During the Middle Ages, a German troubadour finally found a wealthy patron to give him a steady income after waiting in vain for possible sponsors. He wrote a poem in celebration. The first line, roughly translated, went:
"Someone's hired me at last, O all the world, someone's hired me at last!"
It wasn't a very poetic thing for a poet to write. It isn't a very spiritual thing for a pastor to say. Yet it expresses the sense of joy and relief that the waiting is over. A week ago today, Bethany Evangelical Church in Leigh, Greater Manchester, found reasons to take me on as pastor where others had found reasons to brush me aside. Many would expect my response to be a solemn religious phrase like "I accept the call". Yet all I can say is how thrilled I am at seeing God's sheer grace at work!
Soon, God willing, I will have a new status. I shall need to alter my details on this blog. No longer shall I be "freelance", but a serving pastor in an actual church setting. My address, my employment position and much else besides will be different.
It remains to be seen whether the experiences of recent months and years will cause me to approach the work differently from the way I did it in the past. Every true pastor, indeed every genuine Christian, hopes to learn and grow. We are the sum total of our past experiences but are also affected by the brand new things that God is doing in and through us. The voice from God's throne declares, "Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5 ESV). May new things rejoice the heart of the church where I am appointed, too.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Friday, 25 March 2011
Right on cue
In idle moments I spend time admiring the way a computer can predict the rising and setting of sun, moon and planets. I have several programs which perform this feat. You simply tell the program where you are in the world and ask it when and where the sun will set at your location. It gives a time of day and a point on the compass. Lo and behold, the sun sets - at the right place and right on cue. What a well-ordered solar system we live in!
You can also make the program predict events in the skies hundreds of years in the future, or back-track to the past. The writers warn you that, the further away you get in time, the less accurate the program will be, since things happen which change the maths. A huge earthquake such as the recent one in Japan, or a massive volcanic eruption, can slow the earth's spin by a fraction of a second. This can put the calculations out considerably over the course of time.
With all man's cleverness, he cannot predict or control the unexpected. It is time to admit our limits. God challenged Job in ancient times about the starry heavens:
"Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (Job 38:31-33 NIV)
The most we can do is to think God's thoughts after Him. After all, who could ever predict that He would send His own Son, His very self, to die for sins that we had done and rise again to give us life?
You can also make the program predict events in the skies hundreds of years in the future, or back-track to the past. The writers warn you that, the further away you get in time, the less accurate the program will be, since things happen which change the maths. A huge earthquake such as the recent one in Japan, or a massive volcanic eruption, can slow the earth's spin by a fraction of a second. This can put the calculations out considerably over the course of time.
With all man's cleverness, he cannot predict or control the unexpected. It is time to admit our limits. God challenged Job in ancient times about the starry heavens:
"Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (Job 38:31-33 NIV)
The most we can do is to think God's thoughts after Him. After all, who could ever predict that He would send His own Son, His very self, to die for sins that we had done and rise again to give us life?
Friday, 11 March 2011
Goodbyes
This morning an experience came upon me suddenly and found me little prepared: the first of what will doubtless be many goodbyes. I visited my dentist and realised that by the time of my next routine appointment I shall almost certainly not be in this area any more. (My immediate destination is not yet clear.)
Kind words and good wishes were exchanged and I left the surgery with an emotional pang. Sure, I am as keen as mustard to move on to new beginnings. Yet it still comes hard when you put a distance between yourself and folks who have proved friendly, encouraging, supportive.
One benefit of living with a family is that you can go home and tell someone straight away how you are feeling. My kind host remarked helpfully, "You may have said 'goodbye' to some people, but soon you will be saying 'hello' to others." He talked about a country he knows well where there is a strong tradition of hospitality and guests are always well looked after. When it is time to go, the custom is that you say your farewells and depart without a backward glance. There is always some new household somewhere that will soon give you the same generous welcome.
How touched I was! This reminds me of Jesus' teaching about the preparations going on in heaven to say "hello" to us.
"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2-3 NIV). The last and perhaps most difficult farewell is when we say goodbye to this life. But for those who trust in Jesus and whose real home is heaven, there are preparations already going on and people gathering, just waiting to say "hello".
Kind words and good wishes were exchanged and I left the surgery with an emotional pang. Sure, I am as keen as mustard to move on to new beginnings. Yet it still comes hard when you put a distance between yourself and folks who have proved friendly, encouraging, supportive.
One benefit of living with a family is that you can go home and tell someone straight away how you are feeling. My kind host remarked helpfully, "You may have said 'goodbye' to some people, but soon you will be saying 'hello' to others." He talked about a country he knows well where there is a strong tradition of hospitality and guests are always well looked after. When it is time to go, the custom is that you say your farewells and depart without a backward glance. There is always some new household somewhere that will soon give you the same generous welcome.
How touched I was! This reminds me of Jesus' teaching about the preparations going on in heaven to say "hello" to us.
"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2-3 NIV). The last and perhaps most difficult farewell is when we say goodbye to this life. But for those who trust in Jesus and whose real home is heaven, there are preparations already going on and people gathering, just waiting to say "hello".
Friday, 25 February 2011
Time
As someone busy about God's work I have often become impatient with delays and hold-ups of various kinds. "Here I am in God's service," I have thought. "The King's business requires haste, and this trivial problem is holding me up!"
Often this is the lower nature getting the better of me. It is all too easy to think the world should stop for me when I am on pastoral duties, especially when I am behind schedule.
Recently I have caught myself becoming impatient even when at a loose end, when there is nothing to rush for. Something has delayed me and I have become really cross. Then I ask myself, "This rush of emotional energy is completely pointless! I have no deadlines to meet today!"
God's work is urgent, of course. Jesus taught His disciples that there were only so many hours in the day, and He and they must keep working while daylight lasted (John 9:4). It grieves me to see many churches and church leaders self-indulgent in the extreme and lacking in urgency. Yet we look for a day when the march of time will no longer be allowed to dictate our lives:
Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.
- Frances Ridley Havergal
Often this is the lower nature getting the better of me. It is all too easy to think the world should stop for me when I am on pastoral duties, especially when I am behind schedule.
Recently I have caught myself becoming impatient even when at a loose end, when there is nothing to rush for. Something has delayed me and I have become really cross. Then I ask myself, "This rush of emotional energy is completely pointless! I have no deadlines to meet today!"
God's work is urgent, of course. Jesus taught His disciples that there were only so many hours in the day, and He and they must keep working while daylight lasted (John 9:4). It grieves me to see many churches and church leaders self-indulgent in the extreme and lacking in urgency. Yet we look for a day when the march of time will no longer be allowed to dictate our lives:
Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.
- Frances Ridley Havergal
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Choices revisited
Back in October last year I reflected on choices. Since then one door slammed firmly shut in my search for a pastorate, but I again find myself with two churches in different parts of the country seriously considering me.
Circumstances outside my control may again narrow the choice down at any time. But the present happy position leads me to reflect once more on the Christian view of choice.
In the affluent West we are spoiled for choice. The supermarkets are brim full of options. For almost every commodity there are at least two alternatives. People have become used to picking and mixing, even demanding it as a right. It gives them a glowing feeling of being in control.
Towards the end of his career as leader of Israel, Joshua challenged the Israelites, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve". He mentioned a selection of alternative gods, but in reality the choice was simple: Jehovah, God of Israel, or the rest. To choose Jehovah God was to choose service with dignity. To choose any other god was to opt for slavery. The choice for the Christian is: do as you like, and suffer spiritually as a result, or serve the interests of the living God and grow tall.
It is possible to make a genuine mistake in choosing between two alternatives. I guess I've done that many times in the past. However, as a friend said, "God does not punish anyone for making a mistake". Please pray with me that God will make the way ahead crystal clear. That way I can serve Him confidently for the rest of my working life, in thankfulness for all that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, did for me.
Circumstances outside my control may again narrow the choice down at any time. But the present happy position leads me to reflect once more on the Christian view of choice.
In the affluent West we are spoiled for choice. The supermarkets are brim full of options. For almost every commodity there are at least two alternatives. People have become used to picking and mixing, even demanding it as a right. It gives them a glowing feeling of being in control.
Towards the end of his career as leader of Israel, Joshua challenged the Israelites, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve". He mentioned a selection of alternative gods, but in reality the choice was simple: Jehovah, God of Israel, or the rest. To choose Jehovah God was to choose service with dignity. To choose any other god was to opt for slavery. The choice for the Christian is: do as you like, and suffer spiritually as a result, or serve the interests of the living God and grow tall.
It is possible to make a genuine mistake in choosing between two alternatives. I guess I've done that many times in the past. However, as a friend said, "God does not punish anyone for making a mistake". Please pray with me that God will make the way ahead crystal clear. That way I can serve Him confidently for the rest of my working life, in thankfulness for all that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, did for me.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Focus
When little is happening in your life some days, it is important to have a focus for each day. Otherwise a sense of drift and aimlessness takes over.
Your quiet time with God is a key element in that focus: Bible reading and prayer. All sorts of thoughts may have been floating around in your head, some of them having little to do with reality. The Bible deals with real life and helps bring you back - I nearly said "back down to earth", but that's only part of it: it brings you back "up to heaven" as well! Having read the Bible passages, you can turn to God in prayer in a "real" frame of mind.
I love the importance prayer times had for Daniel of old, when he was under pressure from envious colleagues who wanted to get rid of him. A decree had gone out that no prayer was to be offered except to the king for thirty days - unacceptable to Daniel. We are told that Daniel simply and deliberately opened an upstairs window facing towards Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt down and prayed. What a wonderful habit of life to have when he could have spent his days frantic with despair! What a great focus those prayer times must have been each day! In his prayers he gave thanks to his God, which shows us that it wasn't just an exercise for his own benefit, to calm him down. We read the Bible and pray because God means us to.
Believe it or not, even Jesus needed to pray. It was a focus for His day too.
On the lone mountain side,
before the morning's light,
the Man of Sorrows wept and cried,
and rose refreshed with might.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Your quiet time with God is a key element in that focus: Bible reading and prayer. All sorts of thoughts may have been floating around in your head, some of them having little to do with reality. The Bible deals with real life and helps bring you back - I nearly said "back down to earth", but that's only part of it: it brings you back "up to heaven" as well! Having read the Bible passages, you can turn to God in prayer in a "real" frame of mind.
I love the importance prayer times had for Daniel of old, when he was under pressure from envious colleagues who wanted to get rid of him. A decree had gone out that no prayer was to be offered except to the king for thirty days - unacceptable to Daniel. We are told that Daniel simply and deliberately opened an upstairs window facing towards Jerusalem, and three times a day he knelt down and prayed. What a wonderful habit of life to have when he could have spent his days frantic with despair! What a great focus those prayer times must have been each day! In his prayers he gave thanks to his God, which shows us that it wasn't just an exercise for his own benefit, to calm him down. We read the Bible and pray because God means us to.
Believe it or not, even Jesus needed to pray. It was a focus for His day too.
On the lone mountain side,
before the morning's light,
the Man of Sorrows wept and cried,
and rose refreshed with might.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Monday, 17 January 2011
Headlights
My way ahead is as yet unclear, and I need the Psalm-writer's words in Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path".
I have been following Our Daily Bread daily Bible notes (produced by Radio Bible Class) for many years. Often the writer has put in something which I needed that day.
Today's offering came from Joe Stowell: "God usually doesn’t show us where He is taking us. He just asks us to trust Him. It’s like driving a car at night. Our headlights never shine all the way to our destination; they illuminate only about 160 feet ahead. But that doesn’t deter us from moving forward. We trust our headlights. All we really need is enough light to keep moving forward. God’s Word is like headlights in dark times."
160 feet is next to nothing in a car travelling at any speed. Yet, 160 feet at a time, I can keep going. I have as much light as I need until the future becomes plainer.
Meanwhile small delights are indicators, however tiny, of a providing God. I was out walking and hoping to see an historical feature in the landscape. Given my lack of skill with map reading and interpretation, I was almost guaranteed to miss it. Yet I met a lady walking her dog who knew the feature and could describe every bend in the road leading up to it. Happily I went straight to it. A mere nothing, you might say, but to me at this time everything that goes right is a boost.
I have been following Our Daily Bread daily Bible notes (produced by Radio Bible Class) for many years. Often the writer has put in something which I needed that day.
Today's offering came from Joe Stowell: "God usually doesn’t show us where He is taking us. He just asks us to trust Him. It’s like driving a car at night. Our headlights never shine all the way to our destination; they illuminate only about 160 feet ahead. But that doesn’t deter us from moving forward. We trust our headlights. All we really need is enough light to keep moving forward. God’s Word is like headlights in dark times."
160 feet is next to nothing in a car travelling at any speed. Yet, 160 feet at a time, I can keep going. I have as much light as I need until the future becomes plainer.
Meanwhile small delights are indicators, however tiny, of a providing God. I was out walking and hoping to see an historical feature in the landscape. Given my lack of skill with map reading and interpretation, I was almost guaranteed to miss it. Yet I met a lady walking her dog who knew the feature and could describe every bend in the road leading up to it. Happily I went straight to it. A mere nothing, you might say, but to me at this time everything that goes right is a boost.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)