Alternative Xmas

My comment about soup and roll for Xmas supper hit the mark.  It freed up the day for arranging a decent walk, although Harriet did produce an amazing chocolate cheesecake to mark Josh's birthday.  So Clive resolved we should "do" Chee Dale for our traditional walk. 

It's part of the Monsal Dale disused railway Trail between Buxton and Bakewell.  The attraction is that the main track's wheelchair/pushchair friendly; it offers a challenging alternative walk for the keener ones, and there's toilets at the car park.  Clive reccie'd out the route last week, and produced an abundance of travel directions and laminated maps. 

This was more than brotherly thoughtfulness.  We've had incessant heavy rain.  The riverside path and stepping stones (for the adventurous) were already awash, submerged.  So Clive even included an alternative alternative walk in case the river proved impassable.  Customarily, our Xmas Day walk attracts an interesting selection of folks.  Pause and think who may be induced to forgo traditional trimmings and do non-Xmas, indifferent to the weather, with a bunch of radical religious nutters.

 This year was a bumper event.  Viv had a seven or eight friends from the Christian Union international cafe: two Nigerians (brothers), two Iraquis, two Chinese, a Brazilian and a Japanese.  We had an Iranian and Slovakian, and two Chinese, and No 21 had two more Chinese.  Mark the point - these folks had no other invitations.  The hard-core single students would have likely spent the day in their bedsits. 

After a lot of mutual photographing, we cheerfully trekked out of the Millers Dale car park.  A third of the way round the adventurous route, we'd already had the whole party slithering down the river bank several times.  Progress was painfully slow.  Some folks had turned up in woefully unsuitable gear (not really their fault).  So Barrie and I took the Nigerian guys and some others along the relief route.  I didn't even get chance to let Mary know; somehow she was way ahead of me.

Pat and his brother turned out to be engineers.  We chatted about Multiply, Atmos and tent-making.  At the "here's-where-you-turn-back" point, Barrie produced a Snickers bar.  He divided it into six with surgical precision.  We were the last ones back to the car park.  The forty-plus others were crowded round three picnic tables laden with soup, pizza, quiche, crisps, rolls, cake and fruit.  "I'll always remember today," grinned Pat, as his brother took another snap-shot. 

It was dark by the time we got home.  The next thing on the agenda was Agape, starting with celebration worship at the Jesus Centre.  Viv left his international friends (now joined by a Malaysian) at No 25 next door. 

Back home again, we'd just finished the meal and prayed over Josh, when Jan appeared at the door. "Do you know there's smoke coming out of No 14 (our neighbours)?"  This is a women's refuge home.  We've tended to run our separate lives.  Plus, the relationship with the Council management has been - hmmm - asymmetrical, in the "heads they win, tails we lose" way of things.  But Harriet knows the mums from the school gate.

She found them standing in their garden distressed, wet and cold, while the fire engine attendants took over.  Some children were in pyjamas and bare-footed.  So, into our lounge they all trooped, one mum with eight kids, one with three daughters, a policemen, one of the resident staff...  Beyond sympathising with the policemen, we guys kept out of the way.  It emerged that a television set in the boys' bedroom had exploded and set the room on fire.  Nasty Xmas surprise.  They stayed well over an hour, until it was okay to return.

I doubt there would be another home in the street able to be quite so readily comfortable with this intrusion.  So here's a testimony to our alternative Jesus lifestyle.  A brilliant day.  How was Xmas for you?

Keeping us Moving Forward (3)

Jean Varnier prescribes celebration as a nourishment and resource for tired human existence.  It symbolises the unity and joy we hope for as irritations of daily life and little quarrels are swept away.  I've been doing some reflections on what makes sense to me.

5.  Fifth, we need to make up our quota of honour for each other.  The New Testament reserves expressions of thanksgiving almost exclusively for God.  But honour is a big word for the saints.  It’s a fundamental mark of the quality of life in the church.  Sadly, you can mumble thanks in just a shallow or passing expression.  But honour requires a deep and steady disposition of heart towards someone.  Of course, we’re told to honour our father and mother.  Then, in Romans, also each other (Romans 12:10), and public authorities (13:7), too).

In 1 Corinthians 12:23-26, Paul talks about the less presentable parts of the body receiving more honour.  Think just how much we work at our hair styles, faces, finger nails and other visible parts of our bodies.  When it comes down to it, our liver and kidneys are a lot more important to us than our hair (or lack of it) or a few wrinkles or bulges.  Which do you value more (the root word for honour is value or price), or would prefer to be kept working properly? 

There’s even a mention that leaders should get a spot of honour for making a good job of their responsibilities (1 Timothy 5:7).  Initiating the right sort of commendation is a vital antidote to the scourge of today’s celebrity culture.

The longer we’re together and get to know each other – warts and all – the more we need honour.  One Saturday evening I arrived back at our community home late.  I parked where I knew the car wouldn’t be in the way of the sister who regularly loaded up the catering stuff for the Sunday morning meeting.  If her car wasn’t just where she wanted it, she’d move everything round.  Sure enough, at breakfast time, there she was frantically spinning the wheel on another car – the one for the PA kit.  Can you guess what happened?  She bumped a parked-up vehicle.  And, do you know what the killer was for me?  I’d been able to predict every last detail of the whole incident.  A sister I must honour!

6.  Finally, the call to keep pioneering.  The Honeytree song haunts me: “Keep pressing onward to your own frontier…”.  I haven’t reached mine, and it irks me.  Each December, Huw calls in senior leaders for a year-end accountability and review session.  A couple of years ago I related a dream to him.  In it, I was in a car accident.  The mess and damage got progressively worse until I knew I was going to lose my life.  At this point, I exploded, “Is that it?!  Is that all it amounted to?!”  As I told Huw, he laughed.  But I was in dead earnest.  This year I confirmed with him that Pastor Shanta in Kathmandu had just led a conference of 800 Christian workers and leaders.  It’s exactly 12 months after we’d taken Multiply to Nepal.

We make a point of giving wisdom and prophecy at the Agape evening nearest to members’ birthdays.  When I was approaching sixty, Jayne encouraged me to keep on with initiatives, even though I may not live to see them come to pass.  I took this indignantly. 

Now I have little alternative to the prospect that I won’t see anything I set in motion through to completion.  This cuts against my instincts.  I’ve got no respect for “blue skies” ideas that people expect others to do the work for.  My training is to rigorously assess any initiative, and work out the process of implementation, as I will then expect to tackle it.  But equally, I’ve got no respect for folks who’ve awarded themselves premature retirement.  Celibacy is in crisis because church members in their fifties and sixties haven’t seen that they’re pioneering through their declining years how to keep the gift ablaze.  Some have become self-concerned in the most ugly and introverted way imaginable. 

My challenge is to unpack my years of experience so the following generation can take it on.  I have no higher ministry priority.  And I’m finding it massively demanding.  Much of the problem is how learning happens with people who aren’t like me.  So my final conclusion: we must press on to the unreached frontier.

Keeping us Moving Forward (2)

I've been doing some year-end stock taking.  Here's two more of the half a dozen priorities I've distilled.

3.  Third, things aren’t as simple as they were, (or as effective?).  Thirty-five years ago we’d launch into a Jesus March with just a push chair and bottle of squash.  We’d do double runs on the always-inadequate transport, and be fortunate to have anywhere to shelter if the weather turned foul.  We’d sing out by heart our repertoire of popular choruses, until we reached some Town Hall steps.  Here, a speaker addressed us, read from the bible, called up testimonies, and invited a response.  A singing group clustered Peter, Paul and Mary style round one microphone, accompanied by a twelve-string guitar.  We sang our dozen choruses over again, and grinned a blessing at all the passers-by.  Then it was back home for tea.

Today, a simple outreach picnic involves a 7.5 tonne truck loaded with staging; a camping shop of gazebos, cool boxes and Thermos jugs; and enough cabling and electronic kit to equip a small hospital.  The organisers eventually announce they haven’t actually planned anything, but they’re sure we’re going to have a great time.  A full-on band belts through lyrics you can’t follow (let alone sing to).  If we’re really lucky, there’ll be an in-house stage item.  And a prayer over the bread and wine, “Father, thank You for Your body; bless this blood.”  We’ll tell ourselves we made an impact. 

I mustn’t let impressions or assumption – held with conviction - overtake the reality of engagement with life now.  I’ve already made the biggest pastoral and church-planting mistakes of my life that way!  Teaching stuff that went over people’s heads, and advising them for situations that were exactly where they weren’t at!  Hebrews (3:7,13) tells us we only have today in which to experience salvation.  I just need to engage with life where it’s at, not where I wish it would be.

4.  It gets harder to expect a revival on the fifteenth time round.  The saying goes, ‘the ultimate insanity is to keep repeating an action and hope it will produce a different result from last time’.  But, I declare, the Christian life is entirely built up of keeping doing things because that’s what’s right.  Because, when God’s with you, you can’t predict the outcome, and you have to keep on attempting.  For 38 years Israel wandered round the wilderness.  One morning Moses announced they’d had the last day they would do it! (Deuteronomy 1:6-8). 

I once heard Philip Mohabair explain how the ministry he headed up collapsed when he had a major heart operation.  Returning to office afterwards, he had to rebuild everything.  He quoted from 1 Samuel 16:1, taking in the sense of failure and dismay Samuel felt over Saul.  He pointed out that God said: “Get on, and anoint another king!”  Picture the challenge of hope over disappointment this command represented.

Then, Jesus had to ask the man who had been sick for 38 years if he really wanted to get healed now (John 5:6).  None of us likes to admit we’ve been cheated in life.  It’s bad enough when we’re young and naïve.  But when we’ve grown on in years it can be next to impossible.  So we deflect or rationalise – to our own cost.  We cheat ourselves.  We need to face the reality, and believe we can move on as Jesus touches us.

Paul was a man with a dream to change the world.  We have his final words, after 25 years of ministry, recorded in 2 Timothy 4:1-8.  I tell my rising generation brothers that they’re in no position to exegete this passage.  Equally, I tell my contemporaries, it’s spot-on.  Paul sums up the state of the world, as “bad, and only going to get worse”.  Yet, in those very last recorded verses he calls Timothy, his lieutenant, to get stuck in and keep at it.  There’s no other option (and no retirement).  We must defy conventional wisdom, embrace the hard work, and keep faithful to the task we know is right.

Keeping us Moving Forward (1)

When I was seventeen, the Methodist Mission church I was attending celebrated its 25th Anniversary.  My grandmother, at 72, was the oldest active member.  She gave a speech and cut the celebratory cake.  I’d been a converted Christian less than a year.  Frankly, I wasn’t impressed by what I’d seen of her faith.  I’d witnessed all the petty fussing about what to wear and what to say when going to church.  We teenagers had a phrase for it: “lost her joy”.

My grandparents had been founder members of the church, and my grandfather a trustee.  I never knew him.  He died before I was born, having earned the rare distinction of being our city’s first casualty of the World War Two.  He got knocked down by a slow-moving bus on the third night of the blackout.  That tells you something about our family’s road sense.  My mother’s account of his poor handling of money and weakness for drinking made me doubtful of his faith and character also.

I wasn’t attracted by an event looking backward to a remotely distant time, it seemed to me, when Wesley himself might turn up on the preaching rota.  I was a child of the white hot technological revolution: contemporary was the in word, and the future ours.

Last month, my friend John told me that his Northampton church-household had clocked up 25 years.  He was ruminating that he’d never expected it would be the last planting pioneering he’d do.  He wasn’t in a celebratory frame.  I think he’s done well, but I also knew what he was feeling.  In 2014, Jesus Fellowship could celebrate its 45th Anniversary (as an event, such is unlikely).  I’ll have been a member, and leader, for almost 40 years.  The memory of my teenage boredom sits uncomfortably with my reaction to this relentless advance of time.  What do the two generation younger than mine make of this church?  I’ve found a few personal reactions.

1. First, we need to ungum the flow of relationships - which also means the flow of the Spirit in relationships - by prompt and full forgiveness.  My Methodist background defined holy communion basically as communion with God, not brethren.  Read the full order of service.  It was written in a time when general society was stable and cohesive.  There was barely need to mention the neighbourliness dynamic of one’s faith.  Wesley affirmed that “faith that works by love” was the evidence of its authenticity. 

Our bread and wine tradition embraces reconciliation after the pattern of 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.  In my Methodist beginnings I heard comments about which minister various members had preferred (Mr. Henderson, Mr. Lawson, and Mr. Mitchell), but it never amounted to discerning the body!  As for discipleship, we read the gospels as theological works.  We sifted out and systematised the moral and “sound” teaching.  We never appreciated the amazing significance of Jesus interacting with all kinds of people and creating many levels of relationships.  I’m glad I have come to do so since.  Yes, I knew the verse (Matthew 5:24) about leaving your gift at the altar if you were out of sorts with a brother.  But I’d never witnessed this in practice.

A formative Jesus Fellowship wisdom picture was a river, smooth on the surface, but with ridges, boulders and fractures in its bed.  When you looked deeper, the flow was obstructed.  The river plunged over a high waterfall.  From there on, it flowed on a clear unhindered course.  This depicted the Holy Spirit’s work among us.  So, God would break and unite us.  And He did!  Out of this time of being under His discipline, community was born.  We must tackle offences that build up as a legacy of the years.  One day the time will be right for Jesus to come again.  Our attention to our relationship with our brothers and sisters is part of the necessary conditions.  Keep relationships priority; and keep them open.

2.  Now, there seems to be more to reflect on than to dream about.  I go to a wedding or event in our chapel.  From the balcony or platform, the scene haunts me. I recollect families who once sat just there, or leaders who gathered their cluster of bright young followers on this row.  In fact, they’re more real than the vague faces that I really feel I should know better, or make an effort with, today.  Was it really that long ago that they left us?  My memories are etched clearer than reality. 

It’s the same when I visit a community house, or a public hall where we’ve held our national events.  So many intense and significant memories are burned in my mind.  It’s difficult to throw my focus forward and embrace the future.  Yes, even when that future promises to be equally eventful and gripping. 

The children of Israel were taught rituals and precepts, and erected monuments to preserve an accurate remembrance of their past.  We all need reminders: accurate ones, not subjective impressions.  Perhaps that was the benefit of the 25th anniversary event.  But Paul, in 2 Corinthians 3:3, asserts that we are not like Moses, people of fading revelation from one defining point in history.  We are “all are being transformed” (verse 18) with a future of expanding expectation and glorious manifestation.  Jesus didn’t award any points to the would-be disciples steering their lives through the rear-view mirror (Luke 9:62). 

Experience was the name given to one of the four shepherds that Christian meets in Pilgrim’s Progress.  But, as a church, we got where we are though the power of anointing, too.  I’m dismayed by members who always want the “good old brothers” as Pastors or event leaders.  We were better when we had little that amounted to tradition, and waited for the Holy Spirit.  It’s a massive discipline of mind renewal to keep all the channels of imagination open when the memory takes up most of your capacity, but it must be done.

Prayer (Watch) Survey

A couple of years ago, one of our prayer watch "motivators" quizzed me about prayer.  Here's a compilation of the exchanges.  I didn't have room to add it to my Sunday morning session notes. 

"I've been doing a few interviews of brothers on the prayer watch recently and wondered if you would mind taking part yourself.  If you wouldn't mind- perhaps you could answer the questions below.  The idea is that you just get to express what prayer means to you - what you do, when you do it etc,. if you don't like a question you can ignore it - or you can add anything you think I've missed."

Q1  You're a well busy apostle...when do you find the time to pray?

Hmm.  Not apostle - member of the apostolic team.  I have a time of prayer and "personal devotion" every morning, which entails getting up early.  I also try to practise "recollection" or spiritual responsiveness, when I'm doing other things and feel a nudge to take a time out - may be a few moments (like 1-1-1), or a bit longer.  If I'm travelling on a long journey, I try to fit in some prayer: I find no problem speaking in tongues at any time.  And, I pray as I prepare for meetings and correspondence, decisions, and counselling/ministry, or church discipline times.

Q2  Do you pray "apostolically"?  How?

A rather sketchy definition is that the apostolic ministry is a bridge between God's purpose and the world's need, with the body of Christ as the unit God uses.  So, you need to be clear on God's side (like, mJa has a very specific call to UK), aware of the spiritual and human context you're operating in, and skilled to build the church so Jesus incarnated again can do what Jesus does - though us!  In Jesus Fellowship structure terms: assistant pastors oversee a group of sheep; elders oversee groups of sheep forming households; senior leaders oversee clusters of households in Regions; and apostolic men oversee clusters of Regions.  All that gives you plenty to go at.  I'm conscious that I may be the "last line of defence"  in a church situation, and so need conclusive wisdom.  I also need clear sight to distinguish what's actually God's vision for us, and what's feasible to bring into application; to weigh up initiatives and to get households over their obstacles.  I need both pace and patience, and I need to understand the powers that are at work in scenes.

(after Q2)....So, how, by praying, do you get to know about, or deal with the "powers at work" in a scene?

I suppose I can most relate this to church planting situations, where you come to recognise territorial opposition, and household building, where people go though various  scrapes.  We need God to reveal stuff to us, not be humanistic or psychological, and that means probing in prayer.  Sometimes it can come as people share their discernment together, but then we need to focus prayer on the challenge that's been unearthed.  In evangelism, too, very uncomfortably, we're the sort of church that provokes spiritual opposition out of its hiding.  But I'm assured that's so that we can press for more victory!  It can seem you're getting shaken to bits, but God says, "Don't lose your nerve".  Most (white) UK churches only know defensive prayer.  Despite the secularism, the UK is very idolatrous: for example, I love to see consumerism overturned by our common purses and simplicity.

Q3  Do you think regular prayer times are important?  Why?

Yes, I do.  We humans arrive a better point of connection with spiritual things when distractions are tamed.  This can include the distractions of constant novelty, irregularity, and disorderliness.  A daily time and place has been my practice for many years - in fact a brother commented recently that he came away from a marquee campaign some 15 years ago with the memory of me sitting praying on the top deck of the bus each morning.

(after Q3) ...What else helps you "tame the distractions of constant novelty, irregularity and disorderliness"

Well, lots of veteran charismatics have got fed up with the happy-clappy, and gone back to traditional churches, even the Orthodox church.  I'm committed to finding long-term satisfaction and meaning in mJa (as well as leading!), so I need to note that it's not always what's spontaneous, or even informal, that carries spiritual life.  The J Generation is the speed-dating, binge-drinking culture.  I love 24/7 because it's the sort of "crash and burn" approach that the J Gen does naturally.  But it can't be everything!  I think our relationship with God is worth costly investment!

Q4  What do you do in your prayer watch hours?

I pray through Together, because my prayer and ministry is for the Church.  I may meditate so I can listen better, and mature a bit.  I value opportunities for any longer time because that shows the Lord - in a little way - that I hold Him as a priority in my busy life.  It also means I'm not just skimming  in the shallows. That's all three times a week on average.

Q5  Do you think we have to have something to say before turning up for a prayer time?

I very rarely haven't, but I'm happy to abandon it for the sake of  touching the spiritual more firmly, by letting God set some agenda.  Having said that, I'm the sort of person who, if things are "flat", gets on with the obvious thing to do - pray about groups of leaders, or events, etc.  I find I do the same thing with meetings - if they're going nowhere, I'm likely to step in and do something to get moving again.

Q6  Do you think listening is important in prayer?

Always.  I think that our Church wants and needs its leaders to have heard from God.  Sometimes that's the only "different" contribution I can bring, because other guys in my various scenes are better than me at evangelism, organisation, relationship, detail, etc.  To pass on truth and grace you've got from God is just so essential.

Q7  How do you listen?

First you've got to be ready to grapple with whatever it may be that God could say.  That's my inward preparation.  I know saints who, quite frankly, are too afraid of what God might say, ever to level with Him.  That's tragic - living on the run.  Then I find some trigger that has carried "life" in the past few days - maybe something I've read, or that someone has shared, or some incident.  (I jot these things down, too.)  And I say, "Okay Lord, talk to me some more about that..."  Or I may say, "I wasn't very happy about the way I handled that - give me the truth", or, "We didn't seem to get very far in that incident - where was the power?", etc.  And we go on from there.

Q8  What would you say you have learned as a pray-er over the years?

I most enjoy prayer that suits my temperament - you have to discover that for the long haul, and develop it.  But if it's only that, it can be self-indulgent.  So sometimes you have to go another way - just respecting that the Lord isn't made in your image, and the value of any prayer time isn't measured by your own buzz!  I did about three years of contemplative prayer - just sitting for half an hour or more, more or less in silence, and telling God I was doing it 'cos I love Him.  Other times I'll punch the air or whatever.  Equally, I'd be very happy if I could find an isolated spot and bellow my head off - I find that breaks oppressions.  I don't do "union with God" very well; I have to think of Him being somehow "out there".  And I don't know how to get my spirit to other places, like Elisha and Paul did.  So there's lots more to learn.

Q9  What about fasting?

I've fasted one day per week for many years.  I don't find it easy: my attention at work falls off, and I get moody and irritable - actually the second day of a longer fast seems better.  I fast for perhaps a week, two or three times per year, usually when we've got a bigger event coming up, like a campaign, or the AMEN Multiply visit.  Recently, if necessary, I'll have a light breakfast, because I can't afford concentration lapses when I'm driving.  But usually I find an anointing, and, at the end, I find more spiritual flow in my everyday life rather than anything spectacular.  Do people know that seven days is the limit in mJa? So agape to agape is best.

Hope this helps.  Feel free to edit, or ask for clarification - Mary couldn't follow everything on the first time of reading it. 

ohmygosh ...one week two or three times a year...ohmygosh.....Didn't know about a 7 day limit with fasting though, I've heard of some much longer ones going on.  If I manage more than 6 hours, however, I'll throw a big party.

Mmm -  1 Corinthians 7:17.  I will say, on the subject of (longer) fasting, that for us it should be within our covenant commitment, or else it becomes "will worship".  There are times when I'd gladly make 6 hours the limit, too!  Coming off caffeinated drinks once in a while is even more "crawling up the wall".  Bless you

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Relationship with the World (2)

It's a big subject, and I knew I'd stir up more.  I shall give some teaching this Sunday, as it's demonic December and the headlong flight into Xmas.  As a faithful pastor I must warn off any who will listen.  The perennial tragedy of folks on low incomes getting £1,000 or more in debt to "keep up with the neighbours" must be spoken against.  I find it even more distressing when the psychological pressure is put on through kids, because that failure of parental heart exposes - not shields - the next generation.

I heard yesterday of one group of our saints who have bread and soup for Xmas dinner as little reminder that it's absolutely possible to resist all the insanity.

My friend Brian was explaining how his church stages a carol service to invite in fringe people (parents of Sunday school kids, etc).  Then he admitted that his home group disintegrates in apathy, absences and distraction over Xmas, and it takes until mid-January to recover.

I spent a week in Trier, in the German Rhineland, during December many years back.  One afternoon's sight-seeing took in the famous Tierer Dom, the Catholic cathedral of St Peter.  It was bustling with visitors, disorientating with candle-lit side chapels, ornate, gaudy, and tacky, but somehow cordial and inviting.  Then we moved on to the old Protestant cathedral.  It was frigidly austere, with no internal decoration or embellishment (beyond a plain altar).  Stark uniform benches were set out in precise rows.  It boasts, if I correctly recall, the largest unsupported roof-span in Germany.  The only relief was the natural sunlight from the large windows.  The two seemed to embody contradictory world-views, how we sit with respect to our broad context.  I didn't really enjoy either: that was perhaps the significant challenge.

In preparation for this Sunday (we're back on the air with our recordings, again, now) I dug up some quotable stuff from Horatius Bonar.  I also acquainted myself with Augustine's City of God: 1,091 pages of further commendable study.  But we'll stick with Bonar.

Love Not The World — Why?
Because the gain of it is the loss of the soul — Matthew 16:25.
Because its friendship is enmity to God — James 4:4.
Because it did not know Christ — John 1:10; 17:25.
Because it hates Christ — John 7:7; 15:18.
Because the Holy Spirit has forbidden us — 1 John 2:15.
Because Christ did not pray for it — John 17:9.
Because Christ’s people do not belong to it — John 17:16.
Because it will not receive the Spirit — John 14:27.
Because its Prince is Satan — John 13:31; 16:11.
Because Christ’s kingdom is not of it — John 18:36.
Because its wisdom is foolishness — 1 Corinthians 1:20.
Because its wisdom is ignorance — 1 Corinthians 1:21.
Because Christ does not belong to it — John 8:23.
Because it is condemned — 1 Corinthians 11:32.
Because the fashion of it passeth away — 1 Corinthians 7:31 .
Because it slew Christ—James 5:6; Matthew 21:39.
Because it is crucified to us — Galatians 6:14.
Because we are crucified to it — Galatians 6:14.
Because it is the seat of wickedness — 2 Peter 1:4; 1 John 5:19.
Because its God is the evil one — 2 Corinthians 4:4.

LOVE not the world!
What is there here to love?
That which is loveable is not of the earth;
Fix thou thine eyes above.

2. The face of time
Is never in one stay;
The beauty of this fascinating world
Endureth but a day.

3. Of things below
The best is but a lie;
The blossoms of the spring and childhood’s buds
Must fade, and fall, and die.

4. Be not deceived!
Through all this earthly air
A hellish poison pours its deadliness:
The plague of sin is there.

5. And who shall heal
Or disinfect the air?
Who disenchant it of the pleasant spell,
Or break the unseen snare?

6. Be not deceived!
Into each human vein
Sin penetrates, and we with opiates seek
To soothe the subtle pain.

7. It dims the eye;
It dulls the inner ear;
It dazzles, and it darkens, and it blinds,
It worketh pain and fear.

8. It worketh wrath,
And woe, and want, and doom;
It leads us darkly to the second death,
The everlasting tomb.

9. Love not the world,—
Its dreams, its songs, its lies;
They who have followed in its train are not
The true, and good, and wise.

10. The wise and good,
They choose the better part;
To the true world that is to come they give
The true and single heart.

11. Love not the world!
He in whose heart the love
Of vanity has found a place, shuts out
The enduring world above.

12. Love not the world!
However fair it seems;
Who loveth this fond world,- the love of God
Abideth not in him.

13. The heart of thine
For God, thy God was made;
Who love this God of love,- he lives;
Who loveth not, is dead.

14. Though this wide earth,
With all its love and gold,
Were his, yet still he liveth not whose heart
To God is sealed and cold.

15. Seek not the world!
‘Tis a vain show at best;
Bow not before its idol-shrine; in God
Find thou thy joy and rest.

16. A better world
We have who all forsake.
This promised land of holiness and love,
More fair than words can speak.

Horatius Bonar © Public Domain
Last verse: NCCC © 1986 Jesus Fellowship
Songs/CopyCare Ltd.

Relationship with the World

I'm in the run-up to the last three Sunday mornings when I'll exclusively concentrate on our foundational distinctives.  I have mixed feelings.  We're changing the rota because other guys need to start shouldering some of the weight locally.  And I need to be freer to spend time in Coventry, Leicester and other northern parts that need some input.  I recall the story of the Catholic priest at his ordination in Brussels.  The bishop leaned over to whisper, "Remember my son, the Lord called you to the priesthood because He couldn't trust you."   I can concur that the weekly discipline of preparing a major piece of teaching is a great astringent on the soul.

So I must carefully choose the last three topics.  All along I've been asked to address our relationship with the world.  I've ducked the challenge because I could see we'd fall between the two extremes of being too prescriptive or too conceptual.  I could reiterate the varying positions represented by Tertullian, Origen and Athanasius, who all contributed to the early church's understanding.  Or there's Niebuhr's five "Christ" categories.  But here's my attempt at a framework for what it means to be "in the world but not of it".  

1. Here our feet are kept on the ground, but it's not the source of our generation.  We will for ever be creatures of our created earth.  But, believers are born from above; "not of the earth" (1 Corinthians 15).

2. Here we find our context, but not our conformity (Romans 12).  Much as climate erodes softer elements in forming landscapes, whereas solid materials resist the process.  So our godly identity is formed and evident from within outward, not vice versa.   

3. And, continuing the alliteration, here we find our connection, but not our condition.  We say, "What are the weather conditions?"  Of course, they are geographically locally variable.  We don't have to fall under the spell of universal forecasts.

4. We're rebels, but also rescuers.  Our objections to the fallen order don't amount to an obsession with self-survival.  We're commissioned and prepared to be inclusive.

5. We're revolutionaries, but also redemptive.  We don't focus on tearing down an old world, but championing a new one.  And it delivers us from slavery into the transcendence of the kingdom of heaven. 

The city of Zion is one model.  Salvation must become social in breadth to fulfil God's covenant heart.  The devil's set up a  system that embraces Adam humanity en masse.  God in Christ provides Body life that's home for Christ's new humanity.

So, it's, "Africa, here we come". (Repost from 28/02/2102)

We fly from Heathrow at 7pm tonight.  Gregory in Nairobi emailed just yesterday with a question about accommodation.  He proposed we change from the Methodist Guest House, Oloitokitok Road, to the nearby Musmark Christian Hostel.   No problem in principle, but I wasn’t sure how to go about answering.  Googling Musmark produced an American backpacker’s 2002 blog entry.  It seemed the accommodation was okay.  What made me smile was the further first impressions of Africa.  So, I’ll give you mine, since I wasn’t posting stuff this time last year.

Day one produced a hectic overnight flight and busy schedule with our Multiply guys.  I settled down for my evening meal at the aforementioned Methodist Guest House.  A father with two small children, of fair complexion, occupied the next table.  The older one was pouring salt onto her plate, and licking it off with her finger.  Daddy’s smile seemed to register this was normal behaviour.

 “Say, I hope you don’t mind me asking,” he leaned towards me.  “I saw your red cross, and wondered what group you’re from?”  We tried to find common ground.  He was based some miles up country, in Masai territory, developing leadership training material in the local dialect.  “We have a quarterly meeting here in town,” he explained,” So I decided to come a little early and give the girls a day out.  Only...” he went on, “We didn’t think it was important enough to let our prayer team know.  Hmm.  We’ve had a miserable 24 hours - violent sickness.  We missed that one, didn’t we?”

It was his matter-of-factness that I struggled to digest. 

“So, we got straight in touch with them,” he was explaining, “And we’re okay now.”

I have other recollections of steps into a new dimension.  There was our first Agape evening after having moved to Warwickshire.  Pete, a resident leader of nine months’ local experience, declared, “Welcome to the battlefront.”  C T Studd is recorded as writing home, “The spiritual atmosphere here is so charged, you have to sleep with your eyes open.”  That was Africa, too.

What had I come to?  Preparing to do warfare with mosquitoes had absorbed enough nervous energy.  Needing a whole intercession team to ward off gastric bugs in the course of a perfectly innocent and routine trip left me disoriented.  Suddenly, I felt very lonely.  I was glad to be pointed in some helpful direction.

Well, by this time tomorrow, Ian, Jason and Jonny will have their own stories to tell.  That’ll be interesting.

Belief, Misbelief, Unbelief

I managed to escape in the direction of the Peaks again last Friday.  It was a glorious walk.  It also marked the start of a full week when I wouldn't be motorway travelling, so I wanted to engage in a bit of mental recalibration.  The process had begun in a personal prayer time earlier in the week.  I'd sensed God focussing on two images - not very remarkable, but carrying significance outside of my normal thought tracks.  (They were a petrol station and a small child.)

I'm aware that I have habitual thought patterns.  I invite you to agree that you have too, whether you've got some perception of this or not!  In usual mode, I'm a problem-solver.  It's not all bad: strong on analysis, open to creative solutions, practical focus on implementation.  However, God doesn't share this habituity; or any.  If we're going to get conformed to some of His thoughts, we clearly have to undergo restructuring and repositioning.  I think that when I first came to Sheffield, I was more open, available and responsive.  Preconceptions weren't going to build the church, even though I had a model that seemed to fit with what I knew of co-working with the Holy Spirit.  I was probably more energetic and motivational (ugh - horrible word), too.

So, while walking I was wrestling with how to dislodge the familiar and get nearer to a blank sheet of paper.  I started with beliefs that are misbeliefs.  These are a strange set of acquisitions.  If you find some truths intuitively plausible, attractive, acceptable, even obvious, you only go through a conversion-lite process to transfer them into Christian garb.  For example, compassion is a wonderful virtue, and so readily absorbed into the set of Christian values.  We may be horrified to find we disagree over what something so basic actually involves!  (I recently witnessed this in an email exchange about our street evangelism.)  But if the new creation meaning is only partly formed in each of us, if we've only acquired some conviction and indeed understanding by superficial engagement - misconception, we have a bastard child in our family.  And basic dissimilarity; with resulting moral and spiritual woe in the church. 

By contrast, unbelief, starting with no sympathy, affinity, inclination or credulity, even antipathy, requires a full and robust work of Holy Spirit conception to force its way into our truth system.  Mercifully, this God is well able to do as His Word carries creative power and require no preexistent material.  Though it calls for rock-breaking assaults on our barrenness, it's safer, and inevitably more fruit-bearing.

Suddenly, I'm more alarmed by the predominance of misbeliefs around the place than I am by the existence of sheer unbelief.  How stupid we are ever to think that something natural, secondhand and eroded by usage  should recommend itself to God for inclusion in our faith.  What a perilous journey the third Century apologists led us on when they co-opted Greek thought into service to the gospel.  How each generation parades a different selection of relevant, self-evident, universal half truth to bloat our pretentions and dilute hoped-for penetrating insight.  I could name some; but if you've been following me - you do it.

And I was at peace about my missing thought tracks, precisely because they present the Lord with space I won't interfere with, to generate growth.

Just yesterday I was reading a bit of Isaiah 53: a tender plant springing from dry and sterile ground (verse 2).  I've met dry and sterile ground in the United Arab Emirates.  Isaiah's message is "God will bring salvation from somewhere you wouldn't conceive of".  So we have pregnant virgins and green shoots in the concrete.  Praise God for such conceptions; may they fill the place.  How we need them.

The Anxious

You know I enjoy our monthly local Key Leaders gathering.  Last time I threw out the invitation to pause with eyes closed to let any anxieties flicker into more conscious focus.  Say, the sort of reaction you get when your least favourite neighbour asks "for a chat", or a chase-up email or note drops into your in-tray.

We defined anxiety as: "Imagination captured by something negative, so you experience an emotional knock-on and your decision-making is challenged".  When we came to share in turn, the guys were pleasingly honest and open.  We identified:

1. Social pain: because there'd some excruciating element in the interaction.

2. Abandon: you'll be found left standing alone and unsupported, exposed and vulnerable; it seems your destiny.

3. Pride/vanity: your reputation, self regard, status, etc, will get demolished.
 
4. Emptiness and resource deficit: you won't have what it takes in competence, accomplishment, ability to manage the context, time, contact with God, relevant knowledge.

5. Correction; that will destroy you, because you associate it with rejection; your fragile self-worth will be bankrupted, having got it wrong (or even just being charged with this).

6. Losing the argument, losing initiative in the conversation, losing control of the decisions in hand, forcing down your cherished truth claim, falling under the power of the verbally adept and belligerent.

7. Disqualification through ignorance or infringement of the rules.

8. Your decision-making processes will crumble; else you will need to endure conflicts of disinclination or dissonance.

9. Don't upset mummy (or some current female primary figure: many Christian leaders need deliverance from this.)

10. Exposure where we've been in the background, shadows; or able to deflect attention, responsibility and unpleasantness from your threshold.

11. Fear of corruption: compromise of your righteousnesses, integrity and person will pitch you into guilt and defilement.

12. Ending on the wrong side of authority through carelessness, indolence, procrastination, deceit, subterfuge, discontentment.

We'd banned the too-general "failure"; but interestingly physical violence didn't get much airing.  The fearful thing is that all these serve to undermine our confidence, which is a key attribute to delivering secure leadership.

Dear Justin

Loz was impressed that I manage to churn out a blog a week (on average).  The secret is that at Leaders-in-Training residential weekend in June, I agreed with Duncan that he'd text me every Saturday to see if I was getting something published.  The next thing Loz commented was whether I'd really join the connected generation by doing shorter blogs.  He finds mine lengthy.  Hmmm.

So here's a series of minis.  We'll start with an open letter to Justin Welby.

Dear Justin,
I'm sure you've had lots of advice, but hey, there are some things you can't get enough of, so here's mine.

1. Forget about women bishops.  When, in crisis, the cultural mood swings back in favour of mothers being at home, then what a bunch of clueless twits you'll all look.  The custodians of family values, caught with with your gaiters down.  When I hear Christina Rees saying, "The Church of England has been betrayed by the Laity", I'm reminded of Richard Nixon's assertion that "the will of the people mustn't be allowed to interfere with the democratic process". Just listen to yourselves!  A church that marries the culture of the day inevitably gets jilted when sentiments move on.  

2. Be the last white European primate of your communion.  Whatever it takes in canon law and UK law, get it sorted before you retire (or resign).  If it's true that the modal Anglican member is a 22-year-old single woman living in Africa, with education up to "A" Level, let's see it in the positioning of your government.  Head for the global south.  Get there before the Vatican!  Leapfrog GAFCON. 

3. Remember the gospel is about transformation, not reformation.  This is the big divide, not gays, traditions, political persuasions, ethnicity, disposable income.  Don't get on the "More education", "Economic solutions", or "Dialogue" bandwagons.  The cross in our redemption, sanctification and glorification is necessary, sufficient and non-negotiable.  (I'm sorry you don't share our theology of baptism, but that's not a show-stopper.)

I'll be praying for you, as expect you now won't be able to accept an invitation to Men Alive or Sheffield Praise Day.

Hypothermia in Coventry

There were three good reasons why Sunday morning needed to go well. 
1. We were in Coventry, and I wanted to serve the saints well with my input; they've been battling on a few fronts. 
2. We'd spent Thursday evening laughing at the local Mystery Worshipper reports from Ship of Fools website.  I'd explained to the guys that I always give our Sunday Celebration events a crisp start.  One day Jesus Fellowship will be on the radar.  A timely call to raise our game where applicable.
3. Andy from Coventry had given Monday's Leaders' event an entertaining run-down on what not to do when taking a neighbourhood-style public meeting.  He'd be there; and I needed to acquit myself honourably as a matter of example.

We came to be in Coventry because Saturday was our annual Multiply UK conference at Cornhill.  We'd promised to stay down when we had an event like this, and do a Sunday morning in Coventry (or maybe Leicester, next year).  Mary hadn't been to Tree of Life, and they gladly offered us their new guest room.

So I opted for a long walk on Friday morning, to disengage from my desk-bound persona and problem solving mindset.  I clocked up 16 miles walking out along A57 (Manchester Road) to the Shefield city boundary: there's a roadside footpath all the way.  By getting up early, I did it between breakfast and lunch, and it left me pleasantly expended and a bit leg weary.  It was pretty nippy going out, with a fair head wind.  The temptation with this kind of blast of fresh air is to come indoors and attack the pantry: cup-a-soups and slices of toast, etc.  (This phenomenon lies at the heart of articles headed, "The myth that the gym will lose you weight.")   I resisted.  The lunches at Multiply conferences are memorable events, and worth attacking with a sharp appetite.  Out in the sticks, I got a few prompts for the Sunday teaching and worked until 11pm getting the notes sorted.  That made me late for the weekly barbecue, and we had an early start on Saturday to get to Cornhill.  I don't know about you, but sleep deficit always creates heat deficit and a tendency to compensate with snacking. 

After Multiply, we arrived at Tree of Life when the tea things had been cleared away.  I'd stopped off at Skaino office to print off the notes for Sunday morning.  The evening household meeting was in Tree of Life's huge lounge, and it was on the chilly side.  In fact, I couldn't detect that any heating was running.  But I was looking forward to a bite of supper, and a chance to warm up before bed.

At this point I need to explain my travelling habits.  I usually take a sleeping bag when I'm staying over for odd nights.  This seems a little discourteous to the hospitality, but has sound sense.  First, my feet stick out beyond the end of a standard bed, and second I generally sleep better with some covers over my head.  Any attempt to achieve a satisfactory bedding arrangement with a normal quilt always proves hopeless.  So an XL sleeping bag is ideal.  This time, I'd weakened, and only brought the cotton liner.  I was mostly concerned for my feet.  I suffer with cold toes.  When I say suffer, I mean it: it's not just a conventional turn of phrase.  But I didn't want to entirely despise the kind offer of a new guest room.  Foolish.

I also need to explain about the Multiply lunch.  It's long been a point of difficulty for our international brethren that UK "church" food is "cold" - both thermally and culinary-wise.  So, there'd been a special effort this time.  Chicken curry was on the menu, along with a fine selection of greens.  I loaded my plate with peas, sprouts and green beans.  Surefoot and I were in deep conversation about White & Bishop and Internet, etc, when I stuffed in a mouthful of beans.  Only, not beans: perniciously firely green chili.  I believe the expression is "chewing on a marine flare".  Steve offered me a glass of milk, but I was beyond reason.  (I wasn't alone: one brother confessed he had three glasses of milk before normal service was resumed.)  My appetite was promptly extinguished.  (I thought I may be, too.)  Even the overflowing dessert dish of cheesecake and fruit salad failed to rekindle my constitution. 

So here, some ten hours later, was the prospect of supper, and with my assulted intestines I couldn't be bothered.  There would be no hurry over breakfast in the morning.  Sleep deficit and the progressive chilling down to about minus sixty degrees in the lounge gave the casting vote.  I crawled off to bed.

The guest room was indeed new.  So much so that the radiator appeared never to have been commissioned.  And the single cupboard contained no spare bedding.  I left on one pair of socks, and hunched up so the quilt came over my shoulder.  The was no comforting spread of warmth that wafts you off to sleep.  Now, I know enough physics to grasp that clothing and bedding are only insulation.  It's my body that needs to generate the heat.  It wasn't happening.  I groped over the side of the bed to find my Jesus Army jacket - an extra layer pressed into faithful service for many years.  (There were no coat hooks on the back of the new door, either...)   Another quarter of an hour - no difference.  Now I was faced with the big question: could I bear to get out, put on my fleece top and second pair of socks? 

I'd remarked to Mary that the last time I could remember a room this cold was in Slovakia, one bitter February.  Then we'd devised an expediency of wearing a complete set of clothes each night.  This had the corresponding disadvantage of  limiting the wardrobe for the daytime's activities.  And it had included wearing a woolly hat all night.  Well, once-upon-a-time bedcaps were standard.

I re-dressed and tried again.  At this point the chili began to make its presence felt.  Twice in the last twelve months I've had Delhi belly.  A year ago in Delhi (surprise!), and in June when we last stayed in Coventry.  It was all without prior warning.  With "normal" diarrhoea you generally feel queasy, headachey, unwell, offering some kind of anticipation.  Now, having been twice caught out, I wasn't trusting anything.  I'd ingested a gut-full of subversive spice, and I feared the worst.  I just lay and fretted and shivered.

The long night drew on.  About two sleepless hours later, I was at least not getting any colder.  But that was a small consolation.  The prospect of being in any kind of state to breast with Sunday's challenge slipped away.  I reviewed my miseries: Friday's long walk and lack of sleep to recharge my metabolism; the chili; the Arctic household meeting; my abandoned sleeping bag.  A succession of unimpressive decisions.  Ahead: my bowels giving way and an energyless attempt at the main meeting. 

"Did you get any sleep?" I asked Mary.  "Oh, lovely; I slept like a log", she glowed back.  And indeed, the bedroom radiator was now working overtime in sympathy. 

I had to tell Simon.  He was concerned.  "Oh Greatheart, ten feet away across the corridor, I have spare bedding in my room.  Why didn't you knock?"  Indeed, why didn't I?

10 Facts about the Bible, and more stuff

Still the world’s bestseller, the bible is both the holy text of Christianity, and it’s most challenging read!  So how should we view its role in our faith and life, and set about understanding it and its message?

1.    If you have a bible in familiar language, it’s one of 470 complete translations out of 6,800 known tongues.  The new testament is available in 1,220 languages, and 1,500 further translation projects are in progress. 
2.    The word bible means “library”. The Protestant canon includes 39 old testament books (originally writ-ten mainly in Hebrew, pre-dating Jesus) and 27 new testament ones (originally written mainly in everyday Koine Greek).  Other church traditions vary the number of Hebrew writings they recognise, what books they include, and how they’re ordered. 
3.    The writing of the bible took place from about 1,450BC to 100AD.  Many human authors took a hand, but they shared the conviction that they did this at God’s impulse.  They reflect many historic, geographic and cultural contexts in the Middle East and Greco/Roman world, but their message is unified. 
4.    Conservative Christians say the autographic/original text was fully inspired and inerrant: (but it’s now lost).
5.    Any library includes several forms of literature.  It’s important to work out if you’re studying historical narrative, religious ordinances, prophecy, poetry or a letter!  The books were divided into chapters by Stephen Langton in the 13th century, and into verses by French printer Robert Estienne in the 16th cen-tury.
6.    Hebrew is a compact and awkward language from which to translate into English: there are problems of equivalences.  It doesn’t have our vowel forms (a, e, i, o, u), S Y HV T WRK T WHT  SNTNC MNS FRM TS CNTXT.  To add to the confusion, many words can take several meanings e.g. yowm = day, has four. 
7.    The bible that Jesus and His contemporaries referred to was the Septuagint (LXX).  It is a translation into Koine Greek done in Alexandria by 70 scholars in the 3rd century BC.  It’s in four sections: the Law, the Prophets (Early and Late), and the Writings.  There are points where it varies from our translations, because today we’d use a different original Hebrew text (and we order- Law, History, Wisdom and Prophets). 
8.    As far as ancient manuscripts go, the bible is remarkable and its preservation is amazing.  We have parts of the new testament, written very close to the events, going back to the first century AD.  However, some older bits are uncertain (e.g. 1 Samuel 13:1).  In societies where oral, not written tradition was important, liberty would be taken with the text.  A scribe would write into the margin corrections or his own notes.  The next scribe along would then need to work out what to do with these (e.g. Matthew 24:15).
9.    The bible’s own witness is to its divine inspiration, consistency, accuracy and vital importance.  The old testament makes numerous references to obeying the Law.  The new testament affirms “the scriptures” about 50 times, and includes many more references and extracts.  It is the bedrock truth of our faith.
10.    Events/characters and dates: BC 1950 Abraham, 1700 Joseph, 1400 Moses, 1300 Conquest of Canaan, 1050 David, 1000 the Temple, 750 Isaiah, 600 Jeremiah, 550 Daniel, 500 Return from Exile, 450 Malachi;  AD 30 Jesus’ Ascension, 40 Paul Converted, 55-70 Gospels, Acts, Letters, 70-80 Letters, 90 Revelation.


The bible holds God’s message of His kingdom, and the faith in Jesus that secures it.

ACTS 28:23  From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.  24 Some were convinced by what he said,  

Enscripturing.  God inspired the authors and instructed recording of His word for the obedience of faith. 
JEREMIAH 30:1  This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.
2 KINGS 11:12  Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him; he presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king.  [see Deuteronomy 17:18-20]
2 PETER 3:15  just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.  16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 

Inspiration.  God’s breath (Spirit) and word are living and eternal, so their life-giving effect endures.
PSALM 119:130  The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
2 TIMOTHY 3:14  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

Interpretation.  There’s an internal witness that the Holy Spirit is consistent throughout in His revelation.
LUKE 16:30  " `No, father Abraham,' he said, `but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'  31 "He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
2 PETER 1:19  And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.  21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 

Incarnation.  Jesus, the Word, was conscious that His life was set in the framework of earlier prophecy.
MATTHEW 5:17  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them . 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 
MATTHEW 26:56  But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled." 
JOHN 19:28  Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."  

Application.  We may prefer other ways of learning, but the scriptures are indispensible for our faith.
 LUKE 24:25  He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"  27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:3  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins ac-cording to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 

Authentication.  Each of the gospel writers includes his own participation and signature in his writing. 
MATTHEW 9:9  As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth.  "Fol-low me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
MARK 14:51  A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus.  When they seized him, 52 he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.
LUKE 1:3  Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 
JOHN 13:23  One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.  24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means."  25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" 

Conclusion.  The early church was big on using, learning, and building faith and life from the scriptures. 
JOHN 20:30  Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 
ROMANS 16:25  Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, ac-cording to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him-- 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
1 TIMOTHY 4:13  Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.

From Jesus Fellowship Statement of Faith and Practice: 22.  We affirm that the bible (the old and new testaments in the Protestant canon) is the fully inspired word of God and accept that these scriptures alone are the warranty and revelation for our faith and practice, believing that the Holy Spirit interprets and applies the scriptural truth to the church in this present age.

•    As well as full English translations, the bible is available in audio, video and cartoon format; which do you use?
•    The Holy Spirit is the key to get the truth out of the book and then into your life.  Do you pray before reading?
•    Jesus came as God’s full, final, incarnate Word; anticipated and explained by the bible: how do the two relate?  (This question was added to also illustrate the fundamental difference between the standing of the bible for Christians, and the koran for Muslims.  We affirm Jesus is God's "last Word". Don't get snagged up in asymmetrical arguments!)

All quotations from the New International Version
You can listen to our Sunday teaching ministry on: http://recordings.crownoflife.org.uk/

More on Mother Zion

We recently discovered (posted under Mother God or Mother Zion) that the church is the feminine-figured counterpart to God’s activity in generation, nurture, comfort, protection and provision, (as in Ephesians 5:32).  The old covenant people of Israel developed a strong identity around the city of Jerusalem, and the citadel at its heart, Zion.  After all, down the street Yahweh lived within His courts and the King in His palace, made secure by strong defences.  There’s more we can learn from this ante-type of Christ’s church.

1.    God’s redemption started with a particular group of people amongst whom He could display His faithful love, mercy and wisdom.  He instituted atonement for their offenses and lifelong covenant commitment.
2.    The beauties of the city of Zion city surpassed the efforts and excellences of the world.  God’s, and His king’s, throne was founded in justice and righteousness.  His sure judgements were a source of glad-ness.
3.    The Lord establishing and restoring the city’s fortunes guaranteed confidence in the face of uncertainty and opposition.  This, in turn, made the city’s destruction and desolation an unthinkable proposition.
4.    Here God’s covenant choice of Israel found special expression as His people prospered and brought Him their due worship.  Nevertheless, the blessing could also overflow to non-Jews who came to fear God.
5.    The world at large convulsed with agricultural/economic, political and military crises.  The city of Zion rested in her sovereign’s peace.  She was a sought-out haven of refuge for the humble and holy.
6.    The nation eventually tired God by their persistent disobedience and unfaithfulness, in adopting the ways of other gods.  He applied the covenant disciplines of reduction, defeat and exile.  Zion fell desolate.
7.    God, through the prophets, declared beyond this set-back a time of glorious restoration.  It was partly accomplished in their return from exile.  We can trace a fuller Messianic fulfilment in Christ and His church.

A city habitation means shared experience, and social rather than individual qualities.  Here's from Jesus Fellowship's Statement of Faith and Practice:  10 We hold that they are to demonstrate the salvation of God corporately, as a visible expression of the Lordship of Christ.  They are thus the city or Zion of God, His temple and dwelling place, displaying in true spiritual worship and in holy society the fruits of righteousness, to the glory of God.  11 We hold that the regenerate should gather together as local church-communities, to be a true brotherhood of holy love and service, functioning as the Body of Christ, the Household of God.

The citizens qualify because of God’s redeeming action; as from Egypt, so for us, from the Adamic world.

PSALM 74:2  Remember the people you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed -- Mount Zion, where you dwelt.  3 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, 
PSALM 103:17  But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children -- 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
The foundations are laid God’s way.  Our job is to ground our lives into His work, word and wisdom.
PSALM 89:13  Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.  14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.  15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.  16 They rejoice in your name all day long; 
PSALM 97:8  Zion hears and rejoices and the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments, O LORD. 

The beauties include fearing and exalting God, generational safeguarding and wise daily application.

DEUTERONOMY 4:5  See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.  6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and under-standing people."  7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?  8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?  9  Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
ISAIAH 33:5  The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.  6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

All are included as God saves the out-of-luck and provides for the neediest, whatever their predicament.

PSALM 69:33  The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people.  34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them, 35 for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah.  Then people will settle there and possess it; 36 the children of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell there.
PSALM 102:13  You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.  14 For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.  15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.  16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.  17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.  18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:

Peace and preservation are assured as man did not build the city, and has little chance of destroying it.

ISAIAH 33:20  Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.  22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us.
ISAIAH 52:7  How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"  8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy.  When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.  9 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

The covenant’s firmness means discipline will lead to the recovery of a returning remnant, not abandon.

JEREMIAH 50:4  "In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah to-gether will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.  5 They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it.  They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.  6 "My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. 
2 KINGS 19:30  Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.  31 For out of Jeru-salem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.  The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

A Messiah is promised, whose might compensates for His peoples’ frailty, and holiness for their failure.

ZEPHANIAH 3:12  But I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the LORD.  13 The rem-nant of Israel will do no wrong; they will speak no lies, nor will deceit be found in their mouths.  They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid."  17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
ZECHARIAH 9:9  Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Application  God led us to seek the reality of Zion before individualism and the world undermined Western churches.
•    What have you reacted to as the church has engaged in covenant commitment and life strongly shared together?
•    Some believers feel driven to individual spiritual self-preservation: what may they gain or lose from the insistence?
•    Isn’t settling down in God-town tame and insular? What about the world’s pressing need and its darkness to God?

All quotations from the New International VersionYou can listen to our Sunady teaching on:  http://recordings.crownoflife.org.uk/

1. By the holy hills surrounded,
On her firm base securely founded,
Stands the city of the Lord.
None shall rend her walls asunder,
On her men look with fear and wonder,
And mark who here keeps watch and ward.
He slumbers not, nor sleeps,
Who His loved Israel keeps.
Hallelujah! Happy the race
Who, through God’s grace,
Shall have in her their dwelling place.

2. Zion’s gates Jehovah loveth,
And with especial grace approveth,
He makes so fast her bolts and bars.
Those who dwell in her He blesses,
And comforts them in their distresses
Who cast on Him their griefs and cares.
How wonderful the grace
With which He does embrace
All His people! City of God!
How sweet the abode on which
Such blessings are bestowed.

3. Taught in you is a salvation
Unknown to every other nation;
There great and holy things are heard;
In the midst of you abiding,
Enlightening, comforting and guiding,
You have the Spirit and the Word!
There breathing peace around
Is heard the joyful sound, grace and mercy!
How sweet that is,
Which here speaks peace,
There crowns with everlasting bliss.

4. Dry your tears, your hearts nigh broken,
Of Zion it shall yet be spoken,
“How do her citizens increase!”
Men shall see with fear and wonder
How God builds Zion up, and ponder,
His love and truth who has wrought this,
Lift up your heads; at last
The night of death has passed,
From all the world;
The day does break when many awake,
And now we all their joy partake.

5. Multitudes of every nation,
Now come and seek and find salvation;
This Zion mother church shalt be;
Hark! What shouts the air are rending!
What cries to Heaven’s gates ascending!
All our fresh springs shall be in Thee.
From her the waters burst,
And quench our burning thirst.
Hallelujah! Then let us sing
Our Lord and King,
And drink and drink His Zion’s spring.

(Psalm 87)
Charles Wesley © Public Domain

Our Family Charter

Coming up is our periodic Marrieds' and Parents' Focus evening.  It led to a conversation about our family.  Here's what (when we all lived at home together) we pooled our ideas to produce.  We pinned copies on each bedroom door.

F A M I L Y   C H A R T E R
We will love each member of our family, speak and act kindly to one another, and rejoice in the right not in the wrong.

We will pray for each other every day, thanking God for their lives, and asking His help for their responsibilities, choices and difficulties, and for their protection.

We will grow in heart to upbuild the family of God in which we take our place.  We will learn to respect, serve, forgive and encourage one another.

We are all growing and need direction and correction.
We will be careful to listen to those who are older and wiser, and grow in obedience and respect.  We will obey our parents in the Lord and encourage each other in this.

We are members of a radical Jesus family, different from the world.  We welcome this though sometimes we may be misunderstood and hurt.  We will encourage one another to grow in fearlessness and loyalty for Zion.

Everything created is a gift from God, so we will share our things, time, gifts and energies together, that we may be blessed in giving rather than wanting. We will be thankful for what we have.

We will help trust to grow by openness about our plans, problems and faults, knowing that we will always be loved and honoured and quickly forgiven. 

We will be careful not to repeat confidences.

We will not accuse or pass on blame; we will not act provokingly or spitefully, or in other ways do the devil's work.

The earth is the Lord's; we will seek to live at peace with, and help, all men.  We will care for animals and plants, too.

We want many friends to come to know and love Jesus and will witness to them by our lives and words; this includes our other relatives.

We want to remain true soldiers for Jesus and be trained to live our lives for Him.


And again, since meals together were an important plank in the building work (with each child having his own napkin):

THIS IS A GOOD MANNERS TABLE

1.  Arrive promptly when a meal is called, with hands washed, ready to join in the grace time.

2.  Wait quietly until everyone is served before starting to eat.

3.  No playing with cutlery or dishes; keep hands and feet off the table.

4.  No punching, kicking, scratching, humming, or generally provoking each other.

5.  Eat tidily without playing with your food; finish the whole meal.

6.  Wait until the end of the meal before getting down from the table; help to clear away.

Thirty-Five and Out

I upset Ian.  I told him people don’t change past age 35.  He was scandalised, and promptly put my comment in the heresy category.  He accused me of - at least - denigrating the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification.  Actually, I’d only reflected back to him the perplexity he’d thrown into the conversation.  It was what to do about people struggling on with character weaknesses after years of Christian walk.  I put it, “What do you do when redemption doesn’t bring the things you thought redemption should?” 

So I socked him this warning, that people don’t change past age 35.  Well, of course, it needs a bit of unpacking, so here goes. 

You're young; you're impressionable.  You learn fast.  You prove this by repeating every smart thing you've heard, as if it's your own. 

You spend your twenties with boundless energy, unconcerned for the future, because for all practical purposes it’s limitless (- there's time enough, and you've got lots of ideas). 

In your thirties, you solidify.  Here's your approach to life: you've walked a mile or two; proved your point; got somewhere; got values; you know what works, and that's why you're here, where you are.  So, you want to tell me something?  Try.  I've proved my point; boy, you'll have to work hard to convince me.  There's things at stake now; I've got a track record; stuff I've invested in (and seen a return on).  I won't be easily moved.  You've got to be impressively ahead of me for me to change track, change tack.  But go on: by all means let's hear what you've got to say.  I'm not unreasonable; it's just that - by and large - I've arrived.  You've got your work cut out to get me listening now.  I make my own way - have made my own way - and it works.

By forty, you're cooked.

I remember Joe well.  He was the programming manager at the Group data-centre that I was working for.  He’d worked his way up over twenty years from a junior coder to his present role, pretty much at the peak of his career.  Then he was dispatched to attend the company’s “Specialist to General Manager” professional training course.  It wasn't really in his game plan to pitch for more senior jobs, but our employer was good at talent harvesting.  He was corralled into a posh hotel conference room with a couple of dozen contemporaries.  The facilitator began; "You've got to the top of the ladder.  But every now and again you wonder if it's leaning against the right wall."  Joe was uncomfortable.  He was used to keeping his head down, looking over his team's work with an experienced eye, paying the mortgage, planning a worthwhile but affordable holiday for the family.   This guy spooked him.  Joe shut down. 

I don't quite know why Joe chose to confide in me.  But I've met many Joe replicas.  They sit in front of me on Sundays and at other events. "Go on, try to convince me." 

Don't get me wrong - it all has a good aspect, too.  Ellen's got four children well in hand and doing great at school.  She's stood by her hubby as their income's roller-coastered with the pretty difficult economic turns in his trade.  She's not omnipotent, but she's got assurance.  Now in her late thirties, she's got a faithful model of family life, and relating to neighbours.  Now, what will she listen to?

And when I say all this to others (mostly over 35) who initially react, they mostly nod and demur.  Is that an answer, Ian?

The significance of a prefix (2)

Our salvation begins and ends with the work of Christ, made real to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The New Testament calls this being in Christ.  It’s both a personal and church experience.
PHILIPPIANS 3:10  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The important little word.  The prefix co- tells us a lot.  It’s definite and active.  In Greek it’s sym.  We’re introduced to its meaning in our baptism (see Romans 6:3-8; Colossians 2:11-13).  But there’s lots more beyond.

1. Crucified with Him: Romans 6:6, Galatians 2:20.
2. Died with Christ:  Romans 6:8, 2 Timothy 2:11.
3. Buried with Him:  Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12.
4. Made Alive with Him:  Ephesians 2:5, Colossians 2:13.
5. Raised with Him:  Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 2:12, 3:1.
6. Living with Him:  Romans 6:8; 2 Timothy 2:11.
7. Seated with Him:  Ephesians 2:6.
8. (Enduring and) Reigning with Him:  2 Timothy 2:12.

GALATIANS 3:26  You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,

In a fix.  Paul explains how the Jewish law relates to the gospel of Christ.  He majors on a co- word (in fact, repeated): declares…a prisoner, and locked up.  It means all mankind from every religion, culture and ethnic mix is in the same fix.  We feel increasing failure as we aim for goodness.  Every well-intentioned motive and action just leaves us more messed up.  We can’t reach salvation until faith in Christ breaks through. 
GALATIANS 3:21  Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God?  Absolutely not!  For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.  23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.  24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

In labour.  In the middle of the Romans “crucified… dead… living… with Christ” text is the important clue how it all works.  We share birth or generation with Christ (6:5) that takes us from death to resurrection.
ROMANS 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him

Growth.  Having got across the point that this is a new life, Paul unpacks the results (8:16,17).  The Spirit co-testifies with us, we are co-heirs, we suffer together, and will share His glory.  Christ has pioneered it all.
ROMANS 8:15  you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."  16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.  18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Body growth.  Union with Christ by the Spirit leads us to the body of which He is head.  Absolutely.
EPHESIANS 4:15  speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.COLOSSIANS 2:17  the reality, however, is found in Christ.    19 from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Summary.  As well as becoming like Christ (Philippians 3:10) we now have more co- words to focus on.
9. Locked up as prisoners: Galatians 2:22, 23.
10. Generated with Him:  Romans 6:5.
11. The Spirit’s witness:  Romans 8:16.
12. Co-Heirs with Christ:  Romans 8:17, Ephesians 3:6.
13. Sharing His suffering: Romans 8:17.
14. Sharing His glory:  Romans 8:17.
15. Joined/fitted into the body whose Head is Christ:  Ephesians 2:21, 4:16.
16. Held together:  Ephesians 4:16, Colossians 2:2, 19.
17. Bound in (for growth):  Colossians 2:19.

Application.  The dynasty and destiny of Adam is ended, and humanity’s life-spring must become Christ.
* Describe your experience of being locked-up in the frustration of trying to live a good life outside of Christ.
* Have you fully discarded all the marks and influence of your first birth to start again and rise with Christ?
* Is some notional “relationship with Christ” salvation?  Or the gritty working out of loyalty in the Body’s life?

All quotations are from the New International Version