S C A N D A L O U S ! Part Two

Freedom and Worship.

Cannibalism, to paraphrase Emerson, breeds strange gods - gods we make all to familiar to our malady. That's particularly apt when we consider the 'strange gods' so popularly venerated now, where any notion of the genuinely divine is no longer in the driving seat, or even situated in the passenger section our car, but is bound and gagged and stowed away in the boot, awaiting "re-location" over a cliff!

The fascinating thing here is that such a mode, far from validating the 'god is dead' notion, clearly shows that He is here and is expected to remain silent so we can evade any reference that isn't entirely negative or totally derogatory. The trouble is, none of us can escape what we might term 'the view in the rear view mirror' presented by creation, or the deepest appetites (needs) in our souls, both which still continue to 'speak' of the profound reality concerning the God who IS there. We may try and push way beyond the speed limit to ignore these bounds, but they are as deep in us as our very DNA.

When we invest value into another, or into something which resonates with goodness of truth or beauty, it evokes within us a right sense of worth, which is readily expressed in honouring and valuing what we behold. In other words, we esteem what is worthy of such value and acclaim - we worship.

Life is replete with these moments, because it has been designed to whisper to each of us regarding the one who reveals something of His power and nature through such encounters - the one who is the furnisher of all that is good.

This certainty is meant to express the manner of the life that was once entirely evident to us in the garden. We were given a realm of wonder to enjoy and appreciate, our Lord's wish being that we eagerly share such discoveries with Him and thereby unfold their true splendour - that is the threshold to a far deeper journey of meaning through the wonder of such unfolding.

The biggest corrosive in our world has always been unbelief - a mindset which nullifies genuine enquiry and pursuit of something worthwhile, and religion can so readily become the driving mechanism of such, seeking to impose requirements and regulations where God never placed them.

The narrative we often open in the epistles verifies just how often the faith falls into this trap. We derive 'value' and feed with teachings that actually undermine the radiance of life bestowed by our Father, and this actually stifles and negates true pleasure and delight in His ways amongst us. By taking these steps, we begin to place people back into another method of incarceration via "instruction" which the Apostles show us can be just as stifling as wickedness, because such activities are, in truth, diabolical.

If we were to reach conclusions on the grounds of what is often expressed amongst those who call themselves believers, we would almost certainly determine that Christianity wasn't about freedom at all, because the focal-point in respects to the 'god' expressed would be remarkably different to the one in whom we are meant to live.

The first trouble here is that the 'god' projected by many isn't related to our lives, but merely some kind of 'cash-point in the sky', whereby the 'elite' can solicit what they want - prosperity, health, blessing, esteem - merely by pressing the right 'faith' button and thereby being rewarded. God becomes little more than an errand-boy, there to fulfil any whim we care to view as our right.

If we become stifled by such attitudes, we will fail to see what we encounter in the here and now - good and bad - and how this is meant to act as stepping-stones to a far larger vision and realm of existence. The 'lands' of the new creation will thereby be so much more 'solid' than those of our fickle ambitions.

The destination of our immediate desires is, so often, a closed, deserted gas station on a highway to loss, but when we are those whom the Son has truly set free, we begin to discover how all we encounter can work for a greater good, defining here and now with the mark of eternal worth, and that facilitates genuine thankfulness.

What we actually need is a good that walks with us through the days of trouble, engendering a character that states to our day that something richer is at work amongst us than the expected futility and travail.

Another typical 'christian' stereotype is that the God we worship isn't worth troubling ourselves with because He merely wants to expel us from anything pleasurable or satisfying, as such material things are entirely "worldly" and therefore wicked to those who are spiritual.

I wonder if you have ever entered a church and heard a statement like this -

"God made beer to show us that He loves us and wants to truly bless us". Well, if you had been in a little place called Wittenberg at the time of a small ripple called the Reformation, then someone named Martin Luther would have been saying this about not only beer, but music, and plays, and natural beauty, and art. His translation of the Bible into German was illustrated in part by Lucas Cranach, an artist so popular, he ran the medieval equivalent of Athena prints from his local workshop. This was a vital expression of Christianity, which then lead to Bach in churches and science in universities - an embracing of all that was true.

The painful truth is that people - inside and outside the church - often lock God in a cell of their own devising where they are content to feed this contained caricature on a diet of bread and water - just enough so they can wheel 'it' out for certain purposes as and when necessary or desired. Thankfully, there are those moments when our defences fail us and the Lord comes forth in all His burning magnificence, and it is in that hour that He 'sings' and delights in His handiwork and re-affirms it to be most good. Christian deism seeks too deny this, and lead us into a slough of despondency - there is no escape from the pre-determined - but God's Spirit waits to underline that all is meant for greatness not baneful drudgery.

We are called to be smart - those who are in-tune with the full nature of reality and live in correspondence with this, so accurately knowing and expressing the Father of all things - thereby worshipping well - is the imperative which enlivens and fulfils everything else, but, clearly, this only comes through a struggle.

Life can often involve elements that overwhelm us, when we grapple with a particular trial or nagging impediment, we know that religious jingles and trite responses are not going to take us through - we need an anchor which holds in the fiercest storms, and that isn't going to be born from us. The real story of creation begins with a God who shapes emptiness and void into vibrant substance, who uses what is planted to bring about the continuing majesty of the forest.

What truly matters in our relationship with anyone which counts is always going to be, principally, visceral rather than intellectual.

When we consider that we need to 'seek God' to get beyond the troubles we've just outlined, then that's where the Incarnation truly comes into its own. We often talk about  Christianity being different because of God getting 'up close and personal' with us, but everything about the Gospel says this is absolutely true.

There are many ways in which this unveiling is remarkable, but the one that should remain foremost in our minds is what Jesus did as a man. When the Prophet Isaiah speaks of this, he focuses upon the fact that in this, the Lord shares our sufferings and our burdens and became the bearer of our sins, that by His actions, we can know a continual healing of care and mercy, purely because of His offering of Himself.

Only in the depths, then, can we begin to escape the superficiality of what we are without rescue - creatures longing for purpose, but without any direction in respect to how to obtain this. The Gospel makes this life as 'user-friendly' as it can get in a broken world. It allows us to leave behind the illusions and engage with the one who came to truly make us whole.

The present reality isn't defined by 'niceness'. John Bunyan had it spot-on when he personified such pleasantry as a deterrent to hearing and acting on truth. Our harsh situation has to be encountered and dealt with for what it is, but the amazing wonder is that it's amidst these troubles that we begin to embrace and enjoy the true bounds of our deliverance.

God generously loves His creation, and is at work to bring about its comprehensive redemption. He is not bent on condemnation, but furnishing a world through His goodness and mercy. The underlying purpose in what He employs in our lives now is reconciliation - peace by the blood shed at the Cross. When we willingly choose to come and trust in that care, then we pass from the domain (the unending region) of death (severance) into a sphere where an abundance of what is truly good is made ours. The 'burden' placed upon us, as it was for Adam, is to cultivate what God provides and to 'hedge' this from the inclusion of evil.

That does not mean digging a moat and pulling up the drawbridge! The gates of the new city are open, day and night, because their citizens have a 'wisdom' to share and trade that is the true wealth of the world. Born in her, as children of the one who was dead, but is alive forevermore, we have a treasure that truly evokes joy in us and hope in this perilous time - that is the stitching in God's mantle of righteousness. Garbed (Imputed) in such, we are called to befriend those God wants to purchase by His beloved - that's the calling.

We are cherished by the one who furnished creation so that we could be filled with awe and wonder. God is wanting each of us to come and share in that splendour.