Pentecost
2012 Holy Spirit? What Holy Spirit?
Some thoughts as we celebrate
Please read Acts 2: 1-4 and Acts 19:1-9
In John 20 the risen Jesus, who had promised the gift of
God’s Holy Spirit to the church, appeared at the centre of His disciples in the
upper room. Neither sealed doors nor
sealed hearts could keep Him out.
Frightened, disheartened and confused, they were hiding away from the
world. But when Jesus came and convinced
them that it was really Him, He breathed on them and said “Receive the breath
of God”. Like you and me, they had to go
on believing in this promise before they had the experience of the Spirit that
proved the promise had been true.
Today I want to ask “Holy Spirit? What Holy Spirit?” and I
invite you to travel in time with me some 20 or so years after the story of
God’s breath coming to His people at Pentecost.
Picture in your minds a town full of every nationality. Where different languages are spoken on each
street corner.
Imagine large numbers of people travelling into and out of
that town each day. There are many shops
and alongside the shops there are street traders calling out to the
passers-by. Heavy traffic pushes along
the roads; some of it carrying people and others goods for the shops or food
and drink for the pubs.
One of the things you notice as you go into this town is
that the girls and some of the men show off their bodies in a way that catches
the eye.
Then imagine that the busiest place in that town is a huge
building that towers over all the others.
People are going in and out and a great deal of buying and selling is
going on, especially silver statues.
The temple is much larger than most other buildings in the
world at this point in human history. A
building so marvellous that it was acclaimed as one of the 7 wonders of the
ancient world.
Having travelled in time some 20 or so years, we find the
apostle Paul is in Ephesus and here he finds some “disciples”.
Paul asks them if they have received the Holy Spirit since
they were baptized. They reply
honestly: “What Holy Spirit? We didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit!”
Paul then asks, “Whose baptism were you baptized with?”
Their answer: John’s. We know they mean
John the Baptist because Paul responds by saying to them that John’s baptism
was a baptism of repentance.
Thousands had come out to the desert to wash away their
mistakes and wrongs by being baptised (dipped in water) by this man.
Perhaps these Ephesian believers were just seeking God at
first. Though not Jews, they sought to worship the one true God. In any event, they had been baptised with the
baptism of John, not Jesus.
Paul carefully points them to Jesus. John had said they should follow the one who
came after him, Jesus.
On hearing this, they then were baptized in the name of
Jesus. After their baptism, Paul lays
his hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit, spoke in strange languages
and announced the good news of God boldly!
Now imagine that you’re one of these Ephesian believers. You
want to serve God, the one true God, not some other god. You hear about John and what he teaches and
you do what John tells you. You are baptized because you want to leave the
meaningless rituals of religion and find the real God.
But it doesn’t go any further than that. That's as far as you go. Like the disciples before the Breath of God
first came upon them, you get stuck in a place because you’re afraid of what’s
happening around you. All the while the
gigantic temple of Artemis looms over you and where you live. Later on, Paul has a serious run-in with a
local businessman, Demetrius, a silversmith who controls the trade in silver
statues of Artemis. The freedom from
religion that Paul speaks of is damaging his business! So this new ‘freedom’ has to be run out of
town. It is too dangerous; too unsettling.
There may be no huge temple looming over your life but this
world muscles-in and makes itself known very loudly when we try to follow
Christ. If you worship God, you do it quietly, secretly, just to stay out of
trouble. Does that strike any chords
with you?
But when we receive the Holy Breath of God, everything
changes. You are able to boldly share
the whole story of God in new ways, with a boldness you have never known.
Now do you begin to see the point? Just as the Spirit came to the first
believers at Pentecost, so He also comes to every believer in every place where
Jesus is followed.
No longer will these Christians, or any that follow after,
have to hide as the disciples did before Pentecost. No longer will they live in fear, hiding
away. The promise is that the Breath of
God will be poured out on all humankind as it says in the Bible’s prophecy of
Joel
Now what of us? We
are living in an age that is a long way from God, his freedom and his
truth. Like these Christians, we no
longer hold centre stage in public life.
We are increasingly ignored.
Other gods dominate the scene:
not always religious gods but the divine ‘money, sex and power.’
What is our response as believers? Often we act like we have never heard of the
Holy Spirit. We complain about the loss
of Christian values, and yet what do we do?
Christians blend in with society or, hiding away through in fear,
believe that there is nothing we can do that would make a difference.
We are missing the same thing these believers were missing
—Christ made available to us though the Holy Breath of God. We need this Holy Spirit, the breath of God,
as much today as they did then. So let’s
ask the One who loves to give good gifts…..
24 April 2012 See what difference a day makes...
Can one day really be any more important than another? Well, maybe the answer is yes when something
truly significant happened on that day in the distant past.
Yesterday was St George’s Day. He is thought to have lived
up to 1,800 years ago. Shakespeare died on 23rd April in 1616. It is also the feast of St Adalbert of
Prague, martyred by the Prussians in 997AD. Let no one say that this blog isn’t
educational!!
This is a busy season in more modern history, too. This week
in 1968 saw the first appearance of decimal coinage, leading to lots of
head-scratching as people who were used to counting their money in twelves and
twenties had to get used to thinking now in tens.
A little further back in time, in 1962, the first US rocket
landed on the moon – not yet with people on board but a vital step in the moon
race nonetheless.
And 52 years ago yesterday, Mrs King gave birth to her first
child, a fine baby boy. Me. So, I’m rather positive about the significance of
special days, especially ones that involve chocolate cake and the love of
family and friends.
Is there one day in human history that is truly significant
for you? In the Bible, a servant of God
called Paul writes “now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of
salvation.” It means that whatever is
happening around us God is there, reaching out to us. On special days - and
ordinary days too. The way to Him is open once again through the death and resurrection
of Jesus. The day I first believed that for myself was truly the most
significant day of my life. May it be so
for you too.
29 February 2012 What God didn't call you to...
The following was written by someone called Jon
Swanson. I saw it and wanted to re-post
it here.
Ivan
Lots of people are wondering what God is calling them to do.
And that is a good question. But on the way to the answer, we fill in many
answers. So let me suggest some of the things that God did not call you to.
You are not called to be me.
You are not called to
be your mother or father.
You are not called to
be your pastor.
You are not called to
be happy all the time.
You are not called to
be rich.
You are not called to
be as organized as the neighbour on the right.
You are not called to
be as disorganized as the neighbour on the left.
You are not called to
be as ___ as your uncle Dave.
You are not called to
be your sister.
You are not called to
be the guy in all the ads.
You are not called to
be the perfect family.
You are not called to
smile every moment.
You are not called to
have every answer.
You are not called to
say ‘yes’ to every request.
You are not called to
work 24/7.
You are not called to
read the Bible through every year.
You are not called to
measure up.
You are not called to
do it all.
You are not called to
remember every detail.
You are not called to
run their lives.
You are not called to
do everything right the first time.
You are not called to
stop everything.
You are not called to
save the world.
That was covered.
That’s why we’re
called to follow Him.
A step at a time.
And that feeling of
relief?
You are called to
that.
23 November
2011 Advent
This coming Sunday is Advent Sunday - it's the first of four
Sundays before Christmas Day. Advent means coming or arrival and the excitement
about Christmas - Jesus being born into this world - builds during those four
weeks.
Here's something I love, which helps me to focus on the
meaning of Advent and Christmas. Maybe it will help you too...
“One Solitary Life
“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant
woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter's
shop until he was thirty. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He
never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never travelled more
than two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
“He did none of the things usually associated with
greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty three. His
friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies.
And went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two
thieves and, while dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing: the only
property he had on earth.
“When he was dead He was laid in a borrowed grave through
the pity of a friend.
“Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today Jesus is
the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress.
“All the armies that have ever marched; all the navies that
have ever sailed; all the parliaments that have ever sat; all the kings that
ever reigned - put together - have not affected the life of mankind on earth as
powerfully as that one solitary life...”
9 October 2011
November the 5th
When I was a lad, at about this time of year we got some old
clothes, stuffed them full of other old rags, put them in a wheelbarrow and
either went door to door or stood outside the shops. If you are over 40, you
will have no difficulty recollecting what this process was called: “Penny for
the Guy”.
The 5th of November wasn’t simply Fireworks Night or Bonfire
Night, it was Guy Fawkes’ Night. “Remember, remember the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.” It had been held ever since the gunpowder plot
when people tried to blow up parliament with King James inside it. Not a very
nice thing to do, although they regarded James as a tyrant. Guy Fawkes and his
friends were planning something rather nasty but they met a rather sticky end
themselves. For those with delicate digestions I won’t go into all the details
but they were longer, thinner and in more pieces at the end of it than they
started out. Somehow, in the many years since I went collecting “penny for the
Guy”, we’ve stopped doing it and something else has taken its place.
Have you been into Sainsbury’s, Co-op or Tesco’s in the last
two weeks? Have you noticed the way in which they each have displays about
Halloween which falls on 31st October You can’t avoid it. Supermarket masks and
pictures of ghostly faces stare at you from the aisles. You can't turn on the
television without these images appearing. Pictures of spooks and ghouls are
glaring at you everywhere you go as we approach "Halloween." But it’s
not just in shops. It’s in schools too; it’s in the pubs and clubs and we now
have the annual event of “trick or treating”.
I want to think about two things today. The first is to
touch base with what the bible says about such things. The second is to think
about how we will be light when all around are celebrating darkness.
There is much evil at large in this world. Some of it is
human evil – the selfishness that we show in our dealings with one another and
with God. Some of it is ‘directed’ evil. Evil with a purpose and that purpose
is to distract us from the truth. The Bible says quite a bit about this type of
evil. One of the reasons to be concerned about Halloween is that evil is at
work here among ordinary human beings. Jesus Christ encountered evil many times
during His ministry on earth. The disciples reported that evil retreated before
them when they spoke in Christ’s name and the Apostle Paul tells of "the
messenger of Satan" sent to "buffet" him, to torment him (II
Corinthians 12:7). The Apostle Paul spoke of this kind of evil when he said,
"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world"
(Ephesians 6:12). Every Christian "wrestles" against evil. That's why
it's so important to pray for God to protect you and guide you through
"the darkness of this world."
Halloween focuses on evil: dressed up for popular
consumption. Costumes of witches and demons will be worn in abundance, paper
cut-out bats and ghosts decorate restaurants and businesses, and sneering
"jack-o-lantern" pumpkins will be found alight in many a window all
in the name of fun. Thousands of people - many of them professing Christians -
will engage in a hearty embracing of the evening with little thought as to the
underlying significance of what they are doing. Few can deny awareness of
Halloween's dark, even frightening, overtones but fewer seem to even care. So
why do we – people of the Light of the world – delight in dark things?
Christians should not be celebrating the darkness! But how
can we, as people of the light, help correct this? On Halloween night – what
can we do?
In our families - instead of focusing on the negative
aspects of Halloween, you can turn the holiday into a positive,
relationship-building tradition for your family. For Trick-or-Treaters who will
call at your home, instead of ignoring them or turning them away, put out a
bowl of Satsumas (soft fruit doesn’t break windows!) or some sweets but
decorate the bowl with something that tells visitors that God loves them. If
they knock, admire the effort that has gone into the costumes and say to each
“God bless you!”
In all this, let us look forward to the time when, at a
word, Christ shall sweep away the darkness with His glorious light. And then
let us pray that prayer that countless Christians have prayed and continue to
pray when darkness comes: “Bring light
to our darkness we ask you O God, and by your great mercy defend us from all
perils and dangers of this night, for the sake of your only Son our Saviour
Jesus Christ, Amen.”
7 August 2011 The Parable of the Cookies
Here’s a story I heard recently.
Toad baked some cookies.
"These cookies smell very good," said Toad. He ate
one. "And they taste even better," he said.
Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog, Frog," cried
Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made."
Frog ate one of the cookies, "These are the best
cookies I have ever eaten!" said Frog.
Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another. "You
know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we should stop
eating. We will soon be sick."
“You are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last
cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie.
There were many cookies left in the bowl.
"Frog," said Toad, "let us eat one very last
cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.
“We must stop eating!" cried Toad as he ate another.
"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we
need willpower."
"What is willpower?" asked Toad.
"Willpower is the power not to do something you really
want to do," said Frog.
"You mean like trying hard not to eat all these
cookies?" asked Toad.
"Right," said Frog.
Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said.
"Now we will not eat any more cookies."
“But we can open the box," said Toad.
"That is true," said Grog.
Frog tied some string around the box. "There," he
said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."
"But we can cut the string and open the box." said
Toad.
"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He
put the box up on a high shelf.
"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any
more cookies."
“But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the
shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad.
"That is true," said Frog.
Frog climbed the ladder and took the box down from the
shelf. He cut the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He
shouted in a loud voice. "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came
from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away.
"Now we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad
sadly.
"Not even one."
"Yes," said Frog, "but we have lots and lots
of willpower."
"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I am
going home now to bake a cake."
29 July 2011 Relationships (as seen on TV)
Hi. In the autumn in CFS, we are going to be thinking about
relationships. If you can remember any examples of really good or unhappy
relationship 'issues' from your favourite TV soaps (e.g. Corrie? Emmerdale?
Eastenders?) can you check n see if they are on YouTube and then message me the
link? parsonking@hotmail.co.uk
Could be the perfect love match; or conflict; family
fallout; whatever. Cheers, Ivan
13 June 2011 WEIRD SEX !
Actually I'm not writing about weird sex - that's just to
grab your attention. Though it says
something that a blog headed "weird sex" would do that but that's for
another day.....Maybe chocolate would do instead?
So far this blog has had an amazing 9,367 hits - I say
amazing because I never thought it would attract such attention especially as
we don’t publicise it. I'm not sure we
should - it's just an occasional thought or two from me. Not intended to be profound just sharing my
thinking.
BUT the last time someone commented on anything I've written
here was June 2010. So do I need to be
more provocative in what I blog to get some feedback? Do we need to look at weird sex? Or are there things to do with God and life
and people you're interested in that we can explore here?
Comments WELCOME!
Cheers
8 June 2011 BOGOF!
(That’s Buy-One-Get-One-Free to you!!)
There’s no such thing as a free lunch!
This week’s free, no obligation offer!
We’re bombarded with attractive offers that make great play
of something that is free.
And in the New Testament, and most especially in the Letter
to the Galatians, Paul tells us that “It was for freedom that Christ has set us
free” Galatians was called by Martin
Luther the greatest book of the Bible.
It is called the Christians’ Magna Carta of liberty. If someone like Luther thinks a book based on
Christian freedom is the greatest book of the whole Bible, then we should be at
least curious about it.
What do you have to do to be a real Christian? What makes
real Christians different from those who are just acting religiously? In this world if you want to get into a club,
you have to pay to get in. If you want to be known as a helpful volunteer, you
have to work at it. So what do you have to do to be a Christian?
Over the centuries a lot of different people have come up
with a lot of different ways for being a Christian. If you want to become a
Christian (they say), you must belong to a particular church, or must give a
certain amount of money, or must live your life in a certain way or follow a
particular leader or must do a number of good things to please God.
But the Bible gives a different answer to the question,
"what can you do to be a Christian?" The Bible's answer is:
absolutely nothing! You don't make yourself a Christian. Christ makes you a
Christian. You don't have to jump through hoops to become a follower of Christ.
God does everything to make you one. Rather, Paul tells us that Christ has set
us free, free from sin, from death, and from any requirements to earn God's
love.
The trouble is that ordinary human beings like you and me
don’t handle freedom well.
If you are like most other Christians who have ever lived
then you will run into one of two problems with regard to the freedom we have
in Christ.
We abuse that freedom.
Until Christ frees us, we live lives addicted to sin. We are set free from addiction to sin in
order to choose the way of Christ. It’s
the freedom to make a choice to follow His way for us. We accept the freedom from the penalty from
our sins that Christ offers but then we use the freedom to choose to behave
selfishly. We ignore the fact that we
can only be slaves to sin or slaves to doing it his way.
We run away from freedom.
The idea of being free to is too big; too scary. So we want something that takes the choices
away from us. We want someone else to
set out some firm boundaries for our lives. And so, like virtually every other
human being since time began, we become religious. To be religious is to live according to laws
and rules which bind and rob us of the choice.
The word religion comes from a root word meaning to bind - and all
religion binds. It is the opposite of
the freedom that Christ offers.
It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. The freedom is not something to long
for. If you truly belong to Christ then
you have it already. It’s what we do
with the freedom He gives that is our business for today.
Paul wrote his letter to the Galatian Christians for a
specific purpose - because someone had heard Paul’s teaching
about the freedom that Christ offers and was now trying to undo that and make
them slaves to religion once again.
Paul had visited Galatia during his first missionary
journey, somewhere around 55AD. Galatia wasn't a town but a whole region in the
south part of what is (today) the country of Turkey. Paul visited various towns
in Galatia and started Christian churches there.
But after Paul had left Galatia, someone else had come into
the area and had started stirring up trouble.
It happens all the time. Christians are faithful to God and
trust his good news and believe his Word and then someone will come and start
putting wrong ideas and doubt in their heads.
The doubt which the Galatians had is a common one among
Christians: Doesn't God really ask us to
do something for his forgiveness? Don’t we have to persuade God we are worth
it? God can't really forgive our sins
for free, can he?
The freedom we have in Christ cost Him his life, his
reputation, his dignity……everything.
What will you do with the freedom he offers you today?
12 April 2011 Time for a spring clean?
We are now in the last week of Lent: that is, the forty (weekdays) running up to
Easter. We don’t find Lent anywhere in
the Bible but it helpfully brings to mind the time that Jesus spent in the
wilderness getting close to God before he called his first followers. Lent offers us Christians the chance to look
inward to see what needs some spring cleaning in our relationship with God.
This season of Lent is about one question: "How are you
and me doing, Lord?"
Don’t for a second think that this is easy to ask this or
that you can let yourself off the hook.
It is a serious undertaking to ask such a question and mean it. Most of
us prefer not to. Indeed there are big
barriers to the process.
We allow far too much noise into our souls – by which I
don’t mean broadcast sound. We are just
often far too busy to meet with Christ in the private room of our inner life.
When we do look prayerfully within, we are usually too
lenient when it comes to our own lives and far too hard when it comes to
judging the lives of others. Quick to
justify ourselves and slow to excuse others.
And... we are
sometimes fearful of what we will see.
Take a few minutes now and read PSALM 51
This psalm is written by the famous King David who we
find in the Old Testament of the
Bible. Like many of us, David was living
in denial of his sin. In his greed and
lust, David broke every major commandment: lying, murderous conspiracy,
adultery and theft!
He glosses over the seriousness and the reality of what he
has done until Nathan the prophet courageously comes to him and confronts him
with his sin. Cleverly, Nathan leads
into this with a parable in which the King looks at his situation as though
someone else had committed the wrong. In
this parable, a rich man steals a lamb from a poor man to feed a guest. The lamb had been like a member of the poor
man’s family. The rich man, who could
have anything he wanted and any lamb in the land, nevertheless devastates the
poor man by stealing his one lamb.
King David is incensed and angrily blurts out, "As the
LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the
lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." [2
Sam 12:5-6] Then Nathan delivers the crushing truth, "You are the
man!"
Psalm 51 is the account of David dealing with his corrupt
personality. How could God forgive such a sinner? How could God ever think of blessing someone
who had done such things?
Well God did forgive when David repented – that is, turned
his life around, to go in God’s direction again. Yet, even though David is forgiven, his life
was changed ever after that. He was scarred.
Besides the death of his child, David endured lifelong pain and anguish
in a family life that had been derailed by his selfish actions.
We so often gloss over this point. We may earnestly repent and kind heaven will forgive. But the scars and the consequences of sin are
a hard reminder.
We do not take sin nearly seriously enough.
We need to come face to face with our sin and separation
from God. I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. [Psalm 51
v.3]
No matter who we have hurt or harmed, or what we have done,
all sin is sin against God. David had
sinned against his people, Uriah, and Bathsheba - but it was all sin against
God. "Against you, you alone, have
I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight..." [v.4]
God alone can clean us up from sin and give us spiritual
healing / recovery. "Have mercy on
me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions" [v1]
Forgiveness of sin brings about new life, new birth or new
creation. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right
spirit within me." [v.10]
There is no real joy in our living until we are reconciled
to God. Restore to me the joy of your
salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. [v.12]
So, this Lent ask the question each day: “How’s it going between you and me,
God?” Repent, turn around your
life. And may God give each one of us
the spiritual courage not only to look within ourselves and confront our sins
but also to get right with him.
17 February
2011 Done something wrong?
Here’s a story, told by M. Scott Peck in his book, “Further
Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Towards Spiritual Growth”,
that touches on God’s forgiveness:
A little girl said she talked to Jesus, and people in her
village began to get excited about that. Then word got around so some of the
neighbouring villages, and the other people began to get excited about it. Finally, word reached the bishop’s palace in
and the bishop became somewhat concerned, because, after all, you can have any
unauthorized ‘saints’ walking around in the Church. So he appointed a priest to investigate this
case.
The little girl was
brought to the bishop’s palace for a series of interviews. At the end of the third interview, the priest
threw up his hands and said, “I just don’t know, I don’t know what to make of
this. I don’t know whether you’re for real or not. But there is one acid test. The next time you talk to Jesus, I want you
to ask him what I confessed at my last confession. Would you do that?” The little girl said she
would.
She went away and came back for her interview the next week,
and with barely disguised eagerness the priest asked, “So, my dear, did you
talk to Jesus again this past week?”
She said, “Yes
Father, I did.”
“And when you talked
to Jesus this past week, did you remember to ask him what I confessed at my
last confession?
“Yes, Father, I did.”
“Well, when you asked
Jesus what I confessed to at my last confession, what did Jesus say?”
And the little girl
answered, “Jesus said, ‘I don’t remember.’”
Done something really bad?
When you confessed and asked his help to change, God forgave that.
24 January 2011
Great story (as told on the West Wing)
A man’s walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The
walls are so steep he can't get out.
His pastor walks along and the guy shouts up, 'Hey Reverend.
Can you help me out?' The pastor writes out a prayer for deliverance, throws it
down in the hole and moves on.
Then a lawyer comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Hey, I'm
down in this hole can you help me out?' The lawyer pulls out his business card,
throws it down in the hole with an offer to help sue whoever dug the hole, but
he too moves on.
Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, mate, it's me. I’m stuck in
this hole - can you help me out?' And the friend jumps down into the hole. The
first guy says, 'Are you mad? Now we're both in the hole!'
The friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before and I
know the way out.'
God is so completely different to us that we could not
possibly know him or anything about him.
So he sent Jesus to identify with us in all that we face in our
lives. Because Jesus has been in the
hole with us, he can help us because he is the way out.
“We have a great high priest, who has gone into heaven, and
he is Jesus the Son of God. That is why we must hold on to what we have said
about him. Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in
every way that we are. But he did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we
should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be
treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help." Hebrews 4: 14-16
20 December
2010 When the time was right...
Hmmm I've neglected
this blog for a while. There's no
shortage of things to do in church or in family life and somehow it always
seems to slip to the bottom of the 'to do' list. But I have missed it, or at least I have
missed this chance to think aloud and try and make sense of things that
happen. So here's an early 2011
resolution: the blog and I won’t be
quite such strangers in the coming year.
I had a milestone birthday in 2010 and my present from Nikki
was to go and spend a day at River Cottage in Dorset, which is where Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall has created the HQ of his TV series. My day there in April was good fun: it was their Pig and Pork day and the trainer
was Ray Lewis who has a lifetime's experience as a butcher. Ray demonstrated how to divide a half-pig
into the different joints of meat (these were raffled off later and I came home
with a 7lb boned organic pork joint!).
He then demonstrated how to turn pork belly into home-cured bacon and
pancetta, before moving on to making sausages and salami. Lunch was pig's liver (one of my favourites),
with vegetables grown at River Cottage.
In the afternoon we did some hot and cold smoking of meats from the
morning.
So why, in Christmas week, am I thinking about pigs and
pork? Well just this: I started curing our own bacon as soon as we
moved house a little while ago (didn’t think Val would have appreciated this in
the flat at Hadleigh) and we have two pieces maturing in the workshop at the
end of our garden which should be ready for Christmas Day - one bacon, one
pancetta. Now being my first efforts, I
know that they may not be perfect and I am ready to make changes when we taste
the bacon, including the need to vary the time spent 'curing' or the
ingredients of the 'cure' itself (mainly salt, dark brown sugar and
spices). But here are two thoughts on
all this. Firstly, my day at River
Cottage could have been just fun in itself but the real fulfillment of the
present will be the long awaited day when I have tasted home-cured bacon for
the first time, even if it needs a lot of improvement next time around. The second is that I am waiting (yes,
counting the days!) not for turkey or presents or even our Christingle, though
they will be fun. But waiting for the
time to be right to experience something that nature and I have worked on
together.
I'm probably the only person in Southend who is eagerly
anticipating Christmas morning for this reason (among other more important
reasons)! Children will be prodding,
squeezing and sniffing at wrapped presents to try and guess what they will
receive. Lots of people will be looking
forward to Christmas Dinner, with all the trimmings (and, yes, there have to be
Sprouts). Some people will be hoping for
company and warmth or simply to forget. Christmas can be a dark time for some.
A long time ago, God set in motion a rescue plan for
us. He hinted to people in the Old
Testament of the bible that one day something would happen that would make a
world of difference to those who chose to see it. It took ages for it to come about. Lots of
people lived and died waiting for God's plan to be seen. And each Advent and Christmas we are reminded
that "when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman"
(Galatians 4:4). One of the names of
Jesus in the bible is Emmanuel, which means God with us. God has not left us alone with our hopes and
fears but has come to share his life with us. If we take hold of this, it will
make a world of difference to what we hope for. Advent is the time leading up
to Christmas each year when, once again, we look forward to God with us again.
And if we need a sharper thought this Advent than presents
or tinsel or bacon, here's a thought to finish.
It was written by Oscar Romero, a South American archbishop who left his
bishop's palace and lived in a homeless hostel.
He was murdered in 1978 when he stood up to those who used murder and
torture to stay in power.
Advent should help us to discover
in each brother or
sister that we greet,
in each friend whose
hand we shake,
in each beggar who
asks for bread,
in each worker who
wants to use the right to join a union,
in each peasant who
looks for work in the coffee groves,
the face of Christ.
Then it would not be
possible to rob them,
to cheat them,
to deny them their
rights.
They are Christ,
and whatever is done
to them
Christ will take as
done to himself.
This is what Advent
is:
Christ living among
us.
17 Oct 2010
Visit to Pilgrims Hatch Baptist Church this morning
A big thank-you to Michael, Kezia, Phil and Nikki who came
with me to Pilgrims Hatch this morning.
What a lovely group of people they are there!
They've asked Michael to talk to their youth group and at
least one person was so taken with the idea of Shared Space that they want to
come and visit and see if they can find inspiration for something similar in
Brentwood.
Phil did an ace talk for the teenagers.
Thanks for your company....
Ivan
16 March 2010 Turning back?
A town in a remote area of Canada was very isolated. At long
last a proper road was cut through the wilderness to reach it. That town now
had one road leading into it and, therefore, only one road leading out.
Whenever someone travelled the road for six to eight hours to get into town,
there is only way he or she could leave – by turning around and going back in
the opposite direction. The quickest,
indeed the only, way out of that dead-end was by turning around.
From our earliest years, each of us arrives in a place where
our mistakes and wrongdoing begin to build up.
As in that isolated little town, there is only one way out. In this case it is a road built by God
himself. Pressing ahead in the same direction will only take you further into
the wild. To get out of town, one must
first turn completely around. This complete change of direction is what the
Bible calls ‘repentance’. It means to have a different attitude, leading to a
different direction in life.
We are now just a couple of weeks away from Easter, in the
time in the Christian calendar known as Lent: the 40 weekdays from Ash
Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter.
The name ‘Lent’ is an old word for Spring, when the days start to
lengthen. For centuries, Christians have
used this time ahead of Easter for a kind of spring-cleaning, reflecting on
what needs to be put right with God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the
cross.
If you find yourself cut off by the choices you have made in
life, maybe you should try God’s road of repentance – changing direction back
towards Him. Ask him for help with
this. Without it, there's no way out of
town.
15t
February 2010 OK enough of the
simple stuff - now for the BIG questions....
Mars, Snickers or Cadbury's Buttons?
If you had to choose just one of these?
9 February
2010 Following Jesus - help
wanted. . .
Hi. I've spent my
lifetime listening to people in churches telling me I need to follow
Jesus, as well as what to do and what
not to do.
I've done my own share of telling others.
But telling doesn't do it.
Telling generally just makes people feel guilty.
I want people around me who will SHOW me how to follow Jesus
and live a changed life. People who
won't just tell me "Do this" or "Don't do that" but
actually show me how to live in a way that delights God. Show me:
·
how to stop being chained to stuff that just
gets in the way
·
how to be a better husband, father and friend
·
how to manage money better
·
what to do when faced with hard situations
I want to learn how to follow Jesus by watching and
listening to you as you follow Jesus.
And maybe you can do the same by watching and listening to me. I think this is a large bit of what church is
here for.
Ivan
[PS all this is in the Bible
- 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1
- check it out ]
21 January
2010 What is God's dream for the future
of Church from Scratch?
Do you ever day-dream?
Wonder how things might turn out in, say, a few years’ time? People sometimes dismiss 'dreamers', as
though they haven't got their feet firmly enough on the ground.
Interestingly, the Bible has quite a few dreamers in
it. Early-on in the Bible, the king of
Egypt had a dream about fat cows and thin cows and God put Joseph (yes, the
Technicolor Dreamcoat guy) there to explain what it meant. Joseph's dad, Jacob, dreamed of a ladder
going up into the sky - the original stairway to heaven. When Jesus was born, God used a dream to warn
the wise men not to go back to nasty king Herod.
Anyways - what's he on about? (I hear you ask!) OK.
This Sunday, the church leadership team of Alex, Barry, Dave, John, Tim,
Peter and me are going to spend a day together asking God to share some of His
dreams for the future of Church from Scratch with us. The kind of dreams where you have to listen
hard and keep checking with the Bible and one another that you have heard
correctly.
We would really like you to pray for us as we go off and
listen to God. Sunday, 9.45am to 4pm.
And if we hear something that we agree upon together, we
will share it with the whole church at one of our monthly gatherings.
Thanks :)
17 January 2010 A request...
Does anyone have an external DVD drive I might borrow for a
day?
I'd be glad to hear from anyone who has one. Thanks.
13th January 2010 God is good (all the time)
At the gathering on Sunday we started to learn a song called
"God is good, all the time".
It has a fun melody (oh yes it does) and I predict that some
of you have been singing it since Sunday.
It contains some key words: ""Though I may not understand all
the plans you have for me, my life is in your hands and through the eyes of
faith I can clearly see that God is good."
Here it is on YouTube.
Cut and paste the following link into your browser and turn your
speakers on...... :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl06RN5zRxk
12 January 2010 Who's in the driving seat?
Quite a few people have now told Peter or myself that, for
them, God seemed to 'turn-up' at the gathering on Sunday. They came away having felt God talking to
them about following Him.
One thing we did together was to rip up an Ordnance Survey
map and hand out the pieces to one another, as a sign that God doesn’t usually
give us much advance warning of the road map of our lives. One friend showed me that he has put his
scrap of map in his glasses case, so that he sees it and is reminded every time
he reaches for his specs.
One verse from the bible that we read aloud also seems to
have stuck in people's minds. It was
from Luke's gospel chapter 9, verse 23:
Then he [Jesus] told them what they could expect for themselves:
"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the
driver's seat—I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll
show you how."
Over the next weeks and months, we will see that Jesus has
many things to say that might well unsettle, irritate or even disturb us. We will try to work out together what he is
telling us. But even though what he says
may trouble us, one thing is for sure:
he loves us completely and everything he teaches is for our good.
Maybe you also have some things to share about verses we
heard on Sunday - why not add your thoughts below?
10 January 2010 Come and follow
At tonight's church gathering, we had an attractive ribboned
present. There was enough curiosity
about it to persuade people to 'bid' money to buy it. Or perhaps it was Oliver's professional
patter that made us dig deep into our pockets?
Anyways, I think the Freeman family's bid was the highest at a (purely
notional) £32 for the unseen contents of
the brightly wrapped parcel. Hana kindly
unwrapped it for us all, revealing [long drum roll.......] a Mars Duo bar. Some would say treasure indeed! But £32 worth? Not many of us would buy something unseen and
unknown at such a price.
Jesus never sold Himself as an attractive proposition. He didn’t
promise us an automatic right to health, wealth or privilege. He didn't plead with people to join His
club. Like His first team of disciples,
He offers us a cross and the invitation to follow Him. There is no road map (we tore that up to
demonstrate this). Just following one
step at a time in His way.
Once you start down the way of following Jesus, some things start
to make sense that would have seemed daft before. You begin to discover that things that
seemed important before now take their true place. People you hated can now be forgiven. Changes that would have been impossible on
your own are possible in His company.
But that doesn't change the fact that all He asks - all He offers to start with - is "Follow me".
Peter and I, with help from some others, are preparing the
teaching programme for the period between now and Summer. We are calling this "The Way". It will take some of the plain - even
disturbing - things that Jesus said and week by week we will see how we might
live out the truth behind them. It
doesn't promise to be easy and there is a health warning that Jesus can
seriously change your life. But we
believe it should help us all to do more of what Jesus asks: "follow me".
22 December 2009 Getting that Christmas feeling yet?
I really enjoyed being at the Monday cluster last night -
and not just because of the turkey, roast spuds, sprouts and stuffing (all very
good, btw). There was just such a great
sense of celebrating Christmas together as people for whom Jesus has made - and
is making - a real difference.
So, thanks to all who
made this such a good evening. And I'm
looking forward to my first CFS Christingle on Christmas Eve.
17 December 2009 Christmas
presence
Christmas seems to start earlier each year. I saw my first seasonal advert on the TV at
the tail end of October. The shops have
had their Christmas displays up for weeks and the town centre lights are now
on. Houses have decorated trees in the
windows, festooned with tinsel and lights.
I have even seen a house with snowmen in the front garden - given
yesterday's sprinkling of snow, that's clever.
Yet a recent survey showed that most people are unaware of
the meaning of Christmas. There was a
report in this week's papers that lots of school nativity plays now replace the
baby Jesus with a lamb, to avoid any awkward questions. We go to so much trouble to celebrate an
event which most people don’t know about.
We decorate trees, send cards to relatives; we cook and eat way too much
food. We fight our way through the
crowds to buy gifts. Doesn’t anyone ask "why?"
I think there is much more to celebrate about Christmas than
tinsel and trees, presents and pudding (though Christmas Pud is ace!) For God chose to send His precious Child to
live as one of us, to save us from fear and
our mistakes and to show a
different way for us to live. His
present to us is freedom from the past and a future with hope.
So often, the gift of God’s Son is the only present left
unopened after Christmas. So, while you
arrange the presents under your tree this year, take time to think about
Jesus: God’s presence with you and me.
16 December 2009 Music
in 2009?
A while back I asked about films and had a nil
response. Zilch. Nada. But I know that some of you do like
films. I've discovered that Sally is
into good Science Fiction and is off to see Avatar soon. Not sure that John likes SF (prefers the
popcorn at the cinema maybe?!). Well SF is fine with the King Family (Star Wars
originals a big favourite; Star Trek,
etc, etc), as well as many others. I
learned my management style from Clint Eastwood.
SO.....if you are shy about films, what about music? What was the best music album you heard in
2009 and what was good about it? Would
you recommend it to others to listen to?
Some responses, please......
14 December 2009 Food
As followers of Jesus, we pay close attention to what Jesus
did (we read about it in the Bible) and what he is doing now. We discover that
by watching and talking to him and hearing the stories about what he is doing
in people's lives.
Why? Because Jesus
told his disciples that they would be blessed by God when they do the things he
does (not just know or understand or discuss - but DO).
So what did Jesus spend a lot of time doing? Yes, he taught people about God and he
certainly healed some people. But he
also wandered around quite a bit. And
something he did again and again in the gospel stories, which we often just
skim over, is that he ate meals with people. All kinds of people. Some of them were hated and some hated
themselves. Some were crooks. A few were rich. Sometimes there were several
thousands sitting down to a picnic together.
So when we share food in our groups week by week, we are
being followers of Jesus - doing what he did.
And when I had liver and bacon opposite Southend Central station today,
Jesus was sat at the table there with us.
Maybe we will come on later to the healing and the walking on
water. For the time being, I'm happy to
eat with Jesus and with you, his friends and share stories of what he is doing.
12 December 2009 Youth club meal last night
You learn a lot about people by working with them - almost
as much as eating with them. Last night
we had a really good time at the youth club + family Christmas meal.
The older youth did a lot of the work, preparing and cooking
and getting the room ready. Well done to
them. In one sense it is always
difficult to cater for church groups - we guessed 35 or so would come and, in
the end, it was 50. But all got fed
except Alison, who bravely gave up her turkey slice. The Bible tells us that her sacrifice will be
returned to her 100 fold - so if you see someone covered in turkey slices in
the next few weeks, it's probably Alison being
'blessed' by God. Which reminds
me that I once went to the front door of our house in Ilford with a slice of
roast turkey on my shoulder (how it got there is another thing - I don’t
recall), opening the door to one of the leaders of the church who - being
English - had a long conversation with me without ever mentioning that I had a
slice of meat on my shoulder. Weird -
but maybe that tells you more useful information about me than you might get
just through chatting with me?)
Anyways. A really
good evening. So thanks to all of those
who Nikki and I had the fun of working with.
9 December 2009 Partners' meeting last night
Daniel's stay in hospital meant that Peter was away for my
first partners' meeting last night.
Which (though it wasn't planned that way) was quite good for me and I
guess for the partners too, because it
meant I just got stuck in.
This partners' meeting was different to any church members'
meeting I've been to before. How so?
Well, it began with food (what doesn't in CFS?) kindly provided by Alison and
Sally: thanks especially for the
tandoori chicken, which was scrummy.
Another difference is that we sat in a circle, in comfy chairs, so it wasn't
like a public meeting or even a work-related meeting where someone gets to sit
at the top of the table. It felt like a group of friends talking about things
that mattered to them but in a gentle and friendly way.
I kicked off with some thoughts about how we prepare to
celebrate the birth of Jesus. We shared
some experiences of Christmases past and then I read the poem "Advent
1955" by John Betjeman.
We voted Barry on to CLOT and prayed for him as he prepares
to join the team.
John gave a financial report with some very helpful graphics
that communicated what can, in other hands, be a very dry topic in an
interesting way. We agreed to be serious in our prayers and think about our
giving, making pledges for the next year confidentially through John. This would help us to set a firm budget for
2010 early in the new year.
Finally, I shared a little of how Peter and I are working
together, discovering how we think and what the calendar holds for the next few
months.
We were done by 9.15 and back grazing the pizzas, chicken
and hot dogs. Not ( I noticed) grazing
the salad so much... maybe something to do with a balanced diet and healthy
eating should be on the agenda sometime next year! What do you think?
Anyways, thank-you to all who were there for making my first
partners' meeting so much fun. Are they
all like this?
5 December
2009 Great songs
I'm looking forward to listening to Helen Yousaf singing on
Sunday evening at St Luke's church, St Luke's Road, Southend, SS2 4AE, starting
at 6pm and lasting for about an hour and a half. Entry is free.
Helen is a Christian singer who has a fantastic voice. I've
known her since she was a teenager at the Elim church in Ilford and we were
colleagues for a couple of years.
Strange world: I move to Southend
and find I can go hear my friend singing about God and his love, which reaches
us even when life is tough. You can
check out Helen's singing on www.helenyousaf.co.uk
Maybe see you there?
Ivan
3 December
2009 Talking
with God
I met some Christian workers yesterday who told me a story
about a teenager they had chatted with who had never heard the word
'prayer.' Didn’t know what it means or
even how to say the word. Had never
talked with God.
I found that very sad and surprising but, when I thought
about it, why should people know that they can talk to Jesus if they don’t know
he is there or anything about him? Lots of people are in that situation these
days.
Maybe you find it helpful to have a set time in your day
when you listen to God or just tell him how it is. I find it natural to talk to
him if I'm in the car or walking the dog (maybe some other people learn to pray
first when they see my driving!)
Anyone want to share how and when they talk with Jesus?
What works for you?
1 December 2009 Films
A blog is about what's happening in life and what we're
feeling about it all. Not just 'churchy
things.' There isn't much that's
churchy about CFS anyways!
So: what films do you
like? Anyone here a fan of Clint
Eastwood?
30 November 2009 Ivan's blog
Hi Church from Scratch.....
Thought I'd see how useful this blog is for sharing some of
what I am finding, thinking and experiencing as I get into CFS. Comments and shared thoughts from you would
be very welcome too.
Had a great Induction party on 21st November, so a big thank
you again to all who made that so special.
Nikki and I have started to get settled-in to the area. We are living in the ground floor flat in
Val's house in Hadleigh. Nice flat and
(if you ignore the A13 which passes the front door) a great view over farmland
to the estuary.
The first priority is to meet as many people from the church
as possible. I would like to visit all
of the groups but this will take a little time.
If I don’t make it to yours straightaway, it will happen! In each place I have been so far I have been
made really welcome.
Not sure how long I will last out though health wise if I
eat all the KFC I get offered in CFS!
Also, news seems to have leaked out about my fondness for chocolate and
cake. I must show iron self-control.
We enjoyed being at Sparklers on Friday night, followed by
Youth Club. Sunday morning was fun at
Clarence Road, meeting the folk there and playing Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire!
Nikki is job hunting, looking for a part-time job in the
area. Our son, Ethan, who is 18, is
working in a pub in east London for a few months while he saves up before going
to university next September.
I am also studying part-time at Spurgeon's College, the
Baptist theological college in south
London. Most of the study is by distance
learning, so I don’t have to go there every week. I'm about half-way through the course.
OK - let's see what response I get from this entry. More soon.
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