Holding it all together

This week I have been enjoying the comforts of the Willersley Castle Hotel in Derbyshire. It is situated in a very rural and stunningly beautiful setting (if you are a facebook friend you may already have seen a few images of the area which I have uploaded).

Willersley Castle is on the edge of the village of Cromford, which is principally known for its historical connection with Richard Arkwright, and the Cromford Mill which he built here in 1771. It also houses an extensive second hand bookshop which I much enjoyed perusing!

I should point out that I wasn't on holiday, but was attending a 4 day residential course on using multimedia in worship, run by Mike Bossingham of the Family Friendly Churches Trust. It is often said that people tend to have a much better memory of what they see than what they hear. Preachers and worship leaders are increasingly using modern forms of visual images in worship, and I thought that it was about time I learned a little more about the whole issue.

Of course, as with any training event, the proof of any benefit can only be seen in what happens as a result. I have been to several training events over the years at which I seemed to learn a great deal at the time but ultimately the learning was lost because it was not put into practical use. Hopefully this one will prove more fruitful in the long term.

One of the memories which I know will remain with me forever came at almost the last minute. We were preparing to pack up for lunch after the final session when Mike happened to mention laminins. I can't remember ever having heard about them. Wikipedia states that "laminins are a family of glycoproteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding in almost every tissue of an organism." Put simply, laminins are what hold us together and stop us becoming a blobby mass or falling apart! Remarkably, the image at the top of this page is what a laminin looks like. Remind you of anything? Paul's words to the Colossians come to mind:

'He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER.'

Ain't God just amazing?

I just wanna be a sheep, baa baa baa baa

I recently received an e-mail from a friend, Nick, with whom I hadn't been in touch for a few years. We first got to know each other when I was a minister in Sheffield and Nick worked as a lay worker in the area. I remember one occasion, at a meeting of preachers, when Nick was trying to get them to understand that it's not particularly helpful to children and young people when we ask them to sing very old hymns with antiquated language which even adults sometimes struggle to understand. To do so, he got the preachers (most of whom were middle-aged to elderly) to sing a children's song, "I just want to be a sheep" There are some great actions to go with the song, and a good number of the preachers were very embarrassed at having to sing this children's song. Nick certainly got his point across!

Jesus told a story about a lost sheep, and this week I have been out searching for sheep. Not real sheep, of course, but the cuddly toy kind of sheep. There are lots of cuddly toys about, but very few sheep! In the end I managed to buy two relatively inexpensive sheep on a market stall. You may be wondering why I have been sheep hunting? No, I haven't developed a sheep fetish, nor a sheep obsession. I want them to use in Sunday morning's family service.

The image of sheep and shepherd is used quite often in the Bible. Human beings are, on occasions, referred to as sheep. The prophet Isaiah writes, "All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own." He is speaking about the human propensity to chose our own way rather than God's way (just look around our world today to see what happens when we chose our own way!) The good news is that God still loves us, even when we stray from his path. He sent his Son, Jesus, who spoke of himself as the Good Shepherd. Jesus came, as he said, "to seek and save the lost". Hymnwriter Robert Walmsley, in his hymn "Come, let us sing of a wonderful love", puts it like this:

Jesus is seeking the wanderers yet;
Why do they roam? Why do they roam?
Love only waits to forgive and forget;
Home, weary wanderers, home!
Wonderful love, wonderful love,
Dwells in the heart of the Father above.

And I say Amen! to that (baa baa baa baa)

A time to remember

This morning I attended the two minutes silence outside the Mansion House in Doncaster (Today is Remembrance Day; the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice, on 11 November 1918, to signal the end of World War One). It was a solemn and dignified occasion, though spoilt a little by the fact that the pa system was working only spasmodically, meaning that much of what was said by the Mayor went unheard by the majority of those gathered there.

I am always particularly moved by the contributions of those who have actually served in conflict situations, and especially veterans of the World Wars. One or two of the veteran standard bearers were struggling at times to maintain a hold on their standards in the strong wind.

A few months ago someone came into Priory asking if we had a plaque commemorating those church members who lost their lives in the First World War - I think that the person was researching family history. It seems that when Priory was redeveloped in the late 70s the plaque was taken down and stored away. After much searching, it was located, and will be restored to a position on the wall in the chapel at Priory. It is very poignant to read the names on the plaque: husbands, fathers and sons who never came back. What enormous pain and sadness for their loved ones.

According to Wikipedia (which isn't always the most reliable source of information), approaching 100 million people lost their lives during the two world wars. And the sad thing is that we human beings never seem to learn the lessons of history. The conflict and killing continues. How God must weep that we disregard his way of peace. In our lunchtime Bible study this week we were considering the world of Jesus, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." For all who know the peace of God in our hearts, that is our challenge.

The Archbishop, the footballer and a barrel of laughs

Reflections on a great weekend...

On Friday evening Sue and I attended an event at the Futurist Theatre in Scarborough, entitled “Sentamu By The Sea”. An almost full theatre listened intently as the current Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, shared something of his life story, and then answered questions from members of the audience. He really is quite a character, not at all the typical image of an Archbishop! He told of his very humble beginnings; how he was baptised as a new born infant because no-one thought that he would survive; his upbringing in a very poor family; his coming to faith at the age of 10 and subsequent passion for sharing the good news of Jesus; his training in law, and then persecution and imprisonment under Idi Amin, which led him to flee to the UK. He told the story with a mixture of humour and pathos. His message was both challenging and inspiring.

On our way back to Doncaster we called in to the Living Hope Church in Hull. As a life-long Hull City supporter, one of my heroes of a few years ago was former Northern Ireland international Stuart Elliott. It was a great joy to me, as chaplain of Doncaster Rovers, when Stuart signed for the Rovers two or three years ago. Although things didn't really work out for him at Rovers, it was great to get to know him during his time at the club. Stuart was well known as a Christian, and he recently made the decision to hang up his boots and become assistant pastor at Living Hope Church. Having a Sunday off gave me the opportunity to visit Living Hope and catch up with Stuart. It was great to see him and great to worship at the church. We were very warmly welcomed and felt very much at home. Clearly God is doing great things there, and Stuart is passionate about Jesus.

On Sunday evening we were with friends in Lincoln attending the first night of “The Seriously Funny Tour” with Jeff Lucas and Adrian Plass. It is a long time since I have laughed so much. It was wonderful to be reminded that a sense of humour is given to us by God, and it seems so sad that some Christians appear to have had their sense of humour removed! Laughter is great medicine. Interspersed with the humour were some very reflective and insightful moments. It was a privilege to be there.

Three very different events, each were blessed by God's presence. God is a God of rich variety, and so are his people!

No cuts with God

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” So said Mr Micawber, a character in Charles Dickens’ novel, David Copperfield (it is rather sad, and perhaps a little ironic, that Mr Micawber ended up in a debtor's prison!) It has become apparent over recent years that Britain, and many countries around the world, have fallen foul of the “Micawber principle”, and have racked up a mountain of debt.

Whichever party had formed the government following this year's general election, they would have had to face the task of dealing with the huge deficit. This week, chancellor George Osborne announced spending cuts which are likely to affect every person in the UK to a greater or lesser degree (Sue and I seem to have both born a year too late to avoid being caught by the rise in the pension age from 2020!) Although there have been many arguments about where cuts should be made, there are very few, if any, who argue that there should be no cuts of any kind. The basic truth is, financial (and other) resources are not without limit.

Faced with future uncertainty of this kind, how wonderful it is to know that there is no lack of supply where God is concerned! His gifts of love, grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness etc. are given in abundance to all who will receive. St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is particularly eloquent on this topic:

‘All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.’ (chapter 1 v 3)

‘In him we have ... forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.’ (chapter 1 v7&8)

‘Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.’ (chapter 3 v 8)

‘So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.’ (chapter 2 v7)

It was recently reported that forty US billionaires have signed up to pledge at least half of their fortunes to charity under a philanthropic campaign kicked off by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Yet even such riches are dwarfed by the riches of God, and the good news is that God loves to give - he even gave his only Son for us!

From darkness to light

Worldwide media attention has been focussed over recent hours on the San Jose mine in Chile. 33 miners had been trapped some 2000 feet below ground since early August. Over the long days and weeks since a major rockfall prevented their return to the surface, anxious families and friends have been hoping and praying that rescue attempts would ultimately prove successful.

From the early hours of this morning, dramatic pictures have been beamed around the world as, one by one, the miners were, at long last, winched to safety in a metal capsule measuring just 24 inches in diameter. Church bells throughout the country were rung as the first miner reached the surface; great rejoicing and celebration has been taking place. The rescue procedure, however, is slow, and at the time of writing there are still some miners who have not yet been brought to the surface. Their loved ones wait in hope and expectation. Isn't it great to have a good news story such as this as an antidote to our usual news menu?

I have been thinking how closely this story parallels the heart of the Christian gospel. The theme of the journey "from darkness to light" runs throughout Scripture. Just as the once trapped miners have been given what could be described as a new beginning, so that is just what we are offered by Jesus. St Paul writes of how through faith in Jesus Christ we become, as it were “a new creation”, and Jesus himself speaks of the need to be “born again”. It is perhaps best summed up in the first verse and chorus of a hymn written by Charles H Gabriel:

In loving kindness Jesus came,
My soul in mercy to reclaim,
And from the depths of sin and shame
Through grace He lifted me.

Refrain
From sinking sand, He lifted me,
With tender hand, He lifted me,
From shades of night to planes of light,
O praise His name, He lifted me!

Just as the Chilean miners had the choice of whether or not to step into the capsule, so each one of us us given the choice whether or not to accept the offer of new life in Christ. The right choice is obvious, isn't it?

UPDATE: since publishing this blog yesterday, I have received an e-mail quoting the Chilean President's chaplain, Revd Alfredo Cooper. He says that it is clear that faith has been a big part of this whole drama, with many miners "finding God": "They're all wanting to testify to the Lord Jesus Christ. All 33 of them are saying that they found God in the mine. Five or six were already Christians and held services down in the mine. Many went down with no faith at all but they all say this: 'We were not 33 we were 34 because Jesus Christ was with us down there.'"

Frustration and patience - the game of golf (life)

Golf fans from Europe and the USA were gripped this week by the goings-on at Celtic Manor, the Welsh home of this year's dramatic Ryder Cup match. Due to the heavy rain of the first couple of days, the match was carried over to an unprecedented fourth day, and what a day it proved to be! The final match saw Europe's Graeme McDowell up against the USA's Hunter Mahan. The overall match score was tied at 13.5 points each. McDowell needed to win his match to reclaim the Ryder Cup, which the USA had won two years ago. As the tension mounted, the nerves began to tell on Hunter Mahan, and McDowell claimed victory on the 17th green, much to the jubilation of the majority of the massed crowd of spectators.

I didn't see much of the match on TV. Unfortunately, as with an increasing number of sporting events, it was shown live on Sky TV, and so those of us without Sky had to either listen to the radio or watch the highlights on terrestrial TV later in the day (I could get on my hobby horse about this, but perhaps not today!) I happened to be paying a hospital visit when the match came to its climax, and I must admit to sitting in my car in the hospital car park for a few extra minutes as the drama unfolded. I'm not a big golf fan, but it was exciting to listen to.

I do own a set of golf clubs, but they rarely see the light of day. I have long since come to the conclusion that golf is probably the most frustrating sport to play. I have a friend from church, Denis, who is a member of a golf club and plays regularly. A little while ago he kindly (bravely?) invited me to a round of golf with him. I managed to eke out a spare few hours in the diary, and off we went. The reason I find golf so frustrating is that on some occasions I hit a fairly good shot and on other occasions I am embarrassed by my efforts! I did miraculously manage on one hole to get down in less shots than Denis. However, my inconsistency was show when I managed to get down in 5 shots on a par 4 hole (very good for a novice like me), but then on the very next hole took about 10 shots for a par 3!!

I was extremely grateful for Denis' patience with me. All the way round he offered encouragement and advice, without being overbearing. He commended my good shots and didn't criticise the poor ones. He was a good mentor and encourager, and I thoroughly enjoyed the day, even though I did suffer my fair share of frustration with my many wayward shots.

As I reflect on the experience, it seems to me that the way Denis guided and encouraged me in the game of golf is a good example to follow in the Christian way of life. The Christian life is a journey, but it is not one which we are called to walk on our own. When we commit ourselves to Jesus, we become part of his family, the church. It is his desire that we should be there to support, encourage and guide one another. Though I do get frustrated at times with church and some church people, I thank God for his church, and for the many brilliant friends who have helped, supported and guided me on my on the Christian journey. I pray that God will enable me to offer that same kind of help and support to others.

"Brother, sister, let me serve you..."