Beware the pointing finger

For a long time now, stories have been regularly appearing in the media relating to misdemeanours apparently committed by politicians.  As the 2015 General Election draws ever nearer, it seems that no stone is being left unturned in a bid to find those elusive skeletons which are hidden away in the cupboards of current or prospective MPs.  Indeed, it seems to be acceptable to do whatever needs to be done, using fair means or foul, to reveal any indiscretion.  Once something is discovered, it immediately becomes headline news, whatever the rights or wrongs of the case.  If the person concerned is ultimately found to be innocent of the charges, well it's just their hard luck.

I accept that a person seeking public office should expect a level of scrutiny, and I believe that the principle of integrity should be highly valued and lived out by our public figures such as politicians.  At the same time, I do think that there is an element of hypocrisy in all this condemnation and accusation which is flying around (after all, sections of the media haven't exactly covered themselves in glory by their behaviour in recent times).  Let me give another case in point.

Much has been made in recent years about those people (and companies) which seek to pay as little tax as possible by certain tax-avoidance schemes.  Whilst many of these tax avoidance schemes are not illegal as such, nevertheless many feel (and I am inclined to agree) that there is a moral and societal imperative that those who earn big money should pay their fair share of tax (assuming that we can agree what that fair share is!)  Politicians of all sides are recognising this to be an important issue and will no doubt included pledges to cut down on tax avoidance in their manifestos.

And yet, I wonder whether many of the same people who shout so loudly against the "tax dodgers" are those who seem content to go along with tax dodging schemes when it goes to their advantage.  I am sure that most, if not all of those reading this blog have come across situations where someone doing some work for them (a builder, double-glazing installer, plumber, electrician etc.) has offered them a cheaper deal if they pay by cash (which allows the tradesman/woman to avoid putting the transaction through the books and paying tax on it).  Many seem happy to go along with such suggestions.  But just because the amounts are smaller does that make it any the less tax dodging?  How can I rail against tax dodging if I am happy to facilitate it when it is to my personal benefit?

It's easy to point a finger at others, but maybe we would do well to examine our own lives first?

A tale of two Bens

You may have noticed that I have called this blog entry “A tale of two Bens”.  The first Ben is my young grandson.   He is a smashing little boy (most of the time), with a very endearing grin.  He is also a pointer.  Whenever something, or someone, attracts his attention he will point in that direction.  Last Sunday morning I was leading a Mothering Sunday service at one of my churches.  Ben, along with his brother and two cousins were at the service.  When I stood up to introduce the service, Ben noticed me, pointed his finger, and toddled down the aisle towards me.  When he got close, he lifted his arms in my direction, and I couldn’t resist gathering him in my arms.  He’s a very cuddly little boy!

Later in the service we watched a video clip which related the time when some children were brought to Jesus (you can watch it here).  Jesus’ disciples, thinking that Jesus wouldn’t want to be bothered with little children, tried to usher them away.  But Jesus welcomed the children.  The gospels tell us that he ‘took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them’ (Mark 10:16).  What an amazing picture of God’s love for us all.  As I held Ben in my arms I perhaps caught a glimpse of how God feels when we stretch out our arms to him and allow him to gather us to himself.

The other Ben is someone I met a couple of years ago.  My brother, Phil, came over from New Zealand (where he lives) to a conference in the UK, and brought with him a friend, Ben, who is from Vanuatu.  Ben is a lovely, gentle man who overflows with the love and grace of God, and it was a privilege to get to know him.  It was his first visit to the UK and I think that he found it a bit of a culture shock at first.  He loved his first experience of snow, although he didn’t appreciate the sub-zero temperatures!  I was fascinated to read later that a survey suggested although most of the people of Vanuatu have very little by way of material possessions, they are nevertheless amongst the happiest and most contented people on earth.

I was greatly saddened to hear of the devastation caused to Vanuatu by the recent visit of ‘Cyclone Pam’.  Not surprisingly, Phil has not yet been able to make contact with Ben.  Ben is often on my mind at the moment; he and his family and the people of Vanuatu are very much in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope and pray that relief efforts will be swift and effective, and that the people of Vanuatu will feel supported by the international community.  I am sure that Ben and many others will be finding strength in God’s presence, even in the midst of such devastation, and encouraging others to do so too.

God and the scrap metal merchant

I was walking home from church yesterday morning when a rather strange sight caught my attention.  On the pavement, leaning against a garden wall, was a central heating radiator. Sadly, its purpose for being there wasn't to give warmth to passers-by on what was a rather chilly day!  The sight reminded of a lesson I learned not long after our arrival in Leicester.

I was planning to cut the lawn at the manse and looked in the garage for the lawnmower (Methodist manses are supposed to be equipped with a lawnmower).  In fact there were two!  One was a rather flimsy Flymo, the other a more substantial but somewhat older metal mower.  The latter looked more promising but I soon discovered that it didn't work any longer.  I was considering how we might best dispose of the lawnmower when someone suggested leaving it on the pavement in front of the house.  I thought it was rather strange advice, but nevertheless I did as suggested, and was surprised to discover that the following day it had disappeared.

I soon learned that, at least in our part of Leicester, there are scrap metal merchants who regularly tour the area looking for unwanted metal which they quickly load on their van.  Since that early experience we have managed to get rid of several unwanted and often bulky metal items in this way.  No doubt that was why the radiator had been put out on the pavement (the next time I passed that area there was no sight of the radiator).

As a preacher I can't resist a good illustration, and the thought came to me that this incident could perhaps be used to help describe the way God deals with our sin.  I love the verse on the Psalms which states, 'As far as the east is from the west, so far does God remove our sins from us.'  Perhaps the psalmist's use of east and west is significant.  If he had written, 'as far as the north is from the south' then that would have been a defined, measurable distance (we know how far the north pole is from the south pole).  But there is no east or west pole.  God removes our sin infinitely far from us.

Of course our friends the scrap metal merchants do not generally take things unless we decide that the items need to be got rid of and put them out in full view.  In the same way, God does not take away (forgive) our sins or wrongdoings until we make the decision to confess what we have done wrong (i.e. put them out in God's full view) and receive his offer of forgiveness.

Through Jesus, God has made the way by which our sins can be forgiven.  The offer is made.  He longs to set us free from the penalty of sin.  But we need to respond to the offer.  I'm sure that I will think of that next time I see a large metal object in the street!

PS Not sure what happend to the image - maybe it's gone to the scrappers!

When we think that we know better than God

One day last week I was a passenger in a car being driven by someone who shall remain nameless.  We were heading for a local supermarket, and were approaching the car park.  The driver of the car indicated to turn right into a row of parking bays.  I casually mentioned the fact that this row was guarded by two "no entry" signs, but although the driver acknowledged their presence, she (oops, that's narrowed it down a bit!) was of the opinion that they could be ignored if it would mean that we reached a parking bay sooner than if we'd obeyed the no entry signs and gone round the long way.

On this occasion it was a perfectly safe manoeuvre, as no-one was coming the other way, but it did get me thinking...

The Bible is a fascinating account of God's relationship with human beings.  What the Bible tells us is that God didn't create us to be like robots, programmed to obey the Creator's commands without question.  Instead, he gave us the incredible gift of freewill.  He gave us directions for living, which he said would always be for our best.  But God knew, when he gave us freewill, that there was a chance that we would use it choose to ignore his directions and decide that we know better than God.

In one sense, the Bible is the story of history repeating itself many times.  Men and women decide that they know best, go off in their own way, make a mess of things, call out to God for help and forgiveness, God responds and offers forgiveness and sets them back on the right path.  But very soon they again come to believe that they know best etc. etc.  Yet God is so gracious and patient with us!

There are those who say that the concept of God is old-fashioned, and that even if God exists he is not relevant to our lives.  When I hear that, I just have to think of what life on earth would be like if we human beings lived, for example, according to the 10 commandments (in fact Jesus boiled it all down to just two: Love God and love others).  The world would be transformed instantly!

As the old saying goes, "For the best results, follow the Maker's instructions!"  We may not like all that God says, but his commands are only for our good.  We can choose to go his way or our own way, but choices have consequences.  My experience is that when I have chosen my own way rather than God's way I have sooner or later discovered that God's way was best!

Firm foundations?

It's a few weeks since I wrote my last blog entry, mainly because of some major problems which I have been experiencing with both my laptop and with our broadband connection.  We have also moved house since I last wrote: in many ways this has been a tremendous blessing, but also the source of some stress!

Sue and I have looked forward to moving since before we arrived here in Leicester nearly two and a half years ago.  We have actually only moved around half a mile, but we are now in a better geographical location and the house is much more suitable as a manse.

However, the move coincided with my laptop having a wobbly and refusing to let me access any files.  It was so frustrating, when I had so much to do.  I discovered the truth of the old saying that we often don't fully appreciate something (or someone) until they're gone.  Eventually a friend who knows about such things came and rescued the missing files (it's good having friends who are able and willing to help out in times of need!)

I then had to go about re-installing the Miscrosoft Office software, only to realise that the disc I needed was lurking in one of the boxes which had yet to be unpacked.  After having spent quite some time unsuccessfully trying to locate the disc, I decided to buy a copy of the one-year Office 365 software.  Unfortunately this turned out to be a dead-end (to cut a long story short, unbeknown to me I ended up buying a dodgy copy which didn't work!)

To add insult to injury, we have been having problems with our broadband ever since we moved.  We were without it for several days whilst BT got their act together (they had also changed our phone number after we'd told them that we wanted to keep the same one!)  Even when broadband was eventually restored it was very intermittent and it is still painfully slow at times.

There's lots more I could write but I really don't want to turn this into a big moan session.  Sue and feel incredibly blessed to be in our new home, and have received some really kind and caring support with our move.  We are very much looking forward to living here.  But the problems along the way have been fairly frustrating, not to say time-consuming.

And yet, when I look back to years gone by I can remember a time when people seemed to manage perfectly well without computers and the internet.  I was fascinated when, in a recent episode of the TV programme The Voice, Tom Jones spoke of a time in his childhood when in his South Wales village no-one in the street had a telephone in the house.  If someone wanted to make a telephone call they had to go to the call box at the end of the street.  Rita Ora, another of the coaches on the programme, who is much younger than Tom, found it hard to imagine such a time!

There is, I think, a temptation to place too much reliance on the trappings of modern life.  The reality is, of course, that although computers and mobile phones and the internet etc. can be wonderfully helpful in so many ways, we ought not to make such things a foundation for life.  Jesus told a story about two builders, one who built his house on sand, and one who built his house on rock.  When the storms came, the house built on sand didn't last very long.  Perhaps we could all do well to ask ourselves, "what am I building my life on?"

Charlie Hebdo and free speech

A French magazine which until recently ago was unknown to the vast majority of the UK public, has, in the past few days, become headline news around the world.  Charlie Hebdo (French for Weekly Charlie) is a French satirical magazine.  On 7 January, two masked gunmen forced their way into the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris and killed 12 people, including the editor and several contributors.  It is believed that the attack was in response to a number of controversial cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammad.  A tragic and desperately sad event, and my heart goes out to the family and friends of all those involved.

It has been interesting to witness how the British media has responded, with countless hours given over to TV and radio coverage of the tragic events and the subsequent search for the perpetrators.  A vast amount of column inches have been written, and politicians from around the world were (quite rightly) quick to issue words of condemnation, many joining in the March for Unity which took place in Paris at the weekend.

The staff of Charlie Hebdo who were killed in last week’s massacre have been lauded in some quarters as heroes and martyrs for free speech.  Of course, free speech is something which we value very highly in our democratic system.  Yet I fear that sometimes it is used to justify almost any vitriolic or offensive language.  The apparent reality is that some of the material which appeared in Charlie Hebdo could be not only very highly offensive, but also racist.  The magazine was written with an intention to shock.  As Jordan Weissmann commented, “Charlie Hebdo’s work was both courageous and often vile.”  Free speech is a fine ideal, but is it an ideal above all others?  If so, where might it lead?  I am troubled, for example, by a quote from Stephen Fry, which highlights the issue very well:

“It’s now very common to hear people say, ‘I’m rather offended by that.’  As if that give them certain rights.  It’s actually nothing more … than a whine.  ‘I find that offensive.’  It has no meaning.  It has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase.  ‘I am offended by that.’ Well, so f****g what?’”

The implication of Fry’s comments is that we should be free to say or write whatever we like, taking no account of who might be offended by our words.  Yet at the same time, comedian and TV personality Sue Perkins expressed in a recent article her concern that some male comedians are making jokes about rape.  She comments, “It’s not all right to make rape jokes.”  I’m sure that most people would agree, but how does this tie in with the apparent ‘holy grail’ of free speech?  Does our desire for free speech give the green light to any vile or offensive language?  My opinion is that if Stephen Fry’s comment becomes the standard by which society thinks and behaves, we will have reached a desperately sad state.

The Bible has some relevant words to say on the issue:

‘Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.’  Ephesians 4:29

‘There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.’  Proverbs 12:18

‘What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’  Matthew 15:11

Free speech is really important.  It is vital that we should have the right to criticise what is wrong in society, and to speak out on issue which concern us  (Jesus regularly exercised his right of free speech to criticise the religious establishment of his day!)  But surely, in a civilised society, we also have a responsibility to consider the consequences of what we say or write.  The old “sticks and stones” saying really is a load of codswallop!  This is clearly not a black and white issue, but it’s one which we need to seriously consider before we reach a point of no return.

The eyes have it!

It is a long-standing tradition in my wider family that we meet together one day soon after Christmas each year.  Having four elder sisters and a younger brother, our family gatherings over the years have been great opportunities to meet together, catch up on family news, and generally enjoy lots of fun and laughter.  Together with children and grandchildren, we have met in quite large numbers over the years.

One of the traditions of our gatherings is that we play games.  Usually several members of the family will bring a game, sometimes home-made.  For this year's gathering, one of my sisters had prepared a sheet on which had been printed images of the eyes of various members of the family.  The challenge was to identify which pair of eyes belonged to which member of the family.  It was interesting that some of us were very good at "eye recognition", whilst others really struggled.  My two-year-old granddaughter, Beth, loved the game and delighted in pointing out the eyes which she recognised!

Preachers and other public speakers are often told how important it is to make eye contact with those to whom they are speaking.  I have known some preachers over the years that have seemed to be preaching to the ceiling, and appeared desperate to avoid eye contact at all cost!  Even in one-to-one conversations, there are people who seem to find it difficult to direct their gaze to the person with whom they are having the conversation.

When someone is speaking or listening to you, and they make eye contact, it is an indication that they are paying attention to the conversation.  If their eyes begin to wander, you are tempted to wonder where their attention has also wandered.  I was intrigued to see on TV recently the piece of Banksy artwork featuring a young couple.  Although they were in an embrace, their eyes were fixed on their mobile phones.  It was clear where their attention was directed!

If we are to take seriously the importance of real communication, and to treat others with respect, then eye contact must be an important element.  There are lots of instances in the Gospels were we read about Jesus making eye contact with people.  Just one example is in the incident where a rich young ruler is in conversation with Jesus.  Jesus immediately recognised that the man's wealth has a stranglehold on him, but nevertheless the Gospel writer Matthew tells us, 'Jesus looked straight at him with love..'

If our eyes drift, we are in effect giving the impression that we have lost interest in the conversation (and the person).  If our whole attention is focused on a person, indicated by the direction of our gaze, then we are showing that we value them.  In the game at the family party I did OK, but didn't manage to score 100%.  Maybe not a bad New Year's resolution to make more effort to focus on the eyes?