new one is much larger, far more economical and very shiny. At the moment it is very strange seeing it outside our house, but I'm sure we'll get used to it.

The other week I submitted the first of my proof-reading course's assessments, so now I'm being a good boy and waiting for it to be marked and returned before moving on to the next part of the course. Waiting seems to be a recurring theme in my life recently. Perhaps God is trying to teach me some patience ...

I have also been reading quite a bit. I am re-reading the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. Not much to say about these, as I'm fairly sure that almost everyone who ever reads this blog will have read them. It is interesting reading each book when you know what is going to happen at the end though. I find myself picking up all the subtle hints about the plot development that I had missed the first time. I wonder whether this would be true if I were to read the story of my life. Would I spot all the subtle "plot developments" that God has put into my life that I have so often completely missed the first - and only - time through?

Speaking of the story of people's lives, I am currently reading Rachel Held Evans' book, "Evolving in Monkey Town."

There seems to be a trend for younger American Christian writers, particularly from the 'emergent' wing of the church to write their memoirs, telling the stories of how they came to their current understanding of life, the universe and everything, and why they have rejected the stricter evangelical or fundamentalist faith that they were brought up with. The best known of these writers is probably Donald Miller. What is interesting is that there doesn't seem to be a similar trend amongst Christians from other countries to do the same. How would the life-story of a British, German, Romanian, Australian or South African Christian differ from those emanating from the USA? Where would the similarities and differences be? And would anyone really be interested?

Also on my current reading list is Rubem Alves' theopoetic book, "The Poet, The Warrior, The Prophet." It is a fascinating book.

I have read the first chapter twice, and have found it enthralling, exciting, stimulating and inspiring. I really want to be able to express myself in the same way that Alves does, leading his listeners and readers along surprising pathways to consider questions of faith, the meaning of life etc.

I love the idea of playing with words, trying to serve up a rich literary feast for my readers to dine upon, an auditory Cordon Bleu menu for their delectation and consideration - words to bring savour, flavour and interest to things that are so often presented in bland and uninteresting ways. And, I realise as I type this, as a pastor and preacher, someone whose work is to communicate by every means possible the love of God for his Creation displayed most fully in his Son, this is a good thing. It is nothing less than the desire to follow in the preaching, teaching, caring footsteps of Jesus, who time and again presented the truth of and about God in surprising ways.

"What shall we say the Kingdom of Heaven is like? It is like ...."

Leadership Follow-Up

2011-07-27T09:09:00.003+01:00

When I wrote my post on Courageous Leadership, I had no idea that Arch-Druid Eileen of the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley was conducting a leadership survey in her congregation. The results are strangely familiar and can be found here.

How Could This Happen in Norway?

2011-07-23T09:47:00.005+01:00

I woke this morning on what promises to be another nice day - blue sky, fluffy white clouds, warm but not too hot. Going through my usual trawl of the web - reading e-mail, reading blogs and checking the news - I was horrified to read this:

Scores Killed in Norway Attack

I knew there had been an explosion in Oslo yesterday, and that at least one person had been killed in it, but I had no idea about this. Reading the news story made me feel physically sick. It also led me to prayer - nothing fancy, just this simple question, "How could this happen in Norway?"

I've been to Norway. It's a beautiful country, with stunning and sometimes even savage scenery. The people I met there are among the friendliest people I have ever met. When I was studying in Newcastle one of my flatmates was a Norwegian lady training to be a teacher. She was thoughtful, caring and sensitive. So how could something so awful, so shocking, so inhuman happen in Norway?

As I thought and prayed and reflected I began to ask myself, "How could anything like this happen anywhere? Why is it that we keep hearing about appalling attacks like these on innocent people? Dunblane, Columbine, 9/11, London 7/7, Madrid, My Lai - the list goes on and on. Will it never end? Will there never be an end to humanity's inhumanity?"

But before we rush to try and deal with generalities, we should pause to spend just a few moments mourning with those who are mourning in Norway today - for the parents, brothers and sisters of those who have died and of those who are still missing. We should pause to pray for the rescue workers who will need to search the wrecked buildings in Oslo city centre, hoping against hope to find survivors. We should pray for the people who will have to deal with the carnage wrought by one man upon so many.

And we should grieve - grieve that the human heart is capable of such appalling atrocities and that we never seem to learn.

Maybe this piece of music will help you. It is, of course, Norwegian - Aase's Death from Eduard Greig's Peer Gynt Suite No 1.

In Other News ...

2011-07-21T09:29:00.004+01:00

Yesterday the post-man brought me the official letter I've been waiting for. In brief it said that I have the support of the group of people I met with in seeking a return to pastoral ministry. Needless to say, I am glad, relieved and quietly excited. I am also aware that there is a long road to travel before I actually take up pastoral responsibility in a new setting. One step at a time ...

... and I have actually started work on my distance learning course in proofreading, so I'm a little further along that road too.

Courageous Leadership

2011-07-21T08:50:00.006+01:00

I've just been re-reading Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels of Willow Creek fame. It's a book that certainly made me think many things:

1) The work of pastoral ministry/ church leadership is hugely important. If the Church (capital C meaning the whole Church rather than a local congregation) has been entrusted with the only thing that can truly transform the world and make it more like the Kingdom of God - ie the gospel message of Jesus Christ - then leading local churches to become good at living out and speaking that message to the communities around them, and encouraging and enabling individual Christians to use the gifts that they have to incarnate the gospel in God-honouring ways is work of the utmost significance. Which leaves me wondering why God would entrust such work to me, or to people like me.

2) There's a huge gulf between having a great vision of what a local church is called to be in and for the surrounding community and beyond and enabling the church to live out that vision. 'Getting it done leadership' matters. Breaking the grand vision down into manageable and measurable steps means that progress towards the overall goal can be both achieved and celebrated. This is the gist of Chapter 3 of the book, and when I'd finished it I felt punch-drunk. Let's be honest - I've not been very good at this in the past.

3) Church life in the USA must be very different to church life in the UK. I know that church attendance in America is much higher than in Britain, but the differences don't stop there. Patterns of work are different. Expectations are (or at least they used to be) different. US culture is generally aspirational. In theory at least, any US-born citizen can become the President.

From Hybels' book I gained the impression that church leaders in the USA are generally trusted and allowed to lead unless and until they have shown themselves unworthy of that trust. Yes there is accountability, but leaders are allowed, even encouraged, to lead. Occasional mistakes in leadership are accepted as part of learning to be a better leader - a price that must be paid on the path to personal and corporate growth.

Here in the UK we have a culture that is deeply suspicious of leadership of all kinds - including, sometimes especially, in the Church. We take success for granted and celebrate failure. Until leaders have proven themselves to be trustworthy they are often not allowed to lead. We rarely back our expectations up with the resources that would enable good leaders to achieve the goals we set for them. There is a widespread attitude that those who are 'above us' must be cut down to size, put in their place. Far from aspiring to be like them, we do all we can to reduce our leaders until they are like us or, worse, until we feel in some way superior to them.

Now I'm not saying that everything in American church life is healthy - nothing could be further from the truth. But I cannot help wondering whether the long-term decline and spiritual malaise that we see in most of the Church in the UK is at least partly due to our attitude to leadership.

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

PS - If this book was proof-read before publication, then a couple of bad mistakes got through. The worst is on page 209 where, in a section on Nehemiah's commitment to celebration, Hybels records that he prayed, 'God, may I never forget how important parties are. Like Jeremiah (sic), help me remember to celebrate.'

Now Jeremiah had many fine qualities, but I don't think he was all that great at partying. It just doesn't seem to fit with the Biblical record of his character.

That was the Week that was

2011-07-18T10:46:00.004+01:00

Last week I posted a series of holiday snaps from my recent trip to Lewis, Harris and St Kilda, which served as a distraction for me whilst I had one or two other things on my mind.

Firstly there was that meeting which took place on Thursday morning. In the end things seem to have gone pretty well. The meeting itself was nowhere near as awful as it could have been. The people present were far more interested in helping me to go forward than they were in raking over the past, although they were understandably interested to know what I would do differently in the future. So that was good. Although I haven't received the official headed notepaper version of the letter, I have been told that the outcome of this meeting is what I hoped it would be, which is good too.

Also good was the opportunity to have lunch with Catriona - aka Skinny Fair Trade Latte. Amongst other things we talked about church life, particularly about the impact of the cultural differences between her previous church at Dibley and her current one in Glasgow. I have some experience of church life in both England and Scotland so I understand some of the frustrations that are unique to each setting. It was especially good to meet Catriona face-to-face, having got to know her through her blog.

Having got that meeting out of the way, I was finally able to turn my mind to preparing a sermon for Sunday morning, when I had been invited to preach in a church nearby. Preparation went well - and surprisingly quickly. By Friday evening I had a full script prepared for Sunday - almost unheard of, but a habit I want to keep up in future.

The actual delivery of the sermon went well and I received some encouraging feedback.

Today I have started work on my distance learning course in proof-reading, and it is that I shall return to as I leave you, dear reader, for now.

More Pics from my Holiday

2011-07-15T14:38:00.009+01:00

After a long and tiring day trip to St Kilda, Friday was much quieter. We spent the morning together playing a game, then after lunch we headed for Callanish to view the circles we'd missed on Monday. There's not much I need to say about this so on with the pictures.

Callanish II. Only five stones are left standing in this circle.

Callanish III. The stones in this double circle are quite small!

Callanish I on the skyline seen from the site of Callanish II.

The gates which give access to Callanish II and III are interesting pieces of decorative ironwork.

Figures decorating the gate to Callanish III.

From Callanish we went on to visit yet another amazing beach, this time at Uig.

A view of Uig sands from the north-east.

Another view of Uig sands.

Once we reached the beach we paddled (of course) flew kites and built a sand castle. Beside the road leading to the car-park at Uig sands there is a wooden carving of one of the Lewis chessmen, commemorating the 'fact' that they were discovered here in 1831.

The Lewis Chessman at Uig. He's over 6 feet tall!

The back of the Chessman is fully decorated too - just like the Viking chess pieces.

As it was getting late, and we had left Mrs Believer nursing a migraine, we returned to Orinsay and were greeted with this view from the Lemreway road.

A view of the Shiants from the road to Lemreway and Orinsay.

All that remained was for us to prepare for our return to Skye the next day and then home on Sunday. It was a good holiday and Lewis and Harris are amazing places to visit - if you get good weather, which we did!