Where you fix your gaze is where you end up going

Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out ‘Lord, save me’

Matthew 14:29-30

Today is one of those rare days between storms, it’s not raining and the sun is shining. Recently however the winds topped 100mph in North Wales, trees in the park opposite my home lost their branches, and large parts of the United Kingdom either sat under flood waters or were at imminent risk of flooding. Two years ago ground water levels were so low that large areas of England had hosepipe bans, today the levels are so high that flooding is expected to continue long after the rain finally stops. Our television news has regularly featured people who were looking at the storms and were afraid.

This set me thinking, and I was reminded of Peter walking on water. His problem was that when he saw the wind he was afraid and began to sink. Let me illustrate why he began to sink with an explanation dear to my heart – an explanation from the world of motorcycling. Sometimes motorcyclists get a bit carried away with things and find themselves in a tight corner carrying a little too much speed to get round safely. When you are riding a motorcycle then there is a golden rule – where you look is where you go. So, if you find yourself in a corner going too fast to get round safely, looking at the corner will almost inevitably mean crashing. If, however, you force yourself to look at the exit of the corner then in all likelihood you will make it safely through the corner and on to the next bit of road.

So it was for Peter, when he looked at the wind he began to sink. Up until that point he had been walking on water because he had his eyes fixed on Jesus. As soon as he looked away toward the wind and the waves he began to be afraid and his fear overpowered him and faith evaporated leaving him with the desperate cry “Lord, save me.”

And so it is for us. Whether it is the wind and the rain, or perhaps financial worries or health concerns, or maybe despite our best efforts things are not working out as we hoped in some area of our lives, the answer in all these situations is to determine to look away from the problem and fix our eyes upon Jesus. So why not use the storms we see outside as a reminder, and each time the wind blows or the rain falls take a moment to say “Lord, I trust in you.”

Who would remember us? – a Remembrance Day reflection

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
Isaiah 49:15-18

On Remembrance Day we remember those who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. It is a time of very mixed emotions – pride in friends and family who have selflessly served us, sadness and grief at the loss of dearly loved ones, gratitude for those who continue to risk everything.

The analogies with Jesus’ life are immediate and striking. Our God emptied himself and became human, took the risk of child-birth and of being raised in a first-century family, and went to a brutal death so that we might live free lives. In a similar way those who have died in the service of our country have laid down their lives so that we might be free in this country. Of course there are differences – our service personnel’s sacrifice buys us freedom this side of the grave whilst Jesus’ sacrifice opens up the possibility of eternal life to us.

Another difference is that we all remember the name of Jesus, whilst the names of the war dead are sometimes forgotten. To preserve their memories war memorials are set up around the country, and some churches read out the names of their war dead each Remembrance Sunday. In this way we remind ourselves of the horror of conflict, and we remember those who have paid the ultimate price.

For the rest of us though our names are unlikely to feature on war memorials, nor are they likely to be read out in Remembrance services. We go about our lives and we can sometimes feel quite insignificant – who would remember us? Yet our lives are significant, we carry the kingdom of God with us wherever we go. We minister the full power and authority of Jesus into the lives of those we meet. Jesus called us the light of the world (Matthew 5:14) to describe the impact that our lives have on those around us – we bring the light of God into a dark and fallen world.

And as Isaiah wrote all those years ago, we are not forgotten about by God. Our names are engraved on the palms of his hands. He knows us each by name, even the hairs on our heads are numbered (Luke 12:7). Sometimes we can feel like we are forgotten and insignificant but in those times we need to remember the startling truth that the God who created the universe, who flung stars into space, who gives breath to every living creature in each moment of each day – he knows each of us by name and he will never forget us.

Let’s be real here …

Have you ever noticed programmes like 60 minute makeover, where part of a house is utterly transformed in 60 minutes – old stuff stripped off and new stuff put up – so a living room, dining room and bedroom would be repainted and papered, furniture, curtains, fireplaces and lamps etc replaced, all in just 60 minutes. Or the 5/2 diet where you can eat what you like for five days a week, so long as you don’t overdo it, and by fasting two days a week you will lose a stone in a month. Or perhaps the new exercise regime where you do  four bursts of 30 seconds high intensity exercise with four minute rests between three times a week and just six weeks of that has the same health benefits as 20 weeks of a normal exercise regime. The allure of rapid results with little effort is very appealing.

We can approach our Christian lives like that. Today there are an amazing number of quick-fix Christian books offering easy steps to an enriched Christian life. We are encouraged to add to these conferences that promise amazing changes in your life, listening to top speakers at events, and evenings of worship led by  big name worship leaders.

The only problem, and its a big problem, is that is not what Christianity is about. We don’t go to church to get a spiritual 60 minute makeover from the worship leader and the preacher, we don’t offer a stipend to a leader to sit back and watch him or her do all the ministry of the church, we don’t try to live our spiritual lives with four bursts of 30 seconds of high intensity spiritual exercise with a few minutes rest between, three times a week – or at least we shouldn’t.

Romans 8:29 tells us we are being conformed to the likeness of his Son. That process isn’t something that can happen by quick fixes. Being conformed to the likeness of his Son involves growing fruit in our lives. I’m no gardener, but I know enough to understand that if you want good fruit then you need to tend and care for the plant, as well as the ground that it is in. You need to prune and shape it, aerate the soil, fertilise it, and keep it moist. Developing fruit needs protected from pests, and  harsh weather – and you can’t plant a  tree and expect to eat fruit the next day; some trees need a few years to mature before the fruit starts to come, and then more years before they produce full harvests.

Growing fruit means cultivating love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in our lives. That can only come about by spending time with God and co-operating with his work of grace, developing new attitudes and crucifying some old ones. It means leaving everything behind and following him wherever he will lead us, it means developing spiritual discipline in our lives. It isn’t quick, but it will make us real as Christians, and as Pope Benedict said in his final tweet “May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives.”

 

Christians are the worst blasphemers

I bet like me you have heard people say “Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain” when somebody uses Jesus’ name as a swear word. Who can have missed the riots and murders that have occurred when somebody misuses the name of Islam’s prophet or their God. And Christians protest when films (usually produced by non-Christians) are shown that suggest Jesus lived a life that isn’t represented in the Bible, for instance he was homosexual or he was married – and maybe all these protests are justified in some way, but that isn’t what I want to talk about.

I want to suggest that Christians routinely commit far worse acts of blasphemy than any of the examples I’ve given so far – let me explain. We love to hear the familiar blessing, normally at the end of the service, when somebody reads Numbers 6:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.

But the passage goes on to say that by blessing the people in that way the priests “will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Putting the name of God on the Israelites defined them as being under his care and belonging to him. That meant that they had to live in ways that were consistent with the character of God; they had to live up to his name.

Christians live in a different relationship with God. There are many ways of describing it including: they have been bought by Jesus; Jesus has died and paid the price of the wrong-doing in their lives; they have submitted their lives to Jesus and he is their master. Becoming a Christian means that God, through his Holy Spirit, comes and dwells in us – a more intimate relationship than “simply” having his name on us. How much more then should we live in ways that are consistent with the character of God? This is surely, at least partially, what Paul had in mind when he wrote Romans 12:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

When we, as Christians, conform to the pattern of this world and worship other gods, such as money, or our jobs, or celebrities; or when we exploit people, abuse power, act without integrity; or when we rely on the power of the courts or politicians or economics rather than on God, then actually we are misusing the name of God which is upon us. We carry God’s Holy Spirit in us, we carry his name and we ought to live in ways that are consistent with his character as a consequence – failing to do that is to “take the Lord’s name in vain”, that is where true blasphemy is and I would suggest it is far more offensive than somebody who doesn’t know Jesus using his name as a swear word, or portraying him negatively in a film. Let us instead offer our bodies as living sacrifices and be transformed by the renewing of our minds and

let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

 

Do we get what we expect?

On Sunday morning we spent some time looking at the familiar story in Luke 8 of Jairus begging Jesus to heal his daughter, only for Jesus to stop and bring healing to a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.

The woman would have been a social outcast – apart from the fact she was a woman in a patriarchal society, her illness meant that she was unclean and had to spend her life avoiding contaminating people by touching them. Jairus was quite the opposite, all the advantages of being male as well as being the leader of the Synagogue.

What brought the two of them together was their faith in Jesus. Jairus humiliated himself and fell at Jesus’ feet pleading for his daughter’s life – not an action that would have endeared him to his peers who found Jesus offensive. The woman forced her way through the crowds, reached out to Jesus, and then gave public testimony of her situation and what God had done for her.

In Mark 6 we find that those who know Jesus best, those who were around him as he grew up, were offended at him. Jesus said to them “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” Mark goes on to record “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few people who were ill and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

As I was talking about Jairus and the woman, it occurred to me that although I had been to see the doctor about an injured ankle, I hadn’t asked anybody in the church to lay hands on me and pray for me. Reflecting on this I was forced to ask the question – where is my faith? Do I expect God to heal me when his people lay hands on me and pray?

Who do we, his church, most closely resemble? Are we like the crowds in Mark 6 who knew Jesus well but had little faith and expected little and saw little? Or are we like Jairus and the woman in Luke 8; do we expect him to move in power as he promises, do we see him doing miracles through us today? Does what we see happening around us reflect our expectations of Jesus?

A right to reply

Following the publication of my post “Has George Osbourne excluded Christians from the Conservative Party?” a Facebook conversation challenged me to give him a right to reply. This same conversation also resulted in a further reflection:

Throughout the speech he claims not to be dividing, for example “We’re not going to get through this as a country if we set one group against another, if we divide, denounce and demonise.” Yet he then goes on to denounce union members (the teacher quote), to denounce those who don’t work until they drop (the corner shop quote and the commuter quote – on the latter he actually suggests that children can have a better life if one parent goes to work before they get up and comes home long after they have gone to bed). Throughout the speech there is a constant claim that the modern Conservatives represent those who work hard, and by implication don’t represent those who don’t.

This is not a political point it is purely a concern about the marginalization of those who have lost hope, who don’t believe they can ever put in, who have long since given up striving. The marginalization of people who are viewed as takers rather than contributors None of this labelling helps. It doesn’t restore dignity, it offers no hope, it simply reinforces despair and apathy.

I’ve taken the challenge and I’ve asked for a clarification of his views and offered him a chance to respond which I will publish as a future blog. The letter to him is as follows:

11 October 2012

George Osborne MP
The Correspondence & Enquiry Unit
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London, SW1A 2HQ

Dear Chancellor,

Your speech to the Conservative Party Conference this year caused me to stop and reflect as a Christian on its implications. As a result I wrote a blog under the heading “Has George Osborne excluded Christians from the Conservative Party?” with the conclusion that you in effect had.

A reader of my blog challenged this interpretation resulting in a further reflection that despite saying your party didn’t divide, denounce or demonise you had done precisely that; for example when you differentiated between the teacher whose conscience led them to support their unions actions and the teacher who was “prepared to defy her union”.

My purpose in writing to you is to seek clarification on your views and to give you a chance to respond to my reflection, which I shall publish alongside the original blog and the further reflection.

I have attached a copy of the blog and a copy of the further reflection, and I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,

Neil Douglas

Has George Osbourne excluded Christians from the Conservative Party?

On Sunday evening I referred to Amos 5:18-24 where the prophet relays God’s words as he complains that his people’s hearts are far from him, and the section concludes with “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream”. God’s complaint against his people is repeated throughout the Old Testament; Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him.”

Time and again God calls his people to turn their hearts and lives over to him, and to make his priorities their priorities. “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17). “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8).

God has compassion on all he has made (Psalm 145:9) and we who are Christians are being transformed into his likeness – the implication is clear, we must have compassion on all that God has made. The early church took this so seriously that they had to expand their leadership team to ensure the most vulnerable were not overlooked in the daily distribution of food (Acts 6:1). One of Paul’s harshest criticisms to the early church was that the rich were well fed but the poor were left hungry (1 Corinthians 11:17-22).

So, what has this all to do with the admittedly provocative title of this blog? Quite a lot, I think. On the 8th October 2012 George Osbourne said during his speech to the Conservative Party Conference that “We Conservatives represent all those who aspire, all who work, save and hope, all who feel a responsibility to put in, not just to take out.”

My argument is not a political point. It is one that takes seriously the demands of Jesus when he says that we must feed the hungry, give something to drink to the thirsty, clothe those who need clothes, visit the sick and those in prison, and give shelter to the stranger (Matthew 25:31-46) – all without a word of qualification about whether those people feel they have a responsibility “to put in”. It takes seriously the complaint of God through his prophets over the centuries.

George Osbourne has limited those whom the Conservatives represent in his speech; Jesus calls Christians to care for everybody and fight their cause, how can a Christian be a Conservative?

Is blasphemy actually blasphemy if you don’t know God?

On Sunday I was speaking about the occasion, early in Jesus’ ministry, when four men were trying to get their paralysed friend to Jesus so that he could be healed. When they arrive at the house they find a huge crowd blocking the door and filling the room, with Jesus and the religious authorities in the very centre.

Although the crowd which was listening to Jesus speaking were blocking the way to him the men were not going to give up. Spotting an opportunity they climbed the staircase to the roof, cleared away the outside furniture and dug a hole through the roof. They then lowered their friend down, on his mat, so that Jesus could heal him.

However, instead of healing the man, Jesus tells him that his sins are forgiven. Silence must have descended and the religious authorities thought in their hearts that this was blasphemy; after all, who can forgive sins but God alone.

And this set me thinking. Is blasphemy actually blasphemy if you don’t know God? Now obviously Jesus knew God – the bible tells us he was truly human and truly God. But I started wondering about 21^st century Britain. Bible literacy is at an all-time low, the Christian faith isn’t widely taught in our schools anymore, and so are those who blaspheme today actually guilty?

Now at an absolute level then the biblical answer is a resounding “yes”, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about. You see, as Christians we have a tendency to take biblical standards and try to apply them to the society around us. Like the crowd on that occasion 2,000 years ago we gather round Jesus shielding him from those who aren’t on the inside, and like the religious authorities we pass judgement on what we see going on – the only difference is that we are (usually!) complaining about what is going on outside the church.

Once upon a time the law was written on tablets of stone, but Jesus came and God said that he would put his laws in our hearts and write them on our minds – something that happens when we accept the salvation offered by Jesus. Maybe now you see where I’m going with this? If the law is only put in our hearts and written on our minds when we become Christians, can we really complain about a society that doesn’t live by Christian standards; after all they don’t have the law in their hearts or on their minds.

Before you take me outside and stone me I need to be clear that I’m not arguing for immorality and anarchy. I am however wondering how fruitful it is to try and compel society to live by standards they neither know nor understand. We are a people who understand that salvation comes by faith, not by how we live, so why on earth do we try and compel people to live according to a set of rules that if we are honest we struggle with?

Perhaps we would be better to reflect on the four men who were determined to get their friend to Jesus so that he could be healed. Although Jesus went on to heal his physical paralysis, he first of all dealt with the man’s spiritual paralysis by forgiving his sins. Our friends and our families need to know that forgiveness, and so does our nation. Let’s determine to open the way to Jesus instead of crowding round him, and let’s do the job Jesus told us to do – be witnesses by taking the good news to those who need to hear it. Maybe once they know Jesus for themselves then we could let God do the job that is rightfully his – leading them in making better choices about how they live.

Plant your garden 2012

I got an email from my mother today, and this was the content. I hope it blesses you as much as it blessed me 🙂

How To Plant Your Garden

First, you come to the garden alone,

while the dew is still on the roses.

For the garden of your daily living, plant three rows of peas :

1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash

1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce

1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

No garden is without turnips

1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

To conclude our garden we must have Thyme

1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love. There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.