tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29956876805023195852024-03-13T12:34:56.466+00:00Welcome to mikes4teaLets talk about things over a cup of tea and see if we can make sense of it allMike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.comBlogger381125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-39523269619558973272022-07-18T13:35:00.002+00:002022-07-18T13:35:38.797+00:00I Don't Usually Get Angry at Advertisements<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGYFJ6T-v_iA9wb3ypXZUFItBTOBccyzUxj6dw11WXwMEqFHNkZIKpA_ParrIdnAH2DU1ZfzWF4tXT4Cz_CYJ25acGDctXfC8RiMV_J9KComWbvYj5BUypB0JxL68quKpm-4UQzLlPunL8DQ63MfSXOOsgkRLI1VKjrsEjninKtQGeOb9GepVoTEiaEA/s595/4%20Reachout%20Trust%20Convention%2016-18%20Sept.2022%20(148%20%C3%97%20210%20mm)%20(1)_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="419" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGYFJ6T-v_iA9wb3ypXZUFItBTOBccyzUxj6dw11WXwMEqFHNkZIKpA_ParrIdnAH2DU1ZfzWF4tXT4Cz_CYJ25acGDctXfC8RiMV_J9KComWbvYj5BUypB0JxL68quKpm-4UQzLlPunL8DQ63MfSXOOsgkRLI1VKjrsEjninKtQGeOb9GepVoTEiaEA/w281-h400/4%20Reachout%20Trust%20Convention%2016-18%20Sept.2022%20(148%20%C3%97%20210%20mm)%20(1)_001.png" width="281" /></a></span></div><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">
I have been trying advertising on social media and it is an
interesting exercise. It is an advert for a Christian conference
about cults and new religious movements in September. You can <a href="https://guestli.st/712047" target="_blank">find out more here</a> if you're really interested. Someone
helpfully pointed out I might like to think about my strategy given
the hostile emojis and unhelpful comments I have received.</span><p></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Of course,
I rely on Facebook to choose my audience according to the declared
purpose of my page and its regular content. Perhaps they're not doing
such a good job, maybe there is something I can do to manage that,
but...</span></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's a Christian ministry page and my personal FB account
carries a fair amount of Christian/religious content, as you might
imagine. That being the case, I get all kinds of 'suggested' post,
emails to my ministry email account, things I regard as not
interesting, or not 'appropriate.' From ads for success-building
advertising funnels to invitations to New Age conferences, past
regression therapy, even a ride on a spaceship to meet my forefathers
from another galaxy.</span></p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I pass
on without comment, I delete as I see necessary. I don't throw a
hissyfit, or hurl insults at those people posting, because I don't usually get angry at an advertisement. When I get leaflets, adverts, menus,
etc. through my door they all go in the recycling. I don't call up
every organisation and complain, 'What are these leaflets doing
coming through my door?! I am offended! Where is my safe space?'</span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">
It
seems, however, there is a population on social media that is
determined to take offence where none is offered, and I find that
curiously interesting.</span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">
Is this a mental health problem? Have we
raised a whole generation convinced they have a right to not be
offended, to not see or hear anything that might bruise their tender
little hearts? Is the current generation imprisoned in a continuous
state of peripubescence, of teen angst, capable of expressing itself
only in terms of shallow petulance, and spite?</span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Is this a
specific expression of neo-atheism? I know Richard Dawkins has, for
many years, encouraged his acolytes to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-dawkins-atheist-academic-calls-for-religion-to-be-offended-at-every-opportunity-a7043226.html">mock
religion</a> at every opportunity. Can we do anything to help these
poor people who seem incapable of seeing something they don't like,
are not interested in engaging, and just walking on?</span></p><p align="left" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I can't
help but think about the sleepless nights they must endure as they
turn over in their minds 'what has offended me today?' Indeed, it
seems amazing to me they manage to fulfil their work and family
commitments given their demanding commitment to complaining. Do they
laugh as they point mockingly at someone on the street that has
caught their attention?</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Are there regular,
real world gatherings outside the homes and businesses of folk
unfortunate enough to unwittingly look, think, or speak in a way that
has offended the mob? Or is that too much reality for them?</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Actually, this
behaviour has spilled over into the real world. From Christian bakers
to street preachers, from those holding traditional family values to
those regarding human life as sacred, from farmers and their
traditional practices to meat eaters and their personal tastes, all
have provoked the ire of the determinedly offended, always ready to
put the rest of us right. How did we ever manage to live before they
came along?</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">What is social media
making of us? It has brought together people who would otherwise have
never known each other, who have gone on to create a complaining
critical mass of the traditionally isolated, historically localised,
Marxist ‘we know best’ brigade.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It’s a jungle out
there, predation the every day experience of anyone with a faith, an
opinion, strong convictions, or a ham sandwich. Time was you simply
walked away and got on with things. We have to find a new way of
dealing with the know-it-alls in this wacky new world where your next
word or thought might find you socially mugged.</span></p>
<h3 align="center" class="western"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The mob is the mother of tyrants -
Diogenes</span></h3>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-41324934205685694052022-07-15T11:21:00.001+00:002022-07-15T11:21:53.095+00:00Where is Your God?<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yrmoLD4O4MdqP4s2XwLpw1rIr28tpxGVIyMEhZgubiY2gu4NvKDVsjbkaTlN6ngKJcSQvnkb2qJBt2sNuQp8Pl7ZYulcao_fQbsNfSI4IBvTIzY1r1A2cGyGDlTxWG7_MwtA4SWeRYC3WdzfRLCy2M1NwJGfw_n4u0LUXgKHBk6_N4nEAXlxt5eWgQ/s1920/Kneeling-at-the-cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1920" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yrmoLD4O4MdqP4s2XwLpw1rIr28tpxGVIyMEhZgubiY2gu4NvKDVsjbkaTlN6ngKJcSQvnkb2qJBt2sNuQp8Pl7ZYulcao_fQbsNfSI4IBvTIzY1r1A2cGyGDlTxWG7_MwtA4SWeRYC3WdzfRLCy2M1NwJGfw_n4u0LUXgKHBk6_N4nEAXlxt5eWgQ/s320/Kneeling-at-the-cross.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">William Wordsworth
wrote:</span></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The
world is too much with us; late and soon,</span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Getting
and spending, we lay waste our powers;—</span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Little
we see in Nature that is ours;</span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">We
have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!</span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Wordsworth
is lamenting the fast withering connection between people and nature
because of the all-embracing industrial society of his time, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">a
great theme of his day</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
I find people are </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">often</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
aware they are somehow disconnected from something bigger than
themselves. I sense their longing for they don’t know what, their
frustration at an inexplicable sense of </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">fragmentation</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Believers
can experience this frustration, when </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">‘the
world is too much with us, </span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">late
and soon, </span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">getting
and spending.’</span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">T</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">hat
sense we have laid waste our powers, given our hearts away </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">while
distracted by the demands of life</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Like Esau, we can feel we have traded our new-birth-right </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">‘for
a mess of pottage.’</span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Genesis 25:29-33</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">‘The
world is too much with us, late and soon,’</span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
and l</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ittle
we see in </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">spiritual
things that should be ours but are not.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As
I read psalm 42 last evening I discovered </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David
experienced this longing for connection, as he </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">found</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
himself far from Jerusalem </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in,
‘</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
land of Jordan and Hermon, from Mount Mizar,’</span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Psalm 42:6. Although he knows God is never far from him, David feels
physically far from God </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(42:9)</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
the world is too much with him, and it taunts him, </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">‘where
is your God?’ </span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So
David cries:</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal;">‘<span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">As
the deer pants for flowing streams,</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">so
pants my soul for you, O God.</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My
soul thirsts for God,</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">for
the living God.</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When
will I come and appear before God?</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My
tears have been my food</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">day
and night</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">while
they say to me all the day long,</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal;">‘<span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Where
is your God?’’</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Psalms
42 and 43 stand together as one song and are a great comfort to those
who feel as David did, surrounded by, </span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">‘ungodly
people...unjust man.’</span></span></span></i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(43:1) </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
f</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">i</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd
myself in this psalm as David crie</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">s</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
</span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">‘Why
are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?’</span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Da</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">v</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">id</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
prays fervently for vindication and deliverance (43:1) for leading
and guidance (43:3). In all this David is </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">open
and </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">honest
with his God, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">sharing
his thoughts, speaking of his sense of abandonment (42:8,9)</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">At
the same time he is determined to prove faithful to his God. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David
answers his own plight with two comforting words of enco</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">u</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ragement.
In the first he remembers those days </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">when
he was in communion with God and his people:</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal;">‘<span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">These
things I remember,</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">as
I pour out my soul:</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How
I would go with the throng</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
I lead them in procession to the house of God</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">with
glad shouts and songs of praise;</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">a
multitude keeping a festival.’</span></span></span></i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
(42:4)</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Remembering
is a gift and a comfort to the saints. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
those times when I feel the world is too much with me I go to his
Word, remind myself of his mercies, and recall those countless times
of blessing in fellowship. God has been good to </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">this
man</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
and I remember his goodness.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David’s
second word is encouragement to </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">hope
in God. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Our
present circumstances do not, finally, determine our future, or our
eternal place among the saints of God. We have every reason to hope
in him, to praise him. He is our salvation, our God. When the world
is too much with us, late and soon, we may encourage ourselves with
David’s encouragement:</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal;">‘</span></span></span><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Why
are you cast down, O my soul,</span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
why are you in turmoil within me?</span></span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">H</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ope
in God; for I shall praise him,</span></span></span></i></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">my
salvation, and my God.’ </span></span></span></i><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(4</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">3</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">:5)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-18044453507393992702022-07-14T12:13:00.000+00:002022-07-14T12:13:23.482+00:00My God is Enough<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuVWVDE0gPaMQavG7j-Vo5wBFbyAPLdooW5PLUk3huL9clpOnZcr0J7L32toAOEnNjpZhsrHMlAoItkX6yKIxJsWA_lZRauK-3G8hJarfPMJglGzBoKBN78sJ8s5oqmxJFtz3huwgydOyKF7C55Z7g4aP88lZvQURm6xgengx_vAaN9PbAjMV6RNtIw/s1080/psalm-161-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuVWVDE0gPaMQavG7j-Vo5wBFbyAPLdooW5PLUk3huL9clpOnZcr0J7L32toAOEnNjpZhsrHMlAoItkX6yKIxJsWA_lZRauK-3G8hJarfPMJglGzBoKBN78sJ8s5oqmxJFtz3huwgydOyKF7C55Z7g4aP88lZvQURm6xgengx_vAaN9PbAjMV6RNtIw/s320/psalm-161-2.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">This
morning I walked the dog, spoke to a few neighbours, and tidied up a
little more of my study, a task that seems to have no end. I still
seem to be caught up with the idea I am not enough and somehow can’t
get away from it. So, I am reflecting on a prayer of David I read
last night and asking myself how thankful I am, and ow to be as
thankful as David.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">He
is at the end of his life, there are rivals for his throne staking
their claim, enemies at court that his son Solomon wisely gets rid of
later, and he speaks to his assembled officials. David has dedicated
a fortune in gold, silver, bronze, and other materials for the temple
Solomon would build and invited Israel’s leaders to make a similar
freewill offering to the project. There is a lot going on for a man
on his deathbed. Then he prays:</span></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a name="en-ESV-11176"></a>
“<i><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Blessed
are you, O </span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O </span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the
majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, O </span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lord</span></span></span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
and you are exalted as head above all.</span></span><span><b>
</b></span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Both
riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand
are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give
strength to all.</span></span><span><b>
</b></span><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.</span></span></i></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: white;"><a name="en-ESV-11179"></a><a name="en-ESV-11180"></a><a name="en-ESV-11182"></a>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;">“<span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer
willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we
given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our
fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is
no abiding.</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><b>
</b></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">O
</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lord
</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">our
God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a
house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. I
know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in
uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all
these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here,
offering freely and joyously to you. </span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">O
</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lord</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such
purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their
hearts toward you.</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><b>
</b></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Grant
to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments,
your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may
build the palace for which I have made provision.”</span></i></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">1
Chronicles 29:10-20</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Who
am I? What a great question! David was the greatest king in Israel’s
history, achieving so much despite his failings (did he ever feel he
wasn’t enough?), despite setbacks (did he ever think this was all
too much for a shepherd boy?). What kept him going in spite of
everything? He knew God, and he knew who he was before a holy God.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a name="en-ESV-111791"></a>
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;">“<span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Who
am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer
willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we
given you.’</span></i></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 150%; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Who
am I? I am a man who knows God and my God is enough.</span></span></span></span></span></p>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-40807307635695479602020-03-26T21:15:00.001+00:002020-03-26T22:56:11.424+00:00When This is Over…<br />
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</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When
This is Over…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">How
are things with you these days? I imagine there have been significant
changes to your normal routine. Confinement has seen me running out
of excuses and actually tacking the mess I laughingly call my study.
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">(Starting to tackle)</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">My
local shop is allowing just two customers in at any one time. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">He
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">has </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">considerately</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
marked out the floor into metre squares in black and yellow tape.
Shopping is now a dance c</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">lass,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
but we are all grateful. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">I
like chunky rolled oats for my porridge and it is not easy to come by
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">these days.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">B</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">ut
my local shopkeeper, who doesn’t usually carry them, found a box
for me</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">and
made a friend for life.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">I
n</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">eeded</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
to visit the chemist </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">i</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">n
the city centre and the roads and p</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">avements</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
were quieter than a wet Sunday in N</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">ovember</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">.
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">I knew the police were
stopping drivers to ask if they have a legitimate reason to be out. I
did, but I still felt somehow guilty, waiting for that tap on the
shoulder. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">We had to go to the
hospital and that journey has never been so quick and trouble free.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When
I walk my dog the streets are eerily quiet. </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
am reminded of the 1959 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/">On
The Beach</a>, an end of the world following </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">n</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">uclear
war story by Nevil Shute.</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Streets
become increasingly bar</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">e</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
and empty, ordinary life breaks down as the radiation poison spreads.
</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
only person left in the world in the end is the cameraman. Funny
that.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">O</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">f
course, this isn’t the end of the world. We will get through this,
though at unimaginable cost in lives, livelihoods, mental, emotional,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">and economic damage. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">As
we become accustomed to this new reality, </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">people
will surely find themselves making ‘when this is over’ promises
to themselves. When this is over I’m going </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">to
stop making excuses and...</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">chase
that job...</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Take
that trip…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">End
that relationship…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mend
that relationship…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Finally
propose…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Start
my business…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hold
my family that much closer...</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Fill
in your own ‘when this is over’ promise…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">However,
when </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">this </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">is
over some of us won’t be here, and not just because of Covid-19.
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Notwithstanding the virus t</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">he
mortality rate is still 100% - that’s life. We are all staring into
eternity. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">F</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">or
some it is more immediate than for others, but it is a reality for
all. One thing I have learned is you can’t negotiate with eternity.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Can
I suggest, therefore, instead of making ‘when this is over’
resolutions, those who can might </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">t</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">ake
‘by the time this is over’ </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">actions</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">.
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">If eternal questions are on
your mind there are plenty of good resources available. f you know a
Christian I am sure they can recommend some. I am a Christian by the
way </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">and I welcome questions,
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">but it doesn’t have to be
me.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Many
are already complaining about how restrictive and boring this
enforced isolation is. It looks like life isn’t going to get back
to normal (whatever your normal is) for some time to come. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">I
am currently inundate</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">d</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
with offers of free to download books about all sorts of subjects,
short courses that are normally p</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">aid</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
for are, for a limited time, being offered in exchange for simply
signing up to a list. Perhaps, like me, you have some sorting out to
do. Why not us</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">e</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
the time wisely and with purpose. By the time this is over I will
have…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Learned
a language…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Called
an old friend…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sorted
my shed…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Planted
a border…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Started
a blog…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Started
a website…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Learned
the piano…</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Talked
to someone about God...</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Become
expert at something…at least good enough to hold my own in the
black chair.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Apart
from tidying my study, I am learning a new note-taking system. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">I
hope, by the time this is over, I will have mastered a system of
note-taking that makes me more efficient in my writing, and have a
better ordered study in which to write (if you’re the gambling type
I’d put money on the first...ahem)</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">O</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">f
course, when this is over I will hold my family closer and I am sure
you will yours. When this is over I will want to make changes, moved
perhaps by these times, resolved maybe by the reassessment that is
common to many of us in these days, to make a greater difference in
my little part of the world. But...</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What
will you have done by the time this is over?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Stay safe</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-87582563330656485012018-03-06T19:18:00.001+00:002018-03-06T20:18:43.256+00:00The Child in us All<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-377oBuKZSzA/Wp7pnfPQ6jI/AAAAAAAAOI8/Ngn5LbF8Z-gLBppEADE0CS6l2Ws5Zw6AgCHMYCw/s1600-h/The%2BThree%2BMusketeers%2BLOTSW%255B3%255D"><img width="268" height="180" title="The Three Musketeers LOTSW" align="right" style="float: right; display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="The Three Musketeers LOTSW" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uR7B8Ur0mtI/Wp7poSMY4nI/AAAAAAAAOJA/UcMDAv1YPJsArdksCUBBCuFs0VDugxy7wCHMYCw/The%2BThree%2BMusketeers%2BLOTSW_thumb%255B1%255D?imgmax=800" border="0"></a><font color="#ffffff" face="Calibri" size="3">I had put on my coat to leave the gym and was finishing a conversation with other victims of good health and rigorous exercise, when I caught sight of myself in a full length mirror. Who was that man staring back at me? When did I ever get to be so big? How did I come to look so deceptively grown up and respectable? Aware of the possibility of looking vain (a weakness of mine I confess) I looked away and rejoined the conversation, having gained an insight into what my interlocutors saw. In my head I don't see myself according to my outward appearance. The child is too much with me still.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Calibri" size="3">One of the things I like about the now sadly missed comedy series Last of the Summer Wine is it's portrayal of three old men wandering about the Yorkshire countryside acting like boys. Look carefully and you see one man's pomposity as simply a grown-up role being played by a boy hiding behind a disguise of 'respectability', another man's willing resignation to the truth that they are all big kids, and a third man's wonder at and fascination with it all. Officialdom, iconoclasm, and philosophy out for an afternoon stroll.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Calibri" size="3">I find it fascinating and bewildering in equal measure. The problem is, I can't take it all seriously enough to play 'respectable' bordering on ridiculous like the first man, I am yet a little too serious-minded to resign to the childishness of it all like the second, so I am left like the third, to wonder at it, fascinated by my ability to see everyone still in their juvenile greenery, their schooldays, wondering what it's all about.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Calibri" size="3">I see the teachers' pet, I see the thinker who will enjoy quizzes and teach maths, the misfit who only shone on the rugby field, or in the carpentry shop, the prefect, the sensible one who will end up working in a bank, or a chemist's, the adventurous one who will travel and fill their life with memories, the timid one who will work a job, save money, and wear beige, the one who will surprise us all and become a successful writer.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Calibri" size="3">Though old now, I see them in the classroom and school yard still. I find myself looking for, and<i> </i>am often rewarded with that sly, watchful eye that glances to see if they've been found out, the big kid in the bank queue, the little boy at the supermarket checkout, the little girl at her office desk, the class clown in the pub, holding a pint and incredulous that he is up so late and drinking beer. I have found them out. I have found you all out. I see the child in us all.</font>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-50723739347037943312018-02-14T20:02:00.001+00:002018-02-14T20:05:47.786+00:00Dysphoria by Any Other Name<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EafP49Xmcwg/WoSV3vMw2aI/AAAAAAAAOHs/r9dXG0pzUUIWLSUq_7h-5otzCYaixtlPQCHMYCw/s1600-h/Bisexual%255B2%255D"><img width="244" height="184" title="Bisexual" align="right" style="float: right; display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="Bisexual" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Jn-DOQbsB-M/WoSV4nrHCbI/AAAAAAAAOHw/7p2wnacyngcmIlJK9jj_4VRpKC5Pqc2ygCHMYCw/Bisexual_thumb?imgmax=800" border="0"></a><font color="#ffffff" size="3">My wife and I were watching the ITV Wales News last evening and two items covering very similar stories followed each other in quick succession. The first put a positive spin on plans to open Wales’ very own gender identity clinic, which will be the first in the country. The report, which you can </font><a href="http://www.itv.com/news/wales/2018-02-12/becoming-me-whats-it-like-to-be-transgender-in-wales/"><font color="#ffffff" size="3">read here.</font></a><font color="#ffffff" size="3"> said:</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">'It’s a step forward which many in Wales’ trans community have welcomed, including one 20-year-old [transgender person]. He transitioned from female to male at the age of 14, but waited five years to see a gender specialist on the NHS. He eventually opted for private treatment, costing him £7000.</font><p><font size="3"><font color="#ffffff">“<i>Knowing that you should look different to how you look, it’s so traumatising”, </i>he said.<i> “At the end of Year 11 I just thought I need to start hormones. I can’t go to college not starting hormones. I knew I wasn’t going to start taking them until I was 19 on the NHS”.</i><i>'</i></font></font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">There followed a report about a model and TV presenter from Aberystwyth, who has spoken out for the first time about the pressures she experienced whilst working in the fashion industry and how she subjected herself to laxative abuse in order to try and lose weight.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">You can </font><a href="http://www.itv.com/news/wales/2018-02-13/its-ruined-my-body-welsh-model-reveals-her-struggle-with-laxative-abuse/"><font color="#ffffff" size="3">read the report here</font></a><font color="#ffffff" size="3">, which goes on:</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">'Shortly after [one particular] experience, [the model] received a message from a modelling agency which expressed an interest in representing her. After sending her measurements to the agency, she was told that they would only be willing to represent her if she lost weight and slimmed down to a “genuine size 8”. This particular experience made [her] turn to extreme lengths to try and get the “perfect figure” by taking laxatives.'</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">Having learned her lesson the hard way the model reports:</font><p><font size="3"><font color="#ffffff">“<i>If I’d have realised before that I could do all this as me and embrace who I am, rather than trying to change to suit the industry, I would never, ever have done it and my body would still be working as it should be.”</i></font></font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">The first story concerned plans, at great expense to the NHS, open a clinic to treat self-identified gender dysphoria with extreme surgical procedures, an acceptance, even a celebration of dysphoria, the second concerned efforts to persuade young models to avoid taking extreme measures, such as laxative abuse, and learn to be happy with the body in which they were born, an attack on a dysphoria.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">Both reported on the trauma of thinking they don't look the way they should look. Both took extreme measures to 'fix' what they imagined was wrong. One is in the vanguard of making their extreme measures more readily available to others, at great expense to the taxpayer, while the other issues a stark warning of what can happen if you take extreme measures to change how you look, and urges young people to accept their bodies.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">Both 'suffer' from a dysphoria, but the approach to each is very different. One is accepted, the other rejected. The extreme measures to treat the one are embraced, those to treat the other met with dire warnings.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">Dysphoria is defined as <i>'</i><i>a state of feeling very unhappy, uneasy, or dissatisfied</i><i>.'</i> (Merriam Webster Dictionary. The Concise Oxford gives the same definition) There seems to be a cognitive dissonance between how we regard gender-based dysphoria, and how we regard other forms of dysphoria. Both stem from the same place, a feeling of dissatisfaction that can so trouble someone that they are driven to extreme measures, but one is treated as a physical problem, while the other is regarded as a psychological problem. One declares, 'your body shape is wrong, nature has made a mistake,' the other declares, 'your body is naturally what it is intended to be, you have made a mistake.'</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">The prefix <i>dys</i> means abnormal, impaired. It is used to describe something that has gone wrong with body (dystrophy, dyspepsia), mind (dysthymia, dysphasia) even society (dystopia), it is a dysfunction. In the case of the model the dysfunction is mental/emotional, is 'it's all in your head,' while for the transgender person the dysfunction is physical, 'your whole body is wrong.' Both are dysphoric, but one regards radical surgery a reasonable solution, the other considers a change of mind a better solution. If you were to advise the model that she is making unhealthy choices you might be regarded a caring friend. If you were to offer the same advice to the transgender person, you might be accused of hate speech and prosecuted.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">To my mind this demonstrates we are an increasingly dystopian society as we cherry pick which problems we identify, how we describe and diagnose them, and what treatments we prescribe, not according to sound medical and psychological knowledge, but according to a frighteningly overbearing ideology of the left that thinks it can reshape the whole world in its own bizarre and dysfunctional image.</font><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">Society has to pick up the bill for the proposed clinic, but that same society will have to pay again, it seems to me, to undo the terrible wrong being done to vulnerable people whose issues are being identified and resolved according to an ideology. Perhaps it will take a lifetime's therapy and support to deal with the outcome of a momentary ideological fallacy.</font></p>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-12332898765843632532018-01-14T17:57:00.001+00:002018-01-14T17:57:40.316+00:00The Way ‘They’ do Things These Days<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="3"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_MlxQnNMP7I/WluaD8H6fqI/AAAAAAAAOGY/zkSGfnFDa6URfXPtzcxOollKCrcRE620QCHMYCw/s1600-h/The%2BWorld%2Bin%2BHurricane%255B7%255D"><img width="194" height="194" title="The World in Hurricane" align="right" style="border: 0px currentcolor; border-image: none; float: right; display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="The World in Hurricane" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fz4jVQZi1k4/WluaEmVy7OI/AAAAAAAAOGc/HI0vnSqjaY8hHzNsAWjTHJ9j40B9KxEuQCHMYCw/The%2BWorld%2Bin%2BHurricane_thumb%255B5%255D?imgmax=800" border="0"></a><font color="#ffffff">In her latter years my mother would explain to herself an increasingly confusing world with the words, <em>‘Well, that’s the way they do things these days.’</em> From free love to microwave ovens this phrase explained it all, <em>‘I don’t understand it, but that’s the way they do things these days.’</em></font></font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Arial" size="3">Most people follow the way they do things these days, whoever ‘they’ are. From the clothes we wear to the opinions we hear and retail, from what we choose as entertainment to our eating habits, and ther company we keep we all do things the way they are done these days.</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Arial" size="3">But what if ‘they’ make bad lifestyle choices, express dangerous, destructive opinions? How would we even know those choices were unwise if the way ‘they’ do things is our only measure of what is good, If man is the true measure of man?</font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="3"><font color="#ffffff">I am reminded of the adage, ‘<em>Who marries the spirit of the age will end widowed.’</em></font></font></font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Arial" size="3">James, in his letter to Christians scattered across the empire, writes about the trials of many kinds that come and test our faith (Js.1:2-3). He encourages us to have a firm faith, warning against doubt, or we will find ourselves<em> ‘like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind,’</em> driven by the way things are done these days. Does that sound familiar?</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Arial" size="3">When Jesus spoke of John the Baptist he said,<em> ‘What did you go into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?’</em> (Lk.7:24) A single reed was the personal emblem of Herod, a man blown about by every political wind, driven by the way things are done these days, defined by expediency, nothing to cling to but the latest piece of fashionable flotsam.</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">What we learn from my mother’s ‘explanation’ of the way things are done these days is that the spirit of the age will pass. The way things are done is not the way they were done in her lifetime, neither is the way things are done today the way things were done in my memory, The way you do things will pass too, another generation will rise and do things their way.</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">We are mistaken, of course, if we assume the way things were are preferable to the way things are, to imagine a golden age. At the same time it is folly to assume improvement is inevitable with each passing generation. Things can’t <em>only</em> get better, as history teaches us. What can we find to cling to in this process of rising and dying ages, this sea of life that tosses us this way and that?</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" face="Arial" size="3">James reminds us, <em>‘If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him.’</em> (Js.1:5) The Father, he reminds us, is one <em>‘who does not change like shifting shadows’</em> (Js.1:17) and Jesus, we are told, is, <em>‘the same yesterday, today, and forever.’ </em>(Heb.13: 8)</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">Isaiah reminds us, <em>‘All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flowers of the field…The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever.’</em> (Is.40:7-8)</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff" size="3">If you’re looking for stability in a changing world look no further than the word of God. It will often make you unpopular with those married to the age, but when this age has died and another rises, you will still be standing faithfully doing things God’s way, while they seek yet another marriage of convenience leading inevitably to another funeral.</font></p>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-43472145880458070352017-08-06T19:22:00.001+00:002017-08-06T19:22:52.661+00:00Inventing the Individual: Book Review<p><font color="#000000"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ng9PGtQJdY4/WYdsaiw3WGI/AAAAAAAAN-g/Yy8oVReGiEo27_w5Z3F-RFdUXi1EN3cmgCHMYCw/s1600-h/Inventing%2Bthe%2BIndividual%2B2%255B2%255D"><img width="159" height="238" title="Inventing the Individual 2" align="right" style="float: right; display: inline; background-image: none;" alt="Inventing the Individual 2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-irGTdDgGMqw/WYdsbacXwPI/AAAAAAAAN-k/YAC9LGYVbgwK3xGKO1U3Tsfxj4FnprdcwCHMYCw/Inventing%2Bthe%2BIndividual%2B2_thumb?imgmax=800" border="0"></a></font><font color="#ffffff">The book Inventing the Individual, by Larry Siedentop, works on the premise that liberal thought is the offspring of Christianity. That it emerged as the moral intuitions generated by Christianity were turned against an authoritarian model of the church.</font><p><font color="#ffffff">He traces the development of society, beginning with its earliest model, the family under the absolute authority of the paterfamilias, guardian of the family god and the sacred flame, through the wider family unit, the clan, to the tribe and the city state. The problem of transferring loyalties from family, to clan, to tribe and city state is addressed, with the establishment of hierarchies of gods, mirroring the hierarchical nature of society.</font><p><font color="#ffffff">It is when we come to the Greek/Roman world that the influence of the church is first felt, with Paul establishing an entirely new concept of individual freedom in Christ. Where someone's value had always been determined by their role in society, Paul brought the idea that a 'soul' has worth apart from societal status. In place of the traditional assumption of natural inequality there was, for the first time, a moral equality, a common humanity, with citizens and slaves rubbing shoulders 'in church.'</font><p><font color="#ffffff">With the fall of the Roman world and the fracturing of society, the church had to carve out a role for itself as a sovereign power whose area of authority was the care of souls. In doing this the church established canon law that defined its role and proscribed the role of secular powers. Indeed, it was the church, in seeing to its own affairs and survival, that first separated the spiritual from the secular.</font><p><font color="#ffffff">The book traces the development of church authority alongside that of the secular world, describing the growth of papal authority and how successive generations wrestled with the inherent dangers in establishing in one man an absolute power, thereby re-establishing the hierarchical model of leadership followed in the ancient world.</font><p><font color="#ffffff">There were long periods of conflict, with secular rulers, as well as within the church, as they addressed the question of where authority lay in the church, in the 'servant of servants' or in the church as a body of believers, represented by councils, cardinals, bishops, and clerics. Were Christians 'equal in submission,' as was thought by the Dominicans, or 'equal in liberty,' as taught by the Followers of St Francs? The growth of universities gave a space where these issues could be battled over, the main protagonists being Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham.</font><p><font color="#ffffff">The book is well organised, with chapter heads and endings giving good summaries of where we have got to so far and where we are going. Near the end of the book Seidentop writes:</font><p><font color="#ffffff">'We have seen how Christian egalitarianism (the 'care of souls') first shaped the distinction between spiritual and temporal authority, creating a sphere for individual conscience. We then followed the gradual but far from complete penetration of this egalitarianism into traditional beliefs - emerging as a kind of schizophrenia among Carolingians.</font><p><font color="#ffffff">Finally, we discovered its full potential for transforming institutions in the papal revolution of the twelfth century, when the idea of a 'sovereign' authority over individuals, embodied in a coherent legal system, not only transformed the church, but also began to inspire secular rulers with the project of creating 'states' out of a jumble of feudal jurisdictions.'</font><p><font color="#ffffff">Here is the nub of it. The role of the church, as it carved out its own space in the world, is powerful in the development of European, therefore Western liberalism. The 'Renaissance' is a product of this process, and not a break with it, as is popularly believed. Chapter by chapter we see how church government develops, who were the characters involved, what were the respective roles of reformists and traditionalists, what were the issues they struggled over, and what the outcomes.</font><p><font color="#ffffff">Addressing the implications of losing sight of our roots, Siedentop e ends with a challenging question:</font><p><a name="__DdeLink__1_5945414"></a><font color="#ffffff">'If we in the West do not understand the moral depth of our own tradition, how can we hope to shape the conversation of mankind?'</font>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-41627454499414423442017-07-10T22:49:00.001+00:002017-07-10T22:49:07.397+00:00The Christian Narrative<p><font size="3" face="Calibri">In speaking to someone about faith issues I dropped into the conversation the, to me, uncontroversial term 'non-Christian,' only to be challenged, <em>'That's not a nice thing to say, that someone isn't a Christian.'</em> Rather taken aback, I nevertheless realised the problem was one of definition. I was speaking to someone raised to believe a Christian is a good person, as in, <em>'He's a good Christian man, he'll always do you a good turn.'</em> Of course, the Bible knows nothing of such a man and defines a Christian as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed, as a bad person who has turned to Jesus seeking forgiveness and salvation.</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">I replied that there are many people in the world who would not thank you for calling them Christian. This was met with sudden incredulity, and I was asked,<em> 'Who?'</em></font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">Muslims, I replied, Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists, Pagans, Hindus, Atheists; When you think about it the list is formidable, and all those communities comprise many good people without being Christian people, non-<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D--XxikXpB0/WWQEX8PR_wI/AAAAAAAAN8o/_dtKbiUSYog-AB8H_M5GBRL-18BQv-5XQCHMYCw/s1600-h/Psychobabble%255B3%255D"><img title="Psychobabble" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Psychobabble" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PEskB0M4oS0/WWQEYnuyf4I/AAAAAAAAN8s/dggEXDWgrXY7orvImY_LPMmRRxdvJi3OQCHMYCw/Psychobabble_thumb%255B1%255D?imgmax=800" width="147" align="right" height="228"></a>Christians.</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">In his book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychobabble-Exploding-Myths-Self-Help-Generation/dp/0273772392">Psychobabble</a></i> Dr Stephen Briers, addressing the subject of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, writes about the power of narratives, the stories people tell themselves:</font> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">'The stories we tell ourselves are powerful organising forces. They exercise an inexorable pull over our actions, feelings and choices, rather like a magnetic field draws scattered iron filings into alignment with its own invisible lines of influence. When dealing with the steady undertow of someone's implicit narrative, reason and logic often prove feeble instruments. If an action, or feeling or belief 'fits' within the dynamic of the tale being told it will be embraced, however illogical or absurd it may be. Recasting and rescripting such stories is always destined to be an art as much as a science.'</font></i> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">The person in my story found it impossible to relinquish their narrative explanation of what defines a Christian. No amount of logic, or reason, no appeal to the authority of the Bible was going to change their mind. For them, for over seventy years, 'Christian' had been a good person, and 'non-Christian' was an unkind label.</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">If we want to understand how very powerful someone's implicit narrative can be, consider how seriously God takes this question in addressing it. God delivered Israel out of Egypt, the 'house of slavery,' and having brought them to himself, making them a holy people, set them apart as special before God. You might think such a people would prove eternally grateful, faithful, and uncompromised in their love for him. Yet, in Exodus 19, God must remind them through Moses:</font> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.' (Ex.19:4-6)</font></i> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">Chapter twenty of Exodus begins with the ten commandments, that are further unpacked throughout the rest of Exodus, Leviticus, and beyond. Two things stand out here. One is the undiluted devotion Israel is to offer to the God who saved them. It is worth noting that the first five commandments remind us to offer honour to those who gave us life, the first four to God, the fifth to parents.</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">The second notable command is to avoid being like other nations. As Israel entered Canaan they had a raft of laws designed to make them different, make them stand out, remind them of their special status before God. Their diet was to be different, even the clothes they wore were not to be made of mixed fabrics (Lev.19:19; Deut.22:9-11). Several reasons are offered to explain this, which is not a moral law, one of which is that it was a reminder that they were not to mix Israel's customs with those of the surrounding nations; a sort of daily and visual mnemonic.</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">Yet Israel so often compromised, adopting the ways of surrounding nations, from demanding they be given a king, 'like other nations,' when they had God for their king (1 Sam.8:5), to practising child sacrifice to Molech (2 Chron.28:3; 2 Kings 21:6) even when God had expressly forbidden it (Lev.18:21) and made clear the precious worth of children (Pr.17:6; Ps.127:3)</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">Israel proves that if we are not attentive to our covenant faith in God, our narrative, the way we explain the world to ourselves and our place in it, will increasingly be defined by the world around us. Whether via social media, friendships, even family, the clamour of voices vying for our attention, seeking to mould our thinking, is increasingly loud.</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">Tragically, many follow the clamour and find themselves, like Israel, compromising and compromised. They deny the authority of Scripture, disobey God's commands, avoid the gathering of God's people, find easy fault with the church for which Christ gave himself, and make themselves deaf to the one voice that speaks true words of salvation. The writer of Hebrews gives a clear and urgent warning against such things:</font> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">'As the Holy Spirit says:</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">'Today, if you hear his voice,</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">do not harden your hearts</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">as you did in the rebellion,</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">during the time of testing in the</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">desert,</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">where your fathers tested and tried me</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">and for forty years saw what I did.</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">That is why I was angry with that</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">generation</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">and I said, 'Their hearts are always</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">going astray, and they have not know my ways.</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">So I declared in my anger,</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">They shall never enter my rest.''</font></i> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">'See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.' (Heb.3:7-15a)</font></i> <p><font face="Calibri"><font size="3">It was B.B. Warfield who observed, <i>"If everything that is called Christianity in these days is Christianity, then there is no such thing as Christianity. A name applied indiscriminately to everything designates nothing."</i></font></font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">It may be comforting to think a good deed makes a good Christian but it does not do to allow what has already been defined clearly, definitively by God in Scripture, to be redefined indiscriminately simply because it suits those who embrace the spirit of the age. So what is a Christian?</font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">Jesus said in Matthew 7:</font> <p align="justify"><font face="Calibri"><font size="3">“<i>Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. [...]</i></font></font> <p align="justify"><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’</font></i><i><font size="3" face="Calibri">."</font></i> <p><font face="Calibri"><font size="3">There is doing in the life of a good Christian, good works, but that doing is according to the will of God, whose will so many feel they can ignore while still calling themselves by the name of Christ because they are decent people. This is the spirit of our current age and, for so many, the imperative narrative. But as William Ralph Inge wisely observed, <i>'Whoever marries the spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next.'</i></font></font> <p><font size="3" face="Calibri">What defines our imperative narrative, that story about the world and our place in it that is not easily changed or compromised? Is it the world itself, that changes like the weather, now forbidding, now commanding, approving and disapproving, moving this way and that depending on whose voice is loudest? Is it the Word of God, that is consistent, unchangeable, guiding God's people as we navigate this troubled world, offering hope to a dying world, looking to a promise of a new world in which God reigns supreme, even as he reigns today in every heart that trusts and obeys him?</font>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-47010500278193633812017-05-08T20:31:00.001+00:002017-05-08T20:31:19.795+00:00What is a Man?<h3><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XIAtIBjvbZk/WRDVk_WAhnI/AAAAAAAAN6s/QtDPANXVSkUWuuvJXA4ggAIhtiWFn2tNQCHM/s1600-h/Grantchester%255B5%255D"><img title="Grantchester" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Grantchester" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1xVrRvBr99E/WRDVlkzbF5I/AAAAAAAAN6w/9ekz7qTl2PsYq5p_dn-HDN-Zh6to-0z4gCHM/Grantchester_thumb%255B2%255D?imgmax=800" width="185" align="right" height="194"></a><font size="2">In a recent episode of the 'charming turning to seedy' British TV drama Grantchester the lead character, a vicar, ended the episode in his now familiar Jerry Springer way, with a little homily to his dwindling congregation. 'Live for today, in the now,' is the sum of his message, before he rushes off to have sex with a now married, but once his secret sweetheart, friend. This is a live-for-now hang the consequences sort of world in which our desires, hopes and dreams are frustrated by a nebulous entity called 'society.' </font></h3> <p><font size="2">A eulogy in an earlier episode reminded us we cannot be what we want to be because 'society' wouldn't allow it, as though we were meant to fulfill our immediate desires without judgement or hindrance. If you were looking for something encouraging and uplifting, Grantchester is eminently avoidable. But this seems the spirit of the age, if it feels good, do it; what else is there? </font> <p><font size="2">The neo-atheists, channelling Thomas Hobbes, would have us believe nothing makes sense at all and life is <i>"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short".</i> Richard Dawkins, when espousing his particularly spiteful form of atheism insists life has no purpose, there is no objective right and wrong, and certainly nothing as asinine and vulgar as good and evil. Yet he dedicates his life to teaching us dullards the correct way to think about things. Lucky us! </font> <p><font size="2">The Psalmist wrote that if, <i>'the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,'</i> it is because, '<i>Lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup. You have made my lot secure.'</i> (Ps.16:5/6) Not so, Dawkins would insist, if your portion and cup prove pleasant and secure it is the luck of the draw. Of course, whenever he seeks to demolish any arguments against his bleak world view, he is prepared to label religion as evil, to cry 'not right!' and more than a few have had fun with that. </font> <p><font size="2">I don't know what sort of world you live in but I find that even the most militant God-denier instinctively seeks purpose in an apparently purposeless universe, justice in a life that has no seeming obligation to be just, reason in an existence that is evidently blind and aimless. Indeed, so important are purpose and justice that the typical atheist cannot actually do without God for, without God, who would they blame? </font> <p><font size="2">It is popular to jibe that Christians pray to an 'invisible friend,' but don't atheists aim their ire at an invisible enemy? It is rightly observed, the first two principles of atheism are, <i>'there is</i><i> no</i><i> God</i><i>,</i><i> and I hate him!'</i> </font> <p><font size="2">Deny purpose in creation as we might, who doesn't identify with the words of Hamlet; <i>'What is a man if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed?'</i> </font> <p><font size="2">In his Confessions, Augustine famously wrote, <em>'You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.' </em>Surely something in us has us recoil from the bleak prognostications of Thomas Hobbes? Some part of us agrees with Hamlet, what is the point if we simply live, eat, breed, and die? What are we - cattle? </font> <p><font size="2">And even if we are not yet drawn to Augustine's defining conclusion yet, even as people deny God, I find they seek him in one form or another. Either to blame him or to find, finally, rest for themselves. Either way, it seems, only God can satisfy. </font> <p><font size="2">If God is there, what difference does it make? If, unlike Thomas Hobbes, we instinctively seek community, richness, kindness, civility, and purpose in life then surely it matters how we live? Not for the moment, like a character in a play, but for the more we find ourselves reaching out for. If God is there, and if purpose is instinctive but frustratingly elusive, we must surely seek God, discover his purpose for us, and like Augustine, find our heart's rest in finally being the more we were made to be. </font>Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-59128482438081427932016-09-13T11:37:00.001+00:002016-09-13T11:37:45.342+00:00Strangers in the World<h5><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mE8ktioGMgU/V9flBi2X1GI/AAAAAAAANws/lFdRQBDu6Gs/s1600-h/Fellow-Citizens3.jpg"><img title="Fellow Citizens" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Fellow Citizens" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U9uWA7-ALYo/V9flCB_mG0I/AAAAAAAANww/-IWuBZYU9eU/Fellow-Citizens_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="214" align="right" height="301"></a>Following on from my last two posts, God’s Plan for your Life, I thought it good to republish this from March 2015. God may not have a plan for your life but we do have duties and responsibilities as cotizens of his kingdom. Do we know who we are in Christ, what are the implications of our kingdom citizenship? Lets talk about being God’s elect in the world.</h5> <p>The apostle Peter’s first letter is addressed, <em>‘To God’s elect, strangers in the world.’</em> Does it feel like that to you? If you are a Christian do you find yourself out of step with the world? The world, of course, is familiar to us. We know how it operates, we engage with it, and we negotiate our way through it in our every-day lives but, ultimately, Peter seems to be saying it is alien to us. In his second letter to Christians in Corinth the apostle Paul insisted, <em>‘we regard no-one from a worldly point of view,’</em> and goes on to describe Christians as, <em>‘Christ’s ambassadors.’</em> (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Corinthians%205.16">2 Corinthians 5:16</a>&<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Corinthians%205.20">20</a>) <p>As ambassadors, we may be adept in the arts of tact and conciliation, speaking the truth <em>with ‘gentleness and respect’</em> (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Peter%203.15">1 Peter 3:15</a>) yet we never lose sight of where our duties lie, of who has first call on our loyalties. As Paul makes clear, we don’t look at things by the standards and values of the world, but by those of the one we now represent. We are to represent his interests in the world, <em>‘God making his appeal through us.’</em> (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Corinthians%205.20">2 Corinthians 5:20</a>) <p>Going back to the beginning, we see that it was in a fallen world that Abel brought a better offering. It was <em>‘at that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.’</em> (Gen.5:26) In a sinful world Enoch walked with God and <em>‘when the wickedness of men was great in the earth,’</em> Noah found favour with God (Gen.6:5-8) Discipleship is not popular. It follows a different path. <p>Sometimes it can feel as though we are overwhelmed by the world, and we find it easier to ‘go with the flow.’ Perhaps that is why Peter writes as he does to <em>‘God’s elect…throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,’</em> in other words scattered among the nations and in danger of being overwhelmed. That is one of the pitfalls of representing one country, or one business from one country, to another; going native. Sometimes called ‘clientism,’ or ‘localitis,’ it is when a representative comes to regard the people and officials of the host country as ‘clients,’ when he or she defends the interests of these ‘clients’ as though they are the employers. <p>Of course, in many respects, this can make life, at least in the short term, easier. The people with whom you have to do every day seem somehow easier to get along with once you see things from their point of view, while the people you represent seem distant and out of touch with the way things are, ‘on the ground.’ Ultimately, however, as Peter reminds us, we are, <em>‘a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [we] may declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light.’</em> (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Peter%202.9">1 Peter 2:9</a>) <p>We do things God’s way, see things God’s way, and we describe things as God’s ambassadors, however diplomatic we feel we need to be. Peter reminds us that we are <em>‘chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood.’</em> (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Peter%201.2">1 Peter 1:2</a>) It is no accident that we find ourselves <em>‘strangers in the word,’</em> for God the Father has chosen to make us citizens of a heavenly kingdom. He has done this by a work of the Spirit that sanctifies us, prepared us for that citizenship and calling, and he has given us the work of obedience to Jesus Christ. Our ways now are as alien to the world as are the world’s ways to us. <p>This means that only other Christian believers properly know and understand what it is to be chosen, an ambassador for Christ, sanctified, and striving to obey that call. Only other Christians fully appreciate what it means when we obey Jesus and reject the world’s self-centred-ness. Such a course is alien to the world and ever has been. Just like those early Christians, first in Jerusalem, then scattered across Asia Minor and ultimately the world, we finally have each other in this world because the rest simply don’t ‘get it.’ Paul writes in his first Corinthian letter: <p><em>‘This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgements about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgement: For who can know the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.’</em> (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Corinthians%202.13-16">1 Corinthians 2:13-16</a>) <p>Think of it! We even have a different ‘language’ we speak, <em>‘expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words,</em>’ a language the world considers unintelligible, foolishness. We have the mind of Christ with which to discern and make sound judgements concerning the affairs of his kingdom, and a language in which we express that kingdom business. But remember that, <em>‘it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe’</em> (<a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Corinthians%201.21">1 Corinthians 1:21</a>) Our speaking, acting, and doing are not futile, for those who believe may come to know that language, to have that mind, to be ambassadors of the one who chose them, just as once we did. The question is, are we speaking the language of the God who chose us, uttering spiritual truths as we go about kingdom business? Or have we fallen victim to clientism, speaking the language of the world that is so familiar to us? <p>The world doesn’t speak our language, doesn’t know or accept Christ, and is proving increasingly hostile to his kingdom and rule. It is surely up to us, we who have the mind of Christ, who speak the language of spiritual things, to stand together in advancing the work of the kingdom entrusted to our care in this generation, and for the benefit of the next. Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-9186207420842965982016-08-30T13:50:00.001+00:002016-08-30T13:50:50.761+00:00God’s Plan for your Life 2: That you may Test and Discern<p>We have <a href="http://mikes4tea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/gods-plan-for-your-life-1-do-you-know-it.html">looked at Jeremiah 29:11</a> and its misuse in understanding God’s plan for your life. Countless Christians hang on to this verse as a personal promise from God but we discovered this is misguided. You can <a href="http://mikes4tea.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/gods-plan-for-your-life-1-do-you-know-it.html">read more here</a>. So what <em>is</em> God’s plan for your life? How do a saved people live, what does God expect of us, what <em>has</em> God promised? <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--d4mn3vgyTk/V8WPMoRx8lI/AAAAAAAANu0/w2v9w3qGa3k/s1600-h/Sinai%252520Covenant%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="Sinai Covenant" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Sinai Covenant" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EmX50KgcKrI/V8WPNZIwXRI/AAAAAAAANu4/l21eKtsT8HA/Sinai%252520Covenant_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="138"></a> <p>Remember God had miraculously brought Abraham's descendants out of the house of slavery and commanded them 'now live like this,' giving them the Law through Moses. The Law didn't bring people to God, God brought people to himself then gave them the Law - <a href="http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Exodus%2019.3-6">Exodus 19:3-6</a>. The Law describes how a saved people live. Why give a saved people a code to live by if they are already saved? The Proverb tells us: <blockquote> <p><em>'Where there is no revelation [prophetic vision ESV] the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law' </em>(Prov. 29:18)</p></blockquote> <p>To an unsaved people the law prescribes and proscribes. To a saved people the law describes how a saved people live in the light of God’s love, how we are blessed and a blessing, and how we need never again cast off restraint and incur God’s displeasure. A code to live by describes God’s purpose in us as saved people. The prayer of every believer is: <blockquote> <p><i>‘Two things I ask of you, O LORD...Keep falsehood and lies from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.'</i> (Prov.30:7-9)</p></blockquote> <p>The code by which God would have us live is not constraining but liberating, freeing us to live such that we don't forget or dishonour the God who saved us. That is the Old Covenant but what of New Covenant people, what is the Kingdom code for Christians? <p> <h4>The Beatitudes</h4> <p>The Beatitudes are the basic values the world is meant to, but doesn't, live by. Paul writes: <blockquote> <p><i>'And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.' </i>Eph.1:22-23 </p></blockquote> <p>The rule of God extends over all but finds special focus in his concern for his own, the church. Not all keep his law but kingdom people live according to the values the world despises, but which God holds dear. Those who live kingdom lives are blessed. <blockquote> <p><em>‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, </em><em>for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…’</em></p></blockquote> <p><em></em> <h4>Blessed </h4> <p><i>Ashrey</i> is the word used in the Old Testament to talk about blessing. The psalmist writes of blessings that will come to those who delight in the law of the LORD (Psalm 1:1-2) This is a promise of future reward in material goods. <p><i>Makarios</i> is the New Testament word and the emphasis is our present state. Adopt these values and know God's presence in your life. There is some confusion about these beatitudes, what role they play in God’s plan, whether they are practical in a fallen world. <p>Some teach that the beatitudes are a salvation message – live this way to get right with God. This doesn’t account for the problem of sin, the fact that Jesus calls us to repent, not to do better. Others have thought it a kingdom truth<em> -</em> One day, in God's kingdom, we will live this way. The problem with this view is it excuses us when we fall short. Others still think it a<em> </em>message that is exclusive to the church <em>– </em>But Jesus he is king over all, even those who reject him, although he has special concern for those who are his own.<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZRYwlYIn2vI/V8WPN87qWQI/AAAAAAAANu8/bXF8_RO1vfE/s1600-h/Cristo_e_gli_apostoli-by-Sergio-Bram%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="Cristo_e_gli_apostoli by Sergio Bramante" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cristo_e_gli_apostoli by Sergio Bramante" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_ynIDlQCFpA/V8WPOaairyI/AAAAAAAANvA/UTzGXG8jdLU/Cristo_e_gli_apostoli-by-Sergio-Bram%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="253" align="right" height="171"></a> <p>I suggest the sermon is a description. The sermon describes the way in which we are freed to live when we commit fully to the kingship of Jesus. When Jesus is near we are free to obey. Matthew begins his account of the Sermon on the mount:</p> <blockquote> <p><i>'He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them...'</i> (Matt.5:1)</p></blockquote> <p>The Sermon on the Mount is for people who have chosen to be Jesus' disciples and have freely committed themselves to the King. <p> <h4>Kingdom </h4> <p>When we think of kingdom we think of a place. When we think of God's kingdom we tend to think eschatologically, of that day when Christ will rule unchallenged on the earth. But Jesus said, <i>'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near'</i> (Mt.4:17) <p>How is God's kingdom near? It is not a place, or a promise, but an action. It is God breaking into our universe and moulding times, places, people, and events for his purpose. The clearest expression of this is Jesus' life and ministry. The expression of that action today is the people of God, Christians, the church. <ol> <li>The kingdom is near in the person of Jesus. <li>The kingdom is here in the fact that God's people, indwelt by God's Spirit, are here. </li></ol> <p>The sermon on the Mount is Jesus' values for his people. It implicitly rejects the values of the world. It is difficult to live among people who reject God's values and not be influenced by the airbrushed lives of the 'beautiful people.' We appreciate, value, and are drawn by others' lives and can too easily fall into line with them. They are appealing because we tend to associate them with fulfilment. <p>Jesus shatters this illusion and sets up an alternative set of values that he assures will truly fulfil us. Jesus' values are not in pleasure but in longing, not in satisfaction but in hunger, not in popularity but in commitment to an unpopular cause, not in competition but in helping others to find peace with God and each other. <p><em>"Only those who throw the full weight of their confidence on God as a King who acts in and for them now can ever locate the courage to live the startling lifestyle Jesus lays out for his disciples. (Mt.5:1) The Sermon on the Mount is for people who have chosen to be Jesus' disciples and freely submitted themselves to the King. In it Jesus explains to his disciples of every age what living as a citizen of heaven's kingdom involves. Abandoning the ways of the world to adopt a diametrically different set of values and commitments."</em> (Lawrence O Richards, Small Group Members Commentary) <p>How are we to live in this new, born-again, kingdom society? How are we to negotiate this fallen world as citizens of that kingdom, followers of King Jesus? What is God’s plan for my life? Paul helps us in his letter to Christians in first century Rome: <blockquote> <p><em>‘Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve [discern] what God’s will is-his good and pleasing will.’</em> (Romans 12:1-2)</p></blockquote> <p>In an ongoing process our minds are renewed. The plan of God for your life is that you should be equipped with a new mind, able to test and discern what is the will of God, what pleases him, make kingdom choices in every day life. Someone has said that if you want to hear from God take the Bible and read it aloud. Here in the Beatitudes we find God’s plan, we begin to understand the code of the kingdom. Now we must choose to live it. <p>Of course sometimes, in the midst of our kingdom living, God has a specific call for us. When the call comes it is encouraging to remember Jeremiah was a timid man (1:4-6) He was not the prophet 'type' and felt much as we do when we consider what God is calling us to. What made him a prophet was not his own character but God's provision (1:17-19) God always provides grace for the day, whether it is a routine day that tests our discernment and choices, or a stand out day when God meets us with a particular calling to serve. Either way, Christ frees us to serve. Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-79607616851057774912016-08-23T15:52:00.001+00:002016-08-23T15:52:50.970+00:00God’s Plan for your Life 1: Do You Know It?<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-90lU4k__v28/V7xxT2eYeEI/AAAAAAAANt0/gX2WsU9_8aA/s1600-h/God%252520the%252520Architect%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="God the Architect" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="God the Architect" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-itLGEYiNDEU/V7xxUvvoqsI/AAAAAAAANt4/HAX4xXOeQHI/God%252520the%252520Architect_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="167" align="right" height="226"></a>Are you one of those many Christians who has asked what exactly is God’s plan for my life? What do you think of when you hear those words, <em>'God's plan for your life?'</em> Maybe you think everyone else has got this sorted but you have missed out. Where does this idea of God having a plan for your life come from? <p><i>''I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.''</i> <i>(</i>Jeremiah 29:11) <p>Our local Christian bookshop manager – who does understand this verse – assured me she can sell about anything in the shop if it carries this text, they just fly off the shelf. Near the bookshop is one of those generic stalls that sells New Age trinkets and junk, from a lucky cat, through fairies and angels, to Buddha in repose. Its the sort of thing people have in their home to feed their wishful thinking. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a life as serene, magical, lucky. <p>Life is never as serene as Buddha sitting under a Bodhi tree, angels and fairies don’t sit on your shoulder to grant wishes, and cats are – cats. Jeremiah 29:11 is to many Christians what the lucky cat is to the wishful thinkers, comforting to contemplate but of no practical use. This is one of the most misunderstood and misapplied texts in the Bible and Christians could save themselves a lot of trouble and troubled introspection if they understood it.. <p> <h4><b>Context</b></h4> <p><em>Jeremiah 29:1-2</em> tells us the context is the exile of<em> </em>Judah, including Daniel and his companions. The verse comes in the text of a letter sent by Jeremiah from Jerusalem to exiled Judah. The 'you' of verse 11 is plural, the promise of v.11 is very specific in those to whom it is being made, the exiles. If it is for us at all it is plural and for the church, not for the individual. Heaven preserve us from post-modern individualism - <strong>Context people.</strong> <p>Further, if you want Jeremiah 29:11 to be a promise to you, you must also have the previous 28 chapters, because they lead up to and contextualise the verse. They are full of warnings and exhortations, accusations, threat of drought, condemnation, and judgement. It isn't pretty. One example is 16:1-4. Look it up and ask yourself if you still want to enjoy the promises of God through Jeremiah – <strong>Context people.</strong> <p>Jeremiah 29:11 is not about God's perfect plan for your life but about restoration of a rebellious people after 70 years in exile. <strong>Context again.</strong> <p>God had miraculously brought Abraham's descendants out of the house of slavery and commanded them 'now live like this,' giving them the Law through Moses. The Law didn't bring people to God, God brought people to himself then gave them the Law - Exodus 19:3-6. The Law describes how a saved people live. <strong>I say again</strong> <strong>Context.</strong> <p>Leviticus 26:14-15, 31-33 describes what God will do if his people reject his Laws and violate the covenant. Terror, disease, fever, hunger and defeat at the hands of enemies, terror, ruin, waste, scattering and exile. <strong>Context teaches us.</strong> <p>Leviticus 26: 39-42 describes how God will, nevertheless, keep his promises and restore his people, <i>'Then I will remember you...For I know the plans I have for you...'</i> Lev.26:42; Jer.29:11) God's plans are never thwarted. <strong>Context is understanding.</strong> <p>Even though we might take comfort from the general understanding that we are in God's hands and care - <i>In all things God works for the good of those that love him'</i> Ro.8:28 - we cannot reasonably apply Jeremiah 29:11 to us. It is an example of what has come to be known as narcisegesis, the unbiblical habit of making all Scripture revolve around me. <p>If God doesn't have a plan specific to my life what does he have? Is there a plan at all? <p> <h4>God’s Plan and Purpose</h4> <p>In his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul tells how God, through Christ, has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing (1:3); chosen us to be holy and blameless (1:4); predestined us to be adopted as sons (1:5); redeemed us through the blood of Christ (1:7); lavished on us grace, wisdom and understanding (1:8). We are not meant to be mere creatures but sons. Sons who understand and, in understanding, exercise wisdom. No surprise since we were made originally in the image and likeness of God, to have dominion (Genesis 1:26) to understand and steward the world in which we live. All this, Paul insists, is, <em>‘to the praise of [God’s] glorious grace’</em> (1:6) <p>Paul explains explicitly the purposes of God, revealed to all who trust in Christ: <p><em>‘And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment-to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.’</em> (Ephesians 1:9-10) <p>The thought here is that everything that fails to make sense in this world will be summed up and given perfect meaning in Christ. Its not about me, its about Christ! Everything about us, our being chosen and predestined, serves God’s purpose and plan in Christ, <em>‘for the praise of his glory.’</em> (1:11-12) Do yourself a favour and read Ephesians 1:3-14 and count the number of times ‘in Christ’ or a variant thereof appears. It is all about Jesus, and once you realise this your doctrinal understanding will be revolutionised. <p>God may yet have a specific purpose for particular individuals, at particular times, in church service, mission, etc. For some it is a lifetime call. But what does a purposeful Christian life look like when there isn't a specific 'plan for my life?' We will look at that next time. Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-64314272335002877992016-06-27T11:05:00.001+00:002016-06-27T18:14:33.595+00:00Jesus Wasn’t ‘Nice’<p><img style="float: right; display: inline" src="http://revelationnow.net/wp-content/gallery/mega_lies/jesus_whipping.jpg" width="194" align="right" height="209"> <p>Every generation, every culture, shapes Christianity to reflect that culture's concerns. In Europe in the second millennium, it seemed to be very political as kings and popes, people and priests fought over power, property, and the question of who governs. In South-East Asia today we see Christianity being about enduring under the yoke of persecution and oppression. In South America since the 1960s it has been about Liberation Theology as the church, once again, becomes politicised as a social movement. <p>In the United Kingdom it seems this tendency expresses itself in niceness. Whatever the cause, however engaged with the issues we might be, however we might disagree, lets not be unpleasant, lets be nice about it. The referendum that has just passed has people in its grip and they are engaged with politics in numbers not seen in my lifetime. We fall into three categories. Those delighted with the result, those disappointed with the result, and those confused by what just happened. <p>While feelings are running high, many are insisting there is virtue in being a good loser, as though this is a game of table-top football. They 'regret' the unbridled language used in claims and counter-claims, insisting the right response is niceness, especially if you are a Christian. 'Lets not allow things to get out of hand,' they insist. 'We don't want any unpleasantness.' Then they reach for the kettle, break open a fresh pack of rich tea biscuits and, 'tea anyone?' <p>Niceness is not, however, a fruit of the Spirit. There is, <i>'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.' </i>(Galatians 5:22) but I don't see niceness in there. I can have love, experience joy, show kindness, pursue goodness and faithfulness, be gentle and self-controlled and still be forthright and outspoken in pursuit of what I regard as right, just, and good, still challenge what is wrong, unjust, and evil. <p>New Testament figures were many things but nice wasn't one of them. <p><i>'John said to the crowds coming out to be baptised by him, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? produce fruit in keeping with repentance.'</i> (Luke 3:7-8) I don't think John was 'nice' and nor do I believe he would have been impressed with the response, 'OK John, we will try to be nicer.' <p>Confronted with the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day, Jesus said, <i>'Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness...You snakes! You brood of vipers!'</i> (Matthew 23:27-33) I don't imagine the disciples saying, 'That's so rude Jesus! Why can't you be nice?' <p>In refuting the Jewish Christians who wanted to circumcise Gentile Christians the apostle Paul wrote,<i> 'Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you if you let yourselves be circumcised Christ will be of no value to you at all...I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!'</i> (Galatians 5:2&12) I don't hear anyone saying, 'Really, I don't see surgery as the answer Paul. Can't we sit and talk about this over a cup of tea?' <p>When Simon the Sorcerer offered to buy from Peter and John the power to endow spiritual gifts, the apostles didn't say, 'You know, there's been a misunderstanding here. Put the kettle on and we'll talk about a preaching series in the Autumn.' No! <i>'Peter answered</i>, <i>'May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God. Repent..!''</i> (Acts 8:18-22) <p>In writing to the church in Sardis, Jesus says, <i>'I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up!'</i> (Revelation 3:1-2) John on Patmos, who wrote and delivered these messages, didn't say, 'That's a bit harsh Jesus. Can't we talk about this over coffee and cake?' <p>Jesus healed the sick, made the blind see, and the deaf hear, raised the dead, loved children, stood with the disaffected, returned dignity to ordinary people, preached hope and the need to pursue virtue and goodness. He also challenged the rich and the powerful, fought against injustice, shamed hypocrisy, spoke out, stood out, called out and confronted all that is evil in this world. Nice people don't do that. But then, Jesus wasn't nice. <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" src="http://mindfulwebworks.com/urantiana/jesus-flipping.jpg" width="359" height="286">Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-67270219933556565492016-02-09T12:29:00.000+00:002016-02-09T12:29:08.958+00:00A Week On The M4<br />
It occurs to me that making progress through the typical week is rather like a journey on the M4 motorway. I traveled from Swansea to London recently, along the M4, and contemplated this thought as I journeyed.<br />
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" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for Swansea" border="0" height="130" 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f6yVX0Ua/WtWxhOzESlodLagH1O/1qVq1dPzNp0UfnQnGMZbwq5rgJY/KoBLMeQnYfjodDFYTyt/xX/prGCW7CcVxG3ZQtIgc2ESfCNST0Arm73xnnU5Q6kTJ0yqBpPdBneJJjUc65fjnHHxJJYQg+RZjKOWsSSRz566bCm+F2/fKHDC1Ku8qSsIZBYyBpJ1/PWiONf5hSm3wbVzghZGvXGyjc5nmco3J1kjmdh1rCuLh50s3WUHQ9qEJHXKE09T7HSui45jjiCocgAQAoKACNQpUup0MEAjmCdYC416wFE6b8is7wDox6HqNK6ceOLW5zyk1wZ2Ix10ErbVhbAAUHvMBGozgTvO0UNaGUFmtgfZQagsx8BuBv4mBrrGg7gCQDA32/pQC4kNcDvsBlAA+XpIPUz5yaeaEca2e4Qk2EDhuclVzMQBPOOoLQFGvvAolOD3FaQ2WRpJ15jeCPSaNw2IVUBQFpbvnuyWG5mdhpoN5HnVrYgwIBOxGoBBEyZJOpn9ZrBXyVYPZ4JeuZj3mKxm+XnpqT1OlXJ8P3eq7wR3ImJBmI/ua0cFxtbNyCZJBVkIyqyn5kLA6ToVIJggEHQAq/fuklra9wMFKjK5EjdnZhodNcoGpp+xlJJlWH4MRBJUZZIzKpAA0MwJG5HWPah8Zw4LmgWZEAqlu32qkHvFtyd1II7pDCBFZuOw9+bhN19LjKFLtoJGXQmApB05d0jpT8Te9h+zmwApQDMGJDEqQZYSpYgv8u8neJpN3uFGhwnChCVuOtpCAAzhVWVABzXDA73zAmZnll12+I2bCIctxmfKQEC3ZUqCzSGAGkHnA8K40jbMO8Cr5V7Qw0zLO4iRzAnwNWWsDdxDuUN4uczFQwAiSzBSRoBJMERv6u6FRr2lOVRhjmvCe1C2rhWGMqR2lojaBvr5CnrGsccewzKtsow0MvdL6wWzMGBM908htA509K10G525SmyVJrlVm7XuamcOgnlpTVJvVW2I8alspRCB1pi9CHEipIWbZTHWNPfalrRSiXFx4UPiEVjqqnzAq1cOTuyr5Sx/4yPrVqYRSYAZidp0/wCKyfrWcsiKUWZ/Zp9xP5RRAtMdkAHjCj3MVs4fhN07KE9Av13om3wPmzgeQJPqTFYy8iC5ZosUn8MO3hQPtCOiifqYFXW8InJJ8yT+ECt5MFZXkW8z+kCr0SflQAeVc8vLj8NFgZiraYaAEDwEfhTdkf18PPp61svw+fndvKQB7ACrrHD0X5U9T+U61nLzUi147ZlYbDA8i3loPc/lRiYc9Avlv7nWiMdjbVkfvXAMTlHzH/aJb1iKyMVx28VzYayQp/8AY6gewaZHjpXJLNPIzZQjDkM4ddS6txxAW25tszEbqAZ8oIrA+IuNOpjD3UykfMi525SJBOXSdSPKsjPcVcttAh+YtZTs2bT7RTWB9IoW7iGGbPoixqZDFYmMpYwdxGvKmoU7M5TbVIx8Xir92Dfa4yzMXJA05LmkTqOVVPirhzW7ZZU3CwVAAOhhdiddhrry2tXibm5mRmVACuYMM+0kjOWjU8gB67C4i6cqKSzEE5VKyRJ5t9udOXhpWxFFVxwe81wNqAQsgx1JK7RppMT4QenwuGNtFW2twIe8py3H31DaKQG3gaZYkjN8vPqGBWOzcgk5mBbXWMsDQeWk69DRD8SupIdlgAjJbMd7aDBBA6xvHjNUn2Jm1dPdVmu3AozD5WEBSYUSoBeSAehOvKs3FYh7pzOWboCSx7xgIo5kmB40IeIm6UzMQYVSXJgkQubeBpzgc/M6vC8INblq+FYMALyoz9noJYAgHPl0BG07jcbuajG/pnptgfE8Fbt3RhzcIfLluwAypdY6Ws0alRozCADI5Gh+xuXFzDvBZ+Ysrtl6kHvEaRBJ+laY+Gboi7aLvqxC5VZxHM5HkkiNRoCWEmJoSxcIIWMpnMAwIBJ3iSeRgjxNcsm2zTgqw2OfK5KF5IOXvT0LhjJOu/jl8aGbjQ5W583PL0rRJXPFt0zDMUkoNdYTOSAF1OhggigsbhWw5YNCtIChhOQZc0Tz3gb/AIU02uAINjGe7aY2wDsMxEOIiJYaGNA2v2Y2rpMSxZVIzJcGxRiCMvIkDbWNucaCsbg2FFxhcLhiSDlOwMx13ECJB+lbN1klFZSZMtczFezUbkBDJ3IiR1IiaFvyF9AXEhfyBXvrlMMMygPpzyJHeHiNxuNDQfDMlxltvnuZQYL51WNNAuZhJGXl9natDg3DkZmcFkKCQLndUA7wXAUjx15aVuWbSZwjDKsaOytGkkH5STsBIXmN9YdBuYWI4Slgq4ttnYZsqFrhcEkMUEDLk05HcUJmdrTW1wtzMbYVm/fu7QVOqFyiyQNAs+9dDxrBqqhrhYrK/wCWVaCxgGB4wIgQDtzoRsfhggYXLpuAKrdpcy5Q4mEAAMxv03G4mFRTb4OawGHuXmFoW0U20Otwtb7oYQNWAkEnb8qVbaYIXUV7AvX3clrjF4ynTQKM0CSdyTpuaVXsSbTXjMAT5UxR+keZA/GtNrPiY+n0pCyv9TH56H3r0nkOdQMtcMTu38oJ/GBViYRehPmY+g/Wt3B8ND6kkDqBP4kD2mj7fD7CHYt/EfyEfnWE/IijWOJs53D4ckhVUAnYKuvuda104Cd7j+mp+p29jWkrhfkUDyAH1Amn18B+NcuTym/6TaOFfSq3w+yoHdn8fXrVtrs0+RQJ6an848ql2fmfMwPrUb11EEu6oPWPc7VzPK3yzZQS+EizHbT6VHs53Mnw1rH4h8VYS0JzPc/hEj6wp9Jrncd8fXSYsoiLyJMk77CddfA7VG74G5RX075bcbL/ADH8hrWfi+PYa3o96TEhbSlpjxUED1IrzrFcSv32HaFpIACFmCkxBbINz6RvrW1wX4VtE9pibyBRBYB1J11jKDI6RE+NGhvlk+zpF+P/AMQAumHsgchcvEmT4Ku48QxrObi2MxB/eXu5OuUZVAJG+UaxvqOR1rT+ImwgVexwsxtcyamNCAxk67aknw51kYbCi4y9uYSdAPwUdfFiNZ1q1BIhzk/oXgLmFtmcockzJRjm8STE+XONQas+IXN6BmhAJhbZuNO2uU666Rp9a1sXZwVtUXsQSdVWQ9zbdu9yk7GBqZ6Yt3E4eCDirVjtDGRLchRy+SDG4LHMfHXVphKNbFmH4Rksl9FWMz9rOburJbuCI3jXymuMx2KN672do91iFBMgRoJM7D9KK+JONdqoQPmAYxGkjWCddPKTR3w9wjMbfZXrGurozvbusTINtly+BAhiOcElhVrfkl18MnE2bdq0rGy8nVWdXSY3bXltp4iqlw964GeyLptzEuygsYlhuAx56bDetzi+FLOFuNktAg3Rqp170FmEAAnaN+8QSdJcSvKqhcpI7ptI1lXXKolSHF3UGeYMwdNdduSODEPDsaCJtuJ2kr1AGs9SI66xMGAsPgXZzbKsXkiFGZpGpgA67H61qNYuXXAKJaA0kIbaKSCe9AkkgP1Jg+NEXb6WlICKFaSMtxmLBCO6wKmVbfUAaHXUCjTXLFfQ9uxZSyoY4i2dywt3FBOoAkA90DpuZqAvfs37zD37ud5YM3iACWVlEiJ1I1zD7prWXs7wRdFtZRdvsoYBbY+W2gInX3JY7jfmuKYlbjs6QoM6En5mkkgAwoEgAbQo56VL3Y0aOH4veconaQABmbMd0DGWBH2tBp0GkitX4m4olxbeXKtwgktcuyuVdFKnJmWSGMbTII6crhmdQAqt3mAzxChQSDqvInc/6COsWYS2DeLBwUtEsQ8MxtoZJykFYI8dC255yM1cJhWVVudnKgqAQHZSxfKkZQdRMKGjUUU/DyXykpmzd5P2fuhu6AlxySGMFZAHPnpXOXOJuzEsVlixcwAxLmSfMax609/ENkOZoDqYmDm5EiF3nmSPOr2X0VM0+Lvcw9zsglm2wjOLORvmJEFVLEnXaJjzo3t7ivlCBWySSHDBtYmY7smdCx/CeZuZQJKBRtAJzsDrmcZtvHfXfYgnhOHv4hiLZKiSR3sqhiNtu8YHn466zdjo2sPxfXvBFjQsDACmCWWMpgwDMnYehGP4uiWzKllcEBlABU6Szay/KJ+lZvEOB4u3bUtbd7KyytllGgM0dwztImeYggUJi8MRaW4hADBTlUuyjQlT39fsnly8KVgV28YTcyi6Wts3ezHvbSxOgkmI0jQATGtRt8UvLayC0htoHCO1tSUzbsrruZ5kmCTVdm4WAzINPtd1R5sTCj1I96lZ4kLWiqSu5WTkPXSfwiigNAY0MQLGS3C95nbJJzEQDqTtzYz4UqK4bwEYhM6WW6iUe2pB6MvdYg6QNhHU01Um0thUj03G2LDgAFk/gEk/7jrQtjAIpkMD5rr6/wBIrhLHHcdY+ZUugcx+7Y67mBkPqprWwnx/ZmL9t7f8SyD/AL7c+4Sk5zWxaUGds16QATJ5mntYctqF06nQVmYL4uwDADtUBMDRhOvRWh5/20dxHia27DPh8rv9gXSyRP2ibpUt5SN65ZSl0bxUewm4qoCXYADU65VA6yeXjWDxL44w1ru2hnbbuiBJMfMdW9K4TG4rF4q4RcF9o37p7NTOhWO568xtyqrBYEoM7ldNCVOhAmQQdfCNPxo0f6mQ8r+I2cZ8XYy5pbTJInuKCfVjPPpWFfvsdbr9o+57Rw+XfTX0M+HrQguFu6oISSfca6eI6Cr+ygAQfDYa7+tVsjJybIBge9v4wP7FWrdImCF6kQD6nc8tKlguHXL7i3aEvqx3CjbX6geula2E+Gngm4XaCJC2z1iBnGvjB506sSTMrAocxKs2szBjQaknbbfp0re4XxrDWFM22Z5kNmg6DWJGvtz3oPFYRLClu9qWn94AGtkaDKxDKZgyPLyyEuqwbKV5TmcCM2wJdspJg6a0bjTpnZ3fje0TGW5mMQA0AGZmOflHXaiD8QdpHcCiNSddOmhgVxWHNxsvZ2rknnkKyfBhAmetJ1v9ovetkrDEG4ruoBBIZZ18oI8apR7K1yNnOzuxUELA0kiRoFkjYaqPEnbYULj8OhUuz5VCklVG45zmEkmQBtWEWxCubcX85AYq+hIUEhobUjfUHXXrVvD7F7MsurBwXAulimaDOadA+66697oZrQgl8P4U3DcdVWAe6u7DUTlJMwFMHXmOdddwq92aTDG6xINxwwVACVhQZYtOnM7+uUOKW0RpUWWUdyAoTvEypy2yQZ1OhnqNaBxWLDuTaARYA7QKMx0glIEroTLRnMmIGlCTuhOSqyHELnbOyi2HYs3cUC2A0kS2XY7nKDI+0REURawi2WyJnxGJyLI3FsmNGYmFAJGv0E1KxjLFuyVsuyuRBuLZuNlE6hJAjcann9KsFxBLNtrVoX8znvXFtqrmRtme4YO+sSZPjL5D/clxu1GFRO27UC8C5B7punNmIMTADQBPKfLL+IeJ27uQIhhR8zmXJJ70x1IH9nTU4/xQdilg4N7ar8hLhDp/tMnvSfOs7h3BroCXYsNmDMEuHNAGgLbKCZJgkaDrAqUirCuE8Wuqlu3AyAEk5Qo6qdZzkaGdNSOmssH8PpeZQlu5laRoxGiiSSxVgGiNNR51Veu3sUQrdkNhC2rfLSQzy0+RFX9pcw6W0tXVjVtizCYJUhoiDI261Wl1wTqRoYz4Us2le4c4tDbvwWA0zQRqTvqVX0oLhvAwAXXMGJCqGIbSe9qAB0112mjcNevYlAt2+0E5RkRREA6lUWWJnpprO+mLYxt+00m52gH2SCsn+Lca+HtSSkhuSC8BwUKxLJmJnRwxHUGMkjQ/QDrEcZ8Nude2kEZ9QcqdQSSIgAbgaAdKvw3xAsjtEuL1b5xPMnLr9K1MPx202lu+qsY1yqX0OwVyCJEjTr1AI00xJ1MxLHwmzNN26MiAFgAMxBmAoUkkk8yNfSrrXCGDRIWNAIOUwPQiddDJ19uobiLMotyXGXWQBPKSNgPCYrKv4tlbRc9tdQFI7p577DwU1M41wNOzJvYC4y5mt5bYYDPcBAJOhhSAx100HpW1wnhUBgrpcWM2REdXkDMWaDJbNEADrpXQ8N47Zu2TbXIDEFAWtOA0yQJGsx8p3O+kU+D4NhM+ci7oQQknLMRrHfI5wM0wAdJByU48Nl6ZVaOMbhdm+SuGDvdZhMByq5iZLEyFJ1OvQfKAYvs8ACQptXEvKQwfEIoDSdkOaGiCRG016W3EMPYBVIk/YtrLxuWK8maI70TpJrk+M/HHeNu2dZEpZ/euI077/Kg5HdhHjpT/AARlcQx2KRhkN4SveYXrKrPIBLiGNNdN+pFPWRjLl+9/mdmmzKiAu4ERLMrKBsNIHIx1enYjXvcWVv8AMsDf7JK7ehoS9dwjf+px1nKw9NAR70Te4exnMsRt3vb5jt5A+lCYjBqp1P15THTyrsag0c38we7h8C0k2iJ5BBGnU9pJnnr60L/43Bqc1q5iLJ6oI/5ZyR7GjbmDjkfcVT+zVm8cGUpzRB1Zf8viN0+F5Gugxto4IH1qicS5yC7h75OmV7RSfZFHuaubDeNVPaI128Zio9Uex+yXQ9vgmNaCmDw7ZtQUvbjr/nwOXLeq+JcNxFn/ADcGbZP3cQkx4LLGKtuuWMvJP39GJ5azv5k1XkKkZSD5bjzBE0vSuw934ZuG4gyNNtL6t/pvCT4R2XgPai24heI7/abf+zFEnpoqlPYxXR8N45imZbUo4H31twBpuxWY22PStcfDmBxJHbi2jASThy6mM05MsFI32jflUvG0XHLexw+DxiwS1nCd493tLpuFQDJL52aZGgIjmcp2onGcWZreW2cPaIKkdkyhSFkxCgEb/ZGokHTSt/i3BOGWHAt4LEYgECYvm2qwTvOskR1GmnOs25awRQvb4e1rsyMzXcQ94PmBHZhRCqTvmMxlGmukU+i9S7Kcd8QXyM7G3oI7jXSDrHJdTMnoZG0UBYUpmG5IKtnGYnUHWeYYKR0KjpQlvDIDIUT1rQviWkfaCt6soLfUtW0YJcmMp2thjdc5Zdu4IWNIB3257a76VBV0AnToTO8A79YHtRAwrRtTdlG4q9KRFtkWclcukAz8on+aJjwmrcJZzOo8ddtue+m00gQKiuKKEMuWRqCZjz7rA/WhsEja4tjCEYDNlICLBMSNW1k84G42HlWNwwHtBqV01IQ3CANTCgGZiNudQfiz5CpZIJkjWCQZ1ObMdSTGbc1VbxhGsJPWCT5gsSVPiCKzs0fIR8SYQMtgIw0t6gbCTM9Jkn28q1eGWjktqupKOsE6nutuBJK6eG9ACxjbqK4tO1pRCt2WYADeLjA6DTSYHSdaFbid5CFzAZNQsCO8PqDvoYM8waQ7J8KIt3UYjQHUajcERyI+npR3H7BAWeRdYBLR3y25OuhG3hWOnELg1BWdNTatHbwKx9Kh/wCQvRGeR4paIJ0GxWNgB5CKr6L4bPCbkW2AfKc6vqoMEfaE7EfXT0H43glt3mGcMD3gQV2kjUA6agis39uu694gHSFCgewFWJdZwMzu0bZyTG23tRW4fBjZA2P1FUOik97KfODT39NqHRWaYEwCx8hEnxiR70MEi12C/JcdY2ys0adAdKqt8RuqZkGJ1Oh18RUcNYuXSFtozliAMqlpJMch1rvMb/hgy2yExSNfBnKVi2wiTlcFiNNZPhOXMKzaiaJM4ccRlgzBg0g5liZ6jbXz96373xqSmQdosHMCEtkTljUZgd5IIYEZiNoofi3wPi7CoZs3S7hFSxczvJBPy5RpoRPXpQlv4O4g22Fu7T3hk/8A7jrUKMfhXBZe46txQl29d7PXNbtWbdoGQR3iHObeYOk+9UnillSBaNwJzVrazPUkMZ9RUcd8K42zHa2MuYwO/baT07rGDodD0PQwNa4DiSSDadQNWYiQBEkiPmgawOh6GKoLCrPGE21C7gKm3hqT1NKtLD/COGyqzcWwqEgEo4hkJAOVhn0I29DSo4B77nXX7WY6k94E/nWbj7QykHUGJB5xr6GlSrqfBkPfBttaQkNmOWTMgCB11NSvYKYAOpBIJEgR1EifcUqVR8Gc3duPc0DZOpUanUDeZA15fWtK38MJ/wCPu427duP2cxbmFMEDVtTuZjbSlSrGTKRi2MCSqtbc2+6DHePKYnMPAelQsW2ZWOaIMHQa0qVRGTsJIZbbAA5t/AfnNaXDuI3UtvBXcgHLqNvGOfTlSpU3JiSTB8Rj7wGY3CdQIPPz8PCiOIWWNsnMAsIyqF2LKA0me8TprHL0pUqSbsdKjJTDn730/rWvhmCW0JGb5l6bMTP/AC+lKlWkpMlRW5Xe4t/o+vh5UOmIzmIifGlSqHOQ9CPQfgr4Ywl2y92+j3CgJy9oUUweiQR6k1jY3/EFbLMmD4dhLOUkFnU3GMc5GQ+80qVO2XFIFuf4m4+Iy4USDMWmHhp+88KycPgRdUXXPec6xpqTqd6VKk2DQVjr2JC2rNvFXrdq4I7MO+QANljLm1B3I2M7Ulw75Lr3rpvfvCpzyWLA/MGnQHTSDtSpVIGVdS2rEZGgEj5v6UTh7CEKSgM+L9QOTeNKlVWTQVhBbBA7G2c0DXOY0BnvOetR41hxmt5QqBoEKsbqW668hSpUmUirBYBS6q2oZgDM89NNaL+JLjWlREgQlyTlG11yjKByH7sGNdSaelTkKJUn+IPElVUF9IVQoJs2mMLoJLKdaExnxhj7ylL2IDodGTsrIBE/6UBFKlSSLbAeGrmvq2guMQUcSOzK6AwD3thoa1OIfFeP7VkGJgTyt2tJnqs/abc86VKm+SUTdMZiIFzHXGWZykHLPioYA1rfs37vsyROUDNlG4AEgbDYaGdhSpUCAcbhBaALQ8nXuINYEEypkxp+lNSpVlJ7mkVsf//Z" 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<b>Monday</b> is like leaving Swansea after a restful weekend, like setting out on your journey. Duty and adventure call and, although you look back longingly at home and a warm bed, you travel with purpose and perhaps some degree of reconciliation. This simply has to be done.<br />
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" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for Newport" border="0" height="133" 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" 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<b>Tuesday </b>is rather like Newport. You feel as though you have already come such a long way but there is yet so much further to go. A sense of resignation sets in as you accept there is no turning back.</div>
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VBeBibonRt0Im2F5vM4TfdwlysMya3TBv1TcRgcAgr1GNkZkuwOFwOkBwuI2rmUiRNwwxx1haTKIuF5jROrTDYKYSKYkltMayQ2eV/NUZ1OyE3w7DT2eF8JlSyZrS64RfpJuExJiL966tlik32c552DNbzN54LPtOVHvkCGjUMfvG9TcVPy8mbtuO7UNimnbXaDm7QADftxVCmb05rVnanh0m88VtZBs9So1+Zm3O+k6L4xjSsJzY27Ft9Ennrwwkhrg45oJAJAuMa0l0NCpkW0Oxczg6PKUn5sVtbOZ+C9eKY2qQwJ3q9Y8JXyY5rxRJGcS0TN3aw0K6Oi1XWzmf+KuZQb+mN+1T8l6TNCZVJHkB0Xq+9T5n4Jdq6P1KbTULmw2MCZvMatq9nmhUctNHUP3D8QUmS6ebo5CdWaHtc0CIgzNxKP5qP/WM7/gtrITwKInWfFRbsptaLlbldkxeatmSn0cCHAi8jbdEFUGUzOF60LZbC8qzk2wTeVdppFgyVUqSSQy+cA6Z43K6OjB/WD7n8y2rJZwArUDWs9q11ea+ap/W/ufzKR0W/wDL+7/MvRyNagkeinap1jz/AM2B+sP3fzUt6MM01HcAFukjWoLxtTtTUYZ6M0/ff3IR0ZZ77u5bheFxcNqu6ajE+bdP3ndy75uU/ed3fBbBeNqEu2FN1NMg9HaWt3MfBctadhXJumo8ZSszRom+bzdMaIjxVpjCMBm8A34SqNXKGbpay7RjzxKz6+Ugdbt9wV7JptOqsGLpP1RPekVcoNbg3i8+QuWDUtrjhdu+KrkzjfvU7U017TlhxuDjGpvZCyqr84ycUIXKKII2oQjagOnjwRF14QtxXP8AigY584CFr9E/+pp7c78DljNxWv0YMWqnvd+ByD6EKe/mVOYNZ5lRnrz/AEqyxUo5jaZAzg6TEkRmxHMrM9aBld2baQdRZ5L0zWCN+0r5jaMrVXuznOk3XwNGCst6SWkCOsw+q34LdjMfRTTCysu1QKZGsgY7Z8l453SK0n/M/db8FXrZWrP9p8wZwHkFJPVtehbXzaYG/vKzarpKzDbnnE4LRsDc8Aq38kvi9YLJJC9PZKAAwWbYKYx1esFsUXAaVm0i3TYEeaEkVwNPgp+UhYdZrRjmoS1LNob6CF1oCqXRpCjNCWbQh+UKsmEIYCWa+xAbQdSaNmlqiAldedSg1Tq7lfU2aBvXKv1pXJ6PkilQiCrIVyIhCglq4KQFwQEETVClqA2YqamhQw3qamKA2i9afR8xaKZ2n8LlnNF6u5IMV6f2kH0E2gc+a830ksT6xaQW9kERfpjXuWq983T4eSo2m0iYDjJ1X71I08nWsbmmCh+TO1LTtD5M/lxhIc/8lrbKgaRUikVbhNZTvTYrU7C46Qt3J9hLWgZw14cUFClhctSgxBastnuEnuu5KzToDWNOI8UmlTjT48dHmntu0ngJ53LKmNpaceHmmdUI0cUkukXAm/TI8lzg4aOF6jZrKO7ko6oavLneggzoA3eaFzD/AFnuICIc6kDgDz8b0Jb69FBm7+BnnKHNvwPf4SiJcTrjcJQGfe8vBSRfh4916lgB+jHPzVCxUI+kO/4rnPOv1yTIGo+tyB8e7zxREB/1u8LkBqN1N5OUKj5ciCgIgiOQkIioKCQoClQgNS1QpagNmKl+PrWop4onYoGtxVixf4jMPaGOCQ3FOsxh7dHaGzSNKD0+Y6b3CIw7MeAKo2sGIv2JtSq2ImdkzfwVC0Gfyzj3EqNE1iP6pDfWCY7VPciYxVNOpD1grtJm5Ips9XK7RpxEbN0IaWrOzy9b1fa2bu/FVLMzf4eCv0RKU0dQG8ck9gOnn4SJQMG3VohPbTOvhf8AFZrUicw4xxAjzRXjAHuE96KnTjS7iZ8VzqIP0p4rO3TqAskAROwwu6k6WLn0dZB3uJ7oQBgjERq0br02liXN2d0+aTUeB7Q7vzUVKLRf2L8dPPBS1o0Bq0xQOII8s3BD1o9mBzHgEy/6QaeBPiuOGDRwQKc6DjdxnwXGoNLgOHxROaSMY3D43IWMOkn1uCqIFXYPXFcinafXBcqPlYRBSuRlBXLlyCQh0rlyA1IXLkB08VLva5LlyCwMUyh7bPtN8QpXINW3tAEgQqsXHd8Vy5SNEk3prFy5VVumrdAXrlyC5ZsRxWgz1yXLlKLNP4KzTwXLliukUbc8h9xI3GNSt0TLZN++9cuUv2Wf7D0gaFL8ApXI0W8XIHG8KFyrFBVxPBIruOdjoC5ctRil0DJM3omi8rly0z8CAXLlyD//2Q==" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for severn bridge" border="0" height="149" 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" 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<b>Wednesday</b> is like arriving at the Severn Bridge. Surely this is a major stage on your journey, signalling real progress made. Of course, the other side of the bridge is England but, as my mother used to say, you can't have everything and, while the road actually rises from the bridge, you feel as if the hardest part is behind you and you are on the downward ride to your destination.<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTIYa1QWajjg_jrcXlVnhL3Ruw2y5Gx1yupEhVxexXHXmA-p0OcVA" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for Swindon" border="0" height="136" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTIYa1QWajjg_jrcXlVnhL3Ruw2y5Gx1yupEhVxexXHXmA-p0OcVA" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>Thursday</b> is like Swindon. Here is where reality kicks in and reminds you that, despite your effort and perseverance, there is yet some distance to travel. Like someone popping into the pub Thursday evening for a drink and to find consolation with fellow travelers, you pull into the Leigh Delamare service area for a much needed break.<br />
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" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for Reading Service area M4" border="0" height="149" 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" 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<b>Friday</b> is like the Reading service area. There is a real sense of an end in sight. Soon you will see the familiar signs for Heathrow Airport and you eagerly count down the last few junction numbers. But this part of the motorway proves much busier than at your starting point. People are driving faster, more erratically at times. It is just like a Friday afternoon when the weekend is in sight yet there is still much to before you can to walk away from work and enjoy your destination in peace.<br />
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<b>The weekend</b> is like London, your destination and, just like visiting any big city, there are highs and lows, bright lights and dark corners. The weekend, like the city, has its attractions and distractions, fulfillment and disappointment, but seldom lives up to its reputation. The weekend is, in anticipation, more than it is in its in realization. It brings rest, recuperation, and hopefully a fresh resolve to make better of things but, come Monday morning...Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-62743210697881983532015-10-31T22:07:00.001+00:002015-10-31T22:07:45.407+00:00Halloween: its Pagan So Get Over It.<p>Halloween, and we have spent the afternoon with family in Mumbles. A leisurely walk along the front to Verdi’s, ice cream cones, and a stroll back to the car. We saw witches, zombies, and monsters, none more than four feet tall, bless them, and a husky dog dressed as a witch, complete with pointy hat, cloak, and bat wings. Shop workers were getting ‘into the spirit of things,’ suitably daubed with blood, and as we arrived home in the early dusk, parents were walking out with their kids ready to trick-or-treat.</p> <p>Here in the UK, Halloween has a patchy history and receives a mixed reception. You won’t need to look far to find someone who will tell you, ‘We never had Halloween when I was growing up.’ Its true enough for a certain generation, although it goes back further than people imagine, as far as the 16th century at least. I never went trick-or-treating. In my childhood the day passed unremarked as we looked forward to November 5th and the opportunity to burn an effigy of a Catholic (C’mon, you know that’s what it is). Brits of a certain age will complain about its alien nature, ‘another American import,’ and about the commercialisation.</p> <p>The younger generation, however, don’t appear to have a problem. They have grown up in a world that sells them, whether Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Diwali, Samhain, Thanksgiving, Hannukah, you name it, and for them Halloween has always been – hasn’t it?</p> <p>In the United States it seems to be an institution and Christians here have puzzled over how it could sit so easily with so many American Christians. Yet, here we are, facing the same challenge; what do Christians do with Halloween?</p> <p>You will recognise the word ‘hallow’ perhaps from the Lord’s Prayer – ‘Hallowed be your name.’ We’ll come back to that. To hallow something is to honour it as holy. The plural, hallows, means ‘saints’ and Halloween is short for ‘All Hallows Eve,’ All Saints Eve, and is celebrated on 31 October in a number of countries. It marks a time when, in some Christian traditions, the dead are remembered, including saints and martyrs.</p> <p>How is it celebrated? Well, Christians in some places will go to church, sometimes abstention from meat is involved, eating certain fruits and vegetables helping to keep the vigil, hence the tradition of bobbing for apples. But, lets be frank, the Halloween I saw today, the one we fret about as Christians is anything but Christian in its content and culture. This is because this is a Pagan holiday, Samhain, that has been ‘baptised’ into the Christian Church in much the same way as Christmas. The latter might be said to be a successful ‘conversion’ inasmuch as people do identify it with Christ, even if their celebrations are worldly and commercial. The latter has failed to catch people’s imagination and is marked with involvement in the occult and divination, from the relatively harmless trick-or-treating, to the more serious celebrations held by Pagans across the world.</p> <p>The picture (right) is called Snap-Apple Night painted by Irish artist Daniel Maclise in 1833. It was inspired by a Halloween party he attended in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The caption reads:<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WWzLYZRIpuU/VjU7qC1WvLI/AAAAAAAANbg/GgJGikoWc0o/s1600-h/Snap-Apple_Night_globalphilosophy%25255B9%25255D.png"><img title="Snap-Apple_Night_globalphilosophy" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Snap-Apple_Night_globalphilosophy" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a0Gw-kPkG5I/VjU7r8JM0qI/AAAAAAAANbo/yLOx-V9hs5Y/Snap-Apple_Night_globalphilosophy_thumb%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="293" align="right" height="197"></a><br></p> <blockquote> <p><i>There Peggy was dancing with Dan<br></i><i>While Maureen the lead was melting,<br></i><i>To prove how their fortunes ran<br></i><i>With the Cards could Nancy dealt in;<br></i><i>There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will,<br></i><i>In nuts their true-love burning,<br></i><i>And poor Norah, though smiling still<br></i><i>She'd missed the snap-apple turning.</i></p></blockquote> <p> </p> <p>It is a festival associated in people’s minds with ghosts, ghouls, witches, divination, tricks, and customs that far pre-date Christianity and have nothing to do with the Christian faith. For genuine Pagans it is as much a part of their calendar as is Easter for Christians, or Diwali for Hindus. For Christians there are clear warnings in Scripture against calling up the dead, divination, fortune-telling, and other occult practices. On the other hand, it is part of this world, and Christians are in this world, though we should not be of this world. It is a Pagan festival marked with distinctly Pagan symbolism and we are not Pagans, so why do Christians Celebrate Halloween? Indeed, we are to Hallow the name of God, and that means having no gods before him. We are a holy people, meaning set apart for service to God.</p> <p>Christians are meant to be a light in a dark world and so we shouldn’t be surprised by the darkness, or that the world embraces the world’s own ways. Nor should we shake our fist at the darkness, which just looks silly. Its dark, get over it. We are not of this world and, while we pray for the world, witness to the world, and hope for the world, we should know that this world will pass away. Meanwhile, surely it is better to light one candle than curse Pagans for doing what Pagans do. How you do that will be different for different people, but we can’t be a light if we don’t stand in stark contrast to the darkness, and whatever we do must, surely, Hallow the name of God.</p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-58135478103894135732015-10-19T22:32:00.001+00:002015-10-19T22:32:56.263+00:00Fishers of Men, Makers of Disciples<p>When Jesus called James and John, he said, <em>‘Follow me , and I will make you become fishers of men.’</em> (Mark 1:17)</p> <p>Have you ever been fishing? You should go. You can learn a lot from fishing. My older cousin took me fishing when I was a teenager. I learned to cast a line, draw in a fish, kill it, clean it, and cook it. The first time he went fishing he literally cut a pole from a tree, tied some twine to it, hung a safety pin and bait on the end and waited for the fish to bite; very Huckleberry Finn. He quickly learned the importance of good equipment, the right bait, and the value of patience.<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i2vduuqHDq4/ViVvjEUgmyI/AAAAAAAANaE/KuJZZCJ0nuQ/s1600-h/Discipleship-costs3.jpg"><img title="Discipleship costs" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Discipleship costs" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z3aPjhebsYs/ViVvjzB-t8I/AAAAAAAANaM/RVgrzH_ClEs/Discipleship-costs_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="208" align="right" height="208"></a></p> <p>You have to have a good rod and line, ideally more than one, depending on whether you are fly fishing, using a spinning lure, or sticking a worm on your hook. Your equipment will be determined by what you will be fishing for, river trout, salmon, bream, carp, etc. and that will determine where and when you fish. You need a lot of patience, you see the fish don’t want to be caught. But it is all worth it when you land a decent trout, prepare it, cook it and put it on a plate in front of someone you care for.</p> <p align="left">If you went to the fish market with a fishing rod and announced you had come to fish, people would think you mad. The fish here are already caught, killed, and fresh ready for the table. In the fish market and kitchen you need a completely different set of skills and tools. What you will buy will depend on how confident you are, although fish are always pretty easy to cook. You will need to have kitchen implements instead of rod and line, condiments have to be carefully chosen, a cooking method decided upon, steaming, grilling, frying, etc. and something like vegetables, or salad and suchlike, to complement the meal.</p> <p>Evangelism and discipleship are like that. When you evangelise you need a particular set of tools and skills, depending on who you will want to reach out to – children, students, adults, neighbours – and you need a lot of patience because, you see, they don’t want to get caught either. People don’t wake up one day thinking, ‘I hope a Christian comes by today and evangelises me.’ We need to test our methods, ask if our message is clear, whether we are speaking to the heart of their questions, and we need to persevere.</p> <p>Before ascending back to the Father, Jesus charged his disciples:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And, behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’</em> (Mt.28:17-20)</p></blockquote> <p>When people become Christians, they are meant to be as committed as those fish in the fish market, dead to their old lives and environment; there is no going back. The difference is, the fish remain dead, but Christians are born again into a new reality. The tools we need to deal with the saved are different from those we use to reach the lost. To make converts we need tools that bid them come, to make disciples we need tools that bid them grow. To the lost we unpack the bad news of their lost state, and bring the good news of Christ. To the saved we unpack the good news of their saved state and bring the challenge of kingdom living.</p> <p>Too often I see the tools of evangelism brought to the task of discipleship. It does no good to use a lure to win your congregation to the church programme, to encourage engagement. Such a course produces a people who feel they must be convinced all the time, won over to the work of the kingdom. But they are already committed in becoming Christians and if they don’t understand that something is wrong. It only confuses, even robs people, to treat them as though still needing to be persuaded. A church is ill-served that is served the milk and not the meat of the gospel. Paul writes to the church in Corinth, <em>‘Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly – mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready for it.’</em> (1 Cor.3:1-2)</p> <p>There is a sense of frustration here that, with the passing of time, there is still a singular lack of maturity where Paul looked for it. The writer to the Hebrews strikes the same vexed tone:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>‘We have much to say…but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, 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.’</em> (Heb.5:11-14)</p></blockquote> <p>Paul sees the fault in a church that fails to respond and grow. Today, I wonder how many churches are in that place because leaders are evangelising the saved, and not discipling them, chiding congregations for not getting involved, when those congregations are ill-prepared for involvement because not discipled. Used to being evangelised, ‘Why should we do this?’ they ask, expecting to be continually persuaded and convinced of the worth of kingdom living before launching out on the course set before them. Such people, to use a sporting analogy, may know the rules of the game, be familiar with the ideas of evangelism, discipleship, worship, and sacrifice, but don’t know the game. They are on the field of play, but have no instinct for what they are meant to do when the whistle blows. Such instinct comes from the discipline of training, learning it, and doing it until it becomes second nature to think and act like a disciple.</p> <p>I spoke recently to an old friend I hadn’t seen in some time. He told me that his church was doing alright but that people ‘come and go.’ Its a common enough experience as Evangelical Christians across the city, and no doubt across the country, jump from bandwagon to bandwagon, following the crowd to the latest excitement and commotion. Of course, there will always be those spiritual gypsies who wander from place to place, whatever provision a church makes. But what of those who ‘move on’ because where they are simply isn’t meeting their need for discipleship. People have an instinct for growth, for asking ‘what happens now?’ and what are they to do when it appears to be ‘happening’ over there and not where they are?</p> <p>The greatest obstacle to a church’s growth and development is not the challenges it faces, but the challenges it is protected from. Challenge people in discipleship and they will grow to be the people God intended them to be.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vOOQvTT4Lug/ViVvkjQKimI/AAAAAAAANaU/K22gfpYrVAQ/s1600-h/Cost-of-Discipleship-David-Platt3.png"><img title="Cost of Discipleship David Platt" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Cost of Discipleship David Platt" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r9wdeZmOQUQ/ViVvlvlvSWI/AAAAAAAANaY/4wNgwT6Aoos/Cost-of-Discipleship-David-Platt_thu.png?imgmax=800" width="350" height="235"></a></p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-71433614514600728512015-10-10T13:34:00.001+00:002015-10-10T13:34:13.868+00:00The First Commandment Ever<p>When we talk about ‘the first commandment’ we think about Exodus 20 verse 3, <em>‘You shall have no other gods before me.’</em> This is, of course, the first commandment in the Decalogue and is a reminder to God’s newly redeemed people that God alone is God. It seems that God’s people have always needed reminding of this. In Genesis God gave man the most privileged status in creation; made in the image and likeness of God, with god-like dominion over and responsibility for the whole created order (Gen.1:26) charged with stewarding the earth as would God were he to take direct control. This is illustrated in the story of Adam naming the animals in Genesis 2:19-20.<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k56IVQzMlvc/VhkT0eBJigI/AAAAAAAANZk/sseL9p8Bw6s/s1600-h/Giovanni_Battista_Foggini_-_The_Fall_of_Man_-_Walters_54676%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="Giovanni Battista Foggini (?). 'The Fall of Man,' ca. 1650-1700. bronze. Walters Art Museum (54.676): Acquired by Henry Walters, 1903." style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Giovanni Battista Foggini (?). 'The Fall of Man,' ca. 1650-1700. bronze. Walters Art Museum (54.676): Acquired by Henry Walters, 1903." src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PJgeXW5DTEs/VhkT1LSSadI/AAAAAAAANZo/juerC5NRp_k/Giovanni_Battista_Foggini_-_The_Fall_of_Man_-_Walters_54676_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="162" align="right" height="244"></a></p> <p>There is only one commandment to regulate them; <em>‘Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’</em> (Gen.2:17 ESV) Everything else is instruction to the stewarding of the creation. ‘<em>Knowledge of good and evil’</em> is popularly understood as moral discrimination, often involving sexual awareness. This makes little sense in light of the fact that a) the man and the woman were instructed to procreate -<em>‘multiply and fill the earth’</em> Gen.1:28 and b) given a moral choice regarding this tree, which would make no sense if they had no moral compass.</p> <p>‘<em>Knowledge of good and evil’</em> is a literary device called a merism. A merism expresses totality by reference to polarity. Examples are heaven and hell, east and west, near and far. When Jesus declares, <em>‘people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God,’</em> (Luke 13:29) he means people will come from everywhere. The points of the compass are the polarities, and everything in between is everywhere. When Paul writes of preaching peace <em>‘to you who were far off and peace to those who are near’</em> (Eph.2:17) he means preaching peace to everyone, far, near and in between.</p> <p>The knowledge of good and evil is knowledge of everything, from the greatest good, to the greatest evil. One act of man, of course, cannot automatically endow him with omniscience. He doesn’t come to know all things in an instant, this doesn’t mean simple perception of abstracts. Reaching for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents man seeking a creaturely source of discernment, an independence from God, a ‘knowing’ that doesn’t involve God. We see this in Genesis 3 where Eve acted independently of God’s command. At the serpent’s prompting Eve, having clearly understood God’s injunction that eating this fruit would be a bad thing, decided, ‘I’ll be the judge of that!’ In his book, <em>Remaking a Broken World</em>, Christopher Ash describes how man’s disobedience made man ‘a rival to God.’</p> <p>At the centre of the garden are trees representing life and knowledge, the kind of life (eternal) and knowledge (omniscient) that God alone has. If we want life it is to him we must go, and God’s provision of life depends on man’s dependence on God. If we want knowledge it is to God we must go, and man’s seeking to ‘know’ as only God can know is man’s attempt to put himself at the centre. This first command is God reminding man that he is a creature, that his privileged position, his god-like status, should not blind him to the fact that he is not God. ‘Do not make yourself the judge of what is good and what is evil.’</p> <p>Not only were the Hebrews of the Exodus reminded that God alone is God, in the New Testament we find the exact same command. Jesus, <em>‘in whom was life’</em> (John 12:4) and to whom all judgement is given (John 5:24-27) re-enacts this episode as he begins to initiate the new creation saying, <em>‘Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged’</em> (Matthew 7:1-2) Jesus is not talking about our every day value judgements, how we decide the course and company of our lives. Just as Adam was given god-like discernment to wisely steward the earth, so we are to be discerning in the conduct of our lives (Mt.6:1,5,16 c.f.) What we are not to do is put ourselves in the place of God, to judge one another, to ‘know’ good and evil as only God is able to do.</p> <h3>Charity, Mercy, and Scapegoats</h3> <p>In a recent Bible study we looked at Romans 9:1-29, a passage about God’s sovereignty. I put this scenario to the group:</p> <blockquote> <p>Ten people are guilty of exactly the same crime. The judge decides to show mercy to and pardon all but one, who serves the full sentence. How would you evaluate the judge’s decision? (Life-builder Series, <em>Romans</em>, Jack Kuhatschek)</p></blockquote> <p>Everyone thought this unjust. ‘If one is punished, all should be punished!’ they insisted, ‘If nine are freed all should be freed!’ One declared, ‘If that was my husband I would not call that justice.’ Some speculated that perhaps the judge knew things we didn’t, even though I had said all were guilty of exactly the same crime. Others thought the judgement achieved something in making the one pay the price as an example, even suggesting this one was a scapegoat. I reminded them that the man was guilty, while the only thing the scapegoat was guilty of was being a goat.</p> <p>What fascinated me was that the question was put in terms of mercy, while the discussion revolved entirely around justice. We are not God, to know good and evil. I told the story of a refugee family we knew whose daughters were high achievers but their family could not afford to send them to university. The local newspaper picked up the story and charitable provision was forthcoming to send them to Oxford. Typically, some people were not happy with this, insisting that ‘home-grown’ students must surely be more deserving of this charity. Just as in the discussion about the merciful judge, people completely missed the point that it is in the nature of charity that it is undeserved.</p> <p>As we worked through those 29 verses we began to see that it is God’s sovereign choice that decides who benefits from the promises of God. That human descent is not the deciding factor. That, in choosing Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, God is exercising mercy and sovereignty, a mercy that culminates in Christ, in whom all, Jew and Gentile, may come to know the riches of his mercy (Romans 9:24)</p> <blockquote> <p><em>‘Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved,’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called, ‘sons of the living God.’ </em>(Romans 9:25-26)</p></blockquote> <p>Mankind has god-like qualities, attributes of God that God himself has graciously gifted to us. Hamlet soliloquises:</p> <blockquote> <p>What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!<br>how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how<br>express and admirable! in action how like an angel!<br>in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the<br>world! the paragon of animals!</p></blockquote> <p>This is heady stuff and the very first command ever reminds us of our creaturely nature. And when man forgets who he is before the one true God neither mercy, nor justice are served.</p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-81621689091183070962015-09-10T11:34:00.001+00:002015-09-10T11:34:12.654+00:00What’s in a Name?<p><img title="" style="float: right; display: inline" alt="Siloence is Golden" src="http://drinksdaily.com/wp-content/uploads//2009/06/trappsitmonk-198x300.gif" width="119" align="right" height="180">I went to the doctor with a sore throat and came back with <em>laryngitis</em>; that’ll teach me! I have to stop talking – for a week! (my wife said the hardest thing would be not talking to myself which I do a lot) Hot drinks are banned (oh, my beloved tea!) plenty of cold water and rest for my throat. This is new to me and quite painful. I don’t get things like this. Arthritis and haemorrhoids are more my territory, those and a morbid distrust of builders; but that’s another story. </p> <p><em>Laryngitis</em> is an inflammation of the voice box and gives you – a sore throat. Is it just a fancy name for a sore throat then? I suppose it is. I have been here before. Years ago I went to the doctor with a bad back and came home with <em>lumbago</em>, which is a pain in the lower back – a bad back.Effectively, I told my doctor I had a pain in my back and he told me I had a pain in my back. What is it about Latin and ailments? Do the experts imagine that walking out of the surgery with a Latin name makes the suffering more bearable? Anyway, enough of my ailments, or <em>aegritudines</em> - Silence, monk, Latin, I didn’t just throw this together you know.</p> <p>The doctor I saw was a charming young woman by the name of ‘Doctor C. Green.’ I don’t know what the C stands for but what a great name for someone working in a city by the coast! But that’s nothing compared to the name of my optician; Charles Dickens! The most cheerful chap you could ever hope to meet so I assume he has forgiven his parents and learned to live with it. I wonder how many times someone introduced to him at a party said, ‘You’re kidding!’ I promise I never have. I was not at that party.</p> <p>When we watch TV (something we do with increasing infrequency these days. Have you seen the dross, the parade of grotesques – grossly fat, alarmingly thin, disfigured by bad taste, botoxed, occupationally retarded, stupidly drunk and eminently arrestable - that passes for entertainment night after night these days?) But when we do watch I am pleasantly surprised by the deliciously exotic names I can find in the credits. Just flicking through the TV guide I find Claudia Winkleman, Olly Murs, Yannick Bisson (Murdoch Mysteries), Elijah Wood (well, he would), Barbara Broccoli (good for you?), Kirsty Wark (Too attractive to be an alien surely) – and those are the famous ones.</p> <p>Watch the TV news and see the names that come up in the strapline during interviews. They are positively brimming with the exotic, the mysterious, and the downright quirky. If I was writing a story and wanted to come up with eye-catching and memorable names one night of viewing would give me all I need. Of course, I would have to time it so I only watched the credits; there’s only so much a man should suffer for his art.</p> <p>With regards the <em>laryngitis</em>, that not talking to myself thing is going to rob me of some seriously important therapy and, by the shape of this post, you are getting a session free! I am going to have to write more, that’s all, and change the names to protect the guilty (but you know who you are). I was looking for a picture of a Trappist monk to go with this meandering piece on silence when I came across this picture. I thought it was hilarious; I also originally thought it was surely a hen night but, to my delight, it was every bit as good as it first seemed.</p> <p> </p> <p><img src="http://www.chelsey.co.nz/uploads/thumbnails/450x450/0e/0ec363e0035197f9790f8e2bb63c8c50966bfd96.jpg"></p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-44378301516141762842015-08-05T11:16:00.001+00:002015-08-05T11:16:04.666+00:00Living as a Christian in a Pagan Society<h3>Wisdom from 1 Thessalonians 4 </h3> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Eqit0D_Ab8w/VcHwb1WoBQI/AAAAAAAANWI/Rh-xmMXhV5I/s1600-h/Cristo_e_gli_apostoli%252520by%252520Sergio%252520Bramante%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Cristo_e_gli_apostoli by Sergio Bramante" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Cristo_e_gli_apostoli by Sergio Bramante" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kb0nMplA7JM/VcHwcxKMDUI/AAAAAAAANWM/49i9DvRlpmQ/Cristo_e_gli_apostoli%252520by%252520Sergio%252520Bramante_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="316" align="right" height="213"></a>The word 'disciple' occurs over 250 times in the New Testament so it seems important enough for us to understand it. Jesus invites us to a new way of life, a life we can only fully know if we follow him. Those who follow him are called disciples. A disciple is is a learner, a pupil, an apprentice. <i>'The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch'</i> (Acts 11:26).<i> </i>A Christian, then, is a disciple of Jesus. <p>The chapter we are looking at is best summed up in verse one, <i>'How to live in order to please God.' </i>A disciple is one who strives to do just that.<i> </i>If you want to live in order to please God you need to know what it will cost you. The context is very important if we are to appreciate its application today. Paul was writing to a church living in what was a hostile environment for Christians and we are beginning to experience this today in what is traditionally a broadly Christian country. <p>We are living in a time when principles established over thousands of years are overturned as easily it seems as a row of dominoes. Marriage is being radically redefined, and in ways that are not pleasing to God; what one actor describes as serial monogamy is being seen as a virtue; celebrity is celebrated over gifting, sacrifice, and service; gambling is part of our tax system; Christians are being sacked for sharing their faith at work, and street preachers are being arrested for simply quoting the Bible. <p>As Christians, what are we to make of the world's frantic flight from all that is Godly? It seems so sudden, when only a generation or two ago, such things were simply unthinkable. How are we to live in this world to please God? <p> <h3>Being Holy </h3> <p>This has been a major theme throughout the Bible. When man's sin was ripe God called Abraham out of Babylon, where he had been living as a Pagan, and set him apart. God called Abraham to live differently to those people around him, to be holy. Holy means, set apart for a special purpose, set apart for God. Abraham was told that nations would come from him, that through him salvation would come to the whole world. This was God's purpose in calling him. <p>So Abraham's family were different, lived differently, and looked for the day when God would fulfil his promises. Christians are in that place today, living differently, waiting for God to fulfil his promises. <p>When God brought the children of Abraham, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, he brought them to the foot of the mountain, gave them the law, and told them to live differently, faithfully to the God who saved them: <p><i>Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. </i><i>Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.</i> <p><i>You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim </i> <p><i>(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.</i> (Exodus 34:11-16) <p>When God's people renewed the covenant at Shechem Joshua challenged Israel: <p><i>'Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.'</i> (Joshua 24:15) <p>The gods of Egypt, the gods of Canaan, or the LORD; choose! <p> <h3>The Wrong Choice </h3> <p>When the people of God demanded of Samuel a king to rule them, they didn't simply say, <i>'we want a king.'</i> They said, <i>'Now appoint us a king to lead us, such as all the nations have.'</i> (1 Samuel 8:5) God called them to be holy, but they insisted on being base, like other nations. <p>Their sin could not have been worse and God comforts a shocked Samuel, <i>'It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing now.'</i> (1 Samuel 8:7-8) <p>Their sin was not simply demanding a king, their sin was rejecting the King! It is a sorry tale and it continues into the New Testament. It is a theme we find in the New Testament community of God's people, the church. Paul's letters frequently address the issue; how do we live in order to please God? It puzzles me when I come across Christians who seem to believe they can live the way of the world and still please God. <p> <h3>Thessalonica </h3> <p>We can learn a lot from Paul's letter to the church in Thessalonica. In Paul's day, the divisions between church and society were extreme and often dangerously so. He reminds his readers: <p><i>'It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him...For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.'</i> (1 Thess.4:3-7) <p>Paul even goes so far as to echo God's words to Samuel, writing, <i>'He who rejects this instruction [to live holy lives] does not reject man but God, who gives you the Holy Spirit.'</i> Once again God's people must choose: the gods of this unholy society, or the Lord! <h5>Thessalonica had much in common with Swansea:</h5> <p>Like Swansea, it had a population of about 200,000; like Swansea, it was a sea port and so was quite cosmopolitan; like Swansea, it sat on the main road through the province; like Swansea, it was a regional capital. <p>It was Greek, with a small Jewish population, and so converts came mostly from a pagan background. Everything Paul said and taught was opposed to popular thinking, and his purpose was to encourage Christians as they lived in a society hostile to Christian thinking and practice. Let me draw some parallels for you. <p>In the Greco/Roman world female infanticide was rife across all classes. Female infants, and deformed male infants, were regularly and legally exposed on mountains because they were not wanted. One letter from a Roman to his pregnant wife bluntly instructs, <i>'If you are delivered of a child [while I am away], if it is a boy keep it, if a girl discard.'</i> Perhaps we think this kind of thing couldn't happen today. <p>That is what the world tells itself. We are civilised, we don't do such things. In the past 40 years over 8 million babies were aborted in the UK, the great majority because of lifestyle choices. One lion gets shot in Africa and people take to the streets, there is a lynch mob and there is talk of extradition. We need to understand that the values of the world are not the values of the kingdom. <p>Christian women back then enjoyed significantly higher status than their pagan counterparts. Married women were honoured and able to hold property, women held office in the church, and widows were looked after. Infant girls were valued and, where society married off girls at scandalously young ages, in Christian society the norm was marrying older, sometimes as late as 18. In a society with an epidemic of single mothers and irresponsible and absent fathers Christians must stand out again. <p>Public baths were to be found in such great numbers that one writer of the time wrote, <i>'Smyrna has so many baths that you would be at a loss to know where to bathe.'</i> (Aelius Aristedes) Mixed nude bathing was not uncommon and, whatever your sexual orientation, sexual activity was the norm in and around these places. A society every bit as promiscuous as that is becoming a fact in our day, and we are to holy. <p>Three things might be drawn from this chapter of Paul's letter to help us today: <p><b>1.</b> Whatever the world says and does, we are to live in order to please God. Like ancient Israel, we are to be a holy people. Paul says it in his letter, <i>'God did not call us to be impure, but to live holy lives.'</i> (v7) We face that same choice today that they faced. The gods of this world, or the God of the Bible? This means that, on any question regarding our life choices, it is God we consult, and not public opinion. <p>Our values are to be God's values. Which means, as the people of God, we are to value life, every life. As did that first Christian community, building on established Jewish practice, we are to see life as precious. All mankind is made in the image of God and so we are to have high moral values that reflect that fact, controlling our own bodies, not giving in to lusts. We are to love one another, as Paul urges, <i>'Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you...Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.'</i> (vv 9-10) <p>How does this work out in our daily lives? Paul gives us sound advice, writing, <i>'Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.'</i> (vv 11-12) <p><b>2.</b> The witness of our daily lives is vital to the work of the kingdom, much more so than any arguments, or controversies we may get into. The 'God-fearers' of the Jewish community, those who were not Jews but who adopted many Jewish ideals and practices, were attracted by the lives of Jews they met, worked with, and saw every day. The same is true of those attracted to the Christian community. They are not won simply by arguments, but with love and a good example. <p><b>3.</b> Finally, how we live can ultimately prove dangerous. The major theme in Paul's letter is the second coming of Jesus as Lord and King. He reassures believers that their dead loved ones, those who have 'fallen asleep,' as he put it, will not miss out but will share joy with us at the second coming. He continues, <i>'For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.'</i> vv16-17) <p>This is so comforting, reassuring, but it is a promise made against the backdrop of what is called the Imperial Cult. If I were to refer to, <i>'The God manifest...the common saviour of humankind,'</i> you might think of Jesus. But this title was borne by the Emperor. Inscriptions abounded to, '...<i>Caesar Augustus, Saviour of the whole human race...ruler of oceans and continents, the divine father among men, who bears the same name as his heavenly father...Liberator, the marvellous star of the Greek world, shining with the brilliance of the great heavenly Saviour.'</i> <p>The word Paul used to speak of Christ's second advent is <i>parousia</i>, a word that was used to describe the visit of an emperor. The Emperor Caesar Augustus was hailed as, <i>'the Son of God.'</i> Where we cry, <i>'Jesus is Lord!'</i> Romans cried, <i>'Caesar is Lord!'</i> <p>In Acts 17 Paul and Silas had trouble in Thessalonica when jealous Jews accused, <i>'These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here...defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.'</i> (Acts 17:7) <p>The people said of Caesar, <i>'With Caesar in charge, peace will not be driven out by civic madness or violence, or the anger that beats swords.'</i> The Emperor bore the titles, <i>Pax</i> (peace) <i>Securitas</i> (Safety, security) <i>Constantia</i> (stability) <i>Felicitas</i> (fortune, happiness). It was against this backdrop of sycophatic flattery that Paul wrote later in this letter: <p><i>'The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'Peace and safety,' destruction will come on them suddenly...and they will not escape.'</i> (5:3) <p>Just as was Paul's, our witness is at odds with the world and, like Paul, we may yet pay dear for it. Yet The Lord will come, when least expected, when the world cries peace. Will he find us living to please him? Will he find a holy people, leading quiet but faithful lives, loving one another before a watching world? Because that is what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.</p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-57634559481715171542015-07-04T13:41:00.001+00:002015-07-04T13:52:57.091+00:00The Right Way Up In An ∩dsᴉpǝ-poʍu World<p>What do you think of when your hear the word ‘sanctified?’ Paul’s first letter to Christians in Thessalonica is best summed up in verse one of chapter four, <i>‘How to live in order to please God.’ </i>The context is very important if we are to appreciate its application today. Paul was writing to a church living in what was a hostile environment for Christians, calling them to live sanctified lives. We are beginning to experience this environment in what was traditionally a ‘Christian country.’<a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nqJcQx-XnEQ/VZfkvxgUSgI/AAAAAAAANT4/W7HyT_buOL8/s1600-h/Upside-Down%252520Map%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="pacific200607" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="pacific200607" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ANGS-NnNXEU/VZfkwUCdWuI/AAAAAAAANT8/zMxkhCC_tBQ/Upside-Down%252520Map_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="150"></a></p> <p>You might be aware of recent controversial developments in Ireland regarding gay marriage. Ireland (Eire) has voted to change the constitution to allow gay couples to marry. This has proved an enormous challenge to the Catholic Church that takes a traditional, biblical view on marriage. <p>You might remember also, in Northern Ireland, <a href="http://www.christian.org.uk/ashers-baking-company/">Ashers Bakery</a> was successfully prosecuted for refusing to bake a cake with a pro-gay message on it. They didn’t refuse custom to a gay man, but simply refused to put on the cake a message that conflicted with their Christian belief that marriage is between one man and one woman for life. Evangelical/Protestant churches in the province have raised their voices in protest, but to no avail. <p><a href="http://www.conservativefiringline.com/canadian-jeweler-makes-rings-for-lesbian-couple-gets-threats-for-holding-unapproved-opinion/">A news story from Canada</a> that has just come to light involves a jewellers business approached by a Lesbian couple wanting special rings made for their ‘wedding.’ The couple were so impressed with the product and with the service they received that they recommended the business to friends. Then they discovered it was a Christian business and the owner made no secret of his support for biblical, traditional marriage between a man and a woman for life. <p>They demanded their deposit back and refused to pick up the rings and pay the balance. The business received hateful messages and physical threats via social media and by phone and finally refunded the money. <p>Finally, the story has emerged about the surrogate sons of <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDcQFjAGahUKEwjfnJip8YnGAhVDwBQKHR8aAL8&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-3095268%2FGermaine-Greer-slams-Elton-John-husband-David-Furnish-named-mother-birth-certificates-two-sons.html&ei=I6x6VZ__M8OAU5-0gPgL&usg=AFQjCNG0NBC5l_cKDITqDcjVPb1gEuuZKA&sig2=Bn3AJAHxMv4Lnnm-ixFuUg&bvm=bv.95515949,d.d24">Elton John and David Parrish.</a> Apparently, on the boys’ birth certificate, the mother’s name has been entered as David Parrish. <p>As Christians, what are we to make of the world’s flight from all that is Godly? It seems so sudden when, only a generation ago, such things were simply unthinkable. How are we to live to please God? How do we live the right way up in this upside-down world? <p> <h3>Sanctified: Set Apart for God</h3> <p>This has been a major theme throughout the Bible. When man’s sin was ripe God called Abraham out of Babylon, where he had been living as a Pagan, and set him apart. God called Abraham to live differently to those people around him, to be holy. Holy means, set apart for a special purpose, set apart for God. Abraham was told that nations would come from him, that through him salvation would come to the whole world. This was God’s purpose in calling him. <p>So Abraham’s family were different, lived differently, and looked for the day when God would fulfil his promises. <p>When God brought the children of Abraham, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, he brought them to the foot of the mountain, gave them the law, and told them to live differently, faithfully to the God who saved them. <p>When God’s people renewed the covenant at Shechem Joshua challenged Israel, <i>‘Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.’</i> (<a href="http://reachouttrust.org/apologetics/the-right-way-up-in-an-∩dsᴉpǝ-poʍu-world/">Joshua 24:15</a>) <p>A choice was placed before them: the gods of Egypt, the gods of Canaan, or the LORD? <p> <h3>Make us Like the Other Nations</h3> <p>When the people of God demanded of Samuel a king to rule them, they didn’t simply say, <i>‘we want a king.’</i> They said, <i>‘Now appoint us a king to lead us, such as all the nations have.’</i> (<a href="http://reachouttrust.org/apologetics/the-right-way-up-in-an-∩dsᴉpǝ-poʍu-world/">1 Samuel 8:5</a>) God called them to be holy, but they insisted on being base, like other nations. Their sin could not have been worse and God comforts a shocked Samuel, <i>‘It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing now.’</i> (<a href="http://reachouttrust.org/apologetics/the-right-way-up-in-an-∩dsᴉpǝ-poʍu-world/">1 Samuel 8:7-8</a>) <p>Their sin was not simply demanding a king, their sin was rejecting the King! It is a sorry tale and it is a theme we find in the New Testament community of God’s people. Paul’s letters frequently address the issue; how do we live in order to please God? <p>We can learn a lot from Paul’s letter to Thessalonica. In Paul’s day, the divisions between church and society were extreme and often dangerously so. He reminds his readers: <p><i>‘It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him…For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.’</i> (1 Thess.4:3-7) <p>Paul even goes so far as to echo God’s words to Samuel, writing, <i>‘He who rejects this instruction [to live holy lives] does not reject man but God, who gives you the Holy Spirit.’</i> Once again God’s people must choose: the gods of this unholy society, or the Lord! <p> <h3>A World Like Our Own</h3> <p>Thessalonica had a population of about 200,000, was a sea port. and so was quite cosmopolitan, much like Plymouth, Hull, or my own city of Swansea. It sat on the main road through the province and was a regional capital. It was Greek, with a small Jewish population, and so converts came mostly from a pagan background. Everything Paul said and taught was opposed to popular thinking, and his purpose was to encourage Christians as they lived in a society hostile to Christian thinking and practice. Let me draw some parallels for you. <p>In the Greco/Roman world female infanticide was rife across all classes. Female infants, and deformed male infants, were regularly and legally exposed on mountains because they were not wanted. One letter from a Roman to his pregnant wife bluntly instructs, <i>‘If you are delivered of a child [while I am away], if it is a boy keep it, if a girl discard.’</i> Perhaps we think this kind of thing couldn’t happen today. That is what the world tells itself. We are civilised. What about parallels here with modern abortion and euthanasia laws perhaps? What about this appalling trade in illegal migrants crossing the Mediterranean? Lives regarded as valueless and discarded. Are we so different? <p>Christian women enjoyed significantly higher status than their pagan counterparts. Married women were honoured and able to hold property, women held office in the church, and widows were looked after. Infant girls were valued and, where society married off girls at scandalously young ages, sometimes as young as 12 and younger, in Christian society the norm was marrying older, sometimes as late as 18. You can <a href="http://youtu.be/dJ06EcyPSrw">hear more here. </a>In a society with an epidemic of single mothers and irresponsible and absent fathers Christians stand out again. <p>Public baths were to be found in such great numbers that one writer of the time wrote, <i>‘Smyrna has so many baths that you would be at a loss to know where to bathe.’</i> (Aelius Aristedes) Mixed nude bathing was not uncommon and, whatever your sexual orientation, sexual activity was the norm in and around these places. A society every bit as promiscuous as ours is becoming. <p> <h3>Living the Right Way up in an Upside-down World</h3> <p>Three things might be drawn from this chapter of Paul’s letter to help us today: <p>Whatever the world says and does, we are to live in order to please God. Like ancient Israel, we are to be a holy people. Paul says it in his letter, <i>‘God did not call us to be impure, but to live holy lives.’</i> (v7) We face that same choice today that they faced. The gods of this world, or the God of the Bible? This means that, on any question regarding our life choices, it is God we consult, and not public opinion. <p>Our values are to be God’s values. Which means, as the people of God, we are to value life, every life. As did that first Christian community, building on established Jewish practice, we are to see life as precious. All mankind is made in the image of God and so we are to have high moral values that reflect that fact, controlling our own bodies, not giving in to lusts. We are to love one another, as Paul urges, <i>‘Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you…Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.’</i> (vv 9-10) <p>How does this work out in our daily lives? Paul gives us sound advice, writing, <i>‘Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.’</i> (vv 11-12) <p>The witness of our daily lives is vital to the work of the kingdom, much more so than any arguments, or controversies we may get into. The ‘God-fearers’ of the Jewish community, those who were not Jews but who adopted many Jewish ideals and practices, were attracted by the lives of Jews they met, worked with, and saw every day. The same is true of those attracted to the Christian community. In a world fleeing all sense, reason, and God, they are not won simply by arguments, but with love and a good example. <p> <h3>While People are Saying, ‘Peace and safety’</h3> <p>Finally, however we live, it can ultimately prove dangerous. The major theme in Paul’s letter is the second coming of Jesus as Lord and King. Reassuring believers that their dead loved ones, those who have ‘fallen asleep,’ as he put it, will not miss out but will share joy with us at the second coming, he goes on, <i>‘For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.’</i> vv16-17) <p>This is so comforting, reassuring, but it is a promise made against the backdrop of what is called the Imperial Cult. If I were to refer to, <i>‘The God manifest…the common saviour of humankind,’</i> you might think of Jesus. But this title was borne by the Emperor. Inscriptions abounded to, ‘…<i>Caesar Augustus, Saviour of the whole human race…ruler of oceans and continents, the divine father among men, who bears the same name as his heavenly father…Liberator, the marvellous star of the Greek world, shining with the brilliance of the great heavenly Saviour.’</i> <p>The word Paul used to speak of Christ’s second advent is <i>parousia</i>, a word that was used to describe the visit of an emperor. The Emperor Caesar Augustus was hailed as, <i>‘the Son of God.’</i> Where we cry, <i>‘Jesus is Lord!’</i>Romans cried, <i>‘Caesar is Lord!’</i> <p>In <a href="http://reachouttrust.org/apologetics/the-right-way-up-in-an-∩dsᴉpǝ-poʍu-world/">Acts 17</a> Paul and Silas had trouble in Thessalonica when jealous Jews accused, <i>‘These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here…defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.’</i> (<a href="http://reachouttrust.org/apologetics/the-right-way-up-in-an-∩dsᴉpǝ-poʍu-world/">Acts 17:7</a>) <p>The people said of Caesar, <i>‘With Caesar in charge, peace will not be driven out by civic madness or violence, or the anger that beats swords.’</i> The Emperor bore the titles, <i>Pax</i> (peace) <i>Securitas</i> (Safety, security) <i>Constantia</i>(stability) <i>Felicitas</i> (fortune, happiness). It was against this backdrop of sickly flattery that Paul wrote later in this letter: <p><i>‘The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly…and they will not escape.’</i> (5:3) <p>So today, we must expect the world to give a totally different message to the one we bring and we may yet pay dear for it. Yet he will come, when least expected, when the world cries peace. Will he find us living to please him? Will he find a holy people, leading quiet but faithful lives, loving one another before a watching world? <p> <p align="center"><strong>This article first appeared in the </strong><a href="http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d1a35931adfa19d82d94d1ccd&id=26c1b72187&e=[UNIQID]"><strong>June 2015 Reachout Newsletter.</strong></a></p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-17582343417439184072015-06-26T16:06:00.001+00:002015-06-26T16:06:20.331+00:00Legalism: What Does Grace Say to Legalism?<p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UiZaj1L7iWA/VY14b3jR7kI/AAAAAAAANSk/u4XF2tGKa9I/s1600-h/Judge%252527s%252520Bench%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Judge's Bench" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Judge's Bench" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GNIkiEUzAp0/VY14dXv1N6I/AAAAAAAANSs/5cl6bADWWUc/Judge%252527s%252520Bench_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="267" align="right" height="201"></a><font size="2" face="Verdana">Legalism is defined by Chambers Dictionary as “<i>strict adherence to law…the tendency to observe letter or form rather than spirit, or to regard things from the point of view of law.” </i>It also helpfully illustrates the definition with a reference to the opposing doctrines of salvation by works and salvation by grace. I do like The Chambers Dictionary and commend it to you.</font> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">But what is wrong with keeping the law? Surely as Christians we believe in being law-abiding? There is certainly enough in the New Testament about obedience to authorities. We are instructed, “<i>obey your parents in the Lord” </i>(Eph.6:1); <i>obey your earthly masters with respect” </i>(Eph.6:5); <i>obey your leaders and submit to their authority” </i>(Heb.13:17) and we are reminded “<i>to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good” </i>(</font><a href="http://reachouttrust.org/apologetics/the-snare-of-legalism/"><font size="2" face="Verdana">Titus 3:3</font></a><font size="2" face="Verdana">)</font> <p><font face="Verdana"></font></p> <h3><font face="Verdana">The Challenge of Legalism</font></h3> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">When we witness to those with a legalistic bent we are often challenged with these and similar texts. Sometimes we are accused of antinomianism, “<i>being emancipated by the gospel from the obligation to keep the moral law, faith alone being necessary” </i>(that’s Chambers again)</font> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Of course, if we were antinomian in our teaching and practice our prisons would be full of Christians. In some parts of the world Christians do find themselves imprisoned and worse but for entirely different reasons. The folly of legalism is highlighted in </font><a href="http://reachouttrust.org/apologetics/the-snare-of-legalism/"><font size="2" face="Verdana">Matthew 19:1-12</font></a><font size="2" face="Verdana"> as Jesus answers what his interrogators think is a difficult question. It had certainly exercised the best Jewish minds for generations. Moses said:</font> <blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">“<i>If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes here a certificate of divorcement, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord” </i>(Deut.24: 1-4)</font></p></blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Legalism insists on formulaic answers to such questions; answers by the book that go into incredible detail covering every eventuality. In Jesus’ day there were two schools of thought. The scholar Shammai taught that “<i>something indecent” </i>meant marital unfaithfulness. Hillel emphasised the words “<i>who becomes displeasing to him”</i>and taught that if she did anything he didn’t like, such as burning the toast, it justified divorce.</font> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">You see, that is the trouble with legalism, not that law is a bad thing but that we always put ourselves in the place of God and make it mean what we like, or what seems right to us. In our everyday lives we are often very sure of what are our rights and what are other people’s obligations. Legalism isn’t at all fair in its judgements. Jesus’ answer cut right through this tangle of opinions and interpretations by appealing to the purposes of God.</font> <p><font face="Verdana"></font></p> <h3><font face="Verdana">The Challenge to Legalism</font></h3> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Someone following either the school of Shammai or Hillel might feel justified, righteous and superior for having nailed it, but neither was right, although Jesus clearly took the side of Shammai over Hillel. Divorce, he said, was granted because of sin. God, whose purpose and ideal from the beginning had been that the two would be one, graciously accommodated his purposes to circumstances because of sin that caused damage to people. The Pharisees had asked the wrong question. They wanted to know what was permitted or forbidden when they should have been asking what was the purpose of God.</font> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">They asked when and under what circumstances disappointed and hurting people should separate. They should have been asking how broken relationships can be mended and people healed from their hurts and disappointments. It is a stark and frightening insight into what they cared about, and what we care about when we address these life issues from the point of view of legalism.</font> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Jesus preached the standards of the kingdom which see citizens as servants who seek each other’s good and the heart of God in every matter. Of course Christians believe in and practice obedience but from a heart changed by the miracle of the new birth, not from a list of statutes, permissions and prohibitions. Where do we find and how do we follow these standards of the kingdom that speak so eloquently of obedience yet offer citizenship not to the obedient but to the believing? As Jesus taught Nicodemus:</font> <blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">“<i>I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (</i>Jn.3:3-6)</font></p></blockquote> <h3><font face="Verdana">The Answer From Grace</font></h3> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">We are saved into the kingdom by the miracle of rebirth. We take hold of and begin to understand the will of God and the standards of the kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit. The regenerate person has a renewed mind (Ro.12:12), has the law set in their minds (Heb.8:10;10:16) and has the mind of Christ (1 Cor.2:16)</font> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">In our witness we teach truth, correct doctrine, and bring understanding. We are not, like Shammai and Hillel, simply interpreters of the Bible but offer to people nothing less than new birth, renewed minds, the mind of Christ in all matters pertaining to the kingdom,</font> <blockquote> <p><font face="Verdana"><font size="2">“<i>Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.</i></font></font> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.</font></i> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.</font></i> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.</font></i> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">‘<i>For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” </i>(1 Cor.2:12-16)</font> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><br></font><font face="Verdana"><font size="2"><strong>This article appeared in the <a href="http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d1a35931adfa19d82d94d1ccd&id=bf35193e33&e=[UNIQID]">April 2015 Reachout E-Newsletter</a>. You can read more on legalism on the Reachout website in Robin Brace’s article </strong><em><a href="http://reachouttrust.org/other-groups/the-move-away-from-legalism/">‘Moving Away From Legalism’</a></em></font></font></p></blockquote> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-44947696051664325382015-04-01T08:51:00.001+00:002015-04-01T08:51:55.680+00:00This is Holy Week<p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Holy week is that time between Palm Sunday and Easter Saturday when we remember the last week of Jesus' earthly life. Customs of all kinds have grown up around this special time. Observance of Holy Week can be traced back as far as the latter half of the 3rd century. Abstinence from flesh is commanded for all the days of Holy Week, while for the Friday and Sunday an absolute fast is commanded.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">In Jerusalem Christ's crucifixion is commemorated as the cross is carried along the <i>Via Dolorosa </i>(the way of suffering) of Jesus.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">On Palm Sunday palm branches are waved as the story of the triumphal entry is re-enacted in church, usually by the children. Christians will often be seen carrying crosses made of palm leaves to remember the palm branches and to remember the cross.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">These crosses are kept by some for a year and then burned to provide the ash for the following year's Ash Wednesday. (The ash was placed on the heads of participants at the beginning of Lent to the accompaniment of the words, <em>'Repent and believe in the gospel,' or, 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'</em> It is a sober reminder of our mortality and of our dependence on God’s grace in a world that spends fortunes trying to be eternal youthful)</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Maundy Thursday is derived from the Latin <i>mandatum</i>, the first word of the phrase "<i>Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos</i>"; <em>"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"</em> It is a time when we remember the servant heart of Jesus, how he washed the disciples' feet. In some churches foot washing is still taken very seriously. The Maundy Money handed out by the Queen of England on this day is a substitute for foot washing.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Good Friday was know as the Great Sabbath and was strictly observed, a watch being kept until Sunday in the expectation that Jesus would return on Easter Day.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Preachers will take the time in this period to challenge their congregations over their commitment, and ask them about those times when they have been unfaithful to Jesus, or been hypocritical in their faith, and call them to repentance.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">The apostle John describes the triumphal entry like this:<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-hgdt5Cvs-Yk/VRuxnpZXnLI/AAAAAAAANHI/cbpTdFZEf7o/s1600-h/triumphant-entry%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="triumphant-entry" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="triumphant-entry" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-1lMvxtbr_8M/VRuxoNfiKGI/AAAAAAAANHQ/dgPNSzknOe0/triumphant-entry_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="287" align="right" height="216" /></a></font></p> <blockquote> <p align="justify"><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'The next day the great crowd that had come for the feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,</font></i></p> <p align="justify"><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'Hosanna!'</font></i></p> <p align="justify"><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'</font></i></p> <p align="justify"><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">Blessed is the King of Israel!''</font></i></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana">John 12:12-13</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">The word <i>Hosanna</i> comes from Psalm 118, sung as a song of thanksgiving for the Lord's steadfast love in delivering his people. It describes a festive procession into Jerusalem after some great deliverance and takes the form of a liturgy, a call and response, and begins:</font></p> <blockquote> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'Oh, give thanks to the LORD, His steadfast love endures forever!</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">Let Israel say,</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">His steadfast love endures forever.</font></i></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">It goes on:</font></p> <blockquote> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'Out of my distress I called on the LORD;</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">The LORD answered me and set me free.</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">What can man do to me?</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">The Lord is on my side as my helper...'</font></i></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Verdana"><font size="2">The word <i>Hosanna</i> comes from the same root as the Hebrew for <i>'to save'</i> the same root from which we get the name Jesus, which in turn is the Latin form of the Hebrew <i>Joshua/Yeshua,</i> which means <i>'Jehovah will save.'</i></font></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Psalm 118 is the psalm Jesus and his disciples sang on the night he was betrayed, before they went out to the Mount of Olives. Imagine singing this in anticipation of such utter betrayal and abandonment.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Verse 19 of this psalm reads:</font></p> <blockquote> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'Open to me the gates of righteousness,</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">that I may enter through them</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">and give thanks to the LORD</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">through which the righteous may enter.</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">I will give thanks, for you answered me;</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">you have become my salvation.'</font></i></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">The gates of righteousness, the gates of the Holy City, Jerusalem, where only the righteous may enter.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana"><font size="2"><i>'When Jesus entered Jerusalem,'</i> we are told by Matthew, <i>'the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is this?'</i></font></font></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'The crowds answered, 'This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.''</font></i></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">That, I suggest, is a dangerous question; who is this? To take an interest in Jesus is a risky business and today we don't fully appreciate perhaps how risky. Do we want the gates of righteousness opened to us, so we may enter through them, into the New Jerusalem, and give thanks to the LORD? Think carefully before you answer.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana"></font></p> <h3><font face="Verdana">Jesus challenges our worship</font></h3> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3vafPcYt3Yo/VRuxoj9ET2I/AAAAAAAANHY/intqYi4B35U/s1600-h/cleansing-temple%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="cleansing-temple" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="cleansing-temple" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-hSJ3rCQ97i4/VRuxpdyttDI/AAAAAAAANHg/duY8112OXE8/cleansing-temple_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="232" align="left" height="175" /></a>The first thing Jesus does on entering the city, we are told, is go to the temple.</font></p> <blockquote> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'It is written,' he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.''</font></i></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Jesus challenged the pale, empty, and avaricious pretence of worship in his Father’s house. He challenges our worship today. He seeks those who are true worshippers, who worship God in spirit and in truth. Are we fulsome in our worship, or do we too often simply go through the motions? If we want the gates of righteousness opened to us we must be prepared to have the tables and chairs turned over in our lives. We must be prepared to give an account of our worship. Jesus challenges our worship.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana"></font></p> <h3><font face="Verdana">Jesus challenges our fruitfulness</font></h3> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">After spending the night in Bethany Jesus returned to Jerusalem and on the way, we are told, he cursed a barren fig tree:</font></p> <blockquote> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, 'May you never bear fruit again!' Immediately the tree withered.'</font></i></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">It is possible to  look fruitful, like that tree, rich in foliage, but to be otherwise barren in our Christian lives. If we want Jesus in our lives, if we want the gates of righteousness opened to us we must be prepared for Jesus to seek from us more than foliage, more than tradition, more than form, to expect from us fruitful lives in his service. Jesus challenges our fruitfulness.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana"></font></p> <h3><font face="Verdana">Jesus challenges our promises</font></h3> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">It is in this Holy Week that Jesus tells the parable of the two sons:</font></p> <blockquote> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'</font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. </font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. </font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. </font></i></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.'</font></i></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">As Christians, as members of a church, we enter into covenant relationship with God and with each other. By word and by action, we make promises to go and do the will of God, not our own will. If, like the first son, our promises are empty we will not see the kingdom. If we want the gates of righteousness opened to us we must be prepared for Jesus to test our resolve to do the will of God. This is what it means to be a Christian. Jesus challenges our promises.</font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana"></font></p> <h4><font face="Verdana"></font></h4> <h3><font face="Verdana">Jesus challenges our faithfulness</font></h3> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">Finally, Jesus challenges our faithfulness. In the parable of the tenants he tells of a landowner who planted a vineyard and rented it to some farmers.</font></p> <blockquote> <p><em><font size="2" face="Verdana">‘Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.</font></em></p> <p><em><font size="2" face="Verdana">And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. <br />Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.</font></em></p> <p><em><font size="2" face="Verdana">Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.' <br />And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.</font></em></p> <p><em><font size="2" face="Verdana">When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ <br />They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.’ <br /></font></em></p> </blockquote> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">If we want the gates of righteousness opened to us we must be prepared for the owner of the vineyard to return at any time, <em>‘like a thief in the night,’</em> and be prepared to show ourselves faithful stewards of his vineyard, true to our covenant promises, fruitful in his service, and fulsome in our worship.</font></p> <p><font face="Verdana"><font size="2"><i>'When Jesus entered Jerusalem,'</i> we are told by Matthew, <i>'the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is this?'</i></font></font></p> <p><i><font size="2" face="Verdana">'The crowds answered, 'This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.''<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-g4w5TshXI3U/VRuxp7z9ZAI/AAAAAAAANHo/mj-Mo876cTk/s1600-h/Murillo_Bartolome_Esteban-ZZZ-Crucifixion.jpg"><img title="Murillo_Bartolome_Esteban-ZZZ-Crucifixion" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Murillo_Bartolome_Esteban-ZZZ-Crucifixion" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-EWDvuoO62Mg/VRuxqapMi7I/AAAAAAAANHw/0PMK70M2Fek/Murillo_Bartolome_Esteban-ZZZ-Crucifixion_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="174" align="right" height="281" /></a></font></i></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. </font></p> <p><font face="Verdana"><font size="2">As that week began, the crowds shouted <em>Hosanna!</em></font></font></p> <p><font face="Verdana"><font size="2">By the end of that week the crowds were shouting '<i>crucify!'</i></font></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana">What will you shout?</font></p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-3409466364611408462015-03-14T15:36:00.001+00:002015-03-14T15:36:03.452+00:00Strangers in the World<p>The apostle Peter’s first letter is addressed, <em>‘To God’s elect, strangers in the world.’</em> Does it feel like that to you? If you are a Christian do you find yourself out of step with the world? The world, of course, is familiar to us. We know how it operates, we engage with it, and we negotiate our way through it in our every-day lives but, ultimately, Peter seems to be saying it is alien to us. In his second letter to Christians in Corinth the apostle Paul insisted, <em>‘we regard no-one from a worldly point of view,’</em> and goes on to describe Christians as, <em>‘Christ’s ambassadors.’</em> (2 Corinthians 5:16&20)</p> <p>As ambassadors, we may be adept in the arts of tact and conciliation, speaking the truth <em>with ‘gentleness and respect’</em> (1 Peter 3:15) yet we never lose sight of where our duties lie, of who has first call on our loyalties. As Paul makes clear, we don’t look at things by the standards and values of the world, but by those of the one we now represent. We are to represent his interests in the world, <em>‘God making his appeal through us.’</em> (2 Corinthians 5:20)</p> <p>Sometimes it can feel as though we are overwhelmed by the world, and we find it easier to ‘go with the flow.’ Perhaps that is why Peter writes as he does to <em>‘God’s elect…throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,’</em> in other words scattered among the nations and in danger of being overwhelmed. That is one of the pitfalls of representing one country, or one business from one country, to another; going native. Sometimes called ‘clientism,’ or ‘localitis,’ it is when a representative comes to regard the people and officials of the host country as ‘clients,’ when he or she defends the interests of these ‘clients’ as though they are the employers</p> <p> Of course, in many respects, this can make life, at least in the short term, easier. The people with whom you have to do every day seem somehow easier to get along with once you see things from their point of view, while the people you represent seem distant and out of touch with the way things are, ‘on the ground.’ Ultimately, however, as Peter reminds us, we are, <em>‘a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [we] may declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light.’</em> (1 Peter 2:9)</p> <p>We do things God’s way, see things God’s way, and we describe things as God’s ambassadors, however diplomatic we feel we need to be. Peter reminds us that we are <em>‘chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood.’</em> (1 Peter 1:2) It is no accident that we find ourselves <em>‘strangers in the word,’</em> for God the Father has chosen to make us citizens of a heavenly kingdom. He has done this by a work of the Spirit that sanctifies us, prepared us for that citizenship and calling, and he has given us the work of obedience to Jesus Christ. Our ways now are as alien to the world as are the world’s ways to us.</p> <p>This means that only other Christian believers properly know and understand what it is to be chosen, an ambassador for Christ, sanctified, and striving to obey that call. Only other Christians fully appreciate what it means when we obey Jesus and reject the world’s self-centred-ness. Such a course is alien to the world and ever has been. Just like those early Christians, first in Jerusalem, then scattered across Asia Minor and ultimately the world, we finally have each other in this world because the rest simply don’t ‘get it.’  Paul writes in his first Corinthian letter:</p> <p><em>‘This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things  that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgements about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgement: For who can know the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.’</em> (1 Corinthians 2:13-16)</p> <p>Think of it! We even have a different ‘language’ we speak, <em>‘expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words,</em>’ a language the world considers unintelligible, foolishness. We have the mind of Christ with which to discern and make sound judgements concerning the affairs of his kingdom, and a language in which we express that kingdom business. But remember that, <em>‘it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe’</em> (1 Corinthians 1:21) Our speaking, acting, and doing are not futile, for those who believe may come to know that language, to have that mind, to be ambassadors of the one who chose them, just as once we did. The question is, are we speaking the language of the God who chose us, uttering spiritual truths as we go about kingdom business? Or have we fallen victim to clientism, speaking the language of the world that is so familiar to us?</p> <p>The world doesn’t speak our language, doesn’t know or accept Christ, and is proving increasingly hostile to his kingdom and rule. It is surely up to us, we who have the mind of Christ, who speak the language of spiritual things, to stand together in advancing the work of the kingdom entrusted to our care in this generation, and for the benefit of the next.</p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2995687680502319585.post-53279724222693627552015-03-13T17:14:00.001+00:002015-03-13T17:14:14.606+00:00The Ghost of my Wife (Do You Believe..?)<p>Last night I saw the ghost of my wife<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-03wu9BbdX1Q/VQMa4GzM0zI/AAAAAAAANBU/3B--PFfcNqs/s1600-h/Mike%252520and%252520Ann%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="Mike and Ann" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Mike and Ann" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-MOSpiiKprwQ/VQMa48IhxxI/AAAAAAAANBc/nm3GcaqZIhc/Mike%252520and%252520Ann_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="437" align="right" height="327" /></a></p> <p>in the lawless hours</p> <p>when decent folk sleep</p> <p>something roused me and made me aware</p> <p>of somebody moving</p> <p>a foot on the stair.</p> <p>In that paralysed, half-sleeping, half-waking time</p> <p>when you just have to move</p> <p>but you can't, though you try.</p> <p>Then a constable's whistle, the sound of swift flight</p> <p>made its way to my ear</p> <p>in the dead of the night.</p> <p>'I must go and see, see if all is secure,'</p> <p>but I lay there pinned by</p> <p>half-sleeping, half-waking.</p> <p>Then a knock at the door of the chamber once still</p> <p>strengthened resolve</p> <p>and I rose from my bed.</p> <p>'Who are you?' I cried, 'Who are you,' again</p> <p>the door slowly opened and</p> <p>the spectre stood there.</p> <p>'Who are you?' I cried, 'Who are you,' once more</p> <p>as she held out</p> <p>a flask of silver and black.</p> <p>Silver and black the colours she wore,</p> <p>Not showing her face</p> <p>as, insistent, she came.</p> <p>Silver and black, splendid and terrible,</p> <p>insistent I take it</p> <p>the flask that she bore.</p> <p>I called out, more earnest, 'My husband!' she cried</p> <p>my wife, now behind me</p> <p>on our bed by my side.</p> <p>I turned, and again, and the vision was gone</p> <p>that woke me so late</p> <p>weaving argent and ebony.</p> <p>Now, as I sit in the pale morning light</p> <p>sleepless, reviewing</p> <p>events of the night</p> <p>there's a step on the stair outside my door</p> <p>my spine stiffens and I,</p> <p>fearing once more</p> <p>to waken her twice whisper in fright,</p> <p>'Who are you</p> <p>that spirit who troubles my night?'</p> Mike Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505904110015305223noreply@blogger.com0