As I fiddled with the key of the padlock to my garden gate for the umpteenth time, I thought how much simpler life would be if I could just lift the latch and walk through. Voices from the past run through my head: "We never thought of locking even our front doors in the old days." But I take these precautions because this is a different day. I am aware of possible intruders close at hand. There are children around who would think nothing of barging through my front door uninvited if I left it unlocked and my attention was somewhere else.
It is the same with the telephone. More often than not, when it rings, my space is being invaded by some stranger trying to get me to sign up for something. I find myself picking up the receiver in a wary and apprehensive frame of mind.
Yet with this mindset there comes a sense of guilt. As a church pastor, am I not supposed to be open to all types of people? Folk expect hermits and oddballs to pull up the drawbridge when someone approaches, but surely not a minister of a church!
To quote the catchphrase from an outreach campaign in time past, "What would Jesus do?" He certainly gained a reputation for approaching social misfits whom others shied away from. Centuries-old taboos around lepers, non-Jews and tax-gatherers meant nothing to Him. He proclaimed salvation to those with whom nobody else would spend time.
Even for Him, though, there were limits. In Matthew 7:6 He advises, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."
The Son of Man who had "nowhere to lay His head" still felt the need to give Himself space, to put a distance between Himself and time-wasters. We are right to protect our own interests. Even so, we should be on the lookout for someone, at least, who is by-passed in society yet who can benefit from a kind deed or a thoughtful word from us as Christians.
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Monday, 31 October 2011
Out of context
I don't know about you, but until I get to know people well I only recognise them in places where I am used to seeing them. Sometimes a person appears in an unfamiliar context and is surprised when I don't greet him or her. "I'm really sorry," I explain with embarrassment, "but, seeing you out of context, I just didn't make the connection."
Today's entry in my favourite Our Daily Bread notes struck a chord. It is entitled "Surprise" and reminds us to be on the lookout for God at work when we least expect!
"A writer for The Washington Post conducted an experiment to test people’s perception. He asked a famous violinist to perform incognito at a train station in the nation’s capital one January morning. Thousands of people walked by as he played, but only a few stopped to listen. After 45 minutes, just $32 had been dropped into the virtuoso’s open violin case. Two days earlier, this man—Joshua Bell—had used the same $3.5 million Stradivarius for a sold-out concert where people paid $100 a seat to hear him perform.
"The idea of a person not being recognized for his greatness isn’t new. It happened to Jesus. “He was in the world,” John said, “. . . and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10). Why did people who had been expecting the Messiah give Jesus such a cold reception? One reason is that they were surprised. Just as people today don’t expect famous musicians to play in railway stations, the people in Jesus’ day didn’t expect Messiah to be born in a stable. They also expected Him to be a political king—not the head of a spiritual kingdom.
"The people in the first century were blinded to God’s purpose in sending Jesus to this world. He came to save people from their sins (John 1:29). Receive God’s surprising gift of salvation that He offers freely to you today.
"Amazing thought! that God in flesh
Would take my place and bear my sin;
That I, a guilty, death-doomed soul,
Eternal life might win! —Anon.
"God broke into human history to offer us the gift of eternal life."
Today's entry in my favourite Our Daily Bread notes struck a chord. It is entitled "Surprise" and reminds us to be on the lookout for God at work when we least expect!
"A writer for The Washington Post conducted an experiment to test people’s perception. He asked a famous violinist to perform incognito at a train station in the nation’s capital one January morning. Thousands of people walked by as he played, but only a few stopped to listen. After 45 minutes, just $32 had been dropped into the virtuoso’s open violin case. Two days earlier, this man—Joshua Bell—had used the same $3.5 million Stradivarius for a sold-out concert where people paid $100 a seat to hear him perform.
"The idea of a person not being recognized for his greatness isn’t new. It happened to Jesus. “He was in the world,” John said, “. . . and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10). Why did people who had been expecting the Messiah give Jesus such a cold reception? One reason is that they were surprised. Just as people today don’t expect famous musicians to play in railway stations, the people in Jesus’ day didn’t expect Messiah to be born in a stable. They also expected Him to be a political king—not the head of a spiritual kingdom.
"The people in the first century were blinded to God’s purpose in sending Jesus to this world. He came to save people from their sins (John 1:29). Receive God’s surprising gift of salvation that He offers freely to you today.
"Amazing thought! that God in flesh
Would take my place and bear my sin;
That I, a guilty, death-doomed soul,
Eternal life might win! —Anon.
"God broke into human history to offer us the gift of eternal life."
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Coincidences
Someone once said that there are no coincidences, only God-incidences. On one level, nothing indeed happens without God overseeing it. As an old children's hymn once put it,
He sees the meanest sparrow fall
unnoticed in the street.
Since He is God, He can also bring together two separate events to make a point. Sometimes the connection is totally obscure unless revealed by the Holy Spirit. I think of the strange linkage of Bible verses which pointed towards Judas returning the money the chief priests gave him for betraying Jesus:
"Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 'They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me'" (Matthew 27:9-10, NIV).
This is an amazing mix of two apparently tiny events that happened in Jeremiah 19 and Zechariah 11. Yet together they shone a spotlight on what Judas did hundreds of years later.
I have known people to look for divinely-ordered comings together of events at every turn of the road. It seems a very touching use of the eye of faith, but after a while it becomes tedious. You feel that God has better things to do than make us work out an inner meaning for everything that happens. But clearly He does at times bring events together to produce a strong and compelling message.
In Acts 10 a Roman centurion called Cornelius had a vision of an angel telling him to ask for a man called Peter to come to his house. The very next day Peter, too, saw a vision. In it he learned that, despite the religious taboos he had been brought up with, he must not call anything "unclean" once God had declared it clean. Non-Jews were thought to be unclean! So God paved the way for Peter to receive Cornelius' invitation and preach the gospel to him. This God-incidence was the start of the spread of Christianity throughout the world.
Just before Harvest Festival I had prepared a short talk on how unexpected things can be used as foods - including heather! How surprised I was to see heather in abundance in the church along with the harvest produce that morning. That coincidence was, I guess, the smile of God, and a great blessing at the time. Other coincidences may carry much more urgent and weighty messages from God to you and me.
He sees the meanest sparrow fall
unnoticed in the street.
Since He is God, He can also bring together two separate events to make a point. Sometimes the connection is totally obscure unless revealed by the Holy Spirit. I think of the strange linkage of Bible verses which pointed towards Judas returning the money the chief priests gave him for betraying Jesus:
"Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 'They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me'" (Matthew 27:9-10, NIV).
This is an amazing mix of two apparently tiny events that happened in Jeremiah 19 and Zechariah 11. Yet together they shone a spotlight on what Judas did hundreds of years later.
I have known people to look for divinely-ordered comings together of events at every turn of the road. It seems a very touching use of the eye of faith, but after a while it becomes tedious. You feel that God has better things to do than make us work out an inner meaning for everything that happens. But clearly He does at times bring events together to produce a strong and compelling message.
In Acts 10 a Roman centurion called Cornelius had a vision of an angel telling him to ask for a man called Peter to come to his house. The very next day Peter, too, saw a vision. In it he learned that, despite the religious taboos he had been brought up with, he must not call anything "unclean" once God had declared it clean. Non-Jews were thought to be unclean! So God paved the way for Peter to receive Cornelius' invitation and preach the gospel to him. This God-incidence was the start of the spread of Christianity throughout the world.
Just before Harvest Festival I had prepared a short talk on how unexpected things can be used as foods - including heather! How surprised I was to see heather in abundance in the church along with the harvest produce that morning. That coincidence was, I guess, the smile of God, and a great blessing at the time. Other coincidences may carry much more urgent and weighty messages from God to you and me.
Monday, 19 September 2011
Gospel in the Harvest
As Harvest Festival comes, my thoughts turn to the hymns that are traditionally used in churches at various times of the year. Harvest is one example. Christmas is another.
Sometimes these hymns have hardly anything that is Christian about them. A friend of mine takes a carefully chosen song book to Christmas carol events. If anyone requests “The holly and the ivy”, with its partly pagan and partly folk-religion content, he simply replies, “We can’t sing that – it’s not in the book!”
Festival hymns are not all like that. There are some good meaty Christmas hymns. “Hark! The herald angels sing” has sound scripture content. A real gospel hymn to sing at harvest time is “Come, ye thankful people, come”. The second verse takes us from harvest thanksgiving to the fact that the whole human race is meant to be a harvest for God: “All the world is God’s own field/fruit unto His praise to yield”. The rest of the hymn is inspired by Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30). The wheat and the weeds (weeds meaning unbelievers) cannot be separated while they are growing. But the decisive moment of the harvest arrives, and the wheat is stored and the weeds burned.
Some writers have heavily criticised this hymn. Erik Routley writes: “Can one sing so blithely about the fearful implications of the last judgement? Ought one to attempt to do so on a cheerful creaturely festival like Harvest or Thanksgiving?”
Surely we should welcome a hymn that brings this reality home. Harvest is a pivotal time. In olden days a good harvest meant full stomachs over the winter, while a bad one meant that the spectre of starvation haunted the home for months. The run-up to the harvest of the last judgment is equally a time of decision for humankind. Do I belong to Christ or don’t I? Will I see eternal gain or eternal loss? The hymn invites us to make up our minds in good time.
Sometimes these hymns have hardly anything that is Christian about them. A friend of mine takes a carefully chosen song book to Christmas carol events. If anyone requests “The holly and the ivy”, with its partly pagan and partly folk-religion content, he simply replies, “We can’t sing that – it’s not in the book!”
Festival hymns are not all like that. There are some good meaty Christmas hymns. “Hark! The herald angels sing” has sound scripture content. A real gospel hymn to sing at harvest time is “Come, ye thankful people, come”. The second verse takes us from harvest thanksgiving to the fact that the whole human race is meant to be a harvest for God: “All the world is God’s own field/fruit unto His praise to yield”. The rest of the hymn is inspired by Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30). The wheat and the weeds (weeds meaning unbelievers) cannot be separated while they are growing. But the decisive moment of the harvest arrives, and the wheat is stored and the weeds burned.
Some writers have heavily criticised this hymn. Erik Routley writes: “Can one sing so blithely about the fearful implications of the last judgement? Ought one to attempt to do so on a cheerful creaturely festival like Harvest or Thanksgiving?”
Surely we should welcome a hymn that brings this reality home. Harvest is a pivotal time. In olden days a good harvest meant full stomachs over the winter, while a bad one meant that the spectre of starvation haunted the home for months. The run-up to the harvest of the last judgment is equally a time of decision for humankind. Do I belong to Christ or don’t I? Will I see eternal gain or eternal loss? The hymn invites us to make up our minds in good time.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Half way
The walk from my home to church is a bit over a mile and takes me around 25 minutes. It cheers me along my way when I pass by landmarks I have picked out. I can then say that I have reached a certain point on my journey and have only so far to go.
About half way along the route I pass two churches. One, the local parish church, is on the right as I head for work and the other is just beyond it on the left. Once those are behind me, I feel encouraged that I am now on the home straight. However, another, darker thought comes into my mind. Often loyal church members in poorly supported churches will complain along these lines: "So-and-so passes by our church and two others to get to his place of worship further down the road!"
The implication is that you should support your local cause rather than travel long distances to attend one that suits your taste better. To some extent I sympathise with that view; in fact I've used the same argument myself in the past. On the other hand, everybody needs a good spiritual diet. A clearly Bible-based, Christ-centred church is more likely to offer this than one that isn't. Sadly a great many churches of all different types leave those who go to them poorly nourished.
Often the congregations just don't notice that they are not being well fed. They take it for granted that the diet they are offered is all there is. The writer of Hebrews warns his readers, "Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:12-14).
I'm making a general point, of course, and not saying anything against the two churches I pass on my journey to work! If you find yourself passing by a church regularly, it may be good to say hello and make yourself known, and even join in some activities from time to time if you can do so with a good conscience. Courtesy costs nothing and does no harm.
About half way along the route I pass two churches. One, the local parish church, is on the right as I head for work and the other is just beyond it on the left. Once those are behind me, I feel encouraged that I am now on the home straight. However, another, darker thought comes into my mind. Often loyal church members in poorly supported churches will complain along these lines: "So-and-so passes by our church and two others to get to his place of worship further down the road!"
The implication is that you should support your local cause rather than travel long distances to attend one that suits your taste better. To some extent I sympathise with that view; in fact I've used the same argument myself in the past. On the other hand, everybody needs a good spiritual diet. A clearly Bible-based, Christ-centred church is more likely to offer this than one that isn't. Sadly a great many churches of all different types leave those who go to them poorly nourished.
Often the congregations just don't notice that they are not being well fed. They take it for granted that the diet they are offered is all there is. The writer of Hebrews warns his readers, "Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:12-14).
I'm making a general point, of course, and not saying anything against the two churches I pass on my journey to work! If you find yourself passing by a church regularly, it may be good to say hello and make yourself known, and even join in some activities from time to time if you can do so with a good conscience. Courtesy costs nothing and does no harm.
Monday, 22 August 2011
Distorted values
After the recent riots a number of people amazingly sympathised with the rioters. They approved of the lawless element that had caused wanton destruction and misery to countless innocent victims. They seemed quite happy to stand in front of microphones, take the moral high ground and defend these outrageous acts. They appeared to have a distorted idea of what was right and what was wrong.
In the course of a ministry you meet many social misfits and hear their stories. If you check out the facts, these stories often turn out to be far from the truth. I hesitate to call it "lying" because often the misfit is simply totally confused. The boundaries between true and false, right and wrong, have become completely blurred. In his twisted mind, he may believe he is telling you the honest truth.
But the problem is not confined to those who are at the margins of society. I once had to bear the anger of a neighbouring couple, a respectable pair. They had done me a good turn. Somehow they believed that gave them the right to park their vehicle on my drive when my back was turned! Naturally I protested and asked for it to be removed. To my astonishment and frustration they took great offence.
The apostle Paul fearlessly exposes the process of untruth that sets in when humankind refuses to acknowledge God. "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. … therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts …" (Romans 1:21-24).
Keep close to God in Christ. This will help you see clearly how to distinguish between right and wrong.
In the course of a ministry you meet many social misfits and hear their stories. If you check out the facts, these stories often turn out to be far from the truth. I hesitate to call it "lying" because often the misfit is simply totally confused. The boundaries between true and false, right and wrong, have become completely blurred. In his twisted mind, he may believe he is telling you the honest truth.
But the problem is not confined to those who are at the margins of society. I once had to bear the anger of a neighbouring couple, a respectable pair. They had done me a good turn. Somehow they believed that gave them the right to park their vehicle on my drive when my back was turned! Naturally I protested and asked for it to be removed. To my astonishment and frustration they took great offence.
The apostle Paul fearlessly exposes the process of untruth that sets in when humankind refuses to acknowledge God. "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. … therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts …" (Romans 1:21-24).
Keep close to God in Christ. This will help you see clearly how to distinguish between right and wrong.
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Trivial?
As the rioting situation began to develop in the capital, I was attending a local neighbourhood forum here in Lancashire. The subjects under discussion were a world away from what was happening in Tottenham: traveller camps, flower displays, pharmacy opening hours and so on.
Many would feel exasperated by time spent on such issues at the moment. Words like "narrow" and "parochial" would be bandied about. Yet are we right to get hot under the collar when small matters arouse big passions?
I attended a training college where there was a huge range of views among the students. Often there were discussions and debates and strong disagreements. There was a tactic which students would often resort to in order to put each other down. They would complain, "Why waste time on that? It's not important. The church should spend its time dealing with much more pressing matters."
Of course, it was frustrating to have that said to you, because to your way of thinking the truth you held was important. The other person was putting you down, making you seem petty and foolish.
But should we really stop caring about getting small things right? To my mind it would be very worrying if every time someone had a local concern they were silenced. "Compared to the riots, your concern is nothing, and you should simply live with it."
No! Decent citizens should be given a respectful hearing when something local upsets them. Jesus listened patiently to a woman by a well while she mused about the differences between Jews and Samaritans about worship. Finally He used her concern to lead her to the important point: "True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).
We may well be in a fight to save this country from social breakdown and its streets and people from loss and destruction. But if that means that our eyes are taken off the local, day to day, quality of life issues that concern our citizens, the rioters will have won.
Many would feel exasperated by time spent on such issues at the moment. Words like "narrow" and "parochial" would be bandied about. Yet are we right to get hot under the collar when small matters arouse big passions?
I attended a training college where there was a huge range of views among the students. Often there were discussions and debates and strong disagreements. There was a tactic which students would often resort to in order to put each other down. They would complain, "Why waste time on that? It's not important. The church should spend its time dealing with much more pressing matters."
Of course, it was frustrating to have that said to you, because to your way of thinking the truth you held was important. The other person was putting you down, making you seem petty and foolish.
But should we really stop caring about getting small things right? To my mind it would be very worrying if every time someone had a local concern they were silenced. "Compared to the riots, your concern is nothing, and you should simply live with it."
No! Decent citizens should be given a respectful hearing when something local upsets them. Jesus listened patiently to a woman by a well while she mused about the differences between Jews and Samaritans about worship. Finally He used her concern to lead her to the important point: "True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).
We may well be in a fight to save this country from social breakdown and its streets and people from loss and destruction. But if that means that our eyes are taken off the local, day to day, quality of life issues that concern our citizens, the rioters will have won.
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