Here is the News......

‘Dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like there's nobody listening, and live like it's heaven on earth.’ (William W Purkey)

Do You Want To Be Beautiful This Christmas?

As we approach Christmas, I am hearing so many stories of schools, people and organisations that have banned the word Christmas! It is now holiday parties and holiday cards! Jesus is being officially removed from celebrations at Christmas time. Even churches and Christians seemed to be losing confidence in their Saviour. Some make him out to be little more than a loving person who shows us a good way to live. A sweet baby, meek and mild, who lived a long time ago but still inspires us be nicer to each other. If that is all Jesus is then I too want to take him out of Christmas,  because frankly the food and presents are a better deal!

But ‘Jesus is not just for Christmas - he is for life.’ He is not just for special dramatic or very difficult occasions or just for drug addicts. He came at Christmas for us all, to save us from eternal separation from God. Isaiah 61:10 says “For he has clothed me with garments of salvation” Now that’s the kind of beautiful clothes I want for Christmas - you don’t get that from 'holiday time'!

Are We Nearly There Yet?

While easy to make jokes of childhood impatience, perhaps – just perhaps – this impatience, or longing, for an anticipated event is one of the characteristics God values. As we enter the season of advent (from the Latin adventus meaning ‘coming’) whom of us is not touched by the raw excitement and barely contained anticipation of a child waiting for Christmas? If you are in any way like me, part of you would love to rewind the clock to feel that longing again.

And that is the very simple point of this meditation. Advent, and particularly the first week of advent, is about waiting and longing. Clearly, we are waiting to celebrate the 2000^th-odd anniversary of the birth of Jesus – even if our children are waiting for pretty lights, Father Christmas and presents. Both of these are good in themselves, but they should never be enough.

What is Mission?

In some cases the people have actually come from our own church – and are following a mission the Church is unable to undertake, either because it is far away, or very different from what we are able to do. Sometimes it is quite a while since the people we support were part of our church – but that doesn’t change the fact that they learnt to love Jesus more with us and are now giving themselves, and any potential high salary by working for Him in their fulltime capacities. We have the opportunity to be part of what they are doing by supporting them – isn’t that exciting?

We may also support missions that take on a specific role – like Wheels for the World, who provide wheelchairs to people who otherwise wouldn’t have one, and sometimes our own members get the chance to find out what it is like to be part of that, as Alexa and Stephanie Elstub have found out this year – isn’t that good too?

Remembrance

Born in the early fifties I was brought up with the greatest respect for our armed forces.  My father had served in the Second World War in the Navy on destroyers, including the Russian convoys, but would tell very little of his experiences, however as a family we would watch the Festival of Remembrance from the Albert Hall on television and we would attend the Royal Tournament, teaching the hard lesson of how our freedoms are defended. As Kipling wrote ‘All we have of freedom, all we use or know - This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.’ My contact with the services was confined to the Combined Cadet Force as a boy and subsequently as an Officer and this organisation proved significant in my son, Andrew’s, decision to join the Army. After University he attended Sandhurst and joined the Green Jackets (2 Rifles) and served in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. The Sandhurst motto is ‘Serve to Lead’ and this was the duty that Andrew felt called to fulfil; a number of his friends from Sandhurst were injured or killed doing the same. We were blessed that Andrew returned safely from each of his tours of duty.

The reality of active service reinforced recognition of the courage and dedication shown by those who serve and who are willing to lay down their lives in the service of freedom. Aaron Kilbourn wrote that ‘The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem’ and there is clearly a danger that nationalism becomes the justification or the argument of a ‘noble cause’. As Christians we recognise the existence of evil which threatens us all and the peaceful, free society we are trying to develop. However there is always a tension between our belief in peace and the need to counter the very real threat and we recognise that at times that evil must be forcibly opposed, a justification lying way beyond narrow nationalism.

The sacrifices made over the last century have made it (perhaps too) easy for Christians in Britain to worship without fear of persecution, but the price of that freedom is still being paid and always brings us back to the ultimate sacrifice made for us by Christ. Remembrance Day has an extra poignancy, ‘In a two-minute silence, like three hours on a cross’ (Paul du Plessis). Even if we have not experienced a direct loss, as the Christian family we need to remember what our blessings have cost others.

Take Off Your Shoes

When I was a child I used to love getting out of the house without wearing shoes, my mum would not normally notice until we were half way down the high street! I loved the freedom; shoes I felt were for the over cautious, for those who would not risk stubbing their toe.

It was only when Moses gave his full attention to the flames in the burning bush that he heard God’s voice.

You may like to read about Moses and the burning bush, you can find it in the book of Exodus chapter 3 v.1-14

Mountain Top Moments

Circumstances can be widely various. Perhaps the impact of an inspired speaker in the style of Dr. Billy Graham or other evangelists for example? An outstanding orchestral concert or corporate choral performance as in the case of the recent 50^th Birthday celebration of “Songs of Praise”? Maybe participation in the Parish Houseparty? Nearer home, a wedding or anniversary or the birth of the first born child? On a different plane, the impact of creation and peaceful solitude of the great outdoors offering time for retrospection and reflection on blessings enjoyed? Whatever the inspiration, lives are enriched in consequence – and remembered!

 

Prayer: Father, give me the desire to make the time to hear your voice, and see with your perspective. Amen

What will Heaven be like?

Recently, celebrating Harvest, we had a Thanksgiving Service in church. We sang the hymn with the line: “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above.” So if these gifts come to us from heaven then that is surely where they are to begin with. Heaven will include autumn flowers, apples and onions from our garden, tins of beans and packets of pasta. If we are lucky fresh bread and a bunch of grapes! Hopefully there will be spring flowers too and roses of course, and the odd bottle of wine, pint of beer and a gin and tonic. Fortunately the bible tells us that Jesus said “in my Father’s house there are many mansions”. So, with any luck, I will be able to be in a different room to the one where cigarettes are smoked and heavy metal music played! But you will be next door and I can enjoy your company when I choose!

On one of my trips to Africa I visited a refugee camp in Northern Uganda. They took us to see a young woman who had just given birth to her first child. She was alone in a small hut which was surrounded by many, many identical huts as far as I could see. We asked her where her family were. She told us her husband had gone to fetch water. We gave her water to drink from the bottle I always carried. The taps were several hundreds of yards away, as were the toilets. What was her idea of heaven I wonder?

Contentment

Would you like some apples? This is the question with which I have been badgering everyone who comes round at the moment. Yes – it’s autumn and our trees yet again have come up trumps and produced a wonderful crop of apples. We do feel truly blessed with our garden here in Ashtead. How wonderful to have so much free food - there are indeed benefits to putting up with the English rain!  

I wonder if you ever suffer from this attitude? I know my children do – one of the consequences of seeing adverts on TV.  And I suspect that we are a lot more susceptible to it than we realise. Do you ever find yourself suddenly not appreciating your UK holiday so much after you’ve heard about someone else’s wonderful holiday in some exotic location? Or were you perfectly happy with your wardrobe until you saw the new coat in the shop window? We are surrounded by consumerism encouraging us to think that we won’t be happy until we have the next new gadget, vehicle, item of clothing, beauty product or whatever. I suspect that none of us are immune and one of the curses of living in such a wonderfully privileged part of the world is that we quickly become discontented with the extraordinary blessings that we have.

Welcome!

Over the past year or so I have been regularly using a gym & swimming pool.   Something that at my age I had not expected to do. My son and daughter have frequently told me I ought to join a gym – but all those funny machines confused me, and I was not convinced it was for me at all – I thought only young people went to gyms!

The message in this? Well, I think the staff (and it is just staff at the gym) know they have a really good product, and want as many people as possible to belong and appreciate what they have there – and ok it keeps their jobs! On the other hand those of us that belong to a church know just how vital it is that people discover the key to Eternal Life – Jesus, and to remain in fellowship with others who know it too. Surely, what we have to offer is so ‘special’ that whether we are staff or members we can really welcome people, treat them as individuals – guide them through our ‘strange’ services, offer them Spiritual help and training on an individual basis – and keep on being friendly, regardless of what agegroup visitors are in or what race they might be.

God, what are these riots about?

 The riots in London and other parts of the country seem to have come from nowhere and have shocked us all. Our sophisticated wealthy society seems suddenly vulnerable to rapid breakdown. Something under the surface seems to require very little to turn our streets into something very ugly!

But where does God fit into this challenging situation? I am reminded of what Billy Graham's daughter said after 9-11 when she was asked, "How could God let something like this happen?" Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said: "I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out.”
Even in the UK, Christians seem happy to water down everything they once held dear to fit better into society and appear to be more loving and accepting. The riots are perhaps a window in the true heart of our country behind our wealth and sophistication. As we build a nation without God at its centre, will the real nature of our nation’s heart be exposed? On a local level rather than wrestle with the Bible we simply reject whole parts of it or core biblical concepts as unloving. We seem afraid that the content of the Bible will not fit or be unacceptable to modern society.

Perhaps it is time to get back to a Biblical truth and try to understand God’s ways rather than just reject them as unloving. Perhaps we should again wrestle with issues such as sin and judgement. Only honesty here will allow us to once again grasp the scale of our need for God and our need for rescue. Only when we see our own weakness and absolute need for God, do we begin to grasp the scale of the cross and the love of the man that hung on it. As our society rejects God the breakdown will increase, as will our need for God. Many times God let the Israelites choose their own path from Him while he waited with open arms for their return. God awaits our return today.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” 2 Timothy 4:3-4

Prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ forgive us that we have strayed so far from you in so many ways. Help us be bold and let you back into every part of our lives, our work and our homes. Help us not run from the difficult issues we find in the Bible and our relationships. Help our government and society to realise that nothing of value can be built without you.”

Wrestling with the truth

Do you believe in a personal, intimate God - a friend who wants to be known by us? Or do you believe in an awesome, mysterious God - a king who is above and beyond human reason or understanding?

I would like to be able to explain everything, to understand all things. But, increasingly, I have come to realise that being a Christian is not about searching for a true and consistent ‘theology of everything'. As Christians, we are called not to understand fully, but to follow; not to know the whole truth, but to trust in the One who is the way, the truth and the life. It's as simple and as complicated as that.

Perspectives

I often spend time in my beautiful ancestral home, -Swansea. The place I stay in is on the 9^th floor, with a commanding view of the bay, the marina, and the old docks on the east side of the town, where I was born. Looking from that high place, I take in that view which brings my childhood back into focus. I can see further from there, than I ever could from my bedroom window as a child.

• what have been  the important, big issues of the last year?
• how do they fit into the picture of my life so far, and into my future expectations?
• Am I trapped by circumstances, or could this be the time in my life for a radical change of direction, location, or attitude of mind?

            Holidays are also a time to pray for the minute details of situations that really matter: e.g. health, career, education and relationship challenges and choices that we, and those we love, have to make. They give us time to clear the mind during a long walk, or a quiet hour at sunset, or, (if that’s what helps you), a bungee jump!  Holidays are opportunities for our rest, relaxation and recreation, -re-creating the peace of mind and confidence we all need. Of course, they can be fraught, too, if we’re on holiday with 4 children, Granny and the dog! But even that sort of chaos brings its own opportunities for reflective learning.

Equpped for Service?

This is the blueprint for mission that motivates Mothers’ Union members to reach out to those around them, demonstrating Christian faith in action by the transformation of communities through the nurture of family in its many forms.

What is the model for this sort of working? Of course it is the 12 disciples that Jesus gathered and taught. It was from them that the Christian church spread. This group was a similar size to our House Groups.

Good Things Come in Threes!

As I write today I am full of the vision of change. That there is something new out there, something which we can only experience for ourselves. God is waiting for us – just there – just within reach and we only have to reach out and touch Him and now is the right time.

When the world was first formed and the first sunrise happened over the first horizon something truly new happened and not just on the earth but over the earth and under the sea.                                                                       

Our Father.....

For professing Christians, the all embracing prayer as taught by our Lord places “Our Father which art in Heaven”, often termed “The Family Prayer”, at the heart of our faith, our sense of belonging and  associated values including love, care, forgiveness, correction and constancy. With so much for which to be thankful, every day is or should for us be “Father’s Day” with  remembrance of our many blessings.

As an aside and back in the 1950’s a ‘Manchester Guardian’ article claimed that pressures of ‘breadwinning’ limited time spent by fathers with their sons for development of mutual understanding and appreciation the one of the other. The article prompted the idea of “Father & Son” camps with opportunity for close group living and shared activities. Take up of an advertisement was immediate, with the majority of the hundred or so applications coming from “Mum” who felt the experience was just what “Dad” and off-spring needed! Participants came from varied walks of life The initiative which continued for several years, was voted an outstanding experience by fathers who confided relief that their son/s appeared to be ‘normal’ and son/s admitted that “Dad” exhibited previously unrecognised talents!  The impact of Lakeland’s natural beauty and observances of corporate worship under-pinned the shared experience,

To a Mouse

“Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,

And on the day of Pentecost He comes: “Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm … Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages…” (Acts 2:2-4, NLT). No more cowering, no more timorousness – the mice are now fully men, and about 3,000 were baptised and added to the church that day.

Gardening in my Soul

I really enjoy working in the garden even though it can be hard work! I don’t mind digging out the weeds and I like to plant new vegetables and flowers each year. The soil is often hard after winter though and I have to dig deep and turn it, but if I keep on, it becomes softer and the next time I am out there, it’s a bit easier to get things done

For me it’s like our spiritual journey, if growth is to happen we need to do some preparation work. This can be a challenge and so often we say we don’t have time and would rather leave it. The spiritual garden though can then become overgrown and we become discouraged and drift. We can have questions, doubt ourselves too and have unspoken expectations about who we ought to be and who others think we are?

Yet, God asks us to be open and to receive, to dare to look at our spiritual lives as if they were a garden, to plan to dig, to nourish, to water, to feed and to have courage to lovingly deal with what we find? 

Can I invite us all be real, look at the inner garden of our lives and to walk or to sit quietly, asking ourselves:  

Where does the water flow freely?

Where are the signs of growth, birth, hope?

What is being raised to life in you?

God is with us, the rains will come and go and as we try, gently and simply to open ourselves up, we hold onto the hope that the digging will be fruitful and transforming

You might like to pray this prayer and then reflect on the Thomas Merton quote:

Father, give me courage to be open and to look at my spiritual life, help me to build on where I already am and to trust you for the way ahead, Amen

A quote to reflect on:

“Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat . . . Ask me what I am living for and what I think is keeping me from living it more fully"

                                                                                          Sharon Seal

Lean on Me

As I write I am about to go into hospital to have an operation on my foot – one that will mean I am confined to the house for anything up to a month! As an active person, who loves to be with other people this initially filled me with great trepidation. 

At base we all love our independence and autonomy. We like to feel that no-one else makes decisions for us, and that we are not reliant on other people. And yet....... I am pretty certain there is a real lesson to be learnt in this situation about real Christian living. The impression I get in the Bible is that independence and self-reliance are not key aspects of Christian character.

In fact, those that I know who are not very able and have to rely on others have the most remarkable Spiritual experiences. They have a real sense of God’s presence with them, and because they have to rely on others they have bee responsible for bringing many closer to Jesus.   When they are weak God is strong!

I hate Evangelism?!

I have become aware of some big mistakes I have made when thinking about sharing with others the life-changing relationship I have with Jesus the creator of the universe. Firstly I believed sharing Jesus with others was An Activity. Something to put on my To Do list, which I could tick off when done - or not as the case often was, leaving me feeling guilty. My understanding was that I had to go and Do Evangelism, go and tell someone about Jesus.

But Jesus said “I am the WAY.” In other words evangelism is more about following Jesus in every aspect of my daily life. As I started to let Jesus be the way, I started having encounters with people with Jesus. People started asking about Jesus or opportunities were made for me to tell my story or ask, “where they were with God.” My life became a place where people encountered Jesus not something I went out and did. As I followed Jesus he became the way I shared Him in my everyday life rather than through contrived or created encounters.

Secondly I believed there was a gospel message and my job was to get people to believe ‘the message.’ Of course there is a message of truth but Jesus said, “I am the TRUTH” In practice I have learnt it is not about trying to persuade people to believe a message but inviting them to meet Jesus - who is the truth. Christianity is not about a truth that needs to be believed as much as a person who needs to be met. I have persuaded several people to buy iPhones because I have found them to be such a good product. Jesus is not simply a good product but the Saviour of the universe a truth revealed only by God himself. It is the God-given faith in Jesus that reveals Jesus, who is the truth. We can only introduce people to our Saviour, not argue a good case for him. If we have a really good friend it becomes natural in the everyday to share Jesus with them, whether at home or work.